Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

I tend to keep my decorations for minor holidays by my front door and in the entryway... but Christmas is another story and I can't wait till Thanksgiving to put everything up even though we won't really be in town for Christmas. SCB won't know what hit him.

If your wondering where all the "halloween" went, It was a marriage compromise on my part. SCB has grown up for so long with more of a harvest theme than halloween and he thinks halloween decorations are kind of cheesy unless you can invest 5k into a horror house... (He's not a bah humbug. He told me he would dress up, pass out candy, and even go to a party with me if I was so inclined...) 

So he told me I could buy new decorations if it meant that the halloween ones would find a new home... (which they did at work... I decked out the gym front counter). and as an FYI, these were bought before the dental incidents occurred or it wouldn't have happened at all. 

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

Weekly Update:
Our week has been nicely average... Not too many highs, not to many lows... but what I'm loving is the fact that I have 2 days off this weekend... It's amazing! I spent Saturday morning cleaning my house and I actually got most of it done before lunch time! :) and Sunday I finally filled out my Marathon entry form and charted out my progress for the race and when I need to do my walks. My Friend and I carved out a good 6.5 miles too. It was good for me and I felt invigorated afterward as I polished off a homemade BLT (made on homemade bread with Harvatti cheese and turkey bacon). mmmmm

My husband and I did our date night mid week this week since we received a promo email from Chili's for Free Dessert and we had a Halloween party on Friday night and we hosted "church" at our house on Saturday so it was mid week date or nada. So since we have been trying to do more budget friendly date nights since we are working on the dental bills, we decided to go to Chili's and take advantage of free dessert. We kept our drinks to water and we each chose an item from the $2 for $20 section since you got an appetizer included and we liked the choice options that night. Then add the fact that we had our free dessert coupon and bam... a three course yummy dinner with no clean up and leftovers for me the next day all only $26.00 with tax and tip!

We also went ahead and cut the first mini payment to the dental loan for $200.00 since we received the first statement in the mail and it had the $312 deduction correctly stated... We didn't toss more onto it in case there are more credits coming our way and we didn't want to worry about getting a positive balance on the account and then having to wait 60 days and then fight the folks at wells fargo for a check down the line.

Weekly Spending:
We did our grocery shopping for this upcoming week on Saturday so it will go in next weeks update.

October 23rd:

• Fresh & Easy: $32.87

October 24th:
October 25th:
October 26th:

• Chilis- Date night: $26.00
• Band-aids & Gum: $4.10

October 27th:

• HOA Bill: $262.50
• Mini Dental payment: $200.00
• Cox: $41.57

October 28th:

• Gasoline: $35.78
• McDonalds: $12.01 (quick bite before our friends party)

Work Updates:
I'm really enjoying some of the event work I've been doing at work lately. While I might be working weird hours at times, I feel its something I can really just go gun-ho about and I like that my work has a great focus to it.

Apparently out of the blue they announced that 6 guys would be laid off in the Cabinetry division at SCB's work. Apparently the company is moving buildings and they decided it would cost too much money to move all the cabinetry work and re-set up the shop that they are just going to eliminate that department all together... Only one of those 6 guys asked if any positions were opened in other departments that he could transfer to. The boss told him he could create another one in the same area my husband is in (framing for deliveries) and the guy thanked him and that day started working side by side with my husband to learn the ropes. Apparently the guy spent 2 years laid off and looking for a job before he found his old one and he wasn't going to put his family through that again... even if it meant asking for a demotion to manual labor to stay employed. I know it sounds bad, but I'm just glad they didn't offer to keep the cabinetry guys on if they wished to do other jobs and then laid off the newer workers... (that move would have left SCB without a job).
 
Money Goals:
Dental loan: 100% Saved. With SCB's last paycheck (despite missing a day of work) we came in with enough to cover our dental loan. We will sit on the money and make small payments to the loan until the dental issues get resolved for the time being.

Roth IRA: $301/$5,000.00 6% there :) Hopefully we can see some real progress by the end of the year :)

Furniture Freebies

I spent all weekend cleaning our house when I wasn't working... and I was a little upset when I came home on Monday and walked into this:

After I got passed the books on the floor, the desk and SCB hiding behind it came more into focus.

Apparently his work is switching building offices and this wooded desk was bound for the trash heap. In case you didn't know, SCB had to leave his HUGE wooden desk with drawers and everything back in Utah because A) it wasn't going to fit in our home, and B) his parents weren't parting with it.

Since then he has talked non-stop about wanting a real desk. When we resurrected my old one from my mom's place, SCB was fine with it because it was free... but when faced with a free wooden desk option, all sense of reasoning was abandoned and telling him "no" was out of the question. In his defense he did ask me about bringing his dream desk home... and I told him that he should measure it, and then we'd measure the space when we got home and them drive up there in my mom's truck if it were a go...

He took that to mean he should strap it to his beater and drive it down the freeway home THAT very same day...

I walked into a house that was completely a mess (after cleaning it all weekend too) with my friend on the way over to join us for dinner....

Then he realized it was too big for the allotted space...

So I did what I could do to help him since I knew it was going to break his heart to get rid of it or "modify" it to make it smaller. I found a way to make it work and moved our smaller bookshelf under our bar area in the kitchen (since its also housing my electric keyboard at the moment-- We are loan/giving it to SCB's parents when they come out to visit. Essentially they will store it and use it as much as they want to until we ask for it back).

So now we have a HUGE desk in our little living room... but it kind of works and it makes him happy. SCB says I can paint it black after he sands it down if I want to and add little knobs to the drawers. What do you think, Should I paint it?

Why I Married My Husband... (Reason 2)

It seems like every so often I just get in one of these horrible moods and I feel like i'm just one more emotional upheaval away from crying a river and flooding the state of California.

Exaggeration aside, a few weeks ago I was having a really hard time emotionally. I remember vividly the time right before our honeymoon. No matter what happened that entire week I just couldn't get anything to go my way. After work one day I just climbed into bed and pouted. There is no other words for it. I pouted like the cute 7 year old child I used to be. I was upset from everything from the uncleaned bathroom, to things that were out of my power at work... I was upset that the laundry wasn't folded and put away... that my "family" kept stressing me out... and I just felt under appreciated as a whole.

I didn't want to cook dinner, clean the house, or even watch TV...

The final straw for me came when I got mad at the weather man. Yup, that's right. I was upset that I was teased with the hope of rain that never came. (Just FYI, I love it when it rains and it always makes me happy--at least when it rains and i'm not working outside working in it).

My pouting fit was not one of my better shinning moments... In fact, I even threw a stuffed animal in a fit of pathetic-ness (yes it made me feel better) before I hid under the covers around 8 pm at night and declared the day officially over...

Yup, in summation, I just wasn't feeling like "me."

This is where we all feel bad for my wonderful husband who was trying to just calm me down every way possible and was coming up dry. In the end he left me to my own devices while I tossed and turned in bed-- a whiny mess of hormonal wife (what he lovingly refers to as "bat shit crazy mode.")

While I sat clinging to the stuffed animal on my bed that I had thrown (and retrieved to tell it I was sorry) my husband kept going through drawers and both the closets on the hunt for something in particular...

He stumbled upon it a few hours later when he came to bed... and I heard it.

Rain.

My husband spent 2 hours searching for an old hand me down CD that his parents had bought for one of his older brothers when CD's first came out and were all the rage. It was one similar to one of those cheesy "wild animal sounds" or "songs from nature" CD's that are always on the store ends with the little "play a 15 second clip" stations...

but it wasn't cheesy. It was soothing instrumental music with the sound of rain falling in the background... it was so real sounding that I made my husband open the slider door and turn on the porch light to prove to me it wasn't really raining... (for the record... it wasn't but I totally thought it was)

But my husband made it rain for me... the sadness and crazy lifted and again, I just laid there knowing that this was another one of those moments where i'd look back on it years down the line and know that this was one of those reasons I married my husband.

If you like this story, check out my other post: Why I Married my Husband (Reason 1)

Friends of Fresh & Easy

If you have been looking at my receipts from the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed they seem a bit longer then usual... and not because I've been buying more food items.Yes folks, the rumors are true. Fresh and Easy's "friends" program has rolled out in my area and i'm really excited about it! Just so you all know, this isn't a sponsored post or anything like that. This is me just loving on a company for making me want to shop there even more then I already do.

So, whats the deal?

Fresh & Easy is now rolling out a points system with downloadable electronic coupons that are linked to a "Friends rewards" card. What I love is that the prices in the store are the same if you do or don't have there card. Other stores make you get their "loyalty card" to save money but at Fresh and Easy that isn't the case. You get the same price with or without the card, but by using the card they will give you 1 point per dollar spent in their store (kind of like the Ralphs/Kroger rewards system). Once you get at least 500 points, you go online and transfer those points into cash rewards. 500 points = $5 to spend in the store and each additional 100 points is another buck!

This month it's double points on everything in the store and with my 250 point sign up, i'm already sitting pretty with a little over 800 points. I combine this with their weekly coupons and everyday same prices and its just another way we can save money!

They also let you select a few coupon point offers to load to your card each week. They have 2 categories with 6 coupon offers and you get to select 3 from each area. Last week they had 100 point bonuses for buying deli meat or bakery items.

All it takes is a few minuets a week to do, and its saves us money. I give them 2 Green thumbs up for this one!!

I don't think I like California anymore...

I just did a mock run of our taxes to get an idea of how things look now that SCB has a real job. It doesn't look too shabby on the Federal end. We won't be getting gobs of money back, but a nice little chunk to the tune of $500 to $600.

But not for California... no no. We essentially will owe around $600 to the state. Why?

Because the tax rates are really high... and the standard deduction is really pitiful. From my understanding, you can only itemize your state taxes if you itemize your federal taxes... and since we can't itemize federally, we can only deduct the standard deduction from our state taxes and we fall into the second highest tax rate their is...

If anyone is the wiser about California Taxes, I'd love more information. I always end up using Turbo Tax for both because whenever I try to do it myself I always miss some huge savings somewhere that the machine finds.

but from what I gather, we will owe $600 to the state and that's just really lame. :(

Kiva Updates (October 2011)

Kiva is an awesome micro-lending group that allows people all over the world to give a helping hand and allow people to better their lives. I love it because its a hand up and not a hand out. To date I've taken the same $150 and turned it into $675 by re-lending it out once a loan was repaid.

New Loans:

This solidarity group is made up of three members who are dedicated to different economic activities. They live in the Las Delicias community in the town of Trojes. Doña Santos Ancelma is the coordinator of the group. She is 59 years old and has 10 children. She is a committed and friendly person. All of her children are adults and married. They help her financially, but Doña Santos doesn't like to feel like she is a burden. For this reason, several years ago, she started selling general grocery products and this has allowed her to support herself without any problems. She tends her store by herself and works from 6:00 am until 8:00 pm to receive deliveries for her business. To purchase other products she has to go to the market. Doña Santos Ancelma is requesting a loan to buy basic grains, dairy products, meats, pastas, vegetables, fruits, soft drinks, juices, bread, churros, butter, soap and other products. With the help of this loan her store will be better stocked and her customers will have more products to choose from.  Her goal is to keep her business going. Her fellow group members are Iris Antonia, who sells donuts and nacatamales [Nicaraguan tamales] and Santos Tomas, who sells pork.  This is her sixth loan with FAMA and she expects to make her payments on time.


Diamante Group:
Repayment Term: 9 Months
Location: Honduras
What its for: To stock her store with grains, food, and other materials.


Current Loans:

Juan Fidel Velasquez Lopez
Repayment Term: 20 Months

Location: Guatemala
What its for: Tailoring Supplies
Amount Paid Back: $0.00

Shamshad Samuael Masih's Group
Repayment Term: 13 Months
Location: Pakistan
What its for: Buy Goats for animal sales business
Amount Paid Back: $20.59









Paid Back Loans:

Atim Irene's Group
Location: Uganda
What it was for: To buy supplies for a medical clinic in bulk to lower the cost.


Eal Nub
Location: Cambodia
What it was for: To purchase the stall she rents in the market each month.

Karla Vanessa Montiel Barahona
Location: Nicaragua
What it was for: To tile the floor of her home that she and her 3 kids live in.

Rashidat Mumuni
Location: Nigeria
What it was for: Purchase more cartons of fish to sell. 

Seccelambras Group
Location: Peru
What it was for: helped the group buy grocery products and other merchandise for sale.


Dustmatov Eralboy
Location: Tajikistan
What it was for: a pedigree bull.


Paz Y Amor Group
Location: Dominican Republic
What it was for: Purchase products for her business (Fruits and Vegetables)


Mobateli Plus Group
Location: The Democratic Republic of the Congo
What it was for: purchase bags to pack clean water for sale.


Elizabeth Aidoo
Location: Ghana
What it was for: To buy Yams in bulk for sale. 


Zenaida Daing
Location: Philippines
What it was for: purchase a sprayer and 2 bags of certified seeds for growing rice.


Altantyya Lhasuren
Location: Mongolia
What it was for: To purchase meat to sell in her business.

Fight for Progress Group
Location: Sierra Leone
What it was for: to buy palm oil, rice, and oranges in bulk for sale. 


Siguikadi Group
Location: Mali
What it was for: to buy shea butter and plastic bins for their business. 

Obama Group
Location: Tanzania
What it was for: to sell water, juice, and sodas wholesale. 


Lyunge Group
Location: Burundi
What it was for: To purchase beans to sell to her customers. 


La Esperanza Group
Location: Paraguay
What it was for: to buy materials such as sugar cane, flour, sugar, and coal. 

Gbawulu Group
Location: Liberia
What it was for: To buy cement to make blocks. 


Hawa Gull Group
Location: Liberia
What it was for: to buy bags of rice, onions, peppers, palm oil, and beans. 


Mamile Orozalieva's Group
Location: Kyrgystan
What it was for: to purchase more cattle for breeding


Olga Francisca Cano Romero
Location: Ecuador
What it was for: To buy fabric, down, thread, fasteners, ect for her business

Janet Ajubyi Ayieko
Location: Kenya
What it was for: to open another 2 stores in town to sell her goods. 


Flores De Dolores
Location: Mexico
What it was for: to buy shawls to sell in nearby towns. 

Jose Elias
Location: El Salvador
What it was for: To install electricity in his business premises.  

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

This would be our "office" chair...
But I don't think chair is quite the
word for it anymore... Stool perhaps?

Weekly Re-cap:
We  had some unexpected funds come in... $350.00 in belated wedding gifts to be exact--Wahoo the hubby's family is awesome!!!!!!! SCB has been dying for a car radio (he hasn't had one ever in his car and he realized this week that his cables weren't bad so he could actually get a radio to work in there), so after we discovered the checks, I gave him the green light so we went ahead and got him one to help make his work commute more enjoyable. The rest of the money is being earmarked for a new TV for our bedroom. We really would like to get a nice flat screen that we can mount to the wall and I can ditch my 7+ year old tiny screen TV that the volume has issues with.

The wedding checks also came in the same day that SCB destroyed office chair number 2... yup, apparently these things aren't made for 6'5'' tall men who like to lean back in them 100% of the time.  He tossed the broken parts and now its being used as a stool because I don't want to replace it and I don't miss the parts that are missing. :)

We also had some visitors to our house. 2 female missionaries wanted to introduce themselves and meet families in their local ward. Since my husband is a member of the church despite not being active, they popped by to see if we'd like to set up a little meet and greet with them. We had them come over for dinner and they were really nice. At least now if I ever go with the hubby i'll know 2 more friendly faces. (While my husband is a member of the church, he doesn't attend regularly because he feels like he can't be accepted "as-is" and there have also been a lot of false judgments made about people he cares deeply for and that has stained his impression of how they conduct themselves.) But the girls were really nice and I got to talk with them about Child Share and some other volunteer work that I do. They also stopped by and invited us to some halloween thing.

Weekly Spending:
You'll notice some work expenses on here... They were for my planning meeting and I got my $$ back for them already.
October 16th:

• Fresh & Easy: $41.05
• Party City (Work): $71.94
• Hardware Store: $2.46
• Walmart: $10.38 (Fix the running Toilet)
• $20.00 ATM
• Costco: Returned Water pick -$82.96... then spent: $113.73 on an electric toothbrush
• Car Radio: $102
• Electrical Tape: $0.73
• Gas: $54.06

October 17:
October 18:

• Target: $24.83 (Work)
• Convenience store $4.24

October 19:

• Sprouts: $6.65 (Work)
• Sprint: $83.66
• California Fish Grill: $22.60 (date night)

October 20:
October 21:
October 22:

• Gasoline (SCB): $32.68

Work Updates:
I had 9 hours of overtime that I could cash out from some lifeguard in-service trainings at the beginning of the month, so we got an extra bit on my paycheck this week. This should help with SCB's work checks coming up since he missed a day with his back going out.

I also spent last Saturday at an 8 hour work event... and this Sunday i've got another 5 hour event to attend... Plus I also had a mid week evening meeting, but i'll just be getting additional vacation hours for these days instead of overtime. But i've been a busy bee. It finally sank in on Monday that I haven't had 2 days off in a row in almost forever and I know I'm going to need to take a random health and sanity days soon. In November SCB's family is coming to visit so I think i'll take the Friday and Monday off that they will be in town for! Then i'll take some time off in December since we are planning Christmas in Utah... oh and then one of my bridesmaid (the one from Utah, SCB's best friends who are married) are expecting and she texted me to tell me she was going to plan a baby shower in February and wanted to know if I could make it out there and I replied with an enthusiastic YES! So at least I have some good trips coming up to clear my mind :) I just need to make sure I set aside some travel money (please be large mr. tax return)  :)

SCB missed a day of work because of his back and then he did one day on modified labor... He went in on Saturday and got looked at again and he was cleared to go back to normal work again on Monday.

Money Goals:

• Roth IRA $1.00/$5,000.00 $4,999.00 to go :(
• Dentist: $2,636.55/$2,868.00 Only $231.45 to go! :)
• Christmas Fund: $400.47

Dental Update:

cause you can't frown and show you teeth at the same
time...

Don't let that smile fool you... the dental battle still rages on.  See Horrendously over charged part 1 and Part 2 for the whole story.

SCB ventured to the dentist last Saturday and had his permanent work finished on the top of his mouth. The dental office is claiming that the thing they put into his mouth is coded the same was as a Veneer and so that's why the veneer description posts on our account....  all I can say to that is that we will see when the insurance company contacts us back.

We did get some papers in the mail regarding filing our complaint, (that it had been assigned to a worker), but that's it so far. I tried calling this afternoon, but they are in a different time zone so the quality management coordinator wasn't there. I'll have to try back tomorrow. When I called the main line the insurance rep told me she couldn't discuss the case with me since it had already been assigned to a supervisor.

I also received my EOB statement in the mail and it shows that I have a $75 credit just sitting on my account from back in December of 2007. When I called the dentist, they told me it was an "error" and their computers show I was charged a $75 service for more "medications" but that's not printed on my EOB... it just says they OWE me $75.00. I checked way back in my blog archives and I didn't blog about any dental fees I incurred sans the $300 cleaning in January of 2007 so it seems kind of funny to me... especially since they can't actually print that out from their computer screens.

I also think its funny how all my disputed charges are coming from "medications" they claimed I had... and despite all those years of having my wrong insurance on file that i'm not owed a dime... its just really fishy to me.

And speaking of fishy, when SCB went in last Saturday he didn't have them do his deep cleaning because they wanted to charge him an additional $400 for "medications" to kill bacteria while they did the cleaning. He told them he wouldn't get the deep cleaning done until we figured out the billing issues. He just started using an electric tooth brush at home and once we get this mess sorted out with the insurance company he will go in for his bottom mouth fillings (most likely with a different dentist!!!!!) and we will see what they say about needing a deep cleaning. But again, I find it ironic how he didn't need "medications" before they had our correct insurance on file... and now he does... (and it makes the cost around $400 again). When I was charged for my deep cleaning the first time (and apparently those same "medications" because the cleaning was "free") I was only charged $300.00.

So, I guess its back to the phones tomorrow.......

Work Injury

SCB's back has been hurting him recently while working and after work when he's been just sitting at home lounging around.

When he was working yesterday, he actually went up to his boss and asked if he could just leave early because his back was hurting him. 

His boss instead sent him to get looked at, at the company doctors. They took some xrays and had him lay on his side a few different ways. 

Then the doctor told him that the images showed something was wrong and he was guessing that his back was having spasms. 

They gave him some anti-inflammatory medication and some muscle relaxants as well (hubby passed on the pain meds). He's not supposed to life more than 20lbs for the rest of the week and he has to go in on Saturday to get re-examined.

What's scary is that SCB told me this wasn't even really that painful of a day for him. He was really just wanting to leave a bit early and get some extra rest at home since his back was kind of bothering him and he didn't want to do the last delivery of the day because he thought if he carried MORE he would feel like he over did it himself... Essentially he didn't know his back was having spasms when it was because he just called that normal work aches and pains.

I'm really glad he said something because the doctor found something wrong with him. I would have hated for them to examine him to show that he was fine and fit as a fiddle because then his company would see him as a lazy guy trying to leave early or get out of a gig... 

Instead they saw an employee who mention a bit of pain and got it checked out and was proven correct by the doctor so now he can take a lighter work load and heal properly without costing the company a huge disability/injury on the job kind of situation later down the line.

He will still be able to unload window frames and work in the shop area at work, he just can't have overtime when he's flagged as injured so they will need to make sure he gets back on time from any deliveries he does make the rest of the week.

Here's hoping the pain and the spasms go away by Saturday and he gets a clean bill of health. I hope nothing is seriously wrong, but I kind of feel like a bad wife... He was talking about being sore from work and I thought he was just trying to get out of chores around the house so I didn't really take him all that seriously about it...   

An unexpected Memorial

Unexpected Bad News:
I got some bad news earlier this week from my Ex. His sister suddenly passed away in the middle of the night in her home.  Needless to say he wasn't doing so good and he just needed a friend. Despite the fact that we really haven't had much contact, he opened up to me like he used to and he told me how it happened and I just tried to comfort him over the phone as much as I could without crossing over any weird boundaries... (It was the first time we'd talked since my friends birthday party last month, and before that encounter it had been a few months.)

SCB understood that he just needed a friend he could be honest with and wasn't just trying to get the "scoop" on what happened from him (its sad to say but true with some of the people in our crowd). Besides some growling from SCB when he saw his name on my caller ID, everything worked out once he realized the situation. I told my Ex to keep me in the loop if he needed anything because I was being flooded with text messages from people expressing their sorrows and offers to help (which was a little weird since we obviously aren't dating now and i'm married to someone else... but that's a different story all together.)

The next day I got another few text messages and another call from my Ex since he was searching for a place for the memorial service and he knows I work for my City. Somehow I just naturally started helping him plan his sister's memorial service. He told me his whole family was really appreciative that I could help them with this task and the details and I found it was the least I could do considering the situation, our history, their pain, and while his sister and I weren't that close, I was a bridesmaid in her wedding.

After booking the site and going over all the permits and details with him, I got another call the next day while I was at work... but it wasn't from my Ex... it was from a floral shop that was contacted by my ex's sisters old school. They wanted to send flowers to the memorial site. They had heard that the memorial was going to be in a park in the city I work for so they wanted to know how to get there and go about dropping them off. Thankfully I was the one to get the call on random chance because no one else in the office would have known what the gal was talking about except the gal who approved the permit (but she doesn't answer the phones). After a quick call to my Ex and a call back to the floral shop I got the flowers re-directed to their home for a delivery time after all the activities of the day should be over.

The funeral is Saturday and i'll be attending solo. SCB will respectfully stay at home so the day can be about honoring his sister's memory and not opening up any further wounds with his family since this will be the first time i'll see them since my ex and I split. (My Ex asked me personally if I would be able to come because his whole family would like for me to be there so I will.)

Mortgage Update + Condo Costs (October '11)

Mortgage Update:
Principle paid down: $155.89
Interest: $494.75
New Balance: $112,929.30

The pay off date is still January 2039 which is 8 months ahead of schedule. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan I will pay $111,996.75 in interest instead of the original $116,404.23. The extra $1,339.10 I've tossed at the mortgage has saved us $4,407.58 (not bad).

It took us $7,057.08 to get the keys to my condo... and another $17,672.29 to remodel and repair it... in short, we were -$24,729.37 in the hole on day one...

Thankfully the hole is getting filled in a little bit each and every month.

• In 2009 I got the First Time Home buyer's Credit giving us $8,000.00. 
• In 2009 I got to write off some of the property tax I paid on in addition to taking the standard deduction. This gave us an extra $90.10 in our pocket.
• Then I had to pay an Electrician which took $95.00 from our pockets... 
• But the refund from my botched tile job gave us $1,265.00
• I saved $1,087.00* on my federal taxes and $461.00 on my State taxes in 2010 from itemizing my homeowners expenses. (This is what I got above claiming the standard deduction).
• In 2011 I spent $12.97 at home depot, and $72.29 on a kitchen door.
• Also in 2011, I got a small refund of some of my Closing Costs which put $70.00 in our pockets.
• Then we have our current equity $7,070.70 assuming the property is worth our original purchase price

Leaving us about $6,865.83 in the hole.

If I sold the condo tomorrow, I'd have to sell the property for $135,962.64 to break even.

• This assumes a 6% total commission ($8,157.76)
• Enough money to refund the amount i'm in the hole for ($6,865.83)
• & enough money to cover the first time homeowners tax credit i'd have to repay for not living in the property for 3 years. ($8,000.00)

If I wait out the remaining 12 months left on the credit, I'd be able to sell for $122,995.48

• Assuming 6% total commission ($7,379.73)
• & enough money to refund the amount I would be in the hole for 12 months down the line ($4,776.14) 

If I add up what I spend on my condo in a given year, its equivalent to (or less) to what my annual costs would be if I lived in my old apartment complex.

Apartment:
$14,202.00 for the year, or $1,183.50 a month. This figure includes the rent, trash, water, gas, laundry, & renters insurance. It also assumes I stayed in the previous unit i did the prior year so I wouldn't have had moving costs or a new security deposit. I took this rate back in November of 2010 (when I would have had to lock in a new lease rate).

Condo: 
$13,365.16 for the year, or $1,113.77 a month

• Mortgage (MIP, Property taxes, Insurance, Mortgage) = $808.18 a month $9,698.16 a year.
• HOA ($250 for 6 months, $262.50 for 6 months) = $3,075.00 a year
• Earthquake Insurance: $257 a year
• Homeowners Insurance: $335 a year

$69.74 LESS a month than the apartment (which is smaller than my unit). This gives me $836.84 a year I can either toss at the mortgage or use for home improvements while STILL breaking even BEFORE any tax deductions are even considered.

To date for 2011 I've added: $257.54 in Extra principal and spent $12.97 +$72.29 in repairs. leaving me with $494.04 that I can still spend on the condo AND break even.

Changing your last name causes problems...

yup, from our wedding :)

I still have a lot of places to contact about changing my last name... but I've been slowly doing them one at a time since there always seems to be issues.

In the land of the good news, I got my new SS Card and I gott my title in the mail yesterday... but my new drivers licence photo isn't that fabulous... (& my old one rocked)....

I've gone through the hoops at BOFA and I've got my new Credit card... and my checkbook... but not my new debit card. For some reason that hasn't come yet and I really want it to... plus i'm still waiting for my mortgage to change over.

I also had to contact State Farm to change my homeowners insurance (so I could change my name on my mortgage), and apparently they haven't gotten around to changing my last name on my auto insurance policy... so I got 2 bills in the mail this week... Both saying I lost my multi-policy discount. One for $18.14... the other for $27.32. When I called they acknowledged the mistake on their end and told me not to pay the bill for now... but apparently their office is "back logged" and requests are taking a while to process. I'll have to call them back the first week in November to make sure its done so I don't get a mark on my credit history for not paying a bill on time. Which is just stupid.

I also need to go through and call and cancel a bunch of credit cards or change my name on them... plus more banks and other financial places... I can only handle doing so much at a time.

Social Security Office
Employer
Dentist
Doctors
DMV
Bofa
ING DIRECT
Sallie Mae
State Farm
Retirement Accounts
Electric Company
Cell phone Company
Internet Company
Credit Cards
Costco
AAA

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

Weekly Re-Cap:
SCB lost a temporary filling the other day. He found out after when he tried to eat cereal before work (not a real pleasant experience). He had to call in to work and his boss was really nice about giving him the day off to get it fixed. He went to the dentist and they quickly fixed it (Same place but a different dentist this time and they didn't make him sign a thing or anything. He literally walked in and they fixed it instantaneously.)

Just to be on the safe side since he already lost one temporary filling we are going to have him go in as planned on Saturday to finish the work. Someone from the insurance office called and said it would take 30 days to process our request at a minimum and we don't want to hold out for that long. It might mean we get stuck with the bill but we can just keep fighting them with the insurance company.

We also started Christmas shopping. My husband's family draws names for gifts (well, among his brothers at least since the hubby is one of 5), so we get to shop for his second eldest brother this year. He's working on his Doctorate and teaching at a University so of course he sent us a list of video games he wants and told us to find them the cheapest way possible used or new since a lot of them you can't find anymore except online or at Game Stop's "Used" section. We found 4 that made the list. This means we only have to shop for his dad and that means tools of some kind for his wood working hobby so we will pick those out when we get to Utah.

I also thought we were doing good about not spending money... but apparently SCB missed that... and even when I slaved in the kitchen and made him homemade pizza bread to take with him for lunch he still ended up debit card swiping at a fast food joint. :(


Weekly Spending:
October 9th:

• Fresh & Easy: $41.27 (I lost the Receipt... oops)
• Christmas Shopping: $63.53
• Birthday Card: $2.14
• Birthday flowers: $4.30
• Cash for Birthday luncheon: $80.00

October 10th:
October 11th:

• Work Gloves: $10.74

October 12th:

• Fast Food... $7.84

October 13th:

• Fast Food... $2.14

October 14th:
October 15th:

• $70 Charity- ACS
• Chipotle: $9.37

Money Goals:
Roth IRA: $0.00 / $5,000.00

• 0% there...

Dental bill: $1,746.55 / $2,828.00

• 61% there...

Open Enrollment Time!

It's October... and that means its open enrollment time at work... and a lot of decisions need to be made in regards to our health insurance.

Right now, SCB is on his parents plan... and they have been graciously paying the $82 a month premium for us. But that's changing come January since we need to add my hubby on during open enrollment since he will age out in April of 2012 and that won't be a "qualifying event" to allow us to add him on. We will be loosing $162.50 a paycheck, on top of any out of pocket costs since I will no longer be able to cash out any excess benefits.

Last year's (2011) rates for 2 people on a Kaiser was $955.90 a month and Dental was $33.25. My Employer gives us $912 a month towards benefits, so we would have been paying out of pocket $77.15 a month if we would have added him on to the plan (on top of loosing $162.50 a paycheck).

Sadly though, as with everything else in this economy, insurance prices have increased and benefits still say the same.... which means its going to be an even larger hit to us.

For 2012, 2 people on Kaiser is going to cost us $1,025.52... Dental $34.35. Looks like we will be out of pocket $147.87 a month (besides the $162.50 a check).

Essentially Kaiser went up 7.28%... Dental went up 3.30%

But not all is bad. We are finally getting merit increases come January to help offset some larger pension contributions that go into effect at the same time... so a little silver lining is going to hopefully keep my paycheck a bit larger :)

Happy Birthday Nightmare part 2

After sitting through the worst birthday lunch I can remember, I tried to remain calm despite wanting to throw water in my sisters face and storm away from her beyond rude comments and statements...

Instead I was stuck at the table trying to not make this whole this escalate into a public scene.

My sister continued on though, and started making more kinds of comments about how I don't know anything because I work at a gym and how this is all her career and she knows it all because its what she does for a living (which doesn't make any sense to me)... but when she started making comments about me as though I was no longer at the table... trying to convince my mom that I was evil I chose to call her out on it.


While my comments just left more petty murmuring on her part... After a minuet or two she started doing it again and I decided to called her out on it again.

I felt bad for her fiance though. He had barely said a word the entire time and you should have seen the look of embarrassment on his face as she continued to open her mouth and spew ugliness. He knew she was just trying to be a bully because she felt entitled.

Thankfully she was interrupted when the server came around with the bill. Once the server was gone, she decided to make a huge deal over the fact that I was actually looking at the bill before just tossing money into it. Besides wanting to add in my tip since we were paying with cash, I didn't know how much SCB's entree was and I didn't want to cheat anyone by not putting in enough (i'd never hear the end of it if I did). I also wanted to make sure we were paying a fair amount and not paying extra to account for their drinking. Mind you I didn't say any of that out loud because I wasn't even given a chance to.

With her venomous attitude she snapped about how we should just toss down 50% off the bill so we could leave already. In the end to stop the insanity (and to make the look on my mom's face go away) we just tossed the money on the table--- (and yes, we overpaid)... but we shouldn't have bothered. She announced to the table that she was finishing her Margarita before we left... where she drove home.

The car ride home was equally unpleasant. Between the awkward silence and my mom talking about doing a "real" thanksgiving instead of brunch next month (joy....) my sister started ranting about her birthday in December and how we better be in town for it. Her birthday is on the 13th but since I wasn't really talking much, SCB mentioned we would be in town on the 13th, but that we were leaving on the 17th for Utah.

So, naturally she started in on how that's when she's celebrating her birthday and if were not there were not family and she will "cross us off her list"... and "when have we ever celebrated mid week for my birthday" etc etc and without missing a beat my husband spat out "Too bad."

Before she could open her mouth to reply any further my mom pointing out that it was HER BIRTHDAY SHE was RUINING and asked her to drop it.

A minuet or two later we pulled up at my mom's house. When we got out of the car and said a quick prayer for still being alive, my mom asked us at the curb if we wanted to come inside and I asked her if she wanted us to and she said it was up to us but she'd be okay if we left... so we headed to our car...

My sister started instantaneously making a scene outside that "she'll leave so the B*tch can stay" (meaning me) but we didn't even acknowledge her and we got into our car as she headed inside my mom's place to continue her 2 year old me me me rant.

Her fiance was still outside and I gave him a sad smile and waived goodbye... (I don't know why he's marrying her... he deserves better).

An hour later my phone goes off with my sisters dreaded ring tone... I wasn't planning on picking up, but SCB accidentally hit answer instead of ignore... We could hear my sister crying and apology on the other side of it without speaker phone on so I took the phone from him...

She apologized legitimately first time in I don't know how long... and she didn't even try to flip the phone call mid way and make me into the devil.

But is "I'm sorry" really enough at this point? Does it erase it all?


I'm leaning towards no. She wants a relationship with me but I don't really think she's worth it in my opinion. How many times can you burn a bridge down before the contractor just says screw it and moves on?

Happy Birthday Nightmare part 1

My husband and I "celebrated" my mom's birthday on Sunday... But I don't think we can call it a celebration... I should have known from the get-go that we were in trouble but I really wanted the day to go nice for my mom (we even dressed up).

We walked in armed with flowers and presents. My sister was finishing a glass of wine, her fiance a beer...
and while we were still in the process of saying hello she deadpan asked if we brought her anything from our cruise...

First off this is the first time I've seen her since the horrible episode at her house which lead me to refuse to return her phone calls for weeks. We actually didn't speak until around a week or so and I only did that since we had to plan the birthday luncheon.

So needless to say it got awkward when I said no...

I tried to fill the dead silence with the promise of posting pictures online from the cruise soon but it didn't work. I just ignored her comments to her fiance about not getting presents and I instead handed my mom her present. She thanked us and the second she was done my sister immediately started listing off everything she got her for her birthday trying to "out do us" in a repeat of Christmas 2010... but I expected it this time so it didn't phase us a bit.

Eventually we all poured into my sisters luxury car (Yup, THE $60K Car) since she insisted on driving and my mom wanted us all to carpool together to the restaurant as a family (and yes, if you caught it, my sister apparently thinks its fine to down a glass of wine and then immediately drive). Next time we are taking our own car. 

The luncheon seemed to be going well despite the fact that my sister and her fiance both chose to drink at lunch. My mom declined my sisters multiple offers to drink wine and the hubby and I figured it was because my mom would be driving us back to her house... but no, my sister ended up driving instead... another reason not to ever carpool again.

Sadly, during lunch my sister tried to push all my buttons. We had to listen about how she was thinking about getting married in Mexico again... and when those comments didn't set me off, she tried telling us that we better be saving up our money for it. (I almost laughed out loud. I've made it clear that if she's getting married in Mexico that we aren't going.)

When that failed to spark her desired response, she tried again. My sister knows that I signed an event contract at work and will keep me busy the first weekend in June of 2012 & 2013, so she decided to declare that weekend for her wedding. Previously she tried labeling this weekend as her bachelorette Vegas weekend so now she's stepping it up. She didn't like my polite response that I wouldn't be able to make it since my work event goes for 24 hours straight.

By some miracle though, she gave up and changed the subject... 

She started talking about finance and money. She went on about how they can't manage to go out to dinner and not blow at least $100 a night and about how she quite her part time evening job because she didn't want to work the upcoming holiday season. I tuned out most of their budget ironies as I ate... but then she made some comment about how people aren't spending money this month because they only have this month to put money into their Retirement accounts for the year...  and I made the stupid mistake of attempting to correct her. My guard was down because personal finance is apart of who I am and if I could take it back I would have... but some how I found myself correcting her.

I asked if she was referring to "open enrollment" --when you sign up for the following years heath benefits and retirement elections... and instead of a simple yes or no, she looked at me dumb faced and angry with the attitude of someone who believes that the world revolves around them and them alone. She quipped, "I know more about this than you... you just work in a stupid gym."

I really just wanted to let her have it at that point but instead I just shook my head. I looked at my husband and just tried to change the subject... but my sister wouldn't have it...

Weekly Updates (Spending, Job/Work updates, & Money Goals)

Weekly Spending:
I'm a bit late with getting this post up... we had a huge blow up in the South County Household... So our weekly update is short and sweet and i'll come at you again with more details.

With our new budget in place we are doing fairly well so far with reining in the spending... but I think that was probably do to the fact the SCB had fun money that he could spend on work lunches. Next week you'll see more junk items in there  since we are trying to make a real effort for the hubby to bring lunch with him everyday.

While we wait on the dental issues, we are just sitting back and preparing to pay the bill for now... we can fight them with the insurance company... We will wait till mid next week to see if we want to postpone them putting in the material for now.

October 1:
October 2:

• Fresh and Easy- $41.25
• Gasoline for SCB: $52.58

October 3:
October 4:
October 5:
October 6:

• Prescriptions: $4.00

October 7:

• Electric Bill: 31.52
• The Hat: $5.17

October 8:

• Mortgage Payment: $808.18

Job/Work Updates:
I'm getting busy busy with some events coming up... and SCB is just working along as much as he can at work. He may not like the people or the physical nature of his job, but he's a trooper and I love him for it.

Money Goals:
At the end of this week, we have $1,446.23 saved up for the dental work... but we need $2,868.00 total... so we are still getting things together. (and praying for an adjustment on the insurances end.)

Why I love WIR...

With all the dental fiasco numbers, the new loan, the possible price changes... I found myself running for advice to the place where I started my journey to financial freedom back in 2006... to the women in red.

While they aren't at msn money anymore... the group has stuck together, grown, added new members, celebrated debt victories, and held others hands when the needed encouragement when things got overwhelming.

Here's a shout out to my ladies (and gents there) I luv you all! You keep me sane.

If you ever need advice or encouragement for paying your debt or trying to make a goal, check 'em out. Its free, anonymous, and most times just what the doctor ordered. They have kept me sane over the years and the advice and encouragement i've gotten from them over the years has been priceless.

Horrendously Over Charged... Part 2

Phone calls and waiting depress me...

After work I went over to the dentist office again to pick up my revised statement... and there isn't much revision at all.

They took off the deep cleaning... but they are claiming that the insurance company told us invalid information in terms of my husbands on-lays... and that we will be charged $736 per on-lay instead of $840... (The insurance company said they couldn't charge us more than $480 last night on the phone... but apparently that was if it was for a crowns.)

As for my husbands fillings, apparently they are now labeling 2 of them as Chair-side Veneers (when I called the office to ask about that, they said that's a type of filling)... but that us not what Google says...  nor what the insurance says... Veeners are cosmetic and to help with spacing issues in the front teeth... they aren't fillings... and he  didn't get 2 of them, that's for sure. (Who gets a Veneer on tooth 5 and 12... most people to the front 6 and this is outside of that area)

oh, and they are also saying my husband signed on for a Desensitizing med to be put in 2 of his fillings so he won't be sensitive to hot or cold, but he didn't sign anything after I left and that wasn't mentioned in the office... and get this... the desensitizing material makes them the initial cost so they are claiming so there isn't a deduction for those as of now...

And as for my EOB, they are claiming the office was placed under new ownership in 2008... and my overcharge was in 2007... so I won't be getting anything back from that.... when I eventually get a copy because now now its going to take 3-5 business days by mail to get an EOB from them...

So I called the insurance company and the gal wasn't nearly as helpful as the guys I spoke to last night... but she put in a complaint against their company and someone should be calling me in 5 days or less to hear about the problem... (which is thankfully before my husband gets in the chair to have the permanent work finished on the 15th-- which I can't go because i'm stuck working).

so for now we owe $2,868.00... 

and who knows if we will get back the money they overcharged me from years before... all I know is I feel cheated and sold...

So i called the insurance AGAIN to discuss and find out more information and the gal called the dental office... and she told the gal that we elected for the E-Max and were explained the differences in the materials... (bull-- they said they couldn't do anything BUT E-Max because that's what the doctor recommended...) and the Rep forgot to ask about the Labial Veneers because that was never was brought up with the on-lay confusion...

I'm officially carrying my phone with me everywhere for the next 5 days for the Rep to call me.

Horrendously Over Charged... Part 1

Our dental experience didn't sit well with me. I've been emotionally a mess the last few days about the obscene amount of money everything was costing us... with what should be really awesome dental insurance.

After talking with other people about it I knew something was wrong with the amounts we were charged. While I was at work I went ahead and printed out my dental policy. It doesn't make that much sense to me since I didn't know terminology, but I know for starters when the Root Canal line doesn't say $1,710.00 there's an issue... especially since the line read $205.00.

So I called the dental office at 1:00pm and told them I suspected we were incorrectly charged and that i'd like to meet and sit down and go over all the charges and fees line by line. The told me to come in the same day at 4:30pm.

When I went home to wait, I called my dental insurance company (Delta Care USA) where a nice gal transferred me to a wonderful man who went over my policy with me line by line. He had me mark the correct prices on my print out so I could compare everything with the office gal. If he was right, their office's mistakes would be astounding. 

The $420 deep cleaning ($105 per quadrant)... should have been free...

Our $140-$180 per filling (& we had 4 of them)... should have been $45, $55, $65, or $75 each depending on where they are for posterior... & free for the front (for nice pretty clear composite... not metal or anything like that).

If we needed a root canal, it should have been, again at max, $205... not $1,710.00

And the onlays.... for Porcelain/ceramic should have been $165.00 not the $550 she quoted me... and I hadn't a clue if that would also fly for the Epox... but it shouldn't be $840.00... that's for sure.

The wonderful man also told me if they hassled me that I should have them call him on speaker phone and have a conference call with their office and the dentists office.

I just sat there in shock at home while I waited for my husband to get home from work. It was raining and I just grew antsy. I ate Nutella... I tried to distract myself from my thoughts with TV... but it wouldn't work. I didn't know if we would feel relief and get everything sorted out... or if for some reason we'd still get nailed with a $840 charge when we should have only had to pay $160...

Not to mention that all this mess is attached to a brand new loan... 

I left the conversation with the insurance rep just feeling swindled and that they tricked us into upgrades we shouldn't have needed.

Was this going to be one of those $3,000.00 mistakes you hear about in the news or on radio shows??????

When my husband got home... we went to their office....  and I cried on the way back home.

The office gal told me they had the wrong policy listed... and instead of apologizing to me, she refused to make the quick 5 min call to my insurance company to verify my plan. It was against company policy to make the call there or to tell me what my new pricing structure would be if they verified that that was indeed my plan.

It didn't matter that I had the original copies from my insurance company with me stating my plan # (in addition to the plan booklet itemizing costs)... Instead I was told that they would call tomorrow and then contact me to let me know IF any revisions were to be made to my loan once "they" verified my insurance plan # was correct...

and then she told me we would only find revisions for the fillings and the cleanings... not the EPox Onlays....

When I tried to explain that when faced with the choice of a $550 ceramic/porcelain onlay that could chip and lead to an automatic root canal costing $1,710.00 it was an easy choice to choose the $840 EPox onlay instead... but if we would have know that a root canal would have only cost us $205.00 and the ceramic/porcelain onlay would have only costed $160 our decision to pay $840 for EPox would not have happened... but apparently things have already been sent off... (or they will check into that).... and it looks like they are going to stick us with the Epox cost.

I feel like we are being held at ransom for some clerical persons error.

After crying and some how managing to get the car home, I called the insurance company again.  I explained that they refuse to conference call them and verify my plan number... and while I was on the phone they pointed out a few very important details the dental office left out.

They can't charge me $840 for the EPox... My policy states that they can only charge me $320 over the cost of the $160 Ceramic for ANY name brand product.... So thankfully that alone will drop our inlays by $360.00 a piece. (Its still $480 a piece, but if we are stuck with that choice i'd rather pay $480 than $840)... but i'm still going to contest it.... but if all these charges eventually get fixed up tomorrow, at max it looks like our bill should be $1,740.00

Oh and get this... The man from the insurance company told me to request an EOB for my account since they are my primary dentist. Essentially an EOB is a list of every bill and procedure i've had with them.... and if they charged me for something they shouldn't have, they HAVE TO refund me any amount I was over charged since my policy hasn't changed since day 1...

and I distinctly remember getting charged for a deep cleaning during my first doctors visit.

Adventures at the DMV

I must say I had my most pleasant experience with the DMV yesterday. I finally played it smart. I made 2 appointments online for a Tuesday a couple of weeks ago... I needed to get my last name changed on my licence and change the title on my car.

Thankfully i'm an organized girl so I just opened our small safe and got all the documents out that I needed. I woke up early and despite having a 9am appointment, I got there about 10 minuets before the building opened at 8am. I got there early because you apparently can't print out licence forms and applications online.The only downside was that it was drizzling and I had to stand out in the rain. But not for long. Thankfully an employee came out earlier and asked that everyone with an appointment come to the front so we got to sit under a small awning for a bit and start filling out the forms we needed.

I was in and out back at my car by 8:30.

Maybe it was the rain, or having an appointment, but I went up to the counter, got my new tempory licence, took my new picture, and changed my title... all in a matter of minuets.

It cost $15 for the title, $25 for the licence. I just hope my picture was good.

Bare Bones October Budget

Well, after the horrible dentist shocker, my husband and I will be cutting our budget down to the bare bones for October so can seriously put money towards paying off the $3,600 loan we took out from Wells Fargo to cover all the dental fees my husband had to undergo. (Note to readers, don't avoid the dentist for 5 years.)

Our hope is to pay off the loan by the end of November... AND be able to put at least some money into my Roth IRA for 2011... or at least stock money away for the other 5 fillings and new glasses for the husband... so we shall see how it goes... but its not looking very shinny for the Roth IRA at this point.

We did save up some money for his dental work... and if we take the $900 I had earmarked for the Roth IRA and we mix it with the dental money we did have saved up, we are starting with a balance of $1,446.23 so we have some serious cuts to make in the budget.

SCG Paycheck 1: $1,371.00

• Mortgage $808.18
• HOA Bill: $262.32
• Dental loan: $300.32

SCB Paycheck 1: $647.00

• Date night/disposable income: $60.00
• Birthday Dinner for my mom: $100.00
• Gasoline: $60.00
• Dental loan: $427.00

SCG Paycheck 2: $1,371.00

• Christmas fund: $50.00
• Gasoline: $235.00
• Groceries: $250.00
• Insurance Premiums: $143.00
• Utility Bills: $230.00
• Dental Loan: $230
• -----Ovetime is going to DMV fees to change my licence and car title.... rest to Dental Loan

SCB Paycheck 2: $647.00

• Date night/disposable income: $60.00
• Gasoline: $60.00
• Dental loan: $537.00

So if all goes to plan this month, **crosses fingers, kisses elbow**  we should be able to save $1,727.32 this month... and if we pair that with the $1,446.23 we have saved up, we should have $3,173.55 saved... so hopefully by Novembers end we should be in the clear...

The worst dental experience of my life... and I wasn't even in the chair.

If the title doesn't give everything away, my husband's visit to the dentist didn't go as planned. We knew he was going in with one cavity... and that a deep cleaning would be in order, but the damage was far more than either of us has imagined. We had around $650 set aside for the dental work and that's won't nearly be enough.

He needed 3 inlays or onlays.( I'm not really too sure since it was a lot to take in right there on the spot... especially since they were worried 2 of them were going to be root canals... something they wouldn't really know until they started drilling.) and on top of the 3 inlays/root canal possibilities he also needed 4 fillings that shouldn't be ignored... and a deep cleaning...

The other 5 fillings we were told could wait till January... but only if we decided to bump up our dental plan...

Yup, here's where I'm kicking myself. When we got married we had the option of adding SCB to my work health plans, and we did... we just didn't sign up for the expensive dental PPO plan because money was tight when we made the decision (Before SCB got a job and paid back his folks).

We knew there was one cavity but since I've never had a cavity before, I didn't know how bad it could get so we made the decision to stay on with the cheaper dental plan that covers cleanings and visits (and reduced rates for larger dental work) because we were a one income family.

Of course hindsight is 20-20 and if I had known he'd find a good job, I would have grabbed the PPO just to be on the safe side.

Anyways, back to the dentist visit. After the shocking news I asked what our insurance covered and they brought in the finance girl.

The inlays would be $850 a pop... if he needed a root canal $1,710.... with insurance. The deep cleaning would be $420... and a filling would be $160-$180 depending on where they were located...

We asked about cheaper options and what types of materials were included with our insurance, but the lady advised against going with the silver (which was included) since these were my husband's back teeth, "aka" the major chewing teeth and it wouldn't hold up... and if it didn't the next time it would end up being a root canal if it wasn't already now. The middle option for porcelain or something like that would have been around $450 to $550 a tooth... and it was also unadvised because they tend to chip a lot.. and since its his back teeth, we'd be back there soon re-doing it. So somehow we ended up with the $850 option and I don't even remember what they said they were making it out of.

Essentially they were quoting us $3,600-$4,500... before the other 5 fillings were even brought up. 

I really wished I wasn't as taken aback as I was by all the work that needed to be done because I would have asked more questions about the materials and I would have been able to make a better decision but with the hubby in the chair, haggling over materials and other stuff just wouldn't have worked out so well (he was already guilt ridden and really sad that it was so bad...)

They got to work and I just walked around the town center and waited. (my friend drove by to keep me company cause she was in the area). They did all the drilling today and sealed it with some composite replacements for the time being while the molds are made. Thankfully, the 2 problem areas were caught before the root canal stage so we just had to pay for 3 inlays/onlays, the cleaning he will have in 2 weeks (when he goes back in to get the inlays put in), and the 4 fillings that couldn't wait till next year. If we would have waited till January to change insurance plans and then deal with it, we would be looking at root canals for sure.

all in all, $3,600 for dental work... and we still have 5 fillings to do.

As i sat in their office, I asked about short term financing options and I sold myself to Wells Fargo for 0% interest for 12 months. I just couldn't stomach pulling the money from our emergency fund...

Essentially, all the money we had ear marked for the Roth IRA already, and all the money we were planning to send to it will be diverted to the Dental work... Essentially we are going to go back to our pre-marriage budget. We are going to forgo fun money, giving, and all extras except for $60 every two weeks. We decided that date nights are important to us and our newly forming marriage and this way we can have a little buffer in the budget...

Before we enacted our moratorium on spending, we picked up a water pick set at costco that also has an electric tooth brush attachment to help with his and my personal dental care so this doesn't happen again. I'll be posting a new bare bones budget for the most part but other than my mom's birthday dinner, we aren't going to be spending much money...

Bare Bones Budget to come in another post.