This is why you learn math

A recent article came out, written from a woman who had to relinquish her two year old dog because of a $4,000 vet bill she couldn't pay. She had a choice to put the dog down, or sign papers turning custody over to the vet.

In the article, she says she was given the option of paying the $4k back over a 6 month period using the Care credit card.

First, a few facts about the Care card, which I have heard of people using before. It's a special card to allow people time to repay health care costs. You can choose a repayment period of 6-24 months, no interest, provided you make the minimum monthly payments and pay it off in full by the time the period is complete.

Now, let's do some math. $4,000 over 6 months is $667 a month. If you wanted to, you could raise this money. Take a Walmart job, average pay of $11.75 an hour, and work 10 hours a week. That will get you $470 a month, minus taxes. You can make up the rest by canceling cable, your cell phone plan, cutting back at the grocery store, getting a roommate, doing online fundraisers, having a bake sale, selling off some of your stuff, or even asking family and friends to borrow $25-50 here and there with the intent to pay them back in a few months.

It's difficult, but doable. You could probably find a better job than Walmart. If you can get a waitress position where you get 4-5 tables an hour, that would double the Walmart money. Even in today's tough economy the retail and low-paying jobs are still available. The national average retail wage is over $12 an hour.

There's work that doesn't take taxes either. Cut your neighbor's lawn for $20. Clean their house for $50. Babysit or dogsit on rover.com or care.com. Peel potatoes in the back of a restaurant.

The point is, this article has hundreds of sympathetic comments to this woman's plight, but no one is doing the math. Four thousand over six months is not that bad if you are willing to work hard. Even if you are absolutely broke, there are ways to raise this money. Go to soup kitchens and food banks if you have to. Start a Chip-in account and a blog to raise money. Contact local rescues and pet stores. Negotiate a longer repayment period with Care.

This person gave up her dog because she thought $4,000 was an impossible amount. It is large, there's no denying that. Yet, this is why we learn math in schools. Just because a number is large does not mean it's impossible. There is money there in the world, my friend.  You have to go look for it, but it's there. Most definitely it's there.