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It is open enrollment time. My company is switching insurance providers earlier than usual and starting off with a calendar year for benefits (rather than 4/1/13). Our cost is the same for BCBS rather than THP, benefits are comparable, but the company will save a lot of cash. The plain vanilla HMO costs the most, but assuming we would spend the max out of pocket costs above our premium with coinsurance/deductible payments, the $ difference between that and the cheaper PPO/HRA option isn't substantial over a year. I like not having to handle paying bills and not having to track things, and so the tiny increase in cost is worth less hassle to me. I'm sure, that this kind of vanilla HMO option will be a thing of the past at some point, but for now I am enjoying it. We have no need for the PPO freedom, because we stick within our PCP's network.
We signed up for a 529 for Mina a while ago through our brother in law (not the MA fund, but one out of state that has a direct link to Upromise.com). We're putting $50 a month in there - hey it is something (we started with an initial $200 or $400 deposit or something like that - I am forgetting now since it has been a while)! If we receive any funds for her in the form of gifts with that intention, they will be going there. It is a drop in the bucket, but since we have debt to pay down (Brian's truck, a mortgage, and who knows how long my car will work for us . . . hoping to only have 1 car payment at a time but it may not be a reasonable expectation) we gotta self insure first (mostly) and all of that. It is one of Dave Ramsey's main key suggestions and for the most part his philosophy seems like a reasonable one to me.
A while ago I saw this piggy bank http://www.flickr.com/photos/tk7602/8145678565/in/photostream , probably on thesimpledollar.com. I thought it was a great idea as a tool to teach young kids about simple money management, and I saved a pic of it in my Pinterest.com page for future reference (an aside, I am love using Pinterest as a tool for this . . . I saved pics of toy kitchens there too, more on this later). A friend at the dance studio gave Mina $1 the day of the Making Strides walk, and Nana Jan sent her some Halloween $. The $1 went into the "Donate" section (I figured, since it was from Making Strides day, it would be a good way to spend it) and the $ from Nana went into the spending section (she wrote a note that Mommy and Daddy should buy her a treat with it). Brian calls me a huge dork, but I'm excited about her having her first piggy bank. And it is green! For money! We have a couple of ING accounts, one that has been our emergency fund and another teeny one (like $50) that I think I started a long time ago for our eventual to be had kid. For now I'll call that Mina's bank account until we are dealing with more cash flow and need to get her something more local. We love Watertown Savings Bank and down the line could bring her in there to 'see' her money, so we will probably go with them. I remember being so excited to have my own passbook account years ago from Pioneer Financial bank on Moody Street over between Ash and Brown, near the Dunkin Donuts.
It has been a crazy week with the storm and no power and Halloween. My dance teather was not going to be at class yesterday, and though I could have benefited from the review and exercise, I needed some family time to get back to normal - feeling very frazzled this week. We took a drive out to Ikea and bought Mina's toy kitchen! It is a birthday/Xmas present, but since we have made the space for it in our kitchen we have both been excited to get the thing in there. I had bought her a plush small grocery bag with some plush food, and we got some more plush food and some pots and pans at Ikea last night. We also got some Xmas shopping out of the way. Mina was up a bit later, but settled to bed well. Prep for daylight savings maybe? Brian could not resist putting it together and while he did that, I ran around the house trying to get some order: laundry, dishes, daycare prep, general hurricane mess piled up. There is still the top part (a microwave/shelf thing) to be put together and attached, but that will need a teeny bit of cutting down with a table saw to fit in its little cubby space (probably only 1"). Here is the bottom unit http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/8147565552/in/photostream . This is the top thing that will go onto it http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90129800/ . And here is the stuff we bought her to go with it:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70185750/
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00130167/
Here is the first play food toy I bought for her at a cute shop in Melrose Center a couple of weeks ago http://www.amazon.com/Earlyears-Lil-Shopper-Play-Set/dp/B001R5VNYY . I had a meeting at the hospital and needed to get a birthday gift for a friend. This place http://www.beanstalktoyshop.com/ was close by and a lot of fun (as was its neighbor shop, http://www.beansproutgifts.com/ - great clothes and books there). Support your local businesses, yo!
Mina has an Amazon wish list now, mainly for me to keep track of things for her http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&id=60271H6KV2OP&type=wishlist . Can you suggest any must-have kids toys/books that I should add there?
It is such a fun and strange experience sharing things I loved as a child with our daughter. We spent countless hours with our play kitchen (when we outgrew it, we donated to the kindergarden classroom at St. Patrick's School in Watertown). Books were a huge thing for me too. I'm trying to stick with simple, timeless, durable and natural toys that will help her grow her imagination and also her fine motor coordination. And trying to keep a reasonable amount of stuff. I see a future of a lot of recirculating things: one thing in and one goes out (donate or pass on to a friend). Thank goodness we have an attic to put the big awkward things in or the stuff she is yet to grow into (like Tiamatlady's old Nancy Drew collection, OMFG). Which reminds me, there are probably baby things in there she has outgrown that we could find new homes for. It is amazing how quick they cycle through things.
Looking forward to a weekend with being both out and about on Saturday and home on Sunday. Got to get our yard under control then! We finally called the landscaper and it is too late to do work, so we'll clear what we can and next year (around Mother's Day) they will tear out our side yard, level it out, and we'll start from scratch. I want to plant better/taller things near the back of our front yard (I am seeing Azaleas, just like at Gram's house) and we can grow food in the front - only full sun we get with 2 huge trees in our tiny side yard, and a paved/patio back yard). The big question will be seed or sod on the side. Suggestions?
We signed up for a 529 for Mina a while ago through our brother in law (not the MA fund, but one out of state that has a direct link to Upromise.com). We're putting $50 a month in there - hey it is something (we started with an initial $200 or $400 deposit or something like that - I am forgetting now since it has been a while)! If we receive any funds for her in the form of gifts with that intention, they will be going there. It is a drop in the bucket, but since we have debt to pay down (Brian's truck, a mortgage, and who knows how long my car will work for us . . . hoping to only have 1 car payment at a time but it may not be a reasonable expectation) we gotta self insure first (mostly) and all of that. It is one of Dave Ramsey's main key suggestions and for the most part his philosophy seems like a reasonable one to me.
A while ago I saw this piggy bank http://www.flickr.com/photos/tk7602/8145678565/in/photostream , probably on thesimpledollar.com. I thought it was a great idea as a tool to teach young kids about simple money management, and I saved a pic of it in my Pinterest.com page for future reference (an aside, I am love using Pinterest as a tool for this . . . I saved pics of toy kitchens there too, more on this later). A friend at the dance studio gave Mina $1 the day of the Making Strides walk, and Nana Jan sent her some Halloween $. The $1 went into the "Donate" section (I figured, since it was from Making Strides day, it would be a good way to spend it) and the $ from Nana went into the spending section (she wrote a note that Mommy and Daddy should buy her a treat with it). Brian calls me a huge dork, but I'm excited about her having her first piggy bank. And it is green! For money! We have a couple of ING accounts, one that has been our emergency fund and another teeny one (like $50) that I think I started a long time ago for our eventual to be had kid. For now I'll call that Mina's bank account until we are dealing with more cash flow and need to get her something more local. We love Watertown Savings Bank and down the line could bring her in there to 'see' her money, so we will probably go with them. I remember being so excited to have my own passbook account years ago from Pioneer Financial bank on Moody Street over between Ash and Brown, near the Dunkin Donuts.
It has been a crazy week with the storm and no power and Halloween. My dance teather was not going to be at class yesterday, and though I could have benefited from the review and exercise, I needed some family time to get back to normal - feeling very frazzled this week. We took a drive out to Ikea and bought Mina's toy kitchen! It is a birthday/Xmas present, but since we have made the space for it in our kitchen we have both been excited to get the thing in there. I had bought her a plush small grocery bag with some plush food, and we got some more plush food and some pots and pans at Ikea last night. We also got some Xmas shopping out of the way. Mina was up a bit later, but settled to bed well. Prep for daylight savings maybe? Brian could not resist putting it together and while he did that, I ran around the house trying to get some order: laundry, dishes, daycare prep, general hurricane mess piled up. There is still the top part (a microwave/shelf thing) to be put together and attached, but that will need a teeny bit of cutting down with a table saw to fit in its little cubby space (probably only 1"). Here is the bottom unit http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/8147565552/in/photostream . This is the top thing that will go onto it http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90129800/ . And here is the stuff we bought her to go with it:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70185750/
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00130167/
Here is the first play food toy I bought for her at a cute shop in Melrose Center a couple of weeks ago http://www.amazon.com/Earlyears-Lil-Shopper-Play-Set/dp/B001R5VNYY . I had a meeting at the hospital and needed to get a birthday gift for a friend. This place http://www.beanstalktoyshop.com/ was close by and a lot of fun (as was its neighbor shop, http://www.beansproutgifts.com/ - great clothes and books there). Support your local businesses, yo!
Mina has an Amazon wish list now, mainly for me to keep track of things for her http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&id=60271H6KV2OP&type=wishlist . Can you suggest any must-have kids toys/books that I should add there?
It is such a fun and strange experience sharing things I loved as a child with our daughter. We spent countless hours with our play kitchen (when we outgrew it, we donated to the kindergarden classroom at St. Patrick's School in Watertown). Books were a huge thing for me too. I'm trying to stick with simple, timeless, durable and natural toys that will help her grow her imagination and also her fine motor coordination. And trying to keep a reasonable amount of stuff. I see a future of a lot of recirculating things: one thing in and one goes out (donate or pass on to a friend). Thank goodness we have an attic to put the big awkward things in or the stuff she is yet to grow into (like Tiamatlady's old Nancy Drew collection, OMFG). Which reminds me, there are probably baby things in there she has outgrown that we could find new homes for. It is amazing how quick they cycle through things.
Looking forward to a weekend with being both out and about on Saturday and home on Sunday. Got to get our yard under control then! We finally called the landscaper and it is too late to do work, so we'll clear what we can and next year (around Mother's Day) they will tear out our side yard, level it out, and we'll start from scratch. I want to plant better/taller things near the back of our front yard (I am seeing Azaleas, just like at Gram's house) and we can grow food in the front - only full sun we get with 2 huge trees in our tiny side yard, and a paved/patio back yard). The big question will be seed or sod on the side. Suggestions?
