Arrietty's Acorns

Arrietty

Hello,
it is both Sunday again and raining again!

The tree and some simple decorations were done on Monday and during the process I added some no longer required bits to the charity donation bag. Tree is pretty and having the twinkly lights on in the evenings ( and all day at the weekend) is a nice antidote to the grey skies, dark evenings  and rain.  I discovered I have plenty of cards, gifts wrap and ribbons etc and have already got a few gifts sorted. 

Tuesday was a lovely sunny day and after my hospital appointment where I had to pay £4.50 for an hour and half parking  I went to get some new eyedrops which were £11.50 but have already made a difference so well worth the money. I was motivated by the sun ( and aware of impending service & MoT) so emptied the car of horse stuff and took it to be cleaned. Inside and out clean is £22 and I usually give them £25 but it was so diabolically filthy that I gave them £30 which they were most appreciative of.  This money came from my cash fund that I withdrew on 30th OCTOBER! but I haven't spent anything on lessons for weeks; I think instructor has either forgotten me completely or remembered that  I hate lessons in the rain.  Even after paying £30 for car cleaning, I still have £75 in the cash fund so no lessons and not needing to buy hay makes a huge difference! Had a nice ride on HRH and felt fully restored when I returned to work on Wednesday.

NSD's on Thursday and Friday which was good.  The shopping trip provided me with decent packed lunches and having good meals to come home made a difference.  I still have 4 meals in the freezer and today I'm going to cook up a large pot of leek and potato soup and have planned a couple of other meals.  I'm not a great cook; to me food is mainly fuel and when I get home after work and yard I am HUNGRY and want to eat something tasty and filling but I don't like to eat too much processed stuff and would rather have a jacket potato than a ready meal.  

Yesterday I  relented and used the tumble drier for towels and bedding  I'm using the heated pod thing every week and it's great for clothes but the thought of having towels and bedding hanging on airers all weekend did my head in.  It makes me feel as though my entire weekend revolves around laundry so I just popped them in the drier and it was a couple of hours and done! As the temperature is still mild, I'm not boosting the heating outside of the timer so feel absolutely justified to use the dryer for a couple of hours a week. 

I went to collect my prescription so that was £19.80 and then headed to yard where HRH was rather reluctant to actually come down to the yard. He just kept stopping and looking at me. No signs of injury or illness but after the third time of stopping, the heavens opened and he just looked at me smugly as if to say " I tried to warn you"!
I reassured him that his feed was down on the yard and he needed to move if he wanted it. The rain stopped once we got down to yard and we did have a nice 30 minute ride. HRH decides when the 30 minutes is up and there's no re-starting him once he's stopped but he got his nice warm feed and an apple so it was worth his effort!

To the money:

I had a nice little end of year win on the Premium Bonds which has boosted my Trips & Treats Fund. Overall my PB wins are down by £500 this year compared to the last 2 years and I did say I was going to review keeping them if that happened.  I have reflected and although I could potentially earn more money from them in my stocks and shares ISA or in my pension, I could also potentially lose that amount and as long as I do have them, that  capital is secure, easily accessible in case of an emergency and more importantly, I won't win anything if don't have them.

So I'm keeping them but I am going to change what I do with the winnings. Now that I'm back to funding the Trips and Treat Fund each month, I shall send any PB wins to the ERF in 2026. There, they will earn more interest than in the T&T fund and will also hopefully hasten that 4 day week!  
Trips and Treats Fund = £1575

There hasn't been much spending this week so consequently only a few pennies have ben sent over to my linked savings account.
Standard saver = £ 1412.85


The NSD's have also had an effect on the scoops to the ERF. I have been averaging £30 for the last few weeks but this week it was only £ 18.54.  Of course, I did my two supermarket spends on my CC so that probably took a toll as well. Hopefully, adding any PB wins in 2026 will make up for my reduced spending elsewhere.  To be honest, as long as I see the balance increase each week I am happy.
Early Retirement Fund = £9512.78

If I stick with the date of 31 March 2028 then it's another 121 weeks to go 
I much prefer 31 December 2027 which, although better, is still 108 weeks   and bear in mind this is not for full retirement, this is just to drop one day a week! 

I'll be honest and say that  despite what finance experts may say, I am gunning for 31 December 2027 which was my original target.  By the end of February next year that will already be down to double figures remaining and that motivates me. This time next year I'll be saying that I only have a year to go !

I think I said I needed £15,000 - £20,000 to drop that one day a week but I'm aiming for £20,000. That's the number in my head and £15k just won't do!  I'm almost  half way there and by my basic calculations to hit the target by end 31 December 2027 I need to save £437.50 each month. 
I really don't think I can achieve that just by frugalling and saving  each month - and anyway, too much frugality makes me counteract with spendiness -  hence the inclusion of PB wins to the pot.  I've not counted any interest payments in the £437.00  required so they'll be a bonus.

The only spends from my budget this week were £4.50 on parking, £11.50 on eye drops and another £19.80 for my prescription eye drops. I have included my grocery shopping in my total budget although it was on my CC. There is also a bit of money to come back from the gifts pot at the end of the month. 

Total Spend for December = £263.73 from £400 budget 
Total remaining = £ 136.27 and 17 days. 

I'm away to brew up my soup.
Have a lovely day 
x

Skint_yet_Again

Glad the eye drops are helping.  Your finances look great and the countdown is on for (edit) partial retirement day of 31/12/2027 ☺️

Arrietty

Hello,
it's bright and sunny here this morning which is very cheery and a nice change.

Thank you for the encouragement @Skint_yet_Again. Overall, the finances are looking good but reading your diary has reminded me die that I need to get back in the habit of topping up specifics savings pots!

 I've paid for Christmas gifts out of my trips and treats pot which is ok as I've not gone in to debt but the budgets I had went sideways as I lost the list of spends on things I'd already bought so when asking people what they would like (silly me) I've probably spent considerably more than my budget per person.  

Tried having conversations with both ED and YD about setting spending limits and I appreciate it may sound mean but ED is now in a family of 4 so what I used to spend on her cannot be multiplied by 4.  She and her fiancée love to shop and that's fine for them but between them they earn 5 times my salary and their outgoings are about half mine and I'm trying to save for retirement! 
YD fully appreciates the situation and is on board with having a limit as her essential outgoings are quite high too.
I also have a Secret Santa at work to buy for and we do the same thing for birthdays and I got the person whose birthday is on 22nd December   

MoT is happening on Friday, Road Tax is due 31st December and Car Insurance due 15th January.  I will search for that tomorrow and pay for it before the end of the year so I can start 2026 with everything paid for. 

I have savings to cover all this but I have not been contributing to each pot on a regular basis and I need to reinstate that as from 1st January. Never mind the trips and treats which has been funded by Premium Bond wins and TopCashback earnings - this has made me both lazy and complacent. What I need are specific savings pots for Gifts & Christmas and Car Costs which I add to each month and then if there is money left at the end of the year, that can go in the ERF.  I think this means that I will have less to add to the ERF each month, but I'd rather have the specific pots I think. I will work out what I need for each pot and then decide which saver to put it in. 

HRH lost a shoe on Tuesday so had to have the farrier out on Thursday! He lost a good chunk of hoof with it and we decided that rather than try to refit a new shoes we'd take the other one off and see how he fares barefoot.  He used to be barefoot at the previous yard and we only put fronts back on here as he was struggling a bit with the stony areas. Farrier is a big advocate of being barefoot where possible so I'm treating his hooves to stop them going too soft and hoping he'll be ok. Should make farrier visits a bit cheaper in the future and definitely quicker and less stressful for HRH as he's never been a fan of having his feet tapped with a hammer. 

I've already booked in the vet visit for his teeth and vaccination in February but that is covered under our horse programmes with them so no cost.

To the money...

I've paid off my CC as it was getting a bit scary and I've now pretty much finished my Christmas gift shopping so the Trips and Treats Fund is somewhat depleted:
Trips and Treats Fund = £ 1100

There have been just 97p of pennies scooped over to the linked saver as I've been using my CC but also took £100 from there towards paying the CC bill so this account is a bit less than last week.  I'll use this account to pay for the car costs as well so it will be further deleted by the end of the year!
Standard Saver = £1313.82


There were £24.92 in scoops over to the retirement fund as  realised that if I use my CC then my current account is static unless a bill goes out and I don't get any scoops ! 
Early Retirement Fund = £9537.70

There has been a horribly high amount of spending this last week - make me feel quite giddy but I am still within the £400 budget I set myself - just. It's not exactly a frugal budget for one person - and I have applied to join the Frugal Living Challenge for next year - but if it's a realistic and achievable one and I have money left at the end of each month which I can then send to savings then it will work for me.

I made myself 4 lunches for work last week but then ran out of fresh fruit and steam so had a naughty lunch on Friday.  It wasn't a cheap on either as I didn't like the soup on offer so spent £5.60 
I also spent another £13.92 on stamps - bought 2 lots of second class and just hope cards get there in time.
Met friends for dinner and catch up one night which cost £25.31 and then yesterday I spent £56.64 on groceries and household items (including £10 on multivitamins  - own brand as well!) This shop did include some yummy treats for Christmas like a selection of cheese, some chocolates and shortbread but I sill need to buy a few other bits at Waitrose next week., including some puddings to take for Christmas meal at ED's. I also bought a few gifts while in there and was pleased that the original £158 bill was reduced to £128 by using my Nectar points. 

Total Spend for December so far = £365.20 from £400 budget.
Total remaining = £34.80 and 10 days.

My dining table is no longer visible under the pile of gifts to be wrapped and packed into baskets and it's starting to stress me out a bit so I think I shall try to do some each night this coming week. Once they're all done it will look organised, festive  and pretty rather than the current clutter and chaos! 

Have a lovely day 
x

Arrietty

My goodness,

it's already been 10 days since I last updated my diary! I did start typing at my usual time on Sunday but then realised I needed to make a couple of phone calls, field laundry, prepare food for work and tidy up all before meeting YD and heading to the yard so I gave up.

It's been a very densely packed few days since my last update and I'm feeling tired now.. Work has been incredibly busy,  I did my speed awareness course, my car went in for it's annual service and M0T and  I had to finish off my gift wrapping, search for new car insurance, do some food shopping and get up to date with my finances. 

Food shopping was £83 in total but l lost the receipt so couldn't be sure how much was on gifts  - bottles of port and wine, coffee beans, cake) and how much was regular groceries.  I reckon I ended  up being about £8 over my monthly budget. 

The service and MoT came in at £411.12 which was more than I'd hoped for but meh - it's done now.  The insurance, however, came in at just £177.81 ( I got very fed up with current providers stupid chatbot and trying to get a renewal price so just cancelled the DD) and I will be getting £45 cashback so I'm assuming this is the benefit of getting older - but not too old - and having a mundane job in a safe sector ! 

Full marks to contents insurance provider for emailing me the renewal price 4 weeks ahead of due date and also for offering a £5 discount if I renew online - sold for £68.53!

It's been a rather expensive few days but all my car costs aside from the road tax at £20 are paid and sorting the contents was a big bonus too so January will now be purely regular living expenses.  

I got paid on Monday which allowed me to make all the above payments and I have cleared the balance off my CC despite the bill not being due yet. I like to end the year with financial clarity and nothing outstanding.  Some savings account have been severely depleted in order to do this and lessons have been learned.

Time has been spent considering how to proceed with saving for both regular and annual costs ( Birthday gifts, Car and Christmas) and also my Early Retirement Fund.  Realistic budgets have also been pondered over and an understanding of what's required to achieve this has been accepted.

I am not going to call it my Early Retirement Fund anymore, because it's not. There are sadly, still many years to go before that happens so I'm renaming it my Four Day Fund. 

HRH is well (fat and happy) and it will be nice to spend some more time with him over the next few days and explore some of the summer fields we don't often get to use due to daylight restrictions. Both YD and I have paid into this account but livery not due out until next week so it's looking temporarily bountiful.
HRH pot = £404.02

I've started using a dormant account to hold the Car and Christmas pot as it has an ok-ish interest rate as long as I don't do more than 2 withdrawals a year and will be paying in £50 a month for each but have started it off with a bonus payment. 
Car & Christmas pot = £200

I took a bit out of the trips and treats fund to help clear the CC and haven't come up with a figure to add to it each month so for now it will just sit there until I work out how much.
Trips & Treats pot = £1000

The savings account linked to my current account has also been depleted but I will continue to pay into this one each month for my water bill and pennies are rounded up and sent here. 
Standard Saver = £777.77

My calculations are that I need to add £437 a month to achieve my target amount by 31 December 2027 but at the moment I can only deposit £200 a month on a regular basis. I will get a regular interest payment and hopefully some Premium Bond wins to boost that and of course any cash back money... but otherwise I just need to spend as little as possible for the next 2 years to achieve this. 
Four Day Fund = £9766.54


Have a lovely festive season!
x

Skint_yet_Again

Hope you had a lovely Christmas Arrietty 🎁🎄

Good luck with your 4 day fund and best wishes for a peaceful and joyful 2026 🕊️😊

Arrietty

Hello,

ithank you @Skint_yet_Again my very best wishes for 2026 o you t

Tis a grey and gloomy day here today but hopefully not as cold. The wind has been bitter and I admit I did reflect on my life choices as I battled across the fields at 8:30 on Christmas morning to feed HRH.  It was bright and beautiful but I concur that the windchill factor did indeed make it feel like -5.

On Christmas Eve I went to the yard in the afternoon and walked HRH in hand around a couple of the summer fields while a friend rode her.  HRH had a little spook at something as it was so windy - hence my not riding -  the pony we were with had a bigger spook at his spook, rider came off and pony bolted back across the fields, through woods and back to yard.  Rider was fine, pony was fine and while HRH did his very best to join in with the bolt, thankfully I'd put him on a lunge line rather than usual lead rope so we just danced about a bit until he was calm again and then walked back.  So relieved no-one got hurt.

Had a lovely Christmas day at ED's and didn't get home until nearly 10:30 that night as we played board games and chatted.  Boxing Day was a home alone day and I was fine with that. Went to the yard and walked HRH in hand around another of the fields (next to the spooky one) and he was a bit nervous but perfectly well behaved. 
Yesterday it was still windy but I decide to try riding... the school was busy so I thought I'd see how he was on a hack... He was an absolute star and walked straight towards the woods, went through and into the field we'd walked around the day before like it was nothing.  Admittedly we came back through the woods rather quickly after and he kept looking over at the spooky field but I was so proud of him as it took a lot of courage.

I'm back at work tomorrow for 2 days and then off for a week which is wonderful and I'm so happy about it!


To the money:

No changes to the pots and I have now had 5 x NSDs in a row! 

I've signed up to the Frugal Living Challenge for 2026 and declared a budget of £400 a month / £5000 for the year. 

I've done my end of year spending review and it was quite an eye opener; the categories I track spending on are below:

Groceries £2490.00 - it is what it is but I can probably reduce next year 

Eating out £541.31 - this includes food I bough at work for breakfasts and lunches so pretty good

Gifts £1226.71 - no idea why this was so high but I intend to halve it for next year, sorry people 

Clothes etc £1366.57 -  You may be horrified at this... I'm delighted because it's half what I spent the previous year and what made me realise I need to get back on MSE!  It does include riding gear and coats but still, I can halve it again.

Beauty £829.52 - This is an increase on my spending the previous year but I have stockpiled a lot in 2025 with special offers, reductions etc on skincare and haircare products I use regularly and I intend to use up what I have throughout 2026.

Homewares £1234.55 - I bought some storage/shelving/tv units and an ottoman for living room at the beginning of the year and curtains as well as the heated air dryer and a clothes rail. I spent similar in 2024 as I had to buy a new washing machine but I reckon I can halve this in 2026.


I don't track fuel as I need to buy it in the same way I need gas and electricity but I usually fill up once a month for regular living  & business unless I'm doing longer journeys to visit people so average spend is about £700 a year. 

I haven't tracked what I spent on Horsery either but I know it was A LOT! 
Aside from the regular livery cost and Health Programme which means annual vaccination and dentistry is paid for, I bought several new rugs and also spent a lot on hay, feed and supplements throughout the summer which I've never done before.  HRH will be 17 next year so I'm thinking we may now need to continue with the daily feed & supplements and I will continue to buy in bulk where possible as it is of course, cheaper this way.

There may be a slight reduction in farrier costs as he's not wearing shoes any more but this does mean an increase in hoof treatments.  I've never had a manicure, he has them twice a week 

Maybe I will tot up horsery costs, just to remind myself that these are in fact an all-in-one health expense meaning I don't have to pay for therapy or a gym and ensures I get fresh air in abundance every single day 


My budgets for all the above categories in 2026 are as follows:

Groceries : £2600
Eating out : £600
Clothes etc : £600
Beauty ; £600
Homewares : £600 


Have a lovely day 
x

Arrietty

Happy New Year!

It's a lovely bright morning here despite temperatures feeling like -4. I despise the grey, gloomy, rainy days but love the proper wintry days when it's cold and crisp.

Maybe because I'm January-born but I've never found it a depressing month. I believe we should be hibernating or resting, using up our stocks and creating nourishing meals from what we've gathered in the preceding weeks. Gentle winter walks, appreciating the beauty of the landscape and quietly taking care of ourselves, livestock and wildlife.

I find December's crazy consumption and the constant urges from everywhere for us to shop. shop. shop, spend, spend, spend, buy, buy, buy both overwhelming and disturbing. So, for me a January avoiding all but essential shopping is very welcome and fits in nicely with my savings plan 

To the money...

I did my supermarket trip after work on Tuesday 30th and spent a total of £64.41 on groceries, another £31.84 on 
a new salt and pepper mill and a set of glass food container s with bamboo lids so I can take left-overs to work for lunch.  Spent £10.29 on a new candle holder and some tea lights which I use a lot this time of year. I also spent £11.72 on a hoodie to wear at the yard. 

£218.68 and 21 days left from my £400 monthly budget.


Livery has been paid and HRH is now getting a daily breakfast from the yard (included in the price of livery) so that should help to keep his tummy warm during the day and I'll still give him his dinner when I go up in the afternoons. I did a spending review of HRH costs and it came in at £680  more spent over the year than we pay in to his account.  That all came from my personal money and some of it was unnecessary due to me buying rugs that I then hated or which weren't effective, over-reach boots for a horse that is now barefoot, new saddle pads because I liked the colour and was bored with ones we already have, I  also bulk-bought supplements which I now don't think really helped his condition.  I also bought a lot more hay and feed than I have in previous years which was obviously necessary.  However, this year it will be essential spends only. 
HRH pot = £138.03


Car & Christmas Pot = no change at £200

Trips & Treats Pot = no changes at £1000

Standard Saver Pot (water etc) = £779.92 


The Four Day Fund had a nice new year gift in the form of an interest payment of £33.08 and so far I have made just once scoop of £2.26.  The thing with NSD's means there's not much scooping going on! I'll be relying on direct debits and bills to get the scoops in! The premium bond checker tells me I've won £100 in January so that will be another welcome addition to the pot.  In order to hit my monthly target savings of £437 I will need to add another £103.92 to the pot.  I know it's only 4th January, but I am quietly confident!
Four Day Fund Pot = £9821.15


Have a lovely day 
x

Skint_yet_Again

Well done on the PB win ☺️ I’m sure you will reach your target! 

Arrietty

Two week since my last post here!

I didn't have anything to report financially and was feeling rather less cheery than usual so chose to wait until feeling more positive.  It was good for me to do 2 days back at work before the weekend and get me used to being back before doing a full 5 day stretch. I focused on getting back up to date with tasks, steeling myself to wade through the mud at yard and then coming home to a nice hot shower or bath, enjoying my skincare routine and eating previously batched-cooked food.  That was a game-changer for me; not having to think about what to eat; just taking something out of the freezer in the morning and adding some frozen veg.

I managed a whole two weeks of NSD's - I literally didn't spend a single penny thanks to my previous shopping trip and all the batch cooked meals. It meant I didn't do any scoops either but never mind. 
The no-spending came to an end on Wednesday when YD went to yard to see to HRh and I did a supermarket trip to restock. Total spend of £70.26 but I used my Cc which had a £10.25 credit on it ( cashback) so actually only spent £ £60.01.

I was due to meet both Daughters on Saturday but was annoyed by the potential £6.30 an hour parking charges so investigated trains. Ended up buying a railcard for £35 which meant my train ticket was just £7.20 and the fast train took just 9 minutes! I also parked near the local station for free thank to a work colleagues advice. Much better than a 40 minute drive followed by at least £15 in parking.

Had to buy some essential household stuff for £52 and decide to take the cost of those and the rail card and tickett all from my standard saver account as they were one-offs and I didn't want to blow my budget in the first month of they year 

Farrier came to do HRH's feet on Friday and we both agreed that due to current muddy conditions if he hadn't already lost a shoe last month, then he definitely would have by now! Still a fair bit of damage to the front hooves but that's mostly from where the nails were previously and will grow out and hopefully eventually become as strong as the hind ones.  Total cost for a trim was £35 and as I had already taken £50 cash from HRH account last month I paid farrier and bought another bale of hay for £9.50. Horses are now having hay in the field each day so hopefully that bale will last a while and farrier not due again til after next pay day so it's all good!.

Not much change to the pots and I reckon I can just about afford the extra £137 for the Four Day Fund - have payments leaving my current account next week so will see what's left after the bank rounds up the pennies and I've done my scoops ( I WILL pay it somehow and then recalculate how much I need to pay monthly at the end of January).

HRH Pot £ 138.03 + £5 cash

Car & Christmas pot - £200 

Trips & Treat pot - £1000

Linked Saver £ 679.94

Four Day Fund pot £9938.15




Monthly Budget £148.42 and 8 days remaining 
( yes, it would be £48.42 if I hadn't transferred £100 from my linked saver... but then I would have used £100 from that account to pay into the FDF anyway so same difference) 


I'm away to my batch cooking - have a lovely day
x

Arrietty

It's now February and just over two weeks since my last post again as life has been rather full.

Work has been very worky; which is serving to keep me motivated to reduce to four days a week ASAP. My duties seem to be both increasing and becoming more complex and time consuming and this does not sit well with me as I always strive to simplify and streamline any task I undertake.

The rain has been relentless and it certainly doesn't make for the most fun times at the yard after work. Horses are all bearing up though and HRH has had a pedicure and a lovely massage. I was surprised to hear the physio declare she thought he had laminitis as he was struggling to trot on the gravel. None of the usual signs and I'm convinced he's just being dramatic as he doesn't like walking on stones ;but as we had the vet visit yesterday to do his teeth and vaccination, I asked if she would check. She did and of course, no signs of laminitis whatsoever … just an extra £58.50 on my bill 🙄

Payday has been and gone and all the transfers were duly done so lets get to the money:

HRH pot = £51.34 (livery, pedicure and massage all paid)

Car & Christmas pot = £300

Trips & Treats pot = £1000

Linked Saver = £566.74

Four Day Fund pot = £10,515

I'm pleased with how the FDF pot is growing; as February and March are no-council-tax months I decided to just pay the £430 straight over rather than send the regular £200, and the rest in dribs and drabs. This means the interest payment was £33.51 on the 1st. Today I checked my Premium Bonds and was very happy Ito have a win so as soon as that hits my bank account I'll send it over.

I've spent £115.83 on grocery shopping, £60.86 on fuel, £48.19 on some new jeans and £26.00 on a few pairs of warm socks because, in case I didn't mention it… the weather is miserable and this rain is relentless. The monthly budget has taken a beating already, I'm out for a pub supper tomorrow night and there's another 3 weeks til payday 😬.