The Many Joys of Insurance

I know that I haven't been very active on the site lately, so I wanted to let you all know what's been going on in the life of The Budget Queen this week. As you all know, Liam was supposed to have surgery last Tuesday. However, when he went in to the doctor on Monday for his pre-surgery exam, he had tonsilitus! So, we decided to try another round of anti-biotics to get him well enough for surgery. Tomorrow he will see the doctor again to try again for surgery on Tuesday. He has been doing much better, but today he started having diahrea. I know, it's crazy, but if we don't do this surgery he won't get better. So, I hope that they will do it this week. We have been hibernating all this week to keep him away from any potention illnesses, so I haven't been out shopping very much. Infact, I JUST got my grocery shopping done today...I normally shop on Thursday. My husband, The Budget King, watched the kids for me today so that I could get a bit of shopping done, so I will let you in on all of the deals I found.

First, here is what I have been fighting all week. We have been having some serious issues with the baby's insurance. As of this moment, I will be paying up to $3,800 for this surgery. 3 months ago we applied for the LA-Chip Affordable Plan for him and he was accepted. Well, because we already had insurance and adding him would be free, I chose not to take the LA-Chip plan. The baby continued to have problems, and with my insurance I was having to pay for everything, so I decided that I did, after all, want the LA-Chip plan. I was still getting the bills in the mail for the LA-Chip policy, so I called them and asked them if I could pay the past due balance and get him back on the plan. They said that I could and that he would be active right away, but he wasn't! Everyone we called gave us a different answer. When it came down to admitting for the surgery, both the doctor and the hospital told me that I would have to pay full price because the LA-Chip plan is still not active. So, for the entire week, I have been calling everyone that I possibly can to try to fix the problem and get the policy active. I have talked to over 20 representatives from the Medicaid office, the Lousiana Office of Group Benefits, the Lafayette Health Unit, Catalyst Rx....you name it, I have tried. Apparently the program is very new and they have never seen a case like mine so they are doing everything that they can to fix it. It has gone from the local, to the regional, and now the state level to get it resolved. So, please pray that the insurance goes through because they will cover 90% off the surgery....tomorrow I have to pay a deposit of $1700 just to check in. IF the LA-Chip kicks in, I will be reimbursed.

As far as shopping goes for this week, I actually ventured off to Super One. Although I normally go to Wal-Mart because they price match, everything I was going to price match was from Super One, so I decided to go there for a change of pace. Turns out they had tons of unadvertised deals, which I posted in the forum. So, I was really glad that I went. I spent more than I normally do this week because of the baby's surgery. I bought everything that I could possibly think of that the baby would be interested in eating, just because I want to be prepared for a loss of appetite. I also stockpiled a few of those unadvertised deals that I couldn't pass up and bought some things in bulk because they were cheaper per ounce.

Today, I went to CVS, Target, and Walgreen's. At CVS my transaction was like this: I bought a box of SoyJoy bars for $6 and got $6 in ECB's. Then I bought 2 boxes of CVS Allergy Relief and used my $6 ECB's from the SoyJoys to pay for them. The difference was about $2. Then I used those ECB's plus 2 $1 off Playschool coupons to buy the Playschool wipes that were on sale. So, my final cost was about $3.50.

At Target, I went on a hunt for the 75% off toy sale. It was a great sale with 3 isles of toys on sale from 30% off to 75% off. I was able to get some great deals on presents for a birthday party and for Christmas next year. There were even baby sets. You just have to check it all out for yourself!

At Walgreen's I ran into the perfect clearance sale. There were shampoos, conditioners, and styling products on sale for $1.09 to $1.59 and I had coupons for almost all of them! I ended up paying $.68 for 4 bottles. I wish I had more coupons! I posted the clearance sale in the forums too.

As for the website, the new site is on the way and is expected to be done at the beginning of March. It will include everything that we already have plus more! I will have a kick-off meeting at the end of this week with Bizzuka and they will show me some preliminary ideas for the site. I can't wait! There are so many things that are happening, I can't wait to tell you all everything! I will be sure to post as new things come up.

I hope that you all have a great week and continue to post on the site while I am out for a day or two after the baby's surgery. If you see anything while you are out and about, please post it! I appreciate all of you so very much!

P.S. I was interviewed and photographed by The Daily Advertiser today, so please be looking for me in the paper!

The Cat's Out of The Bag

This week was the beginning of TheBudgetQueen.com coupon swap. Our first swap was Tuesday, January 6th, 6:30pm at Barnes and Nobles on Johnston St. in Lafayette. There was a fantastic turnout and we had a great time swapping all sorts of money saving tips and tricks in addition to our coupons. I really enjoyed meeting everyone! I got home very late that night!!! At the coupon swap I let the cat out of the bag. Yes, it is true! TheBudgetQueen.com is going to be completely redone by a very dynamic web design company called Bizzuka. (You can check out their portfolio at bizzuka.com) I am so excited and can't wait to see the completed website, which will be launched at the beginning of March '09. The site is going to be totally interactive, I will even be able to teach classes online! Woo Hoo! I am also in the process of taking the site national! So, continue looking forward to some fantastic changes that are in the works for TheBudgetQueen.com.

On another note, my youngest son, who is 15 months old will be having surgery on Tuesday morning. Don't worry, it is a simple out patient procedure. He will have tubes put in his ears. The last couple of months has been a roller coaster of illness that have never completely cleared up, including an ear infection that has been there since before Thanksgiving. He is even sick now, running fever of 104.9. We are hoping that we can get it down low enough to operate on Tuesday. He really needs this surgery to stop the cycle. So, please keep us in your prayers, we can use all we can get this week.

I am still in my shopping funk. I think that it may partially have to do with the fact that my pantry is fully stocked and I really don't need anything. I just haven't been that excited about running out after my deals the last 2 weeks. I did go out to Walgreen's today to get the Bounty paper towel deal, because I needed those. I also went to Super One to get my Electrasol, but they were completely out...bummer. I did cheer up a little when I got to Walgreen's because there was tons of make up on clearance. I got lip glosses, pressed powders, and base for $.75 each. Then, when I walked in to Super One there was a huge crate of Teddy Bear cookies, (like Teddy Grahams) 1lb bag for $.50, so I bought 4 bags. My family will love these. Little hidden deals like this, that are not advertised and I didn't hear about somewhere else, really make me smile. Hee hee.

Someone recently asked me how my diet was going, so I thought I would catch everyone up. I was doing the protein diet which was working fabulously but........let's just say it caused enough stomach problems to make me reconsider. So, I decided to switch to Weight Watchers. Obviously, I cannot afford to pay for a membership, so I went to Walmart and bought a Weight Watchers magazine and used the menu plans inside. I guess if I really would have thought about it I could have gone to the library and just copied the menus. I think I will next time. Anyway, they are really good and they work! Thus far, between the 2 diets, I have lost about 11lbs. I'm hoping that sharing my progress will help motivate me, because I need it! I have become very comfortable with my weight, but I worry about my health as I age, so I would like to get it under control as soon as possible.

Well I hope you all have a great week and I can't wait to see you all at the next coupon swap!

New Years Resolution....or the lack there of

I've been so busy that completely forgot about my New Year's resolution. There is so much going on with the website that that alone is a huge goal for the year. I can't wait for all of the amazing things that are going to happen this year. I can't think of anything that I haven't already committed to. My life is so full of all of the things that I love that I can't imagine adding anything else to it. I don't think I have the energy or the time! I mean, do I have to have a New Year's resolution? I feel like I do things everyday to improve my life, what more can I do? I have a growing and successful business that I love, I stay home with my family, I spend time with my spouse, I go to the gym everyday, I try to be as healthy as possible, I don't smoke or anything like that, I help people, I have tons of friends, and I am very spiritual. What else is there? I wish I had more energy to do it all. Sometimes I feel like I am over stressed and irritated. I guess I need to work on relaxing and being more peaceful. So, if I have to have a resolution I guess it would be to learn to manage stress better. That would probably be the most meaningful thing to me. So there is my New Year's Resolution.

This week was the end of RSV for the baby, so I haven't gotten out of the house much. At the last minute, we ended up having a New Year's Eve party here! Because everyone was still recovering from the craziness of Christmas, no one ever thought about New Years Eve. Around noon everyone started to call asking what our plans were. Because of the baby, we had no plans to leave the house, so everyone decided to come here. It worked out fine because I had plenty of food in the house including frozen gumbo and bread from my new bread maker. I threw together a few snacks and deserts and everyone brought something with them. We had so much food and wine! It was fabulous. I even ran by the Dollar Tree and picked up a couple of last minute party favors and sent the boys out to spend my $25 entertainment budget on fireworks. Together with the neighbor's fireworks we had a full display for the evening. There is always something interesting happening here in the Theriot house!

As far as shopping goes, I was able to get a little shopping in. LOL! I am honestly so tired of shopping and my house is fully stocked! I don't need anything else. My pantry and freezer are full and I have all of the drug store items I could possibly need. Well, except for maybe some baby wipes in about a week or so. Anything else will have to go strait to charity. Now's the time for me to put some of my extra money in savings. I did chase one good deal this week for some Garnier Fructis products. At Walgreen's there were several Garnier Fructis products that were on clearance for $2.19 and there was a $2 off coupon for them in the Easy Saver catalog. So, I paid $.19 for each of them. They were mostly products that I don't use, but I donate to the Faith House every month, so they will appreciate it. I also tried Fred's to find out about the double coupons on Saturdays and found out that they double any coupon up to $.70. I bought about $15 in groceries, just the fresh items that I needed: milk, salad, bananas, oranges, baby food and baby wipes. I used a coupon for the baby food and one for the wipes. That's it for the week! I checked out the CVS sales ad for tomorrow at iheartcvs.com and didn't see anything for me to run out after. The only thing that I saw that I might possibly go for was buy 1 get 1 50% off wipes and paper plates. I can do this and use my $2 off of $10 CVS brand coupon to save even more. I'm ready to take a break from shopping for a while. I guess Christmas got the best of me!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!
Thanks so much for reading my blog. I hope that you are blessed with everything you dream if this year!