Its only money - Best laid budget plans and all that

First I want to say how grateful I am that we have good health insurance and the money to pay for medical/dental care and surprise expenses. I just don't like financial surprises when I am feeling so good about the year's planned budget. But then I want you to please indulge me in a whine! I'll be better afterwards - I promise.

It really is not budget friendly to have part of a tooth break off especially when you aren't chewing on anything hard. I need a crown although it is not urgent as there is no pain thankfully. Having braces complicates the whole thing and I'll see how the dentist and orthodontist decide to proceed. I made it clear I want at least a temporary crown before we fly off on May 2nd to attend our son's wedding! A dental emergency during the wedding celebrations would not be fun.

Speaking of weddings, it turns out the hotel will not honor the wedding group rate for the last night we need to stay. We really don't want to get back to the East coast really late at night so unless our son can convince them to make a change to the contract that final night will be more expensive. 

Moving on it is now clear why I can't see very well when driving at night, on overcast days, or very sunny/glaring days. I saw an opthamologist yesterday and I am now scheduled for cataract surgery. One eye in May and the other in June.

Then there is the budget buster that has me totally baffled. Our Federal taxes for 2012 are almost identical to what we owed for 2011 although our taxable income is quite a bit lower. Truly don't understand that one! Even though I thought I was paying enough in estimated taxes on top of withholding from our paychecks yet we still owe a significant amount and possibly a small penalty. We will also need to make larger estimated tax payments this year to avoid this problem next year. At least the usual occurred with our state taxes. The withholding is always slightly more than what we owe and we get a few hundred back each year. After thinking about this one I am going to invest in tax software and see if the results are the same.

The final unexpected expense is that we have what we hope is a chipmunk and not something worse that has figured out how to get into our basement by expanding the hole where the air conditioner unit hoses enter the space. Hubby has tried everything he can think of to close the hole and make it rodent proof but no luck. We've decided we have to hire the critter removers who squirrel proofed our attic a few years ago.

All I can say is onward into the rest of 2013 with fingers crossed. We are fortunate that we can afford all of this but at 60 and 63 we are really trying to add as much as possible to our savings. My Mom is 91 and going strong while my FIL will be 86 this month. We need to plan on funding long lives which is a good thing!