06-07-2022, 04:13 AM
We are doing all right tax wise on our house so far. We are locked in at a rate that does not increase very fast, the taxable value is a lot less than the assessed value, actually half the price, because it rises at a maximum rate till you build something new or sell the house...then it jumps up to the assessed value. I cannot even put in a sidewalk or an outside sauna. I cannot hook up natural gas...that is an improvement that increases the value and unlocks the ability to keep it at the reduced increase every year. So our taxes would go up about twelve hundred bucks a year to save maybe five hundred in heating costs a year. I am a builder and will build my sauna on the old equipment trailer I own that has lifetime plates on it this coming year.
We owe nothing on our house, and we are not going to borrow anything. We live within our means, we have a budget and we do pretty well following it, but have not saved anything the last two years. We have changed our diet to a much better diet, I take no meds, the wife takes only a water pill and a very small zoloft, which I do not think she even needs since she retired eight years ago. She is seventy, and relatively healthy, I am sixty six and other than my epilepsy, I am doing all right. I know enough about metabolism and food chemistry and meds to correct problems we have naturally. It seems to be working pretty good so far...but I have no control to know how I would be with the changes, I know my health has got much better over the last three or four years instead of getting worse like it does for most seniors.
So I don't expect we will have too many medical bills that are unnecessary, I won't go for a test that medicare does not approve because our health insurance does not cover anything that is not medicare approved...we have a part D plan with dental and eyeglasses, but even the deductables suck. My wife pays for all the meds, I guess we have a five hundred dollar a year deductible...they cost way less than that. We do not have much of a payment on the copay for the insurance through her work, so I do not feel obligated to use it. I will also no longer have one of those free once a year health appointments...they wind up costing a lot since they always find a test you need that is not covered, which always comes out normal in our case.
We also could drop our house insurance if needed, because we don't have a loan, and just get a liability policy. Our car does have a loan on it, it is a 2020 and we owe around ninety five hundred on it, we may pay it up this year if there are no big expenses, that way we can take the full coverage off if we need to reduce expenses.
Some people are in a hard place, like my two daughters, they owe a lot on their houses, we cannot help them out very long if they have a health problem, We are not going to give them all our savings, both of them waste lots of money and could have paid things down more. My youngest daughter could pay off their loan in two years...her taxes are high, but she cannot do anything about that. The cities water and sewer rates are outrageous, the water is not even drinkable, most people have to buy bottled water. My daughters water and sewer bills run close to a hundred sixty bucks...we pay a hundred ninety bucks every five years to pump the septic, and our well is thirty two years old...if we need a pump it may cost maybe a grand and a half to put in a new big high volume similar pump and new control and tank...that will last another twenty five years for sure. I am friends with the well driller, I should get it done before he dies or retires and sells his company. Power to pump the water costs about six bucks a month.
A real lot of people are not in the same shape we are financially, they could lose everything in six months to a year.
We owe nothing on our house, and we are not going to borrow anything. We live within our means, we have a budget and we do pretty well following it, but have not saved anything the last two years. We have changed our diet to a much better diet, I take no meds, the wife takes only a water pill and a very small zoloft, which I do not think she even needs since she retired eight years ago. She is seventy, and relatively healthy, I am sixty six and other than my epilepsy, I am doing all right. I know enough about metabolism and food chemistry and meds to correct problems we have naturally. It seems to be working pretty good so far...but I have no control to know how I would be with the changes, I know my health has got much better over the last three or four years instead of getting worse like it does for most seniors.
So I don't expect we will have too many medical bills that are unnecessary, I won't go for a test that medicare does not approve because our health insurance does not cover anything that is not medicare approved...we have a part D plan with dental and eyeglasses, but even the deductables suck. My wife pays for all the meds, I guess we have a five hundred dollar a year deductible...they cost way less than that. We do not have much of a payment on the copay for the insurance through her work, so I do not feel obligated to use it. I will also no longer have one of those free once a year health appointments...they wind up costing a lot since they always find a test you need that is not covered, which always comes out normal in our case.
We also could drop our house insurance if needed, because we don't have a loan, and just get a liability policy. Our car does have a loan on it, it is a 2020 and we owe around ninety five hundred on it, we may pay it up this year if there are no big expenses, that way we can take the full coverage off if we need to reduce expenses.
Some people are in a hard place, like my two daughters, they owe a lot on their houses, we cannot help them out very long if they have a health problem, We are not going to give them all our savings, both of them waste lots of money and could have paid things down more. My youngest daughter could pay off their loan in two years...her taxes are high, but she cannot do anything about that. The cities water and sewer rates are outrageous, the water is not even drinkable, most people have to buy bottled water. My daughters water and sewer bills run close to a hundred sixty bucks...we pay a hundred ninety bucks every five years to pump the septic, and our well is thirty two years old...if we need a pump it may cost maybe a grand and a half to put in a new big high volume similar pump and new control and tank...that will last another twenty five years for sure. I am friends with the well driller, I should get it done before he dies or retires and sells his company. Power to pump the water costs about six bucks a month.
A real lot of people are not in the same shape we are financially, they could lose everything in six months to a year.