Life, and Money

Ah, the money problems have hit. Not the every day ones, the "oh crud, we now have big bills and have to find money to pay them." The default of course, has always been to grab a credit card, which is just moving the debt but preferable to collections. And that's probably what we'll end up doing. I'm grateful that we have good, long standing credit and have that option, although I deplore having to go further in debt.

First we did our taxes. We owe this year, thanks to the "resourse rebate" given us by the State of Alaska. Hubby's in a bit of shock, as he's never owed taxes. I put some away for it, but we've had to dip in and we're a little short. Basically, April 15 we'll send them everything we can. In the mean time, I'm trying various ways to report our and the kids' incomes to see if I can reduce it at all.

Next, I finally got to the dentist. After 16 years I'm pleased to report that all I have are dirty teeth (need to have root planings, which is scraping the heck out of the area below the gums), two small cavities, and a 25 year old crown which needs replacing but isn't critical yet. The dentist said I'm blessed with good teeth. Cost: Roughly $800 after insurance, but the crown can be deferred a year if needed. They're getting everything pre-approved, I should hear what we can do in about a month.

Finally, we got the pre-insurance bill for my new glasses. This one has me stunned. Total bill, with the exam, $998. My heart stopped, I swear. A thousand dollars for GLASSES? The big kicker is they charge you for the regular lenses AND the "progressive" ones. Next time I might have to see if the bifocals with lines are cheaper. If my insurance pays up what it claims my out of pocket will be around $550. I paid $175 at the visit, which I'm betting is the difference between the insurance's "full" coverage of the exam and what they'll really pay (they always use that "normal and reasonable cost" excuse, don't they).

This is why we don't usualy do regular health maintenance. We don't have a couple grand lying around to cover what's left after insurance (when we're lucky enough to have insurance). But what are you supposed to do? It's your health and well-being. I probably could have postponed the dentist, if I wanted major tooth issues later, but I can't see my hands in front of my face without glasses.

So we're squeezing the budget even harder in an attempt to wring every last penny out of it. Not that there's much to wring out, but we're trying. Memory upgrade for the laptop? Gone. The rice cooker I've been covetting? Gone. Mid-winter car washes? Gone. New jeans? Nope, patch the old ones. You start hitting the nickels and dimes when there's nothing big to cut, and you hope it adds up.

We're not scrimping on the kids' birthdays, which are March 3rd and 11th. We don't do huge parties anyway, but there will be cake and balloons and presents. I'm at a loss for Junior, but Kiddo wants the two Ninja Turtles he's missing, and I found those online at a not bas price (right before Christmas they compeltely disappeared in town).

And there's one other expense we won't be scrimping on: Hubby's decided it's time to go back to school. His original plan was to use his GI Bill to go to college, but instead he had a kid and had to be responsible, and through the course of life and time the GI Bill has expired. He's tired of not getting jobs he can most certainly do because he doesn't have a piece of paper. There's an AAS at UAF that will hook him up with the aforementioned paper and the various certifications he needs, so he's decided to do it part time (unless we can find a miracle of financial aid. We're hoping). We ran down his various transcripts and he submitted his application yesterday; tomorrow there's a carrer fair sponsored by TVC, the community college that covers his degree, and he'll talk to more folks. I'm all for it, even though I know it will hurt money wise. In the long run it can only be good for us.

I saw a documentary last week on the poor in Appalachia. Can you imagine feeding a family of 12 on $500 of food stamps a month? Of having your kids eat just one meal a day when school isn't in session? Of being toothless by 30 because of poor nutrition? Of not being able to get a job because you're too far away from the nearest job and have no car?

It really makes you wake up and count your blessings. We have a home, we're all reasonably healthy, and there's food on the table, even if it's starting to get a little uninteresting. We have jobs, computers, internet, and transportation. We'll just have to handle a little more debt.

More Random - with actual words

I've been at a loss for a blog topic for a few days. Then today I realized I just have too many small topics to sort it out. So here's some Random.

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I'd forgotten I'm allergic to decaf. Well, "a sensitivity to" might be a better phrase, as I don't have a fast, distressing reaction. It took me a while to figure it out, because it's winter and the temps have been extreme and I sincerely thought that it was just a really bad case of winter skin. Then yesterday I was washing dishes and glanced over and remembered the decaf thing. I used to think it was because of my formaldehyde allergy, having been told once that formaldehyde was a by product of the decaffeination process, but research shows that that particular process is no longer in use. So there's something about the way that Folgers decaffeinates their coffee that has been giving me the all-over itchies.

There are several decaffeination processes, but according to their website, Folgers uses the ethyl acetate method. They're allowed to call it "naturally decaffeinated" because the chemical occurs in nature.

A trace amount of ethyl acetate may remain in the coffee beans after we complete the decaffeination process. The amount is so small—less than ten parts per million—that a person would have to drink more than 500 cups of our coffee to equal the amount of ethyl acetate in one very ripe banana.

That may be it. I've been drinking a lot of decaff at night this winter and around Thanksgiving I settled on Folgers as the one that tasted least cruddy (without getting into the high-end stuff). Whatever it is, it's built up in my system and it'll take a little time to detox. I'm taking Benadryl when it gets bad (my Claritin wasn't helping much) and only drinking Swiss water processed decaf, which has never been a problem.

All I know is I cut out the decaf yesterday and the itching, slightly swollen face (I thought I'd gotten frost-nipped) and general logginiess has diminished by half.

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Deals of the week:

Staples: Safeway has their house bread on sale for $1.25 a loaf up here. I bought six and put them in the big freezer, and I'll probably buy six more before the ad turns. The cheapest bread I can find up here is Walmart's house brand at about $1.79, which frankly tastes like sawdust.

TurboTax: I love TurboTax. Since I'm technically a consultant (and therefore self employed) I have to do the whole Schedule C thing. Add to that the Permanent Funds (we have to either file a 1040 for the kids or declare them on our income) and the fact that some years it's better for us not to itemize, I rely on this to help me get it right. The Home and Business version is almost $100 at their website, but only $86 at Sam's Club (it's cheaper at Amazon, but I didn't want to wait). Remember: If you just have a basic 1040 you can do your federal taxes for free at TurboTax or the IRS website.

Markdown Meat: The markdown meat deals were great at Sam's today. "assorted" pork chops, $1.58 a pound. And the always popular chicken thighs, $1.49 a pound. Yay FoodSaver!

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I have a fondness for the daytime court shows. Favorites: Judge Joe Brown and Judge Hatchett. Better than the soaps, I suppose. It's less the often Springer-like defendants and plaintiffs, and more the no nonsense way these judges have of slicing through the bologna.

Lessons learned: Always get it in writing. Be sure all the bases are covered. Read whatever you sign. Bring your evidence. Don't try to put one over on a judge.