This year we doubled our flexible spending account amount. Next year we will drop it back down, but this year we wanted to get a some major dental work done.

My husband had a tooth extraction today and had to visit an oral surgeon. We had to pre-pay $280. The whole procedure is right at $500 and insurance is not expected to pay any of the $300 anesthesia bill. So, in a few weeks it's possible we will be getting the rest of that bill.

Thank goodness for the flexible spending account. It just makes me feel better that at least we have one financial area that we have planned out. Now if we can get the rest of the budget as well thought out we will be in good shape.

Recently I started clipping coupons. I have never really done this because I could never find coupons to products I actually bought anyway. Lately I've been finding a few in the Sunday newspaper. I know I can look for online coupons and will probably branch out once I get used to using coupons.

I've been paying myself the money I save. Hopefully once a month we will be able to take the money and do something fun.

So far, I have saved 90 cents.

But I'm not discouraged. I don't have a lot of coupons. It seems that most of my current coupons are for yogurt or snacks - I only buy so much of both. My biggest problem will be remembering which coupons I have and to use them before they expire. Right now that is my filing system - the ones closest to expiration are at the front of my coupon holder.

It seems our emergency fund never gets to be a nice, padded amount. There is always an emergency that comes up - which makes me think we should be added more categories to our monthly budget.

This week we will have to replace a tire on my husband's Jeep. It has been a money pit since we bought it. It does get us around but it has just had one issue after another. The Jeep is used so you expect some problems but still it is really getting aggravating. The lesson also to learn from this is to never spend money when you feel rushed. We needed a new vehicle really bad and jumped on the first one we found. Never again. I hate that I keep having to pay stupid taxes as Dave Ramsay would call it.

We'll survive but it just seems like we are barely treading water lately. My job at the beginning of the year just wasn't for me. I had to quit or lose my sanity. Now I'm thinking being sane is overrated and should have stayed with the job. Hopefully we can get back in the driver's seat in September. Between my husband's raise and dropping a few bills, we should see a nice increase in our budget. Maybe then we can stop dipping into the emergency fund so much.