Money Lessons by Lisa Conway-Hughes

Author:Lisa Conway-Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241379363
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2019-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

As we get older, our priorities in life change – we often want more of those things that come with much bigger price tags! So how do we plan to be sure we can find all this extra money without straying from our budgets? In this chapter we will tackle planning for some of those big life events at different milestones.

How Much is that Doggy in the Window?

For some people, pets are like a child and they can certainly feel like they cost the same at times!

According to Sainsbury’s, the lifetime cost of owning a dog is almost £17,000 and this figure is slightly more for a cat. The annual cost of owning a dog is £1,183. Add up the expected costs for your desired pet and put them into your budget planner to give you an idea of whether you can really afford it.

Things like jabs, insurance and food pale into insignificance when you think about the cost of a dog walker, let alone the cost of kennels or pet-sitting when you go on holiday, so here are my top tips for saving money as a pet owner:

• Adopt rather than buy – there are so many animals that need a good home. They might not be the designer dog you had in mind, but it doesn’t mean you will love them any less once you welcome them into your home.

• Buy pet food in bulk – you can get huge savings by having it delivered in bulk rather than adding it to your weekly food shop.

• Consider a pet-sitting exchange with a friend to save on costs when you go on holiday.

• When buying pet insurance, get the balance right between your excess and your monthly payments – generally the higher the excess the lower the monthly payment. Just be sure you are able to pay the excess if you need to.

• Some insurers will offer you a discount if you have multiple animals insured with them.

• Check how much you can save if you pay your pet insurance annually rather than monthly.

• Sign up for loyalty programmes with your pet food supplier or local pet shop.

• Have a look at websites where pet lovers sign up to play with/walk your dog for free as an alternative to paying for this service. Would you feel happy to do this?

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