From £6000 ----> £9000 in 2023.

NinjaSavingKat

Yes thank you. 
However. Reducing food allowance to £50 allows a clean £135 for 4 weeks at least. 
Parents are offering a birthday gift that might be protein powder for a few weeks which means I am ahead of the game there and the "other" £35 could be diverted there for one week. 
However I don't want to get too tight. 
Stocked up on items ahead of the game as mentioned before so need to sacrifice food money foe a few weeks. 
Found cheaper and much nicer chocolate protein powder. 
Nice suggestion, so I glad I researched this. £22.99 a bag instead of £34.99. 

duesouthtwin2

Still working away this week for me. Have had 5 no spend days. Worked out that I have 23 days until pay day and that’s now £13 a day on food/petrol. 

NinjaSavingKat

Greetings one and all..


Its been a busy few days recently. 

My manager is off for her wedding so I am alone for 2 weeks acting up. Not terrifying at all. 
All car monies is going to petrol. Madness.

Cat insurance people refusing to pay. Her medical history indicated "tartar noted" in November 2019. I took the policy out in March 2020. So they say its a pre-existing issue.  Therefore no payment. I am sending on last email to them and then may possibly challenge the vet as no "teeth clean" was advised until late 2021. Who is at fault??

Then I may cancel the insurance altogether and just put money away for her each month as per normal. This would have stood me in better stead anyway and I would have had the "insurance" payments ready to hand over to the vet. They have also upped the premium from £15.99 a month to £20.99 a month. 

What would you do?

Am x 2 payments of £135 away from being on track for the year in my long term savings - then we start seeing the extra £50 a week working and the whole total will increase faster. 

Have my managers wedding on Friday so will need to pay for a 2 hour round trip and a small gift. Will be organising one from work colleagues too so wondering if its stingy to amalgamate my offerings in that??

Garden coming along nicely. Seedlings poking their head through the soil each day. Manure spread on one large bed ready for direct planting of chard and beetroot after we are done with this crazy frost.

Plenty more to be planted though. I want a constant supply of goodies. 

Have not bought myself a birthday gift. Might not bother either. 

Nowt much else from me..

MovingForwards

I've always self-funded vet bills, even when I had some that went outside; indoor only now. It's about £1k I've spent over the years as I don't do jabs, don't take them for annual check ups, monitor their behaviour and if anything is 'off' I book an appointment.

My cat has a pocket money tin to cover her bills, but a regular saver would be better.

Amalgamate it all, do a collective from all of us gift.

Don't forget wages will increase later this year due to the personal allowance change, you'll get about £30 extra a month after deductions.

Do buy yourself a gift, even if it's something for the garden which will keep producing each year.

NinjaSavingKat

I splurged on a book. The Vegan Iraqi Cookbook. Been eyeballing it since before it's publishing date last March. Couldn't justify it at £30. 

Really wanted a £350 helicopter flying lesson but this will do for now..

More later. One has arrived at the gym..

duesouthtwin2

I think definitely open a saver account instead of paying for pet insurance. It just gets stupid expensive as they get older and insurance argue more about paying out. 

I’m back to work tomorrow. 

Had a lovely few free days away with my “rich friend”- psychologist married to a doctor. Lovely people but funny seeing how the other half live. Everything they showed me in their house was introduced by price (sofa-£5000 per sofa of a three set), did I sleep well as my bed sheets cost £300 and I was able to borrow silk pyjamas which cost £250 a set. Was shown their relatives house which we could not even go inside as they are away on holiday so essentially it was an hours drive away to see that the had a gated drive way house so a wasted journey just to see a gate and a small drive way- funny that it was important to them that I see that for some reason. They paid for my food and petrol though so that was lovely of them. My friend and I spoke about saving and my struggles and she confessed that she felt guilty having married rich and she came from a rich family so was given £100k for her deposit for her flat in London. Tried to lessen her guilt though and agree that she be grateful she has the opportunities she does thanks to her loving family and be a bit more frugal if she can - and nicer towards her cleaner as she can be a bit hard on “the help”. 

NinjaSavingKat

Wow!!!!!!!. I honestly can't believe people are like this. I'm the last person to be impressed with any sort of wealth show off. 

Did you feel awkward? Or unable to relax in your silk pyjamas..? I'm glad she recognised she's privileged but my goodness actually saying out loud that she is hard on the help..I'd have found it hard to keep my mouth shut. 

Did you ask her why they travelled so far for a day out to see a gate? Shoulda mentioned you'd prefer a helicopter ride...

duesouthtwin2

How are you all? NSK how was the wedding? Busy working over here. Got some OT and bank holidays coming up. Pay day soon and I’ve done a big food shop and have over £200 left from my budget - which will go into my Lifetime ISA. Keeping motivated with YouTube videos and Instagram accounts about money saving, budgeting etc 

NinjaSavingKat

Hello beautiful people. 
Tis been a while.
Been covering work and earning extra £££ while the manager has been off. Work, gym, sleep, rinse and repeat. 
Lost nearly 5.5lb body fat (purposefully) so any spare time has been used to prep meals. Another 25 to go. 
£800 in long term savings. All up to date now from what it should be. £135 a time for a few weeks. 
Now £100 flat a week. Looking forward to 4 digits in a few weeks. 
CC still clear. 
£40 wedding donation. Very nice day. 
Protein powder and such like a good investment in bulk. Might do that again. Worked out well. 
Prepping the garden everyday now. Love picking my food of an evening.. 🤣
Right. Deadlifts. More soon. 

MovingForwards

You're doing well.
Keep up the gardening and mini harvests, always lifts mood and the novelty doesn't wear off.