What is your “sacred cow”

[Apple]

I've cut my budget down a few times over the last 3 years.  First, from a paycut when I escaped my old job.  Second, from child support going to my son instead of me.  Third, from preparing file as single instead of head of household with a dependent.

My sacred cow(s): Travel and my property.  If things got desperate, I'd sell off my house, pay off the property, and live there in a used travel trailer.  And still save for vacation.  I'd give up my cell phone before I give up those two things.

For "I need to cut my budget a little, but I can still have some of my wants":

Good internet (I haven't had cable in years, and now that I have a decent internet speed, I never want to go back to the "DVDs only" life I had before).  I pay $56, so it's not really a budget killer.

Amazon Prime and Netflix (if I'm still working current job).  In a 12 hour shift, I sometimes have 11 3/4 hours of downtime.  I can even watch movies while I do one aspect of my job (sit there, push a button, wait, push another button, wait, repeat).  So, being able to download movies, or stream them, is something I don't want to give up anytime soon.

Good food: I want to always be able to purchase part of a cow if my brother raises one (or, when he doesn't, be able to buy one from someone else.  It just tastes better.  But not 100% grass fed, finish mine off with some grains and make it taste amazing.)  I also love to be able to purchase a nice cheese, and good chocolate.  I have a "bulk meat" budget and a grocery budget (combined is less than $400/month).  My "eating out" budget is only $25/month, and many months I don't even touch it.  So, it can still be cut down, but I still want it to have enough to eat what I want.

[nidena]

Mine is being able to travel.  I try to take a short trip *somewhere* during the various school breaks.  The next trip is to Reno in December.

Re: internet
I have DSL and it was costing me $56.99/mo.  I called Verizon (the provider) and talked them into lowering it because they offer Fios for less than that each month but I can't get Fios because it's not available.  Why should I pay more just because the less expensive option isn't available?  As of this month, and for the next 12 months, my internet will be less than $30/mo.  I can't remember if it's $27.99 or $29.99 but...still...it's less than it was.

My cell is prepaid $30/mo with text, talk, and Wi-fi capability.  Data would be another $5/mo but I don't need it since everywhere I go has Wi-fi.

[resolution]

Nov 29, 2018 14:22:49 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Same way I am looking at switching car insurance / home insurance to save money , or combining them together (we will see what they offer).

Been with car insurance company for over decade (Progressive) but hear they are terrible choice for home insurance so was easier to keep them... and been with home insurance for 4 years but every year they have been slowly creeping the price.

Maybe time for a change.

You may want to take a look at Erie Insurance. I believe you are in their service area. We cut our auto and homeowner's insurance expenses in half when we went to them.

[resolution]

My sacred cows are video games and the cat. I have $50 per month allocated for games and $100 per month for the cat. I would hate to give up eating out, but I would give that up before the games or the cat.

[msventoux]

My sacred cows:

A house payment that allows me to live on my own with no roommates, no restrictions on pets, and includes an onsite washer & dryer.

A house I can drive to year round with running water, electricity, indoor toilet and bathing facilities and a non-wood burning heat source. This probably won’t be on anyone else’s list, but I grew up without all of these things and refuse to go back to that. Life is too short to spend so much of it trying to meet basic needs.

My own vehicle, even if it’s just a clunker. Public transportation is practically nonexistent here, and I refuse to walk miles in the cold, dark and snow or deal with the hassle and expense of cabs.

Resources for my pets-their food, toys and vet care.

Internet access.

[gs11rmb]

A gym membership for my husband... he gets cranky when he doesn't work out  .

[Cookies Galore]

I think my only real sacred cow(s) are my cats. Pets are for life and I will always make sure they have food and pet care. And as much as my husband my whine, we are a two cat household and always will be.

If times got really tough we can always stop eating out, buy only basic necessity food, stop subscriptions, downgrade phone plans, and knock down our general monthly savings amount. Hell, my 2013 Fit is paid off and has just under 35,000 miles so I could get some money for it, and it wouldn't be too much of a hassle since I take public transit to work and live half a mile from a station.

But our cats will never suffer the consequences of our tough times.

[TheOtherMe]

Nov 29, 2018 20:49:18 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Nov 29, 2018 20:12:16 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I wish I could have kept my parents' phone number from when I was a kid.  Now, I could port it to a cell phone.  

It was a very easy number to remember and now belongs to an office of Jackson Hewitt.

I was a little ticked at my dad for losing their number they had for probably 50 years in a switchover from Comcast or something. It was pretty easy. I have an even easier landline # that I kept for my mom, because she remembered it, and now for the kids. DH and I use ultra cheap cell phones to make up for it.

Parents moved out of town, so the number was gone.    That phone number was so easy to remember.  Dad still knows that number.

It's one of the few of my previous phone numbers I remember.

[andi9899]

Nov 29, 2018 14:28:30 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Nov 29, 2018 14:26:09 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Nice, at least it is an activity you enjoy as a family.

DD turns 2 in January and we are thinking about signing her up for a few activities; I have a price point limit though lol that DW is trying to nudge up.

I think at her age 1 activity per season is more than enough to get our of the house on weekends, my wife was hoping for 2.

Now it is what? I want swimming lessons while my wife wants ballet... she will probably win (I still would prefer gymnastics over ballet but then she says she can do both ... then I switch to “guess ballet it is”).

I'd suggest swimming for a couple years, then switch to ballet.  Ballet is a complete waste of time and money at that age.

Plus she needs to learn to swim for safety reasons. I'd go for swimming too.

[Gardening Grandma]

My sacred cow is our dog, Cass.  I spend $100/mo on doggie day care (she goes once a week for socialization and exercise), good quality food and treats, grooming, and until recently a bundle on training.  She's almost 3 now and very well behaved, so we don't go to obedience classes anymore.

I budget a total of $300/mo and there are a lot of things I'd cut out before I trimmed that down.

Agree with BG.  I use YNAB and enter our income - it's very clear what we can and cannot afford and if we overspend in one category, we have to figure out where that money will come from.  

[movingforward]

I forgot to put my cat in my original post. That is just a given for me (he is family!). It didn't even cross my mind to think of him as a "sacred cow" until others started mentioning their pets. I forget there are people in the world that think animals are disposable.

[Cookies Galore]

Nov 30, 2018 10:56:28 GMT -5 movingforward said:

I forgot to put my cat in my original post. That is just a given for me (he is family!). It didn't even cross my mind to think of him as a "sacred cow" until others started mentioning their pets. I forget there are people in the world that think animals are disposable.

Yeah, I put my cats because nothing is really a sacred cow aside from internet*, which is a boring response. Hubs also keeps trying to tell me that after our 18-year-old cat dies that we aren't getting another. Hahahahahaha! It's cute that he thinks that.


*I work from home twice a week, so I need internet to do that. No internet means I have to go into the office, so I guess my work from home days are also my sacred cow!

[andi9899]

Nov 29, 2018 16:07:59 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Nov 29, 2018 14:31:33 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

It's not top shelf. Now I have to think of a different thing. What is the minimum dollar amount?

Couple hundred a month, something that would make a real difference in a budget I guess?

I don't drink that often so I think my booze spending get mixed in with the groceries... and not that much to make a noticeable difference; more of a social drinker than seating at home by myself drinking... I need company to drink lol and my wife does not drink at all... so if I am drinking at home by myself something really f*cked up my day and not in a good way lol!

I don't really have anything that high dollar that isn't a need. I have lots of little wants. If I had to choose, I'd say my gym membership. It's only $44/month, but it's here to stay. I was fat for too long. I'm never going back.

[swamp]

I don't know.  I guess I have a bunch, but I could pare down if I really needed to. 

Travel.  Cleaning lady.  Activities for the kids.  Pets.  

DH and I make good money, and the only debt we have is the mortgage, which will be paid off in 4 years, and we save at least $72,000 a year.    We have a long way to go to have to cut stuff.  

[Cookies Galore]

Nov 30, 2018 11:47:22 GMT -5 swamp said:

I don't know.  I guess I have a bunch, but I could pare down if I really needed to. 

Travel.  Cleaning lady.  Activities for the kids.  Pets.  

DH and I make good money, and the only debt we have is the mortgage, which will be paid off in 4 years, and we save at least $72,000 a year.    We have a long way to go to have to cut stuff.  

Adopt me!

[TheHaitian]

Nov 30, 2018 11:57:09 GMT -5 Cookies Galore said:

Nov 30, 2018 11:47:22 GMT -5 swamp said:

I don't know.  I guess I have a bunch, but I could pare down if I really needed to. 

Travel.  Cleaning lady.  Activities for the kids.  Pets.  

DH and I make good money, and the only debt we have is the mortgage, which will be paid off in 4 years, and we save at least $72,000 a year.    We have a long way to go to have to cut stuff.  

Adopt me!

X 2

I want to be like you when I grow up!!!

[andi9899]

Nov 30, 2018 11:57:09 GMT -5 Cookies Galore said:

Nov 30, 2018 11:47:22 GMT -5 swamp said:

I don't know.  I guess I have a bunch, but I could pare down if I really needed to. 

Travel.  Cleaning lady.  Activities for the kids.  Pets.  

DH and I make good money, and the only debt we have is the mortgage, which will be paid off in 4 years, and we save at least $72,000 a year.    We have a long way to go to have to cut stuff.  

Adopt me!

I was thinking the same thing.

[Ryan]

I could get rid of eating out, cable TV, buying new clothes, and misc purchases pretty easy I think.  I would never get rid of internet, it's expensive but if you have that then you can pretty much make do without a lot of other stuff.  The hard thing to cut, for me, would be activities for the kids so that would probably be the last to go.  

[jeffreymo]

Kids activities, cell phone plan, and Netflix.

We currently have YoutubeTV instead of cable. We could cut that but we would feel some pain.

The other cut I’ve thought about making was internet.
We have unlimited data and unlimited hotspot on our phones.
We went through a test run a few months ago when the lawn guy accidentally cut our cable line. We had 3 days where we had to rely on cellular data. Our son was able to use our hotspot for his chromebook and a few of our Roku apps including Netflix were able to stream with few hiccups. We didn’t reach the point of our carrier throttling down on our usage though. I’d have to experiment for a full billing cycle to see if it would be a long term solution.

[movingforward]

Internet is a must for most people (including myself) but I get really perturbed with the cost. All I use it for is basic internet searches and streaming shows. I haven't had cable in 5 years and used to be able to get 18mpbs for around $20 a month. It was sufficient for everything I needed to do. I am a SINK so I am the only person using it and I had no issues with 18mpbs. I could stream a show and check my emails at the same time. Now providers, at least in my area, don't offer anything less than 100mpbs. So now I get to pay $57 a month (and that's with a deal) for 100mpbs and see very little difference in service. Sure my Netflix loads 5 nanoseconds faster than it did before...big whoop!

[resolution]

Nov 30, 2018 10:56:28 GMT -5 movingforward said:

I forgot to put my cat in my original post. That is just a given for me (he is family!). It didn't even cross my mind to think of him as a "sacred cow" until others started mentioning their pets. I forget there are people in the world that think animals are disposable.

I just put my cat because I had no idea that pets were so expensive before I got him.

A bit over a year ago, my friend was killed in an accident while on vacation, and we were watching his cat while he was out of town, so I ended up with a cat. I was talking with my husband about changing our wills to leave a lump sum to whoever takes him, because I don't want him to end up outside as a barn cat if something happens to us. Some of the more likely people to take him don't have $100 a month to spend on food, litter, vet appts, etc.

[movingforward]

Nov 30, 2018 14:13:20 GMT -5 resolution said:

Nov 30, 2018 10:56:28 GMT -5 movingforward said:

I forgot to put my cat in my original post. That is just a given for me (he is family!). It didn't even cross my mind to think of him as a "sacred cow" until others started mentioning their pets. I forget there are people in the world that think animals are disposable.

I just put my cat because I had no idea that pets were so expensive before I got him.

A bit over a year ago, my friend was killed in an accident while on vacation, and we were watching his cat while he was out of town, so I ended up with a cat. I was talking with my husband about changing our wills to leave a lump sum to whoever takes him, because I don't want him to end up outside as a barn cat if something happens to us. Some of the more likely people to take him don't have $100 a month to spend on food, litter, vet appts, etc.

It concerns me a lot in regards to what would happen to my cat if I were killed in some sort of unforeseen accident. I have very little family and they live several states away. My dad would probably take him in but he is 72 years old so it would be uncertain as to how long he could take care of him. I have great friends that I know would step in but they all have cats themselves and my cat absolutely HATES other cats (though I guess he would eventually get used to it). I know my BFF would take him in but she already has two cats in a one bedroom apartment. I rescued him from PetsAlive 10 years ago and he could always be returned to them if something happened to me but he would probably never get adopted at his age. Too depressing to think about...

As for the financial obligations of owning a cat, yes, it can get very expensive. My old cat lived to be 16 and was on 3 different medications and special food the last 4 years of his life. I was spending $400 a month on him. This is not counting the blood tests every 3 months, the 2 ultrasounds he had done, etc. He still had life left in him and was fine as long as he was on his meds. I did eventually put him down once his quality of life diminished to a level to where it felt cruel to keep him alive.

ETA: And I am very sorry about your friend. You are good person for taking care of his cat.

[Gardening Grandma]

Nov 30, 2018 14:43:16 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Nov 30, 2018 14:13:20 GMT -5 resolution said:

I just put my cat because I had no idea that pets were so expensive before I got him.

A bit over a year ago, my friend was killed in an accident while on vacation, and we were watching his cat while he was out of town, so I ended up with a cat. I was talking with my husband about changing our wills to leave a lump sum to whoever takes him, because I don't want him to end up outside as a barn cat if something happens to us. Some of the more likely people to take him don't have $100 a month to spend on food, litter, vet appts, etc.

It concerns me a lot in regards to what would happen to my cat if I were killed in some sort of unforeseen accident. I have very little family and they live several states away. My dad would probably take him in but he is 72 years old so it would be uncertain as to how long he could take care of him. I have great friends that I know would step in but they all have cats themselves and my cat absolutely HATES other cats (though I guess he would eventually get used to it). I know my BFF would take him in but she already has two cats in a one bedroom apartment. I rescued him from PetsAlive 10 years ago and he could always be returned to them if something happened to me but he would probably never get adopted at his age. Too depressing to think about...

As for the financial obligations of owning a cat, yes, it can get very expensive. My old cat lived to be 16 and was on 3 different medications and special food the last 4 years of his life. I was spending $400 a month on him. This is not counting the blood tests every 3 months, the 2 ultrasounds he had done, etc. He still had life left in him and was fine as long as he was on his meds. I did eventually put him down once his quality of life diminished to a level to where it felt cruel to keep him alive.

ETA: And I am very sorry about your friend. You are good person for taking care of his cat.

An elderly neighbor with a beloved dog had the same issue.  She resolved it by making a generous donation to the local humane society with the stipulation that her dog would be placed in a good home.  She also had funds set aside so that the dog would not be a financial burden and would need only love and care.

 

[Apple]

The turn this is taking reminds me of The Richest Cat in the World.

[TheOtherMe]

I worry about what will happen to Lucy if something happens to me.  

My sister will take her but will let her go outdoors.  That is what she did with her granddaughter's cat and the cat go hit by a car.  I do not want that to be Lucy's fate.

May have to talk to the Humane Society where I got her and see what they suggest.  

[andi9899]

I have no idea who would take the twins if something should happen to me. Placing one large dog would be hard. Placing 2 large dogs together would be extremely hard. They would absolutely have to stay together. Macy is far too anxious to not be with Jackson.

[Gardening Grandma]

Just another thought I'm throwing out.... My son has agreed to take Cass; it would be a good fit as he is very much a dog person.  But if that were not the case, I'd have a chat with my local vet.
She is very active with the local humane society; I also know that she gives very low income folks rates on a sliding scale and in some cases just works for free.  The office has a glass bowl for their "Animal Angel" fund to help defray the expenses...  

If I had no good options for Cass, I'd have a chat with my vet and offer a generous donation to the "Animal Angel" fund in return for the assurance that she'd find a good home for Cass.  She's been our family vet for nearly 20 years now and I trust her completely when it comes to animals.

Just a thought...

[hurley1980]

My dogs and beer. As long as I have my 3 babies and a 12 pack, I'm a happy camper.

I've pretty much already gone down to the bare minimum on everything else. MetroPCS phone, Sling/Netflix instead of cable, no gym membership, etc. If I didn't have my dogs and beer to entertain me, I'd be pretty damn bored!

[Tired Tess]

I really don’t think I have one 🤔. Although, I do love my easy pass for traveling.

What I need to get rid of is Sirius for my car. That’s a luxury I enjoy but don’t need.

[Ava]

Now that I think about it, there are a lot of sacred cows.

I would say the cat is one. To me, once you adopt a pet it is your responsibility until the end of its natural life. Putting down a pet because it's suffering with no chances of recovery (like a terminal illness) counts as taking care of it. 

Traveling back home for vacation is another sacred cow. I would say the airplane ticket is the sacred cow. If I don't have any money to spend there I'll go anyway. Some years I had very little money to spend but I always bought the ticket, even if I had to settle for the longest, more inconvenient trip because of price.

My phone is another one. I use it to keep in touch with family and friends who are far away.

The car is almost a sacred cow. I could survive without it but it would cause a significant negative quality of life change.