I have put down several pets and buried at home; vets will provide a box

• Delicate question not for the faint of heart - Okie MT
  • I lost my Tasha last May - Patti
  • Thanks so much everyone - Fox is feeling a bit better sm - Okie MT
  • OMG, I am crying with you - academia
  • My community does not allow yard burials but - Animalhouse
  • I have put down several pets and buried at home; vets will provide a box - you can put pet's blanket/toy in. N/M
  • I don't know where you live, but all of our family pets are buried at their homes. SM - Hurting for you
  • remains - freebie
  • Dog - CB
    • My vet has a service that provided sm - mlstoo
  • Take him home and bury him. Worked for vet, this - was never a prob. Who is going to tell? nm
  • P.S. That's "Fox"...hard to see these tiny letters through tears...nm - Okie MT
    • At the vet office I'm at... - MslaMT
      • One more thing... - MslaMT
        • I was planning on making a flower bed there - Okie MT
          • That's what my parents did for our beloved Scottie, Maggie. SM - Hurting for you
          • Bless your heart - cat
          • P.S. Also our back yard is fenced in - Okie MT

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You have to go through a little evaluation with your animal, but they have cat days and dog days and you can bring your pets.  Walter is a huge patient sweetie - 120 pounds of shiny black fur and muscle - he is quite young and very solid and built.  Some of the residents love him so much.  He will just slowly walk up to someone he feels might be receptive to him, and when they put their hand out he gets under it and next thing you know he has his big head in their lab and they are slowly petting him, over and over and over.  It is so heartwarming when you are watching.... I mean literally your heart is so full you can feel it in your throat.  I've had to hide my tears every time. 

Sometimes a resident, usually a gentleman, will talk about a dog he used to have with the clearest memory. 

A funny thing happened when Walter was getting some attention from a women in a wheelchair and he leaned against her and I saw her wheelchair was slowly being pushed across the lawn. 

I just wanted to share with the posters who were considering bankruptcy.

Unless you are on the verge of losing your home, I would strongly encourage you to consider another option.  Bankruptcy does not just go away after a few years.  It's there forever.  Even if you rebuild your credit afterwards, it's still there - a haunting demon.   A friend and my in-laws also filed bankruptcy in the past.

My in-laws filed over 20 years ago and have recovered financially but it's still there. 

My husband is a credit card spender.  I would only spend when I had the cash and did not depend on credit.  It didn't matter though.  Our spending habits combined nearly led to our financial demise a few years back too.

This is what I did and I hope you give it a try and it works for you too.

I started with a complete inventory of all of our bills, separating them into three categories.

Home  (mortgage and utilities)

Credit cards - (lowest balance to highest balance regardless of the APR)

Miscellaneous bills (entertainment, clothing, food, gas, fast food, etc.)

Since the Home category is pretty consistent every month, I set up a budget for that first.  I went back through our utility bill for the year prior and chose the highest month bill of the year and added that amount to our mortgage amount. 

Next, I reviewed our telephone, internet, and television (satellite) bills.  On average, I was paying about 230.00 per month for them all combined.  Way too much in my opinion.  I started shopping around and found a bundle package with Verizon.  Now I pay 153.00 per month for unlimited long distance telephone, satellite TV, and DSL service.  Saved $77.00 per month, just doing that.

Then I added this amount to the mortgage and utilities.  This totalled amount is what I know I absolutely have to pay every month and I better make sure it's in the account.

Next, I did the Miscellaneous.  I'm a paper keeper, meaning I keep EVERY receipt and then purge them about every 3-4 months.  I started going over what was spent where and learned that we spent a lot more than we really needed to.  I set up a weekly grocery budget and a fun budget.   If there was anything extra at the end of the week, it was divided evenly between the two and added to the next week.  I do this every week until the end of the month.  If there is anything left over, that amount is divided in half again and half is divided again and added to the following week's budget (grocery and fun), the other half is locked away in the savings account.

The money for monthly gas was a little trickier when the gas prices skyrocketed.  I first had a set limit for gas each week but did have to adjust that.  I did manage to adjust it a little bit upwards and still be able to pay the cards down (see below.)

Also, every time I spend cash, no matter if the amount is $5.01 and all I need is a penny, I don't.   Instead, I will give them $6.00 and get 0.99 change to put in my giant size espresso cup of change.  When the cup gets full, the change is rolled and turned in to the bank as a deposit into the savings account.  My cup last gave me $281.00 change to put in the savings account.  That was in March.  It's full again so will be adding at least that much to the savings account again very soon.  Nobody touches the cup!  They might lose a finger or even a hand!

That being said, and having two set amounts for each budget, I then subtracted that amount, plus the Household amount from our combined monthly income. 

Lastly came the dreaded credit cards.   To be honest, I was floored when I learned just how much credit card debt we had.  My husband had wracked up over $40,000.00 in credit card debt alone.   Since he paid his own credit card bills each month, I had no idea.  Even worse than that, he is very inconsistent about paying his bills on time so he had late charges and the interest rates were way the heck up there.  It was terrible. 

I took each of his cards most current statements and started from the lowest to highest balance.  The lowest one was about 1200.00 but the interest rate on it by that time was 22%.  This is where I started. 

I had him call the company and basically gave him a script to go by (my name wasn't on the cards or I would have done it myself).  He requested a decrease in his APR on each and every card.  Two of the five card companies agreed on the first call.  The 22% card was reduced to 11% so they cut it in half.  Not as low as I would like but it was a start.  Another card was up to 31% and they reduced that to 20%.  The other three didn't budge the first time.

This is where I made two 'necessary' purchases.  The first one was MS Money software.  I highly recommend it.  You can set up your checking, savings accounts, print your checks, balance your checkbook in about 5 minutes, pretty much a no brainer software that really keeps you in line with your bills and spending as long as you remember to faithfully enter any debit card purchase in your check register provided with the software.  It will also link to many banks to update your balances online.  You can also set it up to remind you for upcoming bills. (Maybe if the husband had used this earlier, we would not have been in this situation?)

The second purchase was about $8.00.   An accordion file folder for the monthly statements.  Husband always threw his away and I can't even begin to tell you what a dumb idea that is.  KEEP them.   Organize the tabs for each bill and put your statement in when you pay each bill.  I also write the date and the amount when I make a payment somewhere on the statement, then keep them in chronological order.

The actual payments came next.   The smallest balance card was paid off first.  All of other cards only got the minimum payment PLUS $1 more.  I started doing this just for my own peace of mind I guess but I learned later that this actually helped us a bit when negotiating the lower APRs on the three more stubborn cards.  It may have only been $1 extra but it was EXTRA payment and, believe it or not, they do look at that.

Excluding the card to be paid off first, I added up the minimum payments of the remaining four cards (plus the extra dollar to each of those) and decided on an amount to pay the lowest balance card to get that balance moving toward 0 as fast as I could.

In this case, I decided on 200.00.  This left me with a little over 200.00 extra (I call it mad money but it really goes into savings anyway -planning ahead for birthdays, auto insurance, Christmas, and emergencies.)

I had that card paid off relatively quickly in a few months.  When it was paid off, the card was cancelled and that 200.00 was added to the minimum payment (plus $1) on the next lowest balance card.  After the first month of this, once again, had the husband call his credit card company and ask for a reduction in his APR.  This time it was granted.  Should also mention that this card was one of the three that refused the request the first time.

The first six months or so of this was a mildly painful transition.  He was used to whipping out a credit card, I was used to having cash on hand for whatever I wanted.  It wasn't going to happen anymore.

Finally, I was down to the last remaining card (754.00 per month payment by this time, having applied the payments for each card to the next as they were paid off.)

When I got to this point, I started shopping around for cards with rewards programs and started comparing those cards.  The last card I was paying on also had a rewards program but not quite what I wanted.  I wanted to know if the terms were negotiable.   It was!  How about that! 

So, instead of losing a valuable customer the card company decided to keep me.

Now I get 3% back on purchases of most things as long as I pay the balance in full every month (which I do).  Any kind of air or rail travel purchased with the card is a 6% reward.

I no longer use a debit card.  The husband is not allowed to get a credit card again but instead, takes a certain amount of cash every week.  Say what you want but he got us into this mess pretty much so he has to live with it now. 

It's been a few years now working with this system but it has been very good for us.  I find that I average about 400.00 per month AFTER the rewards bonuses kick in so essentially I am able to bank another $354.00 per month in savings.  It adds up quicker than you might think.

Should also mention that we have two teens still at home and they can really be expensive.  They were made a part of the plan and do their part to help out too.  Their contribution is mostly the avoidance of fast food all the time.  They can come home and have a meal or eat before they leave. Things like that.

Sorry for the lengthy post but hopefully I can help anyone else get out of a potentially bad financial situation like we faced.

I own and live in a house in a midwest city in a bad neighborhood (wasn't that bad 11 years ago).  I spent the day waiting for the plumber to come and jackhammer the foundation (slab house, no basement) to find a leaky pipe that is flooding my DD's bedroom. Last week, it was the electrician with quotes for costly repairs.

In the meantime, I've really been thinking about selling out and moving into a mobile home.  Has anyone done this before?  Is a mobile home in a decent park less of a hassle than a regular house?  I'm so tired of cutting the grass and spending $$ to fix things and tired of old flooring and cabinets, etc., that are just too costly to replace.  I'm single with no man to do these things for me and I can't afford a mortgage on a newer house in a good neighborhood.  Some of the pictures I've seen of the mobile homes look really nice and modern on the inside. 

Any advice and comments appreciated.  Thanks!

My pooch will only eat the food in the center part of his bowl. I'm not quite sure why he won't eat the food around the sides.

Any a bit out of the norm pets out there?  And those who have more popular pets, any interesting tricks or traits?     (like beer drinking fish ... Lol)

I am having a similar problem with my neighbor.  Her yard adjoins our yard and she puts out food for the deer right on the property line.  I don't mind the deer as they are pretty to watch, but it has gone from 2-3 deer from 5 years ago to nearly 10 deer constantly including bucks.  They walk from the woods through our yard to go to her yard to eat.  It has gotten to the point where the deer are roaming about all hours of the day, not just at dusk.  I, too, see them roaming the neighborhood.  One has come up on my front porch before.  I have small children as do my other neighbors and I am concerned that they are going to startle the deer and someone might get bitten.  I tell my kids to not to ever approach the deer and give them their distance.  I am also concerned about deer ticks too.  

I asked her if she would not feed the deer on the property line as it is causing a potentially unsafe situation and she got very huffy about it and said she was an animal lover and it was her right to feed the deer if she so desired.  I tried to explain to her about the kids, not only mine but other kids, and the dangers of wild animals being in the yard and roaming around and she basically told me to "mind my own business."

I don't know in Pennsylvania what the laws are about having deer for pets or feeding them, etc, but I have heard in other states it is illegal. 

Got a problem...

I had a Pomeranian for 5 years.  Had a cat for 4 months. 

Last month I found out I was going to have to move (could not afford the old house any longer) and I found an apartment that would allow me to have my dog.  Then, lo and behold, 2 weeks ago (4 days before I moved), someone stole my dog out of my backyard (no, did not get loose - someone took him).  I canvassed the neighborhood, had the police visit several homes that were possible snatchers, but ended up having to move without finding him.

Well, the landlord would still not allow me to keep the cat even with paying a nice fat animal deposit so today I had to turn him over to the humane society.  My daughter had planned on taking him, but he was just a little too aggressive for the 1 year old granddaughter.

So, now, I am sitting here missing my babies and thinking I am going to have to get another dog.  Obviously I do not have a lot of money to spend on another dog, but I need and want the companionship and the fun that comes along with a dog.  So, some suggestions on what you think would be the best for me to get.

I really love the dogs with all the hair (Shih Tzu, Pomeranian, Pekingese, etc), but I also think how nice it would be not to have all the hair all over me and the house.  I also think that a "mutt" might make a good choice, but upon my visit to the humane society today to turn over my cat, there was nothing but big dogs and I had to move into an apartment, so I think that would be too much.

Darn it, I am just lonely and feel like I have lost 2 of my kids right now!

At the moment we only have dogs, you wouldn't be interested in the coon dogs, dh named them Bob & John..lol..

we have an australian named Rex

dh also named this other dog Zip (because he runs fast)

We have had in the past, horses, other dogs, cats & a rabbit in the house

Rowdy, Dusty (was a dog & a pony), Sadie, Smokey, Bandit, Laddie, Freckles, Gus, Sheba, Spek, Skippy(rabbit), Bo, too many others to think...Fluffy, Josie (cats)

some others I like Amos for a dog, a friend had a blue heeler named amos

but I agree with the other post about seeing the animal FIRST.. then go from there, I have to look at a dog or any other animal before naming them..