Welcome to the Dollars & Pets Carnival. Today we’re featuring a number of blog posts from both personal finance bloggers and pet bloggers. But what they all have in common is that while they love their pets, pets cost money. (Don’t we know it.) Sometimes those expenses are planned, and sometimes… well, not so much.

 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the blog posts do not necessarily reflect our opinions here at The Dog Ate My Wallet or Life by Pets. They are solely the opinions of the authors of the posts. And if you disagree- go start a conversation (respectful, not mean) with them in their comments. We bloggers live for comments.

 

Expected Expenses

Can You Actually Afford a Pet? – Robert at The College Investor explores the costs of ownership and ways to save money on your pet expenses.

The cost of owning a pet – Evan at Smart Wealth talks about the everyday expenses of his two cats and turtle.

Why We Use Holistic Blend Health Dog Food – Mr. & Mrs. Sustainable Personal Finance discuss what they choose to feed their dog

 

Unexpected Expenses

Let’s Talk Pets and Other Unexpected Expenses – Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff wrote a guest post for Live Real, Now about her Pug’s allergies.

Another month, another visit: The Doggle Saga – An injury brings another vet visit for Doggle and his family at a gai shan life

 

Expected Unexpected Costs

Living on a Budget and Your Pet’s Last Days – None of us wants to think about losing our pets, but we all know we will one day have to make decisions about their end of life care. Thriftability takes an honest and compassionate look at the decisions we must make.

Pet Accidents Happen – I pondered putting this with Unexpected Expenses, but the truth is, every pet owner I know expects the kind of unexpected accidents Little House in the Valley is talking about, in a way they don’t expect major vet bills.

 

Optional Expenses

Don’t Make a Long-Term Commitment If You Don’t Have To– At Saving Advice, Jennifer takes a look at all sorts of contracts to figure out if they are actually beneficial to us or not. This includes a monthly veterinary plan.

How Pets Can Help You Save Money – That’s right, over at Saving My Toonies, they figure that their pets actually help them cut down on other optional expenses like the gym

 

Total Expenses

Pets: Putting Doggle in Financial Perspective – We return to a gai shan life to look at the total expense picture for their dog.

Wrapping up 2011 budgeting project- and onward into 2012 – for 2011, M.C. at The House of Two Bows made it a project to track how much their dogs cost them. She may be a pet blogger, but her graphs and charts will have all the finance bloggers in heaven.

 

I want to thank everyone who submitted an article for this carnival. I had a great time reading your entries, and it introduced me to a few new blogs. I hope everyone else has as much fun attending as I did.

-Erin Shanendoah