The One Thing I Will Always Pay For

So I ended the title of this post with a preposition but oh well.  As you know I am seriously One Cheap Mama.  A real bonafide cheapskate.  I hate paying more than $10 for any piece of clothing and it's a stretch for me to pay more than $20 for shoes. I rarely find great clothing at these prices which explains why I rock a zip up hoodie and cotton pants from Wal-Mart most days but that's just how it goes.  I would much rather buy nice stuff for my house anyway but that's another post for another day.

Yesterday I was standing in the lobby of my local pet bathing locale and wondering what ridiculous price I would be charged for my pooch's half day of beauty.  I have a Silky Terrier which is basically a Yorkie Terrier on steroids so he's cute but extremely hairy.  This means his "hair maintenance" is no small job.  These doggie grooming places usually charge as much as it costs for me to get a haircut so the Cheap Mama in me is usually fuming on the inside as I sign the debit card receipt.  But as I stood in the lobby amid the dog tutus and specialized doggie hair products it dawned on me that no matter what it was going to cost in the end, it was going to be worth it.  This is because the one thing I will pay for no matter how many coupons I have to clip or how many meatless dinners I have to feed my family, is for someone else to express my dog's anal glands.

The reason he was there in the first place was that while dragging his butt across the carpet he had "half-way" expressed his glands (the dog groomer's words, not mine) and the awful scent had lodged itself in his butt hairs.  No amount of regular doggie shampoo could kill the smell so I scheduled a bath at the pooch beauty parlor in town.  These people love animals, even stinky Silky Terriers.  They will wash their hair, clean out their eye boogers, soak their hair knots in conditioner, and, yes, express their anal glands.  I'm all about DIY to save money but let me say again, I don't care how much they ever charge me.  I will always pay for anal gland cleansing.  

I may be One Cheap Mama but there are some places I just won't go.  Anal glands are at the top of that list.