What My Cat Taught Me About Being Financially Smitten
“Everything I know I learned from my cat:
When you’re hungry, eat.
When you’re tired, nap in a sunbeam.
When you go to the vet’s, pee on your owner.”
~Gary Smith
Meet Joker, one of the loves of my life! We rescued him from a warehouse parking lot about a year ago and he quickly became a part of the family. He had some minor medical issues after having lived on the streets, that we were able to remedy no problem. At that time the vet handed us a couple of pamphlets for pet insurance, which slowly worked their way down to the bottom of a stack of ‘to do’ papers. Perhaps you can relate?
Poor little Joker also wound up with some dental issues, and in November had to have three teeth extracted. He came through the surgery like a trooper, and all seemed well. As I paid the vet bill for that visit, ‘pet insurance’ resurfaced in my mind, and again was shuffled away somewhere, in between all the holiday activities and busy-ness.
Well, I finally got my ‘pet insurance’ wake up call! I was aware that something just wasn’t right with my little man a couple of weeks ago. His usual voracious appetite was waning and he seemed slightly lethargic. Back into the cat carrier he went, and we headed off to the vet yet again. After multiple rounds of a variety of insanely expensive diagnostic tests [and a period of frightful possible causes], it turns out that the floral balance in his intestines was off kilter due to the round of strong antibiotics after the dental surgery. Gosh, what a relief!
In the middle of this whole ordeal, I swore to myself that I would finally apply for that pet insurance. And once we found out that his current condition is completely curable, I was thankful that a ‘pre-existing condition’ would not be an obstacle. I finally learned my lesson, and started digging out those pet insurance pamphlets!
This experience led me to reflect on my relationship with money, and another lesson I learned a few years ago, ironically regarding my own dental surgery! I wound up having two root canals within a period of a few months. Now, even with dental insurance, these procedures are very expensive. I realized at that time that I needed to have a savings account, not just for ‘emergencies,’ but also for what are called ‘periodic expenses.’
Periodic expenses are foreseeable and unforeseeable expenses that do not re-occur on a monthly basis. They are often excluded in monthly budgets, and can wreak havoc on financial planning. And, they present situations where many people wind up turning to their credit cards, leading to unwanted debt.
In addition to dental care and vet visits, some other things that fall into this category are: car maintenance and repairs, auto registration, birthday and holiday gifts, vacations, back-to-school expenses, computer repairs, and any payments made quarterly, such as car insurance.
I am so thankful that I have created this ‘periodic expenses’ cushion for myself, and although I was still wincing as I paid that vet bill, I didn’t have to worry about where the money was going to come from to pay for it, or that it would put me into debt. And, I had learned my lesson about pet insurance, so in the end the whole ordeal actually left me feeling financially smitten!
Here are some guidelines when planning for periodic expenses:
1. Take some time to review the periodic expenses you have had or may have in the future, using some of the typical periodic expenses I have provided above as a starting point.
2. When you have a realistic idea of what you will need to spend on periodic expenses during the year, divide the total amount by 12 and set a goal to save that amount each month.
3. Designate a separate savings account for this purpose to help organize this process. You can set up an automatic deposit plan if this makes it easier for you.
And, if you have any animals, I highly recommend getting pet insurance! 
