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

SecondStar

Thank you for the happy birthdays and good wishes everyone, and thank you for being here and reading my rambles!

SecondStar

Today on January 1st feels like coming out of a long, dark tunnel.

I do enjoy a good ‘resolution’, but the best resolutions are ones which come with both a Why, and a Plan.



Reflecting back on 2024:

Financials first:

261 No Spend Days in 2024!
That’s tracked over 11 months - I didn’t count my NSDs in May, as I had quite a few Spend Days, and so I stopped counting... I got straight back on the wagon though, from June onwards.

In January 2024, I had my ‘come to Jesus’ moment, in which I realised I was spending more than I was making. I was dipping into my savings every month, and it wasn’t for emergencies. I realised I desperately needed to make some mindset and lifestyle adjustments, if I wasn’t going to be stone cold broke.

Despite knowing this, the reality was that it was very hard going to begin to break even each month - all of my pay was going towards bills, and essential pet expenses. I had no personal spending amounts, and I wasn’t able to save a penny.

January, February, and March, all ended up in the red due to unforeseen pet or car costs.

April was the first month that I was able to save £10 into my emergency fund, and to allow myself £40 of personal spending money. I also started saving for Christmas 2024. I began tracking my emergency fund total - £4,109.

In May, my pay went up by £80! I also earned extra money from a big reenactment event. It was around this time that I was considering replacing my boiler, and so I began putting money there, as well as a bit to my emergency fund. May was my partner’s birthday, and I had a week off work. Tracking my NSDs fell by the wayside. Emergency fund total at the end of May - £4,091.50.

When June came, I was determined to pick back up again. I began working overtime, and booked to have my boiler replaced through a scheme where I only paid 50% of the cost. It was still a large chunk of my savings though, and I was terrified. Emergency fund total at the end of June - £2,720.56.

In July, my overtime money started to flow in, and it went straight back into building the emergency fund back up after the boiler costs. Emergency fund total at the end of July - £2,847.05.

August was difficult, when I lost my dog. I cut saving into some of my sinking funds to cover the costs for him, which I had taken from my emergency fund. Emergency fund total at the end of August - £2,921.10.

In September, I wound up with more disposable income than I had had for a very long time, alongside more overtime money. I decided to increase my personal spending allowance from the £50 I had set myself in May to £100, and put the rest into my emergency fund. I also recalculated the goal amount of 3 months of expenses, and realised it would total £3,330. I rounded it up to £3,500. Emergency fund total at the end of September - £3,348.60.

In October my partner and I began discussing a summer holiday for the following year, and I began a new sinking fund to save up for that. I also hit my new 3 months of expenses amount for my emergency fund! I then decided my next goal should be an additional £1,000 to allow for vet/car emergencies. Emergency fund at the end of October - £3,571.58.

In November, we were invited to Glasgow, and my friend said she’d visit us in the new year. I put money aside for each of these, and thankfully did more overtime which went to the emergency fund. Emergency fund at the end of November - £3,807.49.

In the final pay amount to cover December, we got an increased basic pay, plus a backdated amount. This helped to cover the Glasgow holiday and my friend’s future visit, to top up the Christmas sinking fund, and to go towards both the emergency fund and a separate ‘Misc.’ savings fund which I had been filling through my personal spending allowance. Emergency fund at the end of December - £4,057.98.

I am very pleased to report that I haven’t dipped into my savings at all, for non-emergency reasons, for a whole year!
I am also very pleased to report that my savings have increased every month since the boiler replacement in June, despite a few occasions when I had to dip into them for vet/car emergencies.

I am less than £100 away from the amount I had when I began tracking in April 2024! I am around £450 away from my newest goal of £4,500, and I expect to hit that by March!

I’ll put up another post about non-financials after lunch

SecondStar

Reflecting on 2024, non-financially.

Getting my living room decorated was a big highlight! It’s been really nice to have a comfortable centre to my home, and it’s been rewarding to slowly find bits and pieces to decorate with.

Doing bits of teaching last year was really nice too - I led a weekend of sewing workshops, and also did some bits of nalbinding demonstration.

The week off I had in May for my partner’s birthday was lovely. It was the only good week of weather between May and September, and it felt like a real holiday. Making over £200 by selling my nalbinding at the big events was great, even if I couldn’t attend myself.

The summer was a washout - the weather was cold, it rained every other day. We didn’t get a nice dry stretch at all, which was disappointing. Lots of plans in June and July got scuppered.

August was sad, and again our big event of the year got called off on the 2nd day due to dangerous weather conditions.

September and October were busy with work, though I was pleased to pick up my secondary employment!

November and December have been busy and stressful, with training for a new role within my primary employment, although getting away to Glasgow was a high point. 

We rounded out Christmas, my birthday, and New Year, by being rather under the weather. We both tested positive for Covid yesterday, which is not ideal! I’ve spent a lot of time since being off from the 23rd lying on the sofa, and sleeping for 10+ hours each night. Part of that is being sick, and part of that is being so exhausted and stressed from work.

I don’t want to get too doom or gloom, but the year definitely peaked and troughed. The lack of a decent summer definitely brought me down, and I plan to fully embrace any nice weather we get earlier in the year, and not assume it will be just as nice later on!

SecondStar

As for going forwards for 2025:

Home
Re/decorate at least 2 more rooms - bathroom, kitchen, or bedroom.
The bedroom is still a cheap white emulsion blank canvas, the kitchen and bathroom were both decorated quickly without much thought, and I’d like to redo them properly.

I want to make the roof space more useable, with loft legs and loft boards, so that I can empty out the shed and have it for garden storage.

Garden
See above re. useable garden shed.

I also want to have the fence properly repaired or replaced, a new enclosure built for my rabbit, and have some sort of seating area.

I am determined to actually plant things this year, even if it’s just pots. I will also white wash the pebbledash.

The overall goal is to spend more time in the garden this year, either working in it or relaxing. The garden was such a big appeal of buying this house, it’s criminal that I don’t make more use of it.

Long term, I’d love to have a garden room as additional space, for a studio. Not sure that’ll happen this year, though.

Personal
We have a summer holiday trip planned to visit my hometown in June. I’m looking forward to seeing my family and some old friends again.

I want to try and be more sociable this year, and to say ‘yes’ to things which I’m able to manage.

I am going to start journaling again this year. I enjoy writing here, but there’s something important about just writing for yourself, too.

Reenactment
I want to attend more events this year!
I’m hoping this will be more feasible, now that I have a reliable pet sitter for my cat and my rabbit. There are 2 events which I’ve not attended before, as they involve being away from home for the weekend. I’m hoping to get to both of those this year, plus the local events run by my group.

I have plans to expand both my costuming and our camp, which I’ll make separate posts about outlining my plans.

Financial
I want to have 6 months of expenses saved as an emergency fund. This will total £7,000.

I would like to make the same if not a bit more money at events this year. I need to begin planning my stock production for this.

I would like to work at least 1 if not 2 days at my secondary employment each month. I also hope that this will continue after the 1 year fixed term, though this may be outside of my control.



Everything subject to change, of course!

SecondStar

I’m really bored of being sick.

Partner’s parents were both ill on Christmas Day - thought they both had a bad cold. Partner caught the same when he went home on the 27th, and then came to stay with me on the 29th until the 1st.

After hearing how many people had been ill over the holidays, and seeing some people having tested positive for Covid, we got a couple of tests. He tested positive on Monday, I tested positive on Tuesday. I was off on Wednesday for the bank holiday, and then took yesterday and today off work.

I’ve just been so incredibly tired - for the last 2 weeks, but especially since the 28th. All I’ve done is sit on the sofa, take cold and flu meds every 4 hours, fall asleep during the day, and then sleep for 10 hours each night.

I had to leave the house to get food today, I was out for just under 3 hours, and I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus. I’m so breathless, my chest is tight, and my whole body feels weak.

I can’t focus or concentrate to read a book, or to watch anything, and so I’ve been scrolling in between napping and sipping juice. It feels bloody awful, and like such a waste of time, but when I stand up I feel weak and dizzy so it’s not like I can actually do anything.

I’ve had worse colds before - runny, stuffed up noses, sore sinuses, headaches - but the fatigue of this is just so draining, and not being able to draw a full breath feels like running at 50% less capacity.

I’ve been told to report in on Monday to see if I’m well enough to work, and I just don’t know at this rate. If I’m still testing positive but feeling better, I’ll request to work from home until I’m negative again; but I don’t want to push myself if I’m still needing to sleep from 9 - 9, plus naps, or else I’ll keel over.

tjp70

Morning. 

It sounds like you’ve been hit hard and you’re definitely not ready to go back to work yet. Keep doing what you’re doing, resting, sleeping and lots of fluids. Don’t rush back before you’re feeling much better.

Hugs 

SecondStar

Thank you @tjp70 !

I’m feeling much better today thankfully, and tested negative for Covid too which is great.

Unfortunately though, I went to take a shower yesterday and the boiler isn’t working… No engineers to be had on a Sunday here, so I’m hoping to goodness I can get a hold of someone tomorrow. It’s not igniting - seems to be an issue with the gas meter being locked out, which is an engineer-only job, to the tune of at least £80.

Last night I had my partner over, and we bundled up with wool blankets on top of the fitted sheet, long pjs, the winter tog duvet, 2 weighted blankets, and a hot water bottle for our feet. He’s like a furnace when he sleeps anyway, so it was lovely and toasty. I left the heated throw plugged in overnight for my cat!

We got out of the house for today, and now I’m home and wrapped up in layers of wool tights and socks, layered linen dresses, 2 wool cardigans, and a wool balaclava on top. Reenacting gives you a particular appreciation for natural fibres, a solid knowledge of layering for warmth, and a large collection of pure wool blankets.



It’s been a spendy few days -

Friday I spent £5 on 6 sets of sheets and fabric - 1 white pure cotton king size flat sheet, 2 white king size polycottons duvet covers with pretty detailing on, 1 lightweight blue cotton curtain, 1 white linen table cloth, and 1 single duvet cover in a print and green floral pattern.

The king size sheets and covers will be turned into dresses, skirts, or petticoats to layer under my dresses in the cold weather. The other bits will be turned into window coverings - cafe curtains, Roman blinds, or similar screening,

Yesterday I had a productive poke around the charity shops. In the first shop I got 2 large frames for prints I have to hang, a gold double frame for some nice photos of my partner and I, a miniature frame to use as a fridge magnet, a cute duck figurine, a small green lamp and shade for the living room, and another wooden bowl for reenactment - all for £6.

The other shops turned up 2 crochet pieces which I’ll turn into cushion covers - £3 each. And a green long sleeved top, and a cropped wool cardigan - £5 for both.

I also stopped into the yarn shop to stock up on wool. I need to start making more items for the upcoming season, I almost sold out of mittens, and I need to do more socks as well. I spent £38 which came from the money I made last season, and got enough yarn to make at least 7 new items.

Today I got a lightbulb for my new lamp (£8!!, it needed to be a slim candle bulb, which was near impossible to get hold of!), and a sheet of clear Perspex to make ‘glass’ for some of my frames. Total of £32, which came out of my home / DIY pot.

Our local Homebase is closing down and I am bereft. I may need to make a separate post with my eulogy to Homebase. But they have some pretty deep discounts at the moment - it took a lot of will power not to buy lots of adorable woven willow border edging, as my partner reminded me that I should probably focus on the structural garden fencing first, before the cute aesthetic fencing haha.



Oh! My birthday also went really nicely before we both got sick, thank you for the well wishes!

We did a trip into town and got pizza for lunch at my favourite place. I went out looking for a particular Jelly Cat elephant cuddly toy, but they’re all sold out at the moment. My partner treated me to some refills of my skincare, as well as a pretty cotton dress, and a cute shoulder bag which is apparently a Chinese ammunition pouch for a machine gun, but just so happens to be the right size for my purse and phone, and is in a lovely grass green with wooden toggles haha.

And my birthday present was a full day bead making course, with a local glass artist! So now I need to do some more research in grave finds to match my new brooches, so that I can bring some inspo pics along to the session and hopefully make some reproduction period correct beads for my new outfits!

SecondStar

I have heat and hot water again! And it was free!

I phoned around some boiler services this morning and left messages, and the lovely person who got back to me was able to talk me through opening the locked out valve on my gas meter over the phone, with no call out needed. The heat has been running again for an hour, and the house is back up to 18 degrees from a bitter cold 11 degrees this morning. Anything more than 18 and it gets very close and stuffy, but it must be warm enough now as my cat has moved from her heated throw to a plain wool blanket for her nap.

I’m back at work today, albeit working from home, and rather reluctant about it. More people are off sick so my friends aren’t online, and it’s a slog to get back to a job you know well, let alone one that you’re still learning and struggling with.

My second job has me on the reserve list for the dates that I’m available this month. Not ideal, but they have to give priority to the permanent and full time staff first which I understand, and January is always a quiet month.

I’m going to start some new nalbinding today I think, and it’s our first training session of the season on the 18th. I’m going to make a spread for the weeks between now and the big event in May, so I can plan how much I can produce between now and then.

SecondStar

We’re beginning to see a change in the daylight - small, but there. As I drive home from the office it’s not pitch black at 16:30 anymore, and it’s nice to travel in the dusk.

The new year has brought with it lots of Ideas for the house, and also for my garden. I drew up plans for the garden last year, which were set aside after it rained solidly from April to September, but I’m determined to break ground this year.

• The fence still needs to be fixed - the dividing fence between the neighbour and myself may be 50/50 responsibility, but I’ll confirm once the copy of my deeds arrives. There are a couple of other posts to be replaced, and a couple more to be re-concreted. Then the fence can be jet washed and stained/painted.

• I need to get more loft boards, and possibly loft legs, and then I can empty out the shed into the attic, leaving just outdoor things in said shed. It will be disassembled, and reassembled in its new spot at the bottom of the garden.

• The grotty wood chip area outside the kitchen window will be dismantled and uplifted, and that will be the spot for building my rabbit’s new enclosure - I’ll be scouring fb marketplace for a cheap secondhand shed, and I’ll help my partner build the framing for a new attached walk-in run.

• I plan to learn how to use an electric mitre saw, and then build a triple bin store beside the back gate for easy access, and to make room for seating by the back kitchen door.

• I’m going to paint the miserable grey pebbledash! As soon as the temperature is reliably over 7 degrees, we’ll be cracking out the paint. I think I’ve settled on pure white for the walls, and then black around the windows to match the soffit and fascia boards. It’s a classic cottage look for the area, and it’ll be softened with hanging baskets and wooden shutters.

I’ve been paying into a separate DIY savings account, alongside my emergency fund, and I’ve got about £500 in there right now. I think that will be enough to accomplish all of the above.

Further plans include building compost bins to keep the shed company at the bottom of the garden; a couple of cold frames or pop up greenhouses to start seeds off in; replacing the gravel ares by the back door with proper patio paving; installing a whirligig washing line to replace the long line; building a deck along the sunny side of the house; planning out, digging, and beginning to plant some beds.

I want 3 trees! and a pond or two! and lots of bird feeders, and a buddleia bush, and lavender by the front and back doors, and a swing seat, and a pergola, and reclaimed brick pathways, and yellow roses, and a wildflower area, and lots and lots of flowers to cut and bring indoors.

Ambitious, but I can see it in my mind. We are starting with the fence though!

Sarahwithlove

Hope the fence doesn't cost too much. 

I brought myself a switch from cex for my birthday as well, like you needed a distraction that didn't involve browsing on my phone.