Savings plans for next year

 We've been working out ways to save money next year, what with energy bills set to rise dramatically, and the Council tax bill, and fuel for the car - although husband says it has actually gone down a bit in the past couple of weeks.  The surprise pension that husband didn't even realise he had, which was paid to him as a lump sum earlier in the year, has come in very useful - buying the caravan for a start, and paying the first year's site fees up to June next year.  We set a budget for buying and doing up the van, we did use all the budget.  I've been saving hard during this year and have saved enough to pay the site fees up until June 2023.  I've also got next year's Council tax saved, although if there's a big increase next year I'll have to add a bit more to it.  I also have another savings account, for emergencies.

If we're very careful, the remainder of husband's windfall pension will hopefully last until I get my State pension, in November 2025.  That's assuming the Government hasn't moved the goal posts again by then.  We did put some of that pension into Premium Bonds....as savings interest rates are so diabolical, we thought we at least stand a chance of winning some money if we put it into the Bonds (so far we've won £25!  Any or all amounts gratefully received!).  By the time my State pension is getting close, we may have to cash in some of the Bond money.  Other than that, husband has his State pension and 3 fairly small private pensions, I have a private pension that is slightly larger than husband's 3 private pensions put together.  These are what we live on.

I'm still doing the 'skim off the top' saving, rounding down the amounts in the main bank account to the next £10 and transferring the excess to the emergency savings account.  Recently, I've slipped from doing it 2 or 3 times weekly to just once, so will get back into the habit of doing it every couple of days.  It's surprising how quickly these small amounts mount up.

Husband has just bought himself a new desktop computer, as his old one has given up the ghost (it was old and not worth repairing).  He didn't spend a lot, he doesn't need an all-singing and dancing one (it would only confuse him!), it's his birthday present to himself, his birthday is next month.  The only major expenditure we're planning on for next year is for new small sofa, recliner chair and bed for the caravan, we have a budget for this.  As I said, I have a savings account for any emergencies (to replace white goods, e.g.).  Husband has an account for car stuff, so that's taken care of.  

In order to cut down on electricity, I'm now altering the way I do the washing, and drying in winter.  As husband doesn't do much gardening or DIY stuff now, for us or others, he doesn't get his clothes as dirty anymore.....although, having said that, he is a bit of a dirt magnet!  So I now do most of the washing on the short economy wash, saving 30-45 minutes on the normal wash.  I still do bedlinen, towels/tea towels and dog blankets on a longer wash.  I also do our clothes on a longer wash every 3 or 4 times.  All wash loads are done overnight on the cheap(er) rate electricity.  When I can't put the washing outside, I dry it in the dryer, each washing machine load has to be split in 2 loads for the dryer.  However, now I just do one load in the dryer, the other I put on the airer upstairs in the sunniest bedroom.....I don't like drying washing indoors, but needs must.  When the weather is good enough, the washing goes outside, obviously.  

Another way of cutting costs is on food - shopping and cooking.  I'll talk about that in my next post.