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

SecondStar

I’ve done 16 hours of overtime last week, and plan to do at least 6 hours this week - it’ll total £286 before deductions, and will be paid at the end of this month. I’ll be doing as many more extra hours as I can this month.



To distract myself from my dire financial situation, I’ve been musing over ideas and possibilities for my reenactment side hustle.

As a textile worker by trade and education, I really want to take advantage of my skills and experience, and begin to offer garments, accessories, and outfits. I’m currently working on building back up stock of my nalbound items (mittens, socks) which sold at the last event; but I’d like to start to offer sewing as well.

I think I’ve talked about this briefly before - my personal reenactment wardrobe is entirely hand sewn; a single garment can take a week to produce in this way. There will always be people who are willing and able to commission pieces which are entirely hand sewn; but I think it’d also be beneficial to offer ‘off the rack’ pieces too - pieces which come in standard sizing, and which may be machine stitched with hand finishing, to speed up production.

It is a little dream of mine to have a ‘viking boutique’ stall at events - offering an array of pre-made clothing in different sizes and different production methods, along with accompanying accessories. Under layers, tunics and dresses, apron dresses, hoods, head caps, bags; along with my nalbound hats, mittens, and socks. I would also offer made to measure commissions, again in a variety of production methods to suit various price points.

Of course, anything pre-made has to actually be made first, and material costs are expensive!

Off the top of my head, I’ve enough white linen for 1 under layer and couple more head caps, and I’ve wool blankets which can be dyed and sacrificed for hats, hoods, and possibly an apron dress or 2.

There should be time between now and the last big event in August to put together some pieces, and to photograph my own wardrobe as examples of work which can be commissioned.

Dreaming distracts from the drudgery which is my day job!

mothsinmywallet_2

I have just read your whole diary and wanted to say how much I love hearing about your hobby. It's absolutely fascinating and you write so well about it. I was cheering when your partner sold your stock for you!

It sort of reminds me of the elves and the shoemaker (stick with me on this!). They use the last of their money to buy some materials. They then gradually build up from there, one pair of shoes, then two... I think your authentically made, sustainably sourced clothing and accessories (all the recycled textiles!) will really take off. Your overheads are low and your technical expertise is high - a winning combination!

You sound like you're building really solid foundations for the future. I wish you well! 

SecondStar

mothsinmywallet_2 said:

I have just read your whole diary and wanted to say how much I love hearing about your hobby. It's absolutely fascinating and you write so well about it. I was cheering when your partner sold your stock for you!

It sort of reminds me of the elves and the shoemaker (stick with me on this!). They use the last of their money to buy some materials. They then gradually build up from there, one pair of shoes, then two... I think your authentically made, sustainably sourced clothing and accessories (all the recycled textiles!) will really take off. Your overheads are low and your technical expertise is high - a winning combination!

You sound like you're building really solid foundations for the future. I wish you well! 

This is so sweet, and so kind, thank you! I had known the story of the elves and the shoemaker as a child, but had forgotten it. It’s definitely very apt, so thank you for the reminder!

I think I’ll pull out and take stock of what I have, and then plan out making my first ‘pair of shoes’.

SecondStar

My partner got accepted for a full time job yesterday!

He has been half-heartedly looking for about 6 months; in between ticking over at the forge, with students coming in, and selling at events. He’s gone back and forth about wanting full time employment, but at this stage in his life he’s looking forward to regular, reliable income.

It’s with the Department for Infrastructure, 5 days a week, 2 Saturdays a month, no evenings or late shifts. Being a government job, as mine is albeit for a different body, it’s plentiful on annual leave, pension contributions, and either bank holidays off or paid triple time. He’ll be on the same pay as me, too. We’ll still have weekends off together, and the early finishing means we’ll still see each other through the week. I’m so pleased for him!



I picked up my car yesterday - £324, but she’s fixed and running smoothly again. My overtime this week and last should cover the majority of the cost, thank goodness. I’m hoping to do more overtime through the rest of the month as well.



After celebrating my partner’s great news last night, we sat down and had a chat about money, and plans for the future - light stuff, heavy stuff, but good overall. I was able to tell him some of my history with money, and why my emotional relationship with money is the way that it is. He is much more practiced at being broke than I am - I’ve only been admitting that I’m broke for 6 months after all! But we both want to be Not Broke in the future, and we’re both committed to saving and living within our respected means.

He knows he wants to own a house, in time, and we would like to live together in the future. I’m really not sure if I would want to jointly own property, or jointly manage finances, with someone I wasn’t married to again.

He’s asked for my help to begin budgeting and saving when he starts getting paid, so he’ll be getting his own budget folder printed off haha. With his very low outgoing costs, he should be able to put away a good amount of money each month.

I’m not quite sure what the practical and financial future will look like for us - if he’ll move in here; if he’ll save and buy somewhere on his own; if we buy or rent somewhere else together; if I sell my home, or rent it out; if we get engaged in 2 months, married in 6 months, or married in 2 years.

There are lots of question marks, but lots of excitement!

PennysIntoPounds

Aw that's fantastic all round.
Make sure to keep your own separate fund too though, for life's hopefully-won't-happen-but-just-in-case scenarios!

SecondStar

PennysIntoPounds said:

Aw that's fantastic all round.
Make sure to keep your own separate fund too though, for life's hopefully-won't-happen-but-just-in-case scenarios!

Oh 100%!

My abusive ex and I were never married, but when we bought the house together we combined our finances entirely. We had each put in 50% of the deposit and purchasing costs, we both had almost identical incomes, and at the time we thought we’d be together for forever.

We had our separate account for own our bills (mobile phones, or personal subscriptions), and our ‘allowances’ of personal spending money. But the entirety of our incomes went into a joint account where we paid all the bills, groceries, fuel, pet costs, etc. from; and after that whatever was left was saved jointly.

The only way we ever had our ‘own’ money was if we decided to save up our ‘allowances’ each month - he would usually spend all of his, whereas I saved up most of mine for a year to get a big tattoo. But there was no large amounts of money kept solely in our own names, and we didn’t decide individually what to do with our salaries - it all went into the 1 pot.



I would like to do finances differently this time, with conversations and input from my partner, of course.

I’d much prefer to keep incomes separate, with maybe a joint account for saving smaller amount of money - day trips, or overnighters etc., or sinking funds for things like birthdays or Christmas for each other.

I wouldn’t want to fully combine finances the way my ex and I did again, not unless I was married to the person - even then, I’d prefer to keep incomes separate, and the keep a joint account for bills, and then joint and separate accounts for large savings.

Money is difficult!

KajiKita

“ keep incomes separate, and the keep a joint account for bills, and then joint and separate accounts for large savings.”
This is pretty much how we do it 😊 Together for 20 years, married for 18. It’s not perfect - I wish he would be a bit more proactive with all this stuff, but it’s a lot better than my previous long term relationship 😉

KK

MFWannabe

SecondStar said:

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)?

Did you decide on the boiler? 

Personally I would go for it
1) I’d pay it on the 0% credit card if that is an option on the scheme as you could pay that back in the 0% period if you say you can save £150/month 
2) If option 1 is not available I’d pay it out of savings; yes it will hurt however a much more cost effective option than having to pay for a complete boiler later on. 10 months to pay that money back into your savings isn’t rhat long really 

This is what savings are for; to stop ourselves getting into debt for things 

SecondStar

MFWannabe said:

SecondStar said:

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)?

Did you decide on the boiler? 

Personally I would go for it
1) I’d pay it on the 0% credit card if that is an option on the scheme as you could pay that back in the 0% period if you say you can save £150/month 
2) If option 1 is not available I’d pay it out of savings; yes it will hurt however a much more cost effective option than having to pay for a complete boiler later on. 10 months to pay that money back into your savings isn’t rhat long really 

This is what savings are for; to stop ourselves getting into debt for things 

Hello! Yes I’ve decided to go for the boiler, I just need to get an installation date booked in. I plan to finance it through cash, and then save the credit card for any other emergencies which I hope don’t crop up!

I’m still picking away at the available overtime - I’m currently up to around £400 before tax & deductions. Which should cover the car repair cost, and then anything else I can earn will go towards the boiler. Overtime done before the 15th will be paid in June, anything done later in the month will be paid in July.

I also need to renew my car insurance - around £460 - but I pay annually and save up through the year to afford it, so I’ve got the cash sitting.

SecondStar

Well, phoo.

I just put an estimate of my overtime hours into an online salary calculator, and if I do 30ish hours it would amount to £400ish, but I’ll only see £200ish of that after tax and deductions! Still more money than I’d usually get each month, but does sting a little. Will keep chipping away at the overtime where I can though - it’s only guaranteed for June, not sure if it’ll be extended yet.



Partner has been in the city this week whilst he does his training. Their office is a few minutes away from mine, and so we’ve been able to meet for lunch every day which has been super cute! His new timetable has wobbled our usual routine, and so it’s been lovely to still get little spots of time together.



I’ve spent the evenings making more socks - 3/4 pairs sold at the last event, and there were lots of people asking for different sizes, and so I’m trying to restock a range in time for August.

I solemnly swear that I’ll finally get around to listing all my current stock for sale online. I also solemnly swear that I’ll finally start posting on my business social media pages. It’s Scary to start something new - the fear of not doing ‘well’, the fear of being ‘judged’ the fear of ‘failing’ - but if we never start, then how will we know? how will we learn, and grow? how will we eventually succeed?

I deserve to have my things, my photography, my words, out in the world, just as much as everyone else does - and I deserve to reap whatever reward comes of that. No more hiding away because I think I’m not good enough!