was a very expensive July

Really sorry to hear about the run of bad luck. I've had months like that too years ago. You just have to ride it out sometimes. It does turn around eventually.

If your child has health insurance, and you used providers on the child's health insurance plan, there's a good chance the insurance company will knock the bill down. If you don't get a break, as soon as you can, go visit the hospital and doctor's billing office and try for a reduction. No guarantees, but many providers will work with patients who ask. Don't wait to ask though; go as soon as you can.

My daughter tried the check-around thing with auto insurance premiums after her next six-month bill was going to jump by some crazy amount. It didn't help. The competitors were going up too. There were a couple of quotes cheaper but less than $100, not enough to make up for multi-line discounts that would be lost. She hadn't done anything to make the rates go up; it seemed to be a zip-code-related issue as one company told her there'd been a surge of claims for claims in her zip code. It doesn't hurt to ask around, but it doesn't always help either.

Much of the cost for auto insurance is not necessarily just to repair your vehicle if it is damaged or totaled in an accident, but to cover the cost of property damage, theft, uninsured motorists, personal injury or death. In other words, a $100 junker car can cause a tremendous amount of damage (e.g. property, serious injuries and death). For example, the driver of an old junker car has a tire blowout that causes it to crash into a charter bus full of college athletes and coaches and the bus flips out-of-control causing it to careen through a parking lot full of vehicles and into a roadside restaurant full of customers during lunchtime - causing not only tremendous property damage, but causing multiple deaths and critically injuring numerous people. With such a serious accident you had better have the appropriate amount of insurance coverage, plus an umbrella policy! And, a good attorney!

Your best bet with insurance is seek auto and homeowners insurance from an insurance agent you know, or one that lives nearby you. The reason why this is helpful is because you will not be just an account number, but instead a friend or neighbor with a face. You can also drop by the agent's office to discuss policy information and changes in premium charges. Lastly, a local insurance agent that knows you (even as a neighbor or a new client) will almost certainly go out of his/her way to make sure you are treated fairly when it comes to policy premiums or claims. That's not the case when your insurance 'representative' is just a phone number with no name in some distant state somewhere. I've seen firsthand where a local agent and adjuster recommended that $30k worth of hardwood and tile flooring repairs be made in a home due to a burst washing machine hose when $10k or less would have been provided by XYZ Insurance Company.

One of the last things you want to do is obtain insurance from a company where you are just an account number that has a history of low-balling the premium to get your business and then increase the premium little-by-little over time. This is what Geico Insurance (and many others) is known to do...and then when you drop them to go with another insurance company they'll beg you to come back, and they have the audacity to lower the premium sometimes by as much as 50% from what you were paying them to get you back.

How much did that car cost new? 12 years and still a $ 8,000.00 wholesale value?

In July, I had to have the emergency brake cables replaced after having a brake job done. That was close to $1000.00. Then, there was a mixup with plots in the cemetery where we had plots. Turns out, my father had given plots away and I didn’t know about it. So, we had to buy new plots and have our headstone moved. Another $2000.00. Then, the fuel pump on my truck started leaking. I just got a call on the price of that this morning; another $900.00. Plus house and car insurance; $1600.00. I keep this up and I’ll be further in debt than when I started.

You actually made me go and check my numbers--$8k was a number I saw on the carfax app on my phone when I last looked (months ago). I went to kbb.com and it says avg is $7,300, up to $8,220. Trade-in which I equate to wholesale. It listed for almost $47k in 12/06 but I managed to get $1700 off. some were paying list back then and above because this was a car that was not in stock, it had to be ordered nationwide.

For the heck of it, I priced the most expensive Honda Accord same year and mileage(which I assume to have excellent resale), and it would come in at $4,100.

Hey, now that I had kbb.com up, I decided to check our 2006, and it came back $8,600! These cars play leapfrog. I thought the 2007 had a higher value. But at least these two old cars are back to the $300's for full coverage (not enough guts to drop collision but I would always keep comp no matter what) per 6 mos.

I totally can relate. I have accepted in my mind that the central AC will cost $5k, but I am not wanting to look into it this year. I tell myself the previous owners installed a new HVAC (gas furnace and central AC) 3 years prior to when I bought the house, so I enjoyed the system for 17 years. I also say what if it's not $5k and it's $7k? Or what if it's $4k? Any way it's sliced it's a lot of money.

I ran and got 2 portable units since the heat wave was going on (felt like triple digits since the dew points were in the 70's). Those units can barely keep up and now our energy bill is jacked--about $40 more per month and it's not even comfortable! Those things consume so much energy!! (portable floor units).

Sometimes we just have to play that Alanis Morissette song...."Isn't it Ironic?"

I have always feared this. Hope the best for you. Although I have emergency saving (9 months of income) I hope a long streak of bad luck does not consume all that.

When life throws you lemons, you just gotta make lemonade and enjoy it till it turns around, and it will.

for the truth! Let's feel fortunate that these are problems that we must face, and that we "can" deal with. Maybe not this instant, but over time. Like I mentioned, out of nowhere we are saving $892/yr. on insurance, also unplanned. Again, we should feel fortunate we have problems to be solved, and in the grand scheme, they are big today, but not in the grand scheme. Just odd for my family it all happened in July lol

That's the reason we better to rent the car than buying the car. It's super cheap to pay every month with very low interest. Plus,
at current situation, electric or gas still be have a lot of question. Good luck!!!

Today there is a compelling argument to rent, not buy, a home. Other than having expensive homes, today, folks with an ordinary mortgage no longer deduct the interest, meaning they no longer itemize. so those renting apartments are also getting the same standard deduction. I wonder if this has forced rent prices up? but I know at least 3 friends who sold their houses and now rent.

With the car, maybe. There is a notion with millenials they don't want to pay for something they are not using. A car sits 10-12 hours per day doing nothing at work. But we're old school--I have a garage queen that drives 1600 miles per year lol

Last year when I passed a kidney stone, my first thought wasn't "I'm glad that's out of me", but rather "I just saved a $4400 deductible". It's sad when this is how we end up thinking about things...

the streak going! Wife's ABS and water pump busted.

I just fixed the ABS Saturday, then the water pump goes. Ah....we have to go to a wedding in Brooklyn this weekend, so I am planning on changing it on Monday. $800 at the dealer no can do. Honestly? Thank goodness for YouTube so we know what lies ahead!