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Just noticed I'm three direct debits down this month, no council taxes and no water rates!
Extra money for C +Hs!
Park Tools stand 🙂
I like the two months off
I used to work for a local authority and we were paid every 4 weeks rather than every calendar month - so 13 pay cheques each year. So as well as as being council tax-free I had one pay-cheque per year that was rent and bills free too. Didn't occur to me to use the money for C&H so I used to buy art instead.
I like the two months off – feels like a Brucie Bonus after the expense of Christmas!
Yep, I always completely forget and was just looking online and noticed no DDs!
Result!
AYe get 2 months off here, backfills the Christmas excesses nicely
I put a fixed amount into our mortgage current account & all the bills come from that, so I don't really 'see' the gaps in council tax etc. It just means that our account goes up a little bit that month.
I like to keep a decent 'float' in there in case of fluctuations, so just let is tickover.
I should probably review & see if we should withdraw some of the excess & use it for something else.....hmmm.......
Just checked & reckon there's at least £1k more than we need in there as a safety buffer 👍😃
Cheers for that, footflaps!!
@footflaps Apparently Cambridge is a hotbed of airbnbs being used as temporary brothels, so you should be easily sorted 😉
The 'gap' get's gobbled up by my 'professional' membership fees. They won't let you do monthly DD, and given how much it keeps going up by, it's a big chunk in February, covered by two month's worth of council tax.
No free months for us. All paid over 12 months
We used to have a big agreed overdraft limit - which we never used except maybe once, but it was nice to have as a buffer. The bank slashed it though, so we are in the luxury position of being able to build up a float for the same purpose. This will help nicely, and we'll be able to pay off the cordless vacuum cleaner we bought as our Christmas present #dullmensclub
Just checked & reckon there’s at least £1k more than we need in there as a safety buffer
www.chainreactioncycles.com
Our water rates are a killer. £800 for a semi. Scandalous.
And I like 2 months off
Also it's MOT time for my 22 year old Nissan. Fortunately it passed again this morning. Always a gamble with older cars, and it only does 3,000 miles a year as the 'bike hauler'. So the council tax 'saving' won't be gobbled up by a worn out part.
Ours is paid over 12 months apparently so no free money this month. Also we moved into our house in February 2 years ago so this is the time of year when we need to re-up things like insurance and the TV licence. Darn it.
Apparently Cambridge is a hotbed of airbnbs being used as temporary brothels, so you should be easily sorted 😉
I knew about the AirB&Bs, had no idea about the Brothel thing!
We've had a few tenants booted out their houses in our street, then the house renovated into an Air B&B.
@rone Get a meter in!
We use water like its going out of fashion, kids baths, car washing, constant watering of our dry garden in Summer and still pay massively less than what the fixed rate would be for our house.
Do your own research but here I'm sure Yorkshire Water even gave you a 12 month window, post installation, where you could choose to go back to the flat rate if you wanted. No brainer.
We use water like its going out of fashion, kids baths, car washing, constant watering of our dry garden in Summer and still pay massively less than what the fixed rate would be for our house.
Only two of us, but I water the garden in summer, so I worked out that paying the non metered tarif was roughly the same (I metered the hose pipe for a week to see how much the drip feed system used).
Bill is £450 IIRC
Were on a metre, Gardeners too and a family of 4 adults and a dirty cyclist that rides most days, and I wash cars. £45 a month on a meter.
molgrips
I like your thinking, but it will either go towards a holiday or into the house extension saving account - we want to reduce the amount of mortgage extension we need, so trying to put all spare cash away.
Regarding the comments about water rates, when we first moved in to this house our water rates were ridiculously high.
The water company suggested a meter would suit us better & you have 24 months after installation to go back to a flat rate if it proves more expensive.
Ours went down by something like a factor of 10. Well worth doing, if you can.
Our water rates are a killer. £800 for a semi. Scandalous.
wow, really? Ours is £330 for a large 5 bed.
We pay (Scottish) Band E council tax - small three bed semi with an extension. £2560.44
Next door, larger extension on a matching semi pay Band C. £1763.37
Next door the other way and next door but one both pay Band E - both 5-bed bungalows of twice the footprint of our house and both with twice the garden, garage etc. Band D. £1983.79
All 6 houses in the cul-de-sac are of same age - 5 houses cheaper, and ours the smallest is the highest banding.
We appealed. And were refused. With no further appeal.
Unfair - and costs me £700 a year compared to the neighbours.
wow, really? Ours is £330 for a large 5 bed.
amateurs. £750/yr for a band B 2 bed terrace.
welcome to south west water.
The Feb/Mar lack of council tax has been swallowed up by my car MOT (although actually it passed no issues but the car did get a service at the same time).