I received our Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from our insurance company yesterday for the $492 doctor bill we received in the mail last Friday. I'm now confident this will be our only bill arriving. The EOB showed charges for the hospital, ER, surgeon, anesthesiologist and lab work. I think that covers everything.
I'm feeling very lucky to have such good insurance.
We paid a total of $7.98 for Jamison's broken arm.
We're paying $492 for an appendectomy.
I don't believe that's too bad, really.
We have $15 co-pays at clinic visits and $150 ER co-pays (included in the $492 for this emergency).
We pay $352/month for our family coverage. I'm very grateful to have decent health insurance for my family. I wish every person/family could have affordable, decent health insurance too.
3% A.K.A. Thank God for good insurance
We received our first appendectomy doctor bill on Friday. It was short and to the point. We owe $492. OK then. There were only five lines on the bill. Original amount, insurance discount, insurance payment, insurance discount and another insurance payment and then our total at the end. The original amount? Over $15,000. We are paying just over 3% of the total bill. Thank God we have good insurance.
I'm going to call today if I have time and ask for an itemized bill. I have no problem paying the bill, I just want to know if I should expect more of them to arrive in the mailbox. This bill is from the hospital, does that include the $150 ER co-pay? How about the surgeon? Is this just the overnight hospital stay and all the good drugs Chuck received? I'm hoping by getting an itemized bill I can see if I should expect more or not.
Chuck's surgeon joked with Chuck that he wished appendices grew back. That they were quick, easy, big money for him. I can see why now!
As it is, I'm hoping to cash flow this bill in October and to not have to touch our savings. October is a three paycheck month for Chuck so we should have another $750 or so coming in. I was hoping to put a good chunk of that in our Christmas savings and maybe I still can put some there. I guess that depends if more doctor bills are coming or not.
I'm going to call today if I have time and ask for an itemized bill. I have no problem paying the bill, I just want to know if I should expect more of them to arrive in the mailbox. This bill is from the hospital, does that include the $150 ER co-pay? How about the surgeon? Is this just the overnight hospital stay and all the good drugs Chuck received? I'm hoping by getting an itemized bill I can see if I should expect more or not.
Chuck's surgeon joked with Chuck that he wished appendices grew back. That they were quick, easy, big money for him. I can see why now!
As it is, I'm hoping to cash flow this bill in October and to not have to touch our savings. October is a three paycheck month for Chuck so we should have another $750 or so coming in. I was hoping to put a good chunk of that in our Christmas savings and maybe I still can put some there. I guess that depends if more doctor bills are coming or not.
Naughty, Naughty
I was bad today. I went out to lunch with co-workers. $11.89 spent. This is bad because our restaurant budget was gone for the month. $125 budget. $125.75 spent. Plus now $11.89. And I knew this when I said OK to the lunch today. So why did I go? Because a co-worker is being let go tomorrow. He knows it's coming and today was his good-bye lunch. Another casualty of the recession and being the poorest performer in our group. I feel bad for him. His divorce is final on Friday and he loses his job tomorrow. I haven't always been his biggest fan at work for personal and professional reasons but he's always tried his hardest. So I went to his lunch today. I can absorb the extra into our budget this month. I know we're under budget in several categories.
Have you ever made a conscious decision to go over budget in one category or another? Did you feel guilty about it later? Because I have to admit that I don't.
Have you ever made a conscious decision to go over budget in one category or another? Did you feel guilty about it later? Because I have to admit that I don't.
Embarrassing and Frustrating
A really embarrassing and frustrating thing happened last week - I overdrafted our checking account. I even knew we were going to be cutting it close so I moved some money from our attached savings account (our short term savings account) to cover what I thought was going through. I miscalculated by about $75 and didn't have enough left in the short term account to cover that. I was charged a $35 overdraft fee for the one bounced transaction and I deserved it. I've learned two things from this experience:
- Always have "extra" money in the short term savings account. I know we have an emergency fund but that is at INGDirect and our regular checking is at Wells Fargo. It takes 3-4 days to transfer money between accounts. I need to have money in the short term savings that I can transfer over instantly. Chuck and I have agreed to keep $250 in there at all times. If you'll remember from my August month end update, we only had $83.87 in there at that time. $50/month is automatically transferred. We're going to keep doing this until there is $250 in there and then keep growing it from there. If there's anything we want to splurge on with this money it has to be inexpensive enough that $250 is still left in the account. That will give us a nice cushion I think.
- And the big one is we need to manage our cash flow better. We didn't overdraft our account because our spending was out of control. We're at or under budget in every category. It's just that at the beginning of the month we have a lot of cash go out and this month there was even extra leaving our pockets with Anya's birthday. We spent $75 on her present and $130 on her party. Then there was the $172 preschool tuition check, the $115 association fee, the $1965 mortgage payment, the $48 natural gas bill, the $74 phone/internet bill, the $100 trip to the grocery store, etc. That's a huge chunk of our monthly budget right there in the first seven days. And starting in October with our first truck payment of $440.05 due on the 6th of the month? Well, cash flow is going to become even more important. It's my goal to come in under budget this month and then instead of transferring that money to savings, I'm going to keep it in our checking so we have the extra cash available at the beginning of October to handle the large cash outflow again.
Score!
My workplace is doing some fall cleaning right now and the paper recycling bins are overflowing. This morning as I walked by one I noticed a textbook sitting on top of the pile of papers. I grabbed it and walked back to my desk. I logged in to half.com and checked the ISBN #. And then I listed the book for $15. It's in brand new condition (no highlighting, scrapes, scuffs) and that's the second lowest price listed for a like new condition book (the lowest is $12.50 and after that it's $18.00 and up over $20.00. Wouldn't it be cool to get a "free" $15? I hope the book sells. If it does that money will go straight to the emergency fund, along with all other snowflakes I receive.
I know I've been slow in updating here. Life has been busy (I've been working some late nights after the kids are in bed which is usually my blogging time). That should ease up now and I should be able to post more. Thanks for sticking around!
I know I've been slow in updating here. Life has been busy (I've been working some late nights after the kids are in bed which is usually my blogging time). That should ease up now and I should be able to post more. Thanks for sticking around!
Restaurant Budget Busted
Within just a few days in September, Chuck and I had spent most of our dining out budget. And a couple days after that, we busted it. OK, so we busted it by $0.75 but over is over. Here we were one week into the month and our $125 monthly restaurant budget was already at $125.75. Yikes!
Luckily, or smartly, however you look at it, because I've been keeping a closer eye on the budget recently, I recognized this area of the budget was now off-limits, informed Chuck and together we've cut off all dining out. It's not the middle of the month and we're holding steady.
Only two more weeks to go and then we can think of delivered pizzas, a quick bite to eat while on the road or even a date night. Ah, date night. Eating in a restaurant without children is a nice treat. Which is exactly why we're in the position we are now. The kids were at the in-laws for a couple days to let Chuck heal from his appendectomy. And when the kids are away, the parents will play! We ate out every day they were gone! But now we're going to be good little budgeters and stick it out for the rest of September.
Half the month is over, do you have any budget categories on the brink?
Luckily, or smartly, however you look at it, because I've been keeping a closer eye on the budget recently, I recognized this area of the budget was now off-limits, informed Chuck and together we've cut off all dining out. It's not the middle of the month and we're holding steady.
Only two more weeks to go and then we can think of delivered pizzas, a quick bite to eat while on the road or even a date night. Ah, date night. Eating in a restaurant without children is a nice treat. Which is exactly why we're in the position we are now. The kids were at the in-laws for a couple days to let Chuck heal from his appendectomy. And when the kids are away, the parents will play! We ate out every day they were gone! But now we're going to be good little budgeters and stick it out for the rest of September.
Half the month is over, do you have any budget categories on the brink?
Birthday Gifts Under Budget
Anya's 5th birthday was Monday. We celebrated with a small family party. We're also going roller skating with a couple little friends on Saturday. I had line items in the budget for presents, food for Monday and the skating party. Today I'm going to tell you all how we did on the presents. I gave myself (uh, I mean us, heh) a budget of $75.00. And this is how I did:
Clothes: (3 shirts, 1 skirt from Children's Place) $28.48
Fun Socks and Hello Kitty tote bag: $3.06 from dollar bins at Target
Tinkerbell 1GB MP3 player: $32.17 (She's loving singing along with her songs and it's a riot to watch her dance while listening to her music. The best though is when she shouts at you because she has her earphones on.)
Two My Little Ponies: $10.77
Total damage: $74.48
I did it! I stayed under budget! It helped that the saleswoman at Children's Place gave me 15% off my purchase. How nice of her! I love Children's Place. Cute clothes at great prices.
Next up - groceries for Monday's family party. Budget? $75.00 Did we do it when we served steaks, hamburgers and ribs? Time to dig out the receipt and categorize what was party food and what was regular grocery shopping...
Clothes: (3 shirts, 1 skirt from Children's Place) $28.48
Fun Socks and Hello Kitty tote bag: $3.06 from dollar bins at Target
Tinkerbell 1GB MP3 player: $32.17 (She's loving singing along with her songs and it's a riot to watch her dance while listening to her music. The best though is when she shouts at you because she has her earphones on.)
Two My Little Ponies: $10.77
Total damage: $74.48
I did it! I stayed under budget! It helped that the saleswoman at Children's Place gave me 15% off my purchase. How nice of her! I love Children's Place. Cute clothes at great prices.
Next up - groceries for Monday's family party. Budget? $75.00 Did we do it when we served steaks, hamburgers and ribs? Time to dig out the receipt and categorize what was party food and what was regular grocery shopping...
New Truck Insurance Payment
Late last week I found out how much our insurance for the truck is going to increase. We had been paying $41.78/month for our 1999 Blazer. That was with 50/100/50 coverage. Yes, we pay monthly instead of quarterly or every six months. I know we’re throwing a couple dollars away every month on administrative fees for this convenience. At this time I’m too lazy to change that. Whoops. (I promise to look into this as we do this for 3 of our 4 vehicles – truck, car, my motorcycle – so we are paying more in administrative fees than I would like.)
Anyway, I checked online and our new monthly payment is going to be $43.30 and that is with 100/300/100 coverage. I’ve increased our coverage 2-3x, have a brand new vehicle and my monthly payment only increased by $1.52. Not too bad!
This will make a minimal dent on our monthly budget. The truck payment on the other hand...
Anyway, I checked online and our new monthly payment is going to be $43.30 and that is with 100/300/100 coverage. I’ve increased our coverage 2-3x, have a brand new vehicle and my monthly payment only increased by $1.52. Not too bad!
This will make a minimal dent on our monthly budget. The truck payment on the other hand...
August 2009 Month End
Summer is over! Can you believe it? The Minnesota State Fair is going on right now. That's our annual right of passage into the school year and autumn. This summer has gone so fast. At least we were able to enjoy it with our vacation and several local outings. And now it's time to fess up! Just how did we do in the month of August??
Debts:
Truck Loan: $31.683.60 (+31,683.60) - Yikes! That's a big number. We are still very happy with our purchase though. It was exactly the vehicle we wanted and we believe we received a fair price. Plus, you can't beat 0% financing! Well, except with a cash payment which we would not have had for years. We'll be paying the minimum due on this account due to the 0% interest and still put all money available into savings. Our first payment for the truck isn't due until October 6th so there is not a line item in the September budget for a truck payment. This balance will stay the same for the upcoming month.
Savings:
Emergency Fund: $4,699.32 (+477.99) - I was hoping to add more to the emergency fund last month. I'd like that number to be $750 minimum each month. I have to realize that's not going to be possible every month and just continue to do the best I can. I also think we've been spending more than necessary lately. If we can curb some of our spending then we could add more to savings. I'll be keeping a close eye on the budget to see where we can cut back. Unfortunately, September is always an expensive month for us and this one is no different. There's preschool to pay for now with a double payment due this month and ECFE class tuition plus Anya's birthday and the list keeps going. My goal this month is to get this account over $5000.00.
Short Term Savings: $133.88 (+50.01) - Standard contribution this month. We still have our eye on an iPod Touch. It turns out Chuck's brother has one he's no longer using and was thinking of selling on Craigslist. It's the 16Gb model. I told him to tell us how much he wants for it and we'll buy it from him. He hasn't given us a number yet so for now we leave this money alone.
Travel Fund: $73.50 (+50.05) - I bumped the contribution from $20 to $50. That's still not a lot of money but then again our emergency fund is not yet fully funded. We should be focusing there anyway. I think I'll leave this as is for now.
Christmas Savings: $333.10 (+0.39) - Yeah, this account didn't see any action this month. I do have a small amount scheduled for this account for September. I'm also counting on Chuck's third paycheck in October to boost this account. We will pay for Christmas with cash this year. That is still going to happen.
Basement Finishing Fund: $200.13 (+100.13) - I've made this a standing $100 contribution in the monthly budget. I'm a little torn about this though. If I added this to the emergency fund instead then I'd be that much closer to my $750 monthly goal. However, if there were to be an emergency where we needed to pull from savings, this money is certainly fair game. And it's all at ING so it would be easy to move between accounts if necessary. For now I'll stick the money here so we can feel like we're making at least a little progress on getting the basement finished.
And there you have it, our financial life in a nutshell. One thing I've noticed lately is that while we usually have money left over each month in our budget, I'm not doing a very good job with my individual budget categories. I'm green (under) in some and red (over) in others. I'm going to take a look this month and may report our ending budget in the next month end report. Maybe having to publicize the numbers will make me stick to them a little better to make sure every category is green. It would be nice to be able to sweep a big pot of "extra" money into the emergency fund!
Debts:
Truck Loan: $31.683.60 (+31,683.60) - Yikes! That's a big number. We are still very happy with our purchase though. It was exactly the vehicle we wanted and we believe we received a fair price. Plus, you can't beat 0% financing! Well, except with a cash payment which we would not have had for years. We'll be paying the minimum due on this account due to the 0% interest and still put all money available into savings. Our first payment for the truck isn't due until October 6th so there is not a line item in the September budget for a truck payment. This balance will stay the same for the upcoming month.
Savings:
Emergency Fund: $4,699.32 (+477.99) - I was hoping to add more to the emergency fund last month. I'd like that number to be $750 minimum each month. I have to realize that's not going to be possible every month and just continue to do the best I can. I also think we've been spending more than necessary lately. If we can curb some of our spending then we could add more to savings. I'll be keeping a close eye on the budget to see where we can cut back. Unfortunately, September is always an expensive month for us and this one is no different. There's preschool to pay for now with a double payment due this month and ECFE class tuition plus Anya's birthday and the list keeps going. My goal this month is to get this account over $5000.00.
Short Term Savings: $133.88 (+50.01) - Standard contribution this month. We still have our eye on an iPod Touch. It turns out Chuck's brother has one he's no longer using and was thinking of selling on Craigslist. It's the 16Gb model. I told him to tell us how much he wants for it and we'll buy it from him. He hasn't given us a number yet so for now we leave this money alone.
Travel Fund: $73.50 (+50.05) - I bumped the contribution from $20 to $50. That's still not a lot of money but then again our emergency fund is not yet fully funded. We should be focusing there anyway. I think I'll leave this as is for now.
Christmas Savings: $333.10 (+0.39) - Yeah, this account didn't see any action this month. I do have a small amount scheduled for this account for September. I'm also counting on Chuck's third paycheck in October to boost this account. We will pay for Christmas with cash this year. That is still going to happen.
Basement Finishing Fund: $200.13 (+100.13) - I've made this a standing $100 contribution in the monthly budget. I'm a little torn about this though. If I added this to the emergency fund instead then I'd be that much closer to my $750 monthly goal. However, if there were to be an emergency where we needed to pull from savings, this money is certainly fair game. And it's all at ING so it would be easy to move between accounts if necessary. For now I'll stick the money here so we can feel like we're making at least a little progress on getting the basement finished.
And there you have it, our financial life in a nutshell. One thing I've noticed lately is that while we usually have money left over each month in our budget, I'm not doing a very good job with my individual budget categories. I'm green (under) in some and red (over) in others. I'm going to take a look this month and may report our ending budget in the next month end report. Maybe having to publicize the numbers will make me stick to them a little better to make sure every category is green. It would be nice to be able to sweep a big pot of "extra" money into the emergency fund!
Recovering
Chuck is doing well. Thank you for the nice comments. The kids have been visiting grandma and grandpa the past couple days so Chuck's been home alone during the day. This is good for his healing but man, is he bored! This means in the evenings when I'm home from work he wants to do things and talk and stuff. It's not really conducive to me blogging like I usually do in the evenings after the kids are in bed. I have some things to update you on too! Like August month end, Lending Club investment, Anya's birthday presents and coming in under our birthday gift budget. But that will have to wait. Now I have to go spend more time with my husband. Awful, huh? :)
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