That Time Of Year

Yes it is that time of year again. The time when my health insurance tries to make me believe that it is doing me a great service by allowing me to get my blood drawn for free so that they can make sure I am healthy. I wonder what would happen if they did find something? Would they find an excuse to drop me? I hope I never find out.

So, I dropped my poodle at the vet to get spayed and then went over to the lab to get my blood drawn. After 30 minutes of waiting, I was finally called in. The woman starts taking my blood and then calls another woman over and tells her the vial has a hole and she needs another one. The other woman hands her a new vial and takes the old one and then realizes that it has blood on it and she isn't wearing gloves. The woman taking my blood says, well, I told you it had a hole. The other woman starts washing her hands.

In the meantime I am just dying over here because the woman was bouncing the needle around in my arm as she took off one vial and then jammed on the second one. The woman says, 'Are you OK' and I say, 'yes, oh, you were talking to her'. She wasn't asking if I was ok, she was asking if the woman who got my blood on her hand was ok. Um...you know, if you are going to get all freaky about my blood could you at least wait until I have left the room? I just thought that was so unprofessional.

I practically ran out of there when I was done. My arm hurt for the rest of the day and there is a big bruise. Maybe next year I will just skip it and pay the extra fee for not giving them my blood. I bet they are all vampires anyway.

Re-Shuffling The Health Insurance

Today was our yearly health insurance benefits meeting. Every year the premiums go up and this year was no exception. We were going to change to Cigna and I was happy because my dermatologist would have been in network but it didn't work out so we are staying with our current provider.

What did change was the plan I am enrolled in. It used to be a flexible plan with a $1,000 deductible and an allowance that could be used for medical expenses that rolled over every year. Now we have the regular expensive insurance plan with a $500 deductible or a high deductible plan with a HSA (health savings account). I had planned on having an HSA and high deductible plan when I quit my job and need to be self-insured. At least now I can put money in to the HSA and take it with me when I quit...assuming there is any money left in there. The good part of the plan is that my company will put $500 in to our HSA every year. The bad part of the plan is that my deductible will be $2,500 instead of $1,000 and the bi-weekly premiums cost more than I was paying this year.

I decided to go without dental and vision insurance because I barely use it and the dental benefits aren't that good. In fact, they pay 50% which isn't much when dentists here charge so much. I think I am better off paying for my cleanings and then going to Mexico for any crowns. It worked ok last time.

So, no added benefits, higher premiums and higher deductible. The one good thing about the meeting was that there were donuts. Donuts make it all better.

Health Insurance Unknown

One of my commenters mentioned that his health insurance costs $700, which is my entire minimum budget. Wow. I wonder why it is so expensive. I know he lives on the opposite side of the country and I think he lives in a big city so maybe those are factors. Pre-existing conditions probably have some effect. All I can think is it must be great insurance for that price.

In my minimum budget I have only $130 budgeted for monthly health insurance premiums. I got that number from doing a search on ehealthinsurance.com. Here are a few of the choices that I found.


I was looking for plans with a deductible of around $3,000 and that had a health savings account option.

I don't know anyone who has one of these plans. Maybe they are only smoke and mirrors. I had a temporary health insurance plan like this while I was inbetween jobs but I never used it so I can't say how useful it really was.

The other unknown factor is how the government health care will effect these kind of plans. It is hard to budget for such a huge question mark. This could mess up my entire plan. For planning purposes though, I will pretend that these plans are legitimate and that they would actually cover me in case of a major medical need. For the minor needs I hope I will still be able to use the CVS Minute Clinic type places to keep my costs to a minimum.

Pills And Flu Shots

It is the end of the month and I am running low on the prescription that my doctor gave me for acid reflux which is actually Prilosec. So, I get this letter in the mail from my prescription administrator that says I MUST let them know if I want home delivery or to pick it up at a pharmacy RIGHT AWAY or else I will have to pay full price for my drug. I thought that was a little strange. I go to the website and register and it says that my prescription might be cheaper with home delivery so I choose that option and put in my information. Towards the end it is supposed to give me a total price but it says that it isn't sure what the price will be. Since I don't want to be surprised I changed my option to pick it up at the local pharmacy. That confused the system and it said I had to call them. I call them and stay on hold for a while. Finally I talk to a human and she looks up the price and says it is $15, the same as the pharmacy so there is no savings. I tell her that I want to decline home delivery because I don't want to pay for 3 months in advance, I might be able to get it cheaper since it is sold in stores, and I am not sure I want to continue taking it long-term. She couldn't argue with my first and last excuse but she did try to tell me how expensive name-brand Prilosec is. Yes, I know it is, thanks.

Since I was at the grocery store earlier I had looked to see if the store brand for Prilosec was on sale. It wasn't. Then I registered with Walgreens so I could refill my prescription online. I picked it up on the way home and paid $15 for 30 pills. Just for fun I checked their Prilosec to see if it was on sale. It was! They had a deal where you buy one box of 28 pills for $16 and get a box of 14 pills for free. With tax it came out to around 40 cents a pill verses 50 cents a pill with the prescription. I was tempted to buy them all but since I am trying be under-budget this month I picked up two boxes. I might go back and get more, I haven't decided yet. But now I have enough for about 4 months so I could just wait and hope there is another sale 4 months from now.

And also, when I was at the doctor last week I thought since I was there, I would ask about the flu shot. He told me that they didn't order any vaccines this year because last year they were back-ordered and by the time they came in everyone had gone elsewhere for their shot. Then I asked at the Walgreens pharmacy because they had signs all over the store. They said they had the vaccine but that insurance doesn't cover it because it is from the pharmacy. I would have to go to Walgreens or CVS with the clinics inside in order for my insurance to cover it. That is what I did last year. Too bad it isn't very convenient because the closest one is 30 minutes away and I usually have a dog in the car when I am on that side of town. It's either pay $25 for the flu shot nearby or spend time and gas for the free one. I'll have to combine the trip with emptying my recycling and a stop at Big Lots to make the drive worth it. I hope I don't get the flu before that.

Wednesday Already

I looked at the forecast for next week and finally....89 degrees for Saturday. The next day the forecast changed to 92. That's still cooler than 100. Since it will be cooler next weekend, I put off doing my laundry. I don't have a lot of laundry anyway and it will be much easier to haul buckets of water in cooler weather. Soon it will be cool enough to tackle my 2 rooms full of stuff. Maybe I can actually find something to sell. That would be good because I am trying to take 2 trips, one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. I don't know if it will work out. I'm already a 1/2 day short on vacation days for the Thanksgiving week. I only have 2 1/2 days left. Maybe they will let me borrow a 1/2 day from next year.

I usually go visit my sister and my parents in Washington State for Christmas. This year, my sister will be in Washington DC so now I want to visit my parents for Thanksgiving and my sister for Christmas. I looked up the cost of airfare and for now it is reasonable. $380 to Washington and $450 to DC. Of course, there is the tiny problem of not having that money right now. If I am really good with my budget and those yet unpaid medical bills get resolved, I should be able to cover it. Of course there are the added expenses, parking fees, shuttle fees, dog kennel fees, and whatever spending money I need when I am there. It is going to add up fast.

Our HR department sent out another notice today. It seems the change in health insurance starting October 1st was a little too fast for some people. I don't have any doctors appointments planned after October 1st but if I did and suddenly my doctor was out of network, I would be mad too. Now they are going to put off the change until January 1st. We are also going to have a meeting in November about the government mandated changes. I'm pretty sure that is going to mean a price increase.

Work went by fast today because I had a dog with me and also because there was a problem with a project that I was involved in and everyone was trying to figure out what happened and what to do. It makes it really hard to get my normal work done when I am interrupted every few minutes to look up part numbers or old emails. I have to admit that there were certain moments when I didn't want to work there anymore. Most of the day went well. I like it when I actually finish something that has been on my desk for a while.

Ugh...More Bills

I got the mail today and there was another medical bill. This one is from the lab. I am pretty sure I saw this bill already processed by my insurance but they must be slow on sending the actual checks. Looks like after 30 days the office or lab sends off the bill to the patient just in case. I think I will wait for the second notice on this bill too. I don't have $330 that I can have tied up in limbo waiting for the bills to figure themselves out.

And now, after I am almost finished with all of my medical visits (only 2 follow-up visits left), I got an email from human resources today. They are changing our insurance provider. No more PHCS. As of October 1st, I have Cigna. I looked up all of my doctors to see if they are on the preferred provider list. My dermatologist who was out of network before is now in network! Yea! At least I think it is a good thing. I got a great cash discount before. I guess it will depend on how much of my deductible I have left when I need another skin cancer removed. One of my other doctors was not on the list. Bummer. I have to start the search again for that one. Luckily the general practitioner that I waited so long to see is on the list so I don't have to find a new one of those. I am glad they decided to change and I hope I get a better reaction from the front desk when I show them my insurance card next time.

Confusing Deductibles

I must have been on the phone with my insurance company at least 30 minutes today. It seemed like longer. I confused the rep. who answered my call but I think we figured it all out in the end.
What it comes down to is that I have weird insurance. I start every year with a $750 credit that rolls over if I don't use it. I had $200 from last year so I had $950 to use. Some things are covered 100% like procedures and diagnostics. Things like office visit charges and overhead fees get subtracted from my credit but it doesn't explain it well on the bill it just looks like everything is being covered 100%. When the credit runs out then I have to pay a $1,000 deductible but some things are still covered and some are not. This is the point I am at. My credit is gone and they have started applying charges to the deductible. So I owe $444 so far. After the deductible is met then most things will be covered 90%. I pay the 10% up to $2,500 and then I am covered 100%...at least I think that's what she said.

Next week when I go to my out-of-network dermatologist I will pay cash to get the discount. Then I will submit my bill and receipt to the insurance company and they will process it as out-of-network. If they could have gotten me a better deal they will give me a refund. If not, they will apply all or part of what I paid to my deductible. I hope I don't have any more medical bills this year but either way it will be nice to get the deductible out of the way just in case. I did not know I could submit the bill myself last year when I went to the same doctor. Luckily I didn't have any other medical bills so it didn't matter. It is too bad that insurance is so complicated and you really don't figure out how it works until (often) its too late.

Lost In The Shuffle

I can't believe it. With all of the craziness of traveling for the holidays, taking care of dogs and working on my mobile home, I forgot to pay my car insurance. I was driving to meet my carpool this morning and for some reason I started thinking about it. I couldn't remember putting the new insurance cards in my wallet and truck. And then I thought a little more and couldn't even remember paying the bill. I usually don't forget things like that so I checked my bank account online. Nope, no cashed check. This is one of the few bills that I still pay by check. I wish they did automatic payments like most people do.

So, I got home tonight and shuffled through my old mail. I have a pile of it that I haven't sorted. I mean, I do one initial sort when I get it and take out anything important and then I leave the rest for later. I did remember seeing something from the insurance company but I thought it was for my homeowner's insurance which is paid automatically with my mortgage. I found the letter and it was indeed my car insurance bill and new cards. It was due on the 12th. I hope there is some sort of grace period. I'll have to call my insurance agent and find out. Maybe if I plead temporary dog-induced insanity?

***Update: I checked their website and they do have an online payment option now. I registered and paid by credit card (more cachback points!) and signed up for email bill notification so that my next bill will not get buried in junk mail!

3 Years Down

2 more days until the weekend. So close yet so far. I have been at my current job for 3 years. I am now eligible for long term disability insurance. Although I don't plan to work at this job forever, it is a nice assurance to have for the moment. I certainly hope I never have to use it. Many people in the company started right out of high school or college and have worked there their whole lives. I can't imagine that. The funny thing is that with changing technology, customers, vendors, equipment, and other employees, there is always something new to learn. But the old-timers get to say "remember when things were simpler?". And we new people get to say "why are we so slow to modernize?". It's a difficult thing to balance.

Anyway, what is most important to me is vacation time. I have to wait until I've been there 5 years before I get 3 weeks. 2 more years to go. I wonder if I'll make it. I had 3 weeks vacation at my last job and it was very hard to have to go back to only 2. When my mortgage is paid off I hope to take a few extra days of leave without pay just to give myself a little more time to get things done. I think an extra week of "mental health days" sounds good to me. I don't know if I'll be able to do that but if not, 365 days off sound good to me too.

My Trip To The Mexican Dentist

I got up at 4am today to meet up with my carpool to Mexico. I'm sure glad I don't have to do that every morning. I went to work for a few hours and then someone gave me a ride to the dentist's office. It was a nice office, simple and neat. The receptionist didn't speak much English but all I had to do was put my name on the sign in sheet. None of that pesky paperwork or medical history that usually happens before a Dr. visit.

After 15 minutes of waiting, I was directed in to one of the 4 exam rooms. There was one other patient there, a lady from the US. The dentist spoke English very well and quickly looked at my teeth. He recommended a crown for the broken tooth but also said I had a cavity in another tooth. I asked him how long it would take to fill it and how much. 20 minutes and $60 later and my tooth had a new filling.

The office reminded me of the dentists that I went to as a child. The equipment was modern but basic. He was good at giving Novocaine shots, barely hurt at all and I watched to make sure he opened a sterile needle. It was the fastest filling I have ever had and I have had a lot of fillings. The only bad part is that I think it needs to be smoothed a little more but maybe that will wear off as I eat.

For a crown I will need to go back 2 more times. I could have stayed there and let them take impressions of my teeth. He said he could have the crown ready by Monday. The cost is $140 per visit, that's $280 total.

If I didn't have dental insurance then I would get the crown done in Mexico. $280 is a whole lot cheaper than $1,100. But since I do have dental insurance right now I am going to get it done in the states for $580 (after insurance). I decided that for 2 reasons. One, the convenience factor. It takes multiple trips and the dentist in the US is only 15 minutes from my house. If I need the tooth sanded down or adjusted in some way the dentist is right here. Two, I am assuming that the Mexico dentist gets his crowns the old-fashioned way from someone who makes them by hand. The US dentist uses the latest state of the art Cad-Cam machining process. I don't know which one lasts longer but since I have insurance and the means to pay for the latest technology right now, I will buy it.

I am glad I did this little exercise in comparison shopping. I probably won't have dental insurance forever and it is good to know that I have other options.

One Dentist Down, One To Go

I don't like going to the dentist so why am I going to more than one? I suppose just to find out what a mysterious Mexican dentist is really like. I went to the dentist with the fancy office near my house today. He was nice and reminded me of my old dentist that I liked so much in Yuma. I got free x-rays with the coupon that they sent out in the mail. I didn't stick around for a cleaning because I was already very late for work by the time I had my estimate for my cracked tooth.

Lucky for me that tooth already had a root canal (no wonder it doesn't hurt) and it hasn't cracked below the gum line so I just need a crown. He said he could do a temporary filling for $100 but wouldn't guarantee that it would last. A proper crown will cost me $580 after my insurance pays it's part. I was pretty close with my guess of $600.

Tomorrow I will go to a Mexican dentist and see how much a crown costs. I'm not sure I will let them do the work. It depends on my impression of the office and the dentist.

So, worst case will cost me $580. I am tempted to get a temporary filling now and take my chances until next year when my mortgage is paid off and I have more money to spend. I still need to go back for a cleaning which is covered 100% by my insurance. Good thing is I have a dentist nearby that I like. Bad thing is I hate going to the dentist.

The Dental Blues

I didn't actually get in to see a dentist today. The receptionist told me that there was an 8am appointment but I didn't confirm. So I showed up at 8am and the dentist wasn't there. I made a real appointment for Wednesday afternoon then went across the street and tried that dentist. He wasn't in either, it was his day to be at his other office. I made an appointment there too just to get a second opinion.

One thing that I noticed for both dentists is that their offices are very elegant and state of the art. Of course that made me think that their fees are very expensive. I asked one of the people behind the counter about prices and he referred me to a brochure on the counter. It was for My Smile Discount Plan. For a little over $100 I can sign up and pay only $800 per crown, $500 for a root canal plus $100 here and $100 there for little things like anesthesia and tooth surface preparation. They also have a payment plan. Cash negotiations are not going to work with these dentists.

There is still a chance that my insurance will cover the majority of my bill (although I have never had insurance that covered the majority). Neither dentist office recognised my insurance but promised to look in to it by tomorrow. The initial consultation should be free with one dentist and $40 with the other but I will cancel with the second one if they don't accept my insurance. If my insurance doesn't pay for most of this then I am seriously considering going over the border to a Mexican dentist. I already have a couple of names.

Easy Go

I was hoping to have $1,000 of the money from my temporary job to add to my mortgage payoff plan. That would have given me a nice cushion for next year. Well, at lunch today my tooth started bothering me. I thought I had something stuck between them. That wasn't the case. At 4:30 I realized that my tooth was actually cracked. 4:30 on a Friday is a very bad time to discover a major dental problem.

I haven't been to the dentist in almost 2 years. The dentist that I had in Yuma was great. Since I've been in Tucson I went to a new dentist but I didn't like her. I've been looking for a new dentist but it hasn't been a top priority. A few months ago a new office opened closer to my home so I called them but I didn't have time to check with my insurance to see how the billing will work. Hopefully I can make it through the weekend without cracking my tooth the rest of the way and then I'll stop by the new dentist on Monday morning for an estimate. It's gonna be a big bill. Even with insurance it cost me over $600 the last time I broke a tooth. That was 5 years ago. Oh well. At least I have the money available. It's not what I wanted to spend it on but I'll get my mortgage paid off eventually. It's just going to take a little longer.

Health Insurance "Incentives"

We had a meeting at work today about a fabulous new service offered by our health insurance. All we have to do is fill out a health questionnaire then go to a lab in town and get blood drawn so that they can test us for anything out of the ordinary as a preventative health sort of thing. Then they give us a report and tell us if we are out of normal range. If we are out of range then they will give us counseling and recommend that we see a doctor.

Many people like this idea. Some are sceptical and a few are down right sure it's a conspiracy to weed out the unhealthy ones. I fall in to the skeptical range. If we do everything that they ask then we get an "incentive". This incentive is that our rates will not go up in January. If we don't comply then our rates will go up 5-7%.

I do not like my health insurance at all. It is not a well known company and I have a lot of trouble finding a doctor who accepts it. Their provider list is terribly out of date which makes even finding a current phone number for a doctor impossible. When I call to get help finding a doctor I can tell that they are using the same list that I see online. It is very frustrating.

I wish that my health insurance would just work the way it is supposed to. I want to have a good doctor whom I trust, who accepts my insurance, knows how to bill and get paid, and who offers all of the services that I need at one office. I don't care about my cholesterol level at the moment and I don't need someone to tell me to exercise more and have less stress in my life. I certainly don't appreciate my health insurance telling me that if I don't jump through their hoops they will raise my rates.

Now if I got a day off of work in order to do this I might consider it. I mean, I do have a price and a day off would definitely be worth it.

Searching For A Dr. Again

I checked my health insurance online to see if all of my claims have been processed. I saw a new one on the list and thought that maybe the hospital had been paid their $690. When I opened the file it was only a $75 claim for a different date. I was supposed to have another dermatologist check up appointment next week but I decided to cancel it until they can get their billing straightened out. I really don't want to add more bills to the list right now.

While I'm waiting for the bills to get paid, I thought I would check the list of in-network providers again to see if my old dermatologist was still on the list. Yup, still there. The insurance lady said, "if the doctor says they don't accept this insurance then you can call us back and we will get on a 3-way call with the doctor's office and explain their contractual responsibilities". Gee, that is not something I want to get in the middle of. Can't they just figure it out amongst themselves and straighten it out? Of course, when I called my old doctor's office they said they were out of network with my insurance. I didn't do a 3-way call. I believe my old doctor's office knows more about the insurance they accept than my insurance company.

The next step is to try and find a brand new dermatologist who is in-network and can do their billing correctly. That might be asking a lot.

Is It Friday Yet?

It's a terrible thing to rush through life but I have a habit of looking forward to Fridays. And it isn't just Fridays, I'm looking forward to the end of the month. I am low on funds already and there are 3 1/3 weeks of October left. To make matters worse, I have a sore throat and feel like I'm coming down with something. Hopefully it's just a cold. The county next to mine has had a large number of H1N1 cases and even shut down one school for the week because of so many absences. I was planning to get the regular flu shot this weekend. The other vaccine isn't available at CVS Minute Clinic yet. I hope I don't get sick before that.

I called my insurance to inquire about the bill I received last week for $690. They said they didn't receive a claim. I called the hospital. They said they sent the paperwork and didn't receive a response. Turns out that 2 hospitals bill for the doctor that I saw for my skin cancer biopsy. Their bills look suspiciously identical. I wonder if my insurance saw the other claim and thought it was a duplicate. If they can't get their billing right I'm going to have to find another dermatologist. I hate finding new doctors. At least I don't have any problems with the bill for the surgery since I paid cash. When I went in for a check up yesterday, I told the surgeon's office staff about my billing problems with the other doctor and they had similar stories of dealing with insurance companies. It's funny hearing it from someone who does the billing for a doctor. It's a different perspective. She has to take her family to the doctor too and runs in to the same problems the rest of us face. I was hoping she would know the inside secrets.

Anyway, I must put "find a new dermatologist" on my to-do list as well as "make sure $690 bill gets paid by insurance company". I definitely don't want to have to pay that.

Only three days left for the week. I think I can make it.

Medical Insurance Or Cash? Which Is Better?

I got up bright and early for my skin cancer surgery appointment this morning. I had to be on the other side of town by 7am. I checked in and helped myself to some free packets of oatmeal and hot chocolate.

You see, my old dermatologist stopped taking my insurance last Spring. After much searching, I found the Cancer Center which does take my insurance. I went there in May and they took two biopsies. One came back as a basal cell skin cancer but they do not do the MoHS procedure which is used in these cases. They referred me to Dr. Smith who specializes in the MoHS surgery. The Cancer Center told me that he took my insurance. I waited two and a half months to get an appointment and went in this morning. AFTER they had numbed my head, the billing lady came in the room and said, OOPS, we don’t take your insurance after all. The Cancer Center had written down a different branch of my insurance, not the one I have, and Dr. Smith accepts that other branch but not mine.

So, the billing lady said that if they were in-network it would cost me around $1,000 but since they are out of network it will cost me around $2,000. She gave me the option of leaving but I didn’t want to start my search over after all of this so I asked her what the cash price would be. She came back with a price of around $1,000. I said fine and they finished the procedure. The total bill came to $1,042.

I contacted my Human Resources representative to see if there is anything that she can do for me. Maybe it can go towards my deductible or I can get some money back from the health insurance allowance we get each year. I don't know. My insurance is complicated. Maybe that's why so many doctors refuse to accept it.

It is only because I have read so many stories on other personal finance blogs, and know a few people who have tried it, that I thought to ask for the cash price. I am glad that I did. For a second I thought I was going to cry because my insurance is so frustrating. Luckily the cash idea popped in to my head and also luckily, I have the means to pay cash. The billing lady was happy, the doctor was happy and I was happy. Now I just have to squeeze $1,042 out of my budget. I think I'll be eating beans and rice for the rest of the year.

Searching For A Doctor

I was going to title this post "I Hate Searching For A Doctor" but I decided it was too long. I'm feeling lazy. It was 94 degrees in my RV when I got home. Time to turn on the AC for a while and cool things off.

I need to find a new dermatologist. I had a nice one and I made an appointment in February. A few days before my appointment the office called to tell me that my insurance was no longer accepted. I checked my insurance provider list. She was still listed. I called the office back and asked, are you sure? They said yes, it just takes a while for insurance companies to update their lists. Bummer. That doctor was good.

Today I checked the list again. I found a doctor nearby. The phone was no longer in service. I tried another. I got an answering machine for some place that was not a doctor's office. I tried another place. Turned out to be the general hospital number. The woman told me that dermatology scheduling was being done by the cancer research center now. I checked the address. Ugh. It's way on the other side of town. Oh well. I called and finally got a human. It took her a while but she finally found my insurance on the list. Then she said the next available appointment was in JULY! They always say that. Then she asked what the appointment was for. Skin cancer, I say. Oh, she said, do you have a history of skin cancer or is does it run in your family? All of the above, I say. Well, then, she tells me to call another number so that they can schedule me for a quicker appointment. Ok, I call the number, no one answers, I leave a message, they don't call me back.

At least I have potentially located a new dermatologist who will accept my insurance. That's half of the battle right there. Now I just need that appointment. Too bad I can't go to the CVS Minute Clinic for skin cancer. I could just stroll in, point to a spot and say here, freeze this off for me please, then buy a candy bar and be on my way in 15 minutes. Way too easy I guess.

Time For Those Insurance Premiums To Go Up

It's that time of year...time for the meeting with human resources and the inevitable news that those medical insurance premiums are going to cost more next year. We had donuts and cookies at our meeting. Not very healthy but I don't argue about free food(usually). I worked the increase in to my budget and it won't do too much damage to my plan. Remember how I had a whole $28 left over every month for fun money? Well, now it is only $18 dollars a month. My health insurance increase came out to $10 a month.

I will try not to go too wild with my $18 a month. Like my boss says, it is still enough to get Netflicks! He thinks I should get Netflicks but I refuse because I don't have time to watch movies and I don't want to pay for them. I am content with free TV. If I start looking at movies that I could rent I might start wanting them and then spending money on them and then wasting time watching them! Oh how horrible! :) But really, I don't have time for that right now. Maybe after I'm semi-retired.

I Cancelled My Life Insurance

Yes, I did it. I cancelled 'most' of my term life insurance. Thanks to everyone who added their opinion in my previous post. Originally, I was planning to cancel the smaller policy when I got the larger policy a few years ago but I kept both for no real reason. The total payment was $47 a month which seems like a lot of money right now. And when I was trying to cut my expenses for my future $600 early semi-retirement budget that life insurance stood out as an unnecessary expense.

A week ago I sent a letter to cancel the larger policy. I have already received a check to reimburse me for this month. That was quick. I am keeping the smaller policy because some commenters mentioned that they got married and had children later in life and then found that they couldn't qualify for life insurance because of existing medical conditions. The small policy costs $11/month and expires when I am 59 years old. Hopefully I'll have enough assets by then to be self insured.

Now...what to do with an extra $36 a month? Well, if my mobile home rehab project can be completed for $10k or less, then the $36 will go towards that project. And if that project doesn't work out it will definitely go towards the mortgage.