Fabulous Financials

I usually combine this data with my net worth report, but I’ve decided to discuss it in a separate post.  I was going to wait until the new year before doing it this way, but why wait.  Here goes…

Net Income:$7,694

Total Expenses: $7,100

• Saved: $1,611
• Bills: $2,036
• Necessities: $470 (only $105 spent on gas this month!!)
• Non-necessities: $989
• Holiday - new category: $357 (within budget, only $143 left)
• Business: $1,637

Net Cash Flow: $594

I evaluated my income/expenses against the new financial strategy that I established in mid-October.  Here is what I was supposed to do compared to what I actually did.

Income: Based on my strategy, income should round down to the next $10 or $7,690.

Savings: Based on my strategy, savings should be at least 25% of my net income.  Which means, I should have saved $1,923 so I fell short by $312.  However, with $594 in extra cash flow, I could have transferred $312 to savings at the end of the month, but I wasn’t thinking about finances while spending the holidays with my family.  I’ll do it right now.

Bills: Based on my strategy, bills should never be more than 35% of my net income.  My bills account for 27% of my net income so I’m good.

Business Expenses: no data in strategy.

Variable Expenses: Based on my strategy, combined variable expenses should not exceed $1,000.  Shoot, my non-necessities category eat up that limit all by itself! LOL!  If I include necessities and holiday expenses, it’s clear that I get a big ole’ “F” in this area.

This new way of managing my income and expenses is fairly new to me, so I need a little while to adjust.  For now, the important thing is to remember what I said I was going to do and make note of how my actions compared.  As a result, this exercise has helped me to understand where I’m doing well and where I need to improve.  By recognizing “variable expenses” as my problem area, it tells me that I need to evaluate these expenses further and figure out where I can reasonably cut back.  After the holidays are over, this is one area I’m going to focus on with a lot more vigor.

Do you track your expenses and evaluate them at the end of the month?

If no, why not?

That’s the price of gas at an Exxon in my area.  Wow!  Never thought I’d see that (again) in my lifetime.  I was so shocked, I had to stop for a fill-up even though I still had a 1/4 tank.

There was an older lady to my left in a tiny Mercedes convertible and a young girl to my right in a Honda Civic.  Then I glanced around at others who were further away, and surprisingly, there were no gas guzzling SUVs.  Hmm…coincidence or a real change in the tide?

As I waited for my tank to fill, (and this could have been my imagination) but I swear it looked as if everyone was smiling. LOL  When my total showed $24 and change, I felt their joy and began smiling too. Ha!  Then I thought to myself…man, gas prices really did a number on us! LOL

How much is gas in your neck of the woods?

Did the higher gas prices force you to make lifestyle changes (smaller car, drive a different route, carpool, less frequent trips, etc)?

Now that prices are lower, will you continue the lifestyle changes or will you revert back to your old ways?

Whoa!!  I was expecting a reduction but not that much.

Previous 6 mos: $409.10
Renewal Premium: $304.40
Savings: $104.70

Why did it go down so much?  Hmm…I’m just speculating because I really don’t know, but I assume it’s because…

• Retroactive savings from the previous 6 month period.  When the policy renewed 6 months ago, it increased by $2 and change.  I thought it was odd but too busy to investigate.
• Current savings for customer loyalty.
• My last accident is now over 5 years old so it dropped off their radar.
• I own a car with well known safety (and anti-theft ??) features.
• I have good credit.
• I live an area with a low property crime rate.

I was playing around with the “get a quote” feature and I think it’s interesting how the actuaries estimate the likelihood of claims.  Assuming all things remain constant except the last one - if I moved one mile east, my zip code would change and the premium would increase by more than $50.  Weird.  But I’m not complaining at all.  The $100 savings will be put to good use.

The second step to maintain Fabulous Financials is to reduce expenses.

If you focus on the heavy hitters, reducing expenses can provide the same results as increasing income.  Think about it.  With one less bill to pay, you will immediately increase your disposable income by the monthly payment of the eliminated bill.  Doesn’t that make you want to focus on eliminating (and avoiding) consumer debt?  Truth be told, aunt Visa and uncle Mastercard would prefer that you didn’t.  They’d rather you carry the debt so they can earn money on interest and fees.  But why go to work 40+ hours/week just to turn over half of your paycheck to them?  That is…unless you don’t mind working twice as hard for half the pay. Otherwise, try these:

Get the Monkey Off Your Back

When you incur consumer debt to buy ’stuff’, think of it as putting a monkey on your back.  When you first brought it home, it was probably a cute little thing.  You showed it off to your friends and admired it everyday.  But after a while, you realized that little mofo was getting heavy.  Shortly thereafter, it aint as cute as it used to be, aint as shiny as it used to be, aint as new as it used to be, or even worse - someone else has one that’s even better than yours.  Dang!  The only way to get rid of this monkey is by paying it to go away.  Now you’re stuck with something that’s weighing you down, taking your hard earned money, and stealing your joy.  You must admit, the simple thought of going to work to pay for things you no longer value is depressing. Get the monkey off your back.

Get Rid of Non-Necessities

Another way to reduce expenses is to get rid of things you consider non-necessities or you can stand to live without - even if it’s only temporary.  As for me?  I don’t have cable or a landline.  I don’t have text message and other data features on my cell phone.  I don’t TiVo or own an iPhone.  I don’t pay for magazine subscriptions or club memberships.  Yet, I live a full life, stay connected with my friends, and remain up to date on current events and news.  Go figure.  If it isn’t a necessity to YOU, get rid of it.

Are debt and non-necessities preventing you from having fabulous financials?

Please share tips on how YOU reduce expenses?

Yesterday, I was officially inducted into the “real responsibilities of a pet owner” club, only after 7.5 years of owning a pet.  And I have my paw prints to prove it!  Allow me to explain…

Around 5am, my BabyGirl ran into my room to wake me up.  You hear me?  5am.  That’s ONE HOUR before my alarm goes off.  Ok, I’m lying.  About thirty minutes before my alarm goes off and another thirty minutes of hitting the snooze button six times.  Anyway, she woke me up to tell me that our 7.5 year old Maltese - I guess that’s 40 something in dog years - was peeing blood all over the house.  “What???!!” was all I could muster as I dragged myself out of bed to see what she was talking about.  Unfortunately, she was not exaggerating at all.

THE DISCOVERY

At first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me.  I mean, it was still dark o’thirty and my azz was half sleep.  But what I saw were little red spots all over the carpet.  WTF!  I rubbed my eyes and followed the trail.  Guess who I found hovered in the corner like she had done something bad.  The mere sight of her wagging her tail in a submissive position broke my heart.

THE CONFIRMATION

I scooped her up and took her outside to potty.  Sure enough, she urinated a stream of blood.  Gross, I know, but bear with me.  I knew I couldn’t panic because it would make my BabyGirl cry so I had calm down and hide my emotions.  In 7.5 years, we’d never experienced a real pet emergency so I didn’t know what to do.  As a distraction, I told BabyGirl to put her food and water down while I searched for the vet’s number.  When BabyGirl said she wouldn’t eat or drink anything, my heart raced.  By the time I found the number, I had tears in my eyes.

THE FIRST CALL

My vet’s office didn’t open for another 2 hours.  Shyt.  Then I called the vet’s emergency hotline.  Thankfully, a very friendly voice answered.  I told her why I was calling while holding back my tears.  We talked for a few minutes.  Listening to her calm voice forced my heart to beat normal again.  Although she provided limited information, she was very helpful and sincere.  She told me it could have been many things - UTI, bladder infection, kidney infection, stones, etc - but it wasn’t an “emergency” emergency.  So instead of going to the emergency hospital, I decided to wait for my vet to open.

THE WAIT

My Precious didn’t appear to be in any pain, but she looked really sad.  She wasn’t following us around the house as usual but she watched our every move.  Somehow, I convinced BabyGirl to go to school.  I told her our Precious would be alright but to call me during lunchtime for an update.  After BabyGirl left, I locked my Precious in her crate, spot cleaned the carpet, took a shower, ironed three outfits, chose not to wear either, made up my bed, made up BabyGirl’s bed, researched her symptoms online, fixed something to eat, didn’t eat it, swept the kitchen floor, and anything else I could think of to keep from worrying.  Every time I would look at my Precious, she was watching me.  It was like she was trying to say, “mom help me.”  Gawd it was awful!

THE VET VISIT

At 7:20, we loaded up the car and headed to the vet’s office.  By the time I arrived, it was 7:35.  They had already spoken with the emergency hotline, pulled her file, and was waiting for our arrival.  Their fast response and preparation made me relax (a little).  I felt like my Precious was going to be in good hands.  I explained the symptoms (frequent urination but in tiny amounts, bad smell, traces of blood, no appetite, etc.) and they immediately took her to the back.  I couldn’t stand to wait around and count the minutes so I went to work.  I left my cell phone, blackberry, and office number and asked them to call me as soon as the doctor had a diagnosis.

THE DIAGNOSIS

Around 9:30am, when I saw the number on my caller ID, my heart stopped.  It was the vet.  I didn’t feel like saying “hello,” so she was greeted with a fearful “yes” as if there was only bad news on the other end.  The vet explained what she had done: examination, xray, urine sample, blood sample, sent culture off to lab, vaccination of antibiotic and pain med, etc.  I was told it would take a week for the culture to come back because they had to examine it, place something in it to see if it would grow or change shape, then examine it again to rule out anything life threatening.  No obvious problems showed in the xray, but for a dog of her size, this wasn’t uncommon.  Her white blood cell count was high - sign of infection - and she passed blood clots 2x while urinating - sign of UTI or bladder problem.

THE TREATMENT

I could barely breath while listening, but she reassured me that the meds would treat any immediate problem.  She said she was going to prescribe an antibiotic for the infection and a pain med to make her comfy.  But she wanted to keep her until after 5 for observation and try to get her to eat and drink.  At this point, being in the vet’s care was better than mine so I had no objection.  When I picked her up around 5, the vet had already gone for the day.  However, she left 2 pages of notes for me (my Precious ate food and drank water, her urine stream was now more pink than red, she seemed energetic and happy), 2 prescriptions, diet instructions (bland for 3 days - white rice and chicken breasts only - then gradually re-introduce regular food), call if no improvement in 3 days, follow up appointment and another urine sample in 2 weeks.

THE RELIEF

When my Precious was brought from the back, she ran and jumped into BabyGirl’s lap as if seeing her family made her the happiest pup in the world.  For the first time all day, I exhaled.  Although she’s not 100%, I can tell she feels a little better.  She’ll be on meds for a few weeks, confined to non-carpet areas, and eating bland food for a few days, but I’m soooooo relieved.  When the culture comes back next week, I will breathe again.  Until then, I’ll follow doctor’s orders and throw in an extra dose of TLC.

THE COST

The total cost of this scary ordeal:

Vet visit, tests, xray and meds: $413.89

Follow up appt in 2 weeks: ~$112

Effect on work: 2 hours late + 8 hours of stress and anxiety

My Precious health and happiness: PRICELESS

In 7.5 years, that is the most I’ve EVER spent on a pet expense at one time.  Although it didn’t hurt to drop a few hundred dollars to make sure my Precious was ok, I can only imagine what my thoughts would have been if she needed more extensive treatment - or worse, surgery.  I’ll be honest, if a single pet expense gets closer to four figures, the love for my dog will be weighed against practicality and reasonableness.  I hope I don’t have to face that decision anytime soon, but now that she’s an “adult” dog, it’s a reality I need to consider.  The life expectancy of her breed is 15-18 years.  Since she’s only 7.5, that means the best years of her life are yet to come.

I never thought I could really love a four legged animal.  All this time, she was “BabyGirl’s responsibility” unless it suited me.  But after yesterday, I realized that she’s etched in my heart forever.  Gawd I love my Precious!