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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 4:30pm | IP Logged
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We have a very nice vet we've been using for our pets since I was in elementary school. Like you, Candace, being without pets just isn't an option.
But I think we've taken pets to a higher level of suburbia than is necessary.
I've read about administering shots to the animals (I think it was here at 4Real) but haven't checked into it. Good assignment for my oldest son. 
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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Michaela
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 5:54pm | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
I just got back from the vet. One of our cute little kitties we've had less than 10 days has an eye infection. That hour cost me $72!!! 
I don't suppose anyone has ideas for saving on vet bills???? |
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Your library may have a book that would be helpful.
Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook
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Michaela
Momma to Nicholas 16, Nathan 13, Olivia 13, Teresa 6, & Anthony 3
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Donna Marie
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 6:32pm | IP Logged
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I have been using the homemade laundry detergent for quite a long time now....maybe a year?? I find it cleans...ok... but I notice that harder stains are not coming clean..things that I thought were a no brainer before...like my breastmilk soaked nightgown and the front of my 6yo ds's favorite (meaning I can't seem to get it off his body long enough) shirt.
I make the recipe with the 1 c washing soda, 1c borax and 1 bar fels naptha. What else can I do for more uuumph in the washer (I have a front loader) I think that my results are this way because we do have hard water.
Speaking of Mt. Washmore...
hi-ho-hi-ho Its to the washer I go....(this is like Groundhog Day the movie...remember that one??) 
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Donna Marie from NJ
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Finding Elegant Simplicity
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 7:08pm | IP Logged
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Donna Marie wrote:
| I make the recipe with the 1 c washing soda, 1c borax and 1 bar fels naptha. What else can I do for more uuumph in the washer (I have a front loader) I think that my results are this way because we do have hard water. |
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I've heard some people add some "clorox powder" (I didn't know it came in a powder)
or they use double the usual amount on the heavier loads - or pretreat.
I don't know if those ideas help ???
:)
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 7:22pm | IP Logged
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Cay Gibson wrote:
I've read about administering shots to the animals (I think it was here at 4Real) but haven't checked into it. Good assignment for my oldest son. |
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My mom mentioned this. She's in the vet business but not a vet or a tech. She said feed stores will carry them. I am thinking about calling around to find them. Still, the rabies shot has to be a vet administered shot, in my area, $12 for each kittie, plus the $25 for the visit to the vet.
I need to read the book mentioned above and do some more research on this.
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Karen T
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MelissaClaire wrote:
I wrote a post about it on my blog:
link
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Wow, I just checked your blog and the list of what you bought is incredible! But can I ask - where do you get all those rebates to send in? I've almost never seen rebates for grocery store items. And did you really buy 150 bottles of BBQ sauce? And....why?
 
karen T
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SeaStar
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I'm being a squeaky wheel, but be a little cautious of vaccinating your own pets. Yes, you can buy vaccines at feed stores... OK, so do you know which vaccines your pet needs? What brand are you going to buy? Does the feed store staff have the expertise to advise you? And then you give the vaccine yourself at home, and your pet has a reaction (it happens)... what are you going to do then?
Vaccines have to be stored properly (refrigerated) to be effective. Can the feed store guarantee you the ones you're buying have been stored right?
A better option: talk to your vet about what your pet needs. Most clinics now are going to vaccinating pets only every three years. So while your pet does need a physical exam once a year, you won't necessarily being paying for vaccines at each visit. Also, not every pet needs every vaccine. An indoor only adult cat can probably skip the feline leukemia vaccine. A dog that is never boarded does not need a kennel cough vaccine.
Rabies vaccination is required by law in most states. That is the only required one. Talk to your vet about the bare minimum vaccine wise that your pet needs to stay healthy.
Some vet clinics will price match for you- if you can get heartworm prevention cheaper on line they will match the price. Not all clinics do this, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Some clinics will give you a deal if you buy a year or 6 months of preventative at a time.
Finally, if you have financial concerns, be up front with your vet. Most vets are more than willing to work out payment plans for their established clients. Some clinics offer "vaccines only" visits with no physical exam. Some vets are more than happy to work out a barter deal with you... ie, computer trouble shooting or website work in exchange for vet services. Or lawn care in exchange for services. Or cleaning... or a set of new shelves. Whatever. It never hurts to ask.
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MelissaClaire
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| Posted: June 18 2009 at 6:56am | IP Logged
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Karen T wrote:
MelissaClaire wrote:
I wrote a post about it on my blog:
link
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Wow, I just checked your blog and the list of what you bought is incredible! But can I ask - where do you get all those rebates to send in? I've almost never seen rebates for grocery store items. And did you really buy 150 bottles of BBQ sauce? And....why?
karen T |
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I did buy all that BBQ sauce! All but 6 or so bottles were donated to the food bank. I bought it because it made me money (a lot) to buy it. It was on sale, I had coupons and it was part of a promotion for every 6 you bought you got a coupon for $3 off your next order. So it was free after coupon, then I made $3 by buying it and I had an additional coupon where for every 2 I bought I got $2 off any meat purchase. So I found meat packages that were marked closest to $2 (the meat manager helped me in some repackaging too because I was buying so much.) I also had a store coupons for $3 off $15 worth of meat. So it was a "perfect storm" where everything worked out all as I needed right at the same time!
As far as the mail in rebates, often times 7-11 or the grocery stores will have them. There's also a website www.hotcouponworld.com that has a trading forum where people will trade for them.
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Melissa
Mom to a dd ('02), ds ('03), ds ('05), dd ('07) and baby due 9/01/09
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crusermom
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| Posted: June 18 2009 at 9:29am | IP Logged
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I am loving this topic. I know the one area I need to work on is using up what we have and not running to the store so much. My husband has started a part time second job - and it has made me very aware of where we waste money. I think - is this purchase worth not having my husband home for dinner?
I have learned just to do the minimum with the vet. I guess living in a rural area for a few years was very enlightening. Many places have vaccination clinics - I know they do them at the grocery store by me. Being military, I get my dogs the shots on post.
You can't administer your own rabies vaccine. You need that one. I can't speak for every place in the country, but in it was a pretty hefty fine ($500) one place I lived if your dog got picked up and you didn't have it.
I have ordered vaccines from Jeffers - a vet supply catalog - they come packed on ice. They do free shipping if you order a minimum. Also, the feed store has some vaccines - I figure that is where the farmers get them. They keep them in a fridge. I have only given shots to goats and horses. Never to cats or dogs. I have never had problem.
My dog did get hit by a car and the first vet told me it was going to be thousands of dollars. (at the pet ER) I took him to another vet in the AM who charged me for the xrays and told me just to keep him very still for 30 days. That was 10 years ago and his is fine. There are some pet owners that will spare no expense - but that is not me. I usually tell the vet that we are on a budget.
Costco is also carrying Frontline right now for dogs.
Good luck!
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Army wife and Crusermom to 8 wonderful children!
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time4tea
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Bookswithtea wrote:
I am also going back to cloth diapers. Gee, don't I look excited about that???  But I know it will make a huge difference in the budget so it needs to be done.
I just got back from the vet. One of our cute little kitties we've had less than 10 days has an eye infection. That hour cost me $72!!!
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Hi Books!
We use cloth diapers here, to save $$ but also because dd has such sensitive skin, I have tried but cannot use disposables on her. After trying (and being disappointed by) a bunch of different dipes, some of which I used to even sell when I still had my natural baby shop eons ago now, I ended up going with Motherease Sandy's for dd who is a really heavy-wetter. They cost a bit more up front, but the NEVER LEAK and are easy for everyone (even the teenage ds's) to get on and off the baby. I find if you buy a package deal of 18-24, you won't need to buy dipes again probably up to potty training.
Regarding those pesky vet bills - we used to set aside a certain amount of money per pay period as "insurance" when we had our pets (our dog passed away last summer....). That way, when emergencies or even routine care costs crop up, you have a "medical savings account" all ready to help absorb the costs.
Hope this helps!
ETA: Also, shop around for vet care. I was a vet tech in my former life, and I can tell you that some vets are definitely more "bells and whistles" than others who focus more on just giving quality care minus the fancy trappings. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that many people treat their pets like children these days, and want that warm, fuzzy experience when they take the animal to the vet. As a result, the vet profession has begun to cater to this mentality.
Also, regarding vaccinations - some states require that certain shots be administered by a vet, because if they are administered incorrectly they may not be as effective. One such vaccine is rabies, for obvious public health reasons. But, rabies shots usually aren't done every year in adult animals, but more like every 3 years. Also, some states will not permit the sale of vaccine unless you have a prescription from a licensed vet. Check out the Drs. Foster and Smith website for more information (sorry, I'm at a loss for how to link you to it )
Finally, keep pets out of places such as PetSmart. I know they welcome pets and it is tempting to bring them, but animals go to the bathroom and vomit all over those floors, which are NOT always properly cleaned. They are a HUGE source of infection for other pets!
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seven2hold
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I'm Melissa Claire's big sister and she already posted links to our blog for large families Live Large Spend Less in this thread.
My sister and I began using coupons almost two years ago (when I had a 5 week old baby). (Melissa taught me everytrhing I know!) Like many others I couldn't do much to change how much income we brought in. The only thing I could control was what went out. I prayed that God would help me to cut back on our monthly expenses. I believed that this would mean having less or lowering the quality. We haven't given up much and I have learned that often the name brand product costs less than the store brand if you wait to buy it when it is on sale, on promotion and you have a coupon.
I wish someone had shown me how to coupon when I had less than 8 children! I used to buy the paper, clip the 4 coupons for the products that I used, go through the grocery checkout spend $125 and see that my coupon clipping saved me only $3.25.
Fast forward to June 2009 - I have spent $432.20 so far (still 5 days to go)for the entire month. The items that I include in my monthly grocery budget include all health & beauty items (soap, shampoo, etc), cleaning supplies, baby items including diapers,paper products and food. I first began tracking my expenses in the previous categories this April (better late than never), I spent $1,120 that month. My goal is to get my expenses for these catagories (for a family of 10 - minus 1 this fall when DD goes to Christendom College!)down to $100 per week. I know this is a realistic goal! And I'm REALLY close!
Here's how my last 3 months look:
April $1,120
May $491
June $432.20 so far.
I invest time. I am not a wage earner, I am a time spender. I need to spend my time wisely to help my husband provide for our beautiful family. I do invest time buying extra newspapers, I also invest time researching coupon websites (and I have dial up)where other women & men (NOT ME) spend time reviewing grocery store flyers and matching coupons to sale items to get the lowest price. I just read their match ups select the items from that store that I need and clip those coupons and then go shopping.
Here is one of my receipts from this month:
Food Lion
Perdue Split Chicken Breast $6.19 - $4.24 (club card savings) - $2 store coupon for chicken BALANCE DUE $0.05. YEP, 5c for 1 package of split chiken breasts.
I share this here, because it REALLY is possible.
Here is another receipt:
Harris Teeter
5 packages of Kraft shredded cheese at $2.99 = $14.95 - $7.60 (VIC savings) I used 5 50c off coupons which doubled to $1 each so, - $5.00 and I applied a $2 store coupon dropping the price another -$2. tax was .12 and my Balance due was $.47. I paid $.47 for 5 packages of Kraft shredded cheese. BUT then the machine printed out a coupon good for $4 off my next purchase of any items in the store. From my perspective I got paid $3.53 to take 5 packages of cheese out of the store.
Maybe I'm boring most of you here. It's just that I have learned so much and saved so much by using the internet and other people's legwork to find out where the sale/coupon/promotion line up on the products that my family uses. It's working for me and I know it can work for others.
For the first time I also tracked how much of each item I purchased this month. I never did this before.
I can't believe I bought 46 Gallons of milk! And June isn't over yet - I can guess we'll buy 3-4 more gallons before June is out!
I also bought 13 packages of pampers this month (they were only $2.99/bag and my son will be a size 4 for a while so I bought way more than I needed this month).
I hope my comments have been a blessing and an inspiration to you. I post here to glorify God for making me teachable and for leading me to those I could learn from. I wish that I had been inspired by someone long before now to use the retailer's promotions and the manufacturer's coupons to my advantage.
My sister and I usually update our monthly expenditures and goal setting at the beginning or the end of a month. You can do a search on our blog under the word "budget" to find our posts about our monthly budgets.
Off my soap box now. 
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Kathy
Wife to John
Mother to DD(91), DD(93), DD(95), DS(98), DD(00), DS(01), DS(03), DD(05), and DS(07)
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Maryan
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| Posted: June 26 2009 at 7:36am | IP Logged
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Wow thanks for the grocery tips!! We'll have to give this a whirl!!
I was away when this thread started, so here's how we're economizing:
As best we're able,...
We're try to cut back on unneeded clothing. My clothes are fine. For example, It would be fun to have a new summer outfit, but not necessary.
I'm putting kids in smaller diapers... and so far no leaks -- they are past the runny nursing dipe stage.
I try not to cut money where I think it will impact a large Catholic family. For example, I could get books cheaper and with free shipping at Amazon, but for those books that I could, I went with Emmanuel. I don't mind cutting Walmart short, but I have guilt issues with the other.
Actually, in general, I want my money to count, so I look to see who we can support with our money before we do nationwide store/restaurant/etc. It generally means buying less.
Otherwise buy used books or use the library.
Stretching meals with pasta.
Make our own birthday cards.
Dh planted corn, tomatoes, peppers, onions, squash and pumpkins. They're growing nicely.
Shutting shades, turning fans on high. Using the sprinkler (well water).
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: economizing
