Finances

The financial world is falling apart, and I am going with it. It is disturbing to see how little money is in the bank account, knowing all the things that little bit of money needs to cover. And it is really scary to see that tiny amount, knowing that it wouldn't take much to push us over the edge into disaster.

This year has been rough on us. Our youngest has accumulated a lot of medical expenses, and, unfortunately, so did I. And they aren't through yet. Thank goodness for decent medical insurance, but even so, the copays are overwhelming right now. My daughter has two therapies every week, and they are paid at "specialist" copay amounts. Add to that the other specialists she sees (two of them this week, one again next week) and it gets really scary.

I actually had to sell a bunch of personal items last week to cover a copay when there wasn't enough money in the bank. I probably sold $150 worth of stuff for $36. Big sigh. I suppose we didn't really need those things any more, but if I had had time to sell them in a yard sale, I probably could have earned a little more for them.

It was lovely to see gas prices drop FINALLY, but there wasn't any money to fill up the tank!

Speaking of gas prices, I think they have a lot to do with the state of the economy right now. All they talk about on the news is the sub-prime mortgage crisis, but I think gas has exacerbated (sp?) the whole problem. Maybe now that the prices have come down, maybe things will improve in the economy a little too. Or maybe I'm daydreaming.

My husband was talking about the price of oil versus that price we pay at the pump. He pointed out that when the oil prices were where they were Friday (I found gas at $2.76,) the last time oil was at that price gas cost something like $2.40. It seems to us that the gas companies found they could get away with ripping us off, and decided they liked it. After all, they can't let go of those record-breaking profits!

Ugh. I don't have time to go off on this topic.