Little by little, and with love

Tiredbutdetermined

RosaBernicia said:

Tiredbutdetermined said:

Hello, just had a cuppa and read through your diary.

my daughter is visually impaired and was told at the start of the week that she is eligible to apply for a buddy dog. It would be amazing for her independence and self confidence but I am not at all sure it is a financial commitment I can make at the moment

Hello Tiredbutdetermined, welcome. 

A buddy dog sounds wonderful.  Might there be any support available to you for the expenses - eg one of the relevant charities helping with a grant or loan of equipment? 

I don’t think so as the dog comes from Guide Dogs for the Blind. The dog would have gone through training but failed an aspect that stops it being a full guide dog so it would likely be very extensively trained.
I do need to start the process of applying for DLA for my daughter so if that were successful then and element of that could pay for insurance, annual vet checks and all that jazz

RosaBernicia

Tiredbutdetermined said:

RosaBernicia said:

Tiredbutdetermined said:

Hello, just had a cuppa and read through your diary.

my daughter is visually impaired and was told at the start of the week that she is eligible to apply for a buddy dog. It would be amazing for her independence and self confidence but I am not at all sure it is a financial commitment I can make at the moment

Hello Tiredbutdetermined, welcome. 

A buddy dog sounds wonderful.  Might there be any support available to you for the expenses - eg one of the relevant charities helping with a grant or loan of equipment? 

I don’t think so as the dog comes from Guide Dogs for the Blind. The dog would have gone through training but failed an aspect that stops it being a full guide dog so it would likely be very extensively trained.
I do need to start the process of applying for DLA for my daughter so if that were successful then and element of that could pay for insurance, annual vet checks and all that jazz

I briefly volunteered for a support dogs charity so I know they were aware of the costs being an issue for some people.  I can't recall whether they offered maintenance grants themselves or whether it was via referral to another route, but Guide Dogs must surely also have people in difficult situations so perhaps they could help with advice on the DLA application and/ or any other options?

RosaBernicia

Post Christmas round up!

Well my stress levels went down many notches after about 11am - it's just mad, all this drama for basically 2 hours of opening presents.  The family situation went ok and may have moved a step in the right direction, but I am very glad I made the decision not to join the usual group.  As I think @Buffythedebtslayer said, Christmas can really show up when supposedly close family don't know you very well and I felt that was true for me - friends have been great, with lovely and thoughtful gifts and lots of messages.  A very quiet day but peaceful and reflective. 

This months gifts pot is now zeroed, the fridge and freezer are still full and I think the only groceries I need between now and January are milk and some veg.  The dog food arrived mid afternoon on Christmas Eve just as I was beginning to worry, so that's sorted too.  My chocolate stash was topped up by gifts from friends and I have some small gift cards.  Those will cover some little Ama7on treats and as the clothes that were in my M&5 basket are now out of stock, I may just use that one for groceries for now and free up cash for later.  Arg05 will go towards yet more good quality storage boxes - very dull, but so brilliant for sorting the house.  (I got my really useful proper Christmas bauble box out again and it was reminded it's absolutely worth every penny to have them clearly laid out and safely stored instead of untangling things and cursing with all the other stresses going on - so if anybody's dithering about getting one in the sales, I say go for it!)

January is already budgeted for as far as possible - I may need to have some work done on the house sooner than I thought, so am still reserving cash but will clear the interest bearing credit card and hopefully pay a small chunk off the other.  Delighted to find that the van loan should be down into 3 figures (thank you YNAB loan feature which shows the distribution of interest vs principal) - that is a good feeling to be escaping a liability and gaining a plain asset, and will hopefully free up a chunk of money halfway through the coming year. 

Plans... still need to do the tax return, oops.  Possibly some 3bay sales.  And keep on trying to be sensible with groceries. 

RosaBernicia

Made this month's payment to the 0% CC, and have included an extra £55 ish to get it down to a nice round amount.  Once the last couple of refunds come through on the interest bearing one I will be able to square that, consider it clear and start getting the 0% balance down.  I also need to budget for the 0% house stuff bill, but that won't be due til the later half of next year so can come after more urgent work on the house. 

savingholmes

Just caught up on your diary. Good luck with your future plans.

RosaBernicia

savingholmes said:

Just caught up on your diary. Good luck with your future plans.

Thank you Savingholmes, welcome. 

RosaBernicia

Progress update for that little by little I am aiming for...

Done:

Sorted through all my clothes which are now appropriately bagged/ boxed up, planning to do trips into the loft tomorrow so the out of season stuff will go up there and so will some additional bits in the spare room.  That will leave me space to do some more sorting and decorating in the spare room.  I also need to sort through cosmetics, but those can wait as it's a much smaller volume.  And there is now a specific 3bay bag which I can start to work through when the house is tidier. 

Bought one more gift after all, as the 3tsy seller came back online and I've been looking for the perfect gift for this person for ages.

Planning:

Dithering about an island trip in a couple of months time - totally undecided, wouldn't be a massive cost anyway, will just park this for a few weeks and continue keeping cash in reserve while paying off the 0% slowly. 

Need to do some thinking about a will.  I've been meaning to do that for ages but it's more relevant now that the family issues have altered - I no longer trust that my wishes would be followed without legal backup.  Also need to update contacts with the GP and HR. 

My energy levels are improving and so is my planning ability - feeling better than I have in ages. 

Tiredbutdetermined

I need to sort a will at some point but guess I need to wait for the next hurdle.

My dad died in October so that brings home that I don’t want anyone struggling to second guess my wishes and also a funeral plan will be needed at some point

Glad to hear the energy levels are on the up

savingholmes

I'm another that needs to finalise a will. I've got one drawn up but it arrived just before Xmas so not opened it yet. Need to though. There are cheap links on MSE for wills if you look

RosaBernicia

Sorry to hear about your dad @Tiredbutdetermined .  A friend just lost someone and it seems the will wasn't what was expected which is what has reminded me. 

Thanks @savingholmes that's a good point.  I've read through it before and thought a basic pack would be ok but now that things are more complex and possibly contested I think I'll need a solicitor.