Single Mum: Freedom in Narnia

jak

I had some great news yesterday! The littlest dog in the world has been battling meningitis and encephalitis for over a year. She has now had 15 months of chemo and had her last treatment yesterday! She will need to stay on steroid tablets for the rest of her life but has managed to BEAT both illnesses! We are thrilled! Her pet insurance only covered the first £1,900 so I've had to find over £12,000 for her treatment.

My Mum and Dad have both helped a little but the majority has come out of savings/budget. It's been an absolute nightmare, the vets is over an hours drive away and she had to stay in over night each time. She LOVED it, made friends with all the nurses and spent the whole time being cuddled All Night- making her a total nightmare at home as we make her sleep in her own bed with her brother... I'm so proud of her. When we first took her in, she couldn't walk, life her head and had stopped eating. I didn't think we would be bringing her home. Now she is running around like a total nutter and talking constantly... She looks and sounds a bit like a Gremlin but we love her! She adores Creative boy. They are best friends.
 
Phew! Now all my money doesn't need to go on vets bills, maybe I can actually make some proper steps to clearing my mortgage. First things first though, our holiday is swiftly approaching! 2 weeks to go and we can't wait! Yay!

Right got to go and sort out the joys of home schooling....

JAK
x

Merlin's_Beard

Congratulations! Both on littlest dog's recovery and getting her through it,  and also freeing up the money going forwards. Sounds like it was a long battle to get her right, so hopefully you can all have a breather now.

jak

Thank you. We are so thrilled! It's taken such a huge effort and been SO expensive. It's nice to have a little breathing space at last. 

I'm happy to say I've booked and paid for taxis to the airport and back for our holiday, sorted and paid for our estas and printed out all the documents needed. We are pretty much ready to go. It all cost a little more than I had put by but only by £75 which isn't too terrible. All holiday pots are back to £0 and I will be saving into them with extra money made as time goes on. I include all surveys, free money and tilly tidies. 
I gave my Grandma some nice hand creams in the end for her birthday, mainly because she came to visit for the day and I only found out she was coming last minute. She was happy anyway though so that's good. My sister had her beach set for her B-day and she was also happy so that's a few more birthday gifts out of the way. My Dad's is next and while we are visiting him. Luckily I've already got his gifts. I only need to get him some sweets to add to his t-shirt and cool antique measuring tape, plus a card.

I've got to get a mothers day card today, plus a gift for Mum tomorrow but that will come out of the gifts fund- I actually forgot to include Mothers/Fathers day in my calculations so I need to make some adjustments to the gift budget. Luckily it's looking fairly healthy ATM so it's not a problem. I worked out I needed £550 a year for all gifts and I have £250 already- mainly made from vouchers, surveys, TCB and £co. 

I'm not making an overpayment on the mortgage until after our holiday. I'd rather keep the money in there in case of emergency. I'm a little worried about our flight. It's my first long haul since my heart got bad. I've done a flight test and passed, plus a short haul so it should be fine. I've got the doctors next week to get some extra meds too so hopefully all will be well. Unfortunately I can't book our seats until check in! I Really hope we can sit together and I can get an aisle seat. 

Weight is now hovering around 10 stone 7! Wooo Hooo. I want to be 10 5 ish so not far off. I'm hoping to lose the last couple of lbs before we go but that might be pushing it in 2 weeks. I tend to hang on to water weight due to my heart but I'll do my best. We fly 2 weeks on Sunday!  

JAK
x

jak

Something really horrible happened today. I was at church with Mum and read the magazine they produced. The church had a meeting and have decided that they will not fall in line with the church of England plan to provide blessings for LBTQ+ weddings. Apparently they feel that the bible forbids it! What in God name? I am genuinely horrified. In my opinion love is love. To exclude a whole swathe of people based on their sexuality is wrong. If God created the world and all the people in it, why would God then wish us to spread bigotry and hate? I was going to just leave, then Mum said she and a couple of others are working to change things from the inside out and would I like to be involved? Erm, YES!

I cannot stand it when people use God's word to spread hate and fear. It's wrong and against everything Christianity stands for.  Apparently the church has several same sex couples in the congregation and they hide it from the vicar. How unbearably sad. The most wicked of people sometimes twist the word of God to suit the most dreadful agendas. I will always stand up fro what I believe to be right. It doesn't always make me popular but it's so important. What kind of example would Creative boy have otherwise? 

On to cheerier matters: Mother's day! Yay! I got a lovely card and some scented candles! I LOVE scented candles. They make me so happy. We are all going over to Mum's at 2.30 to give her cards etc. She's got a nice card from me and a bunch of tulips. My sister always gets her loads of stuff but I prefer to be a little more circumspect when getting gifts. She will be pleased with the flowers and card. We each got a plant at church today so at least something good happened there!

2 weeks today we go on our holiday! I see my heart nurse tomorrow for my last appointment before I go. Hopefully all is well and I'll be able to fly etc. It should be fine. 

JAK
x

jak

Well it's been a hell of a couple of weeks! The littlest doggo ate chocolate out of Creative boy's bag! She had to stay in the vet hospital over night but is ok. Then yesterday she got a cookie out of my bag- subway gave me a free one so I kept it for Creative boy and forgot all about it! Que vets AGAIN! She's ok now but it's cost £99 excess fee from the insurance. The actual cost has been £738! Blimey! I will have to pay another £99 excess at some point when the vets sort out the bill..... Oh the joys of having animals!! The worst thing is, I took away Creative Boy's laptop and X-box and he's had to do chores after school for a week. Yesterday he said he was going to give me a list of chores lol. That made me laugh! I do most of it already...

My sister has relapsed pretty badly. She ended up in hospital. She's out now but I can't speak to her. She really let me down this time! She was meant to look after the animals while I was away but can't now at the last minute. I've ended up having to ask my ex-husband to come and stay, which is a bit weird! He OWES me mind you so I don't feel bad about asking. My sister was pretty abusive towards me, the animals and Creative boy but then wanted to come and stay so I could look after her. I said NO. I'm sick of it! I just want to be left alone. I cannot take this continual relapsing. The police/ambulance every night. The poor me I'm so sick routine. I'm done! So is Creative boy. He saw the messages she sent me (by accident) and is very angry with her. There is no way she is coming to my house. I do not allow alcohol in my home. 

On to happier things! I'm now packing for my holiday! It's so exciting! We can't wait! We fly on Sunday. Wooooooooo. I hope it all goes well. I'm off to the doctors for some anxiety meds for the actual flight. I usually have then as my muscles cramp so badly while I'm sat down for a long time. Hopefully it'll be fine. I'm so ready for a break! Creative boy has gone to his Dad's until Friday. I'm getting my hair done Friday so it's all nice when we go. I've paid for everything with the money I've saved. I'm so happy about the debt free challenges on here. They have made me really focus and make some dosh! I'm good to go and literally cannot wait!!! 

Right, off to go shopping for some tops for my birthday with Mum. Matalan here we come! I know how to live...

JAK
xxx

jak

I had a brilliant holiday! Unfortunately I've been poorly since I've been home so it's been a bit tricky. It was so worth it though! 
My sister relapsed Again! She's just coming out of detox today. Hoping she makes it but beginning to think she may not. 
Creative boy is off school. He's got a nasty neck problem and a virus. Been in bed for days, poor guy x

jak

Well it's been a while! How much life can change... 
I've now paid just over £10,000 off my mortgage, which I'm thrilled about! 
I've also met the love of my life after having been single for over 10 years! Crazy! We are talking about getting married, which we both very much want. He does have some debt though so he's working on that with my help. I'm not giving him money, no-one panic! But I am teaching him to budget! He also wants to come on holiday to the states with Creative boy and I so is saving up for that. 
It sounds awful, but my only concern about getting married is financial. I am not prepared to reduce our standard of living. My lovely guy has his own business and is a really hard worker. I'm hoping that he sorts himself out financially pretty quickly. He is putting the work in, so I'm hopeful. 
To be fair to him, he reminds me of me, 11 years ago. I'd just gone bankrupt and had no-where to go but up. He is in recovery too and as a result of bad choices ended up with 15K ish of debt. He did a debt relied order but then got £4k inheritance just before it completed. He then told the official receiver (?) and it was cancelled. However, on his credit report, only 2 debts show. One is BT and the other is an overdraft. These debts come to just over £1K combined. Now we have to figure out if he just has to pay these OR if he has to find the others. It's a bit complex. Not sure where to start really? Any thoughts? 
JAK
xxx