Son 2 goes for a sick visit and comes home three days later. Parent portion of the hospital stay is $850. Now the fun part, having to pay this bill after paying all the holiday bills. Options 1) pay in full 2) finance 3)payment plan with out interest or 4)payment plan with interest.
Hopefully #1 will be the only option we need to consider.
If you are close to living paycheck to paycheck; paying an unexpected bill will require gaining more funds. So first we need to look at those options.
1) Are there any snowball payments that can be suspended temporarily?
Items that don't need to be paid immediately but you are doing snowball payments to pay down a debt or debts.
2)Use less of something or do without. Any unnecessary expenses?
Think about what you are doing in the upcoming weeks. Can things be cancelled or
postponed?
3)Grocery savings see www.couponmom.com and America's cheapest family website for ideas.
4)Adjust your thermostat for savings.
5)Pay bills on line to avoid cost of stamps.
6)Eat all your meals at home or bring leftovers from the night before.
7)Keep up with car maintenance. You don't want another unexpected financial problem to creep up.
8)Send in your taxes if you are getting a rebate.
9)If you are getting a rebate, look into adjusting your paycheck so that you rec. more money in your paycheck throughout the year.
10)Evaluate the things that you are paying other people to do for you. Can you do the job yourself? Plumbing, lawn care, babysitting.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Here We Go Again
January always seems like crunch time. We refuse to finance on our credit cards and would probably sell some things before dealing with credit card finance charges.
The idea of switching to a cash system still has some draw backs. It is important to track the money. More important is to spend less than we make. No longer immune to the changes in the economy; everything has gone up in price. Has anything gone back down?
The real problem this year seems to be the higher price for oil heat. How can one home need $2000 worth of oil in less than two months? Last winter and summer (Dec 09 thru Aug 10) we spent $3,000. The year previous (Dec 08 thru Aug 09) we spent $2,400.00.
Our electric is on a monthly budget plan. It has rose 35%. From $200 per month to $270 per month.
The idea of switching to a cash system still has some draw backs. It is important to track the money. More important is to spend less than we make. No longer immune to the changes in the economy; everything has gone up in price. Has anything gone back down?
The real problem this year seems to be the higher price for oil heat. How can one home need $2000 worth of oil in less than two months? Last winter and summer (Dec 09 thru Aug 10) we spent $3,000. The year previous (Dec 08 thru Aug 09) we spent $2,400.00.
Our electric is on a monthly budget plan. It has rose 35%. From $200 per month to $270 per month.
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