Here's how that Obama thing is working out for us

Well, I told you all about how the President responded to my letter a while back. All smoke and mirrors, but nothing real.

At the time, I was upset that with all this great economic stuff happening, our family qualifies for nothing. And, as I pointed out in my letter, it was on the backs of hard-working Americans like my hubby and I that our economy would recover. Well, I now have proof.

First up: Obamacare. Our deductibles have now DOUBLED. For those who don't know what that means, I'll tell you. The amount we have to spend out of pocket before the insurance will cover anything is now twice what it was last year. For our family, this meant we had to spend $2500. I realize that some families pay more. But for us, that's a lot.

Then, because our insurance plan is a small self-funded program, they also increased our co-percentage from 20% to 30%. So... we now pay 10% more for our health care.

But oh, no, it does not stop there. Because they also no longer cover dental expenses, other than... wait for it... one cleaning a year. And that isn't even fully covered, as attested to by the $40 bill I just paid my dentist for said one cleaning a year. Which means, the $1100 of dental work hubby needs will be completely out of pocket.

And no, I am not done yet. Additionally, our family's prescription out of pocket expenses have also increased. We've gone from a $5 copay to a $10 copay, PLUS many drugs are no longer covered.

My estimate, based on what we've spent in the first quarter of this year, is that our family's medical expenses will INCREASE by at least $5000.


Moving on to TAXES.

I just finished our taxes. I won't tell you exactly what we make, but we are, by Obama's definition, middle class Americans.

Our actual income went down by $5000. Our taxable income went down by $4200. BUT... our total tax went UP by $1.

And okay, it's only $1. But did ya get the point about our income going DOWN? Yet we get the privilege of paying more taxes.

I dunno... I realize it's simple math. But so far, actual cash down the drain, we're out $10,000. Now maybe that's not a lot of money to some people, but for us, that's a lot of money.

Yes, the economy is bad, and I'm willing to own that it's not all Obama's fault. But I look at his healthcare reform, and all the promises he made with that, and you know... I'm glad that for some people, their costs got to go down, and others may even get coverage. But I'm the one paying for it. Some people are getting more tax breaks, and I say, great! Except I'm the one paying for it. I'm still paying a higher interest rate on my mortgage and can't refinance, because guess what? We are now officially underwater on our mortgage. But hey, we still have the money to pay it, so it's all good right?

I know Obama says that he's running again, and yippee for him. I just pray that either a.) he will stop playing these smoke games and deal honestly with us, or b.) we'll actually get someone in office who will. See, I don't mind giving money to help others. I really don't. But I do mind being promised better and getting worse.

The nitty gritty of planning your dream

In my last post, I talked about making plans for the dream. Today, because I'm definitely in Type-A mode, I'm actually working on those plans. I thought it would be helpful for others to see my process. And, if you have anything to contribute, I'd love to hear it.

At this point, the house plan is going to mean making a list of what we need to do to the house to sell it, figure out how much it will cost, and how long it will take, and plan accordingly. Which sounds daunting, and for us, lots of steps, so I'm going to break down a different goal.

Another goal I have is that I'd like to take a nice family vacation. Which is easier to plan. So for illustration's sake, here's what I'm going to do:
1. Decide where to go. (I'd like to do a family cruise, but have to discuss with hubby.)
2. Find out how much it will cost. The one I priced that sounds fun is $2500, plus I estimate about $800 for airfare. Add in some spending money at about $500, and just to make it a round number, I'll call it $4000.
3. Now I've got to figure out how to get $4000. If I save $100/month, we can do the trip in 40 months, just over 3 years.

Time to start saving!!

What about you? Do you have a goal that you can break down to make a reality? What's your plan of attack?

Being satisfied

I recently had the opportunity to reconnect with a friend I hadn't seen in a few years and meet her husband. She kept going on and on about her new home and how wonderful it was. I was excited for her, to see that after years of struggle, she was finally living her dream. I couldn't wait to see this amazing home that she couldn't stop talking about. She drove me through some beautiful country, past enormous beautiful homes, then turned down a little lane into...

A trailer park.

We pulled up in front of an old dilapidated trailer. When I described it to a friend, she made the comment to the extent of, "so basically we're talking aqua appliances and pink toilets." Um, no. Think older.

Her amazing house is a single wide trailer, two bedrooms, one bathroom, and you can see a lot of places where frankly, it's falling apart. She escorted me into the living room, cleared off some papers from a chair that she proudly told me they pulled out of a dumpster, and they invited me to sit. After all, it was the best seat in the house.

I'll be honest. At first, I was a bit disgusted. The place was rundown and dirty. She made a comment about how I don't keep a very clean house, so she didn't think I'd mind that she hadn't picked things up, but let me just say that I have never allowed my home to get that dirty. When I left, I was picking dirt and fuzz and hair off my clothes and I honestly have no idea where it came from.

But what do you say? She was so happy, so proud, and it hit me. I'm a big meanie. Who am I to judge how she lives? It may not be the home I'd want for myself, but she loves it. Later, we were talking and her husband made the comment that someday they'd like a real house with a real yard. But for now, they own this house. It's completely paid off. They pay utilities, HOA for the trailer park, and get this... $50 a year in property taxes. As he put it, they have everything they need. Why, then, would they go into debt for something else?

I left their home feeling almost envious. They didn't need a big house, nice things, or any of the other "stuff" society tells us is important. They were happy enough without. With the current financial crisis, I can't help but think that this couple is the wisest couple I know. They haven't bought into the lie of bigger being better. They haven't bought into the lie of buy now, pay later. They accept what they have with utter gratitude.

Last night, I chatted with a friend who shared her thoughts on the financial crisis. She and I prepare taxes for folks who live in McMansions, making less money than we do. I've griped in past blogs about people who make less money than we do, who drive fancy cars, wear nice clothes, and have all this "stuff". They also have a lot more debt. As I told my friend, I'm actually surprised the crisis didn't happen sooner, and that it's not a lot worse. But maybe we haven't seen the worst yet.

I know, pessimistic thinking. But honestly, what did we expect? At some point, the buy now, pay later philosophy demands to get paid.

My friend Kay has a great post talking about how we got into this mess. She also links to a great article. So check it out.

I've had to take a long, hard look lately at what it means to be satisfied. We just bought a bigger house last summer (for the record, our mortgage is almost the same as it was with the old house... that was intentional). But honestly, as much as I gripe about not having enough space, we do not need five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Really, given that much of the world lives with barely a roof over their head, I could probably make do with a lot less.

The reality is, we've replaced God with stuff. And because stuff is not God, we're never going to be satisfied as long as our goals and dreams revolve around stuff. As much I think some sort of bailout needs to happen for the sake of the country, we need to get real and realize that the only thing that's going to save us is to jump off this roller coaster and stop spending money we don't have on stuff we don't need.