Unfrugal Tendancies

I have a few things that I do, and let happen, that are not at all frugal. I think that even the thriftiest of us is willing to spend a pretty penny for something that, to us, is worth the expense.

PETS
Our biggest extraneous expense is pets. We are pet people. Our last pet was a beautiful brindle pitbull/boxer mix named Kita. She required one of the most expensive holistic foods on the market. While we'd always feed any dog holistic food, her's was a grain-free hypoallergenic blend. She also required treatment for skin allergies, and at her end, we opted to have her cremated and her ashes returned to us, which was nearly $300 of the $400 bill.

We currently have 3 cats- two of which are kittens that have not quite figured out the litter box and are leaving 'presents' periodically in the house. I am sensitive to smells, so we're buying extra air fresheners, and a slightly expensive all natural litter. We'll also need to have the carpets professionally cleaned more frequently.They'll also need vet care, which will end up being about $900 by the time all the cats have been spayed and had their vaccinations. Luckily, the monthly expense for the cats should be under $30, so it's not a huge expense, or more than we can afford.

I'm a firm believer in not having pets that you cannot provide adequate care for- and that includes spay/neuter. Not spaying and neutering your pet will almost always lead to babies and contribute to the nauseating numbers of euthanized animals, and homeless animals. It is irresponsible to not spay/neuter, and there is NO such thing as an "accidental litter", only irresponsible owners. Let's say you have one female cat who has a single litter of 3 kittens before she is spayed. Those kittens contribute to a litter of their own, one time, with each litter producing 3 kittens. Now, one cat has caused 12 cats. If each of the 9 babies has one litter each of 3 kittens, that's 39 total cats.. all because of one cat not being spayed. And that's assuming all of these cats are spayed/neutered as soon as possible after having a litter.

That being said, these cats are indoor only, so if we need to space out the spays for a few months, it's not a huge issue for us. We will spay the adult next month when the kittens are done nursing. And when they reach the appropriate age, we'll get them spayed at the same time. We're planning for it, so I'll budget it in and transfer the money into savings.

CELL PHONES
As I've mentioned, we are gadget people. We do not have a home phone, and opt instead to have cell phones. We have a hundred reasons why, but my core reasons are fairly justified I think. Our families live fairly far from us, in rural areas where there might not be a house or payphone close by to make an emergency call. We have an infant, and should I need to reach someone, I'd like to do it quickly. I enjoy playing with my phone and use it for many things. I have my budgeting software linked to my phone. I can use Facebook, blog, check email, do my banking, etc. I can real time navigate myself places. It also can operate as an mp3 player, e-book reader, camera, recipe holder, shopping list organizer, etc. I even have an app where I can load coupons and just have the cashier scan my phone to use them. Basically, it holds onto the important things for my day to day life. I can carry all my tools in one device that fits into a pocket. My newest phone, one of the best on the market, cost me a single penny. Yes, one penny. We decided to switch service providers to a company that works better where our families live, and offers more for the same price we were paying with our old provider.

CABLE TV/INTERNET
We do not have cable TV. The $70 was not worth it. Most of the shows we watch come over the air, on a $20 antenna, in better quality than the cable company offered. Most of the shows on the cable channels we liked are available either on Netflix (which we have for $11/month), or on the station website for free. We have a PC tied into our TV, so we can watch those shows anytime we like, with no commercials. We DO pay for cable internet, which is needed for internet. We don't 'need' it for TV, but it's nice. I do, however, need it for school, as my classes are online. Even with the Netflix, we are still saving almost $600 a year by cutting the cable.

GAS
We really need 2.5 gallons of gas a week. That's enough to get my husband to and from work daily, and me to run errands one morning a week. We use a hell of a lot more than that.. to the tune of $120/month... or more. Why? Because seeing our family is important to us, and worth trimming the fat in other areas of our life. Our families each live about 65 miles away from us. Even in our relatively gas efficient car, a round trip is still about a half tank of gas, and we make those trips 2-3 times a month.

"GOOD IDEAS"
I am the only culprit in this category at our house. I tend to buy things with the best intentions, and then they sit neglected in a cupboard or closet, unused. In the last six months was a baby swing ($80) that Liam hated and used for a whopping 30 minutes, an infrared countertop oven ($40) that we ooooh'd and ahhh'd over for 3 days before stuffing into a cupboard, a purse I HAD to have ($50) that now sits unused for fear of ruining it, a Kindle e-book reader ($140) that i used to read one book and now don't use because I have the Kindle app for my phone, and likely a few hundred dollars in clothes I bought, wore once, and now sit waiting for my baby fat to go away so they can be worn again. That doesn't include my crappy car purchases.

Last winter, I spent $4200 on a used SUV that was driven for less than 100 miles, and was such a piece of crap, I ended up selling it for $2300 5 months later. Then, I immediately bought a sedan for $1800 that was driven home and never driven again, and sold a few weeks ago for $350- which is what it was worth. So, those purchases lost us $3350. Yes, three thousand, three hundred, fifty dollars. Down the drain. I'm sick just thinking about it. The car buying decisions will be left to my husband, and a dealership that offers warranties.


The whole point of this post is that even though we are on a path that ends with extreme frugality, we're not there yet. And we make very unfrugal choices that toss us back a few steps. But, we're learning. We're a young couple, now responsible for a life beyond our own, and hoping to provide for that little one to the absolute best of our ability. I hope you'll stick around to see where this journey takes us.

My next post will be on our challenge for the next two weeks: NO grocery shopping! At all! For anything! We're shopping from the pantry- except for eggs, which we are completely out of and need in order to use up a few of our pantry items. So it's a "Only spend $3 for eggs" 2 weeks span.