Help!!!

Baileycat

Wow, had no idea I'd had so many responses to this, sorry! First of all to reply to the very helpful points made by opinions4u (and apologies for posting in incorrect format - no offence taken with that, RFTA!). I would quote you but I don't want to add that big SOA again, nor do I know how to edit to be able to add my response beside your red highlighted bits

Employment - partner has just today become employed in a F/T role at last, yay

Mobiles - not essential I agree, I'm with the provider that I work for and I know how strict they are about downgrading tariffs, so this is not an option on the plus side, it should be less than this once the employee discount is added

TV Licence - not too sure where I am with this, think I may have fallen behind, so had put a rough figure down (the last D/D they claimed was rejected by bank was around £24)

Home phone - nope, this was very true, I was using a PAYG internet dongle at the time whilst waiting on my home phone being installed of course, I should probably have added that the line was about to be installed, at a cost of £15 (home phone & broadband so might have been better listing them as £7.50 each!).

Water - included in C/T I believe, I live in Scotland?

Food/Groceries - been doing some lurking on the Old Style board, thanks for this

Drinks for Home - admittedly this is a disgrace although I had been looking into a Sodastream a few months back, which triple choc chip has confirmed has been a very useful investment, so may be time to bite the bullet & go for it

Petrol/diesel - this is my biggest annoyance, as I work so far from home (1hr each way) there is no way to reduce this ridiculous amount :mad: I'm just another phone monkey, so sadly no working from home for me! the guy I did car share with was the only other one from my city (we took turns using cars) left the role shortly after starting

Car insurance - at 22 years old, I'm kinda stuck with the cheapest policy I can get - this is down from £120 last year!! :eek:

Car maintenance - I should have included this, sorry and car tax obviously!

Pet stuff - our pets are everything to us, rehoming is not an option! However we have cancelled the pet insurance - a PetPlan advisor did advise I was correct about the dental thing, which I will link to if I can find it as I see a lot of folk have asked about this (I just happened to check updated T&Cs I received through the post one day last year, so I'm sure it'll be online somewhere, although I did read it in brochure format).

DVD rental/eating out/food at work - have all been banished

Smoking - still a big issue in the process of swapping to tobacco which will work out cheaper, but will be much better long-term if I'm able to handle another quit attempt soon

Baileycat

Happytogetdebtfree wrote: »

Hi and well done for posting some great ideas already. I have pet insurance and was 12 months in and moaning about it not covering anything then I needed it for my dog for costs of 5k and it seems I won't get to paying that amount back so I feel like its worth it. On the front of dental checkups I've never heard that it invalidates your policy? Could you point me in the direction ? Keep posting and keep positive we all start somewhere it may mean living minimalist for several months until you make head room. Cut back on cigarette spends cut back where you can and keep posting :-)

Thank you very much for the friendly & helpful advice I was worried too, thinking it'd be my luck that once I cancelled, I'd need it for something really expensive & horrible thankfully nothing yet, fingers crossed....

I managed to find a copy of the brochure I received, you'll need to follow this link: http://www.petplan.co.uk/therightcover/cat.asp At the bottom of this page is the PDF containing the T&Cs for "Covered For Life" (the level I had). Once this opens, if you have a look at page 5 ("What are the significant exclusions & limitations of my pet's policy?") you will see the first point states that your pet must have "an annual dental examination".

This point is expanded further on page 8, under point 1B of "General Conditions" - You must arrange and pay for your pet to have a yearly dental examination and any treatment normally recommended by a vet to prevent illness or injury. Hope this helps, as it wasn't something I was aware of until after the annual examination would have been due

deeleybopper wrote: »

Well done - an inspiring step forward! Best wishes to you on this new, but amazing journey...

re vets bills - I have cat insured with petplan - I was under impression her insurance was invalid if immunisations were not kept annually...not teeth check. Having said that, they kids of check her teeth at the booster visit so maybe that ticks the box....

I do know that for the first time in 10 years, I claimed for her having some tests last year...well I tried to....the excess was £100, want to guess cost of tests....yes....£105. Didn't bother with hassle.

However, when I was teenager my cat at home was hurt by a car, and eventually pulled through but later had leg amputated as a result - that was in high hundreds so insurance my dad had for her was a godsend....

as someone else posted, crystal ball time....;)

Thank you, it was hard to face up to at the time, but I'm already feeling much more positive about sorting myself out this year

I thought the same about the boosters, as my vet usually does a quick check of the teeth at this time too, and I thought this would cover it. However the point that stood out to me was that you need to "arrange and pay for" the dental check, as if it was a separate, chargeable procedure altogether. Boo You're right about the immunisation though - that is also covered in the same point as the dental check, and if boosters haven't been kept up this will indeed affect the policy

I dread that kind of thing happening - I thought my excess was £75, and as this covers most routine procedures I decided not to bother. However, I will definitely be looking to pick up on my insurance again once money is looking better - I worry far too much about the poor things and would feel awful if something really bad happened to them & I couldn't afford the treatment it was lucky that your dad had insurance right enough! :eek:

Baileycat

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

You'd need to check the T&Cs of your policy but it's usually that any required dentistry work wouldn't be covered if an annual check hasn't been done - not everything. This is because "routine" dentistry (like a clean) isn't covered by insurance but other things (absesses etc) would be provided the cats' been checked each year and any routine cleaning etc has been done if the vets said it's needed.

Annual teeth checks should be routinely done each year when the vet checks them over for their vaccinations so, as long as these are done, you should be OK.

If you don't get vaccinations done, again check the T&Cs as some insurers insist on this and others don't. HTH

See this would make the most sense to me - surely if the pet developed a dental abcess, for example, which maybe wouldn't have occured if their teeth had been checked a few months earlier, this is where the need for a dental check would apply? And therefore, by not doing the check, you would invalidate the policy.... The point itself in the T&Cs seems to be quite open to interpretation, but certainly when I spoke to the advisor about cancelling (I advised him that I hadn't done this dental check) he agreed and was happy to cancel there & then

Angry_Bear wrote: »

On the smoking thing, I tred and failed several time cold turkey but managed with the inhalators about 10 months ago and ever looked back. The NRT stil worked out cheaper than the smokes for the couple of weeks I was using it and I've never looked back. It depends on what makes the difference to you, but £160 per month is £48k over an average 25-year mortgage :eek:.

Good luck

I am absolutely hopeless with the inhalators I was given them in addition to using the patches, and this still wasn't enough! I think a lot of it is in the mind though, if I could just develop the mental strength to kick it once & for all I'd be a very happy (and much richer!) bunny congratulations on your successful quit though :T I'll join you one day - especially when you consider that amount of money is being thrown away needlessly! :eek: