On life after the Life Insurance

I was rifling thru some old posts on this blog the other day. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane. Yipes, those old Motel 6 days! It all seems so dramatic! Things thankfully settled down a bit once we were moved and settled into the new homestead. I guess that’s why it is called Home and places like the Motel 6 make a girl nuts. Anyway, I had to chuckle at this post. I completely remember that evening and so did my State Farm Agent. The State Farm Agent who, like a good neighbor, did not let us settle on H’s measly sum for life insurance.

Whew.

So, a few days after H’s accident, I had to meet with our Good Neighbor to go over all of the *stuff*. The poor guy, I have known him since I was 10 (small town), he was crying and so was his adorable wife who works with him in the office. (Side note: I highly recommend going with a trusted person on matters of insurance. Yes, it is indeed cheaper online or whatever; however, when the shit hits the fan, do you want to be calling 1-800-FILEACLAIM? You don’t. Trust me on that. You really DO want them crying with you.) As a result of our heeding the trusted advice of our agent, I received a fairly healthy amount of money as H’s beneficiary. It was put into a special checking account which I have aptly named the OMGMYHUSBANDDIEDINANACCIDENT Fund.

Just about anyone who knew H or us or read this blog would so know how much of a money miser H was. He was brutal at times which, after living with him for 22 years, made me somewhat hesitant to spend any amount of money without mulling it over, asking myself if I REALLY NEEDED the item/service, mulling it over again, and then discussing pros and cons of the issue over cocktails. The whole thing got to be like a badge of honor…to have made the proper DECISION. Good training, I suppose, for these tough economic times. No fun when a girl just wants a pair of shoes, sadly. Now, of course, I have this newfound ability to do whatever I want. And I am not sure I feel very confident in this new place.

With the help of my 2 brothers, I made a sort of list of *Things* I need to do or have in place now that I am a single woman living alone. It is a helpful little list and I am plugging away at various items…I am very good at lists. Anyway, one major item on this list was New Car. With 98,000 miles on our trusty Mitsubishi, Brothers were concerned about safety, reliability, etc. And rightly so. My problem with New Car is that the best deal for the car I like/want is that I have to use the OMGMYHUSBANDDIEDINANACCIDENT Fund to buy it. I guess I should have called it the OMGHWOULDFREAKOUTIFISPENDANYOFTHIS Fund. I know I shouldn’t think this way, but like I said, 22 years of training…let the mulling and cocktails begin!