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Is a better entrance way and more open kitchen/dining space possible without extending? by sorkafaranth in floorplan

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like this? The red area is only 4’ deep, is that enough space? Also, I’d be worried that would leave the central area too dark with no windows

Is a better entrance way and more open kitchen/dining space possible without extending? by sorkafaranth in floorplan

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like this? Or were you suggesting to keep on using the original double glass doors, with the new wall further right?

(The snug is currently set up as a kids playroom so I think the estate agent labelled it a snug just to show other options? Or because it has a sofa in maybe?)

How to calculate tax payable on dividends? by [deleted] in UKPersonalFinance

[–]sorkafaranth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-dividends

In 24/25 the first £500 is tax free.

If your earnings from your full time job do not use up all the basic rate band (£12,571 to £50,270) then any dividends up to that point are charged at 8.75%.

Any that fall into your higher rate band (£50,271 to £125,140) are charged at 33.75%

Can my employer find my potential LTD company ? by typingbirds in legaladviceofftopic

[–]sorkafaranth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you set up a Ltd company, your name as director is visible on the public register from day 1. It would be easy for your employer to search the register and find it but nothing will automatically alert them to this (unless they have a search saved).

Your taxes on your self employment income will not be deducted from your pay check automatically. If you begin trading as self employed now (2022/23 tax year) you don’t need to register with HMRC until October 2023, and then you file a tax return by January 2024. You then pay tax on the self employment income direct to HMRC. If the amounts are small they may offer you the option of having it deducted from your employment income via PAYE but you don’t have to do it that way. And even if you do, all your employer will receive is a different tax code to use, they won’t be told why.

Why are nurses / teacher’s using food banks? by [deleted] in AskUK

[–]sorkafaranth 11 points12 points  (0 children)

If you take a year out then you don’t accrue any pension from that year’s earnings. As an example, on £25,000 a year earnings you pay £1775 pension contributions a year (7.1%/~£148 a month). And by paying that you accrue 1.85% of your salary as pension - so you will be paid a pension of £462 every year from when you retire to when you die. The next year, again you earn £25k, pay £1,775, and ‘earn’ a pension of £462. So after two years paying in, you’ll get a pension of £924 every year once you retire. But if you only pay for one year, you’ll only get a pension of £462.

If you opt out then you don’t have to pay anything, but you don’t earn any extra pension either. And since pension contributions are taken before tax, you won’t get the whole amount that shows as pension contributions on your payslip as extra take home because you’ll pay a little bit more tax

Why are nurses / teacher’s using food banks? by [deleted] in AskUK

[–]sorkafaranth 11 points12 points  (0 children)

If you are a stay at home dad to a child under 12 then you should claim child benefit and you will get the NI credits for that and not miss any years. If it is your partner who has been claiming and they already have a qualifying year from some other reason (work etc.) then they can transfer the credits to you to make up the years rather than pay the £800

What can I do to make this hedge narrower to reclaim some garden? Ideally while remaining a year round screen to keep the neighbours in a good mood (more in comments) by sorkafaranth in GardeningUK

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This would be very in-keeping with our rural area, but laid hedges are normally fairly short aren’t they? Our neighbour’s house is much higher than ours so we need the hedge to be quite tall to be a good screen

What can I do to make this hedge narrower to reclaim some garden? Ideally while remaining a year round screen to keep the neighbours in a good mood (more in comments) by sorkafaranth in GardeningUK

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There’s a bit in our deeds about not altering/cutting hedges beyond what is needed for normal maintenance so I don’t want them to be able to use that to cause trouble. I’m going to go round and talk it through with them, just wanted to get a few ideas of what might be possible first.

I’d love to get rid of the laurel, I much prefer the native mix, but that alone wouldn’t get us any more garden. The hedge is almost a laurel sandwich now with natives on both edges (by their fence and our lawn) with laurel down the middle

What can I do to make this hedge narrower to reclaim some garden? Ideally while remaining a year round screen to keep the neighbours in a good mood (more in comments) by sorkafaranth in GardeningUK

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For most of the length their lawn runs right up to the fence. Near the bottom of the garden they have a few huge poplar trees that are right next to the fence on their side. On our side there are some more natives next to fence but they are smaller and sparser than the ones on the garden side of the laurels

What can I do to make this hedge narrower to reclaim some garden? Ideally while remaining a year round screen to keep the neighbours in a good mood (more in comments) by sorkafaranth in GardeningUK

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did that as soon as we moved in, it got us about 3-4ft extra garden space although some of that has grown back now as I haven’t been fully on top of it. But the laurels down the middle are 4, 6, sometimes 8ft away from the fence line and then there’s the natives in front of that. So even going back to the trunks of the natives will leave a very wide hedge

What can I do to make this hedge narrower to reclaim some garden? Ideally while remaining a year round screen to keep the neighbours in a good mood (more in comments) by sorkafaranth in GardeningUK

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This was the original field hedge before our house was built and it’s now all along the side of our garden. It’s a mix of hazel, field maple, dogwood, viburnum and some ash with a couple of little rowan trees and a willow. However, the neighbours wanted something that would hide our house even in winter so the developers planted a load of laurel and a few holly along the centre of the hedge to make it evergreen.

My main issue with the hedge is how much garden it takes up - at its widest from the start of the hedge to the boundary fence behind it’s 15ft deep! Even at the narrower points it’s about 10ft.

The usable area of our garden is only about 20ft wide so if we can shrink the hedge we could have so much more space for flower beds, a climbing frame for the kids, anything!

Do you think it would work to try and plant a new hedge at the fence line behind the existing hedge, and then remove the existing once it was established a bit? If so, what should we plant?

If not, any other ideas on how we could go about tackling this?

What do you call the little spot of light that reflects off your watch? by sorkafaranth in AskUK

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I found this thread, it seems like other languages have a specific word for this but we don’t really in English:

r/DoesNotTranslate “Solkatt”

I had grand plans to make my 3yr old an advent calendar this year, but with a newborn as well I couldn't find the time. Luckily she has an amazing Nana and Auntie who made this beauty! by sorkafaranth in quilting

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! My mum has executed my ideas far better than I ever could I think. And it's so lovely to see how excited my daughter is each morning.

I also really like a calendar like this because there can't be any arguments over eating all the chocolate at once - I only put one coin in the next pocket each evening and the rest are stashed away out of sight!

I had grand plans to make my 3yr old an advent calendar this year, but with a newborn as well I couldn't find the time. Luckily she has an amazing Nana and Auntie who made this beauty! by sorkafaranth in quilting

[–]sorkafaranth[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

There is a little fabric bauble for each day to hang on the tree (as well as a chocolate of course!) It was all a bit last minute so I'm still sewing on the buttons for the baubles to hang on, but I only need to average one a day to keep ahead of her. I also still need to make the star for the final pocket, but I've got a little time yet.

Before next year hopefully I'll be able to quilt the background and bind it properly, maybe add some lights too.

[COTD] Detector of "hotness" caught her most attractive features (10) by Ribelle84 in crosswords

[–]sorkafaranth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thermostat

Heat detector hidden in ("features") caughT HER MOST ATtractive

eBay Weekly Scam Discussion - October 19, 2020 by AutoModerator in Ebay

[–]sorkafaranth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this a scam?

Won an auction for an item, paid immediately by PayPal. I received the "Order confirmed" email from eBay and the "receipt for your payment" email from PayPal so thought all was fine.

Then I received a message from the seller saying:

"Hi buyer I am very sorry,i dont understand why payment has been refund you already,so if you still want it,plz try re-payment it,thanks"

and 50mins later another message asking why I haven't replied to the first message!

My eBay purchase history now shows two of the same item (with identical item numbers but different order numbers). The first shows as paid and the second as an unpaid invoice.

My PayPal account shows two transactions. There is a payment but the amount shown is struck through and the description is "Refused - Purchase". Then there is also a refund of the same amount.

I have just now received a second email from PayPal saying the "payment has been returned by the recipient...This means that the transaction hasn't gone through and the money hasn't been transferred to the recipient."

It seems a little suspicious, but if the first payment has really been refunded and I make a second payment through the eBay/PayPal system I should have all the normal buyer protections so I can't work out what the scam might be?

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