Are you kidding me?

[Reyneth]

First, I have a good job. I'm lucky, I don't have reason to be concerned as far as that goes in the future. I'm doing ok but am reaping the financial downfall of some bad decisions/not being as aware as I should have been in the past. Slowly fixing those and while things aren't good, they're getting under control.

But now...

- long list of needed/upcoming repairs or upkeep on my car. It's a '99 with 165K+ and I must keep it running well for a long time to come for financial and emotional reasons

- kitten is now 7 months old and needs spayed and declawed (required for my apartment) and I am awaiting the decision how they will deal with me getting a 2nd cat since the pet policy changed since I moved in with my first one

- I was planning on my federal refund to pay for all of the kitten vet bill and some/all of the car or to make some extra payments on the credit cards, but I'm not even getting $200 back. Last year I got over a thousand so that was a shock.

- vacuum cleaner died a dusty death last week. Luckily my neighbors let me use theirs now and in the future if I need to. I need to see if it's just an issue with the filters being clogged (which I doubt) but the replacement will be $50-$75, that's money I don't have right now and the vacuum is not at the top of my priority list.

- this weekend my cat (7 years old) was really needy, wanting to be on my lap - really unusual for her, especially the intensity. This morning I was taking photos of the two of them and noticed her one eye was closed/closing fairly often. Then I saw kinda greenish goop in it. Little googling and I realize I need to take her to the vet, she likely has conjunctivitis and it shouldn't go untreated.
Joy.

I might have a little extra money this month, but that will require my rent check for May (which is due by the 5th) to not hit my bank account until the 7th. Usually it doesn't hit until the 7-9th, but with my luck recently...

So now my priorities are...
cat's eye issue
possible additional charge by my apartment for the new kitten
city taxes (1/4 paid, 3/4 due asap to avoid interest)
kitten spay/declaw
immediate repairs to car
vacuum
all the rest of everything else *sigh*
car registration/driver's license renewal in June
car insurance due in July
and I really, really need to get renters insurance
oh yeah, save for my sister's wedding next year where I'm the Maid of Honor
DOES IT EVER END?

I'm going to have no free money for the next 6 months, the way things are stacking up! I've maybe bought 8 new items of clothes in the past 6 months, that includes two $12 jeans, $8 workout pants and a shirt from a resale shop. There's a few places I could squeeze out a little more, but nothing obvious or one that would make a big difference $$.

I think I'm going to decrease my contribution to my 401(k) right now for 2-3 months. Stupid? I'm currently putting in 5% w/equal company match - I need to see how much more I'd keep with a lower amount. Right now is the time to put it in, I feel, but if I can't keep up with what I need right now, that extra $200 or so won't matter as much 35 years down the road.

Ugh.

[Buglady]

Don't declaw!! Check with your apartment management first about Soft Claws - they are little vinyl caps that you glue on the cat's claws to prevent damage to carpets, furniture etc. Declawing surgery has a lot of risks, is horrendously expensive, and doesn't prevent as much damage as people assume it will (basically, a cat with behavioural problems WILL find a way to damage something, and cats that have been declawed have a higher than average rate of such problems. They can scratch with the back claws, bite each other and people, and litter box issues are VERY common. Plus the claws can grow back in, in rare cases, and that's just agonizing for kitty).

Soft Claws / Soft Paws are about $30 for a set of 40 caps, so 2 full sets or 4 goes if you do just the front paws. They last about a month each time you put them on, apparently. I have quite a few friends who just swear by them. (I have't tried them on my cats - I just clip their claws frequently and accept that my furniture isn't showhome-perfect - but I'm superglue-impaired and prefer to avoid glueing Soft Paws to my own eyebrows, which *would* happen).

As for the rest of it, I hear ya. I've been a starving student for way too long and no end in sight...

[AdminAssistant]

BT's kitty is declawed (he came to him that way, BT wouldn't have had it done). Kitty bites. A LOT. More than other cats I've dealt with.

[Reyneth]

I've read up about declawing so I know how it works and the alternatives - but I have no option. Moving is not a possibility and all cats MUST be declawed, no alternative solutions allowed.

My first cat didn't get aggressive after declawing and I know my kitten won't either. It might stop some of her kamakaze jumping/climbing (she'll jump from the ground to my chest or from a counter to my shoulder at the drop of a hat) but I don't see her personality changing otherwise. Sorry, but it has to be done.

[Bella_Vixen]

All the cats that I had that were declawed were never aggressive. My baby girl doesn't know what aggressive is.

Emily was a mean little bitch, and ran away the day I was going to make an appointment to get her declawed. I hope she's cheerfully scratching the hell out of someone's house. (She was obviously someone's (MY!) pet, and someone in the neightborhood kept her. Never even tried to see if she belonged to anyone.)

[SengaKitty]

I had a cat for 11 years that my dad got declawed when mom sent him to him to get neutered (we used dad's vet). He came to us as the sweetest cat in the world (I was 5 when we got him), and remained the absolute sweetest, most complacent animal you would ever see. I'll never get another cat declawed, but Bobby was the bestest pet anyone ever had... I do seem to remember him trying to do the lizard act on the window screens after being declawed though. THAT was really amusing since he still had back claws

But if there's any way around it, don't do it. They do remove the cat's first knuckle, and it's actually a pretty cruel, and painful, procedure.

[bookworm]

I think I'm going to decrease my contribution to my 401(k) right now for 2-3 months. Stupid? I'm currently putting in 5% w/equal company match - I need to see how much more I'd keep with a lower amount. Right now is the time to put it in, I feel, but if I can't keep up with what I need right now, that extra $200 or so won't matter as much 35 years down the road.

Ugh.

If you can avoid it, don't stop contributing to the 401(k). That 5% match really makes a big difference over time, and my boss (a CPA) says it's like throwing free money away.

Also, remember that your contribution is pre-tax, so if you reduce your contribution, your taxes will go up some too. It may well cancel out the increase in take home pay.

If you have to, you have to, but try to make it a last resort.