Budgeting help please

Hannah_10

Mortgage, council tax, water and electric come to £1447 a month. Lets say, for arguements sake that yours is the lions share of the bills because you're the landlord and lets therefore count your son as a whole person. Right well that means it's reasonable to think you should be paying two fifths and the lodgers should be paying a fifth each... Three fifths of that is £885, this is £155 more than you're getting. You are making a net loss per lodger of £51.67p a month if you look at it that way.

Now there's nothing wrong with a little charity, but is it a little too much charity when you're only just meeting the minimums on your debts? That's for you to decide. You also know what is a fair rent for the area and the rooms you have.

Over on the Old Style board they will be delighted to have a new pupil to teach all about the wonders of cooking on a budget. There are people over there feeding famillies of 4 adults on £100 a month, HEALTHILY!!! They can be very patient and good with non-cooks.

The cheapest way to feed an animal at the top level of nutrition is actually to make food yourself, I realise that may sound suprising, but you cost it up. There is a board for pets too, I expect there are some cat experts lurking round there as I can only remember the dog recipies.

whyowhy_2

HappyMJ wrote: »

Yep, Tesco Cat Crunchies with Salmon, Trout, Tuna & Shrimp (1Kg) @ 97 pence....but I wouldn't feed my cat that.

Science Plan is good stuff as long as it's cheap. The last bag I got was a 2kg bag from PetsatHome for £7. Also try petsupermarket. As long as you spend over £29 it's free delivery.

Thanks for that.

Whilst we are on the subject, I use Advocate flea spot-on treatment. I currently get it from the vet. It's prescription only. It costs £25.52 for 3 treatments, which lasts for 3 months. Is there a more moneysaving way of getting it?

HappyMJ

YES!!!! petmeds.co.uk half that price. Anything else? BTW your vet won't like you doing that as they will have lost the 100% profit margin so they will charge you a small fee for the prescription. I told my vet I was skint and on benefits and got it (the prescription is just a bit of paper) for free but there is usually a charge.

Do you realize you've only put £10 down for pets expenses? So far you've said you pay i imagine full price on the 2kg bag of Science plan at £15 for a 38 day supply and nearly £26 for a 90 day supply of Advocate. What about pet insurance and the vet visits, worming tablets and so on?

Hannah_10

Bob Martin do a spot-on flea preventative for about £3.50 a box available in all large supermarkets I can think of. Or if you want the best on a budget the brand with the name in that is Frontline and you can get that most cheaply from farmers suppliers, although it's entertaining when you have to fill your name in on a form and what animals you have in case there are issues with animal movements haha! (Breaking news: Tiddles gets Foot And Mouth).

Hannah_10

By the way, on the subject of feeding a cat cheap, mine wont eat anything cheaper than Felix or Whiskas and only then if you mix up the brands and flavours so he doesn't get the same thing too much. Heaven forbid I just get a 6 pack of Felix fish, he is disgusted by can 3! Felix is about £3.50 for 6 tins, Whiskas is about £3.70, meaning I pay about 60p per tin (so per day then as it's one tin a day) to feed my cat normal but decent cat food, a bit like like feeding people kelloggs cornflakes and hovis toast. That 60p a day will be high as I shop in Co-Op and can only lift a 6 tin pack in one go. If you were buying quantities and shopping around that'd come down to 50p a day. Comes down to 40p a day if you use supermarket branded tins of food. The cat honestly doesn't need science plan, the vast majority of cats in Britain are eating supermarket food or the major names in branded food and thriving on it.

whyowhy_2

HappyMJ wrote: »

YES!!!! petmeds.co.uk half that price. Anything else? BTW your vet won't like you doing that as they will have lost the 100% profit margin so they will charge you a small fee for the prescription. I told my vet I was skint and on benefits and got it (the prescription is just a bit of paper) for free but there is usually a charge.

Do you realize you've only put £10 down for pets expenses? So far you've said you pay i imagine full price on the 2kg bag of Science plan at £15 for a 38 day supply and nearly £26 for a 90 day supply of Advocate. What about pet insurance and the vet visits, worming tablets and so on?

I shall do that next time. I had been using one drop-on every other month - which seems to be enough to keep my furry friend flea-free. The vet says that this will cover him for worms and fleas. I don't have pet insurance . He's pretty young, healthy and has never been sick in the past. Still - £10 is not enough. £15?

whyowhy_2

Hannah_10 wrote: »

Bob Martin do a spot-on flea preventative for about £3.50 a box available in all large supermarkets I can think of. Or if you want the best on a budget the brand with the name in that is Frontline and you can get that most cheaply from farmers suppliers, although it's entertaining when you have to fill your name in on a form and what animals you have in case there are issues with animal movements haha! (Breaking news: Tiddles gets Foot And Mouth).

Thanks Hannah.

I used Bob Martin before, but it didn't work. I used Frontline with my last cat, but the vet told me that it isn't effective in my area anymore. Is he spinning me a line?

HappyMJ

Well when he does get sick insurance willl be useless if you haven't taken it out. As you have zero cash savings I highly recommend at least getting the bronze (minimum) level of cover from anywhere even a supermarket.

ETA: No he's not spinning a line as such. I've used many cheaper less strong flea treatments. Some are Ok. Some are just utterly useless.

CCCS recommends no more than £21 per month on pet expenses. Don't forget cat litter, trays, bowls, toys.. they can be a nightmare and very expensive.

Hannah_10

He might be, he might not, it's hard to know isn't it, that's the trouble when business and healthcare mix (thank God for not being born American). If frontline is ineffective it'll be because there are fleas who have developed a resistance to it, in which case any other drug that is different could work. So in your shoes I'd actually try the cheapest option first and go for the Bob Martin again to see if it works this time.

I have a dog and a cat. The dog has a flea allergy and of course they live together so both pets will be on a flea preventative for life and in all honesty I find the dirt cheap stuff is good enough nearly all the time.

For wormer a good name is panacur, I get that from the Farmers suppliers too. For your local farmers suppliers ask anyone with a horse, it'll likely be where they get tack (stuff for horses) from too.

whyowhy_2

Hannah_10 wrote: »

By the way, on the subject of feeding a cat cheap, mine wont eat anything cheaper than Felix or Whiskas and only then if you mix up the brands and flavours so he doesn't get the same thing too much. Heaven forbid I just get a 6 pack of Felix fish, he is disgusted by can 3! Felix is about £3.50 for 6 tins, Whiskas is about £3.70, meaning I pay about 60p per tin (so per day then as it's one tin a day) to feed my cat normal but decent cat food, a bit like like feeding people kelloggs cornflakes and hovis toast. That 60p a day will be high as I shop in Co-Op and can only lift a 6 tin pack in one go. If you were buying quantities and shopping around that'd come down to 50p a day. Comes down to 40p a day if you use supermarket branded tins of food. The cat honestly doesn't need science plan, the vast majority of cats in Britain are eating supermarket food or the major names in branded food and thriving on it.

I really don't like wet food. It smells, goes off and attracts flies. Still - at 50p a day that's still 10p more expensive than Science Plan at the full price of £15 for a 38 day supply (39p a day).