I took DH to his eye exam this morning and he picked out some glasses (his first ever). They should be ready in about a week. He did of course need the progressive type, which adds to the cost. But, I did great on estimating how much it would cost. I budgeted $300 and with sales tax and adding the clip on sunglasses for $15 we came in at $308 total. Not that he was trying to, but surprisingly he ended up liking the cheapest frames they had the best. This was long overdue so I am glad to have this finally checked off my to-do list.
Yesterday I started working on getting our 2012 medical and dental costs tallied up for tax purposes. I knew premiums were right at $5,000 for the year, but I had "guesstimated" in my head the rest of the out-of-pocket for deductible, prescriptions and dental (DD had wisdom teeth out) to be $4000. It was actually almost $7000! Wow, no wonder I had to use up all our EF and felt like I had no extra money all year. And he still didn't even meet his $3500 deductible - prescription costs were a huge chunk of it. This year, if DH can just stay the course with his current meds and have no additional problems, I am estimating out of pocket (not counting premiums) to be in the neighborhood of $2500. I'd even be happy if this ends up half of the $7,000 it was for 2012.
I don't have all my tax documents yet, but my initial estimate with running the numbers is about a $1000 refund, so that is good news. I'm ready to have a better year financially!
I was also pleasantly surprised when the frames I liked the best were also the cheapest, and only kind in the cheap category. That's awesome on the taxes!
ReplyDeleteWow... medical costs will get you every time! I'm so grateful that we have private insurance that covers a good amount of dental, eyewear, medical, etc... it sure helps! I hope 2013 is a great year for you financially!!
ReplyDeleteI have an eyeglass coverage at work, it's not much, but at this point, I don't care, I will get the ugliest glasses I can if that means free to me! BTW... Wallmart has glasses too!
ReplyDeleteYep - Walmart is where we went! The exam was $85 (an added $20 for an extra eye test, but since he's never had an eye exam that I know of, figured it was worth it), the frames were $28 and the progressive lenses were $89.50 each lens.
DeleteI am actually afraid of our taxes this year!! We are lucky to have really good eye insurance so ours werent that bad this year. But we ran through our Flex account by April this year
ReplyDeleteMy last pair of glasses I bought online at coastal contacts. I got them for free with a coupon code and just paid shipping and for the special coatings. What's funny is I have an expensive pair I paid about $300 for and I get far more compliments on the free pair. Glasses can be so expensive.
ReplyDeleteI was just looking online at this website yesterday. I'm tempted to either order DH a spare pair and try it out or use it when I need to get new glasses.
DeleteYay for a refund! Do you do your own taxes? All those changes every year scare me so yes, I pay an accountant for something I should be doing myself. Dave Ramsey is probably shaking his head at me.
ReplyDeleteYes, as an accountant (though not a tax accountant) I feel comfortable enough to do my own - especially with programs like TurboTax or TaxActonline.com. They make it pretty easy to do your own.
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