Personal accounts: True tales of veterinary spending

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Money management is all about choices. Where you live, the job you take, what you spend. But when it feels like the money's drifting out of the bank account much quicker than it flows in, it's hard to get a handle on where it all goes. We asked several veterinary professionals from different jobs and areas of the country to track their spending for one week. Our goal: to share what they've learned from a deep dive into the cost of living and the choices we make every day. 

While it's hard to get agreement on what's an essential need vs. a luxury, we ask our readers to remember these journals make these anonymous diarists very vulnerable. Please be respectful in the comments. 

Personal accounts: How a CVT in Boston makes $19.65 an hour work

This technician has dealt with financial ups and downs in the last year, including a move and a pet being diagnosed with cancer.

Personal accounts: A week of overtime and a little play time

In an effort to pay off her student loan by the end of the year, this technician and her husband watch spending carefully and still find moments to splurge.

Personal accounts: An associate veterinarian paying down $110k in debt

This veterinarian muses about the steep cost of therapeutic diets for her four cats-and that's with the professional discount.

Personal accounts: Fetching a bit of continuing education, plus a little fun with the family

This associate started the week by finishing up a veterinary continuing education conference and then digging into a more normal work week, with a bonus of spending a little time with her extended family.

Personal accounts: A vet on the verge of being free from student loans

This veterinary associate put a premium on paying back her student debt ... and also on feeding her three dogs, four cats and three horses, as well as about 200 wild birds. The usual.

Personal accounts: single mom surviving on a vet tech's pay in State College, Pennsylvania

Eking out family time-and making ends meet-takes a strict adherence to budget and the strength to gut it out at work-even when you're sick.

Personal accounts: A week in Utah on $70K a year

After a week of foreign intestinal bodies and dental slab fractures, this introverted associate seeks the comfort of Netflix and gardening … and a new veterinary tech gadget.

Personal accounts: A week in Virginia on $90k a year

This associate veterinarian recently relocated and started a new job at a busy general practice.

Underwater on a vet tech's pay

Personal accounts: A technician's money journal reviews a week in Phoenix on a $24,816 salary.