Ex council house transformation

A WOMAN has revealed how she built a tiny shed in the garden of her family home and transformed it into her bedroom to get some peace and quiet.

Ellie, from the UK, shared the transformation of her tiny home over on her TikTok account (@ elliewc2003 ).

In the TikTok video, Ellie first showed the tiny shed she bought – a standard wooden panelled outhouse most people have in their garden.

But instead of filling it with a lawnmower and tools, Ellie put a single bed in there to create her cosy oasis outside the family home.

She wrote: “When you turn a shed into your own bedroom.”

While it might not look like much from the outside, the brunette beauty had gone all out on the interiors to transform the home .

She laid a black and white rug on the floor to add some warmth, and a single bed so she could lie down for a nap.

Ellie even brought in a bedside table, a lamp and flowers to decorate it with.

She also added fairy lights to the ceiling of the shed and hung a TV up on the wall.

The shed was also kitted out with a fan for the warmer months and a mini space heater for the colder ones.

The initial video went viral with over 350k views 21,000 likes.

In a separate video , the young woman wrote: “This is your sign to make a shed into somewhere to chill to get away from everyone.”

Despite Ellie loving her new hideout, many people took to the comments claiming there would be way too many bugs inside for them to enjoy it.

One wrote: “What about spiders?”

Another person commented: “Omg nooooo earwigs.”

“Bare lucky,” penned a third.

Meanwhile, a fourth added: “Tip, put some insulation in.”

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) delegation at the Government Headquarters on March 22.

The attendees were leaders of the Government Office and the ministries of Planning and Investment, Industry and Trade, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Transport, Information and Communication, Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, Culture – Sports and Tourism.

Also in attendance were the State Bank of Vietnam, the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council President and CEO Ted Osius, the U.S. Ambassador in Vietnam Marc E. Knapper.

The leaders of more than 50 leading enterprises in the U.S. and the world were there too, including AES, Netflix, Boeing, Apple, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Abbott, Visa, Citibank, Meta, Ford, and FedEx Express.

The Prime Minister welcomed the USABC and the U.S. business delegation to Vietnam, and the delegation members joined a frank, sincere and effective working session with Vietnamese agencies.

This is a continuation of previous working sessions and exchanges between the Vietnamese Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, branches and localities and the USABC and the U.S. businesses to remove difficulties, overcome challenges and develop together.

The Prime Minister thanked the U.S. Government for supporting Vietnam in COVID-19 prevention and control.

Thanks to USABC and the U.S. businesses for accompanying Vietnam in overcoming difficulties, recovering and developing during the past years; he said the Government of Vietnam is always open and ready to listen to the thoughts, aspirations and opinions of the U.S. business community.

The Prime Minister said that Vietnam considers the U.S. one of its most important partners and welcomes the U.S. to support a strong, independent, prosperous Vietnam.

Vietnam wishes to promote the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership relation to becoming more substantive, stable, and intensive based on respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institutions of each other.

The head of Government praised the production and business investment activities and high sense of responsibility of the U.S. business community in Vietnam, affirming that the Government is always open and ready to listen to the thoughts, aspirations and opinions of the U.S. business community.

The Prime Minister said that the Government always protects the legitimate rights and interests of investors and respects, encourages and is ready to create favourable conditions for this sector to develop in the long term, cooperate and compete healthily with other economic sectors in the spirit of “harmonious benefits, shared risks”.

The Representatives of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council and U.S. businesses express their trust in Vietnam’s economic growth prospects, undertaking to place long-term investment in Vietnam, especially in the fields of green transformation, digital transformation, energy transformation, finance, manufacturing, automobile industry, entertainment industry, healthcare, life sciences, logistics, speeding up planning, and approving a few specific projects.

The U.S. businesses give the Government, ministries and branches of Vietnam a few suggestions to create more favourable conditions such as a legal framework on e-commerce; information network security and information accessibility; policy of tax; capital market reformation to promote investment; less cumbersome visa granting policy.

Energy continues to be the main topic of discussion with the goal of promoting the development of multi-billion U.S.-dollar energy projects in Vietnam.

A representative from AES Vietnam who joined the delegation said, “AES is the largest U.S. investor in Vietnam’s energy sector and plays active role in energy cooperation between the two countries, with our current projects Son My LNG terminal and Son My 2 power plant. Progress on these large- scale projects by AES and other member companies will help move Vietnam forward”.

After leaders of ministries and branches communicated and answered the comments and suggestions given by the USABC and the U.S. businesses, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged the comments and answered suggestions given by the USABC and the U.S. businesses.

He also directed the ministries and branches of Vietnam to continue processing the issues according to the opinions and suggestions of the U.S. businesses, thereby continuing to promote economic cooperation, contributing to promoting Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership relation become a substantive, effective, equal and mutually beneficial relationship.

The Prime Minister says that the Government of Vietnam continues to create favourable conditions for U.S. businesses to expand investment in Vietnam while creating conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to participate more deeply in the production value chain of the U.S. businesses.

He suggests that the two sides continue to discuss removing the barriers in production and business and improving the business investment environment.

The Prime Minister also informs about a few specific industries and fields that the USABC and the U.S. businesses are interested in, such as the digital economy and creative industries, healthcare, energy, agriculture, and aviation.

The Head of the Government of Vietnam suggests that USABC businesses should continue to act as a bridge between the US Government and businesses and the Government of Vietnam.

This will support to promote the cooperation channels between the two countries; strengthen the substantive and effective cooperation with Vietnam based on optimising the potentiality in the framework of Vietnam-US Comprehensive Partnership relation, especially in the field of the economy-trade – investment; urge the U.S. Government to strengthen the economic and trade activities with ASEAN, to contribute to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in Southeast Asia in particular and Asia-Pacific in general.

The Prime Minister suggests the USABC expand its investment business in Vietnam, focusing on the fields where Vietnam needs, and the USABC’s businesses have their strengths. The cooperation between business associations, industry associations and businesses of the two countries should be strengthened to create conditions for Vietnamese businesses to participate more deeply in the global supply chain and value.

The USABC cooperates with Vietnam in researching and developing specific policies to be able to approach and attract investment from the U.S. multinational companies in the two options: carrying out the big, high-tech projects, creating favourable conditions for the corporations to build the R&D centres, technology incubators associated with human resource training, modern management; USABC strengthens its cooperation, procurement and technology transfer to Vietnamese businesses, especially in the fields of vaccine production, therapeutic drugs, medical equipment, high technology, digital agriculture, and clean, smart agriculture to adapt to climate change.

The Prime Minister affirms that Vietnam is ready to import machines, equipment, tools and spare parts from the U.S. to improve the Vietnam-U.S. trade balance.

He suggests that U.S. businesses research and develop cooperation with Vietnam in this option and supports the Government of Vietnam’s cooperation with the U.S. Government in forming a bilateral cooperation mechanism on investment promotion to assess the potential, demand and investment cooperation opportunities between the two countries and increase two-way investment flows.

The Prime Minister believes that the USABC and the U.S. businesses will make effective contributions to the promotion of the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership relation more and more substantive and intensive based on mutual benefits, bringing growth and jobs for the people of both countries, contributing to the maintenance of the peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

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A MAN converted an old school bus into a motorhome which cost him nearly the same price as a house to do up.

Alexander Nomad, 23, took a gamble when he bought the traditional American yellow motor back in 2020.

Originally saving up to buy a house, the Brit decided to pour all his money into transforming the bus into a mini home instead.

Despite it being the “craziest” thing he’s done, Alexander said the decision changed his life.

Sharing his journey on TikTok , he said: “In May of 2020 I did the craziest thing I’ve ever done and completely changed my life.

“I bought a 2009 American school bus from New York and had it shipped to the UK, to convert into a tiny home.

“This is probably the biggest risk I’ve ever taken in my life because the savings for the project were earmarked to buy a house .”

Before any renovations could begin, the bus had to be driven from the States to the UK.

Alexander, who named the bus Hilda, said it was driven to Southampton Port and then to a farm in North Norfolk.

He spent the next eight months ripping out the chairs and floorboards.

The savvy guy carried out all of the work himself including painting, sanding and drilling.

His video sharing his story was flooded with comments from users inspired by the project.

One said: “This is so cool. Good luck on your adventure.”

Another added: “Really cool, very inspiring.”

A third user commented: “That is awesome,” while a fourth person said: “Absolutely brilliant.”

Alexander now shares updates to his TikTok account @hildathebus.

A WOMAN who wanted to make her bedroom cosier without buying anything new has shared her top tips for other people to do it too.

Rachel took to her TikTok page to share a video showing the room as it looked at first, as she explained that she and her family were staying there – in her parents’ home – while they looked for a house.

“Day one of trying to make our room feel more cosy without buying anything,” she began.

“So a lot of you know that we’re living with my parents right now while we look for houses.

“But all of their decorations plus all of our own things was starting to stress me out a little bit.

“So I’m starting to take everything down and then organise all of my own things.

“Now this is definitely going to be a work in progress but honestly I’m kind of excited to see how this turns out.”

She ended the first day having organised some of her children’s bits, as well as removing all of her parents’ pictures and nautical-themed decorations from the walls and shelves.

She wiped down the shelf that ran around the room, and then put the boxes of nappies and baby stuff on top.

“Some things have changed since my last video – it was time for baby Ruby to upgrade to a big girl crib,” she said in the next video.

“My plan is to make this a cute little corner for her.”

She changed up her bedside organisation because it was “bugging” her, and then moved on to her husband’s side.

“I found some more pillows from a different room and I think this helps a little.”

She also added a vase and some artificial flowers on the shelf above her husband’s side.

She was a bit baffled as to what to put on the three nails on the wall -where some pictures had been – and decided to put hangers on there.

“Someone said that the hangers look odd and I should use string to hang pictures but I don’t have pictures yet,” Rachel said in the third clip.

“It’s already complete and I’m so much happier with this,” she said.

But she then turned the camera to the other end of the room, which she admitted she had no idea what to do with.

“this is the first video i’ve seen of another mother living at home with family and it made me feel so much better about my same living situation,” one person commented on her video.

To which Rachel replied: “Awhh!! It’s so nice to not feel so alone in it.

“Especially seeing all the moms with nice big houses of their own on my fyp all the time.”

“bro as soon as I saw the room I said out loud ‘this is the cosiest room I have ever seen’,” another added.

“omg i think it looks less busy and more relaxing,” a third commented.

“That looks so much better getting rid of the beach stuff,” someone else wrote.

With Rachel replying: “Yess!!

“I was hesitant to do it for a bit because I didn’t want to offend my mum because they’re her decor lol.”

MILLIONS of households will be hit by council tax bills of more than £2,000 in just weeks – but there is help available.

Annual council tax bills in England will rise by an average of 5.1% in April, according to government figures released today.

The average bill will be £2,065 in 2023-24 – an increase of £99 on the previous year.

The biggest annual percentage rise will be in London , where bills for an average band D property will increase by 6.2%.

Households in metropolitan areas outside London will see bills rise by 5.1% to an average of £2,059.

But largely rural parts of the country will see an increase of 5% to just below £2,140.

Top tier councils – those responsible for adult and children’s social care – are now able to increase council tax to a threshold of 5% without a referendum.

This includes 3% for core council tax and the maximum 2% for the social care precept.

Out of the 153 top-tier councils, 151 have applied the maximum 2% precept for social care.

A spokesperson for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “Council tax levels are set by local authorities and the government maintains a referendum threshold to protect residents from excessive increases.”

The amount you’ll pay is determined by the local council and depends on which “band” the property you live in falls under .

Your home’s band is based on its value – the more expensive the property, the more council tax will be charged.

You can challenge your council tax band if you think it’s incorrect.

If it is, not only will you pay less moving forward, but you can get a refund on the overpayments made since you first moved into the property

One savvy saver got back £7,800 after challenging her council tax band.

How can I challenge my council tax band?

Properties across the UK are banded from A to H which dictates how much council tax you should pay.

But the bands were created based on property values back in 1991, so many households may find that they should be on a different band today.

Luckily, you can challenge your band if you think it’s wrong and recoup any money you might have overpaid.

It’s worth noting, you might be re-banded and have to pay more council tax so think before you rush into making a challenge.

You have to submit your challenge to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) if you live in England or Wales.

You can do this on the government’s website.

Alternatively, you can call the VOA on 03000 501 501 for England or 03000 505 505 for Wales or email on [email protected]

You will need some information to hand when it comes to making your challenge.

This includes giving addresses of up to five similar properties in a lower council tax band in your immediate area.

Plus, you will have to say what type of property you live in, its size, age and style and design.

Bear in mind, the challenging process is different if you live in Scotland.

You should go to the Scottish government’s website for more information.

If you make a challenge and you are in the correct council tax band, there are other ways to get reductions if you are struggling financially.

You can get council tax reductions if you are single, elderly or on certain benefits .

More council tax support

Council tax discounts

There are a number of discounts you could get, depending on your circumstances.

Factors such as your household income, whether you have children, and if you receive any benefits, will influence what you get.

To apply for any of the below discounts, go through the government website .

You’ll need your national insurance number, bank statements, a recent payslip or letter from the Jobcentre, and a passport or driving licence when filling out the details.

If you are not sure which local authority you live in , you can check the government’s council locator to find out.

Single people

If you live on your own, you can get 25% off your council tax bill .

This also applies if there is one adult and one student living together in a property, or if there is one adult and one person classed as severely mentally impaired in the home.

If you live with someone who doesn’t have to pay council tax, such as a carer or someone who is severely mentally impaired, you could get a larger reduction too, of up to 50%.

And, if you live in an all-student household, you could get a 100% discount.

A full list of circumstances that exempt you from paying council tax can be found on Citizens Advice .

Retirees

Pensioners may also find themselves eligible for a council tax reduction.

If you receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, you could get a 100% discount.

If not, you could still get help if you have a low income and less than £16,000 in savings.

And a pensioner who lives alone will be entitled to a 25% discount too.

Low-income households

If you are on a low income or receiving benefits , you could eligible for a reduction on your council tax.

Whether you are eligible will vary depending on where you live.

You could also get a deferral if you’re struggling to pay your bill, or you can speak to your council about setting up a payment plan to manage the cost.

But one thing to remember is if you are struggling you should contact your council as early as you can.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]