We've had a few exciting financial surprises lately. The last week has been tight financially - I've been spending as much as I can on debt leaving us very little to live off of. It is a challenge to our fiscal discipline but going alright so far. We've been eating a lot of yummy dinners at home to save money eating out.
Here are the surprises:
$100 Energy Star Rebate Check from when we bought our washer/dryer in June.
$71 Delivery Rebate from Sears for the Washer/Dryer. This is a Sears gift card, so we need to spend this wisely at Sears.
I found out that my employer is pushing a big wellness program. There are 5 Pillars of the program:
- Know your numbers
- Be Tobacco-Free
- Eat Healthy
- Get Fit
- Manage Stress
For the 1st and 2nd pillar, they are offering incentives. For know your numbers, if you get your numbers (blood pressure, cholesterol, body weight, and BMI and then enter those into the Health Risk appraisal online, then you get a $25 Healthy Incentive credit towards you monthly medical plan contribution for each employee and eligible spouse!
For being tobacco free, you and your spouse get an additional $25 credit if you can certify that you are tobacco free.
That adds up to $100/month savings on our monthly insurance contribution! That is $1200 saved!
Another exciting benefit at work is a Health Care Reimbursement account (FSA). This kind of account is risky, because if you don't use what you save, you loose it. However, it is tax free savings to be used for any health costs (deductibles, copay, vision, dental, prescriptions, etc.). Since we have a lot of costs coming up for my wife's pregnancy, we decided to try a $1000 for the account. They sent us a preloaded benefits card with $1000 and my check is automatically deducted each time to pay for it. I found out on an online calculator that this will save us about $275/yr in taxes!
Finally, as I was sorting through old paperwork I found a check from Hilary's old employer. It was her last paycheck and for some reason they send a hard copy instead of direct deposit. I had forgotten to cash it and it was for $72!
So, this week God has blessed us with $1728 in additional fund that will trickle in over the next 12 months.
We are praising God and so thankful for His provision; and for this great job and benefits.
Hopefully we can use these "snowflakes", as Dave Ramsey calls them, wisely towards expenses and debt payments.
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