Are you ready for a “double dip” savings hack?  This week we are talking about your Health Insurance.  Find out what your max out of pocket expense is.  This is the amount that if something were to happen, let’s think worse case scenario, this is ALL you would have to pay out of pocket in a years time.  For me that number is $6,500 so let’s use that for our example…create a category in your budget for this and save this amount.  If you can at all I would love for you to save this in a year’s time which would be putting $125/wk (if you get paid weekly) into savings under this category.

Thru the year if you incur medical expenses you can use from this “bucket” to pay for it if you need to but be sure and replace what you spend as soon as you can.  The ultimate goal is to be able to pay in full should you have a big medical event where you would be expected to pay your out of pocket limit.  Let’s say this happens so NOW you have the full $6,500 (or whatever YOUR amount is), you don’t have to resort to credit cards or a loan to cover the expense AND you can inquire about a cash discount.  Not all but some places will give you a discount for paying cash and in full…so see what we’ve done?  You have the money set aside should you need it AND you could potentially get a discount for having the money to pay the bill in full.  It’s a WIN-WIN!

Once you get that initial out of pocket amount saved, remember this is usually per person so if there are others in your household that you are responsible for, save up for each person.