November 2011 Updates

I can't believe today is November 1st 2011. I swear it was just July and I was complaining about how hot it was here in Texas. I can't believe I wrote the post below I guess I was just having a bad day but now I feel like I'm back to normal and ready to get back to life.

As some of you know, we did IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) back in July and the bills keep coming in. This morning I sent in two checks for $65 and $170. When I look at our EOB statements it shows this procedure is somewhere over $30,000 dollars and provider still sending claims. Out of pocket, we are over $3,000 which is the reason why I haven't been able to pay down our credit card debt. The focus right now is to get through all the doctor bills and then move on the the credit cards.

Debt- I believe Citi is somewhere around $6,800 and Discover close to $3,800. My goal this month is to bring Citi down to $6,000 and Discover around $3,000. I think I can meet my goals as long as I don't get any more doctor bills in the mail.

November is also the month we have to pay our Homeowners Association fees (HOA). We got the statement in the mail last week and this will set us back $880 dollar this year. Don't ask me what this covers but we live in a gated community with a guard entrance so I'm guessing most of that money goes to pay their salaries. I'm not a big fan of the guard gate, hopefully our next neighborhood won't have this amenity.

Last weekend I ran my first 5K race. I was really nervous and didn't really know what to expect. The race started at 8 AM and I crossed the finish line at 8:41. For some reason we ended up running more than a 5k race. Accoring to GPS, the actual race was 3.82 miles and my actual pace was 10:38 minutes per mile. I placed 64 out of 86 in my age group and I ran the entire thing without any walking. I did not have any actual training for this race and believe me, I am paying for it this week.

Here is a picture of the Start line:

November- Please be a cheap month!

HS