Things are going alright. Everything is on a steady hold pattern, which is a nice change from the breath holding “is it going to get worse?” worry. If this holding pattern keeps for the rest of the month, or perhaps gets slightly better, there might be a chance I will get a pay raise come mid-June. Hopefully it’ll bring my salary back up to what it was, but I’d be happy with any raise at this point.

I’ve been looking at dogs again. I’ve become very picky, not because there aren’t cute dogs out there (my coworker just adopted quite a cutie!), but I think it’s because deep down I know we can’t afford a puppy right now and would rather pay down debt and move out.

I was thinking about budgets the other day. My family makes fun of me how I like to “play” with my budget on almost daily basis. Our family accountant said that a budget should be set and put in stone [for that month/year]. Another person asked why would I keep playing with a budget, it’s the same amount of money no matter how you put it.

So perhaps I don’t have a real “budget”, but more of a cash-flow utilization plan. I am planned at least a month out on all aspects, but setbacks (like that shocking doctor’s bill), don’t throw me off. I just adjust this and tweak that and voila, we’re still moving forward on our little amount. It makes me not take any income for granted and makes me excited about the “leftovers”. It works well for us, and it works well for work too, actually. One can never count on bills being paid on time these days, but one can always expect unexpected bills to come in (if that makes any sense).

Speaking of that last doctor’s bill, I thought for the fun of it I should post what everything was and what it cost. By the way, we have a high deductible plan (which means we’ll pay up to an extra $5400/yr on top of premiums, no more, but usually way less since my husband and I are healthy and rarely go in) and I pay the entire insurance premium out of my paycheck because I am the daughter of the boss ($703.29/mo or $8439.48/yr).

Any way… Here are the numbers (The first amount is pre-insurance discount aka what the doctors billed insurance, the second is what isn’t covered by the insurance discount aka what I owe):

*Visit:
Doctor’s Visit: $232.00 --- $202.28
*Tests:
Vitamin D: $213.00 --- $75.69
Glucose: $36.00 --- $10.05
Sodium: $30.00 --- $12.06
Potassium: $35.00 --- $12.06
Creatinine: $43.00 --- $13.40
Thyroid: $95.00 --- $42.87
Complete CBC W/ Auto Diff WBC: $66.00 --- $20.09
UV-Assay Transaminase (SGPT): $40.00 --- $13.40
UV-Assay Transaminase (SGOT): $34.00 --- $13.40
Gammagloblin: $79.00 --- $24.11
Immunoassay, non antibody: $96.00 --- $29.47
UREA Nitrogen: $39.00 --- $10.05
“Specimen Handling”: $25.00 --- $13.40
*Pills:
Vitamin D Pills (1st 4 wks): $11.99 --- $6.75
Vitamin D Pills (2nd 4 wks): $11.99 --- $6.75

*Total that was billed to insurance: $1086.98
*Total that was billed to me: $505.83
*Total insurance “saved me”: $581.15 – just under one month’s premium

And they want me to go back and do a follow up test. I imagine that will cost me anywhere from $75 for just the test to $275 for a visit and a test. I have a few weeks before that comes up though, so I may do it, or I may not. Depends on what the nurse says since I can honestly say I feel so much better.