About a year ago, I wrote a post on my boyfriend’s dog. She’s sweet and lovely in her own special way. (like when she’s not peeing on laptops.)

Generally speaking, I am not a pet person. I do not like having to clean up the poop of any other animal other than myself. I tell my girlfriends I’m not interested in baby diapers, but they all insist that changes when it’s your own kid. I am not convinced of this.

At any rate, I now have two pets. This is mostly because I’ve shacked up with my boyfriend and his dog. But we also ended up with a stray cat too. We didn’t want to take her in because I am allergic, but it got very cold last winter and we couldn’t just let her stay outside. The DC animal shelter is a kill-shelter and this kitty was much too nice to be destroyed.

My allergies seem dormant which is good because she likes to sleep right next to me on the side of the bed away from the dog. We tried to give her away to our friends, mailing lists we’re on, etc. It just didn’t work. There are way too many cats in this world for people to absorb another, no matter how nice it is.

The one nice thing about our kitty is that she seems to be fixed already. Her ear is tagged and she seems to like people. (Some trap-neuter-release groups clip a kitty’s ear to show they’ve been fixed.) The free spaying is worth a lot of money so we’ve saved a ton right there. We’ve run through two collars, the first nylon-breakaway one was not successful. (Choking hazard on the doubled over strap part. Not good! $5) So I got an expensive leather small dog collar, which is very pretty with her markings. ($16)

We have yet to take her in for her shots because neither one of us wants to take time out for a vet visit. But she appears healthy and in good shape. She is only distressed by the dog. Boyfriend has owned cats before so we’re not worried about her health. She doesn’t seem interested in the outdoors anymore and strangely unenthusiastic over cat toys. It’s as if she knows they are a waste of money and cannot be bothered. (Perhaps she has a field day with the occasional mouse in the house.)

I guess I’m not in a hurry to spend money on a vet visit since kitty is already living a good life with us as an indoor cat. In the back of my mind, I worry that she might have something, but I think we would have noticed by now. (Like me freaking out about her hairballs, and boyfriend explaining they mean nothing.)

Pets: How Did This Happen To Me? is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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My boyfriend’s dog peed on my laptop. Not intentionally. We think she was sitting on his couch (which she’s not supposed to do) and had an accident. Poor girl’s fur was soaked in pee which leads us to think she might have a bladder problem.

Some of the moisture got wicked up the little cracks in the bottom of the laptop and now it’s fried. I’m going to take it into the Apple store and see what can be done. I have the original receipt.

I use it pretty much as a terminal for blogging and checking email at his house since I like to be able to check email daily so it’s not vital, but it does explain a little about why posting has been light recently. I dislike using his computer for my stuff. The really important stuff is on my desktop at home, which gets a regular back up on an external hard drive.

I’m just sad because there is no way I can replace it for the same price I paid. This was a laptop my friend did not want because she hated it. I got an extremely good deal on a gently used model that is fully loaded with software. The timing is also terrible since I was going to take it to Boston this weekend to entertain me when I fly.

At any rate, if we thought the dog was going to pee there, we wouldn’t have left it on the couch. As it was, this is the first time she’s done this sort of thing and now we’re worried she has a bladder issue.

You can’t get mad at a dog. You just can’t. She was so happy to see us when we got home that night. I don’t understand people who think dogs are sneaky and malicious. Cats are sneaky and will poop in your closet. Dogs are dumb and sweet. I really like my boyfriend’s dog so my fellow co-worker’s suggestion that I make ultimatums about me or the dog were way out there.

Boyfriend has offered to pay for a new battery, but I don’t want to say ok till the damage is fully assessed. Maybe there is a magic rescue for it.

Another Reason Why I Don’t Have Pets is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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First, the update. I forgot to tell you. I gave away the pet birdie. I found someone off of Craigslist who is really going to enjoy having her. She now lives in a house full of kids and pets. I admit, the stray kitten they found looked a little in need of veterinary care, but there were other birds who will keep Papagena company. I just couldn’t stand keeping her when I couldn’t spend time with her. She really needed constant company.

Now, onto the juicy confession. Remember when I had a boo-boo with my credit card payment in May? Well, I’ve been avoiding telling you that the credit card decided to put me into the universal default interest rate of 32.0%. Luckily it didn’t trigger a rate change on my other cards. I was damned lucky on that.

But I did decide to balance transfer off most of what was on the card to my HELOC, going from 32% to 10.38%. The interest savings was too great to ignore. I still use the card because there are some recurring charges on it (EZ Pass fees), but I pay it off religiously and in full now. (Side note on my net worth data, I do not include the transferred amount into my mortgage line item. I have left it on the credit card line.)

When I first realized the rate jumped, I re-read the card agreement and found out that the 32% rate was going to last 6 months, i.e. till November. I was all prepared to wait it out and keep paying things on time and in full, without carrying a balance. However, I decided that since 4 months have passed without an incident, I would call them anyway. I wanted to see if I could also get a really low teaser rate balance transfer later as well. Because 10.38% is ok, but not great.

I called them this week and they lowered my rate back down to 13.74%. It was very easy. I also inquired about balance transferring but they told me to call back in a few days. We’ll see about that. I’m not sure that I really want to do the transfer. I just liked the idea that I was doing SOMETHING to improve my situation rather than nothing.

The takeaway for you:
Even if you’ve triggered off a default interest rate on your card, you don’t have to wait a full six months to get your rate lowered back down. Call them after a few months of on-time payments and ask if they will lower them again. It can’t hurt you to ask. There is only the upside here of a possible yes that lowers your rate again.

Final note: I paid to check my credit score the other night and it’s a 696. The main thing is that I need to lower my utilization which is why I was interested in a balance transfer. I have 3 cards, and one is at 80% utilization. I figured if I started spreading that onto two cards, the score would lift. But I have no major purchases coming up in the next 2-4 years so I don’t really need to do this at all. I just need to get all of it paid down.

True Confession About My Credit Card & Update is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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FMF is going scold me for getting a pet, but I got a pet. It just sort of happened to me.

My co-workers were smoking outside when a parakeet landed on the shoulder of one of them. Apparently this little guy is trained and very social. He likes to perch on your finger. They decided to bring him inside because a hawk was circling overhead. For some reason bright turquoise parakeets make easy targets. Go figure.

I told the woman who had him on her desk, “It’s going to eat through that box in a hour. Let me know and I’ll go buy it a cage.”

Sure enough, by 10AM today we were at a pet store getting a whole rig for the damned thing. $70 bucks of little blue joy. The lady at store told me to come back in a few days once he’s stopped freaking out and she will clip his talons and wings for me.

I DON’T NEED A PET!

I’m too nice to let him get killed by a hawk or live in a cardboard box. The plan is to leave him in the office till Wednesday when I can take him back to the pet store for his grooming and then home on Wednesday night. (I HAVE PLANS FOR DINNER TONIGHT! I AM TOO SELFISH AND IRRESPONSIBLE TO KEEP AN ANIMAL WHICH IS WHY I DON’T ALREADY OWN A BUNNY!)

I have seen other parakeets. I am a sucker. I bought a large cage for it so I can get him a friend in a few weeks. Birds are social animals and I don’t want him to get too unhappy being all alone in my apartment for hours when I am out with my singleton social life.

I AM GOING AWAY THIS WEEKEND! I DON’T NEED A PET!

Thank god one of my friends is a pet sitter. She doesn’t really sit for birds, but will refer me to her friend who owns a bird.

THIS IS TERRIBLE.

But he’s kind of cute, even if he’s already pooping all over the cage.

Once he gets settled, if the pet thing doesn’t take with me, I will give it away free to a good home. I want to make sure he’s healthy before giving him away to another family. Wouldn’t want it to infect any other birds they might have.

*sigh*

I am a sucker. I think it’s tattooed on my forehead.

Oh sweet Jesus, please don’t let me turn into a pet/cat lady. I really don’t need this.

(It does not help that a family in DC on Craigslist is giving away their parakeet because its mate was “murdered” by the family cat. I’m thinking in a month, that might be a good one to rescue and keep mine company.)

Will Wonders Never Cease? I am Now a Pet Owner. is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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