Zenn7 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 27, 2017 1:36 am
Do medical expenses count? Wife managed to max her out of pocket for the year ($5350). 2 separate 5 day hospital stays, 1 additional ER visit, max (20 I think) PT for the year, counseling, too many meds, Doc visits, lab work, couple xrays...
By the time we got to the 2nd 5 week hospital stay we were almost to the OOP max, so I was relieved to know that one would be much cheaper.
Fortunately we max ($2600) flex spending (FSA?).
If not, how about car repairs? Fortunately, neighbor is a mechanic who works out of his garage, so he doesn't mark up parts and takes good care of us. (So good they come over to our house to pick up/drop off the cars - even dropped one off when I wasn't around to pay them because I was at the hospital - her first week in). But even with that boon, have still spend $3-4K+. 2003 Toyota Corolla (needed new struts, some new tires, fuel leak repaired, few other things - still got a rock solid engine and overall great car) and 2008 Honda Odyssey (A/C had a leak, think there was something else plus the usual basic oil change and think it needed new brakes). Just finished paying for Odyssey (bought it 2-3 years used) and Corolla has been paid for since 2009 I think (bought that one brand new).
New Dryer a couple weeks ago. Might need a new washer (fixed a part that broke early this year (during the winter) - the adjitator motor coupler. Relatively cheap part (5-7$ from Amazon or Wal-Mart online - not so cheap in the local (20-30 miles away) - 15-20 for the further away one; 28 for the closer one). Got smart this time and ordered 2 so we'd have a spare. But now it's got a funny smell when we run it - something burning like smell (not a bad/nasty smell though, more like something baking/cooking).
Had to replace stove and refrigerator within the last 2-3 years. Actually fridge was this year too.
If I had the money though, deck has uneven boards and not looking good and has no railing - need to replace (or at least repair and get a railing added) and we've needed to replace the carpeting in the house since we moved in 14.5 years ago - and there's some unevenness in the floor, including area warped by water damage. So the new carpeting will require some significant sub-floor work.
We tend not to buy high end stuff usually. Went for more basic models of replacement appliances, most from Best Buy as we can use our credit card points for BB GC's. Dryer was a little more affordable when points paid for $100 of it.
Even with the van paid off, our savings are going down far faster than we can replace them.
Oh, and kid's graduating, going to college next year. Wanted to try and help her some w/ that (if she goes to a closer University - help is probably going to consist of giving her the Corolla, paying for the insurance/maintenance/repairs (it's nearing 200k miles, it's going to keep needing maintenance/repairs) and buying me a new car).
Did buy myself a new PC this year (haven't bought a new PC for 3-4 years at least - last was my wife's which we ended up swapping when my now 6-7 year old PC burned out the video card I had added; onboard video still worked and pc was more than adequate and still Win7 (her new PC has Win 8, she didn't like it). But that new PC has overheating issues or something and randomly powers off (not real frequently, didn't happen every day I used even; but it was frustrating, so kid has that one now, I got brand new one as PC is my main toy - wife lives on the TV).
Overall though, life it too friggin' expense.