Hidden Fee's really upset me.

Today is my Valentines Day!
It is also the day I had to take my cat to the vet.

The new Vet we tried today has left me a little miffed. here's my story:
(And yes, it is totally financially relevant)

Ellie has been loosing a lot of hair recently, so we took her in to get looked at. Everyone in the office was so friendly. I was excited to try this new place. Then we went into one of the back exam rooms. The Dr. did some poking and prodding and told us she thinks that it might be Staph. So She was given a steroid shot. The vet was also going to give her a shot of antibiotics, but I just didn't have the money for it. Here's the part where I started to get upset. After telling her that I couldn't afford it she lets me know of a pharmacy who will fill the antibiotic prescription for FREE. Free? So she was just going to let me pay th $45 and not let me know of the alternative?
Every doctor I have ever seen, be it pet or human, has always let me know of a low cost solution if there was one. I have saved a couple hundred dollars in prescriptions this way. So needless to say I was a bit irratated by that. She informed me that since Ellie was past due on her rabies shot she was going to give her one of those as well, not offering to explain any price to me. At the end of the visit I looked at the bill that the super sweer receptionist gave to me and there were things on there that I had thought were just normal in the initial office visit. You know what I'm talking about, right? All that poking and prodding they do when they are first in the room. I was already paying $35 just to have the doctor look at her, now I had to pay $14 for a "special" poke that she did? Something that had nothing to do with ehr condition.
I was furious. I paid and left, wrote a nice review on google, and will not be returning.
I tell you, if I didn't love that cat so darn much...

Now the rest of my day has to be better, because Loveyy and I are going on our Valentines Day Date.

What an expensive day!

Today was a very productive day in our household!
It was also a rather expensive one!

It all started with a trip to the vet...
I thought today was the day I booked Ellie to see the vet, I guess someone wrote down that it was for NEXT Friday. So basically I woke up early for nothing. Next Friday was not going to work for me either. My cat has been loosing hair rather rapidly these last few months, and I need to get her in! So I called around to a few other places and now she has an appointment for Monday! Which is great news.

Then I had to go and pay my car insurance. Which is just a few pennies shy of $100. The insurance isn't due for four more days, but I fugured what the heck, I have the money today.

Austons prescriptions needed to be picked up, and that one cost me a whopping $24.30. Thanks to an excellent medical plan.

My car registration is due this month, and I need a new ID so I figured, while I'm at it I should just renew those as well. Equaling $84.35 together. Plus a $1 donation to Child Sexual Abuse Prevention.

I stopped by the store to pick up some baby shower gifts as well. I bought a co-worker of mine some diapers, as well as a onsie, and some rubber ducks, and a rubber rhino! Because honestly, every child needs awesome bath toys (at least that's what Auston convinced me of.) This was around $22.00

We bought a few groceries as well, and now we are baking some red velvet cupcakes and relaxing!
Gorcery spending wasn't too bad today, it only cost about $12.00.


NOW, you put all of this together, and I spent a whopping $250 today!
Holy Smokes.

I am actually a little flustered, because I spent the money I had set aside to take Ellie to the vet. Hopefully I make it all back tomorrow. if not, I can always take a little out of savings. I just REALLY don't want to.
I hope this hasn't bored you to much. I promise to be more entertaining next time!

Oh E-Bay, don't let me down.

Today I placed my very first bid on E-bay.

Loveyy needs a new laptop charger, as his has officially died. Those things can cost an upwards of 60 bucks! Now I don't have that just floating around right now. So me, being the savvy girl that I am decided to poke around amazon, and E Bay a little. The starting bid on this puppy is only $1.99. I think I can swing it.

Thus far there have been no other takers, so I am hopeful.
Tides can turn rather quickly though, so cross your fingers that this doesn't turn into an all out war!

Honestly, I know I can find one on Amazon for like $15. So If all else fails, thats where I will be headed next. But these days, I'll do anything to save a dollar.

He's not to thrilled at my deciding to bid. He's one of those, I want it, I need it NOW, kind of guys. In the meantime however, he is free to use my laptop. It'll be good for him to learn some patients.

February Goal Check in&My Weekly Money Check-Up(MPP)

Weekly Money Check-Up
Courtesy of My Pretty Pennies

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on Eatin Out. And I am not happy about this. Although, I realize it is the consequence of not living alone anymore.
2. Today I am thankful that I was able to pick up an extra shift at work. It was a little more money than I had to start with.
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was Watching the Superbowl with my family. It was a great time.
4. I will consider this week a success if I Keep our eating out costs to a minimum, and call the rental truck company to make adjustments to our truck.
5. I can’t start my day without Checking my messages. I wake up every morning and sort through my e mail.

February Goal Check in :

-Double up on my Car fund : Put $10.00 each week instead of $5.00Success. So far I have added $20.00 for the month of February.
I like this challenge because its giving me a whole extra month of savings! I really can't wait till we have a substantial amount in here, so we can buy a new car.

-Put $80.00 in my Charity Fund
Check! We have put $40.00 in so far. I am proud of this goal, and happy that we have managed to stay away from it. In two weeks we will be writing a check out to our chosen organization this month!

-Comlete 1/2 of my first blanket.
I am rocking this! I have been crocheting whenever I have a free minute and it is coming along nicely. Maybe next week I will post a picture.

How are you doing this month?

Weekly Spending Update

Once again I had 4 NO SPEND DAYS!
I am proud!
The rest of the month will be spend free since I'm broke now, and don't get paid until next week!

So here we go, Last weeks spending.

ANIMALS

2012-01-27:  Cat Litter - $3.28
2012-01-27 : Dog - $34.25
TOTAL FOR ANIMALS $37.53

EATING OUT
2012-01-25:  Dunkin Donuts - $4.30
TOTAL FOR EATING OUT $4.30

FIXED BILL
2012-01-25: laundry - $12.00
TOTAL FOR FIXED BILL $12.00

GROCERIES
2012-01-23: Grocery Trip - $49.95
TOTAL FOR GROCERIES $49.95

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
2012-01-27: Trash Bags - $1.00
TOTAL FOR HOUSEHOLD ITEMS $1.00

TOTAL $104.78

Animals - I had to buy dog&Cat food this week! I also had to buy their vitamins (Yes, my animals do get vitamins). I decided to go with the monster sized cat food bag this month (because Austons mom is watching them for us and we dont want her to run out!) so the bill was a little higher than usual, but in the end it will pay off.

Eating Out - Auston and I grabbed bagles before volunteering this week. We weren't going to, but we were late and needed our fuel. We did however save a little money by bringing drinks from the house. That way we wouldn't be tempted to buy coffee or Orange juice.

Fixed Bills - We have to go to the laundry mat to do our clothes. Its awful, and boring, and I really wish that place would get wi-fi.

Groceries - We did our second big trip of the month. And I am really pleased with the outcome.


This brings my monthly Spending total to : $839.48
Not bad?!

Our Adoption Dream.

Lets get serious for a moment.
Auston and I are planning on getting married in September. It is going to be a small intimate back yard affair, surrounded by our closets friends and family. I am so excited.
But that is is not what today's post is about. Being that we are getting married we have started talking about the more important things in life. Like children.

Now this year I have been having some health problems with my lady parts. I don't really want to get into the nitty gritty with you all, but it has caused me to re-evaluate whether to have my own or not. In the past six months we have sat down and really talked about adoption. There are a lot of children in this world who need a home. We have decided we want to adopt. 1.) because I realy don't believe my body can have children. 2.) It is a wonderful thing to help a child in need. 3.) Even if I could have children, I don't see a point, because there are already so many out there.

Now came the important questions, Who to adopt? Do we stay in our own ethnicity? Our own country? How old do we want them to be, open or close? Special need, or not? Do we want to go through an agency or through a foster program? So many Questions!
They are important questions though.

Here is what we have decided thus far -
We want to adopt within the US, there are plenty of children right here in our own country looking for a loving home. Ethnicity was a tricky one, I think we'll let the fates decide. If we love them, we love them, and thats all there is to it.

I want a child preferably under 2, but 3 is the oldest. I want to raise them as our own. Also, we are young ourselves, I don't want a 10 year old when I am old 22.

Closed adoption is mandatory. My Aunt was the first open adoption in the country. Mom say that this has really helped them in understanding why they were given up, and who they come from. From that stand point I could understand why a person would choose an open adoption, but I really don't feel it is for us. Honestly, I'm just not good at sharing. I'm the momma, and thats that.

Now came the daunting question over whether or not to adopt special needs. We talked, and talked, and talked about this. We came to a decision. Yes. But with restrictions. I want to adopt either blind, or deaf. Thats it. Those children need a home just as badly as every other child. There were several reasons behind us choosing to not adopt other needs such as Autistic or Down Syndrom children. I will go into that in a later post.

And lastly did we want an agency or a foster program? This one is still a little back and fourth with us, but I do believe we are going to go through a foster program. This means the costs of adopting will be significantly lower, and we can see if the child is a right fit for our home. When children are in foster care they don't expect to be adopted, they hope for it, but they know that it could very easily just be a temporary home. So when you do decide they are right for you, and you want to keep them its just a bonus.

We are going to start the process next year, when I turn 21. Hopefully by the time I hit 22 we will have our own little addition. I AM SO EXCITED.
Seriously, this is all I think about day and night any more.

We are setting up a fund, completely seperate from all of our money to help finance the process. As well as help us pay to take sign language courses. Which is abviously going to be mandatory to adopt a deaf child. And I have decided that every penny I make off of this blog will go towards that fund. As well as any money I make selling crafts this year. I have set up a page on Discovering adulthood where you can find out about ways to help support us. Shortly, once we are settled in NH I will begin the process of crafting, and if you find anything you like feel free to purchase it, knowing you are helping give a child in need a home!

If you could share that page with as many people as possible I couldn't begin to tell you how much we would apppreciate it. Adoption is an extreamly expensive process and I would hate to have a lack of funds hinder our decision.