health savings account

Having a HSA means that I can avoid paying some taxes that I would otherwise have to pay. But it doesn't easily fit into my normal thought processes of "(money in) minus (money out) equals (money that I have left over)".

Money that I'd otherwise get in my paycheck (after having taxes deducted) is instead placed into a separate bucket without having taxes deducted. Therefore I can still consider it "money in", but in a special separate bucket.

I had a dental appointment and was charged $XXX, of which my insurance paid $YYY, leaving me with a bill of $50. I paid the $50 bill out of my regular income. Then I got reimbursed the $50 from my HSA. This is the mentally tricky part. I'm left feeling like I didn't pay anything, but I have to remember that while those two $50 amounts cancel each other out, there was still a net $50 taken out of my "special separate bucket".

So the $50 still falls into the "money out" category. The benefit of the HSA is that, without the HSA, it would have been more like $60 to $65 money out, because an extra $10 to $15 would have been deducted from my income in taxes before ever getting into my "money in" bucket.

I can think of it as: Now my "money left over (special bucket)" has an extra $10 to $15 in it that otherwise wouldn't have been in my "money left over" category.

Or I can look at in terms of all the money in the HSA having already been spared taxes, so my (money in; ignoring bucket boundaries) amount is that much higher than it would otherwise be, and the $50 is just a normal (money out) amount.

fuzz

While reading this article: Russell Brand: my life without drugs, the following part struck a chord with me:

"Without these fellowships I would take drugs. Because, even now, the condition persists. Drugs and alcohol are not my problem, reality is my problem, drugs and alcohol are my solution."

What is my solution? We all have our own types of solutions.

(Is not going to bed one of my coping mechanisms?)

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I've been sitting in this chair all day. I'm beginning to hate working from home, though I do it only rarely anymore. A highlight of my day was taking a break to go outside and pick up trash from the street before the sun set.

My head has felt fuzzy all week. Maybe from not getting enough sleep. But I'm not sure; I don't recall being so strongly affected by it in the past. 20 minutes ago, I still had a chance of getting 8 hours of sleep tonight, and felt pleasantly surprised by the realization. But I've ruint it again by continuing to sit here.

It has started raining and it's not a bad sound. Lullabye.