Austerity vs Simplicity

So with the New Year comes some special challenges and of course anticipated joys for our family.  The hopeful last 2 months of pregnancy, waiting for New Baby to come and join our family, but also the fears that she will not come home with us.  Rosabella having a procedure scheduled at the Children's Hospital next week for an upper GI endoscopy, which involves a short general anesthesia.  The procedure should get us an answer for why she has GERD, and therefore a more effective treatment than the antacids we have been using, but the fear that something will happen, some anesthetic complication, paralyzes me sometimes.  However since she and I both greeted the New Year with colds it is likely that we will have to reschedule the procedure, which is almost worse since I would just like to have the whole thing done and over with.  Lastly the reason for the title of this post: money.

Since my DH retired and started working just part time at the Community College, finances have been tighter.  Then I lost my job and the replacement job I found is only part time.  The hope was that the business would grow and they would need me full time, but that has not happened.  So money was really tight, but with careful budgeting and some life style changes we have been making it.  I knew my maternity leave would cut into our savings, but I was okay with that I was prepared, but then the other shoe dropped.  I found out that our health insurance plan was going up in price, more than the $100 a month that I had planned on, but closer to $200 per month.  Now our Health insurance is close to what our mortgage is and we still have a $6300 individual deductible, and a $12,600 family deductible.  It turns out that we are no longer eligible for our previous plan and needed to be "upgraded" to the Bronze plan, which as far as I can tell offers no additional coverage, just a higher monthly price tag.  I had a little loss of sanity.  I have no idea where we will get the additional funds to pay for this.  I know that I could pick up a few shifts at other clinics, but being away from my girls more, especially with New Baby being so young is breaking my heart.  I know that this is the answer since we are on the maximum austerity budget now: no cable, no going out to dinner, we buy Rosabella's clothes at used clothing and thrift stores, my DH and I do not get clothing, I mend all worn clothing, I made everyone's Christmas gifts,  we are decorating and furnishing the new Nursery from thrift stores, I am making New baby's blankets, I cut back on everything but the essential medications for the pets, no soda, no prepared foods, cloth diapers, cloth wipes... Ugh my head starts to spin.  My DH says that I am obsessing and I need to let it go, this is what things cost, but he doesn't pay the bills or balance the accounts.

So what is austerity?  Living simply is something I believe in.  I actually like our life style better know then when we could go out to nice restaurants and had 300 hundred television channels.  Austerity sounds hard and unpleasant.  I like simplicity better.