Happy Friday: How One Reader Saved Big on Her New Kitty
Sent from reader, Alicia:
I’m sure many of your readers are animal people so I wanted to share how I was able to save money on my “free” kitten.
I recently adopted a stray 6-week-old kitten that was found in someone’s garage. We immediately took a trip to the vet to make sure she was healthy, not just for her own good, but for that of my current kitty residents. After a clean bill of health and a financial bill of $158, we were ready to go home and I named her Lucky.
I knew I had to find other ways to save money since the initial vet visit was unavoidable. Moving forward, I can schedule appointments with our local low cost spay and neuter program to get Lucky fixed, microchipped and vaccinated, which will save me nearly $400 onlinepared to the vet. In the meantime, couponing and finding deals have allowed me to save a bunch in providing the basics to her:
– I cashed in my Ebates earnings and chose to get a gift card to Petco, adding an additional 10% to my rebate! When I told the employees at Petco that I got a new kitty, they gave me a new kitten coupon book that had all sorts of discounts on things kittens need, including a coupon for a free jug of litter, saving me $9.99!
– Petsmart recently had a $10 off $30 coupon, and I bought a $50 Petsmart coupon at Food Lion and got back $10 for that, so there’s another $20 savings! I used manufacturers coupons on many of the things I bought, saving even more.
– I used my points from Shop Your Way to get a bag of kitten food and some cat toys for free, saving a little over $10!
– The Dollar Tree had some great kitten items, such as a litter pan, bowls, cardboard scratch pad, more toys and pipe cleaners (if you haven’t ever given a cat a pipe cleaner, do it; it’s the best cat toy in the world!). I know this isn’t free, but onlinepared to the cost of these items elsewhere, it’s much more affordable!
– The bonus is that I recently went to a special event for TJMaxx and Marshalls Access Card holders. I entered the drawing and won a $20 gift card, which I used to get a scratch tower to help my new kitty learn good scratching habits!
So while my “free” kitten is going to cost me a lot in the long run, a little couponing and deal finding will allow me to save in many ways on the things Lucky will need to be a happy, healthy cat!
I hope these ideas can help others hunt and pounce on deals for their furry family members!
HAPPY FRIDAY!
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