things that need decisions made about them

[flea]

-what do do about my dentistry. Mouthgard, crown, not covered by insurance. Wisdom tooth pulling, covered (but cheap). Fillings, sorta covered. Switch dentists? Order of doing things? Scheduling?

-summer family travel. Have booked tickets for May wedding. Trips under consideration: Cape Cod late June; Sandusky OH? some time. Temporal factors to consider: my class 7/7-8/10; Casper school starts early August.

-summer camps for Casper. One week booked. Three options known (YMCA, county gymnastics-y camp, campus day care center camp). Leaning YMCA but feeling like bad middle-class parent if we choose it (least enriching.) Casper's peers are mostly 6 so have more options (most local camps are for 6+ and don't run a full work day).

-money balancing: new car will be likely in next 2 years, possibility of house projects (roof, porch, etc.), better to pay off student loan than invest right now? How to decide what is most important?

Gosh we are bad at decision-making.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I too am trying to find summer camps in Athens for my 5 yr old. Last summer he did mini-camps at Sandy Creek Nature Center, which he LOVED, but they are 1/2 day 3 days/week for four (non consecutive) weeks. I was hoping this summer there'd be more options, but it seems he's still too young.

Clare

[burrell.livejournal.com]

Summer camp, yep. I am feeling like a twit for even enrolling F because I'll be home, but the thought of 2 1/2 months together with no break? We'd both go crazy.

WRT the mouthguard, have you looked into the OTC ones? I mean, I'm assuming you get what you pay for and the expensive ones are worth it, but my DH went with the cheap one. OF course, he also stopped wearing it. Hmmm.

[wandsci.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

OK, take this for what a random comment from someone you only know online is worth (i.e., next to nothing), but the way I'd decide on paying off loans vs investing is to look at the interest rate on the loan vs. the likely return on the investment. In most cases, paying of the loan actually "makes" you more money. The exception is retirement accounts, which are tax-protected and which often have some sort of company match on them. I guess student loans are also complicated by tax considerations. Do you get to deduct the interest? Is it a big enough deduction to matter?

I think the general advice is to build up your emergency buffer (whatever you decide that needs to be), start retirement savings and pay off debt, then invest in other things, with a decision about how much to put in retirement vs. pay off debt driven by whether you have some sort of match. You're usually advised to put in enough to get the maximum match, at least, since that is basically an instant 100% return.

The dental stuff I can't help with. I postponed my dental appointment because I couldn't stand the thought of someone digging around my mouth with the all day morning sickness I've been having.