Unless you opt to pay your council tax over twelve months rather than the usual ten, February and March are the months of the year when you don’t have to pay. That means there’s no council tax to pay this month or next month for many of us.
What are you planning to use your ‘free’ council tax money for?
I love the months where we don’t pay council tax because the amount we pay seems ridiculously high – we actually pay £169 a month over the ten months which means that we have a nice little chunk of money to play with over the two months where we don’t pay it.
The problem I have is that I have zero willpower and always find that if I don’t make a plan in advance for the money that I have spare then I’ll spend it on something I don’t really need so I’ve already decided what I’m doing with the extra money from both months and on payday each month, I’ll just do it.
I’m going to use this month’s extra money to pay towards our energy bill as I’m expecting a higher bill next time around. In previous years, our heating was only on in the morning and the late afternoon/evening which fit in with the times we were at home but this year, there’s someone in the house 24 hours a day so we’ve got the heating on more. It’s not just heating through, I’d imagine our energy bill on a whole will be much higher than usual as we’re at home using it more.
My plan for next month’s money is actually to transfer some across to my Christmas savings account and to spend the rest of it on Master Frugal’s Birthday because it’s going to be his second lockdown Birthday and I just feel so sorry for him as a 16th Birthday should be spent with friends and not locked up in the house.
So, that’s what I’m doing with my extra money over the next couple of months! I know you’ll all have other priorities but I thought I’d give you a couple of ideas just in case you need some inspiration on what to do with your extra money…
- Save it – pop it in your savings account and if you don’t have one, use it to start one. You could start saving for Christmas, for a special holiday when we’re allowed to travel again or just for a rainy day.
- Use it – use the extra time you have at home at the moment combined with the extra money and give one of the rooms in your house a mini makeover. A coat of paint and a few purchases could make a big difference to your house.
- Overpay it – make an additional payment to your mortgage.
- Spend it – I’m all about using your money wisely but sometimes a treat is much needed.
- Snowball it – If you have debts then make a payment to reduce them, preferably using the snowball method of debt repayment.
And if you need more ideas, I shared a post filled with ideas on what to do with your extra money from some of the UK Money Bloggers so check that out for more extra inspiration. 😂
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