DD's accountability thread

DD265

Thanks Beanielou. He's doing really well - you'd not know anything had happened really, though the shaved stomach would give it away. The claim is in with PetPlan so we're waiting on them now. We're considering getting Fatty's urine checked for crystals too; taking the approach that prevention is better than cure. It'd also be easier if they were on the same food. We've decided not to go down the microchip bowls/cat flaps yet, and I'm (it's always me in a morning, and has been me in an evening so far) supervising to make sure Fatty doesn't steal Moglet's food.

We've committed to having a 'catio' built. OH confirmed that not letting the cats roam is indeed the hill that he's willing to die on, and I can see the benefits of not having the cats wandering freely, I just wish it were the entire garden. Still, a portion is better than none, and it'll be about 6x7ft and ~7ft tall, so a decent amount of space. Having costed the materials, we decided to have it built for us. This is costing £660 which is a lot but not unreasonable, given we could buy one 'off the shelf' for £450, and the time to build is 4 days. The price includes a repair to the decking it'll go on, and the couple have a lot of skills that we can utilise in the future. The other part of it is having a cat flap installed through the wall; that's costing £390 all in, which includes a large cat flap to account for Fatty being a big cat and not purely overweight. We found a slightly cheaper quote but got a better vibe from this chap and he really knows his stuff; it's what he does! The cat flap will allow the boys free access to their outside space which they'll love.

Having booked all that, the oven has died. The clock has been playing up for a couple of weeks, but today the heating element went, tripping the electrics as it happened. The oven is ~14 years old, original from the house being built, and I don't believe it's been well looked after. We can't get the bottom properly clean, and we can't use the grill as it smokes but again we've not been able to properly clean it and there was always something to prioritise over getting a professional in to try. We've opted therefore to replace it, as the repair is about £70. OH is going to pull it out in the morning as we think it might just plug in, in which case we can save installation costs on a new one. I pointed out that this is why we have an emergency fund... Catio = not an emergency, but dead oven = emergency!

I've ordered the specialist food for Moglet at a much better price than the vets supply, and just need to get a letter from them confirming it's a 'prescribed diet' when I come to claim; figure I'll do that once a quarter or something. Prior to the catio being confirmed and the oven, I bought a raised herb planter from Amazon for £69.99 (though it's not available just yet) which is lovely, so that'll be my treat from the bonus and it looks as though the rest is going towards these other things. I feel like my potential earnings from Swagbucks are nearing an end, and I don't really have time to monitor Prolific as much as I need to, to really rake it in, so treats are going to be much reduced. I'm quite enjoying the less impulse purchasing, though I must confess to buying chocolate earlier (and white Toblerone, not the cheap stuff!) when I went to the supermarket for stir fry veg after re-jiging the meal plan so we didn't need an oven.  

DD265

The oven turned out to be a plug in, so we saved on installation costs. However, despite listing the same dimensions as our old oven, the back isn't the same shape and the gas pipe for the hob is in the way. We have our plumber coming on Monday to move the pipe if possible, or cap it off if not - if the latter we have to get a new (electric) hob. I would love a new hob, but financially it'd be better to hold off, so fingers crossed.

Moglet was doing really well, but yesterday morning started seeming uncomfortable again. More urinating around the house and repeat trips to his trays (or elsewhere). We put it down to him having come off some pain meds so he's back on those for another 5 days. Turns out the lab had lost the stone sample, hence the delay on test results, so we've had to drop off another urine sample today and the lab will test the sediment. Annoyingly PetPlan want to know what type of stone it was before they pay our claim so that has been delayed. We also dropped off a urine sample for fatty, having discussed it with the vet and agreeing that he was at risk. They tested that in-house, and he has no crystals, but something was a bit more concentrated than ideal. This means we need to encourage him to drink, but also that we can feed him on the same as his brother which actually makes life easier, if more expensive. Although the poops that result from that food smell horrific...

My sister is moving out in 5 weeks, having finally received the documentation from her new job. I think we'll miss her in a lot of ways, but I'm also looking forward to having the house to ourselves again. It ties in well with my desire to hire a skip after June's pay day; we'd be able to get rid of the spare bed then (whilst I'll attempt to give away the frame, the mattress is probably past it). Saying that the tips may have reopened fully by then; it's currently essential waste only (i.e. dangerous to store) and queues of potentially a couple of hours to get in!

DD265

Moglet is not OK. He was readmitted to the vets at 6.30pm with another blockage. They've managed to clear it, but we're not sure what the next steps are going to be.

beanielou

Oh dear.
Poor Moglet. Poor you 

DD265

Thanks again Beanielou.

They got the catheter in yesterday so the blockage is cleared for now, but he's staying in for the time being. The vet (very good, but the least experienced in the practise) has a suspicion that the crystals/stones could be related to liver function. We're still waiting on the test results from the urine sample but expect them soon. In the mean time, she's taken a blood sample to check said liver function.

She also wants to refer him to a specialist vet, and they suggested a perineal urethrostomy (removing a lot of the penis to make a wider opening) at a cost of £5-7k. Our insurance limit is £7k and we've already used almost £4k of it. We could manage the surgery costs but we'd then be financially out of options, and we don't believe that the surgery is the cure, more a management. The middle blockage was higher up in the urethra not the penis anyway, so the surgery wouldn't prevent that. The head vet of our practise is willing to attempt the surgery though (he's done it once before in his 25 years) and we think the costs will be a lot more reasonable; I have googled and seeing numbers more like £1200 so I'm inclined to think the specialist is hiking the costs up. This is obviously a lot more affordable, and we can hopefully combine it with more tests to find and manage the root cause - he may not even need the surgery if we can do that.

I've been looking at finance options, just in case. I've been pre-approved for a 9.9% £8k loan on here and that interest rate is way higher than I'd like, but lower than a credit card would be if it came to that. I've also got a balance transfer offer on the Barclaycard, and a money transfer offer on the MBNA card so in theory I could do a partial BT to Barclaycard of ~£5k then a MT from MBNA of ~£5k. We do have some insurance left obviously and some money in the bank, but I can't max out all our credit plus wipe out our emergency funds so we will need to agree where to draw the line. I'm reasonably confident that we can fit this next round of treatment under the £7k insurance limit, but PetPlan have not yet paid out for last month's treatment due to waiting on the test results from the stones the lab lost.

We'll have a call with the head vet on Monday to discuss the options. I really don't want finances to be a factor in whether we treat or euthanise, but we're swiftly heading in that direction.

DD265

It's a while since I've been on my PC at all and it feels like a fair bit has happened.

Moglet is OK. He pulled his catheter out and went a couple of days at the vet without blocking up, so between the vet and ourselves we opted not to have any further surgery at this point. He's been home a couple of weeks now and whilst we're paranoid - he can't use the litter tray in peace, bless him - touch wood things are going OK. He's off his meds but still managing to urinate which is good. Next steps are basically waiting for him to block up again. At which point the vets will try to get another stone to send to the lab for analysis and we'll go from there. He may never block up again, but I'm not convinced... PetPlan haven't approved the claim yet which is also a concern. I am considering giving them a ring tomorrow so see if I can chivvy things along.

We got the cat flap fitted and it's great, although the boys haven't used it yet as they'd have freedom on the other side which OH won't allow. The plumber was able to move the gas pipe, which only cost us £30, so we've a working hob and oven. He also gave us a ball park of no more than £3k for a boiler replacement and £80 to plaster the spare bedroom ceiling. My sister is moving out on the 11th July so the plan was to hire a skip and clear some rubbish, strip the room, get it plastered then decorate etc. There's a possibility though that we might exchange one house guest for two, if my father has to return from abroad. They want to stay and I suspect that's what will happen, but I feel like we're in limbo. If they do come back, it'll be because there's no income and I think we'll struggle to support 4 adults on my salary and OH's 80%.

OH is still furloughed with no end in sight. It's been very frustrating for me, but he's been trying hard to be more productive which definitely helps. I resent feeling like everything is my job when I'm the only person in the house working full time! We (mostly he) have painted the decking where the catio is going to go, so it looks smart and is no longer lethal in the rain. The catio build starts on Thursday, and I can't wait to show the cats! We need to clean and stain a bit of fencing and I'm going to see if we can properly clean the window and conservatory whilst we've still got decent access.

The garden is looking great, but we have definitely overspent on it this month. I bought a raised herb planter on Amazon using some of the money I'd made doing Swagbucks and Prolific. I managed to get some herbs from garden centres and The Range, then one from the supermarket which looks to be doing OK. I can't find Oregano anywhere unfortunately, so I'm either going to plant seeds out of season and hope I can raise them, or pick up something else. I mostly bought the planter because both the bird table and bird bath I wanted had gone out of stock, plus if OH likes something for the house or garden that I like, I tend to snap it up as he's usually indifferent. Last weekend the bird table came into stock, so OH told me to get it. I do love it, but it was £100 that I didn't have set aside. Then, at the local independent garden centre, they had some Yorkshire stone bird baths in a style I like - it was £84.99 with 25% off, whereas the backup plan for the sold out one was £150. Plus Yorkshire stone = a bit of home, for us, so we bought that too. Add the stain for the decking - and we've bought enough to do all three sections of decking, so about £100 for that and the bit of fence - and we're feeling the pinch now. But it's really coming together in some areas!

Pay day is still over a week away, but we've 2 rent payments from my sister (and only 3 left in total) to help with the 'recovery'. We also have a well stocked freezer and pantry so we'll look to run those down on the next meal plan. Whether we end up with another set of house guests will affect our next steps with the house, but it will do us good to pause and see how finances are going. Either way, when my sister moves out, I think we're planning a good declutter, and this time it's going to be donations - I'm done with the hassle of selling!

DD265

It's been even longer between updates this time!

Moglet is fine, touch wood. We have them both on a urinary specific diet, and Moglet is now eating more wet food than dry food. This is excellent, because Fatty wasn't losing weight despite our efforts, and when I did some calorie calculations, the biscuits are significantly higher than the three varieties of wet food we feed. We're feeding limited amounts of biscuits in their Doc & Pheobe mice for entertainment, then splitting their wet food into 4 small meals a day. It's easy enough to do all that whilst we're both at home full time. PetPlan did pay out so barring the initial excess, the entirety of our vets bills were covered. We haven't claimed for any of the food since the initial amounts we got from the vet, and I'm not sure if I will. In theory I could, if we're renewing with nothing else happening.

The catio is built and the boys love it. OH added some new features; a box mounted on a scratching post, and a ramp to climb up, plus we got a half whiskey barrel which we've filled and turfed. We're planning to build a gabion bench to put in there, but haven't gotten round to it yet as our local B&Q hasn't had the gabion cages in stock (they do a perfect size), and I've been feeling too lazy to go further afield. Once the decking and fence were stained they looked great. We've since had the same couple back to repair both other sections of decking, including reducing the width of one so that we'll end up with more lawn. I've jetwashed those bits today (they did the last bit this week) ready to stain when we have a bit of time and some decent weather.

We're waiting on a quote for them to repair/build, clean and stain the fence. Whilst I'd love to DIY it, we've been putting it off for months and it really does feel like an eye sore. As we're on a corner plot opening into a cul-de-sac, it bothers me that the fence looks so manky! If the quote feels prohibitive, we can get them to do the repairs and do the rest ourselves, but they've been extremely reasonable so far and are a lovely couple which counts for a lot in my book.

My sister did move out as planned, and my father did not return to the UK, so we've had the house to ourselves for a couple of months. We decided to renovate the bigger spare room (which we use as an office) first and logistically that makes perfect sense. When we went hunting for turf to fill the barrel we ended up in a carpet show room, and bought an end of roll which will do perfectly for the office. I think at SCS we'd been looking at £500 for a run of the mill carpet, and this cost us... £169, plus £25 that we need to pay the fitter on the day. I've also bought the blinds for both rooms - that's come to £170, but they were both on sale with 10% off and I'd been waiting for a discount for a while. I also snagged two rolls of Laura Ashley wall paper which would make a feature wall in the spare room, for £10 (instead of £80). I'm not 100% that's the pattern I want, but if we end up not using them, I don't mind so much at that price.

I've done a big declutter too and all the items that I've previously tried to sell, plus a few more things, have been ruthlessly donated. There is only one thing - the table numbers from our wedding which cost a fortune - which I was unsure about donating, but we'll never use 12 table numbers again and with weddings being so reduced now, if nobody wanted them before, they weren't going to sell easily now. I do still have my wedding dress though, having realised that I'm not quite ready to part with it yet.

OH ultimately had 4 months off work, with 3 at full pay (the 20% paid in a lump sum) and 1 at 80%. We're back in a good routine now with us both working. I don't think he really minds, but I'm happier generally - there are of course more contributing factors than just OH being back at work! I had flexible working hours approved at work, and need to sort out some volunteering for my afternoon off (which is what I wanted it for). Our bonus scheme was reinstated at 50% for one month, now it's back at 100%. There's some talk of back pay; I've 'missed' about £1k before tax so we'll see, but that would be lovely. I'm not expecting a pay review at all this year, though I know my boss will fight for one if there's a chance, so I've made it known that I'd be OK with additional holiday instead.

By way of credit card updates, we've got two empty, and one (the car one) at £9k. I'm only paying £100 a month off it - increasing to £250 a month from October - and was setting the rest of my car allowance aside, and we chose to put those savings towards home improvements. We also still owe a family member £2100 from when they helped with our house deposit, but don't want to make additional payments on that loan just yet, as they're happy with the repayments we agreed originally. Largely, any spare funds are being set aside initially, then used where we feel appropriate. With the house, we're trying to take an approach of 'would we have to do something about this if we were renting the house out?' and if there's nothing on that list, 'what would make the biggest impact to one of us - including the cats - right now?'. I would like to see more of a dent in the MBNA card though, hence increasing the direct debit now that our finances are properly back to normal, but it's also been good to make progress on the house, too.

What we've not been able to do is book in for plastering, due to the materials not being available. I'm hoping that it might be possible by the end of the month as it's holding everything else up. I'm also keen to get the loft boarded out which will give us a lot more flexibility on storage, so I'm planning to request a quote for that soon. The emergency fund has exceeded £2k, and we're not sure whether we just keep putting into an emergency fund, or start a new pot and if so, what exactly for! On the whole, I think our financial situation is improving a lot more than expected, so onwards and upwards.

DD265

It feels like the past few weeks have been relatively quiet. With more restrictions creeping back in, opportunities to go out and spend money are cropping up less frequently.

Last weekend we were supposed to be doing a guide-led walk, but that was cancelled. Instead of a refund we've rebooked for 2021, as it wasn't a significant amount of money and I'm keen to support small businesses where possible. I think my biggest spend this month was a new, £180, handbag, only it's been put away until my birthday in January and OH will cover the cost. It's beautiful, made from reclaimed materials, and I've been coveting one for a couple of years now.

We've received both blinds for the respective bedrooms, but have a third to order. We've decided to make the one in the office a double blind, with a voile layer behind the blackout blind to soften the sun as it can glare on my screen, or behind me on rare video calls. No word on the plastering yet, and I need to ring the carpet company to check they're still OK holding on to the carpet!

I've also chosen a new computer monitor, as mine are 10+ years old and were hand me downs. They work fine, but OH often mentions the outdated technology and poor resolution. Given that I'm working from home full time/long term/officially, and we're renovating the office, it makes sense to invest. The plan is to buy a friend's old monitor which OH will have as it's a gaming one. I'll get his old monitor to pair with my new one when I buy it - they're almost identical size. Worst case, I decide I want two identical monitors, or the technology in the new one, which includes various things to reduce eye strain, is worth having for both screens. It's £100 for the monitor so not breaking the bank if I want two, plus being a current model, I can buy them over a couple of months.

The quote to have the fencing done was £750. We're still undecided - it's a lot of money, but it's also hard work and there's a lot of fencing. Personally I'd like to get them to do it; work is stressful and full on, so the last thing I want is to spend my weekends struggling to clean and stain a fence, but OH things we should save the money and DIY it. I was hoping we'd hear that bonuses are being backdated, as I had a half year review this month, but so far, no news. Pay reviews were supposed to be September too and whilst I'd understand a pay freeze, I think they should tell us that's what is happening. Will see what this next week brings!

beanielou

I am with you on getting someone to do the fence for you.  

DD265

beanielou said:

I am with you on getting someone to do the fence for you.  

I'm working on OH 

We went to IKEA tonight. I wanted some photo frames and the pictures are slightly longer than A4, so I was struggling in places like The Range. I managed to get two of the three I wanted - all the same frame but the black was out of stock, and the photo is too dark to suit white. I find thinner photo frames, whilst modern, can look cheap, but whilst it's a gorgeous photo of us, I'm not sure I want to fork out for professional framing, preferring to leave that to artwork.

Whilst we were there, we checked the bargain corner as always, and picked up the white glass sliding door panels (FÄRVIK) for our wardrobe. They should've been £100 and were £25 due to a damaged box (though I should open them to check them, they're in the garage). They had two sets and initially we were going to get both, but we don't have anywhere else to put a mirror, so we need those panels. We also need the frame, so there's another £185 to spend at a later date. I have been keeping an eye on FB, but tend to find the doors are for the taller wardrobe which seems to be more common - I'm not sure how people fit it in!

My new monitor arrived today - I purchased it 'early' using PayPal Pay After Delivery. Sometimes I love it, other times my future self wants to kick me.  It's a bit strange; I've taken my two old monitors down and will donate or FB them, so there's a big space, but also this screen is a lot bigger! Unfortunately I still feel overloaded with cables despite just losing several, but I am not actively tidying up the ones I've got left in anticipation of us moving everything anyway.

It's pay day tomorrow and I think bonuses are still being paid at 50%, so I'm hoping to bring home an extra £200ish. In all likelihood it's going to be spent on the house but I don't mind. I feel like we're making progress at last, and I'm happy with that.