pet supplies Archives

Tips for Managing Pet Expenses (a look at our Feb spending)

03•02•15

A handful of pet bloggers I admire have started posting a breakdown of their monthly pet care expenses. I’m fascinated by those posts, and I find it interesting to see how pet care costs are allocated in different families, like single-dog versus multi-dog.

I kept thinking it might be useful to break down our expenses, but I hesitated. Our situation is extreme, I thought. Except, judging from comments and social media conversations, I’ve come to realize that it’s not! Many of you come here because you’re trying to manage health conditions like allergies or cancer, in addition to regular day-to-day stuff.

So, I thought I’d break down our February expenditures, along with tips for how we plan for these expenses, in case it would help anyone else who’s trying to manage exorbitant pet care expenses. Missing is a breakdown of Cooper’s home-cooked food because we purchase his groceries with our own and Newt’s canned cat food, which we also get at the grocery store. Next month I’ll strive to break that out. One note: We do not have pet insurance. I can’t speak to the benefits/costs of pet insurance.

Here goes…

Newt’s nail trim: $16.50
Doggy daycare: $150
Monthly preventatives: $134
Emmett’s chemo, liver, and thyroid meds: $292.50
Emmett’s allocation: $270
Dog food and supplements: $213

Total: $1,076

**shudder**

Dearest friends and family, this is why we decline dinner/cocktails/movies out.

Anyway, that’s a lot. That’s without Coop’s or Newt’s food. That’s a lot. It makes my hands shake just looking at it. That’s why John and I both have part-time work – he edits scientific studies, I teach writing at community college – on top of our day jobs. But it’s what we want to do. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

But, we’ve also had to make a lot of adjustments and cut-backs to make this work. Here are a few tips for how we’ve made it work…

1. Decide on your priorities. We could eliminate doggy daycare for Lucas and Cooper, but we prioritize that in our budget because of all those extra hours we work. It’s great for both of them to get the extra socialization, especially with their reactivity issues, and gives us a full long day each week to put in extra hours. We could trim Newt’s nails ourselves. We have in the past. It’s traumatic and injurious for everyone.

2. Set up a fee-free checking account for vet bills even if you don’t have big recurring expenses. (See #3.) Put a few bucks here and there in the account, and when you need it, it’s there. Here’s a good time to point out: These tips are designed to avoid credit card debt!

3. Plan ahead. What the “allocation” in the list means is we’ve estimated Emmett’s quarterly expenses. He goes to Purdue every three months for his scans (going this Wednesday… wish us luck…) and gets blood tests every two months at our local vet. We know approximately how much that costs, give or take an extra blood panel or whatever here and there, and we divided that by three (one for each month of the quarter). So, on the last day of every month, we transfer that allocated amount to a checking account that is only for vet bills. It’s linked to a debit card, so we use that card when we go to Purdue. If it ends up being a bit less than we allocated, we leave the extra in there untouched because sometimes – like last quarter when they ran an additional x-ray – it ends up being more, so that gives us a buffer. It’s way easier to budget $270 per month than it is to come up with approximately $800 at the end of the quarter!

4. Make cutbacks. There’s so much stuff we don’t need, like a huge cable package. (We also login to my mom’s Netflix account instead of purchasing our own… shh…) Plus, we’ve arranged our grocery budget to be WAY cheaper than their food budget. Think Sam’s Club and lots of rice and bean dishes. And eggs. Use coupons, too. We’ve also shifted to lots of free social activities (craft night and book club with friends, having people over for movies or games, etc.) and only eat out once or twice per month. We don’t belong to a gym, and our library cards get the biggest workout each month!

There you have it! Knowing that we spend, on average, around $1,000 per month on pet care expenses has caused us to change so many aspects of our lives. Of course, we wouldn’t have it any other way. They’re worth it. What sparked this post is that I’ve received so many comments and messages about just how expensive things like cancer are. It’s true. It all costs a fortune. But a little planning makes it work.

Planning and a sense of humor. I think that should be tip 5, actually:

5. Have a sense of humor about it all! 🙂

New here? Welcome! Please join in the discussion by leaving a comment, subscribing, or joining us on Facebook!

Pet supplies YOU can use in a pinch

05•06•14

I stood in the middle of a bustling tradeshow floor chatting with another blogger.

I sipped my coffee, then caught the tiniest whiff of BO.

With that small sniff, three things flashed through my mind in half a second: omg I forgot deodorant, that smell is me, and I need to take care of this NOW. It was like 9 am. I had roughly 10 hours ahead of me before I could get back to my hotel.

As I’m the type of person who forgets deodorant, I’m clearly not the type of person to carry a back-up stick in my purse. So I brainstormed for a bit, high-tailed it to the free samples of new products that were being handed out in the press room, and snatched a bottle of dog shampoo. I raced into the bathroom, snagged some paper towels, and totally made that shampoo into my temporary deodorant for the day. And it worked! (Thank goodness.)

That experience got me thinking: How many pet supplies can I commandeer if I’m in a pinch?

The second possibility presented itself less than two weeks later. It was certainly a less acute emergency, but Louisiana got HOT. I was getting ready to head out to a dinner. I pulled on a skirt, slipped on my sandals, and realized… winter feet. Obviously not having painted toenails isn’t a real disaster, but once I got it in my head, I just felt like my first sandal wearing of the year NEEDED painted toes. No time for a pedicure, but AHA! I had a sample of:

Happy Pink nails in a flash!

A third option came up when I picked up some grooming products that had come in the mail. I looked through them and one was a bottle of scented coat refresher, which I would never use on my dogs. I think their noses are too dang sensitive for that type of product. So, that day I had exercised and walked the dogs, then – before I changed – I ran to the post office and gas station. (It sort of seems like a theme is emerging here. Apparently I smell.) As I was pulling away from the pump, John called and he and his coworkers were grabbing a beer at a bar that was within a block of the gas station. It wouldn’t make sense to drive home, freshen up, and drive back… so I spritzed some coat refresher, pulled a pin brush through my hair, and headed off to happy hour!

Finally, and I don’t have personal experience with this, but it’s worth mentioning: Single ingredient jerky! When I was at Global Pet Expo, two different PR people demonstrated how people-friendly their jerky was by taking bites during our meeting, and the Pet Age assistant editor taste-tested, too. Keep a stash in your car for an snack emergency for yourself (or your pup, I suppose)!

Am I missing any? What pet products have you used on yourself in a pinch? Anything you’d recommend?

Pet Care Organization Part 2: Dog stuff

10•17•13

Last week, in part 1 of the Pet Care Organization series, I talked about the best place to start with any big organization project is with an inventory and clearly defined goals. I photoed all our pet care storage and outlined my five main goals, along with the project goal of not spending any money to complete the organization. This week I tackled the first two goals:

eliminate and donate excess
put everything away so that it’s easily accessible

As you saw in the first post, it was a TON of stuff spread out all over the house. Since many of you commented here and on Facebook that you’re tackling similar projects, I wanted to share my simple steps to get all this clutter eliminated and organized!

It’s a 3 step plan:

Pull everything out of its ~~hiding~~ storage space and lay it all out in one place.
Sort it into piles of like items. One pile (hopefully the biggest!) should be “donate” items.
Put it all away!

It sounds simple – and it is – but don’t underestimate the amount of time it takes! Let me break it down for you a little bit more.

Step 1: Pull everything out of storage and spread it all out!

I brought down the box we had in our storage room, pulled their apparel out of the closet, and emptied all the plastic drawers that held dog stuff. I also got the items out of the cabinet that held their medications and bowls.

pet supplies organization — One corner of the mess. Thank goodness Emmett was there to oversee my work!

This step is so important because if you try to go room-by-room or box-by-box, you won’t get everything assembled and you won’t have a clear picture of what you really have.

Once I had everything in front of me, clear categories emerged, and I was able to move onto step 2.

Step 2: Sort it all into piles of like items.

My piles ended up being: treats, toys, grooming/medication, travel, seasonal, leashes/harnesses, apparel, and DONATE! You’ll note there’s not a “trash” pile – I think it’s incredibly important to throw away as you go so that you eliminate clutter from your visual space. Each time I encountered junk (expired medication, for instance), it went straight in the trash.

I also ended up stowing two other groups items in super accessible places. Poop bags were corralled into a vase by the back door, which is where we already kept our flashlights and paw sanitizing wipes. (And, yep, our house has a built-in telephone ledge!)

Then, I put their crunchy treats in a jar on the counter. The small jar is Newt’s. (And, yep, the house has a speckled laminate backsplash… Oh, the things I would do if we bought this house.)

Step 3: Put everything away!

Since everything is grouped together, it’s super simple to put it all away so that like items live with like items. I reused the plastic storage drawers (but no more storage tub since I got rid of so much!!) but I wanted it to look prettier. These bins live in our kitchen, which is the most used entrance of the house. So I pulled out some scrap paper and tape, and got to work! I also pulled out my trusty label maker to identify the contents of each drawer, which helps keep us motivated to put things back where they belong.

So here’s the top view of the finished drawers, decorated with scrapbook paper and labels added to the lip of the handles.

And from the front – You’d never guess that these drawers are full of brushes, flea medication, leashes, and collapsible travel bowls!

I’m super happy with the results. Everything is clean, organized, sorted, and accessible! And, I eliminated a ton of excess, which – if you’re following along on Facebook – you know I’m giving it all away to anyone who wants it later today! Stay tuned…

Next week I’m going to work through my third goal:

finalize our preparedness plans (first aid kit, hurricane kit, and so on)

Some of you mentioned tackling pet care organization projects. Did you accomplish anything this week? Anything in store for the weekend?

Pet Care Organization Part 1: The Plan

10•11•13

We have a situation over here.

As you may have picked up by now, I’m obsessed with organization. I like things to be neat, clean, and orderly. My label maker is one of my most prized possessions, and don’t even get me started on the beauty of my planner…

But yesterday, as I was attempting to locate Cortisone for Emmett’s feet, I had a realization: Our pet care stuff is a MESS! How could I let this happen?

In our Indiana house, we had a ton of storage space for dog stuff. We had a pantry that had shelves and drawers to cram it all in. Our Louisiana rental, while huge (and haunted.) has very little storage space. And, as a totally honest caveat, we have a LOT of frivolous pet stuff. I mean, if you consider a cape frivolous. Or holiday-appropriate bandanas. Or winter boots.

I digress…

So! I’ve decided to undertake Project Pet Care Organization!

I’m going to share what I do to streamline our stuff and make pet care more accessible. I have five goals:

eliminate and donate excess
put everything away so that it’s easily accessible
finalize our preparedness plans (first aid kit, hurricane kit, and so on)
get their health care stuff organized
create a plan for training (both a schedule and the physical equipment)

My overarching goal, though, is to do it all without spending a dime! I’ll share my progress as I go, and if I stumble upon any great tips, I’ll be sure to pass them along!

In the meantime, I always think organization projects should start with an inventory, so here’s where we’re starting from (I shudder to think these pics are going to be out there on the internet, but I felt like this was the most honest way to start!).

We keep their bowls, Newt’s cans of cat food, daily medications, and the odd bag of treats in this cabinet:

But their bags of food are in this other cabinet:

And then all the “stuff” is crammed into these drawers (toys, treats, monthly meds, grooming supplies, random first aid stuff, the works):

pet care storage — Emmett decided to oversee this photograph.

Our closet is half stuffed with their coats, sweaters, and – yes – costumes:

And if that isn’t enough, here’s this random box in our storage room filled with cones, a cape, and odds and ends:

Sigh. Then their healthcare stuff (I’m dreading this task):

And all that excludes their part of our hurricane box, which is supposed to be hurricane backpacks for evacuation:

Not pictured: Their toy box in the living room, the rack of leashes and harnesses hanging by the side door, Newt’s toys in the big room, the stuff actually in Newt’s room (more toys, litter stuff, etc.), and their stuff in the garage (crate, hula hoop – yep – and bath towels).

Well, that’s it. (HA! “it”) That’s where I’m starting from. Project Pet Care Organization is officially underway. To be reasonable, I plan to tackle one goal per week, and I’ll let you know how it’s going.

Tell me: Do you have all your pet care stuff organized and together? Is it scattered everywhere like our stuff? Do you need to join me in this undertaking?!?! (Come on! Join me!! If you start this week, start with a simple inventory! You can do it!)