Today my lovely baby sister said "For someone who works all the time you never have any money." Granted she's 10 and is pretty bummed that her big sister who used to take her out all the time can't do things quite like I used to but the words got me to think, wait a minute She's Right.
I work, a lot. My husband works, a lot. And in many many ways our little family is extremely blessed. My husband has a job that provides decent insurance and my job is one where I can choose my own hours so that I can get Natalie to every doctor appointment (trust me there are plenty). But when you routinely open medical bills where there are thousands left to pay after insurance, the fun stuff like movies, dates, and shopping for fun gets put way way way on the back burner. You're calling and negotiating with hospitals like a car salesman seeing how low you can get before you commit to a payment plan. Then you're reevaluating your budget to see what you can give up/spend less money on to compinsate for the 6 months it's going to take to pay off your kid's neurosurgeon.
Not gonna lie sometimes It sucks. We medical mommies want to go out sometimes. We want to treat ourselves to fun shopping trips with friends. We want to go to the mailbox, open up a piece of mail and not silently scream of list of obscenities in our head when we see the "Patient Left To Pay" line's total. On those days it's good to remind myself what I'm paying for... My daughter's health. So really who cares if Mommy's wearing the same shoes she had three years ago or had to pass on a girls nights out, my Child has her medicine, she has a team of doctors and therapies that are going to make life easier for her in the long run. And honestly I don't know many Moms who wouldn't move heaven and earth to make sure thier child has a good quality of life.
That being said I thought I might share some money saving tips out there with you guys...
~Figure out what money you're throwing away and stop: Make a budget. List the absolute necessaties and assign the money coming in to what's going out. What's left over then becomes savings and play money.
~Coupons.Are.Your.Friends... you'd be amazed at the kind of coupons you can find online and how much those extra cents off the dollar can add up.
~buy generic off brands whenever you can stand it.
~Learn to cook. Eating out is expensive and cooking things together as a family can turn into a fun low cost family date.
~Libraries are AWESOME. They are the frugal person's Blockbuster. Most Libraries have a huge selection of movies and now some libraries are lending e-books that you can read on your kindle or ipad.
~Buy used and Sell what you don't need... different counties have pages online and on facebook where you can sell and buy online, it's like a virtual yard sale :)
~Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate when it comes to hospitals... a little elbow grease and some sass can save you hundreds. Just ask for an itemized list of any hospital stay and you can often find some places where the hospital can come down on. "You want to tell me that one dose of tylenol cost $20, try again?!?!."
~research the free things offered around you. You might be suprised to find out what places are available to go to. Last Summer my family did a great "Stay-Cation" where we researched all the different cheap places to visit in our state and every weekend we would go out and see them. We got to see some pretty cool places like parks and little museums and we saw some pretty interesting things that we didn't even know existed.
~If you've got a big family (like mine) or even a big group of frugal friends or church members host a cook-off. Cook a bunch of meals together and then freeze them so on days when things get tight you've got some nice home cooked meals to throw in the microwave.
