Arrietty's Acorns

OnlyJealousOfBirds

It's so interesting how horses have a particular place they like to be in a herd, regardless of the rest of their personality! I used to ride my mum's horse that always wanted to bring up the rear... lots of rides watching other people chatting in front, but to be honest, I think me and my Mabs were in agreement about that. It's good to have some peace and quite whilst still being around people sometimes!

Glad to hear your manager is fighting for you, fingers crossed it all gets sorted soon! I have to talk to my boss about a raise at appraisal this week... not looking forward to it, we don't always see eye to eye 😶 needs to be done regardless though!

~FlowerPot~

hi There your doing so well.

Just thought i would mention the chase bank account. It has a feature where you can open up sub account and view them really easily on the app. and they are all on 4.1% interest. So might be worth a looksie

flowers x

Arrietty

Good morning and a happy Sunday to you.

Hello OnlyJealousOfBirds -
It's really nice that you and your horse were in agreement as you your 'place'.  Honestly, I would be quite happy to bring up the rear but HRH has his own ideas.  I find it fascinating how the herd hierarchy works but then completely changes when there's food involved! I'd say HRH is fairly near the top of the ranking in usual times but the other day he was munching on a pile of hay and as soon as this little 14' Arab came over he backed away immediately. HRH is 15'2.
This Arab is a lot older and near the bottom of the rankings BUT... they used to share a field 8 years ago at a different yard. The staff there would put out 2 piles of hay as the Arab was known for being food obsessed and whichever pile HRH went to, the Arab would chase him off. I'll never forget the day he just stood looking at me completely perplexed as he couldn't work out how to get any hay.  Ended up having to put 3 or 4 piles out just so HRH had a chance 
The way he backed off the other day made me wonder if he has memories of that time 8 years ago.

Apologies for waffling on about horses - the herd behaviour and dynamics fascinates me.

Hello Flowers - thank you for the tip about Chase bank, I shall have a look and see if it would work for me.

My multiple accounts are a bit of pain at times - it would be great to have just one or two savings accounts and throw everything in there together but my special little brain needs to have each fund separate from the other so I can keep track! Maybe that could be a goal I can work towards.  

To business:

I had a lovely day off work on Monday ...still at the yard for 8am though to fetch in HRH and give him his breakfast before the vet arrived. Vet was very thorough and made a note of a couple of things to keep an eye on.  The actual sedation, vaccination and teeth floating ( rasping down any sharp points on the teeth to make them more even for chewing) were indeed FREE as per the horse health programme I joined.  The visit was not included, nor was the top up sedation for when the vet flushed out his tear ducts (also not included) which HRH was not impressed with, hence the top up sedation! Vet bill came in at £118.11 which has been paid. I also had to buy some eye ointment for him which was £13.93. 
HRH Current Account balance: £110.74
HRH cash £35.00

Transferred £300 from HRH regular account to the newly installed HRH savings account and I'll be sending a monthly payment there from March onwards.
HRH Savings Account balance £300

Had a fab lesson yesterday morning but it was the last of my bulk buy so I'll need to find £225 in 2 weeks time if I want to pay up front again.  It is worth it as it's £22.50 rather than £25 per lesson, so essentially, you get a free lesson.  I chatted with instructor and said that alternate weeks works better for me and according to my diary that would take me up to 4th May. I'm wondering if I could be disciplined enough to save £22.50 every other week which would then pay half towards the next batch hmmmm.


New SAS Account is now open and I transferred the car fund money into that and also the £60 I had saved for my new wardrobe in the Linked Savings Account. Weekly £10 payments will be going there from now on.
SAS account balance £140.00

Very little spending on my usual current account debit card this week only sweets at work on Friday for £3.38 and grocery shopping yesterday for £54.44 but the change from these transactions haven't been scooped over yet.  Transferred the £60 I had saved towards new wardrobe to new savings account so balance is less than last week.
LSA  balance £1664.12

I had a little Premium Bond win of £50 this month which automatically gets sent to my Holiday, Trips and Treats fund account and I didn't buy lunch 4 times this week either ( Monday was annual leave so I didn't count that as a NBL day) 
OSA balance £1064.15

Overall, a fairly quiet week in term of finance; the vet bill wasn't a regular payment but 'cost' nothing as I had the money saved for it. Premium Bond win was nice but not life-changing!  Still haven't had the will drawn up so no bill as yet... My current account is looking quite sparse and it's another 2 weeks until the next payday but by being more mindful about my spending and sending money to the OSA each time I don't buy lunch is helping.  I calculated that by not buying lunches 5 days a week over the course of 48 weeks (taking off annual leave) I would save about £1000!

Total spending £190.31
Total savings £ 86.50.


Have a lovely day   

~FlowerPot~

Arrietty said:

Hello Flowers - thank you for the tip about Chase bank, I shall have a look and see if it would work for me.

My multiple accounts are a bit of pain at times - it would be great to have just one or two savings accounts and throw everything in there together but my special little brain needs to have each fund separate from the other so I can keep track! Maybe that could be a goal I can work towards.  

Thats why I like the chase account I have the current account and 5 savings accounts (all 4.1%) and a round up. !!! The app works well and you can see easily whats in which account.

Well done on the PB win, always nice to have a surprise x

Arrietty

Good morning, good morning,

it's a mild and rainy day here at the moment but will hopefully clear up later as daughter usually comes to ride on a Sunday.  HRH has had quite an easy week work-wise, having only been ridden yesterday when I went for a hack with a friend and her pony.  The boys were very well behaved and satisfied their disdain for eachother by just making faces and HRH even let the little one in front for a few seconds! 
I texercise him by lungeing or take him for walks in hand when I don't ride and one afternoon we had a free lunge in the school and he showed off by using the poles that were set out.  He hates going over corners in lessons but was happy to do so by following me and was so pleased with himself after 🤩 . Confidence boosted and carrot sticks and pats  duly earned.

He did, however, disgrace himself on Wednesday by managing to rip the strap that goes under his tail and holds the back of the rug in place.  I arrived at the field and discovered him wearing the rug like a waistcoat with his back end out and covered in mud where he'd been rolling 🙄.  To be fair, he might have been playing with one of the other horses who'd then got hold of the strap and pulled it until it broke free from the seam.  'Might have' doing a lot of heavy lifting there! 

This would have been less of a problem if I hadn't decided just the day before that his other rug of the same weight was so muddy and foul smelling that it was only fit for the skip  😖 cue me frantically searching online for a replacement and spending £49.85 from the HRH current account.  Spent quite a bit of time sewing the strap back in place and cursing my inability to use daughter's sewing machine. New rug arrived yesterday and 50p cashback pending.

I bought another bale of hay at £7.50, paid for the dung collecting - £10, and have withdrawn £30 ready to pay for the farrier on Monday. I'll be using the £20 cash I have to make up the difference. 

HRH C/Acct: £20.89
HRH Cash: £pennies
HRH S/Acct: £300

Dutifully added £10 to the SAS account which is for my car costs and new wardrobe.
SAS acct: £150.00

Added £10 to the OS Acct on Monday and have Not Bought Lunch for 4 days so saved £15.95 Thinking that rather than transfer the money daily which is a bit of pain, I shall look up the menu on a Monday and work out which day I'll eat in and then transfer what I saved the other 4 day son a Friday.  Still nothing form the solicitor... no will, no bill!
OS Acct: £1094.50

The Linked Savings account has had just one pennies round up scoop this week so not much change there:
LS Acct: £1665.90


Yesterday I had to collect a prescription - £19.30 and then had to fill the car up - £61.30.  
My current account is down to double digits again and there's still a week of this month left before payday.  
I debated going food shopping to stock up with fresh fruit and veg but after filling the car up I decided make do for a week and just use what I have in the freezer. 

Total spending: £152.35
Total saving: £35.95

Have a lovely day 😊

Arrietty

Hello,

it's been a while since my last update. Work demands, which led to overwhelm, illness/exhaustion and apathy have kept me away as I was barely keeping track of things myself, let alone feeling able to express them here.

My contract has now been extended to the end of May which gives three more guaranteed Pay Days.
The good news is that two of those will be subject to the new National Insurance rules which will net me about £90 I think. Of course, this has been pretty much cancelled out by the increase in Council Tax and Water Rates - Quelle Surprise 

More good news is that following February's Premium Bond win of £50.00 ... March  followed with a win of £175.00.
This is obviously not riches beyond my wildest dreams, what it IS however, is the exact price of paying for 10 x riding lessons upfront so I'm counting that as an absolute result!

HRH has now started coughing and sneezing a bit so I purchased a couple of tubs of supplement which worked well last year and will hopefully keep our lovely vet and more intrusive and costly treatment at bay for a while. Cost was £91.80 and this should last until the end of April. Also bought another bale of hay.
HRH savings account : £200 
HRH current account: £130.89
Cash £10.00

The interesting things about this purchase was that a few days later I checked to see if the cash back had tracked ok as it's a fairly generous 6% and realised that it hadn't so I lodged a claim for missing cash back.  I then realised that there were 6 missing cash backs for another retailer going back to September last year!!  Rest assured that there are 7 missing cash back claims now lodged.

Monthly payment made to the Car Fund and new wardrobe fund although I got confused when I was ill so think I missed a weekly payment somewhere.
SAS Account : £260.00

The holiday, trips and treat fund briefly saw the Premium Bonds money but that has now gone again to riding lessons. I haven't been sending lunch money there as I realised that was why I had no money left at the end of last month which made me sad so I'm just going to focus on sending the regularly £10 weekly payment and if there's anything left just before Pay Day I'll scoop ti across.  Bearing in mind I'll be paying Council Tax and Water Rates again from 1st April, I don't expect there to be much left. 
OS Account : £1266.50

Not much change (ha punny) with the linked savings account but a few purchased have gained a few pennies.
LS Account : £1672.09

£74.26 on my CC has been joined by £270.15 for gig tickets but I will get £135 back for one of the tickets and the bill isn't due to be paid until April so it's all good.


I think that brings everything up to date and I'm hoping to stay on track with all the transactions from now on. I don't like the feeling that I've lost control of knowing what's coming in / going out - makes me very agitated!


Have a lovely day 

Skint_yet_Again

Sorry to hear that you have been feeling so low, overwhelmed and exhausted. 

Hope the supplement works for HRH, maybe your GP could help you with something similar. 

Also hope you get the missing cash back sorted 

[Deleted User]

Just wondering do your have a workplace pension? Are you far from retirement? Just being curious and trying not to ask about age lol!

Arrietty

Hello,

apologies for yet another prolonged absence and many thanks for popping in to post; it's really lovely to have had visitors.

It's been a heck of a few weeks and I've not had the energy or motivation to post. Work has been incredibly busy and with 2 staff on leave it's taken all my energy to just get through each day. I did have a week off which was fabulous for both recharging and resetting myself. I also did a fair but of decluttering and spring cleaning of the home, tidied up the garden when the rain allowed and most importantly I had a mental space to process and think about various things.

I was back at work last week and by the end of the first day I felt like I hadn't been away and I also learned that I will definitely lose my current post at the end of May. This was quite a blow to both myself and my manager who had tried their absolute best to keep me.  However, due to the previous manager and HR having 'gone rogue' on the organisation's policies and procedures, there is nothing to be done and the next few weeks will see me slowly reducing my input.

 I have to say that I did chuckle when I learned that the long-awaited (due in October 2022) new department 'system'  will now come in to effect on the Monday after I finish!  I hope it goes a lot smoother than the introduction of the organisation-wide system which was introduced in May 2022 and led to chaos, staff walking out and customers left in sub-optimal situations.

With all this going on I admit that my attention to money matters has been minimal and I haven't  made any great savings other than scooping change from current to linked savings or the regular payments to my car and horsery accounts.  

To business:

Linked Savings Acct £1681.43 
I take no credit for the slight increase - it's automated, but I am expecting to earn a teeny bit of interest on this balance and hope that will be paid next week.

OS Acct: £1105.09
I took money from this account to pay for two gig tickets I bought but have earned £53.09 interest ( not entirely sure how but am accepting it gratefully) and am due to receive £275 in Premium bond winnings next week. I haven't made any other savings myself. 

SA Savings Acct: £371.26
I sent £100 to this account on pay day for car costs and earned a whole £1.26 interest!  Annoyingly, my car has developed a fault with the wipers whereby they switch on but won't switch off again. This means I have to wrestle with and hold them down when I get out of the car. Local mechanic had a quick look and excluded a few possibilities so it's now booked to go into a dealership for a whole day for 'diagnostics' and I have had to order a courtesy car from them.  so the minimum cost of this will be £150.  Meh 


HRH Current Acct. : £51.11
Livery has been paid, Himself had some new shoes last week and I've decided this will be the last month that I pay for dung collecting to be done. Sure, it's only £10 a week but £10 a week when I don't yet have a job for June is a luxury I can do without and the exercise will do me good!

HRH Savings Acct: £208.38
£8.38 of that is interest and of course Himself had a lovely physio/massage session a couple of weeks ago for £70 and was declared to be in great condition and nicely loose through his back and very supple - carrot stretches!  I bought some more feed and mash, a new haynet and bucket, took a rug in to be cleaned and mended and he has a saddle check due in a couple of weeks but having the savings means this will hopefully be covered.

HRH Cash : pennies 
I'm sure I've bought a couple bales of hay since my last post - usually one every couple of weeks - but hopefully this will slow down once the horses move into their summer fields. 

In general, HRH is in good form and spirits. We've been doing a lot of hacking which he enjoys and yesterday we had a lesson during which he performed at his regular lesson speed until I merely brushed past the whips holder at the edge of the school whereupon he miraculously developed racehorse speed  
Whilst the majority of horses have now stopped morning feeds, I am currently making up a feed with the supplement for him each evening and the yard staff are delivering it to him each morning for £1 a day.  For an extra £1 I could have had the yard provide the feed but I prefer to do it myself to not only save money but to ensure that the supplement is actually begin added each day...suffice to say that despite the increase in pollen count during the last week, he's actually coughing less since I started making the feeds up... 


In response to @[Deleted User] query:

I am another 12 years from being able to claim a state pension!  Some days that feels like an eternity and others it seems far too close.  I didn't have a workplace pensions before I joined this organisation, however, there is a good workplace pension here so I'm hoping to be able to find a new position in another department as I would like to stay there if possible.

 I have also been paying into a SIPP for some months in order to boost my retirement income but I won't be having a luxurious retirement which is fine. if I can maintain current lifestyle I'll be happy enough.

The location of my current workplace is ideal, I enjoy the work, ethos and have made some good friends there. Although the salaries aren't great for my particular role, the conditions are good and I would very much like to be able to benefit from the pension in the future. I am fortunate that I do have other savings to tide me over until I do find a new role but obviously, I don't want to be using up my retirement funds more than necessary!

Skint_yet_Again

Wow you have been busy @Arrietty
Good luck with the dung collecting 😉 and hope you find a new job soon 🤞