Everybody Loves Free Stuff

I was scrolling through Facebook the other morning, when something caught my eye.

It was brown and furry, with big feet, a pink button nose, and long floppy ears. OMG someone was giving away bunnies!!! 

Immediately, I was in love.

And I started going over all these plans in my mind. Plans of how I might bring this little puff ball into my life.

Because it would be as easy as stopping by the local farm, picking out a rabbit, and bringing him home. Easy peasy.

In my town, there are several large farms. These farms sell fresh produce, flowers, eggs, baked goods, various crafts, and are just altogether fun to go visit. Lots of times they’ll support a charity event by selling their wares, and also include a petting zoo to entertain the kids. Or me — cuz, like, I’m just a big kid at heart.

One of the events going on that very day was not terribly far from my house. They were having all of the cool stuff above, plus goats, chickens, and a bunch of other fun activities.

But the part that totally had me lingering on the post was about the bunnies. Apparently the farm was partnering with a local rescue organization to rehome these bunnies for adoption.

And their pictures were sooo cute — big fluffy squishy puffalumps, sitting on the laps of volunteers. They looked so happy, so content, and so cuddly! And they were FREE!!!!

OMG, how could we NOT get a bunny??

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I took my little peanut to the vet the other day.

Don’t worry — nothing was wrong with her. She was just due for her annual checkup, and a couple of vaccinations.

Each year, we budget for the expense of an annual checkup for both of our dogs. Some people choose to spread this expense out over multiple appointments throughout the year, to balance out the bills.

We prefer to save up and take care of everything at once, with one large vet bill.

But overall, it’s less stressful for the dogs to only go to the vet once per year, and get everything out of the way.

So as the receptionist presents me with this super-painful piece of paper itemizing each individual charge and service that is rendered, I get to thinking.

There are two ways one can logistically approach this, in order to save on vet bills:

1. Budget for the entire expense, knowing each year we will have to pay (at least) this amount for each dog.
2. Find ways to reduce expenses and/or supplement what is being paid for these services, to make it a little less agonizing for all involved.

I, for one, choose to engage both of these practices. Because I do want to prepare for the worst.

And more or less have to — since who has an extra $400 just sitting around, begging to be spent?

But I also want to mitigate the amount spent, and only pay what is absolutely necessary.*