Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

Queen_of_the_Hive said:

Morning Elshiba, sorry to hear about poorly cat.

Moving close to Hay sounds lush from a fellow booklover, gutting for you over the oil tank situation but just wanted to say I admire your resilience over the move situation. Paying for someone to pack up your belongings sounds like a wise move. Also going to do the same when my own move happens.

Thank you, @Queen_of_the_Hive. I must confess my resilience has been somewhat tested of late.  However I was in a fairly decent mental health position when it all kicked off, and have been managing the anxiety in fairly healthy ways (like trying to plan for every contingency) and it has calmed down a lot now, and I've been able to stave off low mood so far.  I hate to think how I would have coped with all this 4 years ago.  I'd probably have managed all the sorting and organising as I'm good in a crisis, but my mental health would have been on the floor.  

I am also very glad I paid for the removers to pack.  Just sorting bits and pieces out is taking up all my time on top of work - no idea how I would have found the time to pack as well.

Elisheba

Evening, moneysaving maestros!

I finally got the vet's call about spotty cat today.  She has laid out a range of options for me, some of which there isn't enough left on the insurance to cover .  £4k per condition seemed like a lot back in 2007, but not so much now, and we already used £2k up last time she had hyperthyroidism.  I have decided to get her in for an ultrasound tomorrow and they can find out a bit more about what's wrong.  It could be a cyst which is treatable and they could potentially drain it tomorrow.  That might need a later operation to remove it as they refill apparently.  It could also be a few other things which are not so treatable but will need to see. 

I also got a call yesterday from the specialist letting department for my new house saying that everything was sorted for the move and it could go ahead.  Considering both myself and the landlord signed the tenancy agreement 1 week before that and I have paid for the removals company and given notice on my current house, I felt like telling him it bl**dy better be!  Still, his idleness aside, it is good that it is all done and dusted now.

I bought a stairgate in the Black Friday sale on Amazon today and some new car seat covers for the dog.  I've put my little portable dishwasher on sale on FB Marketplace but not heard anything as yet.   I put it up for £150 which might be a bit much, but it is practically new so I thought I would chance it. I'm also not going to need my desk as there is a built in one in the spare room, and I'm pretty certain I'll have at least one armchair spare.  I'll leave all that for now though as I can always put them in the garage, and offer them for free locally.  

I had a dentist appointment this morning.  I booked it about 5 months ago and this was the soonest they could see me! Joys of an NHS dentist. When I booked it a recent filling was hurting at times, but it hasn't been hurting recently.  The appointment literally took 5 minutes and she said everything was fine but to stop grinding my teeth - easier said than done when you are a stress teeth grinder and stressful things have been happening  . Anyway that's £25 I won't see again, but better than needing work I suppose!

Tonight I need to put an old sofa and arm chair out for bulky waste collection.  They are not actually going to be collected until Thursday morning, but I'm out to dinner tomorrow night so won't have time.  My poor dog is going to be devastated as the old sofa is his preferred bed, but there is no room for it in the new house and it is knackered after him trying to dig holes in it.

Other than that I have updated my Notion s/s on this month's spending.  I have gone way over budget on food and not 100% sure why.  There was definitely some discretionary stuff I could have done without so need to keep an eye on that next month.  But everything is logged, which is the main thing and as long as I know I can pop it into my monthly budget and see where I am.

I'm not even thinking about Xmas yet.  I'm using all my annual leave on moving so I suggested some of my family comes to me, but that ahs caused an almighty row and now my sister isn't speaking to me.  So looks like I'll have to fit a Scotland trip in somehow.  Presents will have to be last minute Amazon gifts because by the time the move is over i just won't have to time to look around shops, even all the lovely books shops that will be near me!

Hoping everyone evening is toasty and chilled out!

SuzeQStan

Keeping everything crossed for spotty cats ultrasound 😿 xx 

Have to say it doesn’t sound at all unreasonable to ask family to come to you for Christmas after the difficult issues you’ve had recently.  In fact it sounds downright generous on your part!  

Tell your sister to give her head a wobble! (Sorry rude of me to say that I know but it’s made me fume a little reading about that!)

take care Elisheba xx 

Elisheba

Evening all,

Sadly I had to say goodbye to spotty cat last week. She was suffering and there was nothing the vet could do so it was time. Such a horrible and difficult thing to do though and I miss her little spotty face a lot. Still, having a remaining dog and a cat keeps me busy and I'm trying not to dwell on it.

On the money side of things I finally got around to looking at cremation options today. My insurance company pay £200 towards euthanasia and cremation, and back in 2019 when my last cat died that covered everything including an individual cremation (although he got hit by a car so didn't need to euthanise I suppose).

Anyway cut to today, and it'll be £185 more to pay on top of the insurance, and that's without a nice box 🙄. Anyway me and my ex will spilt the costs between us, but it's another hundred odd that I wasn't expecting.

The house move continues apace. I've sorted out pretty much everything I can now. Just need to bag up my books over the next two nights (I want to do it myself to keep them organised), and then it's down to the removals company. I've been running round touching up paint and pollyfilling holes (just a couple of tiny ones - I've not been smashing up the house 🤣). It's been messy but quite fun!

It's just a waiting game now, and I want it done. Only a few more days to go but it can't come quick enough.

I've filled out all my spreadsheets with this month's spending, but I think I'm going to do a full reconciliation at the end of the month as I'm pretty sure last month's spending figures were out and I want to know exactly were I am.

I ordered some curtains last night and then immediately realised they are the wrong size. It's too late to cancel so I'm going to have to manage a return somehow from a different address. Annoyingly they don't have them in the right size, and suitable ones it the right size are quite a bit more. I think I'll wait now until I'm moved in as I can't decide between 2 patterns, and having the room and colour scheme in front of me might help.

I have a coldsore on my eyelid just now. I've been getting them occasionally since I was a child and they are very annoying. Because it's the eyelid, it really swells up and I look like I'm having a allergic reaction or done a round with Mike Tyson 🙄.

Hope everyone is staying warm in the bitter weather. I'm hoping my new house is warmer than this one! For a terrace it really is chilly!

Cheery_Daff

Sorry to hear about spotty cat xxx Always a difficult decision xxx

Glad the packing is going well though. Fingers crossed for a warmer house!

beanielou

So sorry about spotty cat 😿

SuzeQStan

Poor spotty cat 😿 - and poor you as well!  Get some vitamins in you - self care is even more important during times of stress. 

Swear by my heated underblanket - you might find it helps with the ?sciatica as it has helped me no end with pain management in addition to keeping warm.

 I’ve seen very reasonable priced ones at bee&emm and save a fortune not heating bedroom as much as otherwise would have to.

take care Elisheba -
xx

Moorviews

I am sad for you in the loss of spotty cat, it is always this hard thing that we must do for them. I hope your dog and cat will provide comfort to help you through. You have some very busy days ahead in moving and sound well organised. It’s a shame about the curtains but these things happen when we are under pressure. Shall be keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that all goes fairly smoothly with the move xx

Elisheba

Evening, all,

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts about spotty cat. It's a very hard thing to have to do, a terrible kindness though in the circumstances.

Thanks for the under blanket idea @SuzeQStan. I don't get cold in bed - it's so cosy I never want to get up! Currently got a fleece underblanket with a duvet over, and then an old feather quilt on top of that 😁. I don't like a hot bedroom so always have the heating off and the window open in there. It has to be very cold for me to even need a hot water bottle though.

The removal folk are in tomorrow, I think about 9ish. I've heard they can be very quick - I hope so as I need to leave at 1pm to drive over and collect my new house keys. I'm not sure why I have to do that in person as the landlord has told me he just leaves them in the teapot in the porch as the house is empty. I think I'm being handed a copy of the inventory as well, but considering it's an empty house I can't imagine that will be extensive either!

It's time it was done now though. I'm tired of the long goodbye, and looking forward to getting settled in.

I signed up to Welsh Water today. You can only do it up to 2 days in advance for some reason. I had just made my last payment of the year to my current company, and have been given £100 refund, but I've got to pay the new company £56 a month for the remainder of the financial year. I can't work out if that means water is more expensive there, but I suspect so. It is a 'not for profit' water company though, and any extra invested back in the company and network so that's nice. 

I'm hoping when I get the keys tomorrow there will be a letter about council tax. I filled out their online form a couple of weeks ago but not had any emails. I'm keen to get payments set up and know my outgoings - I've estimated it from there charges online, but good to have these things in writing.

It's all just expense at the moment. I think I'm going to need a wheelbarrow to cart wood to the woodstore in the back garden, I need order wood and coal, and oil for the boiler. I'll need a coal scuttle and ash bucket (my current ones belong to the house). I have a long list of things I think I might need, but I won't buy them until I'm certain they are necessary, and I'll check to see if I can get anything second hand. When I tot up all my figures I think this move is costing me about £5k. Some of that I'll get back in deposits and rent differences, but certainly not all of it 🙄.

Anyway, that's me off work now for a week and a bit. Hopefully it'll give me time to unpack and then relax and explore a bit.

lucielle

Good luck with the move. 

L