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

SecondStar

Hello everyone, I can’t believe we’re almost into October already! September has been kind, only a couple of days of heavy rain, and still double figures for temperature.

Tomorrow we will be getting our pay up lift & back pay amount. Back pay will be around £180 after dedications, uplift will be around £60 / month. P

The back pay is going towards my dental hygiene appointment next week, and a Halloween horror night out for my partner and I - bit of fun, and a bit of adulting! The uplift will go into my car repair fund, which was depleted down to nil with the recent servicing & new tyres.

We get a bit of an uplift each year, both from the minimum wage increase and then a civil service increase, and it’s interesting to look back on my previous budgets and see where the money goes to. Lifestyle creep is something I’m always aware of, and balancing that regular uplift amount between spending and saving.

My first budget sheets are from when I began living alone, and my monthly income was just over £1.5k, and I’ve no idea how I managed it! My income will now be up to £1,873, and I’m thankful that I’m able to save 30% of that towards my emergency fund, holidays, presents, and local trips and occasions.

SecondStar

Still here! I’ve been laid up for nearly 2 weeks with lower back pain, after I over twisted without realising the limitations of my hyper mobility.

Self certified from work for the first 7 days, then got an extension from my GP till the 24th. Spent the first week in bed as I couldn’t move, and on lots of strong prescribed pain killers. Unfortunately those same pain killers then ruined my stomach, except that the pain presented as possible appendicitis and so I was whisked off to a&e where my partner and I sat for 17 hours overnight…I do not have appendicitis though!

That was on Monday night through till Tuesday, and I’ve been resting since then. The pain is down to a dull ache in my back, and a swollen and very sore tailbone, but it’s getting a bit better each day. Not taking any pain meds right now, as don’t want to upset my stomach again.

I am missing work though! Not the task, but definitely to social aspect, and having my day structured around an external force. I re-downloaded fb and ig, and have spent days just scrolling to pass the time, as I wasn’t able to do much else, and I can feel the brain rot setting in. It’s so difficult when I haven’t had the strength or energy to get up and do things, and then that takes a toll on your brain as well. I’m trying to tell myself that I am injured and in need of time to recover, and I shouldn’t be feeling the need to fill all of my time ‘being productive’ - it’s enough to heal!

My partner has been wonderful through all of this, it would’ve been infinitely harder without him.



I spent a lot of time curating my favourites on Vinted, and I’ve ordered my outfits for my friend’s haldi, mehndi & Sangeet functions, for the wedding in Delhi next year. I’ve narrowed down my options for the main ceremony too, and just waiting for info on sizing before ordering. It feels good to get the clothing sorted, and will need to do accessories & partner’s outfits next.

Humdinger1

Ooh ouchy! Get well soon @SecondStar.  Making good use of an apparently fallow period; you're as impressive as ever.   Love Humdinger xx 

SecondStar

Apologies for being absent, but it’s been a bad few weeks.

I spent 3 weeks off with my injured lower back until 24th Oct, then on the Saturday before I returned to work I managed to aggravate an old shoulder injury, which had me in further pain for another 2 weeks.

On top of that, one of my Pekins Delphine has developed a mystery illness which started on 1st Nov. She was wobbly on her legs, and so I’ve isolated her indoors and she saw the vet on Monday 3rd with a rough diagnosis of either a vitamin deficiency, or a contagious, fatal, incurable disease. Bloody hell!

I’m on a phased return to the office, so for 12 days I’ve sat in my bedroom floor with her and my laptop. She’s being stuffed full of every type of vitamin and supplement to see if that works, but she’s declined in her mobility. She’s still bright and alert, eating p, drinking & preening, but she’s unable to weight bear.

I’m not sure that I see I positive outcome for her to be honest, and it’s breaking my heart. Not knowing the cause is just compounding how difficult this is, I feel so powerless to help her.

For one reason or another, I’ve been house bound for 6 weeks, without seeing any of my colleagues or friends. The lack of human connection is really getting to me.

in_need_of_direction

you poor thing and especially when the weather's also gloomy.  the absolute flip side of having pets is when they are poorly.  hopefully things will get resolved, take care

Humdinger1

Sending love @SecondStar.  Gosh pets eh? But how can we be without them? Keep us posted and on your health too.  You need a treat to look forward to.   Humdinger xx 

peb

So sorry you've been through it.  Hopefully the transition back to normality is smooth 

SecondStar

Delphine didn’t make it. We tried everything for her, but she showed no improvement at all, and was getting progressively worse. It was the right thing to do for her, but I’m still so, so sad. Being in any sort of care-giver role is super triggering for me, and the fact that there wasn’t a happy outcome just compounds the bad experience.

My remaining 3 chickens have become far more withdrawn & shy around me - Delphine was their fearless leader, and whilst I’m doing my best to win them back over, it may be that they’re never as handleable as they were, which is also very sad.

We spent the weekend winterising their run by securing tarps, and installing wind breaks. I have 3 ton bags of wood chips arriving tomorrow morning - 2 for the run, to provide drainage and to cut down the mud, and then 1 for other use around the garden.



We’re still saving up like stink towards the wedding in Delhi. The hotel ended up costing a lot more than we’d anticipated, as did my outfits, but I’m cutting out 3 months of saving into sinking funds and putting it all towards the trip, so it will be covered. I’m still saving £200 each month into my emergency fund during this!

I’ve had to dip into my emergency fund 4 times this month, which is more than I have done in a very long time - for Delphine’s final vet visit, for the screening for the chicken pen, for 1 additional bag of wood chips, and for a secondhand pair of winter boots (they cost the same amount as getting my current pair resoled, but the resoling has a 6 week lead time, and I can’t do winter in canvas shoes). Totalling £377, which makes me feel a bit ill.

Most of the wood chip was budgeted for, but I hadn’t anticipated needing the 3rd bag. The boots could have been budgeted for, if I start a sinking fund for clothing - I rarely buy clothes, and if I do it comes from my £100 spending each month, but the boots were £77 and I couldn’t afford them from my spending. The vet visit is what the EF is really for though, and that alone was £174.

As of today, my emergency fund has £5,521 in it, with a goal of £7,500 which will be 6 months of expenses.

After that..? 

Sarahwithlove

Sorry to hear about Daphne, vet bills suck! Last thing you need at this time. What boots did you get? Ive just brought insoles for last years to try make them last a bit longer as cant find any I like this year. 

SecondStar

Sarahwithlove said:

Sorry to hear about Daphne, vet bills suck! Last thing you need at this time. What boots did you get? Ive just brought insoles for last years to try make them last a bit longer as cant find any I like this year. 

Thank you, that means a lot.

It’s a pair of Vivobarefoot hi-top winter gobi boots, in brown leather. My original pair were second hand at least 4 years ago, and they’re 1 of 2 pairs of shoes that I wear! They’re worn all through winter and spring, as well as for my viking reenactment events. Barefoot shoes have a thinner sole so that they’re flexible and you can feel the ground, but I wore a hole in the sole a few weeks back. They can be resoled by Vivo but it’s about £80, and so when I saw the same pair on Vinted for £77 with postage and with new soles on, it made sense to repurchase.

I’ll likely still have my original pair resoled as the rest of the boots are still good, but I’ll save for it. That way I’ll have 2 pairs to rotate, and they’ll last longer.