Arrietty's Acorns

Arrietty

Hello,

I think we're past the 'happy new year' stage now and as we don't know each other yet I'll just dive right in, say 'hello' again and declare that I NEED to be on this board.

I've been dipping in and out of here for a while now and debating with myself as to whether I should start my own savings diary; whether it would help keep me accountable for my silly spending habits or whether it would just end up being an exercise in making long and convoluted justifications for my most recent ridiculous purchase.

Well, the  jar of 'healthy hair gummies' which I bought via insta for £27 ( twenty seven ) say - YES, you need a savings diary and a big slap of reality. 

2023 was an expensive year for me and I think in the last quarter I just stopped trying to save anything.  I have a money notebook which I used to fill in weekly to record my savings and it's rather telling that before my end of year round up on 31st December, the previous entry was on 9th October, shortly after the 5th vet bill...

I have a large animal who did not earn his keep last year, mainly due to the discovery and treatment of asthma and there were also a sprinkling of various other incidents such ' ooh look there's some barbed wire on the ground over there, I wonder if I could make that into a pretty anklet' or 'hey - there's sharp spiky thing, how about I poke it in my eye' - idiot animal!  

There were 2 new kitchen appliances purchased to replace defunct ones, there were new glasses required following the barbed wire incident and way, way back, the year actually started with having to replace an entire door of my car after I completely failed to avoid the giant steel pillar in the car park in my haste to leave work. 

It really wasn't great financially.

My savings were seriously depleted and I got into that  "£1200 vet bill for you ... and a £27 jar of sweeties for me' mindset - idiot human!

So, during my 10 days off work over the festive season, the disaster of 2023 and imminence of 2024 brought about a change of attitude, dropping of bad habits and taking up of new ones. The fact that I'm now a mere 12 years from being able to claim a state pension has been quite sobering too. I have nowhere near enough savings to be able to retire comfortably and I'm not sure I'd really want to completely retire anyway but I would very much like to not to 'have to' work 5 days week.  
I'd like not to have to do that now actually, but I do need structure and routine in my life and more time spent at work does mean less time available for buying crap off the internet. 

This savings diary is mainly focusing on building up 2 separate savings funds:

The first fund is where I aim to have 3 months of outgoings stashed, money to replace any household times/appliances and where I'm also saving towards Christmas & Birthday gifts and events. 
I'll call this fund the LSA.

The second fund is where I save for fun and frivolous things like holidays, events, gigs, eating out, trips and lessons on the idiot animal and a new wardrobe (clothes rather than furniture) for 2025. I do not need to buy any clothes in 2024.  I have plenty of clothes for my current lifestyle and if I got my act together and shed the extra 20lbs I'm wearing, I'd have even more to choose from.
I'll call this fund the OSA.

Alongside these 2 savings funds I also save monthly into both my my car fund ( service, mot, insurance tax etc.) and also into my idiot animal fund.

 I did have insurance for that but when I tried to claim for the asthma treatment I was told "oh no, that's not covered because if you remember he coughed 3 years ago on a Tuesday afternoon..."

I cancelled that policy and the money I was paying for the insurance goes into the idiot animal's account and is saved towards future costs ( please let there not be any four figure vet ones this year)

As you see, I have quite a few little savings funds, I'm like a squirrel with little piles of acorns everywhere! I just need to keep adding to those piles of acorns and stop buying stuff I don't need or paying for stuff that I don't really want to do - bad habit of mine.

Anyway, that's quite enough for an introductory post, I'll explain more about the various accounts, the opening balances, targets I'm aiming for and how I fund them in my next post.

Thank you if you've read this far!








 

Arrietty

Now for a bit more detail about the various savings funds and pots.

The LSA is connected to my Current Account.
Every time I spend on my Debit Card, the change (up to £1) is scooped across to the LSA. I also earn cashback for spending in various places. This is paid back into my Current Account but I scoop the money over to the LSA each time it is paid. 
The interest rate is fairly low on this account so I've never bothered about having too much money in there but it's ideal for saving towards things which will likely be spent within a year eg: Christmas and Gifts and replacement household items. As well as the cash back and rounding up of change I am paying in £10 a week.
2024 Opening balance was £1650.10p. I've paid in £20 and there have been pennies round ups of £2.72 so far.

The OSA is with another bank and offers a better interest rate so I'd like to build that back up again and it's also for longer term fun things.I did have a decent amount in there but then 2023 happened...
Any pay outs from TopCashBack go in there and I've also set it up as the receiver account for any Premium Bonds winnings. I did quite well with these last year which is the only reason I still have money in there and again, I'm adding £10 each week to it.
A good friend of mine is excellent at saving for things and often tells me how every time she doesn't buy something she wants, she'll add the money to her holiday fund. I got into the habit of buying lunch at work every day last year and felt this was justified because the change would go to my LSA.
Thinking about my friend and her clever saving method, I have decided that each time I DON'T buy lunch at work, I will send that amount to my OSA.
2024 Opening Balance was £1000.00. I've paid in £20 and NOT bought lunches to the value of £8.25.


The SSA is another low interest savings account which I use to save towards and then pay for all car expenses from  Service & Repairs, MoT, Road Tax, Insurance and Breakdown.  My road tax is due end of December each year, Service, MoT and Insurance are all due mid January. This may sound like a nightmare time of year but it works for me because everything is paid at the beginning of the year and I then have all year to save again.
In 2023 I paid in £75 each month.
I had the Service/ Repairs & MoT done mid December just after my last CC statement & I paid it on my CC because - nectar points!   I also knew I wouldn't get the bill until mid January. Total cost was £497, road tax is £20, and my car insurance is £270.11p.  This will also come off my CC next week - hopefully just after the next statement but it doesn't matter if it's before because I have a year's worth of savings to pay it.

Fuel, screen wash and parking permits and daily charge for work car park come out of my monthly living expenses. Parking at work costs me £175 per year! An annual permit to actually park on site and then a daily charge. It's annoying but the car park is secure, undercover and probably keeps my insurance cost down. 

This year I will increase the monthly payment to £80.00 in the hopes that will cover everything again but I probably won't bother to track my payments in. 

There's also HRH Account. This is an old basic current account with no interest which I use for the idiot animal's running costs.  I like to keep his expenses separate from everything else. I pay in £200 a month,  co-owner pays £160 and that covers his monthly living expenses, 6 weekly shoe habit, vet plan for vaccinations & basic dentistry, feed, supplements & treats. I'm hoping this account stays fairly static throughout the year but it could be helpful to track payments & spending as I do get a bit excited if I think he needs something.
2024 Opening balance £740, Expenses £270, Balance £470.00

Well, I'm pretty tired after typing al that out as I had to keep logging in to the accounts to check the amounts were correct. Future posts will hopefully be more succinct.

~FlowerPot~

hello and welcome to this little corner of the forum. I found joining some of the challenges the best way to get me to stay motivated, some of these I do with cash like the 52 weeks stuffing envelope challenge and others like the 365 1p challenge. There are lots of challenges in different place on the forum, but def some on the debt free wannabe pages.

Good luck x

Arrietty

Hello Flowerpot and thank you for the welcome.
Really appreciate you popping in and sharing your experience and the challenges that work for you 

I've used envelope stuffing in the past and found it really helpful. I rarely use cash these day but my various savings pots are the online equivalent as I like to keep each category separate!

Thanks again

Skint_yet_Again

You sound very organised with your various accounts and pots. 

“Idiot animal” sounds like a real character 😆

Arrietty

Hello Skint yet Again,

thank you for popping by and yes, the IA is a real character and I love him to bits. Just as well because I'm convinced he's on a mission to outlive or bankrupt me.

Probably both to be honest!

I've been trying to respond for what feels like hours but each time I hit the 'post comment' button I get a message saying the body is 10 characters too short so I do apologise for the rambling post.

Feels like I'm stuck in a loop because  I couldn't delete the post or start another one... yay success!

Arrietty

Back again for another update.

Those first two posts really took it out of me   It was helpful to get it all out of my head and written down and yet has left me with quite a few questions. 

Even as I was typing the words 'low interest' I was thinking to myself "why are you saving money in a low interest account?"  When I used to work with cash/envelopes it was easy to keep track of all my savings funds and I had a notebook or ledger  I wrote the amounts in each time I added to them or spent out of them.  

I do have a spending diary app but I'm not remotely interested in setting up any form of spreadsheets to track my various pots and I admit to having previous  form for 'borrowing' from one to pay another and then getting in a bit of mess which is why I've kept them all in separate accounts.

I wonder if I'm now grown up and sensible enough to lump them all in together and use the highest paying interest account?

I think I should definitely keep fun money and future bills money far away from each other - not that sensible yet.

Moving on to a round up of this week's savings:

Sadly my 'save the change' scoop from Current Account to LSA savings has taken a serious dive since I stopped buying lunch at work and has only gained me £1.30 this week:
LSA Balance = £1673.55

On the other hand, by Not Buying Lunch or Snacks at work I have saved myself £24.15p which has been scooped over: OSA Balance = £1044.15

IA Himself had a new pair of shoes this week which was £45 but I'd already taken the cash out of that account at the weekend so no change there. Although, thinking about it, this is one area of my life where I do regularly use cash - so I should include that - might 
HRH Balance = £470.77 + cash £40

Confirmed my car insurance renewal so that will be added to my CC  any day now and having just checked the balance it seems fuel and a pair of trainers ended up on it too   - I blame  insta, alerting me when my fave brands have a sale!  CC bods sent me a letter just before Christmas saying they're halving my credit limit as I never use it.  I was a bit miffed at first as it had a very generous limit which I always thought of as my emergency vet fees fund.  Clearly, this is not sensible behaviour and I do have another CC which I rarely use and probably should soon just so they don't take that away from me too! Although I have rarely been on insta since I started this diary, I guess it would be prudent to keep a record of my CC balance too -£649.86 

daintydaisy

Loving your diary Arrietty ^^ good luck with your savings goals, you're off to a terrific start. 

Arrietty

Hello daintydaisy - what a fab name!

thank you for popping by and the good luck, it's so lovely to have visitors

Arrietty

Here we are on a cold and dark Tuesday evening and whilst I do have various bits of money news... it's mostly of the spending of variety 

Probably best to to start with the smallest spends and then work my way towards the big beast.

So, Saturday morning saw me buying a bale of hay for Idiot Animal Himself at £7.50. Paid for this with cash and as I'd got a £5 discount from the farrier last Monday, it was only £2.50 from my actual cash stash. 
HRH balance £470.77 + £32.50 cash

Saturday evening I treated myself to a covered hot water bottle for £12 and it has been amazing! I don't like getting in to a cold bed but didn't want to spend out on an electric blanket. I've also been using it with a fleecy blanket when I'm on the sofa in the evening after the heating has gone off.  I spent another £21.13 on groceries in the same trip.

On Monday I paid £10 over to my linked savings account for Christmas & Gifts and there was some change scooped over as well.  A bit more change was scooped scooped over today as well.
LSA balance £1685.42

I also received an email from the solicitor I'd had a meeting with months ago, gently reminding me they're still waiting for my instructions about making a will  Oh dear, I think that's going to be a little bit expensive. It really needs to be done though because although I'm a parent to 2 grown-up-and-left-home children... my priority is making sure that HRH Idiot Animal is taken care of. I discussed this at length with solicitor ( who fully understood, having her own kind of Idiot Animal) and whilst one of my GUALHC was frankly relieved that money is to be left for him - mainly due to being his co owner ... the other GUALHC was positively outraged. Further conversations were had and I honestly got so annoyed with it all that I had to leave the will writing for a while.  It was a good opportunity to reflect on some of the things I'd thought I wanted and now realise I've changed my mind.  
Anyway, the will's not written so the bill's not bitten yet,  let's move on!

I had to buy another 10 weeks of parking for work at £29 and my fixed term contract will probably end in March which is when you have to pay for a new permit to park so I need to find myself another position. I should get official notice by the end of this month. It's making me feel a bit unsettled and is partly why I've been so keen to get my finances in order. 

The CREDIT CARD...
Bad timing with the car insurance, they took the payment on Sunday 14th!!  Well, it does run out at midnight so fair enough I guess BUT that meant the extra £270 was on the CC statement meaning the total balance had zoomed up to a horrible £919.97.  
Made me feel a bit sick actually, and although it doesn't have to be paid until 9th February, I want to start up my new Car Savings Pot with January salary so I cleaned out the current Car Savings Pot and then had to take another £320 from the OSA to clear the balance.
CC balance £0000.00

Within an hour of paying it they'd sent me an email saying my limit had been halved, effective immediately!
I know they'd sent a letter advising me but I reckon they were counting on me not paying that balance  off after Christmas and they're really pissy about not getting a single penny in interest from me 

So, with the Car Savings Pot empty until pay day and having had to take money from the OSA to clear the balance it; ls not been the best start to the week.

I paid £10 over to the OSA for future wardrobe and fun, I've Not Bought Lunches for £8.80 and I had a stray £8 in my current account which was making it untidy so I sent that over too.
OSA balance £742.95


Gone a bit backwards this week but I don't have any debt.
I have a home, a car, clothes and food.  Idiot Animal has warm rugs, feed and hay.

We're good. 

daintydaisy

You definitely haven't gone backwards - you're debt free! That's an amazing achievement, well done you.