I want to be happier about money

spam.jam

beanielou wrote: »

Great news on your reserve fees

yes well done, you are an inspiration, keep it up:T:A

chal

At a guess, the extra £3.50 on your monthly BT bill is the line rental. I heard they are (or already have - anyone?) just about to jack that up by £1/month.

cally6008

Things never go smoothly - I've copied this from the other forum I posted on.

Monday 2nd Feb, posted at lunchtime

I've had my old cat to the vet again this morning.

Preliminary indications are that her thyroid levels have shot up again and that she will have to go on stronger tablets to help bring it down again. She is now weighing 3.2kg so has lost a little more weight. She has 2 sore teeth (gum disease) that the vet says must be hurting her but the hunger from the thyroid problem is driving her to keep eating. The vet wants to get her thyroid sorted again before attempting to deal with the teeth. No indication on her renal failure at the moment.

I'm waiting for blood test results at the moment.

I've budgeted for her normal tablets at £40 and today's visit cost £70. It looks like its going to be back to blood testing every 2 weeks which is £50 a time.

I'm seriously thinking I've got 2 options left to consider
1 - Come to arrangement with vet about payments, book her for surgery to deal with thyroid and sort teeth out at same time
2 - PTS

I've let my OH know and we're going to talk about it later as he's stuck over in Durham with all the snow.

Monday 2nd Feb, posted in the evening

Update -

I rang the vet back for the results and there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that her thyroid levels and kidney levels are showing the same readings as what they were 3 months ago (or as near to close as is possible)

The bad news is that the vet wants to operate to remove the teeth at a cost of £160 approx.

This is fine in itself but money is still a big issue and I'm no longer swayed towards the PTS option at this stage

The more bad news is that OH had a meeting at work and they are downsizing his work place. There are 4 people up for a new role and if the work place cant put the people in the customer assistant section then they are made redundant. He's been there less than 2 years so doesnt qualify for redundacy (we dont think, details bit sketchy with OH as he's worried and doesnt talk much, softly softly approach needed).

We find out in March whats happening.

Tuesday 3rd Feb, today

I went to vets this morning, explained the situation and they have said that they will ask for me but the person they need to check with isn't in until monday. They didn't sound too hopeful.

cally6008

Update (does anyone read my thread ?)

Lucy is at the Vets tomoro for her operation. I hope she gets through it ok. She's got to have no food from 6pm which is going to have to be from 3pm (poor girl) cos OH on a 9-8 shift and I'm on 3/30 to 6/30. She is such a whingy cat for food and vocal with it as well. Not looking forward to tonight or tomoro.

The Vet did offer a plan of pay £50 for the first visit and then increase the direct debit we already pay them until the bill was paid.

I spoke to my parents on friday and they have paid the bill for me and I'm going to pay them back weekly with however much I can afford.

beanielou

Really hope Lucy gets on ok at the vets & glad you have sorted out the money side too.
I used to have a cat called Lucy!

cally6008

Good news

I have got all my tax back this month in my pay <very big grin>. I'm going to pay my mum back and pay £100 of the credit card (doing that after the 4th as thats when it requests a min. payment)

beanielou

GReat news on tax refund

cally6008

That's another month gone by and no reserve fees to pay <grin> It does make a big difference. I've even got a tiny bit of money put in a seperate account that I'm going to add to each month and have it as an emergency bills fund or save it up for christmas.

We did a monthly shop online on friday so thats all the tins and cat food got for a month which is a big help to me especially when my joints are playing up and I feel knackered all the time <like today, slept badly cos of joint pain, hurting even now just sat down>

Can't be bothered today. Waiting for washing machine repair man to come. Then got jobs to go and do that must be done <council tax paid, birthday cards to buy and post> Going to do it all slowly. On my own till half 4 when OH gets in from work <bar the cats>

Wish it was sunny

beanielou

Great news on reserve fees
You are doing so well.
Remember too to be kind to yourself.

cally6008

Aww gawd, one step forward, ten steps back (or so it feels).

OH put the car into the garage on wednesday.

Honestly how some garages are still trading when they do shoddy work and pass MOT's when the car is totally NOT roadworthy is beyond me. The previous garage did do a whole lot of welding and sorting stuff sort out to the tune of about £400. The car only holds 6.5 litres of oil (?) and it had 10 litres of oil in it !!!

The car only got put in to give it a good check over and sort out a couple of niggles like banging noise at back (rear shock absorber had gone), gear box not quite right between 1st and 2nd and the fan belt. This all cost £223.

Luckily for us, they give it a good once over. The car is a death trap at the moment with the drive shaft running on the nylon and can go at any minute. I'm so worried that it's going to go and cause an accident. The brakes need replacing as well. It's booked to go in on friday so fingers crossed (and lots of praying etc) that it lasts that long.

Anyways ... cos of OH paying for the car, I said we'd be ok for money. The car does need doing, its important for OH to have it to get to and from work (otherwise it's £8 in a taxi to get to work on time in the morning). OH gave me £180 towards bills and then borrowed £50 back off me <logic ?> to put towards paying the garage.

So that means I'm down £270 for the bills this month. OH gets 13 pays a year (so gets paid twice this month) so he's not giving me the full lot next pay either.

Money shouldn't be too bad, I hope. I've worked it all out. Got £800 on CC, £110 in HSBC (my new little emergency fund) and about £400 in bank (using my overdraft). Rent of £375 goes out on 19 April and we both get paid on 30 April. I think we should be ok. I was thinking about having to use CC to get cash out but reading on here ... thats a bad move to make, Ach we're fine for now.

Washing machine bust yet again - Long running saga this one, have posted in DIY board about it. It only had a new motor and new module on the 7 April 09, its done 2 full loads of washing and then bust with the 3rd load in ... Luckily for us, its not the work uniforms in the machine <phew>

Cats - well the older cat mainly is doing my head.

I'd put the blanket and old pillows inside a massive box for them. Friday night, she was asleep in it when it come to bedtime (they sleep downstairs) and she swiped at my hand when I tried to move her. I was sensible then and went to side of box and tapped the outside so she moved. Saturday night and both cats asleep in box, OH put his hand in, she went for his hand so he got hold of her and got her out. I got up Sunday morning to be greeted with 3 piles of cat sick/hairball mess. Then in the morning, she'd rushed downstairs and did a number 2 on the paper next to her litter tray instead of in it. I was NOT amused at all. OH didn't believe me when I told him she does throw up/hairballs out of spite. I think he's believing me now.