biting to budget
We’re all set to start round two of orthodontia for the daughter. First order of business is to use up the funds in our 2007 FSA ($600). I’ll just apply it to the orthodontic treatment and not worry about the piddly prescriptions and copays that we had earlier this year — from a paperwork standpoint, this is easier. I’ll also need to pull $468 from the daughter’s child support fund to make the first payment. Oh what fun.
Here is where I threw the financial secretary for a loop. We’re basically just doing monthly payments of about $133 — but because I’ve decided to apply $1,000 of next years FSA to her treatment, I’ll be making a $1,000 payment in January and then just make $50/month payments for the remainder of the year. It took a lot of discussion to finally get her to realize that this is exactly the same thing as paying $133/month (well, actually, it’s about $4 more for the year) and that I’m doing it that way because then I can put in an FSA claim in January for the $1,000 instead of putting in monthly claims for $133. Again, I like making the paperwork easy and I love that you can file a claim before the full amount is in the account. Woot!
Simple, right? It certainly didn’t feel like it after being on the phone for way too long. Of course, even with all this hoop jumping, the daughter won’t be getting her new appliance until after the new year as it’ll take a few weeks to get it made. I know she’s awfully disappointed about that (note of sarcasm).
But, to make financial matters worse, the same day I’m working out all of these details, I get an email from the daughter’s summer camp that registration is now open. A quick glance at the rate confirms my fear that prices have gone up again - only $50 this year, compared to a $100 increase last year. But I guess when you’re looking at almost a thousand dollars for summer camp, whats another $10, $50, $100?!? Come next year, when I imagine rates will hit (and hopefully not cross) that $1,000 threshold, I’m going to have a very hard time getting my hand to stroke that check. Fortunately, the child support fund has enough to cover the application fee and deposit and should have enough deposits to make the final payments on time.
Side note on sumer camp: not attending summer camp is simply not an option; while paying for it is a major strain, I continue to firmly believe that it is worth even (painful) cent. But for parents just now considering summer camp, be sure to pick one that is affordable before you fall in love with it and vow that it is indeed an experience your children must have each year. At times I wish that I didn’t know about this camp, but it’s too late now.