Learn ways to cut your budget and monthly expenses! Save money, pay off debt, gain your financial freedom, and spend more time with the family!
When we were newlyweds, we were faced with taking a hard look at our finances. We had a baby on the way and had to cut our monthly expenses. We were ruthless, leaving no bill or expense unturned. In the end, we found ways to reduce our monthly expenses, cut our budget in half, AND create an emergency fund.
Here are some practical & simple tips that helped us save money, pay off our debt, and gain our financial freedom!
HOW WE CUT OUR BUDGET & EXPENSES IN HALF
1.Take a hard look at your monthly expenses.
First, see where your money is going. If you don’t know what you are spending your money on, you won’t know where to cut expenses.
Leave no stone unturned, no purchase unaccounted for.
- Print off bank statements
- Credit card statements
- Dig up receipts
- Old bills
- Open the checkbook you may rarely use –
- Whatever you can get your hands on.
Use it all to help you write down every single thing you’re responsible for every month.
Just being aware of what your current monthly expenses are is a HUGE step, so you can cut the budget. All of these line items are essentially now items in your household budget.
2. Reduce the obvious expenses
Once you know where your money is going, it’s time to start reducing– starting with the monthly expenses that are not necessary. You may even be unaware of some of these expenses, like these listed here.
For us, some of these monthly expenses were in areas we grossly overspent, like:
- Dining out
- Groceries
You can still have weekly date nights, they just may look a bit different than before (we would split fajitas, savor free chips and salsa, and share a cup of coffee together).
Ideas on how you can cut budget:
- Combine cell phone bills, or change carriers altogether, like we did. $35 a month for two cell phones with unlimited talk and text? Yes, please, and thank you!
- Snip the cable– We knew that cable wasn’t necessary, but it was a small token of entertainment that we enjoyed. We switched to satellite service AND reduced the plan to the bare minimum. This saved us another $50 each month. (We ended up canceling satellite service altogether about a year later.) Same goes for all those streaming services.
- Old memberships that you no longer need or use? Have a gym membership? Work out at home and save!
- House cleaning or dry cleaning for anything other than what’s absolutely a must. Consider making your own cleaning products to save money where practical for your lifestyle.
- Clothing/Gifts/”Miscellaneous” Items
- Shop around for a lower house and/or car insurance rate
- Look for coupons, rebates, discounts, and sales
- Free entertainment– This is where the library comes in! They have an endless amount of books and movies and music, etc! National parks have trails, and local playgrounds are always a free way to spend time!
- Check for lower internet service rates
- Shop once a month and plan your meals. This helped us when we initially created our budget.
Review your monthly expenses line by line and ask whether or not it’s needed, and cut it if the answer is no!
3. Reduce Even More
You’ve now made some serious progress at this point. If you find that you need to cut your monthly expenses even more, then you need to get creative!
- Trade in cars. It might sound counterintuitive to do this, but it meant lower monthly payments – which was the short term goal. Just by trading in our two cars, we saved $380 each month. Another reason for trading our cars though was to choose models that were more efficient with gas. This would save at least $50.
- Smaller trash cans. Since we weren’t making that much trash with just the two of us, I called the waste management company and asked if we could have a smaller trash can. I learned that not only did the smaller trash cans cost less each month, but that a recycle bin was free. This meant we could increase our recycling each month AND lower our trash. This saved us $20!
HERE ARE A FEW OTHER IDEAS THAT MIGHT HELP YOU THINK OF CREATIVE WAYS TO SAVE MONEY:
- Once you save enough in an emergency fund, increase the deductible of car insurance to lower the premium.
- Contact your energy provider and see if they have plans that allow you to pay a bill each month that’s equal to the average bill over the past year. This didn’t lower the bill, but it helped to make it consistent each month.
- Although controversial for many (and a very hard decision for us to make), we found a new loving home for one of our pets. He was a puppy (8 weeks old) destined to be a very big dog, and the money needed every month to care for him just wasn’t there. We found him a new home with a family who lived on a farm – who happened to be a co-worker!
- In the end, all of these changes helped us reach our goal. We cut our monthly expenses by 50% and we were able to live off of just my husband’s income!
FAQS
What are basic living expenses?
The basic living expenses are food, water, housing, transportation, health care, and child care.
Where to cut monthly expenses?
You need to start off by taking a look at everything you’ve spent and see what is necessary and what isn’t. Whatever isn’t necessary, you cut! Cook at home, stretch meals, and save, save, save! Check out my 100+ ways on how to save money also for more tips.
How to plan for monthly expenses?
It’s best to write everything out. That way everything is in front of you with all of the numbers that are recurring, and you can see what you can reduce.
THE BIGGEST HURDLE TO REDUCING MONTHLY EXPENSES
It’s important to realize that the biggest hurdle we had to overcome wasn’t number-related. It was our mindset.
- We thought we deserved nice things because we made nice money. But we didn’t really own any of it and felt chained to the bills that came in every month.
- Once we wrapped our heads around the bigger goal (including our desire to buy a house in cash), and got over our egos, cutting our monthly expenses and living with the aftermath from that became easier.
- In the end, our sacrifice was worth it. In 2 1/2 years, we paid off our debt and saved enough for a small emergency fund! You can too!
More Ways to Cut Budget
- How to Stick to Your Grocery Budget
- 7 Simple Ways to Afford Real Food on a Budget
- How to Make a Frugal Grocery Budget
- How to Save Money with a Pantry Challenge
I enjoyed your blog very much. While most of your responses seem to have come from younger people, I am on the other end of the spectrum and will be retiring at the end of the year, looking at a need to reduce my monthly outgo by $650 . A part
time job seemed to be the answer, but I wasnt looking forward to that and wasnt sure that at 72 I would be able to find one..
After reading your article I’m going to see how much I can cut back first. Thanks for the encouragement!
You’re so very welcome Kaye! ♥
We’ve been cutting back so much lately. We switched to the cheapest cell plan we can get and saved $15 per month we also got a smaller trash can, which saves almost $200 over the course of the year. We fixed a leaky toilet which saved $40 per month! At the end of this month, we’re cancelling our Netflix because we have hulu and share my sister’s amazon so we don’t need all 3. We also use free tv apps like youtube, crackle, tubi tv and Pluto tv. We don’t go out much but when we do, I find a coupon or place where kids eat free. We have a movie theater that shows 2nd run movies for a dollar and has dollar or $2 concessions. The library is a great resource for free family fun because we can borrow books, movies, music, games, even telescopes for free! We check the library calendar every month for free kids activities. This spring, we’ll save on the grocery bill by planting a big veggie/herb garden and hitting the farmers market every weekend. I also got a tortilla press and pasta machine so we can make our own noodles, tortillas and chips and I make bread, yogurt, granola bars, waffles, soft pretzels, cookies, danish, bagels, etc and freeze it so we don’t buy much prepackaged food at all! For dates or family fun, we enjoy picnics, free concerts or movies in the park, movie night and cooking dinner at home, board games or cards, free museums, fishing and camping
These are fantastic ideas Brittany!! Thank you for sharing, and kudos for all the hard work you’re doing! I promise it will pay off!!
Its incredible how much you do. Now.. you can start a youtube channel while you do it, and make that extra income that way. People want to learn how to do everything.. you would be a hit. 🙂
I noticed in a couple of the comments that the wife gave up the high paying job to be a stay at home parent. Curious if that decision was weighed or just made.
Hi Scott – that decision was weighed. Staying at home w/my newborn son was something we both desired, but it wasn’t a decision we took lightly because of the financial concerns. We sat down to write out a budget, to see if it was even remotely possible. When we saw that it was – after lots and lots of cutting back – we made the decision about halfway through the pregnancy. We then “practiced” living on one income for the second half of the pregnancy so that when the baby came, it wouldn’t be such a shocker. We also saved my income for those last few months to set aside for emergencies after the baby came. It was tough, but we made it work!
I read the question to be weighing between the husband or the wife staying home. I’m sure it wasn’t automatically assumed the wife would.
First thing I did was open anther bank account in s different bank. Whenever o get any money for the month. I transfer as much as I can over to the other account and I then pretend as though it isn’t there. In a pinch I can use it. But I’ve made it difficult since I don’t have a debit card for that one. so I try to feed my family of 3 off of 50″ a month. That includes diapers and toiletries etc. I shop at the dollar store for cleaners and ransoms. And clothes I shop at value village during their 50 percent off days. I purposely cut my hair shorter than normal when I go in so I have time to let it grow out before I need it cut again. I buy makeup once a year and I don’t eat out. Almost ever. Our family date nights consist of my husband and I renting a movie on tv. We operate on one car which my husband uses. During the day my toddler and I opt for the bus if we really need to but would rather do the local library, the mall, play group. Parks. And other mom friends who live in the area. I buy a package of bus tickets for 20 dollars and it will last us about 3 months. Maybe more. Everything we need is so close to us. I make everything from scratch. I stretch meat and use lentils and beans to fill out our meals when we can. My husband loves meat. But when he’s away (which is all the time it seems) we eat more vegetarian. Have meat only a couple times a
Week rather than every meal ( which is my husbands preference). I make out a menu plan every week. And this month I want to try using cash only. Since Christmas I’ve been able to put aside 2,300 dollars in savings from money o could have spent if I needed to but opted to not spend it. It’s true. A penny saved is a penny earned. Another thing I’ve learned is to not get suckered into sales. If it’s money bleeding from your account unnecessarily, it isn’t a bargain. I look for meal ideas that use up things we already have. Like frittatas or chilies or home made pizzas. I have a list of “end of the grocery budget” meals I can adapt to what we have in pantry. I want to see if I can save more so I can have extra money for Christmas without touching my actual savings account. (That account is sacred to me and only to be used in emergencies). finances are king and my biggest priority since I think stability and safety security and love is what a child needs most. and maybe one day he’ll remember how we did it and he’ll know what he has to do to make his finances work.
cool, thanks for the ideas.
Gee sounds a miserable state of affairs.
Tiffany I give you such credit! I’ve been following you for a couple/few years now and I almost didn’t read this because I’ve read before how you managed to stay at home. So anyhow, when I started reading the comments, I kind of got angry! Sometimes I don’t know how you manage to keep calm but I suppose that you take some time to respond thoughtfully….I’m not sure that I always would!
Anyhow, 32 years ago we decided spur of the moment that I would stay at home when my daughter was born…it was so difficult to adjust to one income and we were very young so we ended up in credit card debt very quickly! We racked up 14K before we figured out what we were doing wrong! Then we needed to find a way to get that paid so we could buy a home with baby #2 on the way. It wasn’t easy but within a year we got rid of that debt and saved enough for a down payment on a house. If I knew then what I know now it would have been easy peasy!
But at least now I can tell that story to my grown children who are now looking to purchase their first homes!!
Thanks!
Aw, Julie, you completely made my day. 🙂 **hugs** Thank you!
I think the way you handled your puppy is extremely admirable. It was a young puppy still, and you found him a home any dog would love to have- with a family on a farm! You took excellent care of him and made sure he would continue to have a loving family. What more could anyone expect? People making judgy comments reveal more about their personality and flaws than about your decision. It completely detracts from the fact that your family has done something I’d say 95% of Americans would never be able to commit to. People are losing sight of the fact that you are debt free and paid cash for a beautiful home. I know I should be taking a page out of your book! Thank you for sharing so much of yourself with us!
Thank you for your kind words and support Brandy!! And that post about the house is coming soon!! 😉
Great read! My first child will be turning 6 months next week and I am in the process of going through our expenses to see if I can stay home with her. This was very helpful! Thank you!
You’re most welcome!
On the subject of pets, I am on the side of family first. We ” adopted” 2 grown dogs of the breed we were looking for (Great Pyrenees), one make and one female. Unbeknownst to us the female was pregnant and surprised us one Sunday with 5 puppies. For those who aren’t familiar with this breed they are LARGE dogs. We raised them until they were old enough to be weaned and then we sold them for a nice profit to people who were looking for a puppy of this breed to go onto their farm. These are livestock guardians. We also rehomed the mother as we realized that 2 of these large dogs were a handful to care for and to provide for.
Yes, there are animals who are pets and who have found a place in a family but animals should never come before humans. I am certain that Tiffany’s puppy was not affected by the change of scenery. In fact, it was a great decision to send a puppy to a farm! Nothing better for dog than to have plenty of room to run! Good decision Tiffany!!
Thank you Angel! And I can’t even imagine adopting two dogs AND THEN suddenly there’s 5 puppies, LOL!!
I have worked in animal welfare and rescue for many years (pretty much my entire life). I think the biggest problem here is realizing the difference between rehoming a puppy you just got, to a home you know would appreciate and love that puppy AND removing an older animal you have had for years because they are inconvenient or are becoming elderly, which requires more time and money. These are very very different things.
When you work with animals it is very easy to become distraught when people can give up an animal. Emotions run high because we see the worst of the worst, abuse, neglect, etc. Most animals do end up euthanized if they go to a shelter, adoption rates are not high for animals that are older than 6 months. Just trying to let people see from both sides.
I think rehoming a puppy, which is a costly creature to have in general, but a parvo of puppy more so, was fine.
We are a 3 dog, 6 cat, 2 child, 1 income household.
I’m sorry being honest about what you did to make things work for your family resulted in such blowback. I love my pets like crazy but I have a friend who cannot meet her bills every month and she has three pets—she is prioritizing an animal over her kids and I don’t understand it. I appreciate that you found a new home for your pet rather than just dropping it off at an animal shelter.
As someone who adopted my dog FROM someone in the same position as Tiffany, I am also sorry you got such blowback. Daisy was such a wonderful addition to our family and I’m happy she got to come live with us where we could take care of her in a way the previous owner couldn’t. Every few months or so we bring her for a quick visit to see her old family, but she only lived there for 2 months, she isn’t attached anymore. I don’t think the negative comments are considering the feelings of the new family who were probably so happy to have her.
You won’t have to worry about my comments any more. I think it is ridiculous that you think I was unkind or inappropriate because I wasn’t. I will not be commenting or following any further.
Cindy,
Which part of Tiffany’s reply to you did you not see? Her and her husband spent $1200 treating the dog’s parvo, and then let her coworker adopt the animal. In my opinion, she did the most loving and caring thing for the animal that she could have done. She nursed it back to health and found a better home!
Your words were flat out unkind. Just because you have your opinion, doesn’t mean that others have to share the same view. You basically accused Tiffany of “treating the dog like trash” when in fact she did the exact opposite. Re-read her comments back to you and maybe you will change your mind!
Good grief. I love my pets (1 dog, 1 cat), but my family comes first every time. No if’s and’s or but’s in my household. Sometimes you just have to make tough decisions.
Awe….
Hi Jennifer! Looking back, we should have cut out the restaurant budget more or even entirely, but obviously we were new to the budgeting idea. 🙂 Smart thinking on the rewards card to pay bills!! If we could have used our credit responsibly, that would have worked nice for us!
Back to your corners, ladies. This is not an ethics blog, It’s here to help us budget our food and household spending. Let’s not lose sight of that.
The other thing that needs to be considered for a wife (or husband) thinking about staying home with the children is the cost of their employment! Many, many years ago (nearly 18, in fact), my husband and I made the decision for me to stay home with our children. My clothing budget decreased. I no longer needed the professional suits, heels, etc. –or the dry cleaning bill to go with it. His dry cleaning budget decreased because I could launder and iron his shirts myself (and fix the buttons and catch stains better than the dry cleaner did). Our food budget went down as I learned to cook from scratch–and had the time and no longer needed convenience foods. Service calls to the plumber and electrician disappeared when I learned to DIY. We took care of the lawn ourselves rather than hiring it done. The list goes on. Today, I honestly don’t think I could get as much salary in the workplace as I can value-add to our family. It is worth thinking about and calculating.
Kathleen, I loved this comment!
I read an article a while back about how if you paid a stay at home mom an annual salary – it would come out to over $100k/yr.!
I am currently a working professional but would love to stay home if/when we have kids. As much as I KNOW how valuable homemakers are (my mother was SAHM my entire childhood), it is so nice to hear it broken down in this way. I have never thought about how much I actually spend just to arrive at my job on time and in professional attire. This page is giving me so much more confidence if I choose to take that path. Thanks!
You’re very welcome Jade! ♥
I really appreciate your honesty and commitment to be home, despite the difficulty!
Thank you Emily 🙂
That’s such an inspiring story, Tiffany! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Thanks Amy!
We have been through the same type of ‘cut our budget drastically’ type of mode the last several years but for very different reasons. I already stay home with 4 kids and we already live on one income. My husband works for the federal government so not a lot of opportunity for a large pay increase. Our goal was to pay cash for our dream house! We looked at it from 2 angles, cutting everything to bare bones and increasing monthly income through non-conventional ways. We have sold a lot of items from our home that were just not really being used, the kids have done odd chores for neighbors and grandparents’ neighbors like cleaning gutters, cleaning flower beds after winter, large dusting jobs, etc. We also as a family cut grass one or two evenings a week and on Saturdays. My kids are 10-15 so they are big enough to do a lot of the work even if my husband didn’t get home in time to help. On another note, yes, giving up your puppy to another home can be controversial, but I am SO proud of you for doing it! Yes, we do have a larger dog and it is not cheap. By finding a new loving home for your puppy, you were putting your husband and soon-to-be children first. I love my dog, but he is not my child. Our dog easily eats $40 worth of food every month plus he needs about $600 in vet bills every year (not including if something goes wrong!). If we were in your situation with no kids attached to him and he was still a puppy where he had many years to love and be loved by another family, Yes, we would have made the same decision. In a heartbeat! We still would make that decision if it meant me staying home with the kids or getting a job. But, in our situation it is just a matter of paying cash for a home one month later than if we didn’t have him. There’s no question there, we are keeping him. I am a dedicated reader and have read and re-read your blog so many times during our journey that I feel like we are neighbors. Your information and encouragement have been one reason we are going to break-ground on our dream home in 6 weeks! Thank you Tiffany!
What is wrong with your dog that he needs that much in vet bills,?! that is not normal.
Plus I still maintain that if you adopt a pet, they are family. How can people be so heartless to just give them away like an old sweater??!
Actually, nothing is wrong with him (other than seasonal allergies which does cost about $150/yr), he has to go twice a year to get check-up, shots and flea/tick medication. Vets are not cheap around here. I do love my dog, dearly. I volunteer and help families with their finances so I see things from different lenses than most. Every week or so I speak with a family that either would love to have a mom at home and can’t because they are not willing to give up things like the nail salon, the lunches out, the $5 coffees, maid service or expensive pets. I also see families with multiple pets who can’t pay their light bill and their home is being foreclosed on. I see it all. It’s not pretty. It’s also not fair to the pets when the owner can’t pay for needed care. I totally understand the ‘my pet is my family’ feelings because I do love my dog. But, given a choice of keeping my pet or being with my kids and having some entertainment money for a healthy relationship with my husband, I will always choose to find a loving new home for my pet. Please understand that I am not in any way saying you are wrong! In fact, my 12 year old is wanting to be a vet because she is such an animal lover. I am the first to stop and help an animal in need. I just see too many people not willing to make the hard choices for the greater good.
But what you are talking about is not a situation where the person is homeless and not having food. You are talking about prioritizing wants over keeping the pet that YOU decided to adopt. That is my issue. DON”T adopt if you can’t and DON”T act like it is OK to just throw them away like trash! No One is obligated to adopt a pet and don’t act like you did the world a favor by taking one for a minute, because you just hurt that animal and it may never trust again.
Cindy – I appreciate your comments and sharing your point of view, but let’s keep this conversation positive and upbeat, okay? We’re ALL entitled to our own opinions, and it’s totally fine to disagree, but we can do so in a kind manner. And the fact that we gave up a dog is a minor point in a bigger article (and the decision to find him another home was NOT taken lightly and he was certainly not tossed aside like a sweater). If you have other ideas to add to the article as a whole, I’d love to hear them!
I just wanted to say no one wants to have to give up their pet! But, once our family got down to rationing food for our dog, we decided his health and happiness was more important than ours. He went to a great family and even has another dog sibling now.
I know the people who say they will never give up a pet probably hasn’t had their card declined to buy water, rationed food, and had to move out of state away from everything they know in order to survive.
I think you should think before you are so quick to judge and be thankful you have not had to be in a situation where you didn’t have a choice. Homeless people have dogs because they would never give up their pet it’s not fair to the dog!
I don’t feel like these pets are “being thrown away like trash”… These ladies are taking THEIR time and FINDING GOOD HOMES AND HAPPY families for the pets… I could see where you would be upset if they dropped them at a shelter, in the woods, or side of the road… however, they aren’t! They are FIND GOOD HOMES AND HAPPY families!
To each their own… I think a common problem in our society is that people feel entitled to judge others’ decisions … when we never know how that HARD decision effected the person who had to make it. Why can we, as a society, not stand up and support other people’s decisions, especially when Tiffany’s decision was to FIND A GOOD HOME WITH A HAPPY FAMILY rather than throw the puppy “away like trash”? Tiffany – I fully support and admire the tough decision that you made to help your family! I am new at learning to budget and coupon and live frugally and save like never before and … well, the list goes on! Thank you for sharing your testimony! 🙂 -AB
♥
So agree with your comment.
Thank you for offering this breakdown Amy, which you certainly didn’t have too! We too have counseled families financially and have seen both sides of the fence. Families have to make hard decisions all the time, and other people don’t necessarily agree. That doesn’t make the decision right or wrong – it’s just not the same one they would have made. 🙂
It’s a DOG… Not a person. A little rational thinking please.
However some dogs are better than some people.
Well in my case, my 79 pound PUPPY jumped out of my moving car. Broke his leg, 2 ribs and a toe. I don’t have children, but I also don’t have pet insurance. The survey cost me $14,000 when all was said and done! My dog IS my child so I put my bid girl panties on and figured it out, but $600 annually would be awesome compared to what I’ve paid this year lol.
This was a very helpful and encouraging post for me. I became the stay at home parent back in 2008 (my great paying job was bought out on my maternity leave and my position was eliminated) We had to learn the hard way fo way some years, but now, we know where every dollar goes. We utilized lots of great free budgeting tools and apps, and recently found another way to cut down on our food costs (a farmer’s market connected to a restaurant sells produce and meats for cheap!) The only expense that we haven’t been able to knock down considerably would be cell phone bill. (We have our elderly and widowed parents on our plan) Great tips and I will see what else I can do!
I’m so glad it was helpful Allison!!
I’m not bothered at all that you’d give up your dog. We have had our dog for ten years and I wouldn’t give her up today. However, you stated yours was a puppy. If we’d just gotten ours and realized it was a more of a financial burden than we realized, finding a new home seems perfectly responsible. For the 10-15 years that you own a dog it CAN be a huge expense and it’s important to know that from the start.
Thank you Laura!
You are right that it is controversial to give up a pet! I could never think of giving up one of my dogs as a means to save money! I believe our pets are family members and to do that is just unthinkable! They have feelings too! There are other ways to save money, and I bet that dog didn’t cost the $80 a month in date nights you spent. I may not get more pets since I don’t have the budget to do so right now, but there is no way I would give one up to save a few bucks a month!! I love your blog but that just leaves a bad impression for me that you would do that.
Hi Cindy! It is controversial, but giving up a pet was just one of the many tough decisions we made at the time in order to put our family first. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have gotten him in the first place. But we also shouldn’t have bought a house nor two new cars… We only had him a few weeks and had been treating him for Parvo, so we were already spending a lot of money ($1200+) just to treat him to be well – money that we didn’t have. In God’s perfect timing, I had a co-worker (who lived on a farm) who was looking for a new pet at the time, so we are certain he went to a good home. As harsh as this may sound (and despite the fact that I love them!), but my family comes before animals.
I agree with the pet thing . We dont have one because of costs.. giving one up you alresdy had would be hard ..but this is all about making hard choices to better your family in tje LONG RUN
I too agree. Waiting for my 14 yr old dog to pass. Got the dog for the kids but they are off doing there own thing now. Shes a good dog and I love her. Never had a dog before this one. Its expensive and limits our ability to travel. Shes 45 lbs and grumpy at times. Likes to growl at people when she doesn’t want to be bothered. Yes you did the right thing giving it to a home were she could be well taken care of and grow into there family. The vet tells me my dog looks good and could last several more years. My luck right
yes you are lucky having your dog, mine is 14year 3 months and the most loved thing, I would not give him up, I would rather reduce costs for myself than let him suffer or do without health care.
Why not just change the type of pet?
A dog is really expensive (with all the vet cost, and meat meals etc.)! Whereas fishes are really cheap to have pets!
The need at the time was to cut expenses, and even switching to another pet was still an expense… tank, fish, food… it all adds up and we needed a balance of zero!
I don’t disagree with your decision to give up your pet either. At least you found a good home!!! Families have to make decisions for the best of their families and you shouldn’t be judged for it. My daughter is the recipient of a dog that a family gave up. She takes the BEST care of this sweet dog and he couldn’t be happier. He was three when she got him. I commend you.
Thank you Jennifer!
the puppy was 8 weeks old, usually puppies stay with their mothers till they are 8 weeks old. But maybe this puppy left its mother at 6 weeks old. So at most they had the puppy for 2 weeks, how attached can you get in 2 weeks?
sorry I think you are taking this personally, its not you or your dogs and you cant hold them to your standards.
They found a loving home for the puppy – on a farm which is a lot bigger and nicer for the puppy than a house/apartment / whatever they were staying in.
Ugh, animal nuts. Good lord. If they found the puppy a good home, then all is well with the world. Pets are not humans. They are animals.
Totally agree, Mike. People that obsessed with animals are usually the kind that treat other human beings poorly. Can’t stand this sickening and very dangerous trend toward pet worship.
However some animals are far better than some humans me thinks.
Giving up your dog so that he/she gets better care might be controversial but is noble. I commend her and her husband for having the mind to do what’s best for the dog.
People get sappy over dogs. “Dogs are people to.” Is basically what they are saying. I get a kick over the people who worship their dogs.
I have a theory about dogs. It needs to have a purpose; herd, guard, pull sled, hunt, sniff drugs, etc. If it has no purpose IT NEEDS TO BE GOOD TO SMALL CHILDREN! If none of the above, it’s no different than a chicken that no longer lays, a cow that doesn’t produce milk etc. It gets taken out back and done away with.
I don’t disagree with your choice. At least the dog was still a puppy and has a long life ahead for the new family. Kudos to be courageous enough to admit you want a better life for him and post in your blog. Everyone is too judgmental about everything.. Are they living your life to understand? No. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad about your decisions.
Amen to that!!! My 100lb boxer bulldog is my kid. My husband and I lost my parents within 2 months of each other and there’s no way we would’ve made it with her. I love her more than I do some people! If it’s that easy to get rid of your pet then you don’t need one.
April, perhaps it was not as easy as it is being assumed it was.
Thank you GREAT response!!! Also thank you for your ideas, im starting over (separated) w/tiny emo support dog They are an expense $36mo. I boarded him once $121 but a friend pd it. So cost of care is real. Im also learning fm my oldesr kids how to budget correctly. Dad controlled the money and we still had lil – lost pur house [not gambling not addictions just not a budgeter] so …. Yea
Thank you for practical ways i can restucture my budget. Considering refinancing my used car bc i need an apt vs renting a room so kids can visit. This has been rough but after reading i feel better
Txs Enjoy your growing family
This mother of 5 knows they are worth every bit we do for them – it come back Greatly
Blessings
Angela, Good luck in your future healing and growth! Congratulations on your wonderful children, Angela. Blessings to you as well.