Kids of EB

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all this week I just thought minisnick was going downstairs to use the second bathroom since mr snick was in the shower...he has been going down to get clothes out of the dryer to wear instead of folding/putting his clothes away.
I still do that as long as I can get away with it, which is until Mrs. Supe screams at me to get my crap out of the dryer so she can do her laundry :D
 
Minisnick gets to visit the middle school today to check it out. not sure how he will be in 6th grade next yr. time flys
 
We registered for HS last week. EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK.
Same here. I'm having trouble seeing my 13 y/o being ready for high school. (She applied for the Computer Science program. Hoping she gets in.)
 
Took minisnick for a braces consult. Not nearly as bad as the horror stories I had been hearing. He will need them for 24 months, overcrowding on the top and then bands to fix the overbite. The place was listed in-network with the dental insurance for a 24 month treatment they will pay $2000 and the dentist gave us an additional $550 insurance discount. So out of pocket our cost is about $3,100, which will include a retainer at then end of the 2 yrs.

Just trying to decide if I want to mess with the medical spending account each year or just pay. We had been saving for a much larger amount given the amounts I have been hearing from other parents.
 
We need to get Junior in for hers sooner than later so she can be out of them before end of high school. She had bad crowding and has one "fang" up high that grew in front of a baby tooth just like I did as a kid.
 
they will pay $2000 and the dentist gave us an additional $550 insurance discount. So out of pocket our cost is about $3,100, which will include a retainer at then end of the 2 yrs.

Just trying to decide if I want to mess with the medical spending account each year or just pay. We had been saving for a much larger amount given the amounts I have been hearing from other parents.
That sounds about standard nowadays. Used to be my dental insurance put a cap of $2,600 on our out-of-pocket if the ortho was in-network. Now it's similar to yours...pay a chunk and ~$3k out-of-pocket.

We've got two down and one left to do. First two I used my flex spending. With the last one, I'm trying to decide if we can/should change to the high option dental insurance. Premium is higher but the out-of-pocket would be lower. You come out ahead by a bit, but I would need to make sure you can change for one year just to get the better ortho coverage.
 
a coworker is paying about $6,300 out of pocket for 24 month treatment since the dentist isn't in-network. He initially got 2 quotes...~$10K and ~$7K, they went with the $7K dentist.

There is only 1 in-network ortho is the area around work ( I checked as an option for us), hence he went looking elsewhere too.

We have to drive ~35-45 minutes (depending on if we hit green lights or red lights once off the interstate) to the next largest city (college town), but will pay much less.
 
We lucked out with ours. The network is pretty sizeable and there was one who was only about 15 minutes away. There are a few who are closer, but one thing I liked about ours is that he doesn't rush anything. 3 of 3 actually had an appointment a couple weeks ago. He definitely needs them, but ortho said there he doesn't need them yet cause he's still too young. Definitely needs them, but he doesn't want to fix him and then have to do it again when he gets older. He did that with kid 1 also.
 
minisnick is 12, has lost all this baby teeth, and the 12 yr molars are in. People around here have the baby teeth pulled to get braces on 8/9 yr olds. Way too early if you ask me.
 
Just trying to decide if I want to mess with the medical spending account each year or just pay. We had been saving for a much larger amount given the amounts I have been hearing from other parents.

Since medical spending accounts let you pay pre-tax, if you're in the 22% tax bracket you save that plus your state taxes right off the top. People sometimes don't like to use these accounts because they don't like "losing" the leftover money if they don't plan it out right, but as long as you spend at least as much as you would've received after tax you're still coming out ahead (e.g. if you're in the 22% federal bracket and state taxes of 5%, as long as you spend 73% of the money you're still making savings). For a pre-planned expense like braces it seems like almost a no-brainer, except that these plans sometimes can be a hassle to get your money out of (I went round and round with mine once with a dentist bill until someone suggested I send in an EOB which worked like a charm). But for $810 in savings (27% of $3,000) I'd be willing to do the legwork.
 
My wife and I are hitting the point where we have 2 extracurricular activities at the same time: 8 year old playing soccer/choir/battle of the books at one location and a 5 year old playing soccer on the other side of town.

I don't want to get the 8 year old a phone, but we need (because my wife told me this) to get her some way of communicating that practice ended early or whatever else happens. We currently use Verizon. We are looking at watches and phones, does anyone have any advice/experience.


FWIW, I think a $20 tracfone with a 1 year card (400 minutes) for $100 is the right decision.
 
Mr snick is looking at something for minisnick. He found a text/call only (no data) company that uses verizon network for like $8 a month. We just need to get a sim card for an old phone minisnick currently uses like a tablet.
 
I hear you on the dual activities. That is always fun. We have been Minisnick game out of town with snickette games in town. But this year baseball both are traveling to other towns so we will be doing much more divide and conquer.

mr snick wants to get minisnick a phone in case track practice afterschool changes. It isn't a huge deal this year because daycare is literally a block away from the middle school. next yr when he has to take the bus to/from school is when it will become more of a concern. But there is always the daycare that block away. They aren't going to turn him away even though he aged out.
 
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