Case Closed

Yesterday I met with my insurance adjuster regarding my injury claim from our accident nearly 3 months ago. My chiropractor finally gave me the go ahead to close my claim and I must admit that I'm feeling a lot better since the first time I went to see him regarding the pain from the accident. It took a while, but I think (fingers crossed) I'm back to normal.

I think it might be inappropriate to divulge the exact amount I received as compensation for the car accident, but I will share (if you've not already noticed from the left hand sidebar) that Papa Bear's credit card is now at a zero balance, as is the vacuum cleaner. We also have some excess that we are going to be using for clothing and footwear, as both Papa Bear and I are down to some pretty raggedy things.

We were discussing how I would share this with my dear readers last night, and I was feeling somewhat ashamed that in one fell swoop, 2 of our debts were being paid off...and it wasn't because we worked our fingers to the bone to do so. Papa Bear told me that no, we may not have made payment after payment after payment according to our budget to get those debts paid, but it did take a car accident to do so. Would I have avoided the accident and continued on our debt repayment plan if I could go back and choose? Yes, I think so. Baby Bear was in the car with me, and if the vehicle that hit us had done so even just a few inches farther down the car, it is quite likely that Baby Bear would have been severely injured or worse. The stress I've felt due to agonizing over what ifs has taken it's toll and made me realize even more, how precious life is and how much we take it for granted.

Another reason to be unashamed - we used the compensation to reduce our debt load. We could have taken the check and gone on vacation! Bought a flat screen tv! Tattooed our entire bodies! Paid someone to pick our noses and clean out our belly button lint!

But we didn't.

We deposited the check, went home and I immediately transferred the exact amount owing to Papa Bear's credit card, and this morning I called the vacuum cleaner finance company and arranged to buy out the remainder of our amount owing. The excess that we'll be using for clothing is on it's way to our ING account for safekeeping, until we have the time to go clothes shopping. Essentially, it is as though the money was never in our bank account. That's the way we're treating it - except of course, we are 2 debts less.

This means I had to re write our budget - June's previously allotted debt repayment funds are being diverted to purchase both Papa Bear and I, new spectacles! Both pairs of our glasses (Papa Bear's even more so) have become flimsy and the lenses are scratched and most likely not the proper prescription.

July, August and September's previously alloted debt repayment funds are heading straight towards the debt that Papa Bear owes his boss for the purchase of his Maverick. Now before any of you pipe up about how Papa Bear was supposed to be paying that off with his own money (bonus and fun), I know already. However, Papa Bear has asked if we can do this so that it's no longer hanging over his shoulders. He has also promised that he will pay it back - with his bonus money - which will go straight towards the emergency fund, then the credit line.

I have, as previously mentioned, made the grocery budget a bit higher due to always going over the previous amount. So it is now $250.00 per pay period ($50 more than it was).

Baby Bear's monthly Child Tax Credit will be headed for our ING account to get the emergency fund going, except for October, November and December where it will be used to purchase Christmas gifts.

So, the revised budget still has us starting in earnest on the credit line in January, however this may change depending on Papa Bear's overage on his end of the month paycheck and any bonus he receives. This of course, is impossible to budget for as I never know what it will be. I will, as always, keep you updated, dear readers!

In other news, Papa Bear has gotten me hooked on Lost. Yes, the TV show. We've just finished Season 1 and are going to be working on Season 2 the rest of this week. Keep in mind, I'm not much of a TV watcher. I usually only watch TV while I'm feeding Baby Bear (Food Network), and then of course, there's CSI on Thursdays. That's about it. So being this involved with the TV has made me feel sort of...flabby. I feel incredibly guilty because I haven't been reading my favorite blogs like I usually do, and my stash of pre outlined blog posts is running low. I took last night without TV and got the creative juices flowing again!

As I re read this post I'm realizing that it's quite the epic novel. Thank you for bearing with me to the end of it though, and as always, we'll meet again tomorrow!