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Some more future money news

September 25th, 2013 at 04:04 am

I have a few more bits of upcoming money news, even though my current finances are just dragging along at the usual pace.

One is, I've pretty much decided that if I do have to get the extra bone graft for my tooth implant next year, I'm going to up my flex spending account to cover it. It will mean that even though I'm the highest earner in my family, I'll have the lowest paycheck! How so? Well, my health insurance is more expensive than either of my partners', plus I'm the only one to get a bus pass paid for directly from my paycheck, plus I take the max daycare withholding ($5K per year). Even now my take-home isn't the highest, but if I withhold an extra $2200 next year it will be the lowest by far. Nothing to worry about, just funny.

I have a scan scheduled for late this year to determine whether I'll need that graft. If it turns out I need to decide my 2014 healthcare allocations before that date, I'll try to move my scan up to just before the deadline. If the dentist says that'll be too early to tell about the graft, then of course I won't withhold the extra $2200 and will just be prepared to pay that out-of-pocket if needed in 2014. But if I do have to take that hit, I'd rather get a lower tax bill as a result. And of course either way, I'll try to pay with a bonus-earning credit card to soften the blow even further!

My other, happier, realization is that if I stretch just a little bit, I can pay off one of NT's student loans in full by Nov. 15! That will leave just over $12K in student loan debt, which means I can just pay $1000 per month next year and have our non-mortgage debt completely wiped out. And that's not factoring in any potential year-end work bonuses or 2013 tax refunds (and I do think we'll get a good-sized one even though I adjusted withholdings, because I was pretty cautious and conservative in my adjustment).

The big temptation will be to put any bonuses or tax refunds toward paying off that student loan debt even faster. But I may try to put it into savings instead, because we want to start renovating our bathroom next year (in preparation for selling, but a couple years early so we can also enjoy it for a bit ourselves!).

2 Responses to “Some more future money news”

  1. MonkeyMama Says:
    1380081276

    Wow! Just one more year!!! Big Grin

  2. ThriftoRama Says:
    1380118071

    Good news on the student loans. It feels good, doesn't it? I graduated with $40k in student loans, and decided to pay them off asap by taking on as much freelance work as possible while also working my full-time job. I used all my freelance money, sometimes more than 1k a month, to pay extra on the loan. So glad I did. I couldn't imagine trying to work that much with kids!

    And crazy on the tooth. I've never even heard of the bone graft thing!

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