This year, we have been invited to three weddings which will sum to a total of 50 weddings since 2002!  I don’t know if this is typical for someone of my age (and I guess I am cheating slightly because of the two of the weddings in the total were my own) but it sounds impressive to me!  I am also somewhat surprised to think that only two of the weddings were for people who had been married before.

I have been to weddings in twelve different countries, in five different continents. I have been to every type of wedding including: budget wedding; High Society wedding; full Catholic service in Latin; wedding of a premiership footballer; wedding in a Vineyard and a civil partnership.

As an accountant, I couldn’t resist doing the sums.  Ignoring my own weddings, I estimate that I have spent the in excess of £37,000 on my friends’ weddings in the last decade: £8000 on accommodation; £3,000 on wedding gifts, £13,500 on travel, £5,000 on outfits and £7,500 on hen weekends…no wonder my pension is lacking in funds…

The petrol crisis has served as another reminder how dependent we are on fuel.

Now it appears that there will not be after all be a walkout of tanker drivers, fears of which led cabinet minister Francis Maude to urge drivers to stock up on fuel before Easter.

However even though the drivers’ union Unite has ruled out a strike in favour of talks,  the effects of a wave of panic buying over the last week means fuel shortages are still likely.

So if you can’t afford to go out and spend £200 on fuel and the jerry cans to put it in what can you do? Motoring experts at the RAC have the following advice to those wanting to save petrol.

Stick to the speed limits

Leave the air con off

Try and avoid sudden braking and acceleratiom

Keep tyres inflated correctly

Buy a newer car

Get your car serviced regularly

Take eco-driver training

Don’t carry unnecessary loads

Travel at off-peak times – e.g try and get away early this Easter!

Plan your journey – so you don’t waste petrol driving aimlessly.

I covered my first budget while at the FT doing work experience, (age 19 in 1991) when I was an editorial assistant on a new project called FTTV.

Since then I’ve probably reported on at least 15 subsequent Budgets.  Some bad, some good, some boring and some confusing; but all being introduced with the proviso that we – the British public – would be paying less tax at the end of it all.

And allegedly this Budget did, by raising the amount at which people start paying tax and lowering the high rate tax band from 50p in the £1 to 45 p.

So I never expected much from this particular list of numbers, but at least George Osborne abandoned plans to scrap child benefit to those earning over the higher-rate tax threshold.

Now instead it will apply to those with a household income of £60,000 or under and will be reduced by increments for those earning over £40,000.

Although there are still some anomalies. As Simon Hartshorn, savings and investments Manager at children’s saving provider Family Investments pointed out to me – “a family with two earners bringing in £98,000 could still receive full Child Benefit, whilst a family with a single income of £60,000 would receive none”.

At the moment this monthly benefit helps many a family from grumbling tummies.

And this is why I wish he’d done more to help the little people. People like my husband-to-be and I, who often have to wait months to get paid, often from large companies dragging their heels

At the moment we’re owed several thousands of pounds from various sources, all of which we have earned.

Several years ago I had a very good freelance year, the following year, I didn’t even earn enough to break the personal allowance. I was on maternity leave but if I’d been able to pay an accountant I could have carried forward my tax relief and avoided some of this tax (which we are still paying off – large mobile phone providers take note).

In fact if I had £50,000 to put into a pension right now I could even still use my tax allowance for that very year and write off this bill.

As for the so-called ‘Granny tax’, well in my immediate family circle (which is considerable and varied) even the ones who lost their Equitable Life pensions were and are still able to retire at 60;  and younger in some cases.

I’m pretty sure that when my and my daughter’s generations look back, today’s  pensioners (aside from the few that live in real poverty like many working families) will have been considered to have been extremely lucky.

And while George Osborne is taxing those who put their property into what is called a corporate tax wrapper to avoid stamp duty, what about all the buy to let landlords?

Why can’t they be taxed appropriately – we have a housing shortage whereby people on average incomes can’t even borrow enough to buy their first home.

If that hasn’t made you depressed here are some startling facts from Family Investments.

Its research found that compared to 2011, the average family is are spending more per month in 2012 on the following:

• Utilities – £40.72 more per month
• Groceries - £35.97 more per month
• Transport – £32.04 more per month
• University fees – £59.90 more per month
• Rent/mortgage – £34.79 more per month
• Child care – £13.44 more per month

And, depressingly, less on these

• Savings contributions – £29.51 less per month
• Entertainment and leisure – £18.18 less per month
• Clothing – £4.90 less per month

Chancellor George Osborne stood up to  make his annual Budget speech in the Houses of Parliament . His budget was what he called fiscally neutral – which means the government isn’t planning to give anything away – tax breaks – or take anything either- such as tax hikes.

He said could do this is because he expects the UK’s recession to ease over the next few years, in fact the UK economy should grow (rather than contract) by 0.8% this year and by  2.7% by 2014.

And while unemployment will peak this year it is predicted fall over the next five years with an estimated 1 million more jobs being created.

Inflation, which makes things more expensive and erodes savings will fall from 2.8% to 1.9% by the end of next year.All these predictions come courtesy of the Office for Budget Responsibility, an independent auditor of HM Treasury.

He’s also going to use the sale of the Royal Mail, which is due to be privitised, to help pay of Britain’s debts (although it’s worth noting the Royal Mail pension fund which is in serious debt will be subbed by the taxpayer in order to expedite the sale).

So what are the main points of the Budget 2012

• Full child benefit threshold will now be £50,000 a year, after which is is staggered which means households with £60k or more will not get it.

• Personal tax allowance – an individual will need to earn over £9,205 a year before they start paying tax.

• First time buyers will get help to get on the property ladder – although The Great Britain Building Fund and the National Loan Guarantee Scheme to loan money to small businesses.

• Green energy also got a boost, with more incentives for developers to build wind farms. Medicine and aerospace also got a mention.

• State retirement age to be reviewed. It’s likely to go up even more.

• Top rate of tax to be reduced from 50p in the £1 to 45 pence – for those earning over £100k a year.

• VAT is also going be reviewed – for example we pay VAT on sports drinks but not food.

• Pensioners will also benefit from a simplified tax system, different rates used to apply at 65 and then 75,now it’s going to be one level from 65.

• Cigarettes are going up by 37p a pack from 6pm this evening.

• The basic state pension is to go up by £5.30 a week.

• More action on property tax avoidance including making wealthy homeowners pay stamp duty even if they have put their property into a corporate envelope

Other things he announced included: a fund for faster broadband, reduction of red tape for small businesses plus government funding and a relaxation on Sunday trading laws during the Olympics this summer.

50% tax rate can only be justified if it raises significant sums,

More

If you are into saving tax you might want to read this exclusive story on the website FTAdviser (part of the Financial Times) about ISAs by our editor Samantha Downes

If you haven’t already noticed, this Wednesday is the start of Lent.

Lent (which means lengthen by the way) is the 40-day period which comes before Easter and therefore quite an important event in the Christian calendar.

In olden times people used to be really strict about observing Lent. Some would even fast for the whole 40 days, aiming to replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert before his crucifiction.

Some people still do fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday – the days which start and end Lent.

Giving up food is a big deal, instead nowadays people use Lent as a time of reflection, and instead deprive themselves surrender of something they like such as favourite foods, drinks or smoking.

I know a lot of non Christians who give up stuff during Lent. Now I don’t get smoke – but I do like the odd chocolate or cup of coffee, and have even been known to down a glass of wine or three.

But I was wondering how much money I could save during Lent, so I’ve done some sums I’d like to share with you (by the way all prices have been taken this morning from www.mysupermarket.co.uk)

Chocolate.

I have only ever met one person who spent more than £5 on chocolate a day. A small bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk (49grams) costs 58p. Giving up just one of those a day will save you £23.

Caffeine.

I’ve already stocked up on caffeine free tea and coffee – and it’s just as expensive, if not more than the caffeinated stuff. Far better to avoid any kind of tea or coffee and instead stick to water. Nescafe coffee is £4 for 200grams, assuming you get through one of these jars a week, you would save £22 over the 40 days . If you drink tea as well, say Tetley 40 tea bags priced at  £1.15 (and assuming 5 cups a day you would save around £6.

Alcohol

Now we are talking bigger bucks. Assuming you drink a couple of bottle of wine a week (Jacobs Creek shiraz wine 750ml) at £7.48 and beer (Fosters, four cans for £3.98) then that’s £18.93 a week saved or £108 during lent.

Smoking

Another bigger bucks saving. The average pack of 20 cigarettes of over £6. Even smoking cessation patches work out at around £3 a day.

Saving (if you smoke between 10 and 20 a day) a whopping £120.

If you are looking at giving up smoking you might want to read my new year resolutions article which appeared in the Independent last month.

Energy is expensive, and it’s getting more so. In fact the average family has seen their gas and bills increase by a whopping £176in in the last 12 months.

That sounds pretty steep? Well brace yourselves, or rather your wallets, because the price of gas and electricity is not going to come down any time soon, in fact the cost of energy is likely to double over the next nine years.

Government plans to makes sure more of our energy comes from green and nuclear sources by 2020 are one of the main reasons for the rise.

Shifting away from gas, coal and oil towards more sustainable forms of energy will require millions of pounds worth of investment, most of it to be borne by us, the consumers.

Eventually the plan is that we will all be using electricity generated by nuclear power stations or windfarms, which in the long run is cheaper and of course sustainable.

But in the meantime British Gas has, along with other big providers Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy, Eon have all revealed eye-watering price increases.

Even providers of green energy, such as Good Energy and Green Energy have had to hike their prices, although it has pledged not to raise them any more until at least 2012.

Good Energy, like other green providers can hold prices because it uses more renewable sources and does not rely on wholesalers.

Lisa Greenfield, energy analyst at price comparison site Confused.com said: “It’s interesting that a ‘green’ supplier is able to hold their electricity prices on the back of their investments in renewable energy, and it just goes to show that less reliance on wholesale market activities means consumers are protected.”

So while going green is not necessarily cheaper at the moment at the least it will prevent you from wallet-busting bills.

Lisa adds: “Renewable energy suppliers often don’t come top in the best buys but as global wholesale prices continue to be blamed for increasing costs, the future is bright for innovative utility companies and their customers.”

Other things you can do to get greener energy

* You can invest in solar panels and generate your own electricity – in fact some energy providers will pay you for any excess energy you generate (that you don’t need of course!). A government scheme called the Renewable Heat Premium Payment can help towards buying them, it runs  from 1 August 2011 – 31 March 2012. For more details http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

*Find out about the different types of solar panels http://www.which.co.uk/environment-and-saving-energy/energy/guides/how-to-buy-solar-panels/solar-panel-jargon/

* If you don’t already  pay your energy supplier by direct debit do so.

* Buy energy saving products.

* Install insulation or buy a new energy efficient boiler.

* Check with your local authority what other grants and offers are available for people who want to make their homes more energy efficient.

* Even simple draught proofing to fill the gaps around your windows can help

*Fit energy saving glazing – it can save you around £140 per year in heating costs, as well as 720 kilograms of CO₂.

*Consider a condensing boiler. These boilers are the most energy efficient on the market and upgrading to a condensing boiler and full heating controls could save up to £225 per year.