Unlike Jane Dough, I don’t have a five-year plan. I think in the last two months, I’ve gotten all willy-nilly about my finances. Granted, I’ve had quite a few distracting, enormous life events happen to me during this time. I feel like I’ve turned into an ostrich with my head in the sand. At one point, I had to call my insurance company to make a payment by telephone at the last minute because I had forgotten to mail the payment. Life’s definitely kept me spinning around in a whirl of busyness. Last night was the first time I went grocery shopping in about two months and cooked myself a very frugal dinner. (And wouldn’t you know it, I left my lunch at home this morning.)
Right now, I have a lot of short term expenses that are killing me. Four weddings requiring out of state travel and a massive health expense, for which I am underinsured and underfunded. I actually think I can do it all without stumbling too much, but any hopes I had of maintaining the Emergency Basket of Cash has flown out the window.
I’ve always known that I had to go and get some dental work done. It’s been lurking in the back of my mind. I was already saving $3K in a flexible spending account to get this work done in 2006. I’ve spent about $1K of the FSA on some other medical expenses (glasses, co-pays, prescriptions, etc.), and dental insurance will only end up covering about $1.5K. Out of an expected $10K in expenditures, about $3.5K I will be able to finance immediately. I will need to find another $6.5K.
I will be liquidating the short term savings portion of the basket when work is done in July and then again when one of my CDs expires in September. I will be reserving about 40% my since those are locked up in CDs. Unexpected health expenses are what the EBoC is for, right? That will leave me with $4K to finance.
I could pay myself first very aggressively and start saving 10% of my monthly pay, a la Single Ma style, but that would mean short shrift on paying down my credit card debts which are only racking up because of these weddings.
I just don’t know what to do. Should I start paying the minimums on my credit cards and saving more cash? Should I put it all on credit cards and start shoving money to the lenders? Should I liquidate all of my cash reserves?
I shouldn’t have ignored my health for this long and yes, I’m paying a hefty price. So an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Dental floss is cheap and even if you don’t have dental insurance, try to get your teeth cleaned anyway. Trust me. You’d rather put $300 a credit card now for a cleaning, rather than pay $3000K later for an extraction and dental appliance.
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Wow. I am sorry that you have all these dental issues to deal with… I have what could be a cheaper suggestion though… going to Korea.
Korea’s dental system is first rate and comparable to the US and most medical treatments there are much much cheaper, even without insurance. Last time I went to Korea, my parents had me get my teethwork done there (i was like 14 at the time… yes, I am over due for a visit) although we had dental insurance here in the States, because it ended up being much much cheaper. It would require you to take out some vacation time and buy the tickets and all, but it may be worth it…
Just something to think about. Good luck and I will try to send good vibes your way.
Oh Boy, maybe we can get a group rate. I still have 2 kids needing work. I wonder how that works for braces? With the 1st three I had to take them to the orthodontist every month for 2 years.
I think it would be a fabulous vacation too.
Ok, in my reality I would take all my cash and pay down the credit. As long as my credit is still open and a viable avenue for emergencies. This is instant profit since credit is higher interest rates than savings. Then I would schedule my appointments and pay for them once again on the credit card.
I think the interest you will save from what you would make is worth the risk. Only because if you have open credit there is no risk. (that doesn’t mean to spend foolishly) THis is something you need and you should take care of yourself.
Remember I am of the philosophy that you pay off all debts until you get to the ones that are less interest than you could make elsewhere. Then save, save and save some more.