Long post alert! It’s Monday again! While this sounds like excitement, it’s only excitement to an extent. I have a major announcement to make a little later on that will more than likely derail everything. For now, this weekend I have been licking my wounds. For the past several years, I’ve had one thing after another, after another, after another happen to me and it just hasn’t been enough to end up with my jaw locking and me having to spend somewhere north of $6k to resolve it, breaking my foot, now…I’ve really done it, I’ve had hives on my face since Thursday. I spent this weekend trying to not scratch my face and rubbing in Benadryl anti-itch cream. Then I went to the ER because the hives spread to my legs. The healthcare system is the worst. They sent me home with a few prescriptions and basically told me that it’s no big deal. Sigh…I’ll share a little later what caused the hives. For now, let’s grab a snack and something to quench our thirst during this very hot summer and we’ll get started!
Here is the progress I’ve made last week that I’m very excited about:
For Care Credit, I made the massive mistake of paying an extra $240, I also was charged $11.32 in interest and I received a $10 credit so it just looked like I got charged $1.32 for interest. I wanted to clear this up and called Care Credit and they completely reversed the interest charges because I paid the physical therapy bill off in full…and then some. That made my balance drop a bit which I’m stoked about because every single dollar makes a major difference. 😊 Besides that we have another payment to my personal loan in the amount of $281 and I also made a payment on my Shop Your Way credit card that’s currently not collecting interest.
Here’s what my debt is looking like:
Check my progress from my previous 3M post to see how last week compares to this week. This next payment on Wednesday 7/26/2023 will put me BELOW $21k! I’m very excited about that and was really looking forward to the progress…until recently.
As I shared, I have hives kind of…all over. Last week on Thursday I was at my job and I noticed I had clusters of raised bumps on my chin. While I’m 37, I’m not stranger to acne but work wouldn’t let me google what I was looking for. At work…we work. When I got home, I noticed the bumps were spreading. So now there are bumps all on my cheeks and they’re starting to itch pretty bad. I’m kind of thankful for being an esthetician because I kind of knew what to do. I take Xyzal for allergies. When I went to bed, I popped two instead of 1 and tried my best to not let the covers touch my face throughout the night. By Friday, they had gone down some. Thinking I’m in the clear, I continued on with my day even though my skin still felt really weird. By the end of the day, I was a itchy burning mess. I treated it as best as I could.
Now to the reason this is all happening and why I’m on the brink of a major set-back. I noticed about a week ago that there was water pooling in the driver side floorboard of my car. It hadn’t rained so it was a bit peculiar and it wasn’t drying AT ALL. But I’m busy and I didn’t have time to get it checked. Friday, I noticed…there’s mold under the driver seat. There’s EFFING MOLD under my driver’s seat. I stewed on it a while and I called Nissan on Saturday morning to figure out what to do. I have a panoramic sunroof and the person I was talking too said there’s a known defect with Nissan’s that causes this. He also quoted me a $185 diagnostic and then, $1,300 to completely fix the issue. That’s NOT including tax. Add that on top of the $1,500 I have in repairs that I need to make to my car and that will equate to somewhere over $3,000 to get my car back in tip-top shape. My loan is $5,500 and my trade-in value is at $7,700. I’ve been trying really hard to debate if this is worth it and if it just makes sense to get another car. Another car, means a higher monthly payment, a higher monthly payment means I won’t be debt free next year and I have to figure out if this is what I really want. Because this allergic reaction is from the mold in my car, I’m going to have to get something done, right away or I’ll have hives indefinitely. Once the problem is fixed, (God knows how much this is going to cost me.) I HAVE to get a full detail on my car and hope the mold spores die. I still have some value in my car, I don’t know if keeping it is worth it and this really sucks. So…stay tuned as I maneuver through this decision. It’s either fix the problem and get a possibly very expensive mold abatement or fix the problem, get the abatement, and buy another vehicle. No lie…the mold has me thoroughly grossed out and it’s spreading just like the hives on my body. I also will have to avoid scratching and drive with the windows down which puts me in the 7th circle of hell because it’s hot as balls and there are LOTS of bugs out here. I’m pissed at the person I worked with in the emergency department as he shared that mold, wasn’t as dangerous as the internet made it seem and that I pretty much needed to suck it up. I don’t think he believed I had hives either. The ones on my face were no longer lifted but my face is inflamed and looks a bit rosy in some places. He also discounted the fact that my blood pressure skyrocketed to 184/97 and sent me home after giving me some prescriptions I have to pick up…in my car, that I’m afraid to drive…
Pro-Makeup Artist/Licensed Esthetician Tip:
Now that I’ve experienced a strange instance with an allergic reaction, I can tell you a few things on top of my certification in Esthetics. If you have a new product you’re testing on your skin, especially your face, do a spot test to confirm the product won’t make you swell up like Hitch. Sometimes you can tell immediately a product is going to react negatively which gives you the opportunity to course correct. Sometimes it needs to sit there for an hour or two before you know for sure how your skin is going to react. Be sure to note any redness, swelling, itching, tingling, burning, etc as this is a clear indicator that this product is not for you. When you’re conducting this test, clean the spot with an alcohol swab for the best results. This is extremely ideal for those of us who can be sensitive to some ingredients.
That’s all I have for today! Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe to see more content from me and to share my page with someone who you think may benefit from the makeup tips or financial advice.
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Until Next Time!
Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash
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