The reluctant moneysaving equestrian smallholder

Watty1

I am just starting this thread to try and motivate me to keep going this time. I'm an avid reader but I wonder by the state of my finances if I actually really learn anything. I do great moneysaving then blow it all :rotfl:This year I want to do better!

My goals are to sort out a proper retirement plan and learn to budget, to live within my income and to save a hefty sum!. I originally wanted to pay a lump off the morgage but for reasons that I wont go into right now that might not be ideal!

Reluctant - because I am having to face up to a lot - ha ha - equestrian - because I have 2 horses - and smallholder because I am lucky enough to live in a lovely cottage that we have been renovating that has 3.5 acres of land. There are dreams of self sufficiency which I will explore this year hopefully. Although I do work full time.

And my wake up call was realising yesterday that I have no idea what my credit card debt is as I have been using 4 cards; I am personally overdrawn and the joint account is overdrawn too!

So I spent yesterday weeding the apple grove - 16 baby apple trees planted last year and pruning. I found 6 horse rugs to ebay and a few books to pop on amazon.

Today is raining and windy - and its a work day - I'm self employed - so am in the office. Along with my work, I also plan to sort out the exact extent of my debts. More later!

Watty1

Wow! Just checked emails. 2 books sold on Amazon. One for £9.52 and one for £3.30. That was quick. Its a sign this is going to work this time she writes with a huge grin!

Watty1

Think I might have got a touch too excited. Sold 2 rugs on ebay and as they were new - the elderly pony died earlier in the year and never wore them. I emailed the buyer to say I had a third one just like the two he had bought but not as heavy so ideal for less cold days. However this rug had been worn and needed a clean ...but just wondered if he was interested. Yippee!! He was. And as I reduced the price to save me paying for the cleaning we are both happy. So all 3 sold and I was feeling really skippy and cheerful. Went for a walk to discover huge expanse of post and rail fencing down. The *idiot* the neighbours employed to do some earth moving clearly damaged the fence. But of course *the idiot* denies was him and suggests that the fencing just came down. Yeah right! And the neighbours don't want to use the field just now so are not worried - of course their dog escapes but they think that is just fine. Ahhhh..... On closer inspection the boyfriend did realise that a few of the posts have rotted through and before going off to work wedged a post in to keep it kinda upright. But thats not going to last. One of the other fields is unusable because the gateposts have rotted through. So lets see.....
£158 sales on ebay + £12.82 on amazon = £170.82 in ...and probably about £600 to £1000 to repair the fences around the place. Fencing guy coming out Thurs.
Maybe this is not going to be as easy as it seemed a few hours ago (sigh)

LAM2011

Hi Watty - I too am a horse owner and can understand exactly where you are coming from. Mine are on DIY though - you are lucky to have your own place. We did rent for a while and the maintenance is always ongoing.

I got myself credit card fee last year by ebaying a lot of unused / unwanted tack and also did surveys and every spare penny went towards the cc debt! I just have my loan to sort now and then just before christmas the old boy got a nasty kick to the knee so I have a nice vet bill on its way to me but hey ho - at least now I have the cash to pay for it - this time last year it would have had to go on the cc!

Good luck with your mission.

Watty1

Thanks Lam. I really didn't bargin for how much maintence and work land to keep horses on would be! Daft really. Hope your boy makes a speedy recovery. And great work on clearing the card debt....am optomistic I can clear mine too!

Watty1

So a busy evening at the desk. The credit card debt tallys up to £2017.87. The overdraft on one account £987 and the overdraft on the joint account nearly £2000. Awesome amount of debt. Began working through bank statements to see where the money goes.

Took the Christmas cards down and used some of them to make tags for next year. First time I've ever done that - seemed so obvious really. I'm trying to convince myself that saving a £1 here and there really will make a difference.

And the fun stuff - some of the cards hang on a piece of string suspeneded on 2 blocks of wood wedged on top of 2 cupboards, 1 either side of a kitchen window. It occured to me I could make bunting to go there for birthdays and hang birthday cards there. So I googled how to make bunting .... I'm somewhat domestically challenged .... and yep it looks possible. And I'm thinking there are old clothes that would normally be thrown away that I could use for that. And charity shop clothes would make a good cheap source of fabric too. So that will be a fun thing to do on the winters evenings!

goRt

LAM2011 wrote: »

Hi Watty - I too am a horse owner and can understand exactly where you are coming from. Mine are on DIY though - you are lucky to have your own place. We did rent for a while and the maintenance is always ongoing.

If you rent it's the landowner's responsibility to maintain the fences - they can put what they wish in the contract (you did / do have one), but they remain obliged to maintain.
That said they may choose barbed wire where my preference is tape and a good 'zapper'

(yes, got plenty of horses)

LAM2011

There was 9 acres that if we wanted dividing up we had to do ourselves and had a friends horse with us that constantly broke through fencing and yes even though it was electric fencing there was always something that needed doing! Another example was Landlord decided to remove all the guttering on a Friday from around the barn - stupidly I didnt notice as I get home in the dark - low and behold storms and flooded stables - luckily my OH is a builder but it was still another job to do. Hence the reason we moved and bought our own place and put horses back into livery.

goRt

LAM2011 wrote: »

There was 9 acres that if we wanted dividing up we had to do ourselves and had a friends horse with us that constantly broke through fencing and yes even though it was electric fencing there was always something that needed doing! Another example was Landlord decided to remove all the guttering on a Friday from around the barn - stupidly I didnt notice as I get home in the dark - low and behold storms and flooded stables - luckily my OH is a builder but it was still another job to do. Hence the reason we moved and bought our own place and put horses back into livery.

One thing's for sure - there's always something to do with horses!

Watty1

Have had a chat with the bank and have increased overdraft to pay off the credit card. Now I know I could have transferred this to an interest free card but this way makes more sense to me as I will be paying all ebay money straight on to the overdraft.
I have always been amazed at people on these boards who make large sums selling off stuff they don't need on ebay, imagining they must have mountains of 'stuff' and thinking I could never do that. But it really is possible. And it adds up - I got £21 for a cup and saucer for example - wow - anyway so far with ebay sales of stuff from the kitchen (I had some vintage kitchen bits in cupboard) and the stuff from the tack room I've managed to raise nearly £500. And I am transferring that to the overdraft as it comes in via Paypal. If I keep going selling and transferring I will clear the credit card debt. Then I will work on the overdrafts.
Am resolved to eat out of the freezer only although I relented and bought a tub of cream at a garage on the way home today. So far so good - 9 days into the year and we havent needed to food shop. Boyfriend keeps popping into local village to buy himself ham and cheese and other bits though thinking it doesn't count if he buys just enough for himself for a meal ... despite saying he understands we have to eat out of the freezer! Yesterday he came back with a loaf of bread ... heaven help me there are 3 loaves in the blooming freezer! I think I need to talk with him again!

oldtractor

welcome to the board. Another equestrian smallholder here. 2 bed cottage 5 acres 2 horses large veg plot.Growing you own food is great both financially and its also just a lovely thing to do very satisfying. [my comma is broken on the laptop]. I find jam jars are a good idea virtual ones i allow money for each category for example horse;car; house;food;going out;clothes;and so on. I have a spread sheet and allocate money each month into each. Very helpful with budgeting. I am now a month in front which is comforting and am building up some savings;slowly but its coming along.