Arrietty's Acorns

Arrietty

Good morning,

isn't it lovely having a 4 day weekend 😃

I had a lovely productive day yesterday; pottering about, doing laundry, tidying & sorting and rearranging living room furniture for its 'summer setting'. I went to the yard early afternoon and spent a few hours there, walking HRH , trying to remove his winter fluff and generally enjoying being out in the sunshine. I then popped to Waitrows on the way home to return a couple of curtain rods that I'd bought in excess of requirements and to get an Easter Egg for my GS. £12 later I was nearly on the floor with shock 😮. It's a decent sized egg but it's still hollow.

Little GD is not needing any chocolate at just 16 months so I bought her some egg shaped chalks in a cute little egg box which she can have fun with on the paved area of their garden. A pack of mini lindor eggs for my SiL and an EcoEgg for ED 😀. I have been using these for laundry for years and I bought her one a while back but she claimed to have lost it when they moved house… said she didn't want any chocolate as on healthy diet for wedding so I thought I'd help her save money too 😉

Going over there for family Easter lunch today as ED is working tomorrow so Sunday will be the regular yard day with YD I expect. And then I get another day off on Monday 😁

I have now sourced a painter/decorator but my goodness that was quite the experience. I put an ad on Checkatrade on Friday and a nice chap responded almost immediately and offered to come and survey. I said I'd be at home for the next few hours and he offered to come round within half an hour. I agreed and despite the place being in utter chaos due to scaffolding and roofing people outside, he seemed unphased and calm and just very knowledgeable but in a very understated way. Estinated the work would take about 6 days. When I said roofing works were due to begin in a few weeks he immediately advised not doing any decorating until that was complete and said he'd send me a quote. I checked him out and he's registered at Companies House and has many many 10star reviews.

Then another chap got in touch and asked to come and survey, wanted to come on Sunday but I declined that so we agreed on Monday evening. (By this time I'd had the quote from 1st chap which was bang on the average price I'd researched but I said I was waiting for other quotes so would get back to him as soon as I had them and he was fine with this).

So, second chap rolls up and immediately starts saying how big the place is and what poor condition the walls are in and how much needs to be done to repair them…🙄 I tell him I'm not looking for perfection and about the impending roofing works in the next 4 weeks and he was very quick to say he could get his team in before that as they were looking for work to fill the next couple of weeks. I ask won't that be a problem and he assured me no and that he could get the work done in 5-6 days. I don't trust this one at all. He says he'll send me a quote…

Later that night I receive his quote all broken down into segments but client name is different. A few minutes later he then messages again saying he put the wrong client name on the quote but everything else is correct. I don't reply to either message because it's 9:45pm and I'm in shock. His quote is £1400 more than the previous chap, he has said it'll take 8-9 days and he wants 20% up front to 'secure' the job 🤔.

The next day I message him to say thank you very much for coming to survey and for the quote but that I'm astonished. Not only has he said that it will take almost twice as long than he'd told me in person, but it's also considerably more than the average that I've researched and other quotes I've had. I tell him I appreciate his time but that I won't be going ahead with his compnay.

He then replies that yes, it might be more than other quotes but there'll be a lot of work repairing the cracks (they're minor & I'd said I wasn't too bothered because they reappear after a couple of years anyway) and that it takes time to move furniture!! I'd already asked other chap and he said I only had to move personal items - they do everything else. I don't reply and he then messages again and says he understand that I "don't want to pay his price" but could I please tell him the price of my other quotes because they're new to that platform and don't know how to price jobs!

I resist the urge to suggest that 1) they get the client name right, 2) if they get it wrong, to redo the quote rather than just message to say it's wrong, 3) look up the average price for similar work before sending a quote and 4) don't ask for 20% up front because it just looks like you've got a cashflow problem and that you'll be using my money to fund other jobs you've got on… I just don't respond because I've already told him I'm to going ahead with his company.

I message other chap and say I'd like him to do the work please and he thanks me and reiterates that I need to wait until after the roofing works are complete to get the best possible finish. I like him.

I'm withdrawing Premium Bonds to put in a Cash ISA so will divert some of the money to pay for this. I want to get it done properly but a professional while I'm still earning a full time salary as I figure then it can just be freshened up every few years as needs be. Hopefully with the same chap so I don't need to go through that again!

To the money…

So, there was a £50 win on the Premium Bonds this month which won't get me either a Four Day week or the home fully decorated but it's still free money so thank you for that. I also received £37.55 interest which is also free money so thank you for that. I also did a couple of scoops.

HRH Fund = £136.06

Trips & Treats fund = £1000

Car & Christmas fund = £500

Water / Linked Saver fund = £ 378.55

FDF = £ 11.543.97

91 weeks to target date….

Have a lovely day

x

Skint_yet_Again

First chap sounds great Arrietty. Good luck with it all. Wouldn’t even bother replying again to the second. They are the ones who give other tradesmen a bad name and the ones that I dread.

Enjoy your family Easter lunch

Arrietty

Good morning,

and a rather grey drizzly one it is too. We had frost Monday and Tuesday but now it's about 10 degrees so HRH was left naked last night and will no doubt resemble a hippo by this afternoon after he's spent all day rolling in the mud 😄

Despite not having a job, he's been shopping again; it's been so long since we had hot weather, we'd both forgotten how annoying flies are and we've yet to find a fly spray which actually works for more than an hour so he treated himself to a new fly rug and fly mask for £67.89 and then had his feet trimmed on Monday for £35. The money for feet trim did come from his own account and there's cash for another bale of hay when he needs it there is almost enough in there to pay for the fly rug & mask but I'm trying to build up a buffer again & I haven't forgotten that he still owes me for his feed!

HRH acct: £86.06

I have now withdrawn half my Premium Bonds and opened a cash ISA. Spent ages looking through all the different ones; fixed, flexible, bonus rates, app only… and ended up choosing one with the same organisation I have the Four Day Fund saver with and I opted for a fixed interest rate which pays monthly interest. Fixed because I like to know exactly what I'll be getting and monthly interest because I still need to see regular 'action'. True - it's slightly less than the maximum interest I 'could' have earned but it suits my criteria.

I haven't completely filled the ISA as I decided to leave myself with a bit of cash in an easy access account to use for outfit/accommodation/gift the upcoming wedding… so I have a bit of a target to achieve to fill the ISA which should keep me motivated.

Trips & Treats Fund = £1500

Car & Christmas Fund = £503.39 earned a little bit of interest 😊

Linked Saver / Water fund = £ 378.86 tiny amount of change saved since last time

I had a win of £50 on April Premium Bonds (before withdrawing half of them) and also received £33.29 interest on the Trips & Treats fund so both those amounts were transferred to the FDF. I've also done a few scoops which have helped to boost the balance. I have lost count of how many weeks left though 🤔

FDF = £11,651.49

It's been a while now since I started scooping over untidy amounts in my current account and it is now a daily routine - I check my balance every morning and automatically scoop over and whilst I have noticed that I have less money to spend each month, at least it's not being frittered away!

Have a lovely day x

Arrietty

Hello,

almost 2 weeks since my last post but it has been deliberate this time as I was waiting for payday so I'd have money updates to declare!

I got paid on Friday and have already blown through half of my monthly budget which is quite frightening but seems to be the way these days. It was a friend's leaving drinks and dinner on Friday night so that was £41.00 gone and then yesterday I had a lovely trip to the Savill Garden in Windsor Park with my Dad. He's a member so doesn't have to pay to park and also got me in to the garden for free so it seemed only right that I should buy lunch which was £25.95. The azaleas were just glorious and then we sat and watched a trio of fluffy ducklings whizzing about and causing their parents to be constantly trying to herd them in one direction while they had other ideas 😂

I filled up the car for £56.76 on the way home and this morning I popped to Waitrows to get some flowers fro my friend and top up with fresh bits and bread, milk and carrots for HRH.

HRH is moving to his summer field next weekend and I have to say that our attempts to get him to lose some weight ahead of that have not been very successful as the grass is now coming through in their winter field! I haven't ridden much the last week as we had a lot of windy days which makes the woods very scary and then on Friday ( about 2 hours before the dinner and drinks) I tripped over a root causing HRH to startle and leap into air and unfortunately hbefore I could move back he landed on my right foot. I now have a fat foot and three purple and black toes and am hobbling a bit. Thankfully YD is coming over today to give him a bit of workout and when they've moved fields I can start lungeing him a bit until I feel safe to ride again.

To the money…

HRH account = £246.06

I've paid in £50 each for both the Car & Christmas funds so that total balance is now = £603.39

I dipped in to the Trips & Treats fund for some new underwear so that now = £1400

The interest on the Linked Saver/Water fund has now dropped to 0.75% and I really don't know why I bother to keep it other than for the convenience of having somewhere to save any change into as well as for the water bill. Anyway, I added another £50 so that now = £431.30 but I don't think I'll keep any more than £500 in there at any point because it's just not with it.

Cash ISA remains the same as interest not due until the beginning of May but I am looking forward to seeing that every month. It will be interesting to see if have any wins on my remaining Premium Bonds now I have half the amount or whether they just sit there.

The FDF has had £10.18 of scoops this week and I also added my regular monthly £200 payment so that now = £11,872.30.

There may be some changes to my FDF plan coming soon. I fear that my calculations for what I will need to save have been rather underestimated and also did not take into account the considerable decrease in pension contributions it will mean. I have been really worrying about this but still need to make some kind of change.

Manager and I were chatting on Friday and laughing at how we are rich for a few hours each payday and then we send money to all our various funds and are poor again for the next few weeks ( I am using the terms 'rich' and 'poor' only in the context of this particular post and am of course aware how other people's circumstances vary)

I said to her about how I wanted to give up working Friday's in the future as they 'kill' me but when I worked it all out and how much money I would lose, I couldn't see how.

She strongly advised against putting in a formal request to change or reduce my hours this far ahead of my retirement due to both the decrease in pension contributions (not just mine but the organisations' as well) and she also said that each department is fighting for every penny in their budget and due to current extreme cost-cutting and a ban on hiring any new staff, the organisation would bite the hand off anyone wanting to reduce their hours but it would be near impossible to reverse it as the savings would immediately be reallocated.

She admitted that this wasn't just for my benefit but also for the department and her budget because if I'm only working 30 hours a week and then eventually retire … she would only have a 30 hour a week job to offer the next person. She first suggested working longer hours for four days week but I reminded her the reason I work my current hours is because of horse/darkness in winter time and also I just can't face longer days 😞She thought again and asked if l could cope with an extra half hour for 4 days a week and then leave at lunchtime on a Friday…

Essentially, there would be no change to my contracted hours / pay / pension / annual leave entitlement and as 'flexible working' is agreed within the department it doesn't need to be an official change of hours so she keeps her budget.

I used to finish work at 12:30 on Friday's in my previous job which was lovely but I did shorter hours overall. Yes, it will mean I still need to get up early for 5 days of the week but my weekends will start earlier! I used to immediately do my groceries shop after work on a Friday or arrange any appointments for then or meet friends for a drink or go home and get laundry and chores started so I had a proper 2 day weekend.

I think it will make quite a difference to how I feel on a Friday (usually fed up and exhausted) but am very open to hearing the thoughts of anyone who may read this and have an opinion …

..and at the back of my mind I'm also wondering if I do this now but keep on saving as I have been then maybe, just maybe, the Four Day Fund could become the NO Day Fund or the Early Retirement Fund ( maybe I could bring that forward a couple of years instead 🤔)

Have a lovely day x

Skint_yet_Again

Your day out with your dad sounds lovely Arrietty 😊

Sorry to hear about your foot, have had my foot stamped on before so I know it huurrrts 😫 🐎

Not sure about how your hours will affect your pension. It might be worth posting on the pensions board It may depend on whether it’s final salary or career average and how close you are to retirement

Arrietty

I'm on day 4 of not being at work and it is lovely knowing I still have another 2 to go! Having a 3 day week when I go back is quite nice as well 😁

My foot is healing - still a bit sore if I walk or stand too much but definitely improving so no breakage which is good. I had a lovely ride on Thursday and again on Friday so got to use both the summer fields for the last time before all the herds moved on Saturday. We now have the winter fields to ride in and as YD, HRH and I all much prefer them for hacking in we will make the most of them for the next few months.

Livery has been paid, wormer has been paid and I bought him a new rug for next winter as I saw one exactly like the one he had over the last winter for just £80.00 so snapped it up. Brands tend to reduce them at the end of the season as they then bring out new colours which everyone wants to buy. I used to fall for this but I now know that all rugs end up bieng mud coloured so finding one that fits my horse well and for the best price is my game plan.

He utterly destroyed that rug and its would probably cost almost as much to have it cleaned, mended and re-proofed as to buy a new one. It worked hard and kept him dry all winter. I layered it over other rugs when it was colder so they have remained clean and don't need replacing 😉 I have a bale of hay in my store, plenty of feed and supplements and he'll be full of grass for at least a month so it was the perfect time to buy.

HRH fund = £63.40

No additional payments to the car expenses and Christmas fund so that remains the same

Car & Christmas fund = £ 603.39

No changes to the trip & Treat fund either

Trips & Treats fund = £1400

Linked Saver/Water bill fund = £ 433.43

Earned £41.69 interest on the new Cash ISA and also won £25 on the remaining Premium Bonds so I'm happy with that result.

I earned £5.73 cashback from my current account so sent that across to the FDF, as well as £11.57 in scoops last week and then earned £37.70 in interest so a total of £55 for the week which is great.

FDF = £ 11,927.30

I think it's now 87 weeks until my target date of dropping one day a week but I'm still unsure if it's the right thing to do. After the conversation with my manager about compressing my hours we're going to trial it for a few weeks to see if it works for both the department and me. I'm certainly feeling a lot happier about retaining my salary, pension contributions and annual leave entitlement so it just remains to be seen if leaving work a couple of hours early on a Friday has the effect I'm looking for ie it reduces my tiredness and increases my sense of extending the weekend considerably.

Have a lovely day x

Arrietty

Hello,

almost 3 weeks since my last post and WOW has there been some stuff going on, which is the primary reason for my absence. I have spent so much time project managing the various irritations alongside work that I've not had the bandwidth to keep up with money stuff 🙄

In short - had a flood from a water tank in my loft which drenched the insulation and created a large brown stain on the ceiling. Had to have plumber out 3 times before the source of issue was eventually fixed. Finally have someone due to come and stain block and paint that ceiling on Tuesday.

There were some other works being done outside the building and that caused a section of guttering to fall off so now waiting for that to be fixed. The planned roofing works which would have incorporated replacing all of that and renewing the loft insulation is now on hold indefinitely but the date for my own decorating works is approaching rapidly so my keenness to get everything else fixed has been driven by this.

Trying to arrange all the above - inspections required at every stage - around work has been somewhat 'trying'.

To top it all, I had an accident in my car which the insurers pretty much told me would mean it was a write off and meant I had 24 hours of a salvage company constantly calling, messaging and emailing me about picking my car up which started to feel rather threatening as they didn't listen when I said I wasn't proceeding down that route. My car is still driveable although it doesn't look great and my usual mechanic has quoted for the work That is the route I have chosen and although I will have to hire a car myself for a week at least I won't be without one. What the insurers would have paid out would not have genie me even half the amount needs to buy another car similar to mine.

I appreciate these are all very much first world problems and I'm extremely lucky to have the funds in place to be able to get my car fixed 🙂

In other news, I'm on leave until Wednesday which is very welcome and there's a heatwave to complement this, so I'm hoping to get some more work done in the garden and also try to fix the hedegtrimmer which I managed to separate from it's cable last summer 🙄. Still trying to declutter the entire house but it's quite a project and I fear it won't be complete in time for decorators.

HRH is still fat and happy although the next few hot days will probably be a struggle so there'll no riding; just some walks in the shady woods and maybe a bath or 2. He had front shoes put on yesterday as he's been struggling with the hard ground and stones in the gateways. It was nice and breezy so I rode after and it was definitely the right decision. That was £60. The flies are bad and although we have some fly spray, I think we'll need a lot more over the next couple of months so I bought another big refill bottle and also another tub of glucosamine power so that was another £94.37 I paid out of my own money, I don't mind because he did pay for his shoes!

HRH account = £ 33.40

Car & Christmas fund = £603.39

Trips & Treats fund = £5000 - I withdrew some Premium Bonds to pay for the car repairs and thought I may as well take a bit extra towards the decorating costs otherwise I'll be losing interest if I withdraw it all from my FDF (even though that was the original plan) I took £1000 to pay into my cash ISA so that is now full and again, I'll be earring interest each month as opposed to possibly winning something on the Premium Bonds (£10,000 would be plentyfor me right now 😁) There will be no trips or treats any time soon, but once repairs and decorating are paid for I'm going to concentrate on building that fund back up.

Linked Saver / Water bill £439.46

FDF = £ 11,970.17 - I've continued to scoop over untidy money from my current account and although I can't see me dropping that day now that I have about £6k to replace I will continue to save a set amount monthly and any untidy money daily.

I'm thinking again about maybe reducing the number of accounts I have, mainly due to most of them offering interest on a yearly basis. I'll ponder some more once all the major costs are out of the way - still have the wedding accommodation to pay for.

Time for another coffee now,

Have a lovely day x

Skint_yet_Again

Oh Arrietty what a time you have had over the last few weeks, no wonder you haven’t had time to think about money 🤯 As you say it’s good that you had funds in place

Hope HRH enjoys his new shoes and a hose down over the hot weekend 🥵

Arrietty

Good morning,

it is grey here and a good ten degrees cooler which is very welcome. Against popular opinion I'm also relieved that we're due some rain here this coming week. The horses have been in their summer fields for 4 weeks now and the grass that's left has pretty much all gone yellow now so a good drenching will hopefully get it growing again. HRH is much happier now he has front shoes on, whether he'll be happier now that the lower temperature means he can get back to a more regular ridden schedule remains to be seen 😄

Once June's livery has gone out of his account tomorrow, there will enough left to either repay me for the last lot of supplements, or buy him another tub of the anti-allergy stuff and another set of shoes…

HRH account = £122.41

I got paid last week so have added another deposit to the Car & Christmas fund. Laughable in some ways bearing in mind what I'm paying for my car this coming week … but imagine if I wasn't saving into this fund and after these unexpected costs, then had to find more money for the service etc at peak festive season!

Car & Christmas account = £703.39

I've already withdrawn money from the trips/treats fund to pay for the hire car/deposit so that's already depleted. All put for on my CC for now so hopefully I'll at least earn a couple of £ cashback 😆 The £300 deposit will be repaid of course,

Trips & Treats account = £4600

I added another £50 for next water bill to my linked saver and there have been a few scoops sent over as well.

Linked Saver / Water Bill = £491.80

I sent the usual £200 to the Four Day Fund on payday and have also scooped over an additional £68.51 whilst tidying up my current account regularly. I should get interest paid tomorrow.

FDF = £ 12.196.11

Overall, I'm happy with how the savings are mounting up and whether I ever do drop down to four days a week or I do retire early the discipline of saving regularly will benefit me in the long run.

At the moment I feel fairly fit and healthy and sometimes I wonder why I would stop working / earning an income if I still feel the same as I do now when I reach retirement age?

Everyone's circumstances are different as retirement age approaches; for me as a single woman, I'm conscious that I will need to replace the rhythm and structure of a work week with other activities which not only keep me mentally and physically active but also provide plenty of social interaction. I'm quite an introverted person by nature and happy with my own company a lot of the time … but this is often recovery from the working week. Whilst I have long term friends they have moved away from the area over the years we don't 'see' each other much and a lot of my 'local' socialising currently evolves around horsery, which won't last forever 😔

Once that stage of my life comes to an end (unbearable to think about so I don't dwell too much ) I just realise there will be a lot of empty hours each week ) but looking ahead at the 'positives' I will of course have no responsibilities / more freedom / more disposable income to explore new hobbies and experiences.

With regards to general lving/saving I had fully intended to increase my contributions to the FDF once the pay rise showed up but have now decided this can wait until my finances settle into a regular rhythm again once the car, decorating and wedding expenses are out of the way. I'm being more swayed towards putting the extra money into the Trips & Treats fund so I have guilt-free funds to fritter as and when I feel the urge.

The decluttering continues and once I have my car back and the road to the tip is open again I will be taking a few pieces of furniture and the old lawn mower. I have 2 bags to go the charity shop and although every so often I have an urge to buy a new piece of clothing or pair of shoes… I then remember how much I already have, how little I actually need for my day to day life and that I really should use those and properly wear them out before buying anything new!

Have a lovely day x

Arrietty

Hello,

It's a bit cloudy here today but everything is looking fresh after a week of rain and the grass in the fields is growing. I made the most of my early finish on Friday and hopped on HRH for a gentle hack.

After my ride I dropped the hire car back and then jumped on a train towards home. The station is opposite the car hire place and also about half a mile from my work so I've often thought that if it wasn't for HRH I could easily commute by train.

Well, that journey was a sharp reminder that public transport is not for me! Not only did it cost me £4.30 for a single trip ( my 30% off network card wasn't viable due to the time of day) but it took me over an hour due to a 40 minute delay in my connection. It was then another 20 minute walk home.

Having checked to see how much it would cost me to the do the journey regularly … it would be £9.00 a day and take approximately 35 minutes each way (if there are no delays) + a 20 minute walk each way. So overall commute time of about 2 and half hours a day on top of the £9. I'm only 5 miles from my workplace! I think I'll stick with my two x 15 minute car journeys and £3.50 fuel cost + £0.73p parking charge thank you!

Obviously, this month my car costs have been considerably higher 🙄 than normal and having collected and paid for my freshly repaired car I then had salt rubbed into the wound by having to fill the tank which cost me £67.29p which I think is the most I have ever paid for a tank of fuel and it wasn't even empty!

Anyway, several lessons have been learned over the last week:

• Public transport is not a viable option for committing.
• An economy/small engine car is not for me.
• Treat my car with a bit more respect eg. stop throwing it round roundabouts, slow down for ALL the potholes, don't use it as a mobile wardrobe/tackroom and get it cleaned more regularly - it is NOT a tractor.

I am a chastened and reformed car owner 😇

I am also a chastened and reformed money saver and have come to the conclusion that I need to worry less about saving up for a potential Four Day Week and now focus on building an instantly accessible emergency fund. I do have the remaining Premium Bonds, ISA and FDF but those are all reserved for other purposes and none offer immediate access to cash. I did have £1000 in my Trips & Treats fund but then moved that into the cash ISA to ensure I get maximum interest possible. So, at present, I currently have access to only about £1100 in cash and that is split across 2 accounts which are actually both funds for future bills 😰

That is not a good position to be in and the car repairs have been a bit of wake-up call to my situation which needs urgent remedial action.

The ISA and FDF combined are currently earning me about £100 a month in interest and the compressed hours have reduced my desperation to urgently drop a day at work so I am going to leave both those accounts to quietly compound bythemselves and put all my effort into building a decent sized emergency fund.

I will continue with the exact same practices I was using to fill the FDF ie. regular monthly payments alongside scooping over untidy pennies and also adding in any Premium Bond wins and cashback payments.

To the money…

HRH account = £42.41

Car & Christmas account = £703.39

I received interest and also made a couple of scoops last week to this account which is currently on a hiatus -FDF = £12,250.15

Linked Saver/Water bill account = £493.27

A new name and a new purpose for what was my Treats & Trips fund. The four figure sum is not a true reflection of the balance as it's all accounted for by car repairs ( paid on my cashback credit car so I will clear the balance when I get the statement next month) and also the cost of the decorating. I am now wondering whether the price he gave me included VAT but frankly, I'm scared to ask at this point so will deal with that when the time comes which is after my next payday.

I claimed and received £15.88 from cashback site so that is my first payment towards this new fund and the true balance! I also had a small win on the Premium Bonds which I was very happy with considering I withdrew most of them so once I receive it I'll pay it over.

Emergency Fund / Pom-Poms = (£4315.88) £15.88

In some ways its hard to believe I'm back to starting an Emergency Fund again from scratch - takes me back to DFW days when my first goal was simply paying for a TV Licence in one go by saving a tiny £5 a month - but as always, I find I'm at my most determined and effective when I have nothing 😁

Have a lovely day x