Scrimping even more

 If you read my last post you will know that we lost our wee lad last week. Ronnie Barker the whippet/labradoodle.

Very sad. He was ill for just week, and died aged 10 months and 6 days.

Luckily we had pet insurance.

UN-luckily his treatment was more than DOUBLE the highest amount he was insured for. 

Our insurance policy had an excess (as most do), which was an affordable amount for us.

And the policy will pay out 80% of the highest amount he was insured for. We can afford to pay the 20% of this.

SO.

As well as dealing with the tragic loss of our full-of-life, bouncy pup; we have had to face a humungous bill from the vet hospital.

Don't get me wrong:  our Ronnie was worth every penny, and the Vets (4 of them working together) did everything they could.

It's just that ..

Well.

We have an emergency fund.  Yep.

We have a very small income.  Yep.

We live well below the line.  Yep.

We have no credit cards or loans.  Yep.

We have a sudden very large bill.  Yep.

OK.

We have dug into our emergency fund BUT I won't use it all as we don't know what will happen tomorrow.  We could need to replace our washing machine, or fridge. We could need to hire a car.   

So this is what we are doing to scrimp even more:

. eBay buyers have very kindly purchased some items we just had sitting around (wool winter coat, perfume, unused Christmas gifts)

. my blog pays out a wee amount every quarter - I downloaded that - (thank you readers!)

. I downloaded the app that buys your books.  I checked every book in the house that had a barcode, parcelled it up and we have £45

. We were able to sell back to the vet hospital some items we'd bought for Ron but never opened.   (£65)

. I've started a Vinted account and made several small sales (every little helps) and have several more to photograph and list

. I've used Facebook local selling page and sold a side table and a filing cabinet we didn't need anymore.

. I have a collection that I am going to list on eBay.

. I have some large bundles of wool and fabric to sell.

Little by little we will scrimp and save even more that we usually do, and pay off this bill.  

. I'm painting birthday cards from card I already have to save buying cards for people.

. I have plenty of sock wool, so I'm knitting socks to sell.

. We said no to having lunch out with my sister - when she realised it was to do with money she has said she is paying.

. In our food cupboard we have enough to feed ourselves on for almost three months, so only need to buy fresh veg.  So we have altered our meal plans.

. Neither of us needs shoes or coats, and we can wear what we have until it falls to bits.

'Sometimes the world that we live in can be hard now and then, and it will be again.'

Life, my dear friends, as crap as it sometimes is, is still an adventure.

FMxx