About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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January 22, 2010
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.
What would you do?
January 21, 2010
I’m taking one today, sort of, because I’ve got the worst sore throat and set of aches and I still can’t help but feel like I’ve got to get some work done today. Even in the freelancing life, I feel guilty not working.
This suck-it-up attitude isn’t rare, unfortunately, and rarely serves us well except in an environment where taking sick days is institutionally frowned upon. No joke, I’ve worked in offices where the rule was: “You can go home if you feel sick, but I don’t and the big boss doesn’t, we’re always here no matter what, so I don’t know why you’d feel the need to.” Even then, it’s not good to bow to that unreasonable culture.
I’ll tell you why you should use those sick days!
Full time employees with benefits have sick and vacation days, and a defined set of ways they can use them. ie: You should take a sick day when you feel ill, or have a doctor’s appointment. Part-timers and freelancers do have to worry about not getting paid for taking a day or three off, but that’s another argument for saving your pennies against a rainy day.
1. INFECTION Caring is not sharing. When you’re feeling sick, especially when you’re at the beginning of the illness, you’re likely to be contagious. This means you’re very likely to pass along the germs to your colleagues and keep the sick cycle going. Even if you’re conscientious about washing your hands, there are usually communal eating/gathering areas and you’ll leave them teeming with germs. Gross. It’s even worse if you don’t have a desk job and have contact with lots of moving parts that are subsequently handled by others.
2. PERFORMANCE (short term) Who does their best work when coughing, sneezing, sniffling, and feeling run down? Show of hands, anyone? Don’t kid yourself, people, if you can’t even sleep in that state, you can’t do your work effectively.
3. PERFORMANCE (long term) It’s a set-up. What’s worse than sucking it up and trudging to your desk through your day of misery? Having it come back to bite you. You may make mistakes, poor judgment calls or just plain forget to follow through on the commitments you made. And two weeks later, what people remember isn’t that you were sicker’n’ a dog and showed up anyway, they’ll just see the aftermath of your Sickie performance. And be ticked off because they’re sick now too.
4. HEALTH “If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything.” The Princess Bride was right about many things, and this is no exception. Even if you don’t have a compromised immune system, routinely neglecting your health repeatedly takes a toll on your body and triggers untold stress long-term. If nothing else, the habit of ignoring your minor health issues can lead to missing important changes that may indicate greater problem than chronic colds or flus. My junior high math teacher ignored a persistent cough for months, and it was months before she went to the doctor and was diagnosed with end stage lung cancer. They might have been able to treat if she’d come in for the cough almost a year earlier.
If you have sick days, use them. If you’re saving them for a payout (Funny about Money did), use other days if you have to, but don’t save your days and sacrifice your well-being.
So how many sick days do you get? And how many have you used?
January 20, 2010
Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 pound shrimp (shelled and deveined)
1/4 cup white wine
1 lemon (juice)
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 pound regular penne to avoid leftovers, I would probably use a whole pound next time for a better pasta/shrimp ratio.
Parmigiano reggiano (garnish)
Chopped tomatos, basil (garnish)
Directions
1. Heat the oil and melt the butter in a pan.
2. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Add the shrimp and saute until cooked, about 1-3 minutes per side.
4. Remove the shrimp from the pan.
5. Add the wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil.
6. Simmer the liquid until reduced by about half, about 3-5 minutes.
7. Add butter, wait for it to melt and turn off the heat.
8. Add shrimp, pasta and toss to coat.
9. Serve with a garnish of parmigiano reggiano, tomatos and basil.
Notes: On a shampoo and loaf of bread trip to Costco we were surprised by a showcase of gorgeous White or Black Tiger Prawns for $8.99/lb. [Nothing like Frugal Scholar’s $2.98/lb shrimp!]
We bought a pound (17 shrimps) to make tiny appetizers to accompany the chicken bites I’d planned to serve at a housewarming, but we ran out of time. Which was all to the good for me and my pasta ambitions the following day.
I would recommend serving with fresh tomatoes and basil.
VERSUS
Lemon Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
8 drumsticks
3 lemons
15 cloves of garlic, peeled
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh thyme Italian parsley leaves (it turns out Trader Joe’s does NOT have thyme)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, add the chicken pieces. Slice the lemons in half and juice them. Add the juice and the lemon rinds to the bowl, along with the garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme.
3. Mix well with your hands, then dump this all in a large baking dish.
4. Put the dish in the oven and bake the chicken for 30 to 40 minutes, basting every 10 minutes.
5. When the skin gets crispy and the meat is cooked through, it is done.
Notes: For my fat-fearing companion, I skinned the drumsticks ahead of cooking, and used a foil shield over the pan to protect the chicken from drying out.
Verdict: Both are absolutely delicious, but the shrimp scampi ringing up at more than $3/lb and using white wine is too decadent for a frugal budget. We’ll use 2-buck chuck, of course, but a bottle has to be drunk within a few days of opening.
The chicken, however, at $1.29/lb isn’t terribly cheap but is quite a bit more affordable for an everyday dish.
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Daily Exercise Update: Nuttin. I was paying the price for procrastinating on homework and other needful things. As penance, tomorrow, ANKLE WEIGHTS.
January 19, 2010
I forgot to add the Lending Club account to my net worth snapshots, so I’ll be adding them this month under the investment services tag. I’ve had the account for about 5 months and forgot about it since I only funded it with $50 of promotional money.
Pictured above is my 2009 year end review. So far, my only note, a Grade A paying 7.74% note is coming along nicely. I wish I’d had a chance to help fund MoneyFunk’s loan, it would have been nice to help out a fellow blogger but she whipped up 85 borrowers and fully funded in 16 hours!
I’ll go ahead and check out potential new loans this month to commit another $100 or so to it. I’m sticking to A grade loans, I don’t have any need to take major risks for an additional 5% at this point, 7-9% is perfectly adequate.
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Daily Exercise Update: Ran many errands in the cold and wet. If I were in this for the weight loss, I’m sure I burned many calories trotting from store to store, and a bonus sum from shivering. I’m not so I’m counting it as stiff upper-lipping in nearly-extreme weather conditions instead.
January 18, 2010
and I’m aiming to be rich. Like, filthy never have to worry about money again rich. (Except maybe not the filthy part -can’t you be uberrich without being dirty? That might be a discussion for another day.)
The two go hand in hand- I don’t want to retire in the traditional sense of the word: work until 65 or 70, then creak back to a paid-for home with a modest financial cushion to live out your days.
I do like a little of that picture, the paid for home and the comfortable cushion, to be sure. But I want much more than just moderate wealth because I have a huge goal. I want to have boatloads of money by developing many income streams so that I can concentrate on what really matters to me which, incidentally, will cost a lot of money and would probably never break even.
I’m a huge fan of adoption: children and animals alike. I’ve witnessed the tearing difficulties of adopting a child and am under no illusion that it’s all rainbows and kittens, but I still believe in the principle of giving an orphan a home. There’s something about bringing someone into your family by choice that resonates deeply with me. I think everyone should have a place to call home, and someone to remember their birthday. But that’s a different discussion for another day.
My far-off, one-day-some-day dream is to open a pet rescue/adoption ranch. Ideally, my family would be supportive of this as well, and be hands-on in the place, but you never know. I kind of always dreamed that my family would be composed of fostered and adopted kids, and a love of animals is more nature than nurture. (Especially when it comes to allergies.)
It would be a nice facility, clean but not sterile, not soulless like some animal shelters can feel sometimes. They do good work, and I used to volunteer for the Humane Societies, but there was something so dismal about the place knowing that every animal brought in was on a timeline.
The ranch would have wide open spaces for the dogs to play during the day, room for the cats to roam, a paddock or two for any potential horses or pigs.
I don’t know how big it would be- after all, the bigger the place, the harder it is to maintain. And we’d need grooming facilities, of course. But even when money was no object, I’d have to find the balance between taking in everyone and providing the best possible care for each.
I want all those boatloads of money to support not just the ranch, but medical facilities on the ranch. Perhaps employing several full time veterinarians would be unsustainable, but I think that sponsoring a year of a veterinarian’s education in exchange for a year or two of commitment to the ranch in some form or another would be reasonable. Same thing for animal technicians, they could exchange work time for tuition payment. I really like the idea of the ranch being a home for animals and fostering education at the same time.
This ranch would just bleed money, it could never be self-sustaining even with reasonable parameters on spending and fundraising so it stands to reason I’d just have to be trust-fund wealthy.
Yep. I want to be rich (pass on the famous) someday so I can spend my life working with animals.
What’s your dream?
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Related posts from ’round:Mrs. Micah doesn’t want to retire either
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Since writing this, I watched Animal Planet’s Pitbulls and Parolee‘s show and my heart was breaking. The work is hard, and may seem thankless, but that’s exactly what I want to do.
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Daily Exercise Update: Held an 18 pound baby in my arms for more than 20 minutes. More efficacious than lifting weights!
January 17, 2010
Daily exercise update, Friday: Ankle weights were not the death of me but they were put up for the day. No use tempting fate, after all. Walked many many blocks in kitten heels post-meeting searching for the perfect grill pan, and even did one set of these stairs. Never found the pan and was pooped the rest of the day.
Daily exercise update, Saturday: Walked to an enormous park with muddy hills and watched dogs chase each other and other various oddments for hours. Stopped at a mall and discount store afterward and logged a few more almost leisurely miles.
Helping abroad: The devastation in Haiti breaks my heart, and the ensuing chaos of trying to get aid to the island and set up infrastructure has been frustrating.
After much contemplation about the donation options available, I’ve decided to support the Haiti cause by donating to Doctors without Borders. I’m skipping the quick and easy donation options like texting because I need to know the money is being sent directly and immediately to the right people. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to minimize the time and maximize the money. To further stretch the donation dollars, I’ve asked a friend whose company matches donations up to a certain dollar amount each year to donate through his work for me. It’ll be in his name, but that’s a worthwhile trade-off of a tax deduction for essentially doubling the pot.
Doctors without Borders on Charity Navigator.
Things to consider: I love The Lost Goat’s timing and thoughtfulness on this subject. She covers some essential concerns I had to address before making my donation decision. Number four is why I’m not donating to the American Red Cross and several other charities during this time.
Also, be sure to check Flexo’s post on Safe Donations to Victims of the Earthquake in Haiti.
January 15, 2010
Back in November, I enjoyed the pleasure of my friends’ company in their well-appointed timeshare in Hawaii.
There are many financial reasons not to buy a timeshare: they’re expensive, they require a substantial upfront fee, they require substantial annual maintenance fees, and unless you’re willing and able to buy a more premium tier in whatever program you buy into – they’re very hard to unload.
My friends, Dee and Jay, don’t have any of the above problems. In their previous lives as relatively high level executives more than ten years ago, Dee purchased three timeshares which they enjoy to this day.
Another friend Bea, my age, bought a timeshare back in 2005. The math she described to me didn’t sound like a wise purchase but I have the benefit of hindsight.
She took out a loan for $14,000 for the base cost of the timeshare, and pays an additional $1200 per year for maintenance fees. Her timeshare works on a points system so for her purchase she receives 7,000 points per year for redemption towards any property in the system. Redemption works much like hotel points. She has the flexibility to hold points from one year to the next, and to borrow and advance from the upcoming year so she can essentially triple her buying power in a trio of years.
The problem here is that at 23, she owed $60,000 in school loans, and at least $20,000 in credit card debt. When she earned her Master’s degree and was making $60,000/year, not an awful lot of that money was paying down the debts, and she was continually spending more money. She admits that a good deal of that money frivolously, like that time she blew through the mall on a $300 shopping spree. I witnessed that one, she told me about a few others of varying costs.
With that shaky background, she finally hit the skids when she was laid off for several months last year and had to live off her modest savings – unemployment just covered her rent. And now that she’s found the guy she wants to marry (this year), the timeshare costs are keeping her from saving because she’s not making enough to pay all the bills and debts and save.
Worse, due to the stint of unemployment, she’s currently upside down on the loan so she must sell it for the amount she owes which is much more than other owners are pricing their ‘shares. It’s definitely a buyer’s market.
From what she’s told me, I can identify the basic warning signs that were ignored:
1. Her existing debts were quite significant.
2. There was no plan to quickly eliminate that debt.
3. She hadn’t factored the cost into her cost of living in case she lost her job.
4. The timeshare wasn’t considered “high value” which has more options and can be more easily sold.
5. An insufficient emergency fund.
My instinct when people are in financial difficulties is to jump in and offer to help, but we all know how well unsolicited advice is often taken. If she wants my help, she knows I’m more than happy to lend an ear and a hand, but in the meantime, I’m wondering what I would advise to start her on a debt-free journey.
As a salaried employee, she can count on the paycheck to be consistent but at the same time, that means that she has to look elsewhere to make extra money.
1. Accept that money will be tight for a while
2. Honestly evaluate all wants and needs, and decide what level of commitment you’re willing to make towards paying down the debt
3. Hunker down and start cutting away any fat in the budget (there IS a budget, right?), putting all the money toward debt and savings
4. Make some realistic decisions about the prospective wedding
5. Consider ways to generate extra income to put towards the debt
6. Start an emergency fund
I’d say that given her career choice in the education field and the non-existent hiring she’s described, this is probably enough to work on for the next six months.
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Daily Exercise Update: I found 3 pound wrist/ankle weights at Target, and proceeded to walk in them for an hour. A veritable cripple I may be by the time you read this. Pity me.
