If you follow @shemakescents on Instagram, you know that we became a party of 3 with the birth of our daughter, Chloe, back in October. Since her arrival 3 months ago, she has learned to hold her own bottle, sleep through the night, and has stolen our hearts. Seriously, I cannot believe that she is 3 months already and I now understand when parents say they wish time would slow down.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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In 3 months, the Mr. and I have mastered overnight diaper changes, morning snuggles, and baby swaddles while being sleep deprived yet grateful. What we completely bombed was our plan to pay for our week-long hospital stay when she was born.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We received a series of bills in November that totaled over $40,000.00, not including insurance. My entire jaw hit the floor when I read that number and the breakdown given from hospital. A big part that that number was because we had to stay for a week due to complications that happened during childbirth. Even so, that five-figure estimate had our anxiety in high gear because we had to wait several weeks to see what the final bill was, after insurance. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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After another few weeks, we received a final bill with over 90% of it covered from insurance. THANK YOU, GOD! With very little left on our FSA card, we decided to schedule a payment after the new year so that we can use our new FSA cards with replenished funds. 𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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While this is probably a DUH MOMENT for most of you reading this, I had not considered that we wouldn’t be allowed to pay for a 2019 medical expense on a 2020 FSA card. [le sigh] Thank goodness that we had a sinking fund for something else that we could borrow from. I would much rather borrow from myself than credit. That being said, the money saved from the SMCmoneychallenge will now be used to replenish my sinking fund.
Update: Using the SMC Money Challenge, I was able to pay back the full amount of the money I borrowed from a sinking fund to cover our budgeting mistake by week 6 of the money challenge.
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Why do I do this, you ask? Sometimes I need a visual reminder of my goal at hand. I hear so many people say that they will never pay their debt off or that they are so overwhelmed by their debt that they choose not to even think about it, let alone to look at it. Do you remember that time, I broke down the difference between one
shemakescents 