improve our financial situation

I’ve had a bad habit of driving my car to work. It is very expensive to park in the downtown parking garage and I really can’t afford that. My intention, and my former habit, was taking the bus to work. My employer subsidizes some of my bus fare and it’s a much more affordable option. But I’ve been in a bad habit rut because of my sleep problem and almost every day talked myself into driving in order to save time.

A little more than a week ago I started taking the bus regularly again. Realistically I don’t save more than 5 minutes by driving, and it sure is a big money savings to bus instead. I’ve been busing regularly the last week or so and I feel like I may be on the way to re-forming that habit. I definitely notice less frequent visits to the ATM, and that’s a good feeling.

I had it all planned out balancing insurance coverage with flex plan with needed dental work. My scaling and root planing this year, Walter’s next year. One crown a year. Special toothbrush. Mouthguard. All planned out. And then came … the toothache.

Last week I thought it was just some super sensitivity to cold foods. But I realized it was more on Saturday. Fortunately I had already planned to go to the dentist on Monday for my first root planing appointment. At the dental office I told them I didn’t want to do the root planing but instead needed to have my painful tooth looked at.

The diagnosis was a dying nerve. No cavity, it’s just dying. So a root canal will be needed. Since that tooth has a crown on it I must go to a specialist for the root canal. I guess I don’t have to worry about using up my flex plan money this year. But some of the root planing may have to wait or I could run out of insurance.

The new plan is to cancel next week’s root planing appointment as well as that is the day I will have my root canal. Money issues aside I don’t think I should have to go through two dental procedures in one day. Once the root canal is done I should be able to figure out how much insurance money is left and go from there.

the cost/benefit analysis on whether I should put my husband on my dental insurance. Looks like the answer is yes, I will come out a little bit ahead on dental costs next year if he gets on the insurance. So I plan to do that at the first of the year then make his appointments for root planing and scraping.

The next task under this goal is probably to gather information and fill out flex plan claim forms. I need to make sure I have used all my flex plan money for this year. I’m sure that won’t be a problem, but I have to do the paperwork to make sure everything is as I expect and there are no expenses I was planning for next year that I should plan for this year.

Walter and I both went to the dentist for our regular cleanings and x-rays last Monday. By the time we left we were looking at thousands of dollars in expenses coming up between scaling and root planing for both of us, maintenance on those, 2 crowns for me (that I already knew about), new fancy toothbrushes to prevent further gum troubles, and a mouthguard for me to prevent fractures in my teeth from actually breaking. None of this is going to fit in our existing budget.

One of my first tasks will be to do a cost/benefit analysis on whether we should add Walter to my dental insurance in January. The premiums are pricey and in the first year they only cover 70%. My employer covers my dental insurance thankfully, and we’ve never added Walter before because he hasn’t needed much beyond cleanings and a small cavity now and then. The insurance was always more expensive than the work he needed. But maybe we are at an age that we will just have to spend more in this area. Now for where to get the money…

I figured out how to rename my goal from “spend less money” to “improve our financial situation.” I’ve been meaning to broaden this goal and earlier this week it became clear I need to put some effort in this area.

My thought is this goal will now encompass both spending less money and all those other tasks that make a difference in cash flow to us. From filling out claim forms to figuring out budget, that’s what this goal is about.

I need to change this goal from “Spend Less Money” to “Improve Our Financial Situation.” But I can’t figure out how to do that without saying the two goal names mean the same thing. Of course they don’t, I just need to make my goal more broad. If anyone has any ideas for how to do this let me know. Otherwise I may have to give up on “Spend Less Money” to add “Improve…”

Parking is getting waay too expensive in my office building. I managed to take the bus today and yesterday. During the week is harder because I’m frequently running late but that’s also when the rates are out the roof. I’m going to try to switch back to being a bus commuter. This should help a lot with the monthly budget.

I need to get up earlier so I can take the bus to work instead of parking in the expensive downtown garage.

Also I need to get home earlier so I can make dinner more often instead of eating out. These two things would almost bring me within living on my paycheck.