Paddling like a swan, to stay afloat financially

Perhaps I should sell my down-sized things but right now I treat them as charitable donations

Have you shopped around for your insurances or challenged any rises it usually leads to at least a reduction on the rise. If you live alone a water meter can reduce your water bill significantly. It’s not easy on a fixed income.

The cost of living crisis seems to be neverending

Hi karmalady yes I usually donate all my unwanted clothes and household bits also but I'm thinking of joining Vinted there's a lady on Youtube and she explained how it works re postage and payment and it seemed quite easy to do. Also if you are skilled at making things ie knitting, crochet, sewing have a look at selling on Etsy.

Yes everything has gone up in price hasn't it.

Would you consider downsizing again? That would release a sizeable chunk of money, plus you’d save on heating your large house. Maybe move to a town centre with excellent transport so a car would not be essential. Buses, train (especially with a seniors travel pass) costs buttons or is free and an occasional taxi costs far less than annual car maintenance plus tax, insurance etc.

tanith

Have you shopped around for your insurances or challenged any rises it usually leads to at least a reduction on the rise. If you live alone a water meter can reduce your water bill significantly. It’s not easy on a fixed income.

I have done all that, apart from selling my hand made items Tanith, I won`t sell those but I help my ACs and DGC out by also making for them. I know I am doing ok because of my savings cushion but many are not coping. However seeing that cushion deflate is scary for the future

I do have my name down for an allotment and was very successful growing my own veg in past years. That is a chink of light. We all need chinks of light right now

Also I don`t need to buy any more hobby stuff, thanks to stashing over the last decades, better than money in the bank

I am going to turn my thermostats down by 0.5 of a degree, I won`t notice the difference in comfort but the £££ add up. Also I made sure that the input, into my large water butts, is connected. They are now full and I think I have 1000 litres of rainwater held in two water butts, also I have made my garden as drought proof as possible. Therefore less tap water use

Urms, yes I will downsize in the future, depends where my dd goes, I think dd1 and dd2 will settle close by each other as they share their active lifestyles, always supporting each other. It could be Wales and tbh that would suit me down to the ground, having spent most of my married life in s Wales. I have to tread water for a while longer

The costs of moving and and buying again plus settling-in money. Could well be 20k plus 10-30k

Perhaps you should work out hos much income you have available after all bills paid and see if you can keep in budget.
I agree everything is going up and up.

I have just posted on the Budget thread about my budget, but I absolutely agree that the cost of living is now having a real bite.

I think that people managed for the first year, but now the accumulation of added expense is really beginning to show.

Do think that post war folk have memory resource to draw on, and can remember how life was lived when things were much tighter. Post war austerity, stands us in good stead.

But saying that, I have quite a lot of pensioner friends of widely varied income - from the wealthy (huge houses, staff help, wide-flung holidays at the drop of a hat etc) to those existing on a single pension with top-up. And my goodness the difference in their lives is like different planets. I do think that those on a single pension, are in real poverty and no amount of cutting back will not make an iota of difference.

I think I agree with everything Whitewavemark2 has written.

I have written before on here, those on good work pensions, are increasingly faring better than those who are not, amongst the people I know.

I can see a time when those who do not have good work pensions, will need to apply to the government for help with their finances.

Once again today I will be volunteering with 3 young mothers who paddle to stay afloat financially every month.
But they are used to it, they’ve done it all their married lives as did their parents.
As does my step daughter who works full time but still needs help.
All of them would love to have savings to full back on.

Government help for anyone of pension age, who is eligible and needs it.

I think most people nowadays, dont hesitate much to claim. Not like it used to be.

www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/

Have you thought of getting a part time job? Here we’ve had a vacancy for a parish clerk for the past year - the pay is £12 an hour, one meeting every couple of months and balancing the accounts, averaging a few hours a week. That’s just an example.

I also do online surveys for Opinium Research. Interesting subjects, only takes 10-15 minutes and you get paid, not a lot, but it does mount up.

re those who would have liked savings Petra. They came through lots of hard work, two jobs, minimal spending and an eye to the future of fixed income. No-one ever really thinks about the consequential money hit when a spouse dies but pension reduces drastically

Like others, I was born in the austerity generation, knew how to stretch a penny. Perhaps I should have spent it and become dependent on the state for future care. That is not the way I am, my savings will pay for me, so the younger generation do not have to

I did my council tax calculation just now, 17% of my monthly income, granted I get single person discount and pay over 10 months. That is roughly a sixth

I am not penniless and will not be looking for work but I am prudent and looking ahead, how to safeguard my savings

tanith

Have you shopped around for your insurances or challenged any rises it usually leads to at least a reduction on the rise. If you live alone a water meter can reduce your water bill significantly. It’s not easy on a fixed income.

Our house and contents insurance went up by around 30%.
We have not made a claim, they refused to budge and other companies have put up their charges too.

I considered downsizing my house after my children left home and I now live on my own. But I love my house and want to be able to have children and grandchildren to stay, so the house had to earn its keep!

I now let my first floor area out as a sort of Airbnb, but not through that company, just do it myself on my own website and Facebook. I only do it over the late spring/summer/early autumn around my family's visits, so have the house to myself the rest of the year. It works really well for me and brings in a bit of income.

Could be worth a try?

My mother used to be a “landlady” to young police officers. One at a time, until they set themselves up. That brought in a good income.

My Council tax bill for the new year dropped through my letter box ten minutes ago.
Up by £16 monthly.
Water up by £9 a month.
Expecting house insurance next month, everyone tells me they have had rises.
Even the TV licence is going up along with stamps.
Where will it end and frankly I am lucky that I can absorb those rises but know lots who can’t.

I forgot about the monthly rises for internet and phone, they will be taken from april. I believe cost of inflation plus around 3% There is an ever increasing amount going out via direct debit, month on month.

I am glad that I fixed my octopus rate last november only 12 months this time but at least I know what is going out. I reduced their recommendation slightly and think that march is the turning point month, when I should perhaps start building a bit of excess to buffer next winter. Just to add that I have not noticed the .5 degree reduction

karmalady writes: No-one ever really thinks about the consequential money hit when a spouse dies but pension reduces drastically.

Exactly. It’s harder for people living alone.

I was widowed relatively young and have now had seventeen years of managing on my own. Fortunately I had a good job and worked until I was 60, deciding to ride out the extra six years to state pension. By 60, I had had already worked 44 years full time. I would not have been able to stop work at 60 without occupational pensions, my own and a half widow’s pension from my late husband’s employer. My heart goes out to those single WASPI women who did not have a safety net.

Council tax is by far my biggest outgoing even with the 25% reduction. I could downsize but I like living here, have my own four walls, good neighbours and all the necessary services close by. Important in older age.

I am very careful with bills. Having a small footprint is important to me. I eat a plant-based diet so don’t spend a lot on food. I rarely buy clothes. I find that the state pension covers most of my regular outgoings but it’s tight with no margin for extras, emergencies or holidays. I would struggle without the back up of occupational pensions and savings.

Had my husband lived, not only could we have enjoyed retirement together but there would be at least another £25,000 - £30,000 coming into the household - his own state pension and the other half of his occupational pension. The latter pension would have been higher as he would have worked more years towards it.

I think women need to think very carefully about how they will manage when widowed, especially younger women. There is no longer the safety net of an ongoing state widow’s pension to take them through to old age. And for women born after 5 April 1953, no longer the ability to inherit a spouses state pension beyond 50% of any Additional State Pension which, if he was contracted out of SERPS and SP2 for all or much of his career, won’t be much. If women don’t build up their own occupational pension entitlement and savings, they could find themselves struggling.

Well thank goodness that all MPs are to get above inflation pay rises.

Their end of year assessment must have been good!😡😡

Tin soldier

The opted out part of my husbands state pension to me is £79 per month. It will never change with inflation. I don`t know if my state pension takes on any of the slack but tbh I am past thinking about it. It is what it is

In 2016, a year after my husband died. I was asked if I would like to pay £21000 to get an extra £25 per week added to my state pension. I still had `widows` brain and filled in the form, regarding as an annuity, which it is. I calculated I would need to live for 14 years to make it financially worth while. At that time I was still in the mindset of `savings mean nothing, why were we saving when we cannot share the future` Thankfully that mindset disappeared but not before I had given lump sums to charity and invested in premium bonds for my 3 dgc. At least that £25 payout has gone up and my dgc have had a `gift` from their grandad and a pre-will gift from me

The funeral cost over £5k and there was no warning, just sitting in the registrars waiting room, to get death certificates, looking around to see so many careworn strained faces and wondering how they would be able to afford the expense of it all

It all added up, the value of savings

Yes, I remember that feeling.

I put off making any financial decisions until six months later when I had probate, but then made investment decisions based on getting my state pension in eight years time at 60 oblivous to the WASPI changes. That’s another story. We had made tentative plans to retire when he reached 60 when I would have been 56 but it wasn’t to be.

That sounds like a lot of Class 3 NIC to have paid to get that amount of pension uplift. Worth checking that again. Usually buying extra pension years becomes cost effective after three years:

Example: Current Class 3 NIC for one year of £907.40 will buy £5.82 pw (£302.64 pa) extra pension at new state pension rates. You have your money back in three years so it’s worth the investment.