Christmas came early this year for us! Well, a few days early anyway.
First, AS applied for unemployment, and they gave her an estimate for her weekly payment. It's about $75 more per week than I thought! Then I realized that I was calculating based on her net income, which usually has retirement, health insurance and bus pass taken out. So we're looking at nearly $300 per month more than expected. That's really great! I'm hoping I also overestimated the dent my new, more expensive healthcare will put in my own paycheck, but I won't find that out till Jan. 15. That's OK, $300 is quite enough to play with! $120 will go toward AS's third student loan, but that doesn't start till March. Looks like the baby fund will be getting a little infusion of cash, and I think I'll set aside some for AS's retirement too, so she's not missing out on contributing just because she's unemployed.
Also, NT's bonus came in. Now, my company gave us a $100 gift card, and I was happy to get it considering the state of the economy. We knew NT's company did quite a bit better and that he'd be getting about $4,000, or maybe $2700 after taxes. Well, it turns out they decided to give him $6000, so we cleared $3957 after taxes!
I'm garnishing $2300 of that to make sure our Vegas trip is fully funded, but I'm not going to fight NT for the remaining $1657. He's been looking so forward to this bonus, and he's worked damn hard this year: 40+ hours at work plus 4 nights of classes + homework. And he still does some of the chores, despite my best efforts to stop him. Anyway, I have a feeling some of that money's gonna benefit me one way or another, knowing his generosity. 
So I'm quite happy for it all to be mad money. With AS's unemployment being so much, my budget has plenty for me to use for more-practical purposes.
AS and I are racing to get her health insurance settled before Jan. 1, because her work insurance only lasts through the end of December. If we don't get there, we'll either try and get COBRA set up for a month, or I'll strap pillows on all her limbs and make her sit perfectly still until we get her covered again.
Buncha good money news
December 19th, 2008 at 05:18 pm
December 19th, 2008 at 05:26 pm 1229707581
Good job NT!!!
December 19th, 2008 at 05:57 pm 1229709443
Congrats on funding the Vegas trip and the extra $$ from AS's unemployment.
December 19th, 2008 at 06:31 pm 1229711463
Mine is going up to over $1,400 a month next year. I'm looking at a "more affordable" policy of $920 a month.
December 19th, 2008 at 06:42 pm 1229712121
When you applied, did you apply for something lower that got pricier because of existing medical conditions? I really don't know how this works because none of us have ever gotten individual health insurance before.
December 19th, 2008 at 07:18 pm 1229714303