Bird Budgets?

[finchick]

So I went to the petstore yesterday to pick up some feed. It's amazing how quickly a bag of feed becomes a shopping cart of millet, new perches, oyster shells, nest boxes (on sale, of course!), treats, and so on. You get to the check out and "SWIPE!" goes the credit card. Sometimes you look at the receipt (to make sure you got all your discounts and the coupons rang up); other time, the receipt simply goes into the trash.

Do you establish a budget on bird spending each month? And, if so, are you pretty disciplined? Of course,t here's more than the petstore ~ there's the health food store for supplements; the supermarket for organic romaine; the lumber yard for building supplies.

Gosh. This adds up!

[Rox]

I have their food as part of my monthly budget and I stick to that pretty well. It's all the other stuff at the pet shops that gets me into trouble, lol!

[monotwine]

I used to have a book where I recorded expenses and income from my birds. I could watch what Im spending on them over a 1yr cycle and I liked to draw near to even so the birds are technically paying for themselves.
However its never a guarantee. One or 2 bad breeding years and you covering their expenses, but at least you can judge how much you need to budget then.

Now my feeding bill is added in my monthly budget and any bird sales cushion their cost or upgrading of housing etc.

At least the birds can return some income if they breed. My other pets only cost. lol.

[Finchtastic]

I have started keeping recordings of what I have spent in the last 3 months on my birds... and Im expecting to finish up by Oct with spending 1600ish?? That just includes Birds/Lumber/mesh/Heater/Electronic Dimmer. I have not included seed or eggfood in that but thats generally 50 every 4-5 weeks.

Im hoping to use some of my youngsters to get some of that back. But Im not upset or bothered by the amount. I could be spending my money on a lot worse things. At least we get enjoyment from them.

[MariusStegmann]

My birdbudget is actually a blacksite. No one including myself know how much I spent on birds. I guarantee that I spend a lot less than what most smokers spent on cigarettes. A lot less than what drinkers spend on alcohol and heck of a lot less than what junkies spend on pills.

[MiaCarter]

MariusStegmann -- Nice approach!

I don't track any of my animal expenses. I can't. It'll drive me nuts!
It would be hard to justify, as I know it would be a lot more than I ever realized! LOL

A few weeks ago, we were at the vet and out of curiosity, I asked them to see how much we've spent with them in the 5.5 years we've been here. It wasn't pretty. Without mentioning exact numbers, it would be enough to purchase a very nice car.

But you know what? My babies bring me more joy than a new car. So pleh. LOL

I do intentionally leave my cards at home when going to a bird fair or similar, where I don't want to let temptation get me! I'll take cash only.