A better way.

I bought my house last May.

That means I'm almost a year into this home ownership thing, where you spend a whole lot of money per month for the luxury of living without shared walls. 

Also, I don't have to hear my upstairs neighbors in their apartment going at it on my lunch break, which I enjoy very much. I like eating sandwiches in peace at noon.

True story. 

While I'm very proud of myself for handling my business on my own, I'm frustrated by several things. 

The way I'm doing things is fine, but I've been wondering recently if there's a better way.

I've been making slow changes, and thinking about more changes.

A change I've been thinking of doing:

• Every month, I argue with the pharmacy I use about the cost of my prescriptions. This takes hours over multiple days, and often leaves me walking out of the pharmacy crying, without medications. 

There has to be a better way to do this. In reading an article online, I came across the fact that a certain big box store in a neighboring town offers discounted medication costs. 

Okay, I thought. I need to check into this.

The antibiotic that I use costs me $85 out of pocket every time I need it. At said big box store, it costs $10. 

The medication that my hometown pharmacy tries to charge me $167 a month for would cost $30 there. 

I haven't switched pharmacies yet. I need to look into and verify prices before I switch. It might involve a doctor's appointment and one medication switch, but I think it would be worth it.

A bonus point would be if the pharmacy would ship me a 3-month supply of the medication and be reliable with their pricing.

I'm all for shopping local, but not if you're being a dick to me on a monthly basis.

I need to research this more, but it seems to be worth it for the peace of mind alone. Plus, time is a really valuable thing. 

• Buying in bulk. 

It costs more money upfront, but it would last longer. This seems to be the way to go. 

• My mouth.

It's stressful knowing that at anytime, anywhere, my mouth can cost me anywhere from $0 to $2,000 at the drop of a hat. 

Also, me breaking off a front tooth is not unheard of, thanks to crunchy things like granola bars.

Shit happens.

(I did buy carrots today, but I cut those fuckers up really, really small. Take that, teeth.)

I'll spare people the horror stories I have, but a minor toothache with me can end up being a root canal. With a doctor's visit in there to get pain medicine, plus a filling, antibiotics, a consultation or two and a fancy pants x-ray, that can easily end up being a $1,500 problem or $1,600 problem, plus travel expenses.

Trust me.

And then there was that time that one root canal ended up being two root canals during the same appointment (I'm a boss like that). 

Sigh.

There has to be a better solution. There has to be a way that I can sleep at night, travel without fear, and eat without anxiety.

My solution: I bought another dental plan that covers major Monica catastrophes at a certain percent, up to a certain amount.

I struggled with this one. Is it worth spending extra on insurance? What if I have a good year, and I don't need any work done?

Yeah, that's not likely to happen.

I made my first payment on that extra dental plan today. I'll sleep a little better tonight, I think. 

• I have a pile of student loans almost paid off. The amount I'll save each month isn't significant for some, but for me, it's groceries for a week or so.

Paying off debt is like giving yourself a raise. 

• Other changes:

I sat down this week and made a budget. I'm not doing bad by any means, but I could be doing a lot better. 

In my first year of home ownership, I've kept my head above water and fixed what needed to be fixed. But mostly, I've just treaded water and not slept well at night, waiting for the next disaster to strike.

Maybe a tooth disaster, maybe a hail storm, maybe a tornado, maybe a car accident that totals my car.

I worry about a lot of things. 

One of my biggest fears in life is being a loser. 

When I run across people I deem a loser, I get scared. Like, really scared, and I start contemplating everything I've done wrong in life and every stupid thing I've ever said, bought, and experienced.

That happened to me this week.

I don't want to end up being a loser in 5, 10, or 20 years. 

I want to always have reliable transportation. 

I want to pay my student loans off.

I want to have enough in savings to go on vacation every once in a while. As in, a real vacation, one with a beach with rum in my hand and a book in the other hand. 

And if I ever do have kids, I want them to have the same things I want for my life. (Having a date first would help, though. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.)

So, there's my life plan summed up in one blog post. 

Here's the tl:dr version: I don't want to be a loser in life and I need to work harder at accomplishing that.