It's Raining Dogs and Vet Bills

Boy, around here lately it seems like if it rains, it pours. For me, this means:

1. A never ending line of vet bills that are no less than $100 each (one of which is up around $700)
2. A car that has, officially and for real this time, entered the last stages of its life.

1. The never ending vet bills
You may have read my last post about how dogs are wonderful but can be a little pricey. Well, as Taryn said, "I think pain killers for animals is ok- it just depends on how long they have left to give, and other stuff like that."* and it made me realize that Bing has a lot left to give (he is only about five years old) and that if the pain killers make him act like a normal dog, then that's what he is going to get.

However, this past weekend while I was in Illinois with Armini and my brother** was watching the dogs, Tim got into Bing's meds and ate what was left in the bottle (around 20 days worth of pain medication). SO, to add to the fact that I have come to terms with the fact that I will be purchasing pain killers forever, and the $500 vet bill that still isn't completely paid off (but will be on the 13th!) ... I have Tim's vet bill from the E-Vet ($700)*** and the bill for HIS medications ($128) for his kidneys and his stomach (to make sure he doesn't get an ulcer) plus any bills that I will have to pay when he goes back to the vet in a week to get his kidney function tested.****

* That's right readers! Comment, and I will quote you, give you some link love and add you to my Google reader. (Taryn, I checked out your blog, it's awesome. I will be back)
** Who will forever now be known as That Punk Kid.
*** I don't have to pay for all of this bill though. Only 1/3rd (parents are taking care of a third and That Punk Kid is taking care of the rest), but I do have to pay for any treatments that he is going to need for follow up care, and heaven forbid, any long term treatments he could need.
**** Cue head explosion.

(PS - I haven't ever done the foot note thing before and I apologize for having so many. I got carried away. Please don't stop reading)

2. The car that has officially entered its final stretch
That's right people. The car = done-zo.

For the last month or so it has been a little dodgy on the whole 'starting every time you put the key in the ignition' thing. Sometimes the engine would catch and then die right away. Sometimes it would have to turn over a few times (or 20 or 30 times) before the engine would catch. It would start eventually though, so really I just tried to keep my eye on the prize and stick to my savings plan.

But this morning I had to get to the airport to catch a flight for a business trip (don't fear reader, Armini is taking care of Tim and Bing, not That Punk Kid) and the car would not start. I tried it like 6 times. I gave it some gas. The engine would turn over but not catch. So Armini and I took his truck (thank the Lord he has a car of his own that turns on consistently) and when I called my dad to let him know about the car trouble his response was "Maybe it's time to start looking for another car". My thoughts exactly.

3. The hitch in my giddy-up
I took $1,000 out of my car fund not too long ago to pay off a huge chunk of my credit card which means that I only have $300 in my car fund right now. I haven't been able to save more than $50 from my last few paychecks due to the vet bills that I have had to pay off. As a result of some really bad behavior, the chunk of credit card bill that I paid off is back again, mostly because I don't have any other way to pay for stuff (also, I was being very bad - which will get its own post because it needs to be examined).

So the long and the short of this is: I have some large bills to pay. I might have a car payment a lot sooner than I thought I would. I am not making enough money to take care of all of these things.

Also, I have my heart set on a car that is probably not one that I will be able to afford:

Behold, the Mini Cooper. Car of my dreams.

ACK. I plan on applying for a loan in the next few weeks, as well as developing a plan for some really aggressive savings plan/budget. At this point I am 99% sure that the plan will be something like this:

• Pay bills.
• Save the rest.
• (have no life until I get the super cool car)
• (continue to have no life until super cool car is paid off)

It is going to be awesome.

Dogs are Lovely ... and Come with a Price Tag

Remember way back when I talked about the joys of pet ownership? Well, that hasn't changed much. In fact, I would go ahead and say that it has gotten WAY WORSE.

A few month ago, Bing started crying whenever you would touch his face. At first we thought that maybe he had a pinched nerve (there were some funky things going on with his eyes at the same time) and so he went on some pain killers and anti-inflammatory medication. The pain went away, and I could tell because his personality changed. He had been hiding under furniture, not playing with Tim or my parent's dogs, very clingy - which is not how he acted when he first came home from the humane society in December of 2007. The change to this quieter, more clingy personality was so gradual that I hadn't noticed (now I know what to look for and as soon as his personality changes, I start to look for the reason).

So this past week I decided that it was time to figure out what the heck is going on once and for all, for the sake of my dog. Two x-ray's later we have determined that he has pinched disk space (which sounds to me like the very beginnings of arthritis) in his neck. Which explains his neck pain. The vet also noticed that his eyes are very irritated looking (something that I have also noticed in the past few weeks), but he couldn't find any clear reason for why they are so red and goopey.

All in all, my dog is on some pain killers (which make him feel SO GOOD - he runs all over the apartment chancing Tim these days, something that he hasn't done in a long, long time) and we are using some eye drops from another vet visit for his eyes, which will warrant another visit as well.

My total vet bill for ONE VISIT which included: two heartworm tests (for Tim and Bing), a physical exam for Bing, a tear test for Bing, two x-rays of Bing's neck, a month's worth of pain killers for Bing and 6 months of HeartGuard for each dog came to almost $500.

$500.

Let that sink in for a moment. Now, scream with me! (I did choke a little on my spit when the lady handed me the bill)

Thank God the office let me split it into two payments for an extra $5, which honestly, is cheaper than an overdraft fee so I'll pay it. But with rent due from my last paycheck as well as the first $250 for the animal clinic, I will have about $10 left over in my account until my next check on the 15th, which will be missing the last $250 from it.

But despite the fact that I had to put my groceries for the next two weeks on my credit card (because I had NO FOOD - no joke), I am pretty proud of myself for budgeting around this fairly unexpected bump in the road. Plus, the follow up visit is free if you go back within two weeks of your first visit, so that's a money saver as well.

Armini thinks that I am totally loony for spending so much on a pooch. My mom told me that she would never pay for prescription pain killers for a dog forever.

If you knew that you could do something for your dog if you just knew what was wrong, would have paid $500 to find out what was wrong? Would you pay for the pain killers for your dog (or cat, or whatever) if you knew that they would live a much happier life?

Am Not Dead. Send Money.

Well readers, it's been a while since I've posted on here for a number of reasons.

1. I finally got a feeling of being "master of my money" in real life, which made me feel like blogging about money was no longer something that I needed to do.
2. I finally got that raise at work and was all like "I have soooo much money now I will never want for anything ever again!"

However, I have discovered that getting a raise does not mean that I will never want for anything else, ever again and that I am in no way shape or form "master of my money":

1. My first paycheck (after my raise) (which was last week) was totally gone after a week (read: I have negative dollars in my checking account right now). That is a problem.
2. I have finally figured out what is wrong with Bing and that he will probably need to be on pain killers for the rest of his little doggy life ... also I had to shell out close to $500 this morning for the vet visit + tests + x-rays + medication. Woo!

So, because of the pain of having to write the vet's office two checks this morning and pay them the extra $5 to hold the second one until my next payday, I have decided to get back on this pony and ride. Talking about the problems and trails of managing my money helps me to really do it in real life. Plus - I like to write about it. Yay!

I will update the spend-o-pay-o meters in the next few days. I have gotten rid of a lot of debt (yay!) and one of my New Year's resolutions was to be totally debt free in 2009 ... something that I can definitely blog about and I am already well on my way!

Sorry for the long absence peoples ... I promise not to stay away anymore! Also, I have no idea if Ashely-Michelle will ever post here again (she still live in Kansas BTW [because I know you were just dieing to know what happened with the move to California], she got a scholarship to a great school for a great program and she just couldn't say no. She's still going out there, just not until she graduates).

Keep reading friends ... Hopefully I will get around to reading other blogs soon!

Personalities Pay the Price

It's depressing that I fell so far behind on being an active part of this blog. I have no real excuse, save for my personal life, but what else is new?

Financially-speaking, I have been doing really well. It's odd how when I stopped obsessively focusing on my money, it seemed to largely resolve itself. What I mean by that is I realized I had several goals that were too overbearing and inadvertently critical of myself. They were certainly achievable, but on the whole, unrealistic. And I made the mistake of tying in my self-worth and self-esteem with the monetary process.

What I mean is, I had the unfortunate habit of setting forth an extremely unlikely goal that left no breathing room for emergencies or a sudden change of circumstance. Then, the unexpected would inevitably occur and throw a monkey wrench in my carefully-constructed plans, torpedoing the whole affair and my self-esteem would plummet lower than the Dow on Foreclosure Day. Absolutely depressing.

So, in order to really become proactive in dealing with the constant disappointment and emotional subterfuge, I first had to scale back on my goals. Instead of immediately determining a future date, amount and reason behind saving, I decided that creating a routine for no other reason than the sake of having a routine would go a long way. Psychologists and addiction specialists will tell you that it takes two weeks to form a pattern (gee, if only I could absorb that into my gym routine) and fortunately for me, my paychecks come on varying weeks. I got into the habit of going to Bank A (where I keep my savings account) to cash out my paychecks, and leaving at least $50 from each check I cashed before moving the rest of the money to Bank B, where I keep my checking account.

The growth of my money in Bank A was definitely slow, but as a good friend often tells me, "Slow growth is good growth." Last I checked, I have over $1,000, and I'm proud of that. I was, after all, a girl given no formal training in money management (to date, I haven't even taken an economics class) who had to learn the hard way how to budget, plan and save. I refer to my savings account as my "Move to California" fund, but it may also pan out to be "AMP's New Car" fund, depending on how much more I really want to sink into my current vehicle (at this point, it needs a new windshield, new wipers, new tires...the list goes on) and knowing at what I have accrued in just a few months makes me excited for how much more I can do in the future.

Even better, all of my living expenses are drafted out of my checking account, which is housed as Bank B. I don't have to touch any of my Bank A money unless the expense is great than $500, because I keep a steady, small, minimum balance in my checking account for protection. That feels like real progress and real empowerment.

My advice to any person starting to uncover financial tips of success is to figure out who you are and how that's effecting your money management. I'm an all-or-nothing, impulsive and rather impatient perspective. In this respect, I like to play the ostrich when it comes to money woes and dig my head in the sand. I don't like how it inspires feelings of failures, but darn if sometimes I find myself reaching for my debit card or my roll of cash when I know I shouldn't be. I either balance my check faithfully every day or I don't touch it for a month, and when I sense I'm off by even a few cents, I come completely unglued. I've noticed, naturally, that retail therapy can provide a great solution.

Having said that, ask yourself what tenets of your personality are shaping the way you manage your money. It's a hard look to take, but evaluating your spending style (big purchases? small? impulsive? planned? angry? happy?) and even your budgeting goes a long way towards revealing what the actual problems are. Very few people are in the position that they just don't care or don't know what they spend. Most are aware of their ups and downs, but haven't quite realized how their personality shapes the behaviors.

I'd also suggest checking out Suze Orman. She has some great suggestions, especially for women, who are often unfairly overlooked in the finance industry.

Spending Breakdown

Since I am now on a quest to spend way less than I make (which is a pitiful amount) I thought that the best place to start would be with a break down of how I spent my last paycheck - which, if you were wondering, is GONE. I have $1.42 that has not been dedicated to anything left in my checking account. I got paid on November 14, 2008 and $610.91 was put into my checking account (I actually was paid more than this, but a percentage of each of my checks goes strait into my emergency fund and I don't count it at all to ensure that I don't try to spend it).

• Fun/Unnecessary to my life spending: $334.40
• $7 = ATM fees
• Includes bars/ticket to Bears game/costume/NetFlix/iTunes (1 song)
• $82.18 = charged to CitiCard
  
• Payments and Savings: $336.49
• Includes deposit into car savings/credit card payment/overdraft payment
  
• Things I NEED: $73.59
• Includes a doctor co-pay/gas/cold medication
  
• Other: $4.77
• Includes turkey for work/coffee for the drive home

Now, while this paints a fairly accurate picture of my spending habits, it is a little skewed because I went out of town during the November 21 - 23 weekend and spent a lot more than normal. However, I think that for the most part this is something that I can work with. For my next few paychecks I am going to have to add heavily to my emergency fund because Boyfriend and I are going to be moving in together and I will have to come up with my half of the rent on a consistent basis, and for those weeks where I don't hit the 40 hour mark I might need a little help and that is where the help is going to come from. So for right now ... this is how my paycheck is going to be put to work.

• Average Paycheck = $639.60
• Average Automatic Deposit to Emergency Fund = $76.75
  
• Balance = $562.85
  
• Extra Deposit to Emergency Fund = $150
• Balance = $412.85
• Deposit to Car Fund = $100
• Balance = $312.85
• Payment to Citi Card = $75
• Balance = $237.85
• Payment to Mom and Dad = $75
• Balance = $162.85
• Cash Withdrawal from the Bank (to avoid ATM fees) = $100
• Balance = $62.85

The rest of the cash can be used for gas, or can be put into a savings account, or maybe even used to pay off my debt to my parents. I am going to use this 'budget' starting with my next paycheck, which will come to me on the 1st of December. Hopefully I can stick to my guns and to my budget and come out ahead on all this. Getting control of my finances will give me a sense of empowerment that I really could use right now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Running out of Money = Badness.

I feel constantly that I am missing the mark with this whole budget, don't spend more than you make thing. I have a social life (read: I still go out with my college friends and drink every weekend) and I have recently picked up a few hobbies that require me to spend in order to do them (I have started knitting and sewing which means I need money for yarn and fabric). If I get 40 hours every week, which doesn't happen a lot, I make around $319.80 per week. That works out to be $1,279.00 a month.

Now, I might just be really hard on myself, but I feel like I should be able to live comfortably on that. Not to mention the fact that I earn around $200 extra for babysitting each month. I can't help but wonder why it is that I run out of money like clockwork about a week after I get my paycheck and end up having to use my credit card for things that I absolutely need in order to function (like gas). It's so frustrating to have to tell my friends that I can't go out because I have no money and then have to explain to them that I really have no money and I'm not kidding. Plus, it makes me hate myself for making $200 payments on my card twice a month and then have it count for nothing when I have to use it in between paychecks. So, I think it's safe to say that it might be time for me to do a few things.

1. Look over my budget and rework it.
2. Think of a system to stop running out of money in between paychecks.
3. Ask for a raise.

I have been mentioning getting a raise to my supervisor for a while now. I am only making $9.75 an hour right now (as an almost 24 year old college graduate) and I am doing the work of three people. Yup, I said three (like ... the number. 3. 3 people.) I am doing all the work for my SEO internship, plus helping to answer the phones until our regular receptionist comes back to work at the beginning of December, and learn to be an eMarketing Strategist for when she goes on maternity leave sometime in late December/early January depending on when the baby comes (he is a super baby. He weighs 2.5 pounds more than he should for how far along she is.).

I like my job, and part of the reason that I haven't been more aggressive about getting a raise is that I'm scared that they are going to tell me to take a hike and then I'm going to be stuck making $0 an hour, which sucks way more than making $9.75. But as of December 8, I will have been working here for 8 months so I think it's time for them to consider it. I hope that they'll give it to me and then ask my why I took so long to ask for it. That would make me way happy. But, I just can't support myself on what I'm making now and that's just not fair.

Once I get my budget worked out I'll post it for you to see. And the same with my system for not running out of money. Stay tuned! The next few posts could be really interesting ...

Only One Left ...

A few posts ago I talked about how I was hesitant to cut up my credit cards because of the feeling that I would be losing something. Specifically a business opportunity (please don't think that I'm emotionally attached to my credit cards - that is not the case). But yesterday I had a moment of clarity and I cut up the Capital One card that I've been hiding from myself in my day planner and which has a balance of $0.00 on it.

I zeroed this card out in August when I went on my get rid of debt spend-o-thon. I can't tell you how good it felt to know that I had finally gotten it taken care of, after like 2 years of paying them tons of money that could have been better spent elsewhere. But the other day I opened my email to find an alert from Capital One saying that I owed them money. And not only did I owe them $3.47 but they had already tacked on a $15 late fee to boot.

I knew that I hadn't charged anything to the card since I had paid the balance in full and so I was concerned right off the bat. When I went to look through my online statements only to find that the reason for the charge wasn't listed was when I decided to call and see what the heck was going on. Turns out that it was a finance charge for the balance that I paid off two months ago. Why they didn't send me a bill for the month of September ... I'm not too sure.

But I was as nice to the guy as I could be and when I asked him to remove the late fee, he did. And I paid my $3.47 and made sure that there was no way that I could be charged a finance fee on my finance fee (which they don't do - or at least I was assured that they don't do) and now the card is completely and totally and forever paid off. Forever. (If it isn't ... someone is going to have a very angry Super Careo on their hands).

And so, after I had made my last ever payment (for real this time) to Capital One, I cut up the card. It was really liberating actually. It's like cutting out a bad spot from your life. Feeling a burden lifted from your shoulders. Knowing that I will be able to put a lot more money to my Citi Card in the coming months so that I might be able to hit my goal of getting all my debts paid off before I move out of the 'rents house (hopefully in January ... or maybe sooner?).

You know that expression that says that if you love something then you should let it go? Well, I'm pretty sure that Capital One really loved it when I was late on payments or got my balance down a little bit only to charge something and send it right back up to within $10 of my credit limit. And for a time I liked being able to do that. But the time has come ... time to be free.