A Debt Free Journey From Stress to Success

purple.sarah

I'm devastated today because our 10 year old Akita Yoki has been put to sleep. She was her usual bouncy, happy self yesterday and fine at 3am when we went to bed. We were woken by her whining at 7am and rushed her to the emergency vet. She had bloat. They operated to try and save her but found her stomach had twisted and she also had a tumour we didn't know about, which had spread. We had to let her go. It's a massive shock. Our house feels empty without her running to greet us when we get home. As well as losing our lovely girl, we've been left with more debt because she wasn't insured. We adopted her when she was older so it was hard to find insurance for her. I can see now we made a mistake not getting insurance. The operation and other care cost about £2000. We had to pay a £700 deposit to set up a payment plan, which my mum loaned us so we will have to pay her and the vets in installments. It feels like every time we think we are keeping our heads above water something pushes us under.

Upsidedown_Bear

I am so sorry to hear about Yoki.
Big hugs, my thoughts are with you x

purple.sarah

We had a shock today when the vet contacted us to say that we have to pay the full bill within 30 days or they will not release our dog's body for cremation :mad: They had previously agreed a payment plan. I am going to contact them tomorrow and try to negotiate but it is distressing at an already difficult time.

purple.sarah

I made some phone calls on Friday.

I rang the vets regarding the payment plan. Apparently it is standard procedure for them to ask for the full amount before they can refer you to the finance department to set up a payment plan but no one warned us! It was a shock when we thought we had already agreed a payment plan with the treating vet and paid a deposit. We have now set up a payment plan with the finance department paying £100 a month for 9 months. Now that is sorted we can have our girl cremated.

I received a letter from British Gas saying they had not been able to take our bill on the 20th because it had been returned by our bank, even though I contacted British Gas when I received the bill to ask them to take it after the 21st when we got paid, and they agreed to do so. I rang them back and complained and if we send them proof of our bank charges they will credit our account with the amount.

I rang the Benefits Call Centre regarding our HB appeal to be told that they are only processing appeals from October at the moment, we appealed in November! They do have a target of processing claims in 6 weeks but they are obviously behind. I will keep chasing it up.

mineallmine

Keep at it ps :j

Things will get better. At least you're taking actions. Well done you :j

purple.sarah

To save money tonight we stayed in and had an Indian meal. I'm getting into 'fakeaway', making a takeaway style meal at home to save money.

Upsidedown_Bear

Happy New Year - hope 2013 is a good one for you x

purple.sarah

Happy New Year!

purple.sarah

We spent New Year's Day playing hunt the stopcock after a pipe burst so that's more money down the drain. :rotfl:

On the plus side, I went to a friend's house party in the evening and got a taxi there and back using an account I won in a competition, so it was a free night out. I took them some candy cane vodka I made for Christmas and it was well received.

Also I've just signed up for Swagbucks and I'm really enjoying it. It seems easier to make points than with some of the survey sites I've tried and I like that there are a variety of activities. I'm trying to stay positive.

purple.sarah

Way behind schedule, but I have done this!

I've listed 7 Michael Jackson dolls I bought for £3 each in 2011 Christmas sales. I've been meaning to sell them for ages! I hope they will sell well as they are collectible and others are advertised for £20+. Unfortunately we're having a difficult month so the money will go towards our rent instead of paying off debts but at least it will avoid further debts and get some clutter out of the house.

Over the next week I am going to declutter and look out for some more things to sell.