by Ashley
That’s the saying, right? Bad things come in 3’s. So apparently the God of the “bad things” has trouble counting because I’m pretty sure we’re on bad thing #130903480 in the past couple months. Sure, it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but some more crap has gone down.
First, on Monday while I was driving my front left tire blew out. I’ve been a passenger in a car when a tire has blown out before but this was my first time driving when one occurred and it was scary! Luckily nothing too crazy (I was going about 45 on a regular street, not on the highway), but it swung me into the center median pretty hard before I regained control of the car and was able to safely navigate to the side of the road. I’m so, so, so glad I just hit the median and not another car! Yikes!
Four new tires + an alignment later (oh yeah, plus it needed new brakes too), I was coughing up $1100 for car maintenance. All relatively necessary. The car (5 years old) has never had new tires so we knew we’d be needing some in the coming months but didn’t realize the day would come so suddenly. The tires weren’t completely bald or anything, so the blow out was a huge surprise. I guess the thing to be grateful for there is that the blowout occurred while only I was in the car (no kids in the car), in our own town (not on the road somewhere between Tucson and Austin), and no one was hurt. The alignment was necessary because its good to do when you get new tires plus I had really whacked the sh*t out of the front blown tire when I rammed the curb. Not sure if that can mess up the alignment, but I’m sure its not good. Alignments are relatively inexpensive anyway. The only thing I think we could have gotten cheaper were the brakes. Husband knows how to do brakes and I would have liked to have had him do them, but they were all rusted and corroded (so weird because the car is well maintained and we rarely have rain in Tucson?? but we bought it used so the rust could have been from before we owned it), and hubs said to just have them replaced since he’s been so busy with work and wasn’t sure when he’d have a chance to do them before our Texas trip.
Oh yeah, and remember how we used up our full vehicle maintenance savings fund last month when husband’s car needed maintenance? Yeah, so we’ve got nothing saved for it.
Then the second thing occurred this morning. Husband always wakes up before me (he’s usually out the door by 7am, and I only wake up at 6:30-6:45ish). Today, though, when he woke up he went to the bathroom and came back out, gently shaking me awake. I open my eyes and see…..a swollen cheek.
I’ve seen this before. This is the same mother-freaking swollen cheek I saw last time husband had a bad tooth that required a root canal. Correction. This is the same swollen cheek he had the time before last time. Last time was just this past July (remember??), and his mouth never swelled up that time.
Seriously, world? SERIOUSLY?!!?!?!!?!
He says it came out of nowhere; that it hadn’t been hurting or anything. But he’s now in serious pain and the situation is going to require immediate attention (side note for long-term readers: yes, it’s not really “out of nowhere” because we knew he had a few teeth that really needed root canals and we’ve just basically been putting them off, trying to save up money and pay down some debt first).
So this morning he had his helper meet at our house so the helper could take the truck and get started working. Husband went to the dentist and had some preliminary stuff done (he did get a prescription for some antibiotics, too, but apparently the infection wasn’t bad enough to preclude some of the initial root canal stuff – like taking a mold of the tooth or whatever happens? I’ve never had a root canal so I don’t know). But here’s where I get really pissed. I’ve had a couple people (real life friends & readers) comment on how awesome these dental discount plans are. I’m familiar with these plans and, back in July when husband had his last root canal, I had suggested he buy one of these plans. Husband said that the office showed him their rates with the plan, but they were able to match the plan’s price without having to actually purchase the plan. If you’ll recall, back in July we paid $1600 for the root canal + crown.
Welllllll…. I was b*tching about this to a friend today on the phone and, again, she brings up the dental discount plan. She urges me to check it out myself, practically insisting on it, even though I tell her that husband already saw all the rates while at the dentist’s office. I get off the phone and do a little internet research and – lo and behold – guess what guys! The dental discount plan could have saved us nearly $600! Yes. Root canal + crown for just under $1,000. We paid $1600 (and that’s the same quote we got for the current root canal, too). WTF!?
So now I’m conflicted. We already owe the dental office from their work today (to the tune of $800), but now what? Try to find an in-network dentist to do the crown at the discount rate (of about $500), or just finish up with the dentist we’ve started with? Husband is in immediate pain and has already had the process started at this current place so he just wants to finish there. But I feel like they’re basically swindling us out of money! It’s our fault because we should have researched and learned that different offices have different rates (husband & I both assumed the rates he was shown for the “dental discount plan” would be comparable at all Tucson dentists), but it just makes me angry! We’re basically hemorrhaging money around here!
I feel like Murphy (of Murphy’s law) is testing us. How dedicated are we to this whole get-out-of-debt thing?
Guess what, Mr. Murphy! Pretty f-ing dedicated. Why don’t you just pack up your bags and take a hike?!
In the meantime, we’ve spent $1900 and counting (that’s $1100 on the car + $800 on the tooth, and between another $500-800 to go). Thankfully, we do have some savings in our dental insurance savings fund, but not nearly enough to cover the full procedure (we have about $500). So, I’m breaking my living-on-last-month’s income rule. I’m raiding our bank account to cover these costs so I don’t have to dip into additional Emergency Funds to cover the deficit.
December looks like it’s turning out to be quite profitable for husband’s business so I think we’ll be okay. Meaning, I think that even after paying these expenses we’ll still have enough to “live on last month’s income” for January (so we won’t have to start over on that). Essentially, January would have seen a great debt payment. Instead, it will get an average-sized debt payment and a lot of what would have been surplus will be going to pay car maintenance and dental procedures. Big bummer. But at least no new debt is incurred and we’re still making progress on our existing debt.
This also impacts how I’ll be budgeting in 2015. I still need to find the time to go over everything and really analyze our spending, but now I’ll be able to know a precise number to save for dental expenses or car maintenance, etc., instead of just randomly selecting a number out of thin air to save (which, as it turns out, has not been enough). So, live and learn.
And…no more bad things. We’re capped out on bad things right now.
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
Wow that totally sucks! I have a question why did you get 4 new tires instead of just replacing the one that blew out?
We usually just buy used tires with good tread because new tires are so expensive. I now up where I live everyone is in the land of making do. We tend to do the cheapest fix possible.
All the tire treads were running a little low, so they would all need to be replaced at some point soon. In the past we’ve done the same thing (buying used tires with good tread), and I’m really not sure why we didn’t go that route this time. We did get a discount on the work, though. We’d called around to a few places and got the best price and then once we selected a place we went online and printed up a bunch of coupons so they had to give us the sale price + coupon discount, too. We ended up saving nearly $300 (a drop in the bucket when you’re shelling out $1100, but every penny helps)
Very nice with the discounts and coupons! Well all least the car will be set for quite a while.
Until my last tire purchase, I would always get two at a time – less painful on the checkbook. You should never buy just one tire because the treads won’t match, and you’ll really notice the difference when you’re driving. The last time I needed tires, I bit the bullet and replaced all four. What a difference it made in the ride! So much smoother! I have a 30 minute commute one-way to work (mostly interstate driving) and I’ve been driving my dad to dr appts this year (6 hours in the car) so it was well worth it. I get the fact that people have to make do & get by, but if you can swing the cost, it’s well worth it.
I would contact your dental office and ask why the big difference in price – ask if they will match the price you found elsewhere and/or give you a cash discount. You could mention hubs has lots of dental work still to do and you’re going to find the most reasonable place to finish ALL his work -maybe that will motivate them to work with you on the price?
Don’t give up! Paying off debt is really hard – if it were easy, everyone would do it! As I always tell my kids “everyone falls down, but the winners get up and try again” – they roll their eyes, but it’s true…..emergency funds are for these messy life moments.
Great saying! Thanks for the encouragement!!! Also, I think that’s a really good deal to try to get them to negotiate a bit. Fingers crossed!
I second calling the dental office. Tell them they said they matched the dental plan price and you found information that the dental plan is $XXX less. You want them to match the price as they said they would. And reference that there is more work your husband needs.
Finish the dental work at the same dentist. Most dentists do not want to finish up another dentist’s invasive work and then if anything goes wrong then you know where the fault lies (which is why they are hesitant to do it). Also see for the rest of the dental work if the dentist (whichever one you go with next) will give you a discount if you pay your portion up front. I know someone whose dentist will give a percentage discount if they pay for their work up front.
Then get a dental discount plan for 2015. Also, you cannot wait on root canals – your dental health affects the rest of your body because it is in your mouth. Also if you wait too long they could have to pull the tooth. A dental implant is thousands of dollars and very painful.
My friend was telling me the same thing! Dental health can impact cardiovascular health, cognition, etc. She thinks it could have even impacted some of husbands mystery illness symptoms back in November/December 2013. It really does need to become more of a priority asap.
Oh I am so glad you learned this about dental infections potentially causing cardiovascular problems. I was going to bring that up and suggest making dental work a top priority. Although I feel your pain over these expenses neither of them is really unexpected and that is why working on your debt reduction, emergency savings and increasing income if so important for your family’s well being. Keep going – this is just a small set back.
I have a cat that had a heart murmur – and bad teeth. The vet gave me antibiotics to give to the cat each month to keep the bacteria in his mouth at bay, and it cleared up his heart murmur! Still amazes me – didn’t realize that they were connected. And if people say that you can’t compare humans & animals, his heart murmur is back & now I have to give him beta blockers – a prescription that I get filled at the human pharmacy, not from the vet…
I hate to be the bearer of more bad news but I had to have a root canal earlier this year after having a cavity filled that did not work. I was actually told by two different dentist that they would not finish the root canal nor put a cap on the same tooth> I was so pissed but had to return to my original dentist to have a cap place because of this. I would definitely check out the other dentist but don’t burn any bridges until you make sure someone else will actually finish the work.
Oh no! What a nightmare! Yeah, sounds like we’ll probably be stuck with this one at least for the completion of this tooth. If they won’t work with us on the price, though, they won’t be getting any return business from us! I’m hoping they’ll see the dollar signs and work with us a little.
funny thing is even though all this news is bad news, i read the whole thing thinking “you are so lucky to have all this money saved up”. This would have put some other folks back in serious debt and you have the ability to pay for it and still have more left over.
to me, that’s a lot of progress on your part and more encouragement to keep going in the direction you’ve been headed.
It’s very true! Were this two years ago we’d be forced to pay for things using credit (ick!) When I’m all “boo, poor us” I really need to look at the bright side a bit more, and the fact that we’ve gotten to a point where we can weather these financial storms without adding debt is HUGE!
Good tires are important. You carry around precious cargo. We got a new car this summer and needed new snow tires (I live in Vermont) my old tires were not the same size, but I drive about 20 miles each way to work on not well maintained roads, and my husband is insistant on good tires. We’ve had over a foot of snow and ice the last 3 days, I’m happy to have had them. Good thing for your savings/emergency fund.
I just signed up for a dental discount plan for myself last week for $7.95/month. I mentioned it in the comments last week and when you didn’t reply, I didn’t think you were too interested. I will be using it this month. In addition, I can save even more by paying it in full for one year. I just did the one month thing to see if I like it, lol. The key is finding good dentists; I mentioned the plan I liked last week but every area is different.
As for your dentist, you’ll need to finish up the work with that dentist. I’d just be honest with him and tell him that you’ve seen the dental discount plans and the cost for the procedure was much lower and then quote the discounted price. I’d just be straight with him and ask him if he’d match the price. I’d tell him that you need a lot of work done and you’d like to stay with one dentist and then I’d ask him which dental discount plan he participates in and just cut to the chase. The dental discount plans offer family plans for not much more. It might be worth it to get discounted services for the whole family.
Sorry to hear about the blow out. I’m glad you weren’t hurt and glad the kids weren’t in the car. It stinks when Murphy shows up. Hang in there. Glad to hear the hubs is having a good month.
Do dental discount plans cover pre-existing conditions?
Yes, and when you purchase it you can use it the very next day. There are no waiting periods like if you were to purchase dental insurance (which is supposed to, at least in part, prevent coverage for pre-existing conditions).
It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested, but I was already familiar with these programs. Though your comment (along with talking with my friend) is what motivated me to do additional research on my own instead of just trusting the dentist’s office. One of the plans I looked at was free for the first month (to try), and $100/year for an individual or $150/year for a family, and came with free annual exam, free cleaning every 6 months, and much discounted services. It seemed like a high quality plan! We’ll try to see if our current dentist will work with us but, regardless what happens there, I’m pretty sure we’ll be purchasing the plan for our family for 2015. A single teeth cleaning costs me at least $100, so it’s already a savings just on the cleanings if I go every 6 months!
Good luck…I hope it works! This is my first time trying them too.
Ashley, can you provide a link to that plan? I’m very interested. Thanks!
Sure! The one I was referencing is this one: http://www.dentalplans.com/dentalplans/patriotplan?zipcode=85743&dentistId=0&f=p
but there are several different options and probably differ state-to-state
Thanks so much! I’ll dig through that information this weekend.
I’m so sorry that bad luck continues to follow you around. But as others (and you) have pointed out, it could have been so much worse. The kids weren’t with you and you weren’t on the highway when the tire blew out. And you have the money to pay for all of these problems rather than having to rely on your credit cards. It’s a minor bump in the road – but hopefully the road ahead will be smooth for awhile!
Fingers crossed!!! : )