Arrived!

December is birthday month around here. There are some distinct advantages to having birthdays three days apart. My husband has never forgotten my birthday because he knows it is just before his own. Another benefit (for tightwads like me) is that we can save money by going out to eat once and celebrating our birthdays together. Well yes, we usually have a gift card or two lying around we use so it doesn't actually cost us  any money but the second card can be saved for our anniversary. We can also buy joint gifts for "our" birthday and save even more by combining it with "our" Christmas gift. This year we bought ourselves a new stereo system to replace the 21-year old model we had. Only the radio worked on that one anymore. We bought a cassette player and turntable which will plug into the computer and transfer all our CDs, cassettes, and old vinyl records to an MP3 player--if I can figure out how to use all that modern technology.

One thing we did NOT do together for our birthdays is turn 65. He did that four years ahead of me and I was happy to let him blaze the trail through Medicare and Social Security benefits. But now this year I have arrived at the magical age and we changed our Medicare coverage to an Advantage plan. My coverage began on Dec. 1 and includes prescription coverage. I ran out of one of my prescriptions on Nov. 29 but (tightwad that I am) figured I won't die if I wait two more days to fill it. Why pay full price if I can get it with my card two days later? So I tapped into my Medicare account the first day it became available.

I have arrived! I am a card-carrying Senior Citizen and will be for the rest of my days.