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

SecondStar

Well, I got the bathroom all painted eventually! *whispers* I think it may be the wrong colour…

But I’m not going to rush into changing it, I’m going to sit with it and style it as best I can for now, and then see how I feel about it.

May has been rocky for budgeting and tracking spending. My NSD tracking went completely out of the window, and whilst I’ve reined in tightly in the last half of the month it’s still been a close call. I’m coming in budget for petrol, and transport costs, and will be under budget for groceries too - I’ve been living off of pancakes and pasta for the last 2 weeks!



After the abundance of May, June is going to feel like a lean month - I’m going to get back on form with tracking spending and NSDs, and it’ll be a ‘play with what you have already’ type of month. The weekends are all chocoblock with various reenactment dates, and other fun days out; and I’ll likely be spending my evenings nalbinding stock items for our biiiig event in August.



Work has opened up overtime again, just for June for now, and so I’ll be trying to do as much as I’m able to get some much needed £££. It won’t be paid in until June/July, but the extra cash will be much appreciated.



A colleague put me onto another boiler scheme - 50% fully funded, 50% paid by me - for a new boiler and loft insulation. I had the survey done this morning, and just waiting to get the quote from the office.

My plan had originally been to get a new boiler through a 50% cash deposit and then financing the other 50% across 24 months at 0% interest. I have been saving up for the deposit, but it looked as though it would take about a year.

If I go through the scheme, then it’ll be half price anyway. Depending on the cost, I’ll either pay cash or put it on my credit card. Cash would be preferable I think - that way I don’t have payments to worry about, and I can pour money back into replenishing my savings.



I’m not coming up in the red which is good, but breaking even each month continues to be hard. I continue to wrestle with lifelong habits of ‘well I have money, and I want xyz, so I’ll just buy it’, and assuming that money will always be forthcoming from Somewhere. I am still very new to forming the habit of having to make my own money, and having to save my own money, and not being able to get all that I want, right now.



In the spirit of ‘play with what you have already’, my partner is cutting my book shelving for plywood left over from my cupboard, and I’ve plans to paint my porch with paint I’ve already got. Things will be obtained through the free pages where possible, and when I start feeling antsy and impatient, I will count my blessings like sheep.

SecondStar

I have £70 of spending money this month - leftovers from my event profit, and spending money allocated from my paycheque.

There is another event on this weekend, and later in the month, but I’m not banking on huge/any sales on either event. If there is, then great!, but I’m not budgeting for it.

Nationwide are giving out £100 to customers this month. I’ll probably save all of that.

I still need to list the excess Barbours for sale, if I get £120 for them both then I’ll be happy - that’ll get saved too, since I lifted the money from my savings in the first place.

The overtime I’ve done this week will be an extra £200 before tax, but won’t be paid until June, so that’s not being budgeted for this month. Again, it’ll be saved.

I’ve not heard from the boiler company yet - I’ll call them tomorrow. My mind is all over the place with how much the quote might be.

My friend won’t be visiting until September. Our holidays restart in September, which means I still have 3 days of annual leave to take between now and then! It’ll be good to get some long weekends with the nice weather.



I’m making a master list of items of planned future spends, so that I have a bit of order in where to use my money - so I’m not impulse buying things, when other things have priority.

Shelving for the bathroom, fake beams for the living room, a rotary washing line, bird feeders, masonry paint, plant pots, ceramic door knobs…

I’m still of the mindset to find things for free/secondhand first, before buying new. I’m excited for car boot season to start, and to hunt around the markets and charity shops for the perfect items.

I don’t know where my £70 is going to go yet, but I’m not rushing. I purposely stopped myself from sprinting off and buying masonry paint to slap on the house today. Not because I don’t want to do it - I reeeeeeeally want to do it! - but because I know that today isn’t the right time to start a project that time consuming!

Creating a home is a marathon, not a sprint. Yes, there are jobs which I would like to have done before my friend visits, but there is plenty of time between now and then.

peb

Hoping for positive news on the boiler 🤗

SecondStar

Well, I went to start my car to drive to my partner’s, and the engine will turn on and then immediately cut out.

It had been making an unpleasant chugging feeling on Friday, when it was stationary at lights, but the feeling was on and off as I drove around for a couple of hours doing errands. Today though, it’s just dying unless it’s being actively revved.

I’m hoping I can limp it down to the garage tomorrow morning, or else I’ll need recovery. Everything crossed that it’s a simple issue with fuel lines needing flushed or something, because this just isn’t the time for a big expensive problem.

I got the car brand new, and I’ve not had an issue with the car in the 7 years I’ve had it!

SecondStar

Got the quote for the boiler. A brand new boiler and installation costs around 3k.

The cost I would pay through the scheme is 1.6k. That pays for the boiler / flue & installation, a replacement radiator in the bathroom, and a remote thermostat.

The scheme also includes a ‘water widget’, whatever that is, LED bulbs in all rooms, and also new insulation in my attic - all of this is free of charge.

I should be biting their hand off, but I’m uncertain.



I’ve heard from the garage that my car needs a new ‘variable camshift timing solenoid’ - the part is £150, with labour and VAT it’ll be close to £400.



I only have 4.5k in savings. That’s it, no more anywhere else.

Once I’ve paid for the car, if I then decide to go ahead with the scheme, then my savings will be almost halved. This is a TERRIFYING prospect for me.



I don’t know if I should go ahead with the boiler scheme or not.



My original plan had been to cross my fingers that my current boiler doesn’t die in the meantime, whilst I saved up a 50% cash deposit over a year, and then financed the remaining 50% for 24 months at 0% interest (approx £55/month).

The scheme would obviously only cost me half as much, and I wouldn’t need to take out 2 years of credit - plus the replacement would be imminent, rather than in 3 years time. But the thought of paying out half of my savings scares the bejesus out of me.



With my current budget after bills and essential expenses, I have £270 leftover each month. Realistically I can probably save around £150 of that each month.
So it would take a solid 10 months to save that money back up.

I don’t have any other adults in my life to bounce this problem off of, so here I am asking the internet!

Do I go for the scheme, since it will halve the cost of a new boiler (+free insulation), since I have the cash (even though it’ll cost half of my savings)?

linz

Maybe think about whether a more efficient boiler, LED bulbs and loft insulation would lower your energy bills? Maybe you can recoup the cost sooner if you end up paying less for energy?

SecondStar

linz said:

Maybe think about whether a more efficient boiler, LED bulbs and loft insulation would lower your energy bills? Maybe you can recoup the cost sooner if you end up paying less for energy?

This is very true! The old boiler only converts about 20% of the fuel into heat, whereas a modern boiler is far more efficient. My loft insulation is currently acceptable, but a whole newly insulated space would definitely be better!

PennysIntoPounds

@linz makes an excellent point, and in addition to that you'll be future proofing your home against unexpected costs on those counts while you do have money to cover it, and upping its hypothetical sale value a bit.

If it will genuinely impact seriously on your mental health to spend half your savings then don't do it, but I personally would say take advantage of the saving of having it done while the scheme is available.

You'll still have some savings for emergencies, you're self aware and creative and well enough to look at your priorities and get your savings back up over not too much time, and you'll thank yourself in winter when your boiler doesn't conk out at the point of having Christmas to spend on and higher energy bills to cover, without a new debt hanging over you. You were going to be saving for it anyway so you can be saving towards your savings instead!

Karonher

Could you put it on a low/0% credit card and pay it off monthly. It may take a bit of your savings but not all.

SecondStar

Karonher said:

Could you put it on a low/0% credit card and pay it off monthly. It may take a bit of your savings but not all.

I do have a card which is 0% until September 2025, which I only took out in case of emergency vet appointments if I couldn’t get at my savings immediately.

My bff thinks the card could be a good option - preserve my cash savings, and build my credit - but I just don’t know. This is my first ever credit card, and I’ve never made a purchase on it before.

I’d need to dig out the paperwork to check how the minimum payments work, and would need to check if credit card would be accepted on the scheme.