My Budget

[hamchan]

^ This.

I think OP missed the point of my last post. There are generally *always* opportunities to become more efficient with our finances. Instead of a lot of "I can't do this or that," I think it would be far more productive to just be thinking about what you can do to become more efficient.

I would personally go through every line item on the budget and see what I could improve upon. & I wouldn't do it all today. You improve one thing and then another and another. Well, I personally do better with "one at a time" changes. This is what we have *always* done and what we will always do. It would be very easy for us to say, "We have no room for improvement, so we won't try any more." Since we stretch our dollars *very far.* But the reality is it just becomes habit - the more efficient you get the more "room for improvement" stares you in the face every day. Hanging around a sight like this will give you neverending ideas. (I'd in particular recommend reading the blogs. I have been reading the blogs on this site for maybe 6 years and still get new ideas almost every week).

& maybe you are getting this. It's totally fair to say, "I am not budging on this or that." You are prioritizing. I saw your cell phone post, and that is a great start to making some changes. This is the idea - budget changes don't have to effect your quality of life, but you can be paying less for mostly the same things.

This is pretty much what we've been doing. Some things we've been able to get a bit lower, and some things are already as low as we can get then without giving them up outright. Also, if we find that we are consistently getting rollover in certain budget categories then we can look at cutting it down some. This is the first month we have ever had a budget as a couple, so a lot of things in there are just rough estimates right now.

[hamchan]

Well, I suppose it's about time for an update.

The taxes are paid off as is one of the CC, which had a balance of 230 and the highest interest rate. We have also gotten about 1000 back into savings.

Medical expenses are much higher right now. This month alone we're going to wind up with at least $350 in copays. $40 of that is medication and the rest are office visits. The bills from DH's hospitalization wound up much higher than I thought too. The total minimum payments on those are $210. Nothing we can do about that.

I am putting 100 a month into an IRA, have delayed saving for college for DD for now, and we are trying to continue to put at least a couple hundred a month into savings. We will be able to pay for DH's PT cert this fall in cash.

So the plan going forward is to finish paying off the rest of the CC, then snowball the medical bills next. Even though they are zero interest I am just concerned about getting more in the near future and the payments are pretty high. When the medical bills are paid off (should be by the end of the year) we will get the private student loan paid off. It has the highest interest rate and the least options for adjusting payments.

[debtfreeme]

medical bills

You do know that medical bills are negotiable? Call up each company and ask if for a discount. No harm in trying but a family member who just recently fell and needed ambulance support and an overnight stay in hosp managed to but her bill by 40%. Just call and ask.

Also, scrutinize every bill. Make sure something that was billed was actually done. I found a double billing on my moms stay several years ago that amounted to several thousand dollars. Mistakes are made, prevent them if you can by reading the bill closely. Meet with them in person if you need to, to make sure everything was for him.

[hamchan]

Already tried that approach. Even if they were willing to negotiate (they aren't) we'd have to pay it all at once, and we don't have the ability to do that. I think the current economic climate and the changes to health care have had an effect on medical providers' willingness to bargain. I have never had so much difficulty before in getting a better deal on medical bills.

[Petunia 100]

Well, I suppose it's about time for an update.

The taxes are paid off as is one of the CC, which had a balance of 230 and the highest interest rate. We have also gotten about 1000 back into savings.

Medical expenses are much higher right now. This month alone we're going to wind up with at least $350 in copays. $40 of that is medication and the rest are office visits. The bills from DH's hospitalization wound up much higher than I thought too. The total minimum payments on those are $210. Nothing we can do about that.

I am putting 100 a month into an IRA, have delayed saving for college for DD for now, and we are trying to continue to put at least a couple hundred a month into savings. We will be able to pay for DH's PT cert this fall in cash.

So the plan going forward is to finish paying off the rest of the CC, then snowball the medical bills next. Even though they are zero interest I am just concerned about getting more in the near future and the payments are pretty high. When the medical bills are paid off (should be by the end of the year) we will get the private student loan paid off. It has the highest interest rate and the least options for adjusting payments.

You're making good progress despite everything. Good job.