MoneyStuffed

When we first moved into our home in 2003, we had to buy a new refrigerator.  After much store hopping and measuring to fit in our tight kitchen, we ended up in the Sears showroom.  We purchased a wonderful Kenmore side-by-side refrigerator with a water and ice dispenser on the door.  Kenmore appliances are simply Sears-branded, but as you can probably guess, Sears doesn’t make anything themselves.  Usually, their appliances are made by many of the larger appliance manufacturers.

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The hubby and I have been in our house for over 4 years now and I can definitely see why the average first-time home buyer stays in their first home about 5 years.  I can run off an arm’s length list of things that bug me about my house.  No one but me notices most of these things, but they sure do bother me.  When we first moved in, we had all of these grand plans for home improvement but have we done most of them?  Heck, no!  We’ve gotten a few things done, like a shed, a fence and a dishwasher, but that’s only a fraction of my If Only I Had Lots of Time, Money and Patience List.

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So, call me a slacker.  I thought I was being very good about our Flexible Spending this year.  I figured out how much the hubby and I were probably going to be spending for the dentist, doctors, prescriptions, glasses, etc, and it came to around $1800. 

Then our insurance company, Keystone/Blue Cross, decided to offer free generic prescriptions throughout the year.  The hubby also decided that he didn’t really need to go to the dentist (procrastinator!) so things didn’t work out quite as anticipated.

My dental visits ended up costing more than expected and I felt the need to really get glasses this year for night driving so that helped use up some of that $1800.  Yeah, that visit to the eye doctor (first time ever for me!) was about a week ago so we waited until the last possible minute for that, huh?

Now I have $58.31 to use, oh, by midnight in order to use up the rest of our $1800.  It seems a trip to Sam’s Club is in my New Year’s Eve plans.  Ibuprofen, band-aids, antacids and some loratadine may be in order for tonight!  Yes, yes, call me a party girl.

Oh, and lest I forget, we also put in our last prescription refills for the year because as of tomorrow, generic prescriptions will be costing us, once again.  Getting them while they’re free is a good enough reason for me.

Let this be a lesson in what not to wait until the last minute to do.  Hey, I never claimed to be perfect!

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I’m taking the day to spend with my family.  My husband and I decided this year to spend the night at my sister’s house so that we can be there when my nephews open their Christmas presents, which from what I’m told will be somewhere between 6 and 8am.  Ugh.  (There’s a 6am!?!)  Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  :) 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

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What is probably the last installment of my gas station funds experiment was my time spent at an Amoco gas station.

I had $88.99 left on my AMEX gift card and I swiped it at a pump.  It flashed “$88.99″ up on the screen and told me to go inside to pay.

Obviously, the gas pump could tell how much it was able to authorize but that wasn’t good enough.  The cashier told me that she believes Amoco reserves $100.

So it looks like Amoco is the winner of the gas station funds experiment!  What an honor!

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