I Worry Sometimes

 Now that I am a single mom, I think about a lot of things that I never had to think about before.  Like what would happen to my kids if I die.  I know they would go to my ex, because he is their father, but I want to be able to leave them something.  Right now, I don't have any type of life insurance.  I know, I know.  I really need to check out a term life insurance calculator and see what my options are.  I know I can't afford to pay too much each month, but I am sure there are policies I can afford.

I also think about what would happen if I get hurt or sick.  Who would take care of me and pay my bills?  I used to be able to depend on my ex for that, but now I only have myself.  I'm sure my mom and dad would do what they could to help me, but I want to be able to do things on my own.  I've kind of become obsessed with that since my husband left.  I don't think anyone thought I would be able to live on my own with my kids without constant help, but I am.  Sure, I have needed a little help now and then, but I am basically doing it on my own, and that, my friends, is an awesome feeling.

Insurance...I Don't Have Any

I don't have any life insurance on myself.  I know I should, especially now that it is just me and the kids.  My only problem is that I am not sure I could afford the monthly payments right now.  Heck, I don't even have any type of health insurance for myself.  I am thankful that the kids qualify for medicaid, because if they didn't, I am not sure what I would do.  Ryan's ADHD medicine alone would break me every month.  I can't even think about shelling out money for any kind of insurance right now, whether it be Burial Insurance or health insurance.

I would like to look into some type of no medical exam life insurance that I could get online or something, as long as it has a very reasonable monthly payment.   I was also thinking about going down and applying for medicaid for myself, since I technically have no income right now.  Well, I have very little income right now.  I don't know a thing about medigap or any of the other supplemental insurances, but I am sure if I had to, I could learn pretty quickly, especially if it gets me in to see a doctor.  Or a dentist.  My wisdom teeth have been giving me a fit for years now, but I haven't been able to afford having them taken out.  It would be nice to be rid of them, though.

For now, I guess I will have to wait and see what is going to happen.  Hopefully, when I start working, I will be able to get some health insurance for myself.

The Future

Do you ever sit and think about your future? 

If you are like me, it's hard to get past just a few days ahead, so thinking about funeral plans never happens.  I know it's a good idea to have your funeral planned out beforehand, if only to make it easier on those you leave behind.  Finding funeral insurance quotes is pretty simple, too.  It is probably a lot easier than trying to get insurance for seniors.  I mean, most insurance plans require a medical exam, and most seniors have a long list of ailments that may prevent them from getting coverage.  Of course, their are ways to get life insurance with no exam. 

For right now, though, I am going to continue living one day at a time, and worry about tomorrow when it gets here. Hopefully, there will be many more tomorrows, and I can worry about funeral expenses when I get a little older.

Migraines

For the past week or so, I have been having the worst headaches.  Night before last I was convinced i had a migraine, complete with nausea and sensitivity to light.  Today, I have a slight pain behind my left eye, which started right after I had to tell Brandi one of her hamsters died and she had a complete meltdown. 

I wish Junior was able to afford the health insurance offered at his job, but it is so expensive.  The kids are covered by medicaid, so even if he just covered the two of us, he wouldn't bring home enough money for us to live on.  How crazy is that?  He used to carry health insurance on all of us when he worked at his last job, but back then I was also working, so my pay covered the cost of the insurance.  With his current job, even if I went back to work, my pay wouldn't be enough to cover the cost.  We need to find some cheap health insurance that we can get independent of his work.  Does such a thing exist? 

I miss being able to go see my regular doctor for things like migraine headaches and the pains my mom thinks is my gallbladder acting up.  Going to the emergency room is such a hassle, so I keep putting it off and dealing with things on my own.  I wonder how long I can keep this up?

Did You Know?

 Did you know that women are better drivers than men?  Did you also know that you can get car insurance for females at a cheaper rate than for men?   Take that, men.  Just another thing us girls are better at than you. 

(I can not speak from experience, since I do not drive, but this is still pretty cool)

The Bug Has Hit Our House

Last week, my mom and sister both got "the bug". It seems this virus is everywhere, knocking people on their butts pretty quickly. They were feeling better over the weekend, so we got together with them on both Saturday and Sunday. I guess they wanted to share with us, because Kasi got it two nights ago, and spent yesterday on the couch with a pretty high fever. Thankfully, she is feeling a little better today, and really wants to go back to school tomorrow. Imagine that, a kid who wants to go to school.

I called my mom this morning, and she said she has it again, only worse. I am sitting here praying that no one else in my house gets it, and my mom is struck with it twice. Not good.

Hopefully, Junior and I won't get it. I don't want him to end up having to be out of work, and I find it hard to run this house when I am sick. Another concern is that we do not have health insurance. The kids are covered by Medicaid, but Junior and I have nothing. If we need to see a doctor, it's a trip to the emergency room that costs way too much money. We have looked into getting insurance, but what they offer through Junior's work is outrageous. Even for just the two of us, it is too expensive. I have heard good things about Blue Cross Blue Shield, and have been on Junior to call them and see how much a policy will be for us. It has been years since we have had insurance, and the older we get, the more I worry about something serious happening to us. Junior doesn't come from a very good gene pool, as both of his parents fought cancer in their fifties. He is almost 44 now, and if the time comes that he has some health issues, I want us to be covered.

Of course, finding the right policy with the right provider is going to take some time, and a lot of research. But, in the end, it will be worth it.

I See The Light!

Financially, we have had a hard few months. The good news is that we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our van will be paid off in the next few months, which will be a huge burden lifted off of our shoulders. Do you guys remember how hard it was to get an auto insurance quote when we first bought it? Thankfully we now have a very reasonable monthly rate, and I am thinking about paying for the entire year when we get our tax refund in February. I think having one less bill to worry about every month would be wonderful.

Tempting Fate

Junior and I do not have life insurance. We looked into it years ago, but we couldn't afford a good policy, and what we could afford wasn't any better than what we both had through our jobs. Now that I am working from home, I no longer have any coverage. Junior has a small policy, I think, but probably nothing that will make any big difference should something happen to him.

I remember in a Dean Koontz book, the main character didn't believe in life insurance. She thought that taking out a policy was tempting fate. Her husband then dies in a car accident, and she finds out that he had taken out a policy behind her back. Is this something I believe? Absolutely not.

Finding the right Life Insurance policy can be daunting. Finding the right policy can be confusing, because there are so many different types. Do I need whole life, or term life, or what is the difference? You would think that at 37 years old I would know this stuff, but I don't. Luckily there are websites out there that can help me make an informed decision. Lifeinsurance.org is one of those sites that can help me decipher the differences in policies, and help me find the one that is right for me. And for us, as a family.

What do you think? Should I tempt fate?

Finding Cheaper Car Insurance

Money. The root of all evil.

Okay, maybe not ALL evil, but it sure is kicking my butt right now. I have been filling out applications online, trying to find somewhere I can work in the evenings, but no one is hiring. It's getting pretty frustrating. Since I can not change the amount of money coming into the household, I am trying to do something about the amount of money we pay in bills every month. Some bills I can not change, like the car payment and rent, although I will be so happy when we are able to move in February. I can, however, try to lower our cable bill and car insurance.

I went online to find some Free Auto Insurance Quotes, thinking I might be able to lower that bill. I didn't hold my breath, though, because we only pay $39 a month right now, and that is the lowest our insurance has ever been. I wasn't sure I would find a company that could beat that price.

I went to PremiumAutoInsurance.net, and entered my zip code so they could find offers in my area. I had two companies show up; Geico and esurance.

I decided to see what Geico had to offer, because I have heard that they are pretty cheap.

Apparently not in my case. The first quote was for $78.99, which is almost $40 more expensive than what I am paying now. I tried building my own policy, but that just came out more expensive than the first quote. I think I am going to stick with my current provider, simply because they are the cheapest.

If you think you are paying too much every month for insurance, checking out sites like this one, where everything is in one place, makes it easier to compare prices. Maybe you can find a better deal.

I wish I did.

New Car Insurance Policy

I have three different blogs that I update frequently, and sometimes I forget which ones I write things on. I am pretty sure I wrote about the great cheap car insurance we finally got for the van, but I don't know if it was on this blog or not. If it was, then I am repeating myself, but I just have to share this.

Remember when we got the van, and we had a hard time finding car insurance, because most agencies were afraid we would live in it? The agency that finally insured us did so at a high rate. We didn't have a choice, so we had to go with them. Well, a couple of weeks ago we paid our monthly premium, and ended up bouncing the check we wrote them. As soon as we realized it, we went down there with cash to make sure we weren't dropped.

We were.

I was thinking, great, now what do we do? This agency was the only one will to insure us months ago, and I wasn't sure we would find another. Turns out we not only found another agency, but we are now paying almost $17 less a month. I guess you could say that bounced check was a blessing in disguise.

Junior Is A Great Driver

We recently switched our car insurance to a different company. We wanted a better deal, and were able to lower our payment by $16 a month. I know we need to take advantage of these lower prices now, because in a couple of years, Ryan will be allowed to drive, and I know our rates will go through the roof. Then a year after that, Kasi will be driving. I am still trying to figure out how this happened; that I have teen aged children. It seems like only yesterday that Junior placed Ryan in my arms for the first time.

We have used several different insurance agencies in the fourteen years we have been together. We like doing the Premium Finance where we can make payments every month, instead of coming up with one lump sum. Junior has never had an accident that was his fault, so our premiums have always been reasonable. In fact, the only accidents he has had involved people hitting him. One time, when we first got together, he was side swiped by a bus. Then after Brandi was born, he was run off the road in a curve by a car on his side of the road. The last accident he had was in a McDonald's parking lot, when a 15 year old pulled out of the drive thru without looking and hit us. None of these accidents raised our premiums, which was luck. Junior also hasn't gotten a ticket since we have been together. He really is a good driver.

Health Insurance Quotes

I am wading through a nightmare right now. When we moved, I went online and changed our address on the medicaid website (our kids are covered by them because we are poor). Apparently, it didn't save, because I never got the paperwork saying they needed to re-certify. Now they are uninsured. That means I have to reapply them for medicaid. I spent today filling out the paperwork, and have it all ready to be submitted as soon as I get Junior's pay stubs together. This still leaves Junior and I uninsured, but I am hoping by the first of the year we can change that. I have to check out some health insurance quotes and find us the best deal possible. I love these sites that give you local quotes in one place, so you save time by not having to call insurance agents independently. I don't think insuring just Junior and i will be too bad.

Or at least that is what I am hoping.

Life Insurance

On of the most important things you can do for your family, as a parent, is to have life insurance. If something were to happen to you, would your spouse or kids be taken care of? I will admit that Junior and I have only the small coverage from a policy he has at work, and nothing on me. I really want to change that, so we have been looking into getting some quotes. LifeDirect allowed me to pull up policies from different companies and compare them on their site, making it so much easier to see who offers the best deal for me. I am hoping in the next few months to increase the policy on Junior, and maybe even take one out on myself. You can never be too prepared.

Cheap Auto Insurance

I have a very bad habit of forgetting to pay our car insurance. It usually takes them sending me the cancellation notice that I remember. I really need to start writing bill dates down on a calender or something. Luckily, I have never let the insurance lapse, so I guess that's a good thing.

The insurance we have now is a little high because we have a van. The agent said it's higher because the insurance companies think that if you have a full size van like ours that you are living in it. In fact, the guy told us not to be surprised if an agent showed up to take pictures of the van.

I'm not sure if we have the cheapest auto insurance available, and I think we need to compare quotes from different companies. This site shows you what other policies cost, and you can compare options and prices, and decide on the one that best meets your needs. With the economy the way it is right now, every dollar counts. If I can power my monthly insurance bill even a couple of dollars, I am going to do it.

I am saving my dollars to take the family camping for a week.

We Need Better Car Insurance

Are you happy with your car insurance? We pay our bill every month, and renew our policy every six months. Junior has never gotten a ticket, and it has been about thirteen years since he has been involved in an accident, which wasn't his fault. Yet every time we renew our policy, our payments change. Sometimes they go up, and sometimes they go down. We need to find a new carrier, but don't have time to call a million places and get Car Insurance Quotes. Luckily CarInsuranceDetails.com does the work for you. You can easily find quotes from insurance agents near you, all from the same site. It's free to get the quotes, and you could end up saving thousands of dollars. We are going to try them the next time renewal time comes around.

Rain Damage

Remember last week when I told you all about the tree that fell in my front yard? That same day, I noticed some leaks in the kitchen ceiling. It was raining pretty bad the whole night before, and when I woke up we had a huge puddle in front of our washing machine. The worst part was that it not only leaked from above, but the water ran down our wall, too. Now the paneling is bucked out, and it has water stains running down it. Luckily, because we rent, we do not have to file it with the homeowners insurance, because that is the rental agency's responsibility. Once they fix it, I think I am going to paint the whole kitchen a cheery color. The rental agency said I need to stick with neutral colors, but we'll see. I could always repaint when we decide to move.

I mentioned that we do not have home insurance. I know we need some renters insurance, and plan on looking into that when we get our tax refund. If you are looking for discount homeowners insurance, check out the link. You may find a better deal than what you have now. You can get a quote online, with no obligation. It just may be less than what you're paying now.

My Worries

A few months ago we moved into an apartment. Actually, it's a duplex. When we moved in there was a young couple living in the other side, but they moved out about a month later. Yesterday we had a man look at the apartment, and this morning the for rent sign was taken down. I guess this means we are going to have a new neighbor. Most people would feel more comfortable having someone next door, but it actually makes me a little uneasy. We don't have homeowners insurance
and if something were to happen, we would lose everything. I worry that they will be smokers, and fall asleep in bed with a lit cigarette. I have gone over our fire escape routes with the kids. We did it the first night we stayed here. I'm just a worrier. I'm sure it will be fine, but it is better to be safe than sorry.