Cost of Living #7

[NotASlayer]

Okay, this is news to me! How long does it keep when frozen?
Not that I need to buy Nutella, but I'd like to know in future. You know, in the name of science...

I am not sure; I did check to see if it could be frozen. I have frozen other things in similar ways, like milk, which is something I don't use that often but having milk cubes in the freezer is useful.

 

[hoponlilmama]

I am not sure; I did check to see if it could be frozen. I have frozen other things in similar ways, like milk, which is something I don't use that often but having milk cubes in the freezer is useful.

Interesting - thank you!

 

[November]

So this time I got offered a broodmare to breed from to sell or race the foal myself. As much as I really really really want to - it will make finances so tight. The lady was telling me to just budget for the horse and it will work out... she said she never cares if shes spends all of her pension and has none left - from the home that she owns. But they forget, I have very different bills to the 80 year olds in this town. I rent. I will have to rent a paddock too. The seniors dont have to buy supplies for their garden, or cleaning, or even cooking because the aged care home help does all of that for them. They dont have smart phones or internet to pay for. Which has bitten them in the bum when they try to buy new cars because all the bank apps are online now and its been a mess for them to figure out. They get seniors discounts and cash in hand rates for everything they do.

I could afford the upkeep of a horse but if there is a vet bill, which is very likely in breeding, it would be beyond me. I told her I dont want to take on something I cant afford. Especially with my car being 21 years old, and with used cars starting at $12,000 it will take me another 20 years to save up that much. If my car wasnt such a worry, I'd probably have taken the mare. Its impossible to survive out here without a car. They tell me this isnt living, and I agree. Its just existing but its better than being homeless as well as jobless. I have it pretty steady right now, I dont want to mess it up by taking on more bills. Same to be said about the medical bills. I will just go back to ignoring those problems until they either kill me or go away 🤣

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Gas just jumped to $2.79/gallon here in Oklahoma, which is lower than the national average, but people are still losing their minds over it.

Post automatically merged: Jan 29, 2025

Yes, my phone and internet went up about £10.

I've just cancelled my internet. I just can't afford it. It went from $50 to $65. I don't really use it anyway. My laptop is still broken, and I use my phone if I need to look something up online. As for TV, I don't even really use the Roku, I just rewatch old DVDs. Here I am, living like it's still 1997, lol.

Post automatically merged: Jan 29, 2025

I could afford the upkeep of a horse but if there is a vet bill, which is very likely in breeding, it would be beyond me. I told her I dont want to take on something I cant afford. Especially with my car being 21 years old, and with used cars starting at $12,000 it will take me another 20 years to save up that much. If my car wasnt such a worry, I'd probably have taken the mare. Its impossible to survive out here without a car. They tell me this isnt living, and I agree. Its just existing but its better than being homeless as well as jobless. I have it pretty steady right now, I dont want to mess it up by taking on more bills. Same to be said about the medical bills. I will just go back to ignoring those problems until they either kill me or go away 🤣

I think you made the right choice. Having a horse would be lovely, but could get really expensive, and like you said, especially if it needs medical care.

I worry about that just with my dog. I can't afford pet insurance - it's very expensive here - and if something happened to her and she needed medical attention, I don't know what I would do.

 

[Hunga Munga]

Horses on a budget can only end in heartbreak . There's a saying over here : only rich people and crazy fools own horses . Having been the crazy fool , I heartily agree 😀 . I threw everything I had at my horses ...and it wasn't enough . By complete chance , I managed to get mine rehomed to a proper horse rescue charity . Most people aren't that lucky to find an easy out .

 

[November]

Horses were the sort of thing that are as expensive as you make them here. I've never had a horse that cost me more than $30 a week to keep - but here and now it would be closer to $50. Its the vet stuff that worries me. 20 years ago you could buy vaccinations and pain meds at the stockfeed. Now its all regulated, and you HAVE to get a vet out (plus call out fee) to get access to any of that stuff.

If a horse went through a fence or something equally stupid, we'd slap honey on it and wrap it up, dose with bute and wait it out. Horse would be competing again within 6 months. Get a vet out for something like that now and they will put a drain in, order antibiotics and want to check on it (plus call out fee) every second day with a rehab program of 3 years. And they wonder why people are visiting vets less now... Same thing in the medical system.

I was so tempted by this mare because she was a good race horse, but their stallion is her daddy so they cant keep her to breed again and said they would chop off her head 🙁 I said NOOOO but I cant take it on either. I wish this place was a few more acres, but that would truly be dangerous lol.

@Joan the Vampire Slayer I know right? The flea meds are so expensive. What brand do you use, and how much is it?

I use nexguard spectra. I look order online when I am organised and its around $90 for 6 tabets (3 months for us). In store its often $120, so I try to be organised since the cheapest place I can find in australia to buy from it is Queensland and it takes 3 weeks to get here. But I cant order bulk because its generally got a use by date of 6 months.

My dogs are both currently insured but I will cancel it once it becomes more than the vet bills are likely to be in an emergency. Insurance doesnt cover vaccinations which are due soon. I am preapproved for payment plans at our vet but its only at that clinic, loyalty does count for something I guess.

 

[NotASlayer]

Gas just jumped to $2.79/gallon here in Oklahoma, which is lower than the national average, but people are still losing their minds over it.

I just paid the equivalent of $4 a gallon this week, and is still well down from its peak of a few years ago (about $5.50). I would be ecstatic at that price!

I've just cancelled my internet. I just can't afford it. It went from $50 to $65. I don't really use it anyway. My laptop is still broken, and I use my phone if I need to look something up online. As for TV, I don't even really use the Roku, I just rewatch old DVDs. Here I am, living like it's still 1997, lol.

I have to have internet, but at least there is finally competition. It would be impossible to just use a phone online, not least because the reception in the house for it is so poor that I still need a landline. The alternative is remaining frozen in place whenever someone rings my mobile. Using my mobile inside is like having one of those ye olde corded phones.

 

[nightshade]

I have to have internet, but at least there is finally competition. It would be impossible to just use a phone online, not least because the reception in the house for it is so poor that I still need a landline. The alternative is remaining frozen in place whenever someone rings my mobile. Using my mobile inside is like having one of those ye olde corded phones.

My mother's old house was the same, she also had to have Sky TV as otherwise no signal to receive channels.

I looked into reducing my Netflix package but the only other option is the one with ads and I don't think I'd use it with ads.

 

[November]

Im going to get more cash out next time I got to town. After dealing with my neighbours internet banking today, I dont want to be stuck like that cashless with a blocked card and a call centre that doesnt understand english or that australia is very large so the nearest branch is hundreds of kilometres away. They should have let people born before 1945 keep their cheque books. Its just cruel to make someone like that try to use a computer, he cant see it! It does make me realise that I MUST stay up to date with tech as much as I can afford to.

My phone doesnt have as many dead spots now days but I remember when it did! Its frustrating. My internet used to be the same but I have NBN now. Cheapest and fastest its ever been!

I dont pay for any streaming at all, but Australia has free to air channels with a lot of choice.

I think my gas is running out, 4 months early, amazing how much more I used by handwashing the dishes! Usually a tank would last me until April. I have another tank but ordering takes a few weeks.

 

[NotASlayer]

Im going to get more cash out next time I got to town. After dealing with my neighbours internet banking today, I dont want to be stuck like that cashless with a blocked card and a call centre that doesnt understand english or that australia is very large so the nearest branch is hundreds of kilometres away. They should have let people born before 1945 keep their cheque books. Its just cruel to make someone like that try to use a computer, he cant see it! It does make me realise that I MUST stay up to date with tech as much as I can afford to.

I ended up locked out of one bank for a week after an issue with the app, because I had to use the app to log in, even to internet banking, and you could only live chat with humans via the app. Which meant I had to ring them up to get things sorted.

And branches! There are hardly any left now!

I would hate to be an elderly person trying to cope with smartphone banking.

 

[November]

I ended up locked out of one bank for a week after an issue with the app, because I had to use the app to log in, even to internet banking, and you could only live chat with humans via the app. Which meant I had to ring them up to get things sorted.

And branches! There are hardly any left now!

I would hate to be an elderly person trying to cope with smartphone banking.

The worst part is, we didnt even get it sorted. They kept asking what day his last transaction was - he couldn't remember which day. So we got put to the back of the line after yet another identity check and he rage quit and will come back tomorrow morning. I hope we can get it sorted over the phone because its an enormous drive to the nearest branch and I dont know if he has enough cash to do it. I cant go with him either, its too far for me to travel. They used to have one within 100kms of us, but it shut down.

Now hes talking about moving to the last bank remaining in this town but I worry thats not far off closing either, its only open 2 days as it is but at least it has a shop front. I think the shire will try to keep that branch operating here for as long as possible because they hype this town as elderly friendly, we still have a phone box and post shop. I know the post shop has done a lot of unpaid hours trying to help people with their banking too.

It doesnt surprise me that people are so burnt out. It used to be the job of the people that worked at these companies to do the leg work. Now its more fees for less service! I told him they should be paying US for our time on hold, and then I bet we would not be on hold for hours.

 

[nightshade]

We've only got 1 bank left here too, of course with every bank closure its an atm gone too, so harder to get cash as well. I expect by the end of the year that will be gone too, so it'll just be the machine at the supermarket.

 

[Stake fodder]

Im going to get more cash out next time I got to town. After dealing with my neighbours internet banking today, I dont want to be stuck like that cashless with a blocked card and a call centre that doesnt understand english or that australia is very large so the nearest branch is hundreds of kilometres away. They should have let people born before 1945 keep their cheque books. Its just cruel to make someone like that try to use a computer, he cant see it! It does make me realise that I MUST stay up to date with tech as much as I can afford to

It's always good to keep a little money in Bank of Under-the-Mattress.

All this makes me glad that my elderly father lives in an area that still has hyper-local banks, as in branches only in this town and maybe the next one over. He doesn't even use an ATM!

 

[Ethan Reigns]

The cost of eggs is continuing its upward trajectory due to the policy of killing every chicken in any farm found to have a case of bird flu. A lot of people don't like (or can't tolerate from an allergy point of view) antibiotics in their food, so this is going to continue. A lot of this is due to large-scale chicken farming where there may be a million chickens on one farm. This seems to follow the colloquial four laws of thermodynamics:

1. You can't win.
2. You can't even break even.
3. Things are going to get worse before they get better.
4. Who says things are going to get better?

The breakup of large farms would be a step in the right direction.

 

[Taake]

I worry about that just with my dog. I can't afford pet insurance - it's very expensive here - and if something happened to her and she needed medical attention, I don't know what I would do.

That's been a discussion here, that there is less of a "market" for dogs now because it is so expensive to have one, partly because of what insurance costs.

Like my dog got injured at the start of October, and even with insurance that set me back a pretty penny. When I got him to the emergency room the cost for that first surgery was (in dollars) about $2 500, and if you don't pay that sum immediately you won't get to bring your pet home (and if they keep it there's additional fees). So, all you can do is pay up. Now, I had a lot of additional costs after that, and even though my insurance covered 75% of it, it still ended up being an expensive affair.

So, yeah, I understand that with the way things are now, people are hesitant about getting pets. Insurance is expensive, and even with it you can be really unlucky depending on what the medical situation is.

I've given up the pipe dream of ever saving money on my dogs food. Now obviously, I got a large breed, large breeds eat a lot, but I unfortunately got one with a sensitive stomach so he requires wet or raw food which is expeeeensive. I grumble every month about his food, as he requires a lot. If only he could make some of his money, we'd be golden 😉

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I've given up the pipe dream of ever saving money on my dogs food. Now obviously, I got a large breed, large breeds eat a lot, but I unfortunately got one with a sensitive stomach so he requires wet or raw food which is expeeeensive. I grumble every month about his food, as he requires a lot. If only he could make some of his money, we'd be golden 😉

Right! And some pet insurance companies you have to pay for services up front, and they "reimburse" you. Insane how anyone can afford that! At this point, I definitely wouldn't get another dog. I love my dog with all my heart, and I know she'd like a companion, but there's no way I can afford another one.

You're right about less people adopting dogs these days. We have a pet overpopulation issue here. I foster puppies. There's so many abandoned weekly...it's awful. Even with free vaccines and spay neuter services for low income folks, people are still hesitant to adopt even though so many people want to.

My dog has a sensitive stomach too. Luckily, she is medium sized though. I made the mistake of giving her a substitute last week (Walmart brought the same brand but the wrong formula with my my weekly grocery order), and she threw up all over the house for DAYS. It was awful. I spent hours cleaning my vintage loveseat. Yikes. Thankfully, he does ok with IAMs chicken and rice formula though. I have been feeding her that since she was a small puppy. It's gone up in price though, but thankfully conveniently I can get it a the "Dollar Store" which is near my house.

 

[nightshade]

I do sometimes think if I could cut out wet food for my cat, he barely eats it. Maybe half a pouch a day, sometimes a bit more but never a full pouch. He also only likes the gravy versions. While I wouldn't save much money, as they're only cheap anyway, I would be saving waste.

 

[nightshade]

Guy on the radio is saying that the price of lamb(meat) keeps going up as the UAE are buying so much uk lamb.

 

[November]

They told us butter was expensive cos the UK bought it all. I rekon its got more to do with all the dairy land thats been wiped out for low quality sprawling housing developments.

Lamb is on special here this week. I have some coming on Saturday, provided I don't alter the order after the specials reset on Wednesday!

 

[Kendar]

I've given up the pipe dream of ever saving money on my dogs food. Now obviously, I got a large breed, large breeds eat a lot, but I unfortunately got one with a sensitive stomach so he requires wet or raw food which is expeeeensive. I grumble every month about his food, as he requires a lot. If only he could make some of his money, we'd be golden 😉

Have you tried making your own? It's not as cheap as kibble, etc., but it is often cheaper than buying the high end raw food. We are doing that for our Schnorkie, and 10 bucks gets us about 6 meals worth of food. Green beans, carrots, and beef cheek.

Right! And some pet insurance companies you have to pay for services up front, and they "reimburse" you. Insane how anyone can afford that! At this point, I definitely wouldn't get another dog. I love my dog with all my heart, and I know she'd like a companion, but there's no way I can afford another one.

We actually pay first and get reimbursed.

There are a few where the insurance is applied first (Trupanion is a big one here), but they are twice as expensive as the other type.