Speaker 1: Episode two O two, How to Save Money on Pets.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity rights, and live rich your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Dogs podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are talking about a subject we are
Speaker 1: completely unqualified to be talking about. Neither of us currently
Speaker 1: have pat You all keep asking for this episode, which
Speaker 1: says to me, you think we're qualified to talk about it,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna do it. Yeah. There's two parts, saving
Speaker 1: money and pets, and we are definitely qualified to talk
Speaker 1: about saving money. And we have had pets in the pasture,
Speaker 1: so I mean, let's wing it. I have I have
Speaker 1: friends who have pets. Yeah, and we're going to turn
Speaker 1: to the internet, right And sometimes it's the people on
Speaker 1: the outside that no very little um that have the
Speaker 1: strongest opinions. And and that's where we're at. So let's
Speaker 1: get into this by starting with our sponsors. This episode
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Not Moving. By the time
Speaker 1: you hear this, I'll hopefully have completed my first half
Speaker 1: marathon in seven years. Hopefully we'll see who knows there's
Speaker 1: still time. I'm much older than I was then, roughly
Speaker 1: seven years older, so I have relied on not moving
Speaker 1: this week to recuperate. And there is nothing I like
Speaker 1: to do more when I'm not moving than read a book.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to try not moving and need a
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Speaker 1: Head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash e book
Speaker 1: to get modern frugal living. That's our book with over
Speaker 1: two heard ways to save money. Again. That's Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash e book, also brought to you
Speaker 1: by doggie Bags. Disturbingly, the phrase used for both what
Speaker 1: you carry your leftover food from a restaurant in and
Speaker 1: what you pick up your dog's feces with. Doggie Bags.
Speaker 1: Aren't concerned about the room for error and misunderstanding. They
Speaker 1: trust us to get it right. Doggie bags for grown
Speaker 1: adults cleaning up after their dogs or your restaurant leftovers. Yep,
Speaker 1: that is quite the word. Quite the room for misunderstanding.
Speaker 1: I get that. It's almost like Costco's Kirkland brand making
Speaker 1: chicken and boxers. Yeah, why because they can't. They can,
Speaker 1: That's exactly people buy it well, if you are interested
Speaker 1: in saving money on pets, we have zero more pet
Speaker 1: apt like, not even in the realm of pets, so
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, but we have some other ways to
Speaker 1: save money on things you love. So episode how to
Speaker 1: save money on coffee, because we I mean we love coffee,
Speaker 1: and then lesser known one, episode nine, how to save
Speaker 1: money on raising your kids because usually you love those two. Um,
Speaker 1: and that's with our good friend Caroline Pencil. Will probably
Speaker 1: be a lot of overlaps between episode, I believe, so
Speaker 1: this is kind of like, you know, raising kids, your
Speaker 1: furry your furry children. Yeah, if you don't get everything
Speaker 1: you need from this episode, go back to episode and
Speaker 1: I'm sure that will will finish you off. So let's
Speaker 1: get into our first article that taught me a lot
Speaker 1: about saving money on pets, and that is from BuzzFeed
Speaker 1: and it's fourteen money saving tips that pet owners swear by.
Speaker 1: I like this one because the first article when you
Speaker 1: google like how to save money on pets, the very
Speaker 1: first thing on the list was try training your dog yourself,
Speaker 1: and I was like, that's the world. That's horrible advice.
Speaker 1: I think the list can only go downhill from here,
Speaker 1: so I just clicked out of it, Like I don't
Speaker 1: have a dog, but if I did, I don't like
Speaker 1: this advice. It's I mean, unless you are gift a
Speaker 1: gifted dog trainer, then I mean that's something you should
Speaker 1: at least hire out. And but the article did say,
Speaker 1: like you can, you can get a course and how
Speaker 1: to train a dog. But I still feel like that
Speaker 1: after I had dogs growing up and there was no way,
Speaker 1: like even with a course, I could have trained those things.
Speaker 1: So that is something I would leave to a professional,
Speaker 1: at least partly, unless you've grown up with dogs and
Speaker 1: you know what they need in the structure that they need.
Speaker 1: But still, ultimately everyone knows that like either you're going
Speaker 1: to train your own dog or you're going to hire
Speaker 1: someone to train your dog. That's a very obvious. People
Speaker 1: that I know who have tried to train their own
Speaker 1: dogs have always regretted it. In my circle of friends,
Speaker 1: it is funny. I don't know that I put much
Speaker 1: thought to it, but anytime I hear somebody like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's still in training and they're training their dog, it's
Speaker 1: like two years in ye, like he's still a bobby. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So that is not on this list, but it is
Speaker 1: something we are starting out with, but there are a
Speaker 1: lot of good tips in this one, like real life,
Speaker 1: real life owners, not just like writers trying to right
Speaker 1: the article that shows up at the top of Google.
Speaker 1: So we probably won't go through all fourteen on here,
Speaker 1: and some of them are overlap, but I do like
Speaker 1: the first one on this list, and I feel like,
Speaker 1: being a non pet owner at this point in life,
Speaker 1: it is the one I can speak most confidently too.
Speaker 1: And it's just first things first if you're thinking about
Speaker 1: adopting a pet. So this is for those of you
Speaker 1: who don't have any pets yet, but it's a strong
Speaker 1: desire of yours to pause and take a good look
Speaker 1: at your budget and your lifestyle to make sure you're
Speaker 1: actually really ready to make the commitment. Yeah, people look
Speaker 1: at their budget, but they don't always look at their lifestyle. Oh.
Speaker 1: I have so many things to say about this. I
Speaker 1: am I'm not a pet person, so full disclosure, but
Speaker 1: so so Yes, I could have a biased view of this,
Speaker 1: but I do think one of the greatest disservices that
Speaker 1: we can give to pets in our home is not
Speaker 1: actually having the time or money for them. I see
Speaker 1: so many people adopting specifically dogs who do need a
Speaker 1: lot of care and attention. They need to go out,
Speaker 1: they need to be fed. They can't self feed like
Speaker 1: some other pets. And so if you're gone all of
Speaker 1: the time and it's important to you to be out
Speaker 1: on the weekend or out at night, your lifestyle just
Speaker 1: may not be it up to have specifically a dog.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the greatest disservice we can do,
Speaker 1: is when we adopt that dog, then our lifestyle doesn't
Speaker 1: match up with it, and then they're trying to re
Speaker 1: home the dog. And that's just I have I do
Speaker 1: have some strong opinions about that. And then I also
Speaker 1: see people trying to take on pets to prepare themselves
Speaker 1: for children, and I just have like an unpopular opinion
Speaker 1: about that too, because I'm like, first of all, nothing
Speaker 1: is going to prepare you for that. Second of all,
Speaker 1: and enjoy what life is bring introduce the pet afterwards
Speaker 1: when your life is already set up for a dog,
Speaker 1: not stopping your life now to prepare for the eventual child.
Speaker 1: And then not to mention, a lot of times when
Speaker 1: you have a pet first and then a child, sometimes
Speaker 1: they don't get along. It I have seen observationally it
Speaker 1: is easier to introduce a pet to a child than
Speaker 1: vice versa. Of course, I'm gonna have plenty of stories
Speaker 1: out there, but I had a pet first and then
Speaker 1: I had a child and everything went fine. Sure, if
Speaker 1: you're the person without a pet or without a child yet,
Speaker 1: just you know number one on this buzzfeedlist, think twice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do. So. I have seen a lot of pets
Speaker 1: acclimate really well to babies, So that's I think it's
Speaker 1: I would say more on the they'll get there. I'm
Speaker 1: speaking observationally with my own friends. I'm not like trying
Speaker 1: to make broad strokes, but I would. I would say,
Speaker 1: if you really want a dog and your life, and
Speaker 1: you still want to have a life, then this is
Speaker 1: where your budget comes in, because you're going to need
Speaker 1: to even though you don't think or you don't want to,
Speaker 1: you're gonna need to budget in daycare and boarding quite
Speaker 1: frequently throughout the year, more than you think you need to.
Speaker 1: And then if you spend less on it, great, but
Speaker 1: you need to have a sinking fund set up for
Speaker 1: I mean, just look at what you did in the
Speaker 1: past well two years. Let's combine the last two years
Speaker 1: into one year and then save that much in a
Speaker 1: sinking fund for boarding and daycare. Of course, the last
Speaker 1: two years were COVID and everyone was at home, he said.
Speaker 1: Combined the last you probably lived one year of life
Speaker 1: over the last two years. So that's that can be
Speaker 1: your gaugeh we stood out to you on this list, Jen.
Speaker 1: So the second one obviously make sure you have the
Speaker 1: essentials covered like food and medicine before you drop cash
Speaker 1: on toys, beds and treats. And so this is another
Speaker 1: one that comes down to checking your budget and pet owners.
Speaker 1: We will get into practical ways to save, but like,
Speaker 1: let's just think that we're just gonna for foundationally for
Speaker 1: people thinking about getting a pet, this is where we're starting.
Speaker 1: But so think about the breed you want. If you're
Speaker 1: going with a rescue, this may not be as important
Speaker 1: because from my experience, rescues use far less in in
Speaker 1: medicine and high cost food. But if you want a
Speaker 1: specific breed, then doing research into the medicines that they're
Speaker 1: going to need later on in life or even upfront
Speaker 1: the foods that are best for them because purebreads tend
Speaker 1: to have more restrictions. UM and health concerns in that area.
Speaker 1: So not only is it more expensive to get a
Speaker 1: particular type of breed, but you also need to make
Speaker 1: sure you can cover everything else, because, like what we're
Speaker 1: gonna say later on, it is not a great idea
Speaker 1: to skip out on food and medicine and then think
Speaker 1: about the toys and the treats. Because I mean also
Speaker 1: depending on the breed you get, you you could have
Speaker 1: a dog that destroys toys in thirty seconds, or you
Speaker 1: could have one that you know keeps them for a
Speaker 1: month there longer. And and so breed has a lot
Speaker 1: to do with how you're thinking about your budget. So
Speaker 1: it's not just like oh yeah, I think I can
Speaker 1: afford a dog now, it's like okay, but like which
Speaker 1: breed of dog? You have to think hard about that.
Speaker 1: Continuing with this trajectory of becoming a pet parent, number
Speaker 1: three talks about the fact that sometimes pets are going
Speaker 1: to enjoy playing with or sleeping on the things that
Speaker 1: you already own versus maybe some of the new or
Speaker 1: more expensive things that you might buy for them. This
Speaker 1: is where I see some overlap with having children. I
Speaker 1: remember you, John, when you had kai your approach because
Speaker 1: others had advised you in this way was I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have the essentials and then I'll see what I need
Speaker 1: as I go. And so I think that that's a
Speaker 1: decent approach for pet ownership. And coming into pet ownership
Speaker 1: is let's have the essentials, let's make sure that the
Speaker 1: food and the medical costs are covered, and then see
Speaker 1: what they acclimate to see what they're most interested in.
Speaker 1: This article highlights how they had a cat who was
Speaker 1: more interested in sleeping on an old sweater than a
Speaker 1: new a new bed that they had bought for it.
Speaker 1: And I'm not advocating like we give all all of
Speaker 1: the like awful sloppy seconds to a pet, but it
Speaker 1: might be that they find most comfort and like their
Speaker 1: owner's old clothing. So I think that that's worth looking at.
Speaker 1: And I get it that it can be hard when
Speaker 1: you really care for a pet so much, like I
Speaker 1: want to give them the new things, but if they're
Speaker 1: not interested in it, then that's just money wasted. So
Speaker 1: I like that tip to to just see what are
Speaker 1: they what are they acclimating to, what are they interested in? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because unlike humans, it's it's harder to buy secondhand stuff
Speaker 1: for pets because they really do destroy the like things,
Speaker 1: so like beds and toys and all this stuff, they'll
Speaker 1: use it till it's destroyed. So there are some things
Speaker 1: like unless you're gonna d I y your own thing
Speaker 1: out of used fabric or clothing, a lot of this
Speaker 1: stuff you you will have to buy new, unfortunately. But
Speaker 1: if there are secondhand pet thing options that we don't
Speaker 1: know about, we would love tear about them in the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends committee on Facebook. But yeah, in my experience,
Speaker 1: you will pay a little bit more of a premium
Speaker 1: because you're kind of forced to buy things new. I mean,
Speaker 1: I would imagine that at the thrift store you could
Speaker 1: buy at least things to make a bed out of
Speaker 1: our children's toys that could also double as pet toys. No,
Speaker 1: like rubber duckies, so they're not made super well yeah
Speaker 1: I guess rubber duckies, but like kids, stuffed animals are
Speaker 1: not made super well. Really sturdy pet toys like certain
Speaker 1: breeds can destroy instantaneously. Well. Speaking of that, though, there
Speaker 1: are some thrift stores that are particularly they support rescue
Speaker 1: shelters like animal shelters, and a lot of times you
Speaker 1: will have that will attract pet owners to donate something
Speaker 1: so that and some throw stores that I've gone into
Speaker 1: that yes it's clothing. And then it's also like a
Speaker 1: strong pet section as well, so that would be worth
Speaker 1: looking into. And I'm sure a lot of rescues in
Speaker 1: the area would even know of drift stores that support
Speaker 1: them and then have maybe a stronger selection of second
Speaker 1: hand pets. That's a great idea. So my next one
Speaker 1: is kind of a combination of four and five. So
Speaker 1: it's number five, feeding your pet a healthy diet and
Speaker 1: taking care of their teeth can prevent costly problems down
Speaker 1: the road. And then four is like make your pets
Speaker 1: meals or treats yourself to just check with your veterinarian
Speaker 1: first to make sure you're using only safe and healthy ingredients.
Speaker 1: So this is actually like a twofold. When you are
Speaker 1: feeding your pet good nutritious food, you save money down
Speaker 1: the road on healthcare costs. We know this even in
Speaker 1: our own lives, but it can actually be cheaper. Um
Speaker 1: some of these like things like sweet potatoes, carrots, these
Speaker 1: things for dogs like are way cheaper than like treats
Speaker 1: you would get from a store. And obviously every dog
Speaker 1: is unique and what they will and won't eat. But
Speaker 1: I have I see very few dogs that won't eat
Speaker 1: anything that you give them except lettuce. I have seen
Speaker 1: dogs turn down lettuce. There are certain things. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: it's not everything, but consider looking at the asking your
Speaker 1: veterinarian looking at the lists and seeing, Okay, what's super
Speaker 1: cheap that I can purchase for my pet. One of
Speaker 1: the ideas I think it was on this list. But um,
Speaker 1: this guy just took sweet potatoes, cut him up like
Speaker 1: he normally would for himself, and I guess probably cooked
Speaker 1: some for him and then took part and just baked
Speaker 1: them at I guess like two D degrees, kind of
Speaker 1: dried them and made treats for his dog out of
Speaker 1: sweetpota does he already had and they already sell them
Speaker 1: in like huge bags that it's so hard to finish.
Speaker 1: So what a great idea? Yeah, I think pet treats
Speaker 1: in general can fall under that category of elusive mysterious.
Speaker 1: We don't quite know how it's done, what it's native.
Speaker 1: And for me, that's beef jerky. Like I just thought,
Speaker 1: home man, beef jerky, How how would I even make
Speaker 1: that myself? And then I realized how a food dehydrator. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: and that made beef jerky. It's great. Anyhow, once we
Speaker 1: learn how to do something, it can be really simple
Speaker 1: and then a nice treat for your pets. So I
Speaker 1: do love that tip making your own. It's not intimidating.
Speaker 1: The picture on the article has this like gourmet cupcake,
Speaker 1: like for a dog, and that's the opposite of what
Speaker 1: the article is actually saying. It doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: like complicated it is. They're very like simple. You don't
Speaker 1: need to give them fancy cupcakes. Yeah. Generally pet treats
Speaker 1: do not have a lot of ingredients, and it's a
Speaker 1: very snap diet and they should not have a lot
Speaker 1: of ingredients in them. Yeah, this one I found interesting
Speaker 1: and so certainly we love to hear it feedback on
Speaker 1: what works for you all in caring for your pets.
Speaker 1: The community voices are necessary. But number six talks about
Speaker 1: dental care. I imagine that this says they're mostly talking
Speaker 1: about dog dental care, but they suggest seeing a specialist
Speaker 1: who can offer these services oftentimes less than a regular vet.
Speaker 1: So their experience was that a vet was going to
Speaker 1: charge a lot of money to clean two teeth versus
Speaker 1: what a dental specialist was able to quote them at
Speaker 1: it was like sixty savings, which is interesting. I think
Speaker 1: that's a little bit opposite of what I'm accustomed to
Speaker 1: for like human healthcare, that going to a specialist would
Speaker 1: be specialized prices. But on the flip side, I guess
Speaker 1: I could see that where if that's not typically what
Speaker 1: of engages in they kind of have their more generalist
Speaker 1: types of care that they provide, then they might hike
Speaker 1: up a price on something that is seemingly more specialized.
Speaker 1: So I like that tip. I like I mean any
Speaker 1: time that there's prompts to shop around, get quotes, see
Speaker 1: where your best price is on the needs of your
Speaker 1: specific pet, I think that's great. Yeah. So seven on
Speaker 1: this list is if your pet needs regular grooming, see
Speaker 1: if you can do some of it yourself. So trimming nails,
Speaker 1: giving baths, I mean, maybe doing a little shaving. A
Speaker 1: lot of that is manageable yourself. I know we had
Speaker 1: big dogs growing up, and we would definitely do the baths.
Speaker 1: We would go have somebody else cut their hair because
Speaker 1: they were hairy dogs Harry Docks. But yeah, my my
Speaker 1: parents would clip the nails and do the baths and
Speaker 1: just get them groomed, maybe like twice a year, and
Speaker 1: that saved a lot. But you can also see if
Speaker 1: you can negotiate that in their wellness visit if that's
Speaker 1: something you you physically can't. I mean there was two
Speaker 1: of them, so they could, you know, tag team it.
Speaker 1: But if you cannot, you can see if you can
Speaker 1: roll it up into another service. I guess maybe you can.
Speaker 1: It's probably more expensive at the VET, but I am
Speaker 1: not sure just from hearing, Like I didn't know that
Speaker 1: thing about the dental stuff, but hearing that, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe it's like premium there, but compare the prices to
Speaker 1: something with a like a mobile groomer or a VET
Speaker 1: or something. Compare prices and see what works for you.
Speaker 1: That's a little bit more of an obvious one. And
Speaker 1: I know oftentimes the reasons that people will choose to
Speaker 1: pay is because your pet just might respond better to
Speaker 1: someone else than do you trying to clip their nails.
Speaker 1: So if if this is an area where you're deeming
Speaker 1: this is valuable for me to spend money in this area,
Speaker 1: then then that great too. But ultimately it's going to
Speaker 1: come down to that budget. Again, what have you budgeted
Speaker 1: for where can you learn to d I y things?
Speaker 1: And then what's worth paying Actually, definitely something else to
Speaker 1: include in that budget to make sure you're ready. And
Speaker 1: I liked the comment from the pet owners that they try, um,
Speaker 1: they can use you can use Rover. I'm don't know
Speaker 1: what they're using Rover for, but I anticipate if you
Speaker 1: hire somebody on Rover, maybe they can help you like
Speaker 1: whole you know, if you want to if you need
Speaker 1: help grooming your pet and it's not unsafe for the
Speaker 1: Rover employee, they could probably help you with something like that.
Speaker 1: So that might be another thing to try if you
Speaker 1: need another set of hands. They also mentioned considering different
Speaker 1: places that would provide shipping, like auto shipping on things
Speaker 1: that you regularly need, food, flee prevention, meds, litter places
Speaker 1: Chewy or Amazon or pet Co often will provide discounts,
Speaker 1: so consider taking advantage of those discounts as needed. Even
Speaker 1: switching around. We're never going to be people who advocate
Speaker 1: for loyalty if it doesn't get a discount because of it.
Speaker 1: And then they also mentioned tract or supply. If you
Speaker 1: have a local tract or supply around, they often have
Speaker 1: affordable pet items. I know a lot of times they
Speaker 1: cater to maybe the people more so with horses or
Speaker 1: larger animals, but you can find some of the necessities
Speaker 1: for having pets. They do, and they're I would consider
Speaker 1: a dog the dog a larger animal. Okay, so I
Speaker 1: learned recently and this kind of ties on. There's another
Speaker 1: one in here that further down that says like get
Speaker 1: like stuff in bulk from like tractor supply type places.
Speaker 1: Are recently learned about rural king And I don't know,
Speaker 1: you've probably never heard of this, Jill, I haven't. It's
Speaker 1: just a few hours away. But apparently it's a big
Speaker 1: thing in rural communities. I guess. But I wouldn't even
Speaker 1: think we're the city that it's. It's not superal. I
Speaker 1: don't know rural King. I met a girl and apparently
Speaker 1: this place is like tractor supply, but she goes into
Speaker 1: rural King. She bought a pig. Yeah, so you can
Speaker 1: buy your your tractor supplies, you can buy your dog food,
Speaker 1: and you can also buy live stock at rural King. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm now it's my desire to find a rural king,
Speaker 1: assuming that the treatment of animals not a king of
Speaker 1: the rural but I want to see it for myself. Uh,
Speaker 1: they don't advertise like you can't buy livestock online. I
Speaker 1: looked at the website. I'm glad she bought a pig there,
Speaker 1: and this pig is her pet. It So, now that
Speaker 1: you're saying that the tractor Supply mirror where I used
Speaker 1: to live in Pennsylvania would have chickens certain times of
Speaker 1: the year, little little baby chicks under a lamp and
Speaker 1: you could Yeah, you could buy chicks from Tractor Supply. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So these places love pets and you can buy big bulk,
Speaker 1: especially because you're going you want to be buying better food,
Speaker 1: so buy it in bulk. It costs you a little
Speaker 1: more upfront, but your budget has you know, you've worked
Speaker 1: out your annual budget to make sure you can afford it,
Speaker 1: so it shouldn't be a problem. That's a great way
Speaker 1: to like save is like buying that stuff in bulk
Speaker 1: from places like Tractor Supply and Rural King. Well, I
Speaker 1: don't have much more to say about this article except
Speaker 1: for number eleven because it's just so funny to me. Uh,
Speaker 1: starting a social media account for your pet to pretend
Speaker 1: actually get discounted products for that same pet. So I
Speaker 1: think that the end goal with this tip is that
Speaker 1: you would become a social media sensation with your with
Speaker 1: your pets photos and videos, so much so to the
Speaker 1: point where you'd get enough followers to be able to
Speaker 1: get sponsorships and ads for pet things for pet things, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we can actually do that as podcasters like they don't
Speaker 1: care about your they don't necessarily care about pets like
Speaker 1: that you have them, but that you're following is big enough.
Speaker 1: So if we ever get advertising for a pet company,
Speaker 1: will definitely give away all of the pet things we acquire.
Speaker 1: You let us know what you need, then will get
Speaker 1: it for you. Ah. Granted, you might have better chances
Speaker 1: of getting quite a following by posting your pet over yourself,
Speaker 1: so maybe that's probably true. Maybe that's what we should do.
Speaker 1: Frugal friends Instagram account should just be like little cats
Speaker 1: and dogs and birds, and he belonged to other people
Speaker 1: and just like their fruit, their little frugal lives, we
Speaker 1: should we should find a hamster that belongs to somebody
Speaker 1: else and give him his own frugal persona and just
Speaker 1: creating like a frugal story or the pig that you
Speaker 1: get from rural King can be like our piggy our
Speaker 1: frugal piggy bank. Oh it's happening, happening, Yikes. Where will
Speaker 1: the pig our own parody account. We'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: Oh god, We'll have to check our budget, sure we
Speaker 1: can afford it and our lifestyle. Uh. And so I
Speaker 1: think the last one that I will say is to
Speaker 1: see if you can find it, says a cheaper vet
Speaker 1: through animal groups in your area. So most communities have
Speaker 1: low cost vet care clinic, usually run by the local
Speaker 1: Humane society. So definitely don't I would say, don't count
Speaker 1: these costs, like, don't rely on the Humane Society that
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about your budget. Look at normal like
Speaker 1: compare normal vets because it can be difficult to get
Speaker 1: care at the Humane society clinic. I know my mom.
Speaker 1: That's where my mom would take her dog, and it
Speaker 1: was not always the best care. It was it took
Speaker 1: a long time to get in for emergency situations. Actually,
Speaker 1: when there was an emergency situation, she'd have to take
Speaker 1: him to like the to the like doggie hospital, which
Speaker 1: was more expensive. So definitely look into it. And it's
Speaker 1: one of those things where it's like try it and
Speaker 1: if you get it, awesome, that's a bonus. But don't
Speaker 1: base your budget around like, don't rely on it, but
Speaker 1: only look for it in your area to see where
Speaker 1: it is and try to connect with maybe some of
Speaker 1: these animal groups to see if you can trade for things.
Speaker 1: If you maybe volunteer at the Humane Society or something,
Speaker 1: see what maybe trades you can get. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I do know that the Humane Society is always looking
Speaker 1: for volunteers. I don't know if they have things to trade.
Speaker 1: I can't say that, but it is definitely something to
Speaker 1: look into. Like if you volunteer at the vet clinic,
Speaker 1: there can you get you know, free checkups or whatever.
Speaker 1: So see just see what happens. Yeah, and lastly, unconnected
Speaker 1: to that, but buy nothing groups they are good for
Speaker 1: other things, including pet items. I see tons of pet
Speaker 1: items going up on the buy Nothing group, whether it's
Speaker 1: a toy that their particular pet didn't enjoy, or food
Speaker 1: that actually wasn't recommended for their particular animal, all of
Speaker 1: those things. So whatever you typically employ for any other
Speaker 1: area of your life, those tips are not out the
Speaker 1: window just because we're talking about pets. Like all of
Speaker 1: our frugal living problem solving d I Y is relevant here, Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: So our next article is um three dog expenses you
Speaker 1: shouldn't skimp on to save money in the long run. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so this is not just dog, it's like really
Speaker 1: any pet. These three things can count forwards any and
Speaker 1: it's we've kind of mentioned them before, but we will
Speaker 1: reiterate them again here. And I will say the numbers
Speaker 1: are in Singapore dollars, so that's just like I looked
Speaker 1: it up and it's just like seventy five cents to
Speaker 1: the US dollars. So it's like, you know, she said
Speaker 1: that there's an average cost of owning a dog over
Speaker 1: ten years. There's study going high as like twenty six thousand.
Speaker 1: We're in US dollars. That's like, which is still a lot. Yeah, yeah, annually.
Speaker 1: That's for some people that would require maybe a small
Speaker 1: side hustle to be able to afford pet care costs.
Speaker 1: It's like nobody thinks you're going to be at the
Speaker 1: high end of the average, but like half of people
Speaker 1: studied are in the higher half of the average, essentially
Speaker 1: the median, not the average, like well the average. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, math, but you have to expect you have
Speaker 1: to at least plan that you're going to be in
Speaker 1: the higher half, and if you're in the lower half,
Speaker 1: cool fantastic, roll it over for next year. Right, But
Speaker 1: so like look at the average and think, okay, if
Speaker 1: it's gonna cost me probably maybe twenty thousand over ten years,
Speaker 1: I have to budget two thousand dollars a year for
Speaker 1: this dog. And maybe you don't use it all two
Speaker 1: thousand in the first year, but maybe something happens to
Speaker 1: that puppy. Like Alison, our friend Allison from Inspired Budget,
Speaker 1: they had a perfectly healthy dog who decided to jump
Speaker 1: a fence and got their leg cut in, got caught
Speaker 1: on the fence, and they had to amputate his little leg.
Speaker 1: Joey r I Joey. But he lived for three with
Speaker 1: three legs for a good part of his life. Okay,
Speaker 1: I remember that she had a three legged dog. I
Speaker 1: guess I didn't hear the origin story. So you never
Speaker 1: think your dog is going to be in the upper
Speaker 1: half of that average. You have to plan for it though. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: I love this perspective of this article where we're often
Speaker 1: talking about where can I cut, where can I skimp,
Speaker 1: where can I save? And just like other parts of life,
Speaker 1: there are areas where we need to be able to
Speaker 1: spend in order to see long term savings. But it
Speaker 1: is not always just about scarcity. Sometimes it's about values
Speaker 1: and value and this is one of them. So high
Speaker 1: quality pet food they rest here. And I know that
Speaker 1: the other article mentioned that too, because when you're pet
Speaker 1: just like us, is getting quality food that lacks you know,
Speaker 1: fillers and preservatives, they are going to be healthier, which
Speaker 1: is going to lead to less health problems causing higher
Speaker 1: vet bills. So spending you know, those extra few dollars
Speaker 1: per food bag that you're purchasing food can whatever it is,
Speaker 1: is going to be really helpful in the long run.
Speaker 1: So that's not the place to skimp. Yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: saying that you should look for brands that list meat
Speaker 1: as one of the first three ingredients. There are some
Speaker 1: people that say meat should be the first, but you
Speaker 1: don't have to, like unless your pet truly needs meat
Speaker 1: as the first ingredient. Just making sure it's one of
Speaker 1: the first ingredients should be good enough, and then you
Speaker 1: can look for lower cost dog food from there. As
Speaker 1: long as you have that parameter um, you can become
Speaker 1: a member at different like pet chains or sign up
Speaker 1: for recurring payments, and those can save you a little
Speaker 1: bit more than like five percent or something, but they
Speaker 1: say that can save you between ninety and sixty dollars
Speaker 1: per year depending on the food you're getting, And so
Speaker 1: this will just prevent you from having to do those
Speaker 1: refrigerated like raw food diets later on, like when your
Speaker 1: dog potentially gets kidney disease or diabetes. So looking at
Speaker 1: those first three ingredients, and then there's a ton of
Speaker 1: high quality pet foods that also have a generic brand.
Speaker 1: So if there is a brand that you like, look
Speaker 1: to see if the same maker has its own generic brands,
Speaker 1: so not just like a store brand, but like these
Speaker 1: makers will have their own lower cost food as well.
Speaker 1: I remember growing up we had a German shepherd and
Speaker 1: very specific diet that that we wanted to have them
Speaker 1: on to keep them healthy, and I remember my parents
Speaker 1: would go to a wholesale supplier of the very pet
Speaker 1: food that our dog needed. So I think that that
Speaker 1: depends on your location, but we happen to have a
Speaker 1: wholesale supplier in our area, so that's something to consider
Speaker 1: as well. If you can go straight to the source, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can probably reach out to the company whoever is
Speaker 1: in charge of distributing their wholesale orders, or you can
Speaker 1: maybe give it a Google search in your area. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you'll find it there, but if there
Speaker 1: is a food you like or or several, you can
Speaker 1: call up their wholesale department and say, hey, do you
Speaker 1: sell wholesale to any suppliers in my area and then
Speaker 1: reach out to the wholesale distributor to see if that
Speaker 1: is an option. Awesome. So the next one is the
Speaker 1: annual check up. So just because your pet seems healthy
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's wise to skip the annual check up,
Speaker 1: and those typically cost around this article says three hundred,
Speaker 1: but includes blood work, your analysis, fecal analysis, checks of
Speaker 1: the pets major organs, and just like with checkups for us,
Speaker 1: it just keeps something that is mild from becoming an emergency.
Speaker 1: So when you catch something early, then you it saves
Speaker 1: you a lot more money in dealing with it then
Speaker 1: if you catch it late. So and that's this annual
Speaker 1: checkup is where people catch those things and you can
Speaker 1: get it at This is something you can get at
Speaker 1: your the vet clinic because it's not kind of like
Speaker 1: an emergency thing. You can schedule this out with enough
Speaker 1: notice to be able to get in. Or you can
Speaker 1: try to trade services with a VET. So if you
Speaker 1: have a service you could do for a VET professionally,
Speaker 1: or maybe just provide some volunteer hours if they do that,
Speaker 1: so this you can, or maybe you work the front desk,
Speaker 1: like you know, once a month or or something for them,
Speaker 1: or or do um marketing or outreach like at an
Speaker 1: event where they have a booth. So just get creative
Speaker 1: and thinking, like where do you see the vets around town?
Speaker 1: What do you see happening at their offices? And see
Speaker 1: if there's something you could do that you could trade services.
Speaker 1: And number three comprehensive pet insurance. We hear this all
Speaker 1: the time. I wanted to say that at the same time,
Speaker 1: I'm so many people advocate and have lived experiences of
Speaker 1: pet insurance being a life saver, a money saver, a
Speaker 1: pet saver. It's not mandatory to have pet insurance, but
Speaker 1: by spending maybe an extra few hundred dollars a year
Speaker 1: on equality policy, it can cover expenses like if your
Speaker 1: pet ever needs chemotherapy or search of procedures. Some would
Speaker 1: even cover room and board if your pet needs surgery
Speaker 1: after an accident, illnesses, any type of thing. We've heard
Speaker 1: so many people say, what an amazing value and investment
Speaker 1: having pet insurance has been so as it relates to
Speaker 1: areas not to skimp on. Absolutely this is this seems
Speaker 1: worth it. Yeah, and you can absolutely compare pet insures.
Speaker 1: There's several that are listed here, so compare rates. But
Speaker 1: the earlier you get it, the more you save, the
Speaker 1: cheaper it's going to be annually. So that's going to
Speaker 1: be your biggest saving is just starting early, especially with
Speaker 1: breeds that are known to have more health problems. It
Speaker 1: becomes the longer you wait, the less affordable it becomes.
Speaker 1: And so it doesn't always make sense. But when you
Speaker 1: start as soon as you get the dog, the dog
Speaker 1: is a puppy, it can really be affordable, like a
Speaker 1: couple of bucks a week or something. So yeah, do
Speaker 1: you know what does make sense? And can happen early
Speaker 1: or late anytime, and you'll always get through the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. That's right, it's time for the best
Speaker 1: minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
Speaker 1: and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage.
Speaker 1: Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 1: this is the bill of the weekend. Hey John and Jel,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your podcast. It's been eye opening.
Speaker 1: I literally just discovered you guys just a couple of
Speaker 1: days ago. My name is Sheila. I'm from the Chicago
Speaker 1: Land area, and I have an uncle Bill, so that's
Speaker 1: awesome and he's awesome. But the main thing is that
Speaker 1: after listening literally to your first episode that I listened to,
Speaker 1: which was the one with Cassie Joy, I cut my
Speaker 1: spending of my first grocery bill like uh, samurai sword.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to try all of your tips and
Speaker 1: tricks from all of you and your cohort sitcom on
Speaker 1: the show, and just thank you for doing this and
Speaker 1: making us not feel foolish and stupid for getting ourselves
Speaker 1: in this situation, but giving us ways to get ourselves out.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Douglas. Wow, Sho, I
Speaker 1: have goose bumps. This is such an amazing bill. You
Speaker 1: gave us both your uncle Bill a person named Bill,
Speaker 1: because you know we love that, and then you talked
Speaker 1: about samurai swords. That was my sound for Samurai sworting.
Speaker 1: I love that. That's the episode we did with cast
Speaker 1: and Joy Garcia is so good that she is so fun.
Speaker 1: But yeah, man, and we are so glad that you
Speaker 1: feel supported and how to change and not shamed for
Speaker 1: being where you're at. That is our goal, and I
Speaker 1: mean thank you for letting us know that that's what
Speaker 1: we're doing number one priority, just to help support and
Speaker 1: letting you know we're learning along the way too. So
Speaker 1: glad you sliced and dice that grocery bill, and hoping
Speaker 1: to just give you more ways to slice and dice
Speaker 1: your bills. Yes. Absolutely. If you want to submit your
Speaker 1: bill of the week, if it has anything to do
Speaker 1: with swords or uncles, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: slash bill, leave us your bill, we'll get to it.
Speaker 1: And now it's time for Wow. It gets so much
Speaker 1: scarier every time you do it. You you you were
Speaker 1: on another level, Jillian. So today we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: funny pet stories because I couldn't come up with anything vulnerable. Well,
Speaker 1: so maybe mine's a little vulnerable. Yes, you go first.
Speaker 1: So this is the reason I don't have pets. So
Speaker 1: we grew up. I always had dogs, and they were
Speaker 1: never well trained, and they would always escape the house
Speaker 1: and then we would have to go like drive around
Speaker 1: the neighborhood looking for them to bring them back. And
Speaker 1: so much, like I just so much of my memories
Speaker 1: of like growing up was trying to escape my house,
Speaker 1: like in the smallest slit of the door as possible
Speaker 1: so my dog wouldn't also escape. And it was so
Speaker 1: difficult when I have my backpack or like I was
Speaker 1: an ice skater, so I'd have my my suitcase with
Speaker 1: my skates or so many things I had to get
Speaker 1: out of the house. But it just had to be
Speaker 1: through the tiniest slit possible. But that wasn't enough. I
Speaker 1: also I got a dog for free in college. I
Speaker 1: don't talk about it. I had a dog for a
Speaker 1: week because I got her free. Like the Humane Society
Speaker 1: just like gave me this dog. I didn't. They didn't
Speaker 1: ask questions or anything. I spun this How how crazy?
Speaker 1: I spun a wheel and I want a dog from
Speaker 1: the Humane Sciety? Where were you? What is this scenario?
Speaker 1: So I'm at school and there's like a Humane Society
Speaker 1: fundraiser going on in this bus, like maybe a betrayal
Speaker 1: er or something with all these dogs and you just
Speaker 1: like spin a wheel to win a prize. You had
Speaker 1: a free dog, and I'm like, and then they picked
Speaker 1: the dog and just like I got a dog. The
Speaker 1: dog because the dogs were there, that's on them. How
Speaker 1: long ago was this? Holy smokes? Because how how are
Speaker 1: they going to expect that a college kid spinning a
Speaker 1: wheel and a trailer is gonna be able to adequately
Speaker 1: care for this animal? Wasn't It was like it was
Speaker 1: grad school, so it was like not on a main
Speaker 1: college campus, so they weren't on They weren't actually on
Speaker 1: the college campus. It was just like walkable from where
Speaker 1: my class right, but it was like a Starbucks parking
Speaker 1: lot or something that I have so many more questions,
Speaker 1: but this is the lightning round. I had a dog
Speaker 1: for a week that destroyed everything it touched, and ultimately
Speaker 1: my roommate was super allergic to it and she's like,
Speaker 1: you have to get rid of this, and so I
Speaker 1: had to bring it back and it was like a
Speaker 1: really it was. It was a one week, but it
Speaker 1: was super traumatic time. This feels vulnerable, sure, okay, And
Speaker 1: so I don't have any I haven't had any pets
Speaker 1: since then. That was probably like two thousand ten, two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven. I hope that that pet found a good home.
Speaker 1: It did so somebody actually, um, somebody who came over
Speaker 1: to my house to see the dog and I and
Speaker 1: then I brought him back and he's like, wait, why
Speaker 1: did you do that? I had taken him and then
Speaker 1: he went to the Humane Society to pick him up,
Speaker 1: and um, he was already gone. Oh someone else said yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was enough. It was short enough time where
Speaker 1: it was not like he's gone, you know inven right, yeah, right,
Speaker 1: So somebody else won him at a in a bus
Speaker 1: hopefully not Hopefully you found it good forever home. Human
Speaker 1: society is not spinning wheels and passing out puppies. Looking
Speaker 1: back on the scenario now, it's like, yeah, that was
Speaker 1: not good. Yeah, uh well mine is nothing like that.
Speaker 1: My story I do. I've got a lot of run
Speaker 1: ins with animals. I'm trying to keep this short. Eric
Speaker 1: and I did have a bird that was that was fun. Yeah, pickenyo.
Speaker 1: Eric taught him how to beat box. That was super.
Speaker 1: He was a little parakey. He still is a little
Speaker 1: paa key. We gave him when we moved. We gave
Speaker 1: him to neighbors who were bird people in the past,
Speaker 1: and they are just like loving bird people in the past. Well,
Speaker 1: they sorry were birds. They did not currently have any birds,
Speaker 1: but previously they had been like bird judges. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying the right thing. They would go to bird shows
Speaker 1: and they would like judge birds and like the good
Speaker 1: kind of way and give out prizes. And then they
Speaker 1: didn't have birds for a really long time, and so
Speaker 1: Pekenyo kind of like rekindled there. They're bird affection. Pekenya
Speaker 1: would do that. I know, so great. Yeah, we never
Speaker 1: cut his feathers because I think that that's not the
Speaker 1: way to have a bird. And we let him fly
Speaker 1: around our house and land on us, and I just
Speaker 1: freaking loved him. And he ran up, he ran, he
Speaker 1: flew away and came back. Yeah. Well that's not the
Speaker 1: story I want to tell. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm taking
Speaker 1: a hard left turn. This is a story about not
Speaker 1: not my pet. One time I was babysitting and it
Speaker 1: was the summertime, so I was wearing shorts, and the
Speaker 1: family they had like three kids and a dog, and
Speaker 1: so my focus was primarily on the children. But Okay,
Speaker 1: So this dog it was I don't know, maybe some
Speaker 1: sort of like pug kind of smaller. Yeah, I might
Speaker 1: get be getting that wrong, but something along those lines
Speaker 1: as far as breed of animal. This dog could not
Speaker 1: stop licking my legs. I was wearing shorts. There's nothing
Speaker 1: I could do. I would, you know, I would sit
Speaker 1: on the floor with the kids, and this dog was
Speaker 1: like snarling, like laughing me up up and down my
Speaker 1: legs just like couldn't like just slobbering everywhere. I don't.
Speaker 1: I was like, what is on me? And it like
Speaker 1: it wasn't just like one spot. It was just like
Speaker 1: all over my legs like I was some tasty treat.
Speaker 1: But I was so grossed out. I'm just like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't, like, I'm not trying to have like my
Speaker 1: legs wet all all all of all of my legs
Speaker 1: wet from dog slabber. So then I put the dog
Speaker 1: in the kitchen like they had a baby gate, and
Speaker 1: so I'm like, all right, maybe if I'm just like
Speaker 1: away from the dog. The alternative was the dog was
Speaker 1: just like feverishly barking and jumping because it was like
Speaker 1: ravenous to try and get out my legs again. So
Speaker 1: in the end, I had to make the decision do
Speaker 1: I let the dog bark jump just be at its
Speaker 1: very wits end, or do I let the dog just
Speaker 1: keep licking my legs like he wasn't. It wasn't being
Speaker 1: like mean about he wasn't biting. It never turned into
Speaker 1: like maybe I'll eat you. It was just always just
Speaker 1: let me keep licking your legs because this is the
Speaker 1: best thing that he's ever done in his whole like that,
Speaker 1: and that is why women stay in unhealthy relationships right there.
Speaker 1: And so unfortunately, Jen, here's your vulnerability. I chose let
Speaker 1: the dog lick my wife. It was better than the
Speaker 1: dog barking, but I still left feeling a little bit
Speaker 1: violated and changed forever of course, of course. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: so I don't have any dogs now right. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for listening. Uh stay tuned for another story. But
Speaker 1: if you gotta go, we want to thank you for
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Speaker 1: For Friends is produced by Eric Syrian. Okay, let's get
Speaker 1: into it. What's your dog babysitting story? Okay? This is
Speaker 1: also why I didn't know if I was going to
Speaker 1: have kids, because I definitely didn't babysit after this, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. So I was babysitting and I had done
Speaker 1: so I had babysat for this family before, like overnight,
Speaker 1: and it went well. And I was in college. I
Speaker 1: was a young college student though, so I was like
Speaker 1: seventeen eighteen, and it was I think one child and
Speaker 1: one dog, maybe two children a time is a blur,
Speaker 1: But so I had done this before, it had been fine.
Speaker 1: So um, I was babysitting for the family again, just
Speaker 1: on a random afternoon. The parents were at like some
Speaker 1: kind of training. So somehow, in like this perfect storm
Speaker 1: of events, the child poops it's diaper, and the poop
Speaker 1: ends up outside of the diaper, on the floor, on
Speaker 1: the baby whatever. And then also in the same ten minutes,
Speaker 1: the dog escapes, like the door is open. I'm dealing
Speaker 1: with this kid, and maybe that's why I don't and
Speaker 1: maybe there were two kids and I don't remember. And
Speaker 1: then the doors open and the dogs gone, and there's
Speaker 1: poop and and and it was in that moment that
Speaker 1: I was like, this life is not for me. And
Speaker 1: I had to call the mom to come home and
Speaker 1: be like, there is there, your dog's gone to your
Speaker 1: child has pooped everything. What was the parents reaction? Um,
Speaker 1: they never called me again. Yeah, that lines up. That
Speaker 1: checks out. That checks out for sure. And I never
Speaker 1: babysat again, and I and and when anybody asked me to,
Speaker 1: I'd just be like, I can't, Like here's the story,
Speaker 1: here's this story, and I'm not qualified. And after almost
Speaker 1: three years of parenting, I still wouldn't babysit. I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, I mean, the story kind of lines up
Speaker 1: with some of your experience of motherhood. So far, there
Speaker 1: is there's a lot of poop, a lot of poop. Um.
Speaker 1: It mostly stays inside the diaper though, um because legally
Speaker 1: I have more skin in the game on this one.
Speaker 1: But there in the bathtub. Oh god. But I'm not
Speaker 1: going to add a dog to the equation. I'm traumatized
Speaker 1: by so many things.