In our Debt Payoff Update for December post we talked about how we were so glad that we didn’t have to travel to the burn unit for our son’s burns anymore. It was totally sobering when I started preparing for our taxes and realized that we had spent over $13,000 on medical expenses in 2015. That is enough money for a used car, and made me realize we need to do as much as possible to reduce medical expenses in 2016. I did have a Flexible Spending Account last year, but only contributed $1500. This year I decided to increase it to the full amount of $2,500. Also, you have to read our post on Why My Husband Will Never Wear a Beard Again. That is another reason why we should see a reduction in healthcare costs this year. (See all of our Debt Free Journey posts here).
Obviously, our next goal is to save cash for a car, and last month we wrote about how our van is sitting at the repair shop. We have an agreement with them that we will pay the $3800 for the new transmission when our tax refund comes. However, I’ve been contemplating whether or not we should go to another repair shop and pay $1800. Please note the $3800 comes with a three year guarantee and a new torque converter as well. We are praying through which is the better route to travel. It is very appealing to save $2,000 on the repair, but the guarantee does seem wiser.
I also have to tell you that our Explorer let us sitting broken down twice this month. Both incidences involved the battery needing a jump. Hubby finally figured out there was some corrosion at the connections and solved that problem. I was so worried we were going to have to pay for another car repair, but for now that problem seems to have been solved.
I have to be honest, we have not been able to save any money towards a new car this month. Hubby’s client has been very sick, and he has worked very little this whole school year. While we have absolutely loved having him at home more, it doesn’t bode well for saving money. We also had several extra medical expenses when we found out my husband had diabetes this month. Part of our health & wellness journey with our Young Living business had motivated us both to have physicals, and our health insurance would not cover the labs for my husbands physical. This was over $100, and the copay for the visit was $25, the meter was $30 with our copay, and we had a few other odds and ends with testing strips, etc. We’re praying that we can start saving for a new car in February. Check back next month to hold us accountable on this issue.
Please note: we rarely pull any business money as personal income, so you may be wondering why we didn’t have enough to save when we report our income below. It costs us approximately $600 per month to run our blog, so we consider ourselves blessed when we make a profit, but our Young Living business is starting to earn enough that we are building our business funds back up again.
Debt Payoff Update for January 2016
How we made changes this month to save and earn extra income while we are spending as little as possible:
- I started my own Etsy shop this past month, and I’ve actually had one sale so far. I’m currently reading everything I can get my hands on about how to grow your Easy business. I really like Etsy: Start Your Own Etsy Business Using the Strategies Given and Make Money Easily and Quickly for Kindle, because it’s free, and I’ve already learned a lot about how to run my Etsy shop. While I only made $6 from this business, it’s a start in the right direction, and it’s better than having no sales.
- We were blessed with our blog last month, and received several sponsored content offers, which gave us an additional $400+ in income this month. Make sure to read our article on 10 Things You Should or Shouldn’t Buy in the New Year.
- Our Young Living business produced over $1500 in extra income this month as well. We have started sharing our love for Essential Oils locally, and we have been so blessed by so many local families wanting to get healthy as well. We also continue to support over 325 oily family members nationwide.
- We basically had a blizzard here this month, with over 24 inches of snow in our area. We saved a significant amount of money the week of the blizzard because we couldn’t go anywhere or do anything! It was like nature forced us to go on a spending freeze. We did get to make Snow Ice Cream, which was pretty yummy, and played in the snow and just really enjoyed our time together as a family.
- My husband’s pulmonologist sent two scripts into our prescription plan that were incorrect, and we were charged twice for a total of $60. I finally had a chance to call, and they were only going to reimburse one, and I asked to speak to the representatives manager, and they did credit our account $60. Sometimes you need to push the issue to get your money back.
Prayer Requests & Praises:
- Please pray that we can start saving for a car and avoid as many medical expenses as possible.
- We are still praying about whether we will have any more children or not. This is a difficult decision for many families, but with our infertility history there is extreme fear and excitement at the same time when thinking about closing this chapter in our lives. Please pray that we will know the Lord’s will and which direction to head. We tend to throw all the doors open and let God close them.
- It’s a huge praise that we discovered my husband’s diabetes. He must have been diabetic for awhile and we never knew it. His A1C was over 10, and normal is less than six. He immediately made dietary changes, and was able to lower it by about 100 points in two weeks. However, he still had to start medication for it in the meantime. He also needs to lose about 100 pounds, so this is going to be quite a journey for our family.
- My dad is having his leg amputated on Monday, February 8th. Please pray for our family as he already had his other leg removed several years ago. This will be an adjustment for our family, but I know that God is in control. It’s a praise that his bone infection hasn’t spread, and that this will be taken care of soon.
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