How to buy all the paint you need without touching your savings

I've cracked it. Five hundred quid's worth of boat paint and I don't need to dip into my bank account.

This is how its done.

1. First fail to properly read your notice of income tax coding for nearly five years.

2. Then, just before you have to buy all your paint, notice that HM Revenue and Customs has been stopping you about £11 a month all that time because they still think you have a car allowance from work, (even though you retired nearly five years ago).

3. Ring up HMRC to complain, and

4. hey presto, on the day you put your paint order in, you get a cheque in the post to cover the whole lot.

Simples. Well it worked for me anyway.

Now you might say I should be angry, not pleased, because they have been taking my cash all this time, but I can't see it that way. It's like putting on an old coat and finding a 20 pound note in the pocket. It seems like new money.

Glass half full - that's me.