stupid tax, groceries, pets, canadavet.com

Financial guru Dave Ramsey has a term for the stupid things we spend our money on: stupid tax. I agree, so I'm stealing the term and will add it to my blog...to let you know that we do stupid things with our money too.

Today I did the BIG grocery shop : $168.00 out this week to Harris Teeter, Aldi, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Clover Leaf and Petsmart. I did have to buy pet food and paper goods, so next week the total will be much less.

So let me touch on the pet thing. We have a cat who has urinary tract issues and a dog with REALLY bad allergies (as in he gets a rash, dandruff and is super stinky!!!) The vet, of course, said we needed to buy this outrageously priced food to take care of the problems. After talking with a friend who is an animal lover and knows her products, I learned that Purina ONE has almost the exact same ingredients as Mr. Vet's food for about half the price. Now, granted, it costs about twice as much as what I was buying, but it is worth it to me after forking over $300.00 for kitty kidney stones. I usually find it cheapest at Walmart, but today they were having a sale at Petsmart, woot!! And how about flea meds and heartworm pills?? Crazy. Check out Canadavet.com for the cheapest prices I've found. I buy pills rather than chews, but the cost savings is quite significant.

Daily Buck (a term stolen from Karyn Bosnack) : today I returned a tube of lipgloss to Walgreens because they overcharged me for it. I hate that, even if it was only 3 bucks. I traded it even for a clearanced 5-pack of boys underwear for my kid. Sweet. I also stopped at Starbucks to use the last of a giftcard. The line was out the door. I left. It appears that the economy isn't bad enough to keep folks from buying $3.00 coffee.

Stupid Tax: I may or may not have been dumb enough to dip a hot fish tank heater into the aquarium. And if I was that dumb, it may or may not have exploded into chards and smoke. But if I did that, I may have had to pick up a new heater to keep 8 silly fish alive and if I did that I might have had to spend $22.00 in stupid tax. If I did that.