The Wall Street Journal, available for 1800 points from various credit card reward point systems. After three months of withdrawal, it’s finally back into my sweaty pink hands.

From Smart Money.  Good stuff.

Stop Buying Crap #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18 | #19

Annoying Little Dogs That Cost More Than Your Mortgage Payment

A reader’s email:

I thought of another crap shoot that so many people have bought into. Small, expensive, annoying dogs! What is the point of buying a $500 (or more) dog that doesn’t do anything but sit in your Louis Vuitton bag?? Thought you may be able to use your gift to shed some light on the subject. Thanks!

Done and done.

Nothing beats fulfilling the request of one reader at the risk of alienating the rest of my readers. My fellow pet hater, Free Money Finance should enjoy this post (hah just kidding, FMF doesn’t hate pets).

To be honest, I have no real quarrels with pets — the problem I have are with potential pet owners who purchase a pet for wrong reasons. They can be buying it as a little-thought gift for a lover, child, etc.; or they may have bought it because of some short-term need for companionship. There are many more wrong reasons, but I will spare you with them as thinking about them makes my blood boil.

There are a few things many people should think about before they acquire a pet. They should realize that pets are living beings, with certain specific needs and wants. Pets are not your expensive iPods, or your brand new Porsche that can be traded-in, thrown away, or upgraded when they no longer interest you (or your child).

The cost of ownership of a pet can be surprisingly high in the long term, especially if you don’t prioritize your spending. Ever have a cousin, sister, brother, or mother-in-law that spends more on their pet than their monthly car payment?

Finally, pet ownership requires real commitment and responsibility. This is a purchase that needs to be considered carefully, both in the financial and moral aspect. If your pet becomes ill, how much are you willing to spend to save its life? What happens if you neglect to spay your cat, and suddenly find yourself with a litters of kittens?

Pets are hardly crap, but if you’re buying them as a spur of the moment “please forgive me and come back to me” gift to your ex-girlfriend, please tell me where you live so I can go kick your ass (or if you’re bigger than me, lecture you from afar).

Uh, Free Book!

Win a free copy of the New York Times Bestseller Marley & Me! Why? Because it’s entirely appropriate to give away a book on the joy of pet ownership in a blog post that tells you not to buy pets.

All you have to do is leave a comment on why pet ownership was worth the financial cost to you. If you’ve never owned a pet you can also try lying — although you should know how Santa feels about that.

Winner will be chosen randomly. Limit one entry per person and household address. Be sure to include an email address while leaving a comment. Ends 7/29/06.

Related Link:

• Pets & Finances - Post dealing with pets & finances, from Free Money Finance

All Financial Matters has a very spiffy collection of various HOWTO posts from the personal finance blogging community. Definitely worth checking out.

The 65th Carnival of Personal Finance is up and can be found at No Credit Needed.

“Hmm… I don’t know if we can afford that.” says the wife uncertainly.

“Oh don’t worry about it honey, it’s only an extra $100 a month!” says the S-M-R-T hubby.

Right…

Have you ever eavesdrop overheard a conversation like that? Especially at the big screen TV aisle in Worst Buy?

While you’re considering the total cost of ownership, you should also refrain from looking at purchases in terms of monthly payment. It’s a serious “I want to be in debt” mentality.

Granted, in situation such as a mortgage loan, it’s reasonable to really look at the monthly payment, but for semi-big ticket purchases, thinking only about the monthly payment can seriously disguise the total cost of a purchase.

Remember kids, just because you can afford the monthly payment, doesn’t mean you can actually afford the purchase. Next time the infomercial says “only five easy payment of $29.95″ — add up the monthly payments with your spiffy abacus.

Remember how I had that stupid April Fool’s joke, where in I suddenly bought a brand new 2006 BMW 325i? Unfortunately for a lot of Google users, they will find the page and not realize that it was an April Fool’s joke (er, sorry).

This resulted in a number of emails from potential car buyers, with usual car buying questions such as “How’s the ride quality? Is maintenance really expensive? How do you like the car so far?”

One of the frequent asked question would be on the actual ownership cost of the vehicle, aka total cost of ownership. Which makes me worry a bit for these car buyers, mainly because if they’re seriously interested in the BMW, they should be well aware of BMW’s Maintenance Program: you receive all factory recommended maintenance at no cost, for up to four years or 50,000 miles. They should have also done the homework on the cost of insurance, etc.

Although TCO is something many enterprise managers consider on a daily basis, it seems that many consumers don’t consider the total cost of ownership enough. If you don’t factor in the maintenance, insurance, fuel, financing, and tax cost of buying a BMW — you may be getting a vehicle that you can’t afford in the long term.

Remember though that total cost of ownership can apply to other things besides a car. Pretty much any functional thing that you may consider an asset will have an ownership cost. Computers, homes, even clothings have direct (& indirect) cost related to the purchase. Obviously, for big ticket items, these cost are much higher. Figuring out these potential cost before committing to a purchase will save you from future nasty surprises.

Coupon Link. Expires 9/10/06. You’ll need to register and sign up for Borders Rewards membership to use the coupon. There’s always the library, too.