It’s a new year 2018 is gone and 2019 has begun. A lot has happened financially since making my last posting. I may be a bit long-winded in this post, but just because there are a lot of things to cover.

In hopes of become more sociable and making new friends, I joined a local kickball league. It was a lot of fun going to a structured event every weekend and having human interaction in the process. Unfortunately for me, during the second to last game of the season I attempted to catch a fast moving ball and managed to fracture my finger in the process.

Had planned a 2nd date and bought a ticket to see the Michelle Wolf concert at Texas Theatre. The date went really well I thought. I got to meet his sister and her husband they were both super nice people. Long story short, he went silent during my trip to see family in New York and friends in Boston. I messaged him about seeing each other again. Then he said he had met someone else, but did say I was really sweet. I felt like the wind was knocked out of me. However being single for 4 years and having gone on numerous dates I’m kinda used to it.

Saturday night at midnight I made the decision to visit my local emergency room. This was after losing complete mobility in my finger and starting to see it turn black and blue. Typically in these types of situations I would try and wait until I could schedule an appointment with a normal doctor. However the pain just wasn’t going away and I was afraid of any potential long-term damage. Fast forward to earlier this week, I got the bill after insurance. $1,942! For what was essentailly some tape, a $10 splint, and 3 x-rays on a cd-rom. Their website says that they accept insurance at in-network rates.

Being the fiscally responsible individual I am, I began to look at my options. I asked a friend who works in the insurance claim business. He basically said most of these places are a scam, and to see if they will knock a few hundred dollars off the amount. So that’s exactly what I did. The originally knocked $500 off, then I told them $1,000 is what I have in my HSA. The lady on the phone said she had to clear it with her manager. After two rounds of this and me being direct but polite, they agreed to knock $942 off the bill! This helped me avoid having a mini meltdown about neverending bills.

Less recently, I had to put new brakes and rotors on my car. Driving a car I paid $30k for with squealing brakes is kind of embarassing. Not to mention I unsuccessfully tried to get it fixed under warranty twice. First time they said it was normal, even the service advisor’s brand new sports car does it. Second time, they cut all 4 rotors and the problem returned after just several weeks. Altogether I paid about $700. The car also needed an alignment, synthetic oil change, brake fluid change, battery service, to the tune of ~$250.

My auto insurance recently came up for renewal. After using Allstate since 2013 I began to grow tired of increasingly high prices. I have good credit, the car is nearing 3 years old, no speeding tickets or accidents on my record. Why on Earth should the rates continue to be going up? They basically said it was a statewide thing and they have no control over changing the rates.

On the topic of personal health and weight loss I recently found out that I have high blood pressure. During the previous doctor visit I was given a prescription to help me control my appetite (Belviq). It made me a little bit dizzy but overall I did end up dropping about 7 pounds. This was incredibly difficult, combining a vacation, multiple Thanksgiving outings in Dallas, along with some bad emotional eating habits.

I was also given a prescription to help lower my blood pressure. If I wasn’t able to lower it the natural way, I’d be open to taking it over the short term. However I did a fair bit of research, and a lot of people have had major side effects with it. I’m 35, not 65, but even then I don’t think people absolutely have to take these medications. Along with these visits came $150 worth of lab work to make sure my numbers are within normal ranges.

Since hitting my highest weight of my entire life of 256 pounds I decided to make a series of changes that helped me drop to 242 over the course of about 6 weeks. What have I done?
1. Started doing intermittent fasting. This is singlehandedly one of the biggest contributors to losing weight. I try not to eat too late the night before and skip breakfast.
2. Fasted cardio. Speeds up the process of burning fat.
3. Reduction of alcohol consumption. I usually will only have one drink when I go out. Before I was often having two or three. Then eating in excess on top of that.

I’m still very much a work in progress. I’m not a big believer in having new years resolutions. I instead prefer to have regular habits that contribute toward be getting closer to achieving my goal.