Doctors Bills and thinking you're out of the woods

Last year wasn't a great year for doctor's bills for us. To top it off, we choose to have my tonsils taken out just before the end of the year.
After last year we changed insurances. A number of our doctors were no longer on the plan and that was our number one consideration. I have had a horrible time trying to find a new pediatrician (our last one retired), and for where we live there was only one option left on our insurance and I was not okay with that option. Picking an insurance is hard. Luckily we have lots of options through my husband's employer. However, there is no way to see what option is truly the best option for your pocketbook. One of the frustrations under the last insurance was that going to the doctor was cheap, but they hardly covered anything if you had to go to the hospital. Unless you were actually having a baby, then they covered just about everything. But if you have a D&C because the pregnancy miscarried, it covered almost nothing- which for a grieving mother is not what you want to deal with, the financial costs cause my depression to get worse. One of the things we looked for with our new insurance, was a reasonable hospital trips. We have a $500 copay period now with hospital visits. We have a much high doctor copay but it is a trade off.

I digress from my purpose.

A three weeks ago, right after baths, my daughter comes and tells me that her leg hurts. I look and just below her bum on her right right leg is what looks like a small pimple. She is only 4, I have never seen a pimple on a child that young, nor one on the leg. It had a tiny head on it so I grabbed some supplies and gave it a squeeze. A fair amount of stuff, mostly clear, a little white thing, and then blood. Cleaned it up and put a FROZEN bandage on it and off to bed.
The next evening I mentioned it to my husband and we took a look at it, this time it was the size of a dime and had a pussy head. Again we cleaned it out. My husband, with all his BSA instructor first aid certification, said it looked like a spider bite, and since we have poisonous spiders here, we called the doctor when the office opened.
The doctor took one look at it and said it looked like "community MRSA".  We had to continue to clean it, and bathe her nightly. After bathing we were instructed to clean it with a dab of bleach before bandaging it.
The appointment co-pay was $35 and her prescription was about $2.50- all in all not bad. It cleared up super fast. I was thinking the other day at how blessed we were. This could have turned into something super bad for her and our pocketbook. Yet we caught it in time, we took care of it, and it cleared up with minimal effect. Then our new insurance sent a statement of payment, it was to the lab they sent the sample of fluid to. They said it was to verify it was "community MRSA" and not full on MRSA. The statement from the insurance said they paid $79 and that we owe the provider (hospital lab) $278. WHAT!!!! Just when I though we were getting out of the woods of medical bills from last year. We are *almost* done paying off my hospital bills from surgery. Now this. Granted it is not the bill, not yet.  It makes me so mad. In addition the tests came back inconclusive so we are going to be charged all the money for no results. Yes I am grateful for the previous things mentioned. It could have turned into something so worse.

On another note. I have since learned that the pediatrician I have started taking the kids to only uses the hospital lab. If we were going to the old office, they would have sent it to a different lab and the cost of the lab would have been a lot less. 

Thifty Travel Tips

 

Spring break. Growing up we NEVER went anywhere. Which was hard because all our friends did. My birthday was over spring break and on years that I was suppose to get a have a birthday party I never had any friends in town who could come. I would have loved to have done something fantastically fun this year, but was was not in the budget. However, we did manage to drive to Phoenix for an overnight to see my parents, siblings, and get more bread (see previous posts to learn about my awesome bread I get). All that has prompted this post.
On the road tips for doing it thrify (especially with kids)
1- Rest stop breaks: We all need to get out and stretch every so long. If you are traveling by car it has to happen at some point and if you are trying to so a trip on the thrift chances are you are traveling by car. Since 99% of us have smart phones (that is not a real statistic but since you are bothering to read a blog I can only assume you're tech savey enough to have a smart phone) to a search on upcoming towns for parks. If you are a planner or don't use roaming data you can pre-plan and do the research before you get on road. We also search for fast food places with play areas. If we are doing a long trip we normally will eat one packed meal and then one from somewhere on the road. Other places to look for taking a wiggle break: public libraries (finding story time hours was a great idea I saw on another blog), historically sites, public schools playgrounds (when school is not in session), actual rest stops (once driving through Texas we learned that there are stops with build in play grounds and bathrooms).

We avoid fast food play areas or gas stations when we are not already planning on getting food or gas to prevent expensive or extra purchases.
2- planning ahead: calculate your miles, drive times, when you will reach place x,y,&z. Know about when you'll need gas, will want to eat, will need a break. You can save yourself a ton of money by know when and what is ahead.
3- Costco is awesome. They are often located not far off of freeways and interstates It not only privides space to walk around, but it has clean bathrooms, normally the cheapest gas prices you'll get in that area, and when it is time for a meal you can do pizza or hot dogs for cheap. Not to forget the $1.50 for hot dog and drink (with refills- even a refill for the road) is going to be the same price at EVERY Costco. Knowing the exact cost before hand is super. Also if you're a family that craves the sweet treats you can get the softserve for cheaper than most fav travel stops. Plus there are tables to eat at. One last point is if you need on the road snack foods Costco has great bulk prices and quality (cheapest organic snacks out there if that is what you're looking for). Knowing where the Costcos are before hand or using your phone can be a smart move- if you already have a card it is just one more way to get your money worth out of your membership. Warning- not saving money if you fall victim to buying extra stuff. If you can't be trusted either don't let yourself leave the food court or don't go to Costco.
4- Gas. The price per gallon can vary wildly from town to town and even exit to exit. There are websites out there that use big data to show you the trends of what areas have the cheapest and most expensive gas along your routes. There are also phone aps out there, they can work fine, but are limited by their user numbers and may not have much data on your location. If you know where the trends are before hand you can make smart choices that save you (ie filling up at this stop instead of getting stuck paying the most expensive gas in that state because it is your only option).
5- Bring snacks and premade meals. This takes an "expert level" planner. Mostly because, depending on the meals, cannot be prepared too early from departure and I often run out of time before the leaving deadline to make something. As a last resort I have been know to pack a loaf of bread, peanut better jar, knife, and honey bear. If you can manage to prepare it is the thrifty way.
6- Food. So you're not on "expert level" there are still ways to do food thrifty. Besides Costco, there are lots of other places with good priced food. Get in the habit of looking for grocery stores. Most have premade lunches that are healthier than fast food and are often cheaper options. Add that to the opportunity to buy a whole gallon/liter of juice, water, or soda for the price of one person's personal drink. Another consideration is picking up treats. My dad use to promise us Popsicles at the next gas break if we were quiet in the car. Before getting our finances under control we use to bribe our kids with DQ. Now we'll stop at a grocery store and buy a box of Popsicles (or whatever is on sale).  Some place else to consider is ordering pizza. If you have a large group pizza can be quick and cheap. That doesn't mean you are limited to quickest and cheapest pizza. With the invention of cell phones we can call ahead put in our order to be ready just in time to pick it up and be on your way.
6- RedBox: Yes the really thrifty thing to do is to bring movies with you or have them preloaded on the phone or tablet. But on long trips something new is what is needed. Subscribe to their email list. They will send you coupons all the time. Before a trip I make sure to check my inbox or ap to see if I have any coupons. Trips is about the only time we use their service, but I am so grateful. Since you can return it to any location you can rent it in one state and return it the next day two states away.
Hotels:
There are two ways of looking at it. You can either be my parents who bring the tent along as back-up, and then try to see if they can get a last minute deal while standing in a hotel lobby (my dad was of the opinion that having a warm paying body standing in the lobby was more incentive to give his best deal over the phone or the internet) or option two plan ahead, book ahead.
Not going to make a huge list of places to try looking for good deals. But I wanted to mention AirBnB. Depending on what you're looking for you might find your best deal booking this option might be what you're looking for. Best advice is to not get stuck into any one way of searching or booking. Be open to new options. Yes loyalty is comfortable, but if you're looking to be your thriftiness, you may find that in one area it is not the best deal when that way is the best somewhere else. Also if you can be flexible consider it. Example, there may be a convention one weekend that is driving up all the prices while if you can put it off a week you can find a much better deal.
Also we often drive all night to avoid the extra hotel night. We get there faster, kids get less driving fatigue since they were asleep, less traffic to get frusterated at, all with the added benefit that you saved the money on the hotel. Just stay safe. Trade drivers often or pull over and take a power nap.
Flying:
Sometimes you can't avoid the need to fly. There are lots of reasons. When trying to do it thrifty many of the same ideas can apply- bring your meals and snacks. We bring empty water bottles and once through security we fill them up. Be prepared. Think through sceneries, and decide before hand what you can live without if it won't fit in your bag or forget. Buying replacement phone chargers and the like is where you're going to waste the most money. Also by searching online you can learn what food options are in each airport and you can know where you want to get your food while on that layover.
Sight-seeing:

Cheap Meals: English Carrot Stew

If you're buying carrots and potatoes this recipe is a great recipe to use them.



to download right click on photo and Save image As- it is a full size image/print size




CARROT STEW
6 carrots (about 1/2 pound)
3 potatoes (small to medium)
4 celery stalks
1 small onion
1 TBS garlic
Dill -I didn't have Dill we substituted Thyme
Parsley- didn't have parsley substituted Marjoram
Salt
Pepper
4 Chicken bouillon cubes
Peel carrots and sparingly peel potatoes (all the vitamins you get from potatoes are in the skin, do yourself a favor and leave at least some of them there) and put them in a pot to boil.
Finely chop onion and celery and saute in a sprayed pan with garlic (It will add flavor to use butter, the original recipe calls for 2 tbs of butter, if you want to add this make sure to adjust your calories. As for me I used cooking spray). Add dill, parsley, salt and pepper as desired (about 1 to 2 tsp each of dill and parsley)
When everything is soft, its time to put into the blender. Spoon in carrots and potatoes, then celery and onion mixture, then carrots and potatoes and celery and onion mixture, back and forth until the blender is filled (It takes me 2 full blenders with my blender). Puree everything and dump into a bigger pot. (I always spoon in some of the water from the carrot and potato water to the blender so the vegetables will blend up nice and creamy). Do this until everything has been pureed.
Once everything is in the pot, add a little water until creamy soup is the desired thickness (or thinness - I prefer mine a little thicker and creamier). Add chicken bouillon while soup is simmering. Salt and pepper as desired.

Repair, Used, Or New

Our Washing machine has been having a few issues over the past few months. Every time it seems to fix itself or was livable with until a few weeks ago. We had a freeze that partially froze the pipes to our house. This caused our home's water pressure to be practically non-existent. We learned how washers (at least older ones) use the water pressure to turn off. If the pressure is so low, the washer will not be able to stop the incoming water, and overfill. We thought that it would be fixed when the pipes thawed and the pressure was back to normal, but that wasn't the case. After everything thawed, the washer continued to overfill. We did all sorts of trouble shooting thanks to the internet and narrowed it down to three parts. All over $100 to replace. It would almost $100 to have an actual repair man come out and look at it and then we'd still have the cost of the repair.

So when do you decide to call the repairman, to buy a used item, or to break down and pull out the money for a new one?

My husband's opinion is to buy new every time. He says that a true sign of poverty is feeling the feeling/actuality that used is all you can get. My instinct is to repair or buy used, if you can find it. So when this comes up in our marriage we are normally a bit at odds with who's perspective wins out.

A time my perspective worked out for us, is the dishwasher that was in our house when we bought it stopped working because the electrical panel that controls it had been fired by the steam from the dishwasher. My husband agreed to a repairman. That cost us $80 just to come out and look at the appliance. The part, the electrical panel was going to be $200 and the repairman warned us that because of where the design put the panel this will most likely happen again within the next two years. I then got on craigslist and found someone that was upgrading all their appliances to match and was selling their stove and dishwasher. (Sometimes I wish I bought their stove too). Bought their dishwasher for $60 and my husband installed it. It doesn't match the rest of our appliances, it has no frills, and is old as heck- but it works fine and has now lasted us almost 7 years and still working. I call this buy used a win.

However this time with the Washer, I don't feel is a win. My husband to help me feel better calls it a *wash*. I made the pun not him, he is not a punny person.

So I went out and looked for a washer. I found one being sold. The owner said their old washer had broken they got this one from a friend who had a dryer die and they bought a new set, but that this one (being a front loader on a pedestal) didn't fit in his laundry room. I didn't know how I felt about it. He didn't speak a lot of English (or he was pretending not to), and he knew nothing about the washer itself. I did some quick searches on my slow phone internet (because I was in the middle of no where Arizona), he went down to $80 on the price. I decided that it was the cost of the repairman so we wouldn't be out any more than if we had tried that route. When we got it home there was a connecting pipe that was busted. (We honestly could have busted it moving it just as much as they were selling it that way and I didn't see it). But looking on line we were able to purchase a replacement for $6 including shipping. So not that much more of a loss. It came a few days later, my husband installed it, washer worked fine. Life goes on. Until 2 weeks later it just out of no where, in the middle of laundry day, just stops working. The door will no longer close. I troubleshooted on the internet most of my laundry day. My husband spend some time on Saturday, and then after a complete breakdown on my part, we went to Sears and bought the simplest and most affordable Washer we could find. Brought it home and installed it. After all what is the emergency fund for? If not for appliances when you live in the middle of no where and are a family of 6.

My husband says it wasn't a bad choice, it all cost us no worse then calling in the repair man.

Back to the original question: How do you decide what to do- repair, used, new?

rules of thumb my husband and I have developed:

1. What is the price of a repair man for just coming out?
2. How often have we repaired an item (ourselves or a repairman) prior? How trustworthy were those repairs? 
3. What is the going range for NEW of the item at your local stores or online?
4. Is this a now item or is it something you can do without and save up a few weeks/months for? Is this something that we can borrow, substitute, go old school? Can we wait to at least until a better time of year (seasonal sales, moving sales, holiday sales)?
5. Have we exhausted our diy options when it comes to fixing it ourselves?
6. How long have we had this item and how many more years it is reasonable to get out of this type of item?

What are your rules of thumb when solving broken items? When do you choose to repair over Used, or Used over New?

Christmas wasn't a BUST

We had a Christmas budget, and we kept it!! How many people can say that?
When we set up out budget to be the smallest amount we could make Christmas happen at.
When all the final numbers were tallied and we came in 85 cents under budget! Yay for us!

Budget Christmas

We have always tried to keep our Christmas simple. I have no control over grandparents. But this year with the tightening of our belt we are forcing ourselves to have an even simpler Christmas.

How are we doing this?

• two gifts per child. Santa gift included. One toy and one other (in this case it is a clothing item), with a strict already saved limit on each child's total amount. If what they wanted wasn't in the budget they just aren't getting it.
• we rotate my siblings, this year we have my sister's family. I'm making their gifts.
• E-Christmas cards. With my digital scrapbooking business I made a beautiful card. We then emailed it, put it on facebook, sent it as personal message on facebook, and even sent as a picture text to a few people. With the exception of a few people exactly 6 that don't do the internet we printed and mailed to them. Spent, including stamps, $7.16 on our cards total. Even with the best deals you might get in printing out there. Once we started adding the stamps the cost of our Christmas cards was just taking a ton out of our Christmas budget.
• We decided to not do gifts outside our family this year. Normally I make some fun and cute baked good with cute packaging. Not this year. No cute packaging and no baked goods. A small part of this is that I had surgery and although I'm mostly healed I decided the stress of getting the few we were going to do was just too much. In the past we would put together about 50-70 plates ect. This year I was going to do a mash up all the left over packaging from previous years (and not buy anything this year). 
• No new Christmas decorations. In the past we've bought a few new things every year. New string of lights, replacement for broken items,  new ornaments, new cute item I thought was so fun. But we decided that we were going to buy nothing this year. No moments of weakness. No frivolous purchases, No replacing broken items. Not this year.

Here are some ideas of homemade gifts:

Jar treats
Pillowcases
pillowcase dresses
polar fleece knot blankets
aprons
artwork

Anyone of these can result in lots of options search them on pinterest.

Life will *always* be CRAZY

When Life happened before we started our financial revolution I saw it was life happens and I don't want to think about it. I would then hand whatever it is my credit card and not think about it.

So EVERY month there has been something or multiple somethings. Each time one of these things come up it has created two responses. First, getting upset at how this is delaying our ability to pay off the debt. Then second, as we change our budget around it shows us that we can take care of this, stay on track, and have managed to still pay off some debt.

Examples:

• Between August and October our family over $600 in dental work.
• End of September I chopped off the tip of my finger and we found ourselves at the ER. Between all the bills it cost us over the next couple months over $300
• In August and September everyone got sick at least once (some twice) and we had about $200 in medical bills (doctors and prescription).
• November brought us two blown tires. That was another almost $400 to fix everything connected with it.
• My doctors have been urging me for a year now to get my tonsils out. Since we've had sooo many medical expenses this year we decided that financial we'd get the best price for having them removed if we did it before the end of the year. We now added all the surgery expenses to all our crazy medical bills this year. 

But we have to remind ourselves that we are still staying afloat.

We are making progress. Since starting in June. We have paid off almost $8000 in debt. There is a small part of me that looks at all of our "life happens" expenses and think about how that is another $1500 we could have paid off. But I need to remind myself that no matter what "life happens" and will continue to happen, but as long was we are trying to do it right we'll survive.