How are you faring?

My council tax is going up £85 pm and that is for single occupancy, no streetlights, pavements or mains sewerage. Makes me so angry!

Cabbie21

Our Council Tax will be £207 pm, (for 10 months).

mine is going up to £208 pm for 10 months. Single occupancy. My bins are emptied, no lights etc

Yes, everything going up. State pension increase rise will hopefully help. And DH gets his state pension in June, so that's an extra income. We are fortunate to have some work pensions, two of which will increase by the 10.1%, so we consider ourselves very fortunate. I feel desperately sorry for the younger folks who aren't getting big increases in pay. My son and DIL have only had small increases.

Unbelievably, a jar of my usual coffee, price held steady for longer than I remember, has gone down by 25p. Not on offer either.

I live alone on a pension. There is much advice on how to save money etc. However you cant give up what you have never had so where do we go from this? I hang washing out, no tumble dryer, rarely buy clothes and apart from underwear they are usually from charity shops if I can wash them. Dont smoke, dont have amazon or anything nor netflix so it is difficult to think what else I give up. I have a secondhand mobility scooter which lets me go shopping when I am unable to walk. My biggest spend is on my second hand car, which allows me to go further afield than the local highstreet, and keep in touch with family and friends, but every trip has to be thought about and saved for. I no longer just go out sort of ad hoc. i do go mad once a week and spend £4 to play whist in a warm church hall and have two raffle tickets. It lets me use my brain, meet others to socialise a bit and have a coffee and biscuit, which is good value I think. It is held in a village so go by car, no buses go there, all of 3 miles. Last of the big spenders eh? Eventually expect I shall have to give the car up but that will be very limiting as to where and when I can travel. I am unable to prebook things as I cant know until the day how I am , and whether I can walk far etc. The cost of electricity is my biggest worry as it is the only heating here, no gas so if there is a power cut have got nothing instead, and I cannot guess what the cost will be this time. It is all too depressing to think about and so right now can only live day to day, have been glad to watch the rugby and keep my mind off this situation which I can do nothing about. Hopefully we get some good weather to enjoy and save the power in the summer.

Are you receiving all you’re entitled to madeleine?

Kate54 All those recommendations must surely be linked to companies in the hope we will all go out and buy new stuff.

I'm on my own now, and while I am pleased about the State pension increase, it will now (along with my tiny private pension) tip me over the tax threshold, so I will have to pay income tax, which makes me sad, as I have already paid a hell of a lot of income tax, having worked since the age of 14!
I live on Merseyside, where all over 60s get free travel on buses and trains, which means I have been able to give up my car. I do miss driving, but just couldn't afford the insurance, fuel and maintenance costs. I buy groceries and alcohol online every ten days, use my freezer to keep meat and fish till required.
The only time I go into a supermarket is to top up on milk and have a snoop at the yellow stickers in M&S! I have done quite well on energy this winter since downsizing to a 2-bed cottage. My monthly direct debit is £130, but with the £67 from the Gov, that brings it down to £63!

I never eat out, or have takeaways. I do go to a couple of classes, which costs me about £15 per week. I have Amazon Prime and Netflix, I do use both a lot, since I never go out in the evenings. By the way, I hope you Amazon Prime people are taking advantage of Prime Reading? You can borrow 10 items free, INCLUDING MAGAZINES!! This is a real treat for me, I love a magazine, especially glossy ones like House Beautiful. There is a good range each month. Homes and Antiques is my favourite. If you've not tried it, you click on Prime, then Prime Reading, then scroll down and all the magazines are listed at the bottom of the screen. I use my Kindle Fire HD to read them, and the screen quality is really good.

I am not faring really as my private pension is only small. I am very hard-up since HMRC made a mistake with my tax code in 2019 and undercharged me, so I had to pay it all back in 2020 which has left my bank account depleted, so have had no holidays or days out since 2018. The House of Lords want to dismantle the heating allowance except for people on Pension Credit or basic state pension which outrages me. Don't know if that bill will go through.

I did a bit of that very essential adding up this morning, the 2 months of freedom from council tax are finished and so is the, very welcomed, gov energy handout

As well as the usual essentials which crop up over the year, eg car bills, food, tv, chimney cleaning, boiler service, tax , water etc

These are due for me at the end of this month and they are all up

council tax
phone
broadband
energy
house insurance

Just a reminder to me that the no-spending on extras and regular savings are to continue. The regular savings from december are a godsend tbh,with no fixed commitment and in halifax, I can see that safety pot grow month on month

This is me, living carefully and in no need, or want, of holidays, which is just as well. A comfortable life but that forward planning is a great help and an enabler

I used to do microsoft money, which got me and my family through some very tough times. Back to paper and pencil these days, with the months mapped out ahead

Thank you Happygirl I tried this and probably did it wrong as it looked to be a chargeable subscription x

madeleine45

I live alone on a pension. There is much advice on how to save money etc. However you cant give up what you have never had so where do we go from this? I hang washing out, no tumble dryer, rarely buy clothes and apart from underwear they are usually from charity shops if I can wash them. Dont smoke, dont have amazon or anything nor netflix so it is difficult to think what else I give up. I have a secondhand mobility scooter which lets me go shopping when I am unable to walk. My biggest spend is on my second hand car, which allows me to go further afield than the local highstreet, and keep in touch with family and friends, but every trip has to be thought about and saved for. I no longer just go out sort of ad hoc. i do go mad once a week and spend £4 to play whist in a warm church hall and have two raffle tickets. It lets me use my brain, meet others to socialise a bit and have a coffee and biscuit, which is good value I think. It is held in a village so go by car, no buses go there, all of 3 miles. Last of the big spenders eh? Eventually expect I shall have to give the car up but that will be very limiting as to where and when I can travel. I am unable to prebook things as I cant know until the day how I am , and whether I can walk far etc. The cost of electricity is my biggest worry as it is the only heating here, no gas so if there is a power cut have got nothing instead, and I cannot guess what the cost will be this time. It is all too depressing to think about and so right now can only live day to day, have been glad to watch the rugby and keep my mind off this situation which I can do nothing about. Hopefully we get some good weather to enjoy and save the power in the summer

I hope you don’t mind me saying but if you are at times unable to walk and need to use a mobility scooter you shouldn’t be surviving solely on your pension. You need to have a benefits check as you are likely to qualify for disability benefits which will make a huge difference to your life. Seek advice from a welfare rights advisor.

benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

What irks me most is paying more to fund the annual bonuses to the directors of the utilities companies. Also that so much of our increased council tax has to go on shoring up already under-funded services (schools, social care) rather than improving/ extending them.

I am not pension age and as disabled and unwell, am struggling on legacy benefits. Didn't get any cost of living payment because the DWP was paying me wrongly - I recant that tale on another post about the DWP.

No heating, no holidays for 12 years, no decent food, house insurance went up £100 a month because I had a claim (one of my patio doors when 'bang' due to solar expansion, so insurance job it was; and my pet insurance has gone up £50 a month because I had to claim on my dog last year.

I am drowning, I have a house which is fully mine, but I can't afford to improve or repair it. I cannot sell it as that would make me 'intentionally homeless', and it wouldn't even give me enough money to buy anything here (and here I must be) with a garden for my dogs, as it is an ex-council house, and people cannot get a mortgage on it, so would need a cash buyer (as I was). The idea was for us all to move here, borrow the money to get the house to work for us all, and it would be a house for life for my youngest daughter, son-in-law and their 2 small children Little did we know that you cannot even get equity release on it! I tried and tried for months. So they moved out into a grotty, tiny place, leaving me here with my eldest daughter who then committed suicide ... so am rattling around around with a noose around my neck basically. Them moving back in wouldn't work either sadly with the house as it is .

I am feeling like I did in February 2020, when my massive hernia strangulated and I needed emergency surgery - I again have extreme nausea and something just doesn't feel right. I hope it's just stress, but somehow I doubt it, and am terrified as that day was horrific and I keep getting flashbacks to how they treated me before they knew my bowel was dying.

I am not faring too well ....

madeinyorkshire

madeinyorkshire what a terrible time you’ve been having. Have you asked your local councillor to help you find out what support is available to you? Life is just not fair,

Cabbie21

Our Council Tax will be £207 pm, (for 10 months).

Mine will be another £100 pm on top of that 😱

So sorry to read your struggles madeinyorkshire 💐

MadeInYorkshireI have no answer or solution, but I'm so sorry to read of your horrendous situation.

MadeinYorkshire- so sorry 😥- I was just about to moan about something, but I won’t - your story is heartbreaking.

MadeinYorkshire. Can you get your local councillor to investigate your status and get someone to help you sort your right to benefits out.
I hope your fears about your health are unfounded.

I hope you can find some support where you are.
Your story is so sad.

Made in Yorkshire, so sorry for your plight ……💐💐💐💐💐

Dont forget that you may find yourself paying more tax due to the freezing of the personal allowances until 2028. Some people who have never paid tax before will now do so and others who already pay tax may be dragged into a higher tax band.

If you work for an employer you can always reduce your hours or leave the job. However if you are retired then you are stuck with giving more of your income into the grubby hands of the tax man.

However if you are self employed (and especially if you work from home) you may be able to claim more business expenses on utilities/broadband/c tax etc

Same thing happening here in Australia and really hard for anyone renting because rents are sky high and rising. Interest rates are going up and so is the price of everyday items and food and power. Wages and pensions never keep pace of course and we have a state government that likes to spend money on re building perfectly functional level crossings.