Dog & Auto Maintenance Exepenses

[Guidance]

I have no idea what I spend on my dogs on a monthly basis? Anyone else come up with a number? Also what are average auto maintenance expenses? Unfortunely, I never kept track of this...

[SMinGA]

You will need to figure out what your expenses are. What I spend on pet care and/or vehicle maintenance is of no importance in your bankruptcy case.

[jdcat]

We spend right around $120 on pet food and supplies monthly but we have a lot of animals and that does not include toys, flea and tick applications or vet visits. That's food, bedding (not beds) and litter only. I don't know yet if this expense will be allowed in our district so I tried to keep this expense as low as possible on paper so that we wouldn't be pushing our luck.

You have to know how many times a month you purchase dog food, that's really all there is to it. If you want to include vet costs figure out what you spend yearly on shots then divide by twelve to get your monthly cost.

Auto maintenance will be what you spend on gas monthly but the rest will be an average of what you spend yearly for oil changes, tires and what not. This is something you'll have to figure out on your own because your maintenance costs will be different than anyone else's. And remember that some maintenance is not even yearly, like tires. I just replaced the tires on my car, which cost me almost $700, but I hadn't bought tires for 5 years so I have to divide that $700 by 60 months to get my actual true expense for tires. Your situation will most likely be much different.

[Guidance]

Thank you JDCat!

[debtinohio]

I have a small dog and have it approved at $30/month. We go to a pretty low-priced vet and this averages pretty close. I have $315/month listed for transportion which is to include gas/maintenance for 2 cars. Sadly 1 gets 13.2 MPG and the other gets 20MPG so gas often costs more that this.

[jdcat]

Thank you JDCat!

You are very welcome.

I'd like to add an additional comment in regards to vehicle maintenance. Don't forget to include car washes especially if you live in an area where the winters get harsh and salt on the roads becomes an issue. The road salt is really bad and we go through the car wash quite often in the winter.

[BuckeyeGuy13]

We have 1 dog and we average $40 per month in food and our allowance is $100 per month to account for vet visits, etc. Also, for our fuel/maintenance we have $350 per month.

[flyinbroke]

Your mileage will vary: I have two dogs and four cats. Cats are all indoor so I apply Frontline as needed (usually the start of flea season) but the dogs get it every month. I would wager this is 15 dollars per application; larger dogs cost more. Ditto for heartworm meds; mine are 5 bucks a dog per month. Dog food runs me about 50-60 a month, cat food is about the same. My vet bills for basic checkups and shots ran me over 1K this year (some are seniors.) The atty I saw said 150 a month is reasonable, but remember that it will not allow for vet visits....that really will only pay for basic care and maintenance. You may be on PB&Js come vaccination time.

Auto maintenance was higher, because you can figure in the last six months. I had to put new tires on it at 700 bucks...but later on this maintenance will factor in for something else as my car is now 6 years old.