Get Your Doctors To Give You The Goods!

Free meds certainly make me happy! I spent most of my morning at the doctor today. My asthma has been acting up for over a month now and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve been putting off going to the doctor (laziness? fear? I’m not sure) but it’s to the point where I can’t sleep at night and I’m draining all of my emergency inhalers. I just couldn’t avoid it any longer.

At the beginning of this year our health insurance benefits changed slightly. Our office and prescription co-pays stayed the same but now we are required to pay 10% of the cost of any bloodwork performed (up to $100).

After puffing on a new cocktail of nebulizer meds and getting an injection in my hip of something that burned like crazy I was able to breathe fully again. Whew! To help me get over this flare up I’ve been prescribed a host of new meds. It’s a bummer (I still have 2 months worth of the old meds left at home) but I’m hoping this new stuff will do the trick.

I’ve been saving money by getting my long term meds in 3-month supplies by mail order. Unfortunately, this time we are experimenting with new meds so I had to get them one month at a time at Walgreens. There goes my medical budget for the month! I paid $10 for the visit co-pay and a whopping $125 in prescription co-pays. Asthma inhalers are pricey right now and generics are hard to find due to recent formula changes. Blood was drawn during this visit, too. I’ll have to add that 10% fee to the overall damage when I get the bill. Sigh.

The good news is that despite being lightheaded from the steroids I remembered to ask three very important questions about the new meds he was prescribing me:

Do you have any in-office samples or freebies?
Do you have coupons or vouchers I can use at the pharmacy for that med?
Does that med come in generic form or is there a cheaper alternative?

By simply asking those questions I was able to get:

2 full size samples of the new inhalers (worth $70 in co-pays)
2 coupons for the future refills of those inhalers (worth $25 off)
I switched a different long term med to a cheaper alternative (saving $30 a month in co-pays).

I also nonchalantly asked if I would need a prescription to get some replacement tubing/mouthpiece for my nebulizer and he slipped me a new set for free. That was a big help because I would have had to go to a specialty medical store for that. I totally scored.

So even though I had to spend over $125 in meds today I was able to get over $125 in freebies and discounts. Just goes to show it never hurts to ask questions about your meds at the doctor’s office (even if everything else that happens there hurts). You might be surprised at what you can save.

Man, that was one painful injection! I’m gonna be sore for days, I just know it…

Image Source: Son of Groucho

Nostalgia By The Truckload

Who doesn’t have one of these? This weekend we are going to visit my family to celebrate a belated Christmas. It kept getting delayed due to illnesses and conflicts but it looks like my family can finally meet up this time. I’m looking forward to it but I suspect this trip might set us back in our efforts to simplify and de-clutter our home.

The last time we visited, mom said that I should take all my childhood keepsakes now that we are moving to a bigger home. I’m sure lots of parent stash away trinkets from their kids’ childhood knowing that they will appreciate those things when they are older. I think it’s neat that my mom kept some of my toys all this time.

The thing is, my mom is a packrat and she saved virtually everything I ever played with or owned as a child. Cabinets and shelves full of old toys, games, souvenirs, hobbies, crafts, you name it. A bedroom is dedicated to this stuff right now. Some of it’s sentimental but most of it isn’t.

My older siblings picked through their things years ago and refused to take most of it. Eventually, I think their rejected stuff got assimilated into mine, creating one massive collection. Against all wisdom and advice, I have agreed to take it. My mom saved all these things for us and I think that’s really sweet of her. Her heart was in the right place. She didn’t want to throw away the things that meant something to us as kids. So now I’ll do the honors.

I’m assuming the first truckload will be coming back with me this weekend but I’m not sure yet. If so, I need to have a plan so the stuff doesn’t become a permanent fixture in a corner of my garage. Inspired by Brip Blap’s awesome article on learning to let go of pseudo-sentimental items, I’ve decided to do the following steps:

I will go through the stuff and toss anything damaged, incomplete, or just plain un-salvageable. That My Little Pony that my sister gave a mohawk and multiple earrings comes to mind. (It was the 80’s - punk was in.)
Stuff that is in decent condition but not unique enough to be sold will be given away to friends with kids and Goodwill. I think most of it will be in this category. Hopefully the toys that helped me pass the time as a child can bring happiness to others, too.
Stuff that is in good shape and particularly retro or kitschy might head to eBay. There may be a few gems among the rocks, who knows. I’ll have to wait and see.

I already know I’m keeping a few things, like some favorite childhood books and my miniature dollhouse. Those items were always intended to be kept, not the junk drawer with a paddleball toy that’s missing the ball or the pressed pennies from amusement parks.

I will also make sure to do the sorting with Eric. He can keep me grounded if a wave of nostalgia hits me and I start rationalizing why I should I keep this stuff. I can hear myself now: “Wouldn’t it be fun to save this for our kids someday”, “But it’s too special”… Eric has no attachment to these things and can keep us focused and on task.

Once I start getting these boxes I’ll have to report on the interesting things I find. Besides a lot of children’s books and Barbie Dolls I’m not really sure what’s there. I bet it will be a fun job sorting these toys. It’s sure to bring back a lot of memories. I’ll just have to be careful that it doesn’t bring back the clutter, too.

Image Source: tshein

One Week’s Food: Our Version

Last November, Eric wrote about an interesting photo essay by Time magazine called “What the World Eats”. We were so inspired by those photos that Eric and I set out to create our own photo. If you haven’t seen this series of photos yet, make sure to check it out. It’s truly fascinating (and sometimes humbling) to see what families around the world eat in a week.

Here is my family’s photo:

United States: Family of two in Texas

If you mouse over the food items, you should get a popup that tells you what the item is. This food is what we are actually going to eat this week. We tried very hard to make it as accurate as possible; even including condiments and cooking oil. But, instead of showing the actual amounts and varieties of spices we used three bottles to represent all the spices. I also didn’t have a small enough bottle of canola oil so I substituted a bottle of almond oil in the photo.

So, what’s on the menu? This week, Eric is attending an intense class to prepare for his big certification. This means he will be gone until late in the evening every night. I wanted to make dishes that would reheat well for lunches and late dinners. I also wanted to make some of Eric’s favorites so he has something comforting to look forward to during the tough days ahead.

The menu:

Sunday	Roasted Chicken Legs w/ Veggie Medley
Monday	Chicken Tomatillo Enchiladas w/ Black Beans & Yellow Rice
Tuesday	Chicken Divan w/ Rice
Wednesday	King Ranch Chicken
Thursday	Pork Adobo w/ Baked Sweet Potatoes
Friday	Leftovers
Saturday	Leftovers or Turkey & Cheese Sandwiches

Breakfasts will be cereal for me and granola bars for Eric. For lunch, Eric gets leftovers from the night before (or a turkey & cheese sandwich) with a fresh salad and nuts and I’ll have soup, sandwich, or a Hot Pocket (they were on sale). Dessert will be peppermint ice cream. This is the only time of year they have this flavor and we both love it!

Actual cost of the items we bought from the store: $67.25
Estimated cost of additional ingredients from home: $9.15
Total expenditure for one week’s food: $76.40

That is right on target for getting my food budget back on track. Our monthly budget for groceries is $350 but I try to aim for $75 a week. It feels good to be budgeting again!

One of the USA’s families spent $350 a week for food! Granted, they had two teenage sons but wow! Judging by the brand name and fast foods I see in their photo I have to assume they weren’t eating on a tight budget.

I would love to see other frugal-minded people do the same sort of “what the world eats” photo. Lots of American families eat really well on a budget. What would your photo look like for a week’s worth of food? Consider doing your own version and sharing it with us!

If you create your own version please trackback, pingback or send me an email - I’d love to link to it.

It Gets Even Awesomer

Yesterday I was forwarded a video I’ve seen a before and loved. I crack up every time I watch it. Watch the SNL short “Taco Town” below.

(If you are reading the RSS feed, click through to the site to watch the video so the rest of the post makes sense.)

Isn’t that great? “The new pizza-crepe-taco-pancake-chili bag at Taco Town”! I think this came out when Taco Bell started wrapping tacos with multiple layers in order to make them “exciting”. Personally, I like good old fashioned tacos. Sometimes less is definitely more.

This skit reminded me of how we often equate “more” with “better”. Sometimes it’s true, like when I’m getting a bottle of ketchup that has 50% more as a bonus. More miles per gallon, more life per bulb, more …. In these examples more is definitely better for my money.

But sometimes “more” means “complex” and complexity doesn’t always equal better, as you can see with our Taco Town example. This happens a lot with electronics. The item with more options and buttons and functions must be the superior product, right? We get the complicated one thinking it might be more useful than the basic one but then don’t end up using much of the enhanced functionality it has to offer. Having the extras are nice, but seems like such a waste in the end.

Take my dishwasher for instance (I didn’t choose this dishwasher specifically, it came with the house). It has so many options that I’m a little overwhelmed by it. I always end up using the simple “normal wash” cycle. The foreman even had trouble figuring out the thing so we had to break out the manual to test it during the house walk-through. After reading the manual I learned that the dishwasher somehow senses how dirty my plates are and adjusts the wash time to optimize cleaning. I have no idea how it does that but I’m sure my dishes would get just as clean without that fancy “sensing” mode.

Do I really need 20 different washing cycles and 10 additional options on my washer to get my clothes clean? I’ve only used 5 different cycles and 2 extra option choices on the 30 loads I’ve done so far. And the extra cycles were tried out to experiment. I tend to find a few cycles that work well and stick with them. Don’t get me wrong, I love my washer but I’d probably love it just as much even if it didn’t have so many options.

It’s strange, but I feel a little guilty when I don’t use all the complicated features. It’s like I’m not using the machine to its full potential and the extras are wasting away. I know that I’m using the machine for what *I* bought it for but it still bothers me a little to know I paid for features I’ll never use.

Perhaps, when shopping for a product, we should think about what would accomplish the task at hand instead of getting dazzled by the extra cool features we aren’t likely to use very often. Gosh, I know that’s hard to do with all the temptations out there. Do I need complexity or simplicity to get the job done? Do I need my taco to have “15 great flavors” to satisfy my hunger?

The Reluctant Landlords?

C’mon $165! Last night we met with our realtor to discuss the fate our old home. Now that the new flooring is going down it is time for decisions to be made on how we will list it.

Prior to this meeting we told our agent that we were leaning towards selling it, provided we would be able to get a decent price for it. We simply wanted the home gone. He has always encouraged us to consider leasing it (he feels the area will appreciate nicely) but he said he would do the analysis based on selling it.

When we replaced the roof, the insurance company valued the home at $171K. I recognize it’s in the company’s best interest to value it high (higher deductible) but we still felt encouraged by that figure. However, when we looked up our home on Zillow it showed it being valued at $158K, which is the tax appraisal value. We looked up the homes currently for sale in the neighborhood to get a feel for what they were being offered for. Only two were on the market, both about 2000 sq ft (same as ours), and both were listed at $159K. We were really hoping to get no less than $165K for our home after negotiations, especially since we just spent $8K for a new roof, flooring, paint, and repairs. We started to wonder if it would be smarter to lease it until home prices rebounded. Maybe we could get enough in rent to cover the mortgage payments but we weren’t sure.

Our agent handed us a nice folder detailing all the recent sales and leases in our neighborhood. To our surprise, he said we could definitely list the home at $168K for an adjusted sale price of $165K. Apparently, the homes are selling very quickly in our area and the new flooring and paint could easily justify a higher asking price.

Wanting to know all our options before making our decision, we also asked about leasing. Our agent owns ten rental properties and even runs a rental management company so he is very knowledgeable about that market. He felt confident that he could get a tenant in our property at $1295 a month. Again, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that. Our old mortgage, with taxes and insurance comes to $1045. That’s a profit of $250 a month!

A few of our friends own properties in other areas and some rents aren’t covering the mortgage payments. But even at a loss they are still providing benefits through tax write-offs and available equity. If we were to lease it, we could write-off a large portion of the $8K we put into fixing it up and we could grow our equity using the tenant’s money until we are ready to sell in a better market.

I will say this though - Eric and I aren’t exactly keen on being landlords. Neither one of us has the kind of personality that would enjoy it. So, if we leased the home we would want to drop our profit margin slightly (by $50 a month) and have it managed by our realtor’s company. That means he does all the advertising, screening of tenants, contracts, rent collection, repair management, and even the evicting if it comes down to it. If the A/C goes out, he is the one that fields the phone calls and uses his connections to get a repair guy out there. Our responsibility at that point is to cash the rent checks and fund major repairs if needed.

So - it comes down to this:

Do we sell the home to take the equity and invest it? OR
Do we lease the home for a small profit (as much as $200 a month) and sell it a year or two later when the housing market has rebounded?

I don’t think we will be disappointed either way since both scenarios exceed our expectations. Right now, Eric and I are thinking it might be better to lease it and become the reluctant landlords. Tonight we are going to sit down and work through the numbers to be sure. I’ll report back on what we discover!

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