No, I’m not getting ready for any major life change personally. It’s just that I’m failing to stay abreast of the tsunami of friends, friends of friends, and family friends getting pregnant and inviting me to every single baby shower, ever. Similar to the previous decade’s “We’re engaged (and we want you in the wedding)!” the watchphrase of the 2010s bodes well to be “We’re expecting!”
Then, inevitably, the baby shower. Most of them are thrown together clutches of women from separate circles of the mom-to-be’s life who are mostly there to compare gifts. I hate the cutesy games that always include a huge diaper pin or the ones where uttering the word “baby” is greeted with hoots and tallied throughout the afternoon. And the cooing. The cooing. I hate baby showers. I know, I’m a monster.
I love babies, I love showers, I even like baby clothes, and I’m very happy for the expecting. But let’s face it, your run of the mill baby shower is just awful.
And when you consider the outrageous cost of all things New Baby people register for, everyone else’s life events can easily run roughshod over your unsuspecting budget. You understand I love gift-giving, but I love good gift-giving. Lacking the yarn wrangling skills (which aren’t cheap) of Mapgirl and Mrs. Micah, I trend towards more practical gifts like clothing in a variety of sizes, plenty of bibs, feeding-related equipment, lotions and potions galore. You simply cannot compile a good baby gift using conventional methods and get out the door for under $100-200. And you know I’m not a get out the door gifter.
If we were only doing this dance once a year, I’d shut up and go along with it, but my cohort numbers at least 20 individuals, and I’m very very close with at least half of them which means I’m on the guest list for their friends and family. This decade, inclusivity will cost more than I can bear unless I “Adapt, Overcome and Improvise!” [Points to whoever recognizes which Eastwood movie that’s from.]
So how do I graciously deal? The same way I dealt with bridesmaiding: be creative and plan far in advance.
Stage 1: Baby clothes can cost more than my personal annual clothing budget, so I’ve signed up for Gymboree’s rewards program wherein I’m showered with coupons and sales notices. Twice a year, they have their Semi-Annual sale where clothes are marked down 50-70%, and combined with coupons and outlet stores, I’ll stock up on clothing for both genders.
Stage 2: Baby-related stuff, being unlimited to any season, doesn’t go on sale the way Christmas, Valentine’s Day or other annual holiday stuff does. So wrapping paper, bags, and tissue paper will be purchased in neutrals and well in advance of any shower invitation. Baskets are a great wrapping aid, and are usually most affordable when found at resale shops like Big Lots, Tuesday Morning or Ross and Marshalls.
Stage 3: My closest friends know that I’m at least financially nerdy, so I’m issuing a declaration that all gifts post-baby shower will be something toward their education. And then I’m either contributing towards the school fund or giving a modest cash gift.
Note: I buy clothing in mostly larger sizes the kids can grow into since most gifts are onesies for 6 months and under. I target 18 months and older and try to find them for $5 or less.
I’ve got a queue of things to give away, but as we’re well into tax season during which people swear to start better recordkeeping, and it’s still the first quarter of the year, I think it’s practical to start with tools for organization and business.
**You may enter both giveaways, you just need to tailor your entries for each one! I’m keeping track of entries separately so you have equal chances for either prize.**
Free one-year subscription to the upgraded online PearBudget
Value: $36
Co-founder Charlie Park was kind enough to drop by and let me know that all my major objections to the software had been addressed in the online version and offered me a free subscription as well as one for my readers. I encourage you to drop by and try their 30-day free subscription to decide if you like it. You won’t need a credit card for the free trial.
How to Enter:
(One entry)Leave a comment including “Pearbudget,” your name and a valid email address. Tell me about your current tracking system and what you love and hate about it.
(One entry)Follow me and tweet this ONCE “Win a Pearbudget subscription from @RevancheGS: http://bit.ly/aV8AMp”
(Two entries) Blog about this giveaway Link back in a comment to let me know.
(Two entries)Subscribe to my feed (If you already subscribe, let me know in a comment) And lure in a new reader who would sincerely like this blog and hang out for good times. Actually I have no idea how you’d do the latter, so instead you can regale me with a story about how you would have done, if you could have.
Rules and Restrictions
1. I will select a winner at random using a number generator. 2. My decisions are final. 3. Pearbudget is responsible for changing your account to a free account for a year after I select a winner. 4. Open to anyone with an internet connection. 5. Giveaway closes 11:59 pm PST, March 2nd.
500 business cards from Uprinting
Uprinting’s at it again, so for those of you who still haven’t snagged a set of business cards for yourself or your blog, you have a chance to win a fairly snazzy set here.
The Specs:
Sizes: 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (skinny card)
Specifications: Full Color Both Sides; Offset Press; 3 Business Day Printing
The ordering process should be pretty simple (though playing with the template designs might take you a while). I was pleasantly surprised when I ordered business cards online the first time around, though it was with another company. If you like, you can check out what other swag and doodads you can order and print online at their site.
How to Enter:
(One entry)Leave a comment including “Uprinting,” your name and a valid email address. Tell me what you’re going to do with the other 400 cards because, let’s face it, I’ve never given away more than 100 of any set of business cards ever.
(One entry) Follow me and tweet this ONCE “Win Uprinting business cards from @RevancheGS: http://bit.ly/aV8AMp”
(Two entries) Blog about this giveaway Link back in a comment to let me know.
(Two entries) Subscribe to my feed(If you already subscribe, let me know in a comment) Come back and tell me a funny story. (Optional)
Rules and Restrictions
1. Open to US residents only. (Sorry guys! They’re paying for shipping, I don’t have a say in this.) 2. I will select a winner at random using a number generator. 3. My decisions are final. 4. Uprinting is responsible for everything that comes after I pick a winner and tell them who to reward. 5. Giveaway closes 11:59 pm PST, February 20th.
Disclosure: There may be something in it for me in exchange for posting this giveaway, but I don’t know what it is yet, or if I’ll even accept it.
In a previous post, Pets and money: where do you draw the line?, we talked about a situation where a family had to choose between necessities and a pet’s health. The woman literally didn’t know how she was going to feed her kids, but with an unemployed husband, she still brought home a sick puppy.
I’m an animal lover, as my “retirement plan” clearly indicates, but I’m also a very practical person as my blog shows. At no point would I ever want to be faced with an either/or situation when it comes to the health of my family, including the furry, wet-nosed and four-footed members.
Knowing what I do about the costs of health care for animals, I could not, in good conscience, take on any more pets without a solid pet fund. Saying that aloud makes me feel like a Murphy’s target was just painted on my back.
I recommend being proactive: get an emergency kit and fund put together. You never know when an incident may strike and if it’s minor, a kit could save you an expensive visit to the vet’s office.
Lemons and the case for an animal emergency kit
So many people think: “it couldn’t happen to me. My pet is calm, quiet, and well-behaved, he/she/it wouldn’t ever need emergency anything.” Once in a while, that’s true. Some pets can go his/her/its entire life without needing more than routine maintenance. It’s a rarity, though.
I’m a mutt-lover. Each of my three dogs were a variation on a Mutt, and only one of them developed truly life-threatening health problems later in life. I was lucky enough to be working at a clinic at the time and he received top-notch care at a discount, but there were times I knew that, as a regular client, I would have been forced to make a final decision based on cost. Even with a 75% discount, I spent more than $3,000 on him on an $18,000 salary. My other two live(d) unnaturally long lives – the chihuahua lasted about 18 years, the large breed mix is still hobbling along at 15 years of age. We probably only have a few, if that many, years left together.
Some people believe in the power of the purebred. They think that good bloodlines are security, a bit of insurance against the run of the mill illnesses that plague mixed breeds, mutts, and scruffy rescues. To some degree, they’re right. They’re very unlikely to get a Parvo Pup from a reputable breeder – though there aren’t any such guarantees if you’re dealing with a disreputable breeder or even worse, a puppy mill.
But the thing purebreds have going for (or against) them is the predictability of their breeds. Labs have hip dysplasia, Dachshunds and other long, low-riders have spinal problems, Great Danes have gastric torsion, white Boxers are highly prone to cancer and lots of it. None of these mean that every purebred’s fate is set in stone, it just means they’re highly prone to specific illnesses.
What you don’t get in that list of “what they’re prone to” is the list of “what else could happen.”
GB: the cautionary tale
My dear friends bought a very Marleyesque dog, we’ll call him GB for the Good Boy he really tries to be. The cost of just bringing GB home was several hundred dollars, a cost that my pound/rescue supporting self will withhold comment on. They spent hundreds on puppy obedience training, a crate, beds, pens, and all the other conveniences.
The trouble started when GB got home. He was so excited and happy that he had to explore everything and everywhere, and everywhere bought him a big swollen bite on the face. It could have been a spider or insect bite, either way, he looked like one of those hugely magnified Hallmark cards. Off to the vet! Hundreds of dollars and a few shots later, his swelling went down and he worked up a rash instead.
For two weeks he was on antibiotics to treat the rash, infected because GB wouldn’t stop scratching at it, and then his immune system went haywire. He’d never had reactions to his vaccines before but after the bite, he was highly allergic to the vaccines and his vet decreed No More.
Life settled down a bit. I was asked for advice on some suspicious looking pink fleshy scabby things on his face, it seemed to be ok. For any other dog. Knowing GB, I sent them back to the vet anyway and sure enough, more meds. Surprisingly, GB was still in the neighborhood of sub $10,000 at this juncture but he’s nothing if not high-achieving.
A few months later, he couldn’t keep anything down. I didn’t hear about it for about a day, but as they became concerned, my phone started to ring. “Something to do with GB? Yes, take him to the vet.”
X-rays revealed that in his love of turf, he’d scarfed a tiny bit of netting with the grass and it had gotten caught somewhere on the way down to form a little net. Like a sieve, this one inch piece of netting cupped and blocked his intestinal tract, only allowing liquid to pass through. Three cups of dog foods a day came right back up. Two surgeries, another $10,000 later, and GB was sent home with orders to gain 20 pounds during recovery.
He’s had other incidents, like chronic ear infections for his love of swimming with his head underwater, but I’m just grateful he made it through his first year.
He’s a big ticket dog, for which a dog/pet health fund would be highly recommended as part of your arsenal as a pet owner. Pet insurance is always a consideration but it can be hit or miss. I think the decision whether or not to carry pet insurance depends on your cash flow, earning and saving power, and the extent and quality of the coverage offered.
On the more prosaic front, GB managed to injure himself again over the holidays, again sending his parents screaming for my help. Luckily, it was one of the easiest things in his medical history to deal with: a broken dewclaw. The dewclaw on a dog is that thumb-like nail that actually doesn’t serve a purpose but to get broken, chewed on, or hung up on things. The canine’s external appendix, if you will.
For that, I just needed a pair of dog nail clippers, gauze, medical tape and some powder to stop up the bleeding. After clipping off the shattered nail, I wrapped him up and sent him, fat-pawed and resentful, on his way. An emergency visit for that would have cost them at least $100 for the late night visit and then a bit more for simple treatment.
I’d recommend having a Pet Kit on hand for some of the more routine things that your pet could require. My own held the following:
1. Nail clippers. Not the ones that look/act like a guillotine, my dogs hated those. The ones that were more like scissors. They’re easier to control and less uncomfortable for the pet. These are good for basic maintenance, and for situations like GB’s. 2. Cotton balls, long Qtips, and gauze. Pets get into stuff, getting scratches, scrapes and all over in dirt, grass and blood. They’re kind of like kids that way. It’s easier to assess the situation when they’re cleaned up. Long Q-tips are great for keeping ears clean, especially if you’ve got a chronic ear infection on legs. (We did.) Water dogs should also have cotton stuffed in their ears to help protect them from ear infections as well – be sure to check with your vet before you do anything like that, though! 3. Medical tape or wrap that sticks to itself. I used Vetwrap which is like a hybrid between Saran Wrap and medical tape. 4. Towels/rags: Always useful after baths, wrapping up the bedraggled, and containing messes (ahem, vomit).
$$$$ As far as a pet fund goes, I’d be most comfortable with having at least $1,000 per pet assuming I’m still maintaining an outsized amount of cash on hand. If not, I’d like to have closer to $5,000 squirreled away per pet. They can borrow from one another but I don’t like to take for granted that they’ll take turns being sick or injured.
Disclaimer: I’m not a veterinarian- I cannot diagnose your pets. When in doubt, please see your vet.
A friend and I were catching up the other day, when the subject of work came up. She works in an animal clinic, and she told me about this sad case they recently saw where a woman brought in her new puppy for an exam.
This wasn’t a typical puppy wellness exam that comes with adopting an animal from the local shelter, or just because the pup was new. The poor puppy had contracted canine parvovirus, commonly referred to as Parvo or abbreviated as CPV. Parvo’s a pretty miserable disease, and left untreated, especially in young dogs, can be fatal. It basically causes the gastroinstestinal problems (sorry to the squeamish!) of vomiting and diarrhea which leads to dehydration and of course, it doesn’t take long for that to take out a young’un. So it’s a serious matter when you bring a Parvo pup in for treatment, they have to be on fluids and medications, sometimes for weeks, until the virus clears out. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. The only guarantee is that it’s a lengthy and usually expensive process unless someone foots the bill for you.
Your choices are limited: treat at the hospital and hope for the best, treat at home and hope for the best (while bleaching everything that comes into contact with the puppy), or decide to euthanize.
Confronted with this diagnosis, the woman didn’t know what to do. This is a common response.
“I don’t have a job, my husband just lost his job, and I don’t know how I’m going to feed my (2) kids,” she wailed. This is, unfortunately, a far more common response than it should be.
I have the biggest soft spot in the world for animals and have worked to pay the vet bills since I was 17, paying hand over fist for medical treatments for my dogs on occasion, but I have never put them before my family’s wellbeing, either.
On the one hand, I wanted to shake the woman, reach right through my friend’s narrative and give her a good shake: what were you doing bringing home another mouth to feed when neither breadwinner has income and you can’t feed your own children?!??
On the other hand, the damage is done and I fully believe “You are responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) That part of me wants to say: you find a way. You will buckle down and you find a way. I know that unemployment, especially now, is really not a choice, but picking up the responsibility of a domesticated animal that now relies on you, literally for its life, is your choice. And once you’ve made it, you’d better find a way to fulfill your responsibilities.
A lot of people choose to go into debt using Care Credit which Miss M has written about before, a lot of people use regular credit cards, and a few of them will give the pet a fighting chance at home. On occasion, some will opt to euthanize the pet.
SS4BC – I was shopping at REI for some shoes. I had a $50 giftcard that needed to be used (this was a rebate giftcard from buying merchandise from them the year before). I found a beautiful pair of Merrells that I wanted. With my $50 GC, I would pay around $36 out of pocket for them. Not too bad. I went up the the cashier and smiled. Then I said “Hi, I would like to buy these shoes, but I don’t want to pay full price.” To which he replied (I kid you not): “How about a 20% discount?” Me (astonished that this actually worked): “Sure! That sounds great!” He rings them up – $86 with a 20% discount, we’re down to $63. I hand him my $50 giftcard. I pay $13 for my $86 pair of shoes. And could not have been happier. All because I ASKED.
RainyDaySaver – Today alone, I got a free cupcake because it was my birthday and had a jeweler take links out of my too-big watch for free. And a follow up post here.
Sense to Dollars – When I complained about my dental visit a little while ago on this blog, I also put my sentiments into a letter written on the Lumino site feedback form. I very nicely explained my disatisfaction with my visit, and how horribly inept I found the dentist’s technique to be. Read the rest here: Complaining pays off in more ways than one
Success! There were issues with my seats (reading light out, sound was out) to and from HNL last month. I emailed United informing them of the malfunctions, and left it at that. I suppose this doesn’t really count as asking, so much as speaking up. They replied with an apology and a $150 courtesy gift certificate good for a one-way or round-trip fare, expires in a year.
Success! I’ve been helping a friend move into a new place. When we picked up furniture in the city, we had to park in a neighboring structure to go into the store. It wasn’t until we were committed to the $6 parking fee that we found out that the folks in the storage area would be willing to carry out and help load our packages in the car only if we pulled up front. They wouldn’t help if they were brought out onto the sales floor. I asked the parking attendant to let us pull out and pick up the stuff, and then come back and park, explaining that we had no idea they’d only help us if we were pulled up out front. The attendant decided to be kind, giving us the first hour free so that we could leave and come back after loading up the car.
Success! My missing rebate finally arrived.
It’s fun keeping track of these wins, big and small. If anyone wants to join in the fun, or submit their own for inclusion, please email me!
I’m back from the hospital for a day and just checking in.
My iPhone has let me keep up with those of you who have full feeds in Google Reader, but I hope everyone is doing well. Y’all are amusing on Twitter, so that helps me get through the days, too. Just wish I could click on all the links of the enabling shoppers out there to see what goodies you’re perusing. 🙂
My weekend visit doubled from the intended 2-3 days to a full 6 days at the request of the younger sib. Though a full 8 years younger than I, apparently my company was still of value and I could sense that the older sib and mother were both quietly hoping that I would stay and serve as sounding board for the youngster.
Holding a hospital vigil is terribly difficult on the spouse, but she’s a rock. An insanely strong, even-keeled, upbeat rock. It shouldn’t surprise me at all but it’s almost inhuman how strong this couple is: Mr. Dad is fighting so very hard, and Mrs. Mom, from beginning to end, is always able to bear the burden and her kids are free to make the choices that work best in their lives. She makes zero demands, just a few reasonable requests for changes of clothing and has maintained her sense of calm far better than any of us kids. Oddly enough, that frees us all to be as strong or weak as we need to be, and tears have flowed freely. No repression here, folks. Not really, anyway.
She’s only left the hospital three times since the hospitalization ten days ago, and that only to see to some crucial financial matters. It’s our responsibility to keep her company, make sure someone is always with Mr. Dad if she stepped away however briefly, cook dinner, do laundry, clean the home, and just support one another. It’s as guilt-free as you can get. They’re amazing. Can I grow up to be just like both of them, please?
As the “adopted” daughter, I took over the domestic chores. We’d be at the hospital all day and late into the night, and when we got home I’d cook dinner for the next day. That’s my ziti you see up there. I still have a nice little shiny spot on my thumb from accidentally pressing it against the 400 degree oven. Y’all don’t like war wounds so I won’t share a picture of that. 🙂 That’ll last my friend through the week, and I’ll come up with something else for the weekend.
My friend’s the oldest and so is, at times, a complete wreck when he feels the weight of his father’s passing the responsibility for the family to him and his sibs. He’s up to the task though, and knows that he has all kinds of support on the practical matters from me since the running joke is my love of all things financial makes me the father’s favorite son. It’s just heartbreaking because we still had so much to learn from his dad.
In the meantime, I’ve got to run a ton of errands and do something about my online classes. And then make the decision whether I should go back down to the hospital tomorrow, or if I should proceed with my travel plans that were made weeks ago. My heart and mind are going to be here, shouldn’t I be as well?
My usual glee at a) getting something in the mail, b) getting a new toy to install, and c) finally getting something to take care of this MESS was slightly dampened by the fact that I’m home to receive it ’cause I don’t feel good. Blech. I’ve leached out the grumpy, crabby commentary for your convenience.
Yep, the plastic remains on the display panel. No, I don’t know if I’m taking it off. Doubt it, though.
My desk is a bloody mess, so if you’d like to see a ton of photos, feast your eyes on this guy’s documentation of every single step. His was free (I think) – thus he has more responsibility on his plate, or at least a more complete review.
Set up: As long as you followed the instructions on the screen, with an occasional referencing of the manual, the set up is mild. The spiciest part is when you realize that you must use an Ethernet connection first to set up the wireless connection. Since my router is most inconveniently located a few rooms away, and this printer was h-e-a-v-y, having to set up an Ethernet cord for all of ten minutes made me crabby.
The installation guide naturally assumed that I’d have to manually confirm my network connection before beginning to scan, but that wasn’t the case at all.
My first test print, though, was horrifying. First of all, the printer/feeder is LOUD. I mean, startle you from a deep sleep loud. And it jammed up first thing with a hideous bone-like crunch.
Program installation: There were about four other programs, including some Arcsoft stuff that I’m unfamiliar with, that were downloaded early in the installation process. I might have to spend some time removing those later if it turns out they’re not essential to the printer’s basic functions.
First print page: After the mangled mess of a first test print page, I conducted my own test print. Apparently Epson’s only on board for one go at it – you’re to shut off the machine and free up the works before continuing, but the software just assumes everything was hunky-dory. My draft print of some text worked just fine, but again, the noise factor is rather unbelievable.
Be aware that draft print seems to be quite the ink saver as the text prints out gray and pixelated – they do indeed skimp on that setting. That’s fine. I’ll just go grayscale next time. I notice that the Properties screen also offers a “Quiet Mode” option, but I’m not sure what that means. Since I don’t have any immediate printing needs, that’ll have to wait for later.
On to the scanning!!
Scanning: My goals are to scan in all mailed documents as PDFs so that’s the setting on the LCD. Thus, to the Auto Document Feeder!
Test subject was a set of T-Mobile bills. The scanning process was very very slow. It asked for settings – which I prefer to customize at this time with each scan to be sure it goes where I want and does what I want. I skipped the preview option and went straight to scan. After feeding (or scanning from the screen) a box pops up asking if you want to Add Page, Edit Page, or Save File. I like this option – you can cram as many pages as you want into a file incrementally.
When you just Save File, it converts, and then sends the file to FineReader to “process,” then it savesto the file designated for these test scans.
The feeder is also quite loud, and slow: it feeds one page about half or a third as fast as a regular standalone fax machine, possibly slower.
The clarity is pretty decent at 300 dpi resolution, and it’s smart enough to rotate horizontally when it encounters landscape pages among the portrait. Not smart enough to differentiate between right side up or upside down, but that’s asking a bit much anyway.
Cost: Originally priced at $179, I wouldn’t have looked twice at this guy, but on sale at $129 and free shipping, decently priced OEM ink carts (though I will definitely look for better alternative pricing), I could deal. Wouldn’t call it a steal, but it may be worth the money.
Overall: Outlook is promising – I’ll revisit the issue in about three months to see how we’re doing on the printing and scanning. It was a bit of a waste to get a five in one for my purposes since I don’t intend to use the fax or photo printing options (ink is expensive!) but for a printer, scanner (with ADF) this best fit the profile.
