A Year of Savings: May 8 - 12

May 8:  A loaf of bread, a jug of wine...  Omar had the right idea and I'm here to wholeheartedly agree.  There's nothing better than a picnic luncheon for two!  We traveled out of town last week and we stopped for two picnic lunches, one on our way and one on our return.  The weather was lovely, sunny and breezy and the company perfection.    Our second picnic required the purchase of a few food items to complete it, since we'd depleted our supplies during our trip down and our stay.  But I think we did very well overall.  Total expenses out of pocket for two lunches and two suppers (we did eat breakfast out) was just $7.  Gracious, we saved a bundle, nearly enough to pay for our night at the hotel!  Total savings $80 for four meals we might have eaten at a restaurant.

May 9:  Perks:   I think it's absolutely wonderful that these days hotels provide a coffee pot and coffee so you can prepare your own right in the room.  What with the continental breakfasts offered you can save a nice amount of money right there in your hotel room.  And what can better than waking to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee?  That part comes under the priceless heading...Total savings: $8 the cost of two cups of coffee and two blueberry muffins from the local coffee shop.

May 10:  Owie.  I came down with a painful malady while we were out of town.  A malady that required a visit to the local ER on Saturday and a follow-up visit to the drug store after.  Fear of medical expenses can leave you reeling.  Fortunately having worked in the hospital environment and a doctor's office I've learned a few tricks.  If you don't have medical insurance tell them so right away.  Many doctors order tests to confirm their diagnosis even though they are pretty sure what is going on with the patient.  Add up the cost of bloodwork and xrays and on site pharmacy supplies and you're adding a whole lot of pretty pennies to an otherwise reasonable bill (about $100 for a straightforward visit).  Typical mark-ups for pharmaceuticals alone are 200-300%.  So a single dose of Tylenol that you might have taken at home is going to cost you more than the large economy sized bottle!

Fortunately I saw a doctor who respected the out of pocket expense to her patient.  She offered me her opinion of my condition and prescribed medications and sent me home.  No labwork fees, no pharmacy charges.  I'm sure that alone reduced my hospital bill by $200.

The follow-up visit at the pharmacy could have been another scenario for a nightmare.  Again the local pharmacist is all too familiar with the high cost of prescription drugs for the uninsured.  She recommended generic medicines and  and saved me another $100.

May 11.  Unsatisfactory Service.  Our satellite is out again.  Remember we just had it repaired Friday was a week ago after a week's outage?  We are not happy.  Granted we've had our system for over ten years.  And we've had no trouble with it whatsoever except the occasional buildup of static in the system, relieved by unplugging for 30 seconds then allowing the system to reboot itself.   However, after losing one week's service and now facing another three days without service, I was a bit upset.  After all we pay a lot of money for our service.  Losing 1/3 of the month due to service problems means I'm paying for service I'm not getting.

When I called to report the outage yesterday, I asked if we could get a discount for the portion of the month we didn't have service.  It never hurts to ask!  I'm so glad I did.  First I was offered three months free of a movie channel package.  I declined.  If we'd wanted that package we'd have ordered it already.  And I'm sure the company is very hopeful that accepting the package you'll find it's something you can't live without after the free period is over.  No, that just wasn't for me.

Then the representative said she could offer me one other alternative: $5 off service for the next three months.  That's a total savings of $15.

May 12:  Send Me No Flowers:  What with shopping earlier than usual (prior to last pay period's end) and being out of town etc, I've not made my usual pay period run to the grocery.  And being under the weather yesterday, I stayed home from church to recuperate.  I had all I need at hand.  But I sure did miss that bi-weekly flower purchase.  Well there's no way I can justify asking my family to buy me flowers during one of the holidays when flower prices soar...but thankfully my own flower border netted me 1 dozen of the prettiest, most fragrant roses to arrange in my old creamers.  And I saved the cost of my usual bi-weekly purchases: $10.