Great Birthday!!

New car! New car! New car!  That was one of my presents from the hubby for my birthday (the others were a camera and riding lessons).

The car was really unexpected, but it is the one I have wanted for a few years now - right color, brand new, under warranty, with a rear entertainment system for the kids and built-in computer system that I can talk to in order to change the station, bring up the navigation system, etc.  It will even make phone calls hands-free and read texts that come into my phone when I'm in the car. I definitely got REALLY spoiled this year.

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Cheap Auto Insurance Rates

I received a letter today about saving a few hundred dollars a year on car insurance rates.  With us living check to check right now due to reduced hours the last year, and falling behind, saving a few hundred dollars a year would be nice.

I've not shopped around for automobile insurance rates in years, which is bad when I think about it.  It just becomes so easy to pay that monthly auto insurance bill without thinking too much about it when you've been running after six kids. 

With the economy down the drain right now, it's forcing us to think about how and where to cut back on what we can and save on what is necessary.  Our cars are a necessity for work so car insurance is a must.

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Moms Can't Get Sick

I am so behind with everthing since getting sick this past month.  I have to get caught up on balancing the budget, paying bills, doing paperwork and filing, and so much more.  I forgot that our auto insurance is due tomorrow and I haven't paid that yet either.  Mom gets sick and it all goes to heck, lol. 

I should get another auto insurance quote while I am thinking about it too. We've been with the same auto insurance company for 15-20 years now. I wonder if there are less expensive options out there. I guess I'll just add one more thing to my "to do" list.

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Insurance Changes

With insurance changing with the government, I am wondering what kind of changes we will see through my husband's employer.  I keep looking at insurance advertising wondering how it affects everybody. I don't really understand all of it just yet so it's not clear just how it will affect everybody.  I guess time will tell.

I just hope which doctors I see aren't limited or that it won't cost anymore.  We can't afford higher costs and I can't afford to lose this new doctor who treats my thyroid.  He is awesome and I won't go back to a doctor who doesn't treat my thyroid right.  Now that I know what is right for me and my thyroid, you can bet I will get really, really loud if somebody tries to take that away from me.  I'm good at being loud too (just ask my kids).

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Medical Insurance Audit

My husband's employer is doing an audit on the dependents under the medical insurance plan.  Employers have to prove that the dependents on the plan are actually dependents with birth certificates, tax forms, court orders, and a marriage license.  It's been a little bit of a pain.

We have everybody in the family verified except for my stepkids.  We've given them copies of their birth certificates and a copy of the court order that indicates my husband has to provide medical insurance for them but it's not been approved yet.  The ex has always claimed them on her taxes so they aren't on our 1040 tax form.  That would've approved them immediately if they had. 

If they don't approve it, the stepkids get dropped from the insurance effective January 1, 2010.  That would NOT be cool. I've been calling them every few days to see about them getting approved but I am beginning to wonder if I should be looking at free insurance quotes. If they drop the stepkids, we would have to get the court involved, the ex would start up again (and we prefer the quiet of not having to deal with her), and we'd have medical bills to pay if they backed out of the claims this year so far. They keep telling me it "should" be approved - so why haven't they marked it approved yet? 

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Sister's Car Accident

One of my little sisters was in a car accident last week that involved three cars.  She is okay but her car was badly damaged.  She had a nice car that was paid off but she didn't have full insurance on it - just the basic to drive it on the road.  I bet you that she is wishing that she had shopped around for the cheapest car insurance for full coverage now.

It's a good thing she knows somebody who fixes cars because her friend is going to fix it for about a third of what it would have cost her otherwise.  If he hadn't, the car would have been another pile of steel in a junkyard after parts were leached off of it.

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Eczema Getting Bad Again

Well, the eczema was going away but as the weather goes back to frigid and the air starts to dry out again, the eczema is coming back with a vengeance!  Oh how I itch. 

I'm sitting here trying to get caught up with the paperwork and other necessities and the itching is just outrageous!  How can I concentrate on looking at online life insurance when I can't sit still?

It's been a week since I saw my doctor and he advised me what to do for the eczema.  I need to call the doctor by Monday if it continues to get worse or stays as is.  The doctor thought it'd be better by now.  I hate having this ugly rash on my body.  I guess it could be worse.  It is just a rash but it's an annoying rash.

I just feel gross.  My husband bought this little lacy nightgown for me and who can feel pretty with crud on the skin?

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Back to the Daily Grind

The kids went back to school today after 2-1/2 weeks off.  I really dreaded that alarm this morning.  It was no nice not to have to set it at night...not that I was able to sleep in much but that blaring noise every morning really isn't a nice way to get up.  Why do they make alarms sound so awful?

So it was back to the daily grind for me - scheduling doctor appointments, writing, laundry, getting an auto insurance quote, and now I have to see about refinancing our mortgage for lower interest rates once I get off of here. 

I'd love to hire a maid too while I'm at it.  Boy wouldn't that be nice?  It's a dream...only a dream.  I can't afford a Starbucks, let alone a maid!

I hope y'all had safe and happy holidays! 

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Woo hoo! Found a good Thyroid doctor!

I'm not sure if you know this but I also write a health blog and thyroid blog. If you follow one of them, you know that it's been really hard finding a good doctor who accepts our insurance who believes in looking at natural dessicated thyroid medications over synthetic medications. Most mainstream doctors refuse to even consider anything but what the big pharmaceutical companies tell them to prescribe. It's been really frustrating.

I think I've finally found a good one though. He's about an hour away but the drive is fine (especially if my husband does all the driving) if I can finally get a decent doctor who doesn't want to over medicate and remove organs that don't need to be removed.

I live in an area where the economy is somewhat suppressed but not as bad as many places so we're lucky to have good insurance still. If you're looking for insurance for your family, you should check out Blue Cross North Carolina. I'm just so glad to feel like I may have found a decent doctor who can help manage my thyroid with me. I've been doing it myself since April (since I fired my endocrinologist and family doctor) and I've been doing pretty well with it but a doctor's support would be nice too.

If you have thyroid problems and want to see my blog, comment here and I'll give you the link.

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Take a Hike!

BRRR! Why does it feel SO cold? I usually love Autumn but it seems like it's been colder than usual (shouldn't be a surprise because the summer was definitely cooler than usual too). Winter depresses me so this cold is for the birds! It can take a hike!

We are adding to our vacation wish list. Our destination additions are Salem, Massachusetts and Asheville, North Carolina. Not that we have a vacation planned (who can afford it right now), but it's nice to have something to look forward to anyway.

Hopefully after winter graces us with its presence and then gets the heck out of here, we'll have family visiting again. My sister and sister-in-law plan to travel in their RV so hopefully they make a stop near us on their travels for a visit. Traveling by RV seems like it'd be fun (much better than putting 4 - 6 kids in an automobile and traveling). All we'd have to do is ensure our rv insurance is updated, stock up on food, and hit the road!

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Disability Insurance

It seems like it's difficult for some people to get social security benefits when they need it. I recently took a course in insurance, which included learning about disability insurance. There is a lot more that goes into it than I used to think. It's confusing too.

If you need a little help with this subject yourself, Allsup can help you. Here's some information that may be of interest to you:

• Allsup is a leader in their industry for providing the necessary services for those with disabilities. If you've not had success with getting the services you need, Allsup has a 98% success rate. That's really high!

Check Allsup out. You might just find that they can make the process much faster for you.

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Wondering how to force a company to stand by their warranty

Our roofers never showed up to look at the roof vent that blew off in the storm. The roof is only 14 months old so shingles shouldn't have blown away! I am so mad and already planning a few words with them on Monday like if they don't think they are liable under their workmanship warranty, that I am going to contact at least three local roofing companies for new quotes to fix their shoddy work. I will tell each new company exactly who did the last roof and how they refused to cover the workmanship warranty. We live in a small town. This will ensure that all future residents these three companies give quotes on, will hear the word about this other company who won't stand by their warranty. It won't take long for the word to spread in this area. Hopefully, that will get their shoddy backsides out to my house to fix the damage!

We did try to get insurance to cover it first. We have a local insurance company, though I am considering looking for insurance online to get other quotes. Anyway, our deductible wouldn't cover it and they said the roof vent was higher than all our neighbors which is why it blew off to begin with. So, we are back to the roofers fixing their shoddy work!

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Florida Car Insurance

If you live in Florida and want to compare florida car insurance rates for yourself, Online Auto Insurance will provide you with free quotes so you can find the lowest rates. We haven't had our insurance quoted in years. I should really do this to see if we are paying more than we should be paying. In today's economy, every dollar saved in insurance can help elsewhere in our tight budgets.

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Not Going Into Life Insurance Industry

I've pretty much decided at this point not to sell life insurance from home. It seems like that opportunity with that particular company has gone up in flames. I can still change my mind over the next couple of months. I have that long before my life, accident and health certificates expire and I have to retake the classes again.

With the Internet, things are at people's fingertips anyway. You can find term life insurance online quotes now. I know that whatever I can do on the Internet, I take advantage of too so why wouldn't others. It's just so much more convenient.

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Sell Insurance?

My husband and I are still talking about whether I should go on to get my state license for health, accident, and life insurance. I'm just so undecided. I have about 3-4 more months to decide before my certificates become void. The upside is that I could do it from home. I just don't know.

With the economy the way it is, things like life insurance seems like a luxury rather than a necessity (unlike home insurance would be that all homeowners are required to have with a mortgage) though my possible future boss says it is just the opposite. With things so rough right now, people are planning and buying life insurance now more than ever.

What to do, what to do eh? I'm so indecisive. Must be the Libra in me.

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What's Your Life Worth?

Today I took a big step in changing our life insurance by signing up for a policy through another company rather than the one we've had for the last ten years through our automotive insurer. I haven't canceled our other policy yet but it was a term policy so I do have to look into either converting it or letting it go I believe since it's reached the end of its term.

With the economy so bad and financial worries seemingly hitting almost every home, making sure we would be okay if one or the other of us were to pass on is very important. So, I have made sure that the living spouse and our children would be covered should the unthinkable happen.

Have you thought about life insurance for your family? It doesn't hurt to get a term life insurance quote. I think you would be surprised at how little it costs a month for peace of mind.

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Best Auto Insurance Rates

How often do you get quotes for your insurance needs, to see if what you have is the best coverage at the least possible price for you? I just realized that I haven't looked into quotes from other companies for my auto insurance in a very long time. I would guess it to be over a decade, probably closer to 15 years. That is not a good financial move at all. Is there some "standard" somewhere that says you should get quotes every so many years? If there is, I didn't hear about it (obviously).

When I shop, I always check out all the best prices I can find online for every major purchase I want (you should see me at christmas time comparing prices on every single toy because even though an individual toy isn't that much, the whole of the christmas list does amount to a "major" purchase). How come I never thought to do this with my insurance over the years and instead just got comfortable making that payment to the same company year after year?

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