What a fudgewimple

dimestorediamond

Hi laveugle, has your husband considered another job/going part time/working one day when you are off? Sounds silly, but if he could gain something that suited, you could eradicate the dog walking costs and childcare.

I know you mentioned he has to have his own pocket money (trust me, I know men like these!!), but if he is absolutely refusing any dog alternatives, then surely he should use that money to fund the dogs care!

FTBNow

Hi OP. Have you considered puppy pads and containing them in a non-carpeted area? Say kitchen, garage or so on? We do this with my Jackapoo but I walk him every morning (it means getting up earlier but hey - small price to pay) and evening to offset the hours he finds himself alone.

Dogs naturally go to puppy pads to have a wee due to the scent on the pads.

Debt_free_by_2020

Hey!

Just wanted to come and say hi to you quickly and chime in on the dog front and ask which website/dog walking service you use? there are a few out there so maybe worth your time having a look across a couple of them to see if you could find a cheaper dog walker for the time being too. I actually do dog walking, pet sitting, and house sitting (to look after pets in their own homes) etc. part time and have previously been very willing to negotiate the prices of my services because, as I see it, a long term customer at a slightly smaller fee is worth it compared to one off customers here and there at the standard fee. Depending on the dog walking website/service you use, negotiating the fees could be something worth looking into. If it's not a possibility, then looking for a responsible teenager or student (us students are ALWAYS broke!) might be a way to help reduce the walking fees for your pups!

I know this is going against the general consensus of this thread but I really don't think getting rid of the dogs should be the first and only solution. No debt is unsolvable as people here keep saying and some want to clear their's in different ways to others. Let's respect everyone's personal choices and trust that they are the only ones who truly know what drastic lengths they are willing to go to in their given situations. That being said, I also agree that the insurance, vet, food, and other bills for the dogs are immense and should be reduced down where possible.

I have faith that if you have self taught your way to your current job, have figured your way out of a bad bout of depression, and are still standing then you have absolutely got this too. It will take time and hard work and many many sacrifices but you have got this!

P.S. I have also gone through horrible times re: mental health in the past and I completely agree that animals are a massive help. Keep chipping away at the debts little by little and reduce everything you can without putting your health on the line.

fudgecat

Hi, what size are your dogs and do you have a garden? We have a Jack Russel terrier (a stout one!) and we installed a dog door. She can get out into the garden for a wee whenever she wants to. I also have a horror of animals being trapped in a building in the event of a fire, so the dog door makes sure that she can always escape if needed.

laveugle

Thank you to recent posters, I have checked out Dave Ramsey and have been lent a copy of his book so I'm going to read it tonight. I was going to pay debts by interest order but I think I am going to start with smallest first for sure. I'd totally forgotten about a Simply Be account that I have but I think it has about £150 on the account so am going to clear that with my bonus. I've potentially got £1250 in bonuses due in August which should help.

@dimestorediamond I worked out that we'd be neither here nor there if he went part time on his current salary, what he'd lose would be the equivalent to what we're paying for the dogs so I just need to find a way of maximising his salary and minimising dog expenses. In 4 months time he will start working on call (he works for a pharmaceutical testing company and would be on call to accept samples) and there is a good potential for an extra £500+ a month we've just got to get through the next 4 months! I also think our childcare bill might end up being cheaper than anticipated through childcare vouchers but as this is the first time we're using it I'm not sure.

Re: the pocket money thing, It's purely because I've amassed a huge amount of debt, he gets really funny about not having money and we fall out. I actually really understand it, I mean if I watched my husband spend all of our money and then tell me I can't have any personal spending because he had spent all of it I'd kill him! He's agreed to lower it to £25 a month though.

@FTBNow No and its not something I would consider.

@fudgecat i have a spaniel and a spaniel x terrier. It's unfortunately not our door to cut up, and due to one of the dog's escaping before I don't know how comfortable I would be with it even if the landlord said yes. Additionally we live next to the dodgiest people and back on to an estate with a bad reputation and am terrified that the dogs would get stolen, Sprocker spaniels are quite popular for dog thieves. I'd consider it if we lived elsewhere! I'm going to see if I can come home this week, two days a week (the dogs will be out anyway) and time how long I can be at home for before having to return.

laveugle

OH is getting an extra £400 this month due to when he started the job and I have had a good run on eBay so for July we are safe, we can pay my debts! I've paid £180 of my £300 amex monthly payment by selling on eBay. I've got a few things still running, did them in batches as I didn't want to overwhelm myself. Really narked off though because i decided to sell my apple watch (I use it every day but needs must) and sold it for £215 and then the buyer backed out...argh! So back it goes but I won't have sold it before Amex payment is due. So need to make the other £120 from other stuff.

Husband gets paid tomorrow and I have noticed a few reload offers in my emails for matched betting so I'm going to try to make a couple of hundred from that. Possibly, I'm not entirely certain if they will still be valid.

I've emailed EDF and asked for my DD to be lowered to 80 from £109. We don't use as much energy at the moment due to the summer but also we've stopped using the heated airer and we're going to make sure in the winter that we don't have the heating on all night. I genuinely had it on and my window open as I thought the dogs would freeze to death. Apparently that was stupid.....

Netflix we're keeping and my mum is paying half of it because she uses it. Spotify is £5 and Amazon Prime is £4. Amazon was paid in advance so in October I just won't renew it. I'm trying to persuade husband that we can use the free version of spotify.

Clothing still budgeting £20 as we've got to buy new school uniform, the school changed their logo.

Petrol I am going to track in July and find ways to minimise it, no more driving to Aldi when I've got a shopping trolley I rarely use!

Car insurance i had planned to put £30 a month away for April 2019's renewal but I might skip that for the next 4 months and use it to meet payments,

Childcare is still going to be high until end of July due to Nanny but will be cheaper after then and I've projected that £243 in childcare vouchers will be more than enough and we'd actually have a £500 surplus by July next year. As costs vary each month due to holidays I'm going to build a surplus for the summer holidays next year. I can change the amount on a monthly basis but it might just be easier and then can review next summer.

Medical, still need to have my prescription certificate and save £20 for dental treatments. it's really bad but even my son hasn't been to the dentist for 3 years. And he's nearly 7....

Pet insurance - ugh still don't know what to do about this. £708 a year for the healthcare and pet insurance is so high. I just don't know what level of insurance to go for. I use animal friends if anyone has any advice. Then with healthcare I checked out the cost of buying bravecto, kennel cough and yearly vaccinations and honestly I swear it comes to more than it does for the plan??

Presents - husband and sons birthday are coming up so my budget is £15 each and then I will stop saving for presents. I've got a shelf full of things for family etc

Entertainment's getting cut, I'll use my natwest rewards for that, and nectar points.

Pet food isn't going to go down - I literally looked at Wainwrights versus Akela and the amount you give for wainwrights is more than i give for Akela and it worked out essentially the same. Wainwrights was £30 for 10 kilo and Akela was £40 per kilo (but you feed less)

Lottery's gone and given notice to cleaner

Cancelled voluntary contribution to pension and trying to get home twice a week to see if we can reduce need for dog walker

Food - going to meal plan each week. So far I only need to spend about £5 for next week, need lettuce and yoghurt. Lettuce for tacos and husbands lunch wraps, yoghurt for making naan bread as i've got curry frozen. I've got all my lunches and dinners made for the next 2 weeks (gastric sleeve can't eat same food)

I better be off and find more things to sell on eBay!!!!!

laveugle

oh my gosh. I have an unopened fire stick. i already have two, I only have two tvs why do I have a 3rd fire stick..

and then I've found an older fire stick in my desk drawer.

AND THEN THERES A RUDDY DASHCAM THAT I NEVER INSTALLED.

I bet you can work out how I got to 50k worth of debt

Fireflyaway

I think your general expenses seem pretty standard until you get to the dog walker. That's the thing I'd be looking at changing. It's more than your child care and more than your food bill. It is really great that you take proper care of your pets though. My neighbour got a husky of all things. Poor dog just sits in the garden all day as they both work.
My other observation is your income is fairly low. I don't know your age or line of work but I'm thinking you could improve this over the course of time. Think about why you got in debt and what you will change to avoid it happening again.
Tackling the debts I'd probably go for the snowball method due to the number of creditors. Check out dave ramsey on YouTube and see what you think.

Red-Squirrel_2

Children get free dental care don!!!8217;t they? 3 years without a check up for a 6 year old needs to be sorted immediately, as in book an appointment tomorrow morning for him.

Any reason your dogs can!!!8217;t eat chappie? It!!!8217;s low fat and actually very healthy, and much cheaper than what you!!!8217;re feeding.

blue_eyed_girl123

Have just read through your diary, the one about the fire sticks and dashcams made me smile, hope you find lots more things to sell. Good luck getting them sold online .

Agree about the dogs, we have a cat who we found as stray therefore costing us £0 and ended up with £400 as she got a vomiting bug when she went for her spay and we didn't have insurance as she hadn't been out to that point (although pleased the Vet dealt with the "spectacular" - vets words - diarrhoea and not us...). Wouldn't give her up though she's currently laid next to me chilling in the sun, 2 years on .

Have you looked at mobile phone bill options? I've just got a sim only deal for £4 per month as I am happy with my current phone .

Good luck on your debt busting!