I took what I got and I have really learned quite a bit from it. I will have it payed off by January.

Got a letter from the hospital telling us our paperwork had been evaluated and we were “eligible for 100%” of the bill. I was really bummed out by this for a few hours. It won’t kill us, but it’s one more thing when I was feeling optimistic about turning our finances around this summer.

Then, ironically while watching Sicko with J, I looked again. “Eligible” means they are waiving 100% of the bill. Caloo Callay. It really helps. (Especially if I get charged a deductible for the eye surgery.)

Got the gazillion of forms copied and filled out and dropped it off in person. Hope for the best on the waiver!

I finally got up my nerve to see what the visa bill has cranked up to, and it wasn’t as bad as I feared. Not good, but not stomach wrenching.

Still working my fantasy that if J gets a full time job we can use his paycheck to live on, and use my part time check to pay off the visa and then save for fun things we’d like to do. Like visiting Minnesota for our 10th anniversary. Or, maybe even somewhere more glamorous. (But we’d probably have the kids with us, so why not visit friends?)

So I called the hospital to ask for a payment plan (since the bill is due 7/3). While I’m on hold, I looked down at the little bundle whose entry was billed to me (after insurance) at $1,500 (a bargain, really), trying to not stress about it. She looked up at me and genuinely smiled at me for the first time. Not just a pleasant curve of ‘this is acceptable’, but an out an out smile of enjoyment. Smart girl.

Then I got some great news. If I’m willing to do a monumental amount of paperwork, the hospital may reduce or even waive my bill. Apparently if your income is less than something like $100,000 (!) they have financial aid. Again, a lot of paperwork. But obviously worth it.

And that’s the kind of information you get from a kick ass customer service rep. Another reason to love that hospital.

Until they decide, my account is frozen, and if they ask for any or all of the payment, I can get an interest free payment plan. I nearly wept.

Which is not surprising considering I’m not working and we have the new baby.

I’ve built up a wee fantasy which sounds pathetic involving this goal. The fantasy is that J gets a more full time job that pays our regular bills and we use my paychecks to pay this off, then start a savings account for the things we’d like to do (like visit MN for our 10th anniversary) with my paychecks…

The financial stress is actually pretty bad right now. We’re both in denial- basically not thinking about it so that it doesn’t stress us out. If we didn’t have family help financially, we’d be mid-nightmare. N’s hospital bills should be paid by the health insurance, but it’s ugly to see them arrive. My co-pay for the delivery won’t be paid by my health insurance, and that’s $1500. The bill is sitting on the dining table where we talk around what we’re going to do about it. And there’s this odd phenomenon where the mortgage and other bills just keep arriving every month.

I’m not sure how much this relieves financial pressure, but Q was invited to take a community slot in the public school preschool. This means 4 mornings a week for the cost of 2 at the preschool where we’ve put down a deposit. If a job comes through for J, this will help. (I think.)

So extremely worth it!!!!

I did this on April 6, I believe.

sending $200 to them. We’ve got a couple of monthly bills on the visa, so this mostly just keeps even with the previous dent, but it feels good to write a check to them anyways.

Looked at the statement today when paying bills. I’d put it out of my mind for a while, but hadn’t looked at it since we sent a large chunk towards it in January. Not nearly as bad as it is in my head. (Not good, but there’s breathing room now.)

Instead of taking the gift and writing off the debt and then feeling like we’ve learned nothing from this, we’re writing off most of it ($3,500) (ouch) and will put more money in savings, and work off the rest of the credit card debt with hard work.

This is not the most fiscally prudent solution, but I think it’s the one that has the potential to help us not make the same mistakes. It also allows us to tuck a little money into back up for hard months. (Sure to come- J’s seasonal job is almost over and the baby is due in late May.)

I feel much better about this solution. And I definitely feel better that the large debt isn’t looming over us.

Now to work on the ‘fiscally responsible’ goal.