**Our home insurance premium went down 15%. It's back to where it was in 2006.

I didn't notice at first. When I got it I thought, "Hmmm, it didn't go up!" But then I looked in Quicken and saw it was significantly lower than last year. So I looked at the last few years to see the last time it was this low.

Between that and getting a surprise of being grandfathered into some old flood insurance premium, I saved about $1200 in insurance this year that I certainly was not expecting! Woohoo.

**I just have to get through this month with no giant surprise bills. Since everything we charge in December is paid in January, I can push off any December surprises to next year!

**All in all, the numbers look pretty good for 2010. Especially considering the expensive year we have had. I felt like my financial luck had turned a corner, about a month ago. With all this medical hoo ha, not sure I still feel that way. But the home insurance bill is a step in the right direction (surprise good news versus surprise big bills).

**A few people have told me I should have surgery this year because of the deductible. Honestly, not sure it really matters. (& it doesn't seem to be moving along quite that speedily. In fact, I may have a heart attack if I have to have surgery end of December - busiest time at work. They will give the time if I need it, but I think my stress level will be better come January. Early December is fine, but probably not in the cards).

For now, depends on what they do to our plan. If it stays put with the $3k deductible, I already have a good idea that we are using the deductible for dh's MRIs next year. Plus, it gives us another year to seriously consider radiation for dh, without freaking out about the cost. For this year, we still have out-of-pockets to run through, and I get the feeling surgery won't be as cheap as the services we have been using this year post-deductible. They can still bill us another $3k for 2010.

So, really, the surgery will make no difference - will just get billed earlier in the year if I have surgery early 2011. (Dh's first MRI wasn't until May which bought us more time to save up for it). Then again, sometimes it takes the hospital years to bill us. But dh's surgery? The bill was in the mail when we got home from the hospital! Not crossing my fingers for slow billing.

What I am worried about is what they will do to our health plan, for 2011. I will find out in a couple of weeks, and will beg for a 2010 surgery date if it will save us a significant amount of money. But, if no changes? Not really a big difference. Any way you slice it, we will have a few medical bills and will run through our deductible in 2011, either way. IT may make sense to use our deductible for surgery next year, and then pay for all the low cost things like MRIs, post deductible. I'll have to find out the co pay for surgery, this year, to make an informed decision.