Day 1010 Blooms & Budgets

 

I can tell myself a hundred times that I won't buy annual flowers again this year, but then I walk by a hanging basket—filled to the brim with spectacular pink blooms just waiting to brighten up my space—and I'm hooked! I found this beauty while picking up chicken feed, on sale, as if it were waiting just for me.

I'd already bought a flowering basket for the front door, another for the back, and one for the deck, so this one found a home hanging from a tree near the chicken coop. The vibrant flowers almost fool people into thinking I have a green thumb... almost!

But flowers aside, the big news is that—like a lightbulb going off—I had a sudden realization: my HSA might cover some of my dental work. A quick call to my good friend (who also happens to be my dentist) confirmed it. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me before, but thank goodness it did—just in the nick of time!

Instead of forking over $4,900 on Monday, one swipe of my HSA card and I’ll be paid in full. Phew! Tim has already paid out of pocket for some of his recent dental work, but now that we’re wiser, we can submit those expenses for reimbursement. Between his implant work last month and mine this month, that $10,000 bill would have crushed any plans we had for vacations—or even more hanging baskets!

All those years of contributing to the HSA have finally paid off. I always thought it would come in handy someday... I just didn’t realize "someday" would arrive so soon. Yikes—are we already old people?

Either way, we're feeling a little lighter, a little luckier, and a lot more grateful. Cheers to smart payroll deductions, lightbulb moments and great big toothy million dollar smiles.