I have been putting this off for a few years now but I am finally getting my wisdom teeth extracted. Estimated cost is $1430 and this is supposedly the high end of the worst case scenario. So the good news is that I should not be out more than $1430 for being put to sleep and having the lower wisdom teeth removed.

My Teeth Are Funny

My lower wisdom teeth look a little bit like a cross between the two top pictures below. They are partially erupted and face towards the other teeth, instead of straight up. While I was in college I was advised to have them removed because I have (extraordinarily) large roots and they were going to be pressing against some (unpronounceable) nerve as I got older. I finally decided to remove the pesky things and I am praying for a smooth and speedy recovery.

http://maganle.comMy surgery will be on the last day of school (December 18) so I am only losing one day of vacation time and will have the Christmas holidays to recover. Because my roots are so large and the teeth are sideways (and because I have horrible memories of an extraction in the past) I will be put to sleep for my surgery.

Bring On The Ice Cream

I have already started researching how to recover from oral surgery and I just started stocking up on canned soups, icecream and baby food which are the things people said they were best able to eat in the days following. I will not be able to eat after midnight the day before my surgery…much like the last time I had surgery. I tend to be hypoglycemic so not being able to eat ย in the morning after staying the entire night without food is going to make me very cranky. Plus, I will not be able to eat for a few hours after the surgery either….and then will be limited to liquids and baby food for a few days.

Which Credit Card To Use?

I thought at first about putting the transaction on one of my rewards cards to earn cash back but realized that the 3% cash back card is only on amounts up to $500, which would give me $15. I would not get the entire amount because I have already spent towards that $500 on other items so I would not be getting more than $15 in cash back.
The other rewards card gives 1% on the full amount so I would be getting about $14.30 on that amount, which is close to the other card’s reward. My third option would be to place the amount on a 12 month fixed 0% card and pay for it in full before the time runs out…while earning interest on my money. I am also trying to see if I will be able to claim that expense out of my Flexible Spending account balance for next year and will increase my contributions if I can do so.

I will therefore be putting this amount on the GE Money card which is the card I used to pay for my LASIK. The beauty of this card (which I just finished paying off) is that you can get an interest free period in which to pay off your card.

In this case the dentist said I could get 12 months at 0% interest…which would become retroactively due if I did not pay on time. This means that I need to come up with $119.17 per month to pay the card and I have that already accounted for in my ‘miscellaneous’ section of the budget. I will actually pay $120 per month (split into two biweekly amounts of differing size) so that I have this under control.

The reason I will be paying (about) half the amount biweekly is to account for delays in processing as this will ensure that they always get a payment by the due date every month. This split payment is part of how I pay my credit cards on a regular basis and will be very easy to set up once again in ING.

Of course paying for this surgery is going to give the Emergency Fund a karate chop but I will be rebuilding it as quickly as I can. I will be more judicious in my use of coupons so that I can save money and will use any extra money to put towards getting the EF back on track.

Write For Me Please

I will be having the surgery in a couple of weeks and will be out of commission for a few days I think as I have to recover alone at home. I am looking for guest post or two for the week of December 20th so feel free to send me something so I can get it set up to go out then.