On My Pyramid.

We got a little out of hand this past Christmas and now we're bleeding from our pants pockets. Once again I am trying to cut back on any unnecessary bills(sorry Culligan Man!), minimize weekly spending(Good-bye Starbucks... sniff... sniff.... Call me!) and consolidate the debt into the nice little pyramid that I used 12 years ago to get out of debt when we were first married and didn't know any better. No. We don't have any excuse this time. Damn you Christmas!

Our kids are getting so big and we love seeing their little mischievous faces light up. So, we broke down and got a credit card for this Christmas. BAD IDEA!! We haven't had a CC for almost 6 years. At least not one that we ever used. What made us do this heinous thing? Holidays of giving and children that make you love them crap, that's what! To be fair we also used it to finish the bathroom that was torn up for four years. It seemed like a good time to get serious about that one. So, now we're paying off some electronics and our shitter(many deposits are made in it daily by our family of four, but none of them are monetary enough). It stinks; quite literally.

Here's where the hormones kick in. As I assemble this bloody damn pyramid, I'm getting more and more pissed off! You see, paying the car off, I can handle. Paying off a little credit card debt? I've done it before. But the third largest expense is our damn doctor's bills. Because I take my kids in for annual checkups, fevers and allergy testing(one time) I suddenly have a bill near a thousand DAMN dollars. Sure, this year has been bad for my husband's sinuses, but here's the kicker... His monthly premiums just went up. Every year in May the insurance company that offers coverage through his job sends over a salesman to convince the employees to sign on for another year. They tell them that their rates have gone up and try to make it sound like a good thing (but if it were a good thing, they wouldn't need a salesman). This year they went as far as giving everyone a health assessment where they told the only vegetarian in the group that he needs to eat less red meat. (I fucking WISH I was making this up). We went from paying no co-pay to paying $25 a visit AND our premiums have increased. Do you want the good news? The $25 is supposed to be subtracted from the amount we are billed after our visit and now check-ups and physicals are free. Woopty Doo! Check-ups and physicals should be free anyway. They're preventative. And as I sit here munching my salad and following it with an apple, I want to jump for damn joy. I'm so not impressed. Before we started paying $25 a visit I could have had a physical anytime I wanted and I would have just been billed for it. Instead, we pay this bloodsucking company $400 a month and we never see anything come of it. Sure, I understand that if I'm in a car accident today and hospitalized or find out that I need surgery tomorrow, I will see some help... but I won't see $400 a month worth of help. You can bet your bottomtop that I'll be getting a bill from that hospital that will make me wish we were bringing in an extra $400 a month.

I think I have a plan but I'm going to have to revisit this at a later date....