Due to circumstances beyond her control, Jane had to quit karate last summer. Next belt, brown. Get a couple levels, then she would have been a black belt. ARGH! We offered to let her take them somewhere else, but she felt too burned by the whole situation so while she can defend herself pretty well, she won't ever be able to say she has a belt anyone can recognize as tough. Oh well.
Now, Jane wants to start up lacrosse. Ok! Great activity. Fun. I'm not much into sports, but it could be great for her. No objections, really. It's not like if we got her into a different karate school it would not have cost us a small fortune every month, but still...
Slap, smack, wallop! First they say you have to register with US Lacrosse in order to register with the Utah Lacrosse Association. $25. Now you must register with ULA to get assigned to a team. $95. (Good thing I started looking early. If I had waited until this month, it would have been $120). I talked to ULA on the phone and they said "Yes, you must pay both fees, but once you do, you're all registered and that's it".
Well, not exactly. She wanted to be on the Brighton team with her friend which is great, but then they say you have to pay $45 to register with them. Next email specifies this is not related to the other two fees.
I bought cheap equipment for $80 after looking for used, online classified, asking friends, etc. Will likely have to replace the stick at some point because I have read a bunch that starter sticks are just that. A decent stick will likely be well over $120. She wanted the cool fang mouth guards. $14. New sneakers $45. An outfit, $10. Now they asking about inform sizes so I hope it's included and I don't have to pay another fee for that.
I didn't think it would be so bad because, you know, tax returns. Then teeth (bad problems, expensive!!) new tires, where else did all the money go? I can't even remember it all, but I know almost all of it was important stuff. Oh, and Scott's eye. His implant slipped. A specialist says "We can't see you until your regular eye Dr sees it. $30 copay. Then to specialist. $30. "Oh, I'm so amazing that even though I am affiliated with a hospital covered by your insurance, I refuse to do it there. We have to do it here." Call insurance. They will cover 60% of what they think the surgery should cost. Call around. And around. Allowable charges are around $1500. This guy's place is over $2000 so insurance will cover only 60% of 1500 and then we have to pay the 40%, PLUS his extra fees. So, it's not about him being so amazing he's arrogant; it's about him screwing people over for MORE MONEY.
So now we have to find ANOTHER guy. Well, this other doctor was considered the best dr. in utah for years and put the implant in when Scott was 22. Let's call his office. "Oh yes. Such and such took over and he can do it." $30 and then he says he can't. This is after each Dr says he can't use the previous dr.s records so he has to run all his own tests - with eye problems, this means a day of migraines automatically, btw. Finally we have an eye surgeon who can do it, but it will be yet another $30 and then we'll have to pay for the surgery (because it's still only 80% covered in a facility approved by the insurance.)
It picks and picks at your funds when you finally have them until there is nothing left. It's getting harder and harder to save money, too, so that we have something set aside in case stuff like this happens. Does making more money really solve anything? I'm sure it seems like it should, but the more money we make, the more things seem to go wrong.
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