**The kids had dentist appointments this week and it was good news. Phew!

BM got his appliance out and so we can move him to our cheap/awesome dentist. For now, the preventative work has paid off and braces are not on his horizon. (No idea how one of MY kids got away with that! Woohoo!) They wanted to re-evaluate when his next teeth come in, but our dentist is pretty conservative and either we will wait for him to refer him to ortho, or we could always just get other opinions next year (at 13). It's been nice having the pediatric dentist/ortho team approach with the mess my kids inherited, but they are far away and is not where we would get frequent ortho work. Would want other opinions too. Moving BM to our dentist will save about $500 per year. I figured this move would help offset eventual orthodontist cost.

LM also had good news. The word "surgery" has been thrown out as a possibility because he has an extra tooth that is impacted. We've been watching and waiting on that. As of this week they want to wait another 6-12 months, but they seemed more optimistic that it is working itself out. He will eventually have the extra tooth pulled, but it will be a much simpler procedure if they can just pull it versus digging it out surgically.

**We took the kids out to dinner after the dentist to celebrate since the appointment ran way long and we were all tired.

I am happy to say that after 2 months of dh working that is the first time we lazied out of dinner. & I just had a DAY also - dh was the one that took the kids to the dentist. When he asked me if I wanted to cook dinner or eat out, I said, "EAT OUT!" I think any other day I would have been find with cooking dinner. But I think it was fitting to celebrate moving BM to our cheap dentist and him getting a hunk of metal out of his mouth.

If anything, we seem to be spending less money with dh working. I'd say we are regularly having 6 No Spend Days per week. We just tend to run errands on one day on the weekend and do all the shopping for the week. Probably forcing us to be even more efficient than we have been. Dh and I seem to be inclined to spend less money the more we work. (Too busy to shop?) That said, he's only working very part-time. So there isn't any big time crunch or need to resort to more convenience. I think full-time work would be a whole other story.

I guess I wasn't really expecting "less spending" in this case.

**Yesterday I went through the kids' clothes and did a shuffle. I have a small pile for donation.

Overall, my kids are really cheap and easy. But one reason I Went through their clothes is that BM was actually wanting to wear pants and long sleeves (which is a first!) He's outgrown all his pants, which isn't surprising since he never wears them and I may have not bought any in a year or two. BUT, I think it's the hormones. BM suddenly seems to be aware of the cold, for the first time in his life. (Usually no one turns on the heat while I am at work and they are all in their underwear. I crank up the heat and pile on the layers, in comparison).

BM told me the sweatshirts that he absolutely never wears don't fit, and same for the pants he never wears.

I took inventory and he's really outgrown everything. For whatever reason the school uniform shirts seem to fit him. But all his t-shirts are getting pretty tight. I found a school sweatshirt he can wear and probably won't buy any others unless I see him actually wearing it more.

I'll take him out shopping for pants and t-shirts this weekend. I've been mostly buying on clearance, off-season, but I figure with dh working I can probably afford to splurge a bit. & I mean like I can pay more than $5 per clothing item. I suppose it's "Back to School" shopping in a sense, though there was no point back in summer when school started and all their (summer) clothes fit.

LM doesn't need anything because he is rich in hand-me-downs.

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One other thing I did this week was sort out our life insurance and came up with a loose financial plan in case anything ever happens to me. I will have to go over it with dh and see if he has any input or tweaks.

Historically, we have enough insurance to bridge any gaps. But with age and assets, I guess I wanted to look at it because I figured at this point dh would be more "set for life." I also wanted to run the numbers and discuss with him a loose plan should anything happen to me. Two heads are better than one, and better to discuss together with clear heads.

I was very pleased running the numbers. Working is purely optional for dh at this point. That said, I am not going to lower my insurances at all since one policy drops out in 10 years. & I don't want to be stuck unable to buy more insurance (later) if need be. But we can re-evaluate again in a few years.

Also, social benefits are just gravy. I don't want to count on those, but social benefits always seem to be pretty substantial when your ducks are in a row already. My kids would received $4,000 per month social security until age 18, which is more than enough to support the entire household today (with me still here).

As to the flip side? I'd be open to insuring dh so that I Was in the same position. Another $200-ish per year in life insurance expense? For that kind of financial security? Sure, why not!? But, he is uninsure-able with his health problems, and so we don't have much in the way of options.

That said, it's not all bad. I do have a life insurance policy on him, which added to our existing assets would give me immediate financial independence. (This is insurance we bought 10 years ago, before any health issues).

I did also look up dh's social security benefits and was surprised to see the kids would get $2k per month survivor's benefits from him. Wow! He has not worked in 13 years, but he did work 10+ year prior.

I need to spend some time this weekend discussing these things with dh.