Beginner's Questions-Now Shirlgirl's updates

shirlgirl2004 · 7 February 2009 at 8:15AM

MF in April is not going well. OHs bonus is going to be much less than normal. In this current financial crisis it isn't a surprise and to be honest it is great he is going to get one at all.

The dog (Polly) is very unwell. Her liver is functioning at a very low level and she is extremely anemic as she is not producing any red blood cells. The vet thinks Polly has Leukemia. She can only be 100% sure by doing a bone marrow transplant but the dog's body is too weak for that. You wouldn't know she was ill though. She is running around as happy as can be and just looks a little bit thin. The cost for her treatment thus far is about £400 but I'm not keeping a record because I don't ever want to make a decision on her treatment by looking at the cost. She's back to the vets for more blood tests on Friday 13th :eek: . Hopefully the results are no worse.

I have put the damp wall problem on hold. I will look to getting it sorted out in the summer.

setmefree2 · 9 February 2009 at 1:44PM

Sorry to hear about your poor dog

shirlgirl2004 · 11 February 2009 at 11:14PM

Got the OH to apply for a Tesco CC today as it is 0% on all purchases for 6 months. I think this may be our saving grace to still being MF in April. I know it's kind of cheating as we'll have debt elsewhere but we'll be able to afford to pay it off at the end of the 6 months otherwise I wouldn't do it.

I've been being much better behaved with regard to spending. I think the smaller bonus has really kicked me back into check as I'd got a bit complacent.

setmefree2 · 12 February 2009 at 9:42AM

How's your dog

shirlgirl2004 · 12 February 2009 at 7:01PM

No further news yet. They originally put her on steroids because they thought her body was attacking itself and killing the new red blood cells. Now they know she isn't producing any so we have had to slowly withdraw the steroids. Once she has been off them for 5 days she has to have another blood test. So the blood test will be done Saturday and hopefully results back Tuesday. I'm not really sure what they are hoping the blood tests are going to say

shirlgirl2004 · 14 March 2009 at 10:16AM

Well another month has flown by. The dog is much better although it is confirmed she has liver disease so will need lots meds for the rest of her life. She doesn't seemed to mind as she's getting extra food to hide her meds in. She's put on weight and is looking more healthy.

On to the mortgage. Well we've decided as our tracker rate will drop to .99% at the beginning of April it just isn't worth us paying it off now. Instead we are doing a DIY offset. We have an Egg account which pays 4% so the money is going in there. It means the money is there to pay off the mortgage when needed but we'll be better off even after tax at the moment. It doesn't feel quite as good as being properly mortgage free but it is the sensible thing to do and I will still say we're mortgage free. After payday which is 10 days away we will be fully offset. :j Our mortgage payments will be £185 a month. We will pay it off properly when interest rates start to rise.

Our other consideration is that we are moving DDs school in September to one that is a 35 minute drive away. We will do the commute for a few months and see how it goes. We might have to move which will probably mean getting a mortgage again. The OH is not keen on having a mortgage but we'll have to see how it goes.

StuartGMC · 14 March 2009 at 2:54PM

Good to hear your dog has been diagnosed and now you can hopefully enjoy things again.

A 35min run each way is a fair distance to cover for the school run twice a day but I can also understand your OH's view of not wishing to take on debt again when you've just made it to net zero. Is your daughter there for 7 or 8 yrs? Whilst it's a long time over which to commute does it also impact your work journeys? A further consideration is that of friends for you and dd, as I assume you'll be one of the furthest from the school?

Best wishes in resolving this issue.

shirlgirl2004 · 14 March 2009 at 7:49PM

DDis only just 4 1/2, she only started school in September but I have a 2 year old who will also attend the school so I would be doing the run for the next 9/10 years! I don't work at the mo but would love to go back part-time once the girls are both at school. I don't know how I can do this though because the school is fairly remote with no before/after school care. The OH would have a 20 extra minutes each way on his train journey and because he'd have to travel from a smaller station the trains would be less frequent.

The friends won't really be an issue as she'll either see her friends around here less or the ones at the school. I'm happy to travel to parties and things. I make friends fairly easily and have some friends that would be nearer if we moved and some that wold be further.

Just when you think you've got everything planned things change! I think we'll go for no change initially and then review in 6 months.

shirlgirl2004 · 26 March 2009 at 8:24PM

Well I think that's me done (for now) for being a MFW. As of today we have the equivalent of our mortgage offset in savings accounts at rates much higher than our mortgage which is 0.99% . :j It's a great feeling although it would feel better to be properly mortgage free but it just wouldn't make financial sense to do that now.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone and good luck on your MFW quests.