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New Category for Coupon Envelope


In the past, my husband and I never set aside money specifically for doctor visits. We didn’t see a need, really. When scheduled visits would come up, we’d use overtime pay or trim what we had planned to send to a credit card, or do some other last-minute juggling to come up with funds for the copay and any medicines we’d need.

Things are much different since our daughter was born. I didn’t realize how many routine doctor visits babies have -- 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, etc. Plus, she’s been about five times in addition to the routine visits, two for ear infections, two for follow-ups to make sure the ear infections cleared up, and once more just this week for a severe case of allergies. Not only are we paying doctor bills more often, but we’re also paying more each time we go, because our copay went up this year by $20. OUCH!

This week, when the allergies overtook our little girl and my husband and I debated about how to meet the copay, I realized that I should’ve had a category in my “coupon” file for unplanned doctor visits, holding in reserve enough for our copay and about $30 for medicine. (As I mentioned in a previous post, I have started using a coupon file to parcel out the money for our budget categories: groceries, entertainment, gas, etc.) Then, if and when the next ear infection arrives, we’ll have all we need on hand. After the money’s spent, I’ll just make sure to set aside that amount again out of my next check or two.
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