New Dog. New Budget.

“Hey babe, let’s adopt a dog.”

“Great idea, we should save some money. When we get $500 together we can go for it.”

Okay maybe that wasn’t quite how the conversation went, but you know what I mean.

Well I thought $500 would be enough, turns out… it is so much more.

Adoption fee	250.00
Dog license	20.00
Collar	16.94
Leash	9.03
Clicker for training	6.77
Training treats and dog treats	21.77
Food and water bowls	35.02
Dog food	40.67
Container for dog food	24.86
Dog pillow	24.85
First vet visit	157.99
Treatment for worms	25.99
Antibiotics and flea treatment	74.20
Baby gate to restrict areas of the house	63.25
Dog toys	50.00
Dog toys (when he destroys the first set within a couple days)	50.00
Total initial costs	871.33

And then you realize later, that the dog food you just bought will last about a month, he will need at least one more dog bed for the house, you need a dog tie off for the back yard (you will see why), among more and more and more!

We are happy to report, despite the huge cost, he has been welcomed into our family with open arms. Rocco is adjusting perfectly. The first day we brought him home we were confident we had made the yard completely secure for him with the addition of the new gates. So we took him straight from the car and let him loose in the backyard to get familiar with the area. Within five minutes he managed to find a way to push his way through the gate and took a leisurely stroll down the street peeing on every tree possible. The yard has since been properly ‘horse-proofed’ and we haven't had any additional situations...yet. He has been behaving extremely well in the house and has perfect manners when it is feeding time. He is learning very quickly how to avoid distractions and walk without pulling, but we still have a long way to go there.

We have also learned how much he enjoys car rides when we took him for a drive along the parkway with the windows open. Now he won't walk down the driveway without stopping at the car door and looking up at us.

This blog isn’t about scaring you out of doing things, however I want you guys to take our financial projects and realize the real life costs, not just what you have in your head. We will get into the hard realization of real-life budgeting, but until then I hope that you can take a little from each of our projects and apply them to your life going forward.

Trust me, you will want to take baby steps towards a full budget, so jump in head over heels and start by making informed decisions before you spend your hard earned money. Gone are the days of credit, credit, credit. Cash is king!