Today I had a dentist appointment. This was my first time going to a dentist that wasn't my own family dentist, so it was kind of weird.
Anyway, he said that I have overcrowding in certain places, and that I should perhaps think about getting braces. BRACES. In my 20's. Ugg. J has braces, and his are costing him $7,000. But he has those invisiline braces, so it's not so bad. The dentist said mine would probably cost around $5,000, maybe a little less ... and I would pay in installments.
It's something to think about, because it's not for cosmetic reasons - it's for the health of my teeth and gums. But I think I'd have to decide on it before I decide what to do about my veneer. And that's coming up quick.
So I was just lightly (seriously ... I was barely biting down) rolling the end of a pen around on the edge of my teeth (kind of a nervous habit I do when I'm in meetings), when I heard a funny sound. I raced to the washroom. It turns out my front veneer has cracked. :( It hasn't fallen out, and you can't tell that it's cracked when you look at my teeth (I asked a couple of my co-workers to look) ... but a tiny corner kind of partially lifts off.
I called my regular dentist (in my home town), and their office is closed until Saturday. So I'm trying to call local dentist offices around here ... hopefully there's someone who can just slap some more cement on the back of it and I can be on my way.
Not happy.
***EDIT***
I made an appointment tomorrow afternoon to see a dentist kind of by my house. I think it's the same dentist J goes to. Hopefully this is a quick fix, because I do not want to be paying another $1,000 to get a whole new veneer put in place. Although, I guess if I do have to get a whole new veneer, I would go back to my regular dentist, since they were the ones who put the veneer in, and she knew it was very thin to begin with (she broke the first veneer in half, which delayed the process by a couple of days) ... so I'm sure they would at least compensate some of the cost ... but this is the kind of thing they should be doing for free. A veneer should be stronger than that.
BTW, when I first got the veneer in place, the insurance company rejected the claim for it to be covered under medical. They said it was strictly a cosmetic procedure. Which, I guess it is? But it still totally sucked having to pay $1,000 for one stupid tooth.
I'm starting to get major pains in my neck and shoulders, as well as my wrists ... thanks to being chained to this computer all day, every day.
I've found that getting up and slowly stretching my neck and shoulders helps ... but the pain never really goes away. And my wrists are almost always uncomfortable.
So, I guess it might be time to go see my doctor and have him write me a note of recommendation to a massage therapist and a chiropractor. Through my extended health, I get $500 to each practitioner covered per year ... with no deductible. So I should really start benefiting from my benefits. :) I also need to see an optometrist ($50 covered), and get some prescription sport sunglasses ($200 covered). Not to mention orthodics ($250 covered). Oh, plus renew my prescriptions. And I should do all of that relatively soon, while I still have this job and am covered through extended health.
Well, it's 10am on Saturday, and I'm supposed to be hiking with J and his friends ... but yesterday after work, just the thought of walking the 40 min. home destroyed me a little inside. So my boss offered to drive me home, which was super nice of him.
When I got home, J insisted on coming over to take me to the clinic. I did not want to go, because none of my symptoms are really all that bad. In fact, I don't feel very sick. But it's enough to make me feel "off" and just gross. But by the time we got to the clinic (around 7:15pm), the woman said there would be at least a 1 hr. wait, and they weren't guaranteeing that patients could even see a doctor before they closed at 9pm. So we left.
I'm really sad about having to stay at home. I was looking forward to this weekend a lot. But instead, I'll be spending it alone, by myself, on my couch, for the next 2 days. I haven't been sick in a really long time - maybe years. I don't recall being sick enough to not go into work since 2004. And then, I was actually sick with the flu or something. Not this weird non-sickness. I forgot how depressing being sick really is. At least I have about 5 or 6 movies on my computer that I haven't watched yet. And the Blue Jays game is on TV ... and there'll be NHL playoffs on tonight. But still. The time is going to go by so slowly. What a crappy weekend.
Today I'm going to try and go for a walk - perhaps to the library (I've never been there before, and it's about a 60 min. round trip walk). I'd like to do something more productive, but not sure if I'll have the energy to do much else.
I've had a stomach ache since last Friday, so I took a 'sick day' today. I think it's mostly due to stress ... but I can't be too sure. So I'm going to take it easy today, and perhaps walk to the bank in a bit. I'd also like to peruse the used book store, but it depends on how icky I'm feeling.
If I'm still feeling awful by tomorrow morning, then I will go see a doctor.
I get 12 paid sick days per year, and that's really nice to have ... to not have to worry about money if I'm not feeling well. I used to work at a place where we didn't get any sick days, so if we happened to be sick, we just wouldn't get paid for it. Which is awful. I don't think J gets sick days either. His extended health care plan is so budget, he might as well not even have it. I don't even think he gets paid time off to go to see a doctor or dentist. :(
Anyway, this weekend I'm going hiking with J and like 15-20 of his friends. His brother is even flying in from Alberta for this. He says it's going to be a really really hard hike, so I'm kind of nervous. But he thinks I can do it, so I'm sure I will be fine. He says it's a 2 hr. hike to get to the camping spot, and then a 7-hour round trip hike to get to the top of the mountain. And apparently there's loads and loads of snow on the ground. This will be an interesting weekend for sure. Hopefully I'm feeling better by then!
It's been a good weekend. Friday night, I stayed over at J's house, and on Saturday, we went on an 18 km hike. It took us around 5 hours to do, and it was pretty fun. My feet hurt a little afterwards, but I had a good time. That evening, we watched the movie Into The Wild. I was a little disappointed in the movie. It wasn't nearly as good as the book, and even then, the book wasn't that great either.
This morning, we drove back to my place, and after a quick stop at the Home Depot, he was able to set up my bed ... and after my shelves are installed underneath the bed, everything in my suite will be set up perfectly! :) It's really a beautiful bed. He's very talented.
Anyway, during the hike, J and I got to talking about laser eye surgery. He thinks I should get it done. I've always wanted to, but have been scared about being the one out of however many that ends up having complications and loses their vision altogether. I've priced out the cost, and it ranges around $1,500-3,000 to get it done.
Obviously that's a lot of money - money I don't have at the moment ... but perhaps it's something I should start to save up for. I mean, from a personal finance point of view, it's cheaper to pay for this surgery, than to keep having to buy and update glasses/frames every few years for the rest of my life. Plus, it'll provide me a better quality of life, not having to worry about my glasses all the time. Especially being so active. It's such a pain to have to choose whether to wear my glasses (and have them fog up every 20 seconds, or always having to wipe the rain off them), or to not wear anything and feel dizzy all the time.
If I were to save up for it, it would probably take me a year to save around $2,000, unless I cut down on saving for the other things in my life. Which I'm not really prepared to do. And a friend I know who got it done, she got 0% financing, and has to pay equal monthly installments of around $200. While that seems like a pretty good idea, just the thought of owing and being in debt to someone is not appealing at all. Even if it is for 0% financing. I guess I'd do it if it came down to it, but I would much prefer to save up and pay for the entire thing in cash.
Have any of you contemplated laser eye surgery? How many of you have gone through with the procedure? Are you glad you did it? Any regrets?
***EDIT***
A commenter suggested contact lenses - I've tried contacts before, and I absolutely 100% HATED them. I wore them for about 3 months, and I seriously had to spend 45-60 min. each morning to even put the lenses in. During the day, my eyes always felt itchy and dry ... and I rub my eyes a lot (which obviously, you can't do when wearing contacts) ... so they'd always fall out, or shift and feel really uncomfortable. I will not wear contacts again. Ever.
A few people were wondering about the benefits package offered at my work, so I thought I'd break it down as best I can (I will get full benefits in 5 weeks). And yes, even though I'm now an hourly employee, my benefits package will stay the same.
Here are some of the highlights:
- 40%/60% employee/employer split (my portion for this plan will be around $22/month)
- 3 weeks of vacation/year
- 12 paid sick days/year
- 10 paid statutory holidays/year
- 4% employer match EPP plan (which gets immediately vested)
- $200/year for orthodics
- $500/year for each of the following: acupuncture, massage therapy, speech therapy, chiropractor, physiotherapy, naturopath, nutritional counseling.
- 80% coverage of prescription drugs
- 100% coverage of all other eligible benefits
- $250/24 months for vision coverage
- 100% coverage of basic services
- 100% coverage of Endodontic and Periodontal procedures
- 50% coverage of major services
These are the new glasses that I bought. I love them, not because they're D&G, but because for once, the nose pads are close enough together that they don't slide down my tiny nose. These frames are the best fitting glasses I've ever worn - by far. So comfortable! Usually when I buy frames, the nose pads pinch and are uncomfortable, or I just have to keep pushing the glasses back up so they'll sit properly (which is super annoying, not to mention geeky as all hell). So, even though they cost a bit more than I was wanting to spend, and even though I'll be covered in 3 months for another pair, I'm so glad I just went out and bought these. Very happy.
I'll take Annie's advice and buy myself a back-up pair of glasses once my health care benefits kick in. :)
Oh, and I'm going to try and take pics of my place sometime this week (maybe tonight) and post them up for you guys, since everything is pretty much in order.
I filed my very last EI work report yesterday, as I am now working a full-time job. In retrospect, I should have waited to file it until after my payout gets deposited in my bank account, just in case by some weird chance, this has screwed up the system. There's nothing I would hate more than to have to try and get my money from them again.
This weekend I bought new glasses. They were a little more expensive than I had anticipated spending, but I really like them and I'm going to make sure that I don't lose them. I ended up paying about $289 for them, after a $100 off promotion at the store. Yes, it's a lot of money to pay, especially when they could be covered in 3 months by my medical ... but I needed glasses now (legally not allowed to drive without them). Plus, I justified the more expensive frames by telling myself that I'm getting a large tax refund, and I'm getting my EI payout ... which I know isn't really a good enough reason, but what's done is done and I have new glasses that I love.
This evening I'm going to sit down and get my finances up to date and in order. I got the last of my paperwork from my old place on the island, so a few hours should get me all up to speed. I'm nervous to really see how much money I have, but I'm also excited because then I can move forward and figure out where I need to be. And that means updating the sidebar totals. So by tomorrow, you should see an accurate picture of where I really stand, money wise.
10 weeks in, and I'm even more frustrated than ever. I've been calling in every week to ask about the status of my claim (checking online is useless b/c the messages always say the same thing) ... today the woman said that I should wait until Monday, and if I haven't heard from anyone, then to call back in. I never hear from anyone ... ever! So I don't know who she thinks she's dealing with. And why do I have to keep calling in? Shouldn't they be the ones doing their jobs?
In other news, I've lost my glasses. Lost isn't even the right word. I left them at a White Spot restaurant on Monday evening. J and I both distinctly remember me taking my glasses off and putting them on the table. I just never put them back on ... and when I finally realized what I had done, they had already closed. We got up and went back to the White Spot as soon as they opened the next morning (6:30 am), and I called twice during the day, but my glasses seem to have vanished. But White Spot is seriously THE ONLY place they could have been. I did not leave the restaurant with them on, and I know that for a fact.
So, what should I do? I need glasses. I was thinking of heading to the mall after work to buy a new pair (I've had my old pair for about 2 years) ... but it seems kind of lame to drop $200 when I'll be covered under my medical plan at work in less than 3 months. And I don't want to buy frames online, because my face is oddly shaped (tiny Asian nose = no bridge) and I literally have to try on dozens and dozens of pairs in the store to make sure I get ones that fit me properly. My back-up pair is back at home on the island, and even those are about 3 or 4 prescriptions old and don't correct my astigmatism. I'll probably go to the mall and see what kind of deals the cheapo 1-hr. optical places have, and then make my decision there. My only saving grace is that I can use the money out of my tax return to pay for them ... and in the meantime, I'll take the $$ out of my EF.
As if things couldn't get any worse, I have officially lost my prescription sunglasses that I bought in May under the ex-BF's health plan. Haven't seen them in over a month. So yesterday, I went to the mall and bought myself another pair. For $275. And this time, they aren't going to be covered by medical (the plan only covers $200 for eye wear every 2 years).
I'll be fine in terms of paying for them, but I'm frustrated and angry at myself for losing something so expensive ... and if it had been anything else, I probably wouldn't have replaced it ... but I need sunglasses for riding my scooter, and since I'm required to wear glasses while I drive, I had to get them prescription. Plus, I get really dizzy and nauseous on days when I wear my non-prescription sunglasses.
The women at the store was nice enough, and said that if I found my old sunglasses (or if I didn't like my new pair), I could return them within 60 days for a full refund. They're being sent to the lab, and I should get them in about 10 days. Meanwhile, I'm going to go see if I can find a better deal elsewhere for sunglasses. There's another place in the same mall that had a 2-for-1 sale going on, and I wouldn't mind a new pair of everyday glasses to go along with the sunglasses. They have a smaller selection of frames, but I'll go check them out later this week.
That's one of the drawbacks of being single now ... no more medical coverage. :( The ex-BF took me off his medical plan yesterday. Good thing I have a 4-month supply of my prescriptions ... and I just went to the dentist, and am up-to-date on all that pressing dental work I needed to get done. Here's hoping whatever job I end up getting has a good medical plan!
So you know how a couple months ago I got a ridiculously low bill for my dental surgery? It was about $870 instead of the quoted $1,200, or whatever it was going to cost. Anyway, I paid it off in full using my EF. And just when I thought I was safe, yesterday I got a bill from the dentist for an additional $198!!! Apparently they had tried to get my insurance to pay for it, but they rejected it and now I have to cover the cost. It’s not so much the extra money that bothers me – because I owe it ... it’s just that I had no idea that the bill was coming, and I haven’t saved up for it at all.
I absolutely 100% do not want to take this money out of my EF. I’ll have to rearrange my budget a bit to accommodate this expense. It’ll probably mean a smaller amount going into my down payment fund for the month. Grrr!!!
Well, over a month later, I finally got my bill from the dentist for the work she did on my front teeth. I originally thought it would cost close to $1,500 to get the work done (porcelain crown and a veneer), but a month ago I was quoted $1,230 ... and my invoice was only $868.20!!!
While that's still an expensive bill, I think that's pretty cheap for a crown and veneer. The EF is going to take a hit, but I'm okay with that.
Is it just me, or has there been a complete lack of PPP opportunities lately? Maybe my blog isn't popular enough, and I'm just not qualifying for any ... but only a few days ago, I had 9 or 10 things to write about ... now there are zero. ZILCH. None. And I see other PF blogs writing about opportunities I've never seen before.
I guess it's time to figure out how to bring more people to my blog.
In other news, I am depositing the $200 reimbursement cheque from health care today, so I updated the sidebar to reflect the new EF amount. My big dental surgery is on Tuesday, and I'm so nervous!! Then I have to go for a follow-up fitting appointment two weeks later.
The refund for the $200 I spent on my prescription sunglasses got deposited into the BF's bank account today, so next week on my day off I'm going to deposit it into my EF, to bring the balance up to $1,200! The refund came much quicker than anticipated, so I'm happy about that.
It's too bad I managed to scratch up the frame and lenses the day after I bought them when they fell off the seat of my scooter and onto the cement. :( At least it's not too noticeable.
Well, I just called the dentist and made my appointment to get my teeth fixed for June 5th, and then a follow-up fitting for June 21st. I was originally thinking it would cost over $1,500 to get everything done (my medical only covered like $600 of it), but I was quoted around $1,230. It's still expensive, but it's my smile we're talking about here. I know it'll be worth it.
I'm hoping to get my medical claim back on my sunglasses by then, so I'll have almost $800 in my Emergency Fund I can use towards the dentist bill. I'm pretty sure by June 5th I can come up with the extra $400+. I have 2 pay cheques until then, so it will be fine. I think.
Bye bye, EF. It was nice knowing you.
I bought sunglasses today for $239.45, and I'm going to pay for it out of my Emergency Fund.
Before you go and think I've fallen off the frugal wagon, it's not what you think. I can justify my purchase! I wear glasses pretty much 24/7, so when it gets too sunny out, I've been having to wear regular sunglasses ... and I'm getting really dizzy and sick walking around with blurry vision. No, I didn't have to get the fancy Ralph Lauren glasses, but $200 of the cost will be covered by my medical plan, so I figured I might as well get the ones I look best in. Plus, they were 50% off! Once I get the $200 reimbursement, I'll stick it right back in the EF, and I'll throw in another $40 just so I'm not cheating myself out of my EF money. And let's face it, $40 is cheap for a pair of sunglasses as it is, never mind prescription sunglasses.
The BF and I had a coupon for two free lunches, so we hit that up today, and then afterwards we went and watched two IMAX films for free with our annual pass. We had a pretty good Saturday, and the only money we spent was for my sunglasses ... well, and for groceries. But that only came to $22 for my share for the week.
It's so nice out today, so I'm about to go for a walk with my sister, and then come back to watch some NHL playoff action. I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend as well!
The wisdom teeth surgery that cost me $200 last month seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the $1,300 I'm going to have to fork over in the next few months!
Back in 2000, I got my front teeth knocked out with a field hockey stick by a teammate at practice. No, I wasn't wearing my mouthguard (the only time I've ever NOT worn my mouthguard, so how's that for ironic?). Yes, it hurt a lot. And the amount of blood pouring out of my mouth was horrifying. I even had to go to my recruitment visit to CMU without teeth! Anyway, after a week of sexy toothlessness, the dentist screwed metal bars into the root of my front teeth, and fitted me with ugly looking temporary teeth. They were meant to stay in for no longer than a year, b/c they aren't strong enough for me to bite down on anything hard, like apples or carrots. Well, 7 years later they're still in my mouth!
A couple weeks ago when I went to get checked up, the dentist said that in a few months after my gums have completely healed from my wisdom teeth surgery, she wants to book me in and fix my front teeth. Fine, I've been putting it off long enough, but I had no idea it would cost me so much, and that $1,300 is after my insurance company covers their portion!
DAMN.
I'm on my boyfriend's health care plan from his work. So the plan costs approximately $100 per month to be on for the both of us (which is still cheap as hell), but he only has to pay the taxes on the cost of the plan. So taxed at a rate of 22% (it gets taxed as income on his paycheque), it only costs us $22/month for full health care for the both of us, including dental, and a $35 deductible on prescriptions. The prescriptions alone are worth it.
Anyway, the reason why I bring it up is because next Wednesday I have to go in for my wisdom teeth surgery. I know, I should have gotten it done a billion years ago ... but I moved to Michigan for University before I could even really think about it way back when I was 17. The surgery without health care would cost over $2,000, but it is fully covered under my medical plan ... all except the general anesthetic, which I'll have to pay $200 for, because apparently it's not considered "essential" to the surgery. It's a far cry from having to pay $2,000, but considering it a non-essential is pretty bold. I mean, would anyone in their right mind have their wisdom teeth taken out without being put under? Honestly, it seems so ridiculous.
There goes another $200, plus any lost wages from days I miss off work ... damnit!
