Today I have spent money. It won’t come back to bite me for a few weeks but I can debate it now. First was at the vets. I’m not going to be silly with spending on my dog, but within reason, he gets whatever he needs. So he had a blood test today because the vet wants one very six months to check the pills aren’t hurting him. He also got refills of one part of his medicine. I am happy to pay…but no more than I feel is necessary. The blood test costs money, I get that. It has to be sent off and analysed and there are lab fees involved. But when the appointment was charged at £48, it is a shame that there’s an additional fee of £30 for the sample being taken. That makes it pretty expensive before you even look at what the lab charges.

Then the pills – I had previously thought they were not too expensive in comparison to other methods of obtaining them, but on further analysis of the bill, I think I was mistaken. A day’s pills of this one drug come in at £1.32 from the vet, but a quick look online shows prices ranging from 62p down to a possible 44p if I am reading one site correctly. This is a significant saving, although a complication will no doubt be that this controlled drug can only be prescribed one month at a time and if I have to pay for a prescription each time, I get charged a fortune.

So I don’t want to be ungrateful or arsey, but I can’t help feeling this is all rather expensive and I have no idea how many years this will go on for. Oh and he’s on three drugs, not just that one.

To counter that, I have spent a chunk of money today on “things with which one can wash a car”. Although I already own many of them, the recent ceramic coating on my car means I ought to be more careful in how I care for it going forward. The nice man who did the work has now sent me a guide on how to wash the car, and links to the sorts of products he recommends. I couldn’t justify buying all of them from the very fancy detailing shop, so some have come from Amazon or Toolstation, but I certainly have invested in this process.

It is this balance in life that is so hard : costs for various things weighed against each other, some seeming more necessary than others, some being essential, most being choices. The money I have spent on keeping my car free from bird shit is money I could have saved for Bugsy pills. Or for heating. But then again, if I die a slow and painful death in six months’ time, I shall be in extra pain knowing I was needlessly frugal. Life is short. So is YOLO a call to live without abandon, or simply a guide not to be to reserved ? Either way, it is certainly true.