Find the SecondStar and soar, and then straight on till the morning…

SecondStar

You’re right KK, thank you! I hope your weekend was also lovely

KajiKita

SecondStar said:

You’re right KK, thank you! I hope your weekend was also lovely

Glad I could help 😊
Pretty good 😊 

KK

SecondStar

Partner was thrilled with his sheepskin! He’d said he thought he might receive a card, but that in previous relationships it had been made out to him that Valentine’s Day was only about the woman which I thought was very sad, and definitely not how I see things.

Up to 14 NSDs, including today - the sheepskin was paid for by my selling a hat, but it still counted as a spend day; and I had to get another spool of linen thread to finish up my wool dress. I’m nearly done - I just have to fell 1 arm seam, and hem the bottom and the sleeves!

Our next training day next weekend is going to be in kit, and then we have a new members day coming soon which will also be in kit - both are coming earlier than expected, as our first event is in March, but it’ll give me the push I need to finish up some garments. I still need to source a trefoil brooch to close 1 apron dress, and potentially tortoise brooches too. The lowest cost I’ve found for decent brooches is £40-£50 for a pair, which is still on the steep side, so I may just leave them off, do up some non-authentic apron dress straps which don’t require brooches, and be unhappy about it. A trefoil brooch is around £20, which is much more reasonable, and will add a little bit of bling until I can save up for the tortoise brooches.

Realistically, I need to start working on stock for sale, and relegate my personal projects to the side. I could start running up my personal items on the sewing machine to save myself a LOT of time, but the thought breaks my heart! There’s just not enough hours in the day!

On the plus side, other than an unexpected medication cost for £30, I’m still on budget for February. Projecting the next couple of weeks, I should have enough for petrol and groceries. Pet costs may be higher - need to get dry dog food, a container of joint supplements, and order 6 months of Gabapentin. This may put me over by another £30ish, unless I forgo the joint supplement until March.



Overall, I’m pleased with how the month is going. The weather is getting nicer, and the evenings aren’t so dark so early. I know that’ll set back a bit when the clocks move, but it is very heartening to think about the summer days to come!

DancingInTheRain

Delurkung to suggest a pre payment certificate may be a good option for you to manage medication costs:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescription-costs/nhs-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc

SecondStar

DancingInTheRain said:

Delurkung to suggest a pre payment certificate may be a good option for you to manage medication costs:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescription-costs/nhs-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc

Oops, should’ve made that a bit clearer - it’s pet medication that I’m wrangling, not mine thankfully! I do buy written prescription slips from the vets, and order the meds online, which helps with costs. It’s just making sure that I get the timing right of ordering slips and meds, which is tricky with 5 different prescriptions to keep track of!

DancingInTheRain

Oh sorry, my mistake!  x

SecondStar

Bad bits first - looks like this month might not be as comfortable financially as I”d thought. After absorbing additional meds costs, if I get dry cat food and a large bag of dry dog food, then I’ll be over for my pet costs budget by £18. And it’s looking like I didn’t budget enough for my bus fare for the month, so I’ll be about £14 short.

I’ve got £27 left for groceries, and £66 left for petrol. I think I have a full tank, but I’ve also got 3 long round trips to make between now and pay day, so it’ll be cutting it fine.

From my estimating, it looks as though I’ll need to take a bit from savings again to cover for the month.



Good bits - I had a wonderful Saturday! My partner surprised me by booking us tickets to the science museum! It’s the sort of place that all the locals visit on school trips as children, but I’d never been before. It was very much geared towards kids, and with it being the end of the half term it was absolutely rammed, but we still enjoyed ourselves and had lots of fun. It meant so much to me that he’d remembered a passing comment I’d made ages ago about how I’d never been, and then booked it as a surprise for me. After spending too long in relationships which treated me poorly, it never fails to fill me with awe and wonder that I’m now in a partnership which is actually thoughtful, kind, and loving.

I finished my green wool dress on Friday! My fingertips are so sore from manipulating thick wool into tiny, neat seams, but I’m SO pleased with it, it’s beautiful. I can’t wait to wear it next weekend for our first training session in kit.

I’ve decided to just put non-authentic straps on my apron dresses, for now. It means I’ll be able to wear them straight away, without the tortoise brooches, and then I can save up for a pair I really like. I’ll check the budget and see about getting a £20 trefoil brooch when I get paid, which will be enough for now. My partner surprised me with a beautiful hand forged iron penannular brooch he’d made for me, to pin my cloak in place, and it’s 1 of a matching pair for us both which will be very cute!

My partner also offered to contribute half of the cost of the tortoise brooches, as a gift; but he’s been so generous in the past few weeks, I think I’d feel too uncomfortable accepting much more for a while. He isn’t well off either - he might now have anywhere near as many overheads as I do, but for him, money is dependent on students in the forge, or commission work, both of which have been thin after Christmas. I at least have the security of a full time wage, even if it’s not much and it’s all eaten up by pet costs, and running a household.

It’s a balance between me not being used to receiving or accepting *any* sort of help or assistance, or being perceived as needing help or assistance; and him wanting to help, provide, and *give* to me. Every relationship is different in how these things are balanced - we’re working it out between us as we go, and we’ll find that balance with time and communication.

SecondStar

Phew! After a lot of number crunching and forehead scrunching, I’ve managed to get an accurate figure for the monthly amount I have to save for each vet prescription, for each medicine, and for the 2 lots of 12 monthly blood works.

With some luck, and a whole lot more self control, I should be +£227 from February’s pay cheque.

I do still need to pay for a new exhaust + fitting, and a service before my MOT in April - will likely need new brake pads/discs, judging by the crunching noise my brakes are making; but that’s the only other large planned expense on the horizon. So while I might look +£££ in paper, in reality I doubt it will be!

One of these days I’ll post the full break down of my income and expenses, just to horrify you all! I thank my lucky stars every day that my housing cost is so low, or else I wouldn’t be able to cope.

SecondStar

Ah boo, here you go. If any budget boffins want to cast their eye over it, please feel free, though with many months of practice I’ve got it mostly streamlined. I am open to (kind) advice and suggestion though

The below is for 1 month - I get paid on the last working day.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 1640

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0

Total monthly income.................... 1640

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 338.2

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 49

Electricity............................. 50

Gas..................................... 60

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 0

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 8

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 26

Groceries etc. ......................... 120

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 150

Road tax................................ 0

Car Insurance........................... 38

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 78

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 32

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 18

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0

Haircuts................................ 0

Entertainment........................... 0

Holiday................................. 0

Emergency fund.......................... 0

Dog - 1x physio session ................ 45

Dog - 2x hydro sessions................. 90

Pets - sinking fund for blood work ..... 26

Pets - sinking fund for prescriptions... 29

Pets - online medications............... 96

Pets - arthritis jabs................... 153

Pet costs (food, litter, supplements)... 100

Health insurance ....................... 13

Spotify................................. 11

Apple storage plan...................... 9

Total monthly expenses.................. 1539.2

Assets

Cash.................................... 4808.59

House value (Gross)..................... 75000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 5500

Other assets............................ 200

Total Assets............................ 85508.59

Secured & HP Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 67888....(338.2)....4.84

Total secured & HP debts...... 67888.....-.........-   

Unsecured Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-  

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 1,640

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,539.2

Available for debt repayments........... 100.8

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0

Amount left after debt repayments....... 100.8

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 85,508.59

Total HP & Secured debt................. -67,888

Total Unsecured debt.................... -0

Net Assets.............................. 17,620.59

Crumbs, that makes uncomfortable viewing. Reiterating again the request to be kind.

Notes:
- Coming into the warmer months, my gas bill will be lower as the heating won’t be on. However, having learnt how much it spikes during the winter months, I think it’ll be prudent to still keep overpaying and either depositing it on the meter to build a buffer, or to save the excess cash in an account to offset the cost next winter.
- I just switched electricity suppliers, so I’m hopeful the electric cost will come down a little in the coming months.
- I probably don’t need Spotify premium, so that can go.
- I can definitely get a better deal on my house insurance - that’s up for renewal in May. The building insurance also covers contents, hence why contents is £0.
- I probably don’t need health insurance, since I’ve still not dealt with the health issues which I took the insurance out for, and it’s been 2 years… I suppose that can go too.
- The life insurance is in place more for the critical illness cover - I don’t care about leaving money to anyone if I die, but the protection it provides if I’m unable to work is important. Again, this is for renewal in May so there may be better options out there.
- I currently don’t keep or save into a separate vehicle maintenance / MOT fund, and need to start doing this.
- I’m currently not saving into Christmas / present funds, and need to start doing this too, even if it’s only £5.
- Any small spends or expense usually gets pulled either from groceries, or from general pet costs - it’s not ideal, but these are the 2 areas which I can cut in-month a tiny bit, if need be.



Realistically, looking at those numbers, the only way out of this is to increase my income and / or await the awful day when my pet expenses get slashed. My darling dog has just turned 13, and I know that they don’t live forever. While he’s here with me, he gets everything he needs to remain comfortable, pain-free, and happy - and when it’s his time he’ll be given a dignified end as well. And now I’ll stop before I start crying over what is a very happy, hearty dog!

linz

De-lurking to say I totally get where you are coming from regarding doggo. I lost my beloved dog a couple of years ago, just shy of his 17th birthday and like yours, he wanted for nothing. I still miss him every day.

Some suggestions which may help (?)

Do you use Too Good To Go or Olio for cheap/free food? Or do you go out in the evenings for yellow stickered stuff? I have a drive round a few co-ops near me once a week and freeze any YS meat or veg or bread I find. I also use YS fruit/veg to make smoothies or soups for lunches. Also do 'something' on toast once a week for a cheap tea.

Use the Petrolprices app to find your cheapest petrol station. There's a page somewhere about driving optimally to conserve fuel. Every little helps - here it is - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/cheaper-fuel/

I don't know if this is allowed but my energy provider is Octopus. I know you said you've just changed ,but Octopus offer £50 bill credit. I can refer you if you like. Their customer service is great and they are very environment focussed.

Do you do Prolific.co surveys? It's a great way to make a little extra £ each month.

Check out the top savings rates for putting away your vehicle maintenance money - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/

Have you thought about bank switching? Natwest currently offering £200. If you don't want to change your main bank, open a burner account, set up (change) 2 of your direct debits to it then switch that. As long as they're a member of the Current Account Switching Service it'll work (as long as your mortgage is not up for renewal in the next 6 months).

Good luck