this and that

Another Monday rolls around again and this week I will have a much quieter week at work as its holiday time for the students. For me it will give me a chance to get a lot of paperwork done so it should be a good week.

On the money front –

I have automatic payments set up to pay my rates and its always worked well until now. They have changed the BPay number and so I need to find out where my payments have been going for the last few months! Its $383 that is not showing up as being paid.

I’ve stopped using the credit card for grocery shopping and am starting to transfer some of my regular payments from the credit card over to my everyday account. By the end of they year I want to be not using it all and have a balance of $0.

Right now I’m preparing our paperwork for the accountant. I’m just waiting on my group certificate which I should get this week. I expect a big tax cheque this year which will all go towards debt reduction.

… plodding along!

Dental problems – $465 budget blowout.

On Sunday night one of my back teeth broke. The whole corner came off leaving a big hole – not painful but needing attention. Now I’m not great at going to the dentist (used to get really anxious before I found my current dentist) but I decided to just get it over and done with and had an appointment yesterday. $465 later my tooth is fixed and a few problems have been uncovered.

I’ve been sick on and off over the last 6-8 weeks, getting swollen glands one one side of my neck, headaches, sore throat, nausea. I kept putting it down to having a viral illness. Last week I had to leave work when I got really ill with nausea and migraine. It turns out that the tooth, which has an amalgam filling has been leaking for at least a month or more. Occasionally I had noticed a metallic taste in my mouth a few times, but it went away and I had no tooth symptoms. I’ve been reading up on symptoms of mercury from amalgam fillings and my symptoms certainly fit the bill. I’m really hoping that I start to feel better now that the tooth is fixed.

However there are still a few problems. I have a low grade infection around my wisdom tooth which at age 55 still trie to come through now and again. I have to get x-rays of that and she also found a small cavity on x-ray that needs filling.

I was a bit surprised at all this. Its not even a year since I had my last dental checkup. So I’ve been reading up overnight on a whole lot of ways to improve my teeth and get rid of this mild infection before it becomes a big problem.

I’m going to start with taking some Vitamin C and oil pulling with coconut oil. I’ve ordered some charcoal toothpaste and am looking into some herbal oils that are supposed to help gum disease. 

I have more amalgam fillings and she checked them all for any cracks in the tooth – fortunately at this stage there are none. I do wonder if they contribute to some of my health issues but I don’t plan on removing them unless I have to. But I do plan on upping my mouth care as it really can affect health in general, and health is the most important thing, especially as we get older.

So the budget took a big hit but I’m so glad I didn’t put off going and now I can prevent things getting worse.

Just wondering if anyone has had similar problems and what you’d done about it or have you had amalgam fillings removed?

Budgets, shopping & weekend plans

Well my worry about the budget blowout with DH’s glasses turns out to be unfounded. His workplace is paying for one pair of glasses as they were destroyed at work accidentally – I don’t remember him telling me that but at least now the cost is more than halved so that is a relief.

My first payment came through from my extra work overnight!  That will certainly be a big help this month. I really hope the work continues till the end of the year.

This morning I’m off to Aldi to check out their sale on winter ski gear. I’m hoping I can get some warm winter clothes for our holiday at low cost and they have a sale on this morning on waterproof boots, jackets and fleece lined leggings and tops.  I need boots and a waterproof jacket and I do not want to pay a huge amount.

After that I’m off to Spotlight. I have a $30 voucher that was a gift and two vouchers for $40 off $100 spend. I need some flannelette sheets (own none!) and DH needs a new pillow so will get them at the sale. These vouchers usually come out about twice a year so thats when I stock up if I need linen or sewing things.

I’m looking forward to the Royal Wedding coverage over the weekend. Its lovely to have some good news on the TV for a change and who doesn’t love a wedding!  As well as that I have a list of jobs I need to get done this weekend:

  • continue paper shredding – the end is in sight!
  • make yoghurt
  • make muffins
  • make soup
  • clean the bathroom
  • set up budget in BudgetPulse
These pics are from my walk around work yesterday.