I wish you the best of luck for your future. My husband and I did not take vacations while we were paying off our debt and I really wish we had. Even stay at home vacations would have been awesome. You seem to have your priorities straight, just don’t wait to take those vacations together.

@ William and Sara

Good luck with the debt-elimination process. Don’t let these “OMG $30K on a cat” get to you. Hope you see improvements, Sara. Your story is inspiring for others who are also in ridiculous debt!

The venom of some of the responders is frankly ridiculous. If there is a single one of them who hasn’t blown thousands of dollars on cars, or entertainment, or eating out, or clothes, or tchotchkes, I will eat my hat. Get off your high horses, people.

Best wishes to Will & Sara in the future, and thanks for sharing your story.

Thanks so much for sharing your story!

A request: please consider writing a blog post on that failed business venture — how it began, what happened, and what you have learned from it. It would make another great article.

Your words about cat food reminded me of one thing. Personal finance blogs often touch the issue of nutritious whole foods and avoiding processed products. Shouldn’t the same principles apply to pets? Do you really believe that even the highest grade dry food will compare to what they were designed by evolution to eat?

I strongly encourage caring pet owners to research buying RAW foods for their pets. My cat has never before purred when eating – but he does now, as he devours a mix of ground animal tissues and organs similar in composition to his whole natural prey. You can buy expensive pre-made mixes, or do more time-consuming but budget-friendly preparation yourself – but it may save you money in vet bills in the long term. There are enough books and websites out there to help you make your mind, if you let yourself become open to the idea.

Aloha e William & Sara,

Up until April of 2009, I would have agreed with some of the other reader’s views that spending such a large amount of money on your pet wasn’t the best thing to do. However, that changed on May 1, 2009 when my boyfriend and I decided to adopt a tiny two-week-old orange tabby kitten who had been abandoned by its mother, was found beneath the staircase of someone’s house, and was suffering from an acute eye infection. The person who found him was unable to afford the needed veterinary care. She placed an ad on the pets section of our local Craigslist and I fell for the little guy.

He came into our lives at just 8 ounces with eyes that had just opened, could barely stand and walk, and ears that were still folded shut and pressed against his head. The boyfriend and I received a crash course in learning how to bottle feed a kitten and helping it to eliminate (kittens don’t have control of their own bowel movements until they’re more than a few weeks old).

Hilo is now a slightly pudgy 15 1/2 lb cat who has free reign of the house and our hearts.

I relay the history of my beloved kitten (soon to be cat) because, like the quote says, I never experienced what it was like to honestly and truly love and care for a pet. I’ve had fish and a mouse, but it has paled in comparison for what insurmountable joy, laughter and goodwill this 1 cat has brought into our lives.

As a fellow cat owner and cat lover, I empathize and understand the motivation behind your decision to continue seeking treatment and the costs associated with it over time. I don’t have any children and my pets are my “children.” My family and friends probably think I’m crazy for spending $42 on a single 12-lb bag of Wellness CORE dry cat food instead of purchasing the 30-lb bag of generic store brand food that costs half as much. Like my friends who have children, they only want the best for them and I share in this philosophy.

Your actions demonstrated such utter love and compassion for your cat that it brought me to tears as I was reading this article. I actually had to go into the other room to pick him up and give him a long, big hug (I know the day will come when I’ll be forced to make decisions about his healthcare in his old age). Instead of pet health insurance, I opened a high-yield online savings account at ING Direct and each month, a certain amount of money is automatically deducted from my checking account. My hope is that, over time, these funds will accumulate into a nice nest egg that can be used for his vet bills later in life.

Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) for sharing your story with the rest of the world! You should be extremely proud of yourselves for all that you have accomplished thus far and the ones that are to come.

The last of the failed business stuff is a few years in the past now so it wasn’t the primary focus of what we are dealing with today and was relegated to a bullet point in the road to ruin. It was a substantial investment at the time and if I had been aware of Ramit@I Will Teach You To Be Rich we could have avoided a lot of the mistakes we ended up making. We still have K1 filings and all of the financial documentation for our LLC filed away so we could have given more information on it but this kind of leads into my next point…

@Todd

Neither my wife and I were looking for 15 minutes of fame and frankly I am surprised how much attention this article has generated. I was actually sending JD a congratulations and thank you e-mail to mark the fourth anniversary of GRS and to let him know how much help his blog had given us in understanding and learning how to manage our financial situation. I never expected this post to be a featured reader story and when JD asked if I would mind if he posted the story I was surprised he thought his readers would find any value in it. We were happy to help him out with an article since his blog has helped us so much. If we were looking for fame we wouldn’t have chosen to keep the article anonymous and asked he remove the links to our blog.

The article and comments are dominated by money, health care, and animals, because this is a financial blog and health care and animals were our catalyst for change.

Thanks again for the comments. The variety of opinions expressed here have been educational.

I agree that the business stuff is much more interesting than the cat, though. Would’ve loved more detail there.

If anything, it should be remarkable that you could continue to make a financial turnaround WHILE allocating a significant amount of money towards a specific endeavor – yours was your beloved cat, but how inspiring it is to me! What could I do if you could do that?

Again, kudos for “we pushed our own limits” and “we made progress” despite your circumstances.
Your progress means you are finding your happiness and you are using your money as a tool along the way. Oh, and another gold star for talking everything through with your spouse!

I believe one of the core values of this blog is to “Do what is right for you.” Nothing infuriates me more than those sitting on high dictating that it was wrong of Sara and William to spend their money on their cat and berating them for doing so. They do not have to justify their choice to you. (You certainly are welcome to your opinion but elaborating beyond the “I would not do that.” statement is just cruel and self righteous.) They did what worked for them and still made significant progress on their financial journey. They determined what was important to them. They alone have that right.

It is often repeated on this PF blog and on others that the cheapest option is not always frugal and that mindful spending on the things one values the most in life and not the things they don’t is one of the things that makes people content, and makes them feel wealthy. Sara & William are well on their way if this is the case. Perhaps those blinded by the amount spent on their cat and not their success will never understand that concept and how it can be applied in their cases to help them on their financial journey. That is sad.

It always amazes me when good ‘ole boys and gals launch into some self-righteous polemic about how any amount of money spent on pet health care is excessive and wasteful. Meanwhile, these same people fill their homes and garages with tens of thousands of dollars worth of new boats, atvs, LCD tv’s, high-end furniture, nice watches, jewelry and shoes.

This stuff is inanimate, soon-to-be junk. It’s depreciating faster than most people can make the payments. It will never give a sad look, a playful nudge, affection or companionship. And yet, somehow, accumulating this STUFF is understandable and rational to most people. Someone please explain this to me.

Everyone makes their choices about discretionary spending and debt. Frankly, I question those who choose to pile it into new and shiny, depreciating objects. This seems to roughly approximate the emotional intelligence of a racoon.

One of the most challenging aspects of my job is counseling people who have cost concerns. As a profession we are well-aware that most people don’t have insurance for their pets, and that even those policies have their limits. We are also aware that more care is not always better. There is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t euthanize a pet whose owners can’t afford care, or for whom further care is not a humane option.
In these moments and others I am struck by the profound impact animals can have on the lives of people. It’s hard to place a price on companionship; it certainly seems worth more than a TV, or a couch, or even extra chrome. Then again I don’t think like a racoon so what do I know?

@J.D. Given the amount of discussion this has generated, you ought to do a post on pet health care!

On to the financial stuff. It’s great how you two have kept your cool and stuck to your plan. That seems to be the underlying theme to most financial success stories. Stories like this keep me inspired to stick with our plan. Best of luck to you both.

Thanks for responding! That is awesome.
I like you, you sound fun and it is obvious you have some “spirit” in you, we all like a bit of fight in a girl.

Your right, we all choose to spend money on different “wants and needs” and we all assign a drastically different value to those items. I admire you for your willingness to try to save the cat no matter the cost. If there is one thing an American can admire it is a person that works toward a goal and completes that goal while ignoring controversy and outside influence. We like a winner, and even though you lost in the end, you won because you got to spend more time with your pet and you accomplished your goal of keeping the cat alive beyond the time it should have passed away. I am sure some of the people that you know left your house shaking their head thinking. Why are they spending all of that money on a pet? It is the natural reaction. But you plowed through these various objections and did what you had to do. Do you know what other goal you have accomplished that is very similar…. Getting out of debt!

You did a fantastic job of getting out of debt. I am sure you had to turn down various offers throughout that time you were paying things off. Things such as going out, vacations, small trips, buying the newest Blu-ray’s, etc… You made sacrifices to reach your goal and you probably had to defend your position to stay home or drink the cheap wine just like you probably had to do defend the decisions with the cat.

I admire the willingness to stick to a course of action even though I might not agree with it and I find it irrational to spend x amount of money on a pet. That is my personal decision. I am sure you would think that the amount of money I spend on guns or electronics is irrational (my wife would agree J). I wasn’t trying to shock you, that is just how it is done in the country, as you know firsthand.

I truly am happy that you are back to a clean whiteboard of debt. You should reward yourself with a vacation (paid for upfront of course). And just to ruffle your feathers a bit more don’t buy another pet without pet insurance J

Jason

My prayers are with you and your wife as she battles MS. My sister has it and it is no fun. It is frustrating for the family as she sinks into depression and does not want to help herself do the things she still can do.

We have 2 kids and 3 cats, and I would not want to add up the totals we’ve spent on any of them. The cats are 12 now – “seniors” – and it’s easily close to $1000/year just for regular exams and the occasional temporary illness. Yes, it hurts our wallet, but fortunately, we’re not at a point to have to make the difficult decision about treatment for something serious. They make us smile and laugh out loud – every day. I understand the “just a cat” mindset, but it doesn’t have to be spoken. We pet “saps” know you feel this way; you needn’t remind us. Everyone has their crutch/weakness. And Joe was right – the cat’s wellbeing could be closely tied to your wife’s health.

As much as the cat has been debated here, I suspect it was more difficult to admit all of the issues related to your failed business venture. Some of us just take longer to “know when to fold ‘em.” (Myself included.)

Thank you so much for taking the chance in sharing your difficult story. Kudos to you both for making a plan and sticking to it!

Everybody is not agreeing it’s insane because everybody has their own opionion and they are entitled to it. You may think it is insane. Others may not.

@ Sara
I appreciate you putting yourself out there. A lot of people will always ridicule you for your decisions. I spent $5000 as a poor, broke, college student on my cat. I stopped when the vet told me he was not going to improve. If he told me he was going to improve, would I have spent more? Yes! My husband and I don’t have children, we drive one car and save and scrimp on other things.

You are absolutely right; you are a grown woman and you can spend your money on whatever you want.

One lesson I learned is to never tell people how much you have spent on vet bills. They will never understand.

My DH started a business this year, but from the start it had to not cost us anything but his time and equipment he already owns, and it hasn’t. We had to be very careful making sure it was limited liability too. I guess we’re too risk-averse to try to do something that could end up with a bigger loss than opportunity costs, even if there’s a potential for gain.

We’re also not supporting his partners– that’s what their wives are for.

I am not trying to be mean, but stuff like this destroys my faith in humanity. Do you know how many PEOPLE you could have helped with $30,000? Or other animals? Argh. Talk about ridiculous priorities.

Also, I put my money into someone else’s business every month. It’s popularly called “the stock market.”

@Sara: Ouch! My husband is just starting a software engineering company. He is already doing subcontracting for a large firm, and we *just* decided he should start a business (primarily for tax purposes). We haven’t put a lot of money into it so far — mainly a new computer/printer, less than $1K so far — but your failing business story really hits home. We will have to be very careful. Luckily he is under the umbrella of the main contractor, and so far it’s just him, so I will keep my fingers crossed.

And do just ignore those who don’t understand spending $30k on a beloved pet’s healthcare. I’ve often said that if it came down to it, I’d sell a kidney on the black market to care for our dog…obviously that’s a joke, but it’s not too far off from the truth.

Our dog got kidney stones a few years back and it was only then that we learned about pet insurance – alas, those pesky pre-existing conditions! It was an expensive surgery (about $1500 all told I think) and he’s on special medication and prescription dog food that costs an arm and a leg, and he needs more frequent vet trips and extra testing done to be sure he’s still doing okay. To care for him every year, it costs us at least twice if not three times the cost to take care of an average dog. But if I had known all this when we saw him at the shelter, would I have made a different choice and selected a different dog? HELLS NO! This dog has been such a blessing and has brought me and my husband more joy than I can even begin to quantify.

I totally understand not putting a cap on healthcare costs for a loved one (pet or human). Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and some people just don’t understand the unconditional love between humans and pets. I wish you both happiness and health and good luck getting debt-free!!

I, too, found the whole starting-a-business thing more apposite than the pet care and would love to get a Reader Story from someone else – or a sequel from Will & Sara – that focuses on either the success or the failure of a small business, and the PF lessons we could take from that.

Just based on personal observation, I know one thing I would never do is put my money into someone else’s business. My time yes, as an employee – but not my dollars!

You’re absolutely right.

We should’ve written that differently, but I guess we didn’t since it was a bullet point in the “top things we screwed up reeeeeeeeally bad” list.

We have never declared bankruptcy, and we quit the business after it became clear we could no long support it on our resources. But we waited far too long to stop it.

We spent about 6 years trying to start up a couple of similar businesses – web design / hosting / etc. For each, we usually had several hundred dollars per month in server and software fees before the other more significant costs.

We supported 3 people for a year and 2 people for about a year and a half to 2 years following that. We were suckers. I remember one particular $700 grocery bill.

I don’t think we’ll ever completely give up on wanting to work for ourselves, but we’ve done a great job at failing at it so far. If we try it again one day, it will be from a very different financial and mental state.

I used to love watching the Chef Ramsey show – the one where he goes to a failing restaurant that’s cost the owner their home and the mafia is after them for money. He tells them clean the restaurant and cook better tasting food and suddenly they have an epiphany. I know that after what we’ve done thus far we won’t allow a business to cost us our home. We will know next time (if there is ever a next time) when to cut our losses before they grow.

As far as your real questions at the end – emergency fund vs. index fund. We change our minds a little from day to day. I think it will end up being a combination after a significant amount is in the emergency fund.

I’m thinking about your response, and the difference here is that you didn’t list a number when you mentioned your failed business, while you listed a specific amount spent on vet and medical bills. A failed business could mean many things — mail order scented candles? A coffee shop? You could be out $1000 + some hangers on or you could be out $100,000 + some hangers on + food and utilities for 3 extra people. This lack of specific information made it somewhat easy to focus on the vet expenses.

Also, it touches a nerve, this pet business. I have a friend who is drowning in credit card debt, caring for 13 aging cats. Every time I see her I get the update on their medical care, which ranges from kidney failures and fluid transfers to multiple diabetic cats. There has been a cultural shift toward pets, now that so many people choose to be childless, that has caused a rift in values. I know my vet gives me the eye when I forego extra procedures for our dog (we’re watching a leg tumor, rather than removing it) but I have two young children, so that’s my focus. However, I do understand — sometimes an animal can be precious. Just keep in mind that this is cultural rather than personal, and few people are going to understand.

The fact that you had a failing business isn’t as shocking also because you gloss over it. How long did you support 3 people? How difficult was it to recover from this? Did you have to go bankrupt? This isn’t clear.

What is clear is that you’ve done a bang-up job of fixing what was wrong with your finances, and you’re definitely an example of how to turn things around. The real question is, what are you going to do with your extra money once your consumer debt is gone? What happens first, the emergency fund, the index fund, or a combination?

So sorry that you’ve had to put up with bad business partners, life threatening diseases of you and your loved ones, the difficult learning process of personal finance, and judgmental comments on top of it. The two of you have shown amazing strength, love and commitment! Keep doing what you’re doing, and know that it’s inspiring!