help me spend my flex spending $$$

[urquie]

we have a lot of money left in our flexible spending account. we must use it by the end of december or lose it.

please throw me all your ideas on how we can use up our flex spending money. i really don't want to buy $1000+ worth of tums!

eta:
neither of us wears glasses and we have to spend the money by december 31st and then submit the receipts by march 31st.

"As the year 2006 comes to a close, be sure to use any remaining funds in your FSA. The IRS applies a "use-it-or-lose-it" clause to these accounts, which means that any funds left in your account(s) on December 31, 2006 will be forfeited. Please note that "using" these funds means services eligible for reimbursement must occur on or before December 31, 2006, and the Flexible Spending Account Reimbursement Form must be received by the FSA administrator no later than March 31, 2007."

[JenDC]

New glasses and/or contact lenses
Prescription vitamins
massage therapy
tooth whitening

[Saartje]

Is there any optional dental work you could have done, like removal of mercury fillings? If you wear glasses, you could get a spare pair, or a pair of prescription sunglasses. Make sure everyone in the family has had a recent checkup.

[urquie]

massage sounds fun!!

[urquie]

i certainly have a lot of old fillings. i wonder if it would be worth the head ache of all that drilling??

[kijip]

>i certainly have a lot of old fillings. i wonder if it would
>be worth the head ache of all that drilling??

I had all of my old fillings replaced. I think it is totally worth it. I am not so nervous about how my mouth looks.

[shilo]

they don't even have to be perscription sunglasses. if you get them thru an optometrists office, you can get really nice, trendy sunglasses with really good UV protection for you and DH. you could easily drop $4-600 on two pair of high end sunglasses.

lori
Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

[kijip]

If either of you wears disposible contacts, stock up.

I have ended up in the drugstore the night before the exiparation tossing things in the cart so I know your dilemna. I did not end up with hundreds of dollars worth of tums but I did stock up on a lot of items. :)

[spunkybaby]

I thought the new rules say that you can use flex spending money from 2006 during the first few months of 2007. You might want to check on that with your HR dept.

Mom to a spunky toddler
March 2004

...and another spunky baby due in Dec. 2006!

[VClute]

Here's an idea for some of it - milage reimbursement for driving back and forth to appointments throughout the year. I think it's 30 cents / mile. Not a lot, but it comes to you as cash.

Amy in NC
mom to Dixon, born 2/14/05
...and let the shopping begin!

A GIRL (!!) Due 3/30/07

[pampamz]

We have used ours for:

Prescrip. sunglasses
Massages
Tooth whitening & a few veneers

Seems crazy to spend it on such "frivolities" but use it or lose it~!

[happy2bamom]

Last year we used ours on Lasiks eye surgery. I LOVE it, wish I would've had it done years ago.

My DH may use our leftover money this year to get a tattoo removed.

I think that it can also be used for certain weight loss programs

[KBecks]

contact lenses, solution, glasses, an end of year dental cleaning?
lasik - if you have lots of $$ !!

[npace19147]

Ours rejected my claim for tooth whitening, so check with your program - just an FYI.

[c914]

don't you have until March now, for to use the $$?

Carla

[urquie]

okay - i know nothing about having the mercury replaced. maybe i will start a new thread.

- how did you find someone qualified to do the job or can i use my regular dentist?
- was it similar to replacing a broken filling?

<I am not so nervous about how my mouth looks.>
does that mean the replacements look bad??

[urquie]

this is good to know. i can certainly use a pair of sunglasses that doesn't have scratches!

[megs4413]

stock up on cold/flu medicine for the adults and the kid kinds.

we ran out of flex money halfway through the year!!!! i hope i have all my receipts, though....

[bubbaray]

Can you use it for fitness/weight loss programs? If so, I"d buy a bundle of personal training sessions, a gym membership, fitness stuff.

Massage therapy sounds like a great idea.

I've had all my amalgam fillings removed years ago and replaced with white ones (porcelain?? not sure what they use). It was definitely worth it. My regular dentist did it. They don't last as long as the amalgam fillings and do need to be replaced regularly, but I feel safer (even though my dentist assured me they didn't need to be removed) and I like the look.

Rx sunglasses would also be a good idea.


Melissa

DD#1: 04/2004

DD#2: c/s 01/2007

[crl]

first aid kits for the cars
hydrogen peroxide, neosporin, bandaids etc for your house emergency kit
flu shot?
can you use this for co-pays? have you already apply those from the year?
saline nose drops
children's/infants tylenol and motrin
vitamins? (do those count?)

Good luck!

[bcafe]

You really need to check the qualifying expenses. Massage won't be covered unless it is medically necessary with a presciption from your doc and then it can be tricky. Also, tooth whitening won't be covered unless your teeth have been damaged by disease or injury, same goes with veneers. I have a 30 page printout from my Flex plan if anyone has any ? regarding qualifying expenses. HTH!

[Saartje]

It's a simple process. The dentist removes your old filling, cleans the tooth, and puts in a new one. Any dentist should be able to do it.

On the appearance front, Katie meant that the replacement fillings are tooth-colored, instead of being silvery, so they're not as noticeable and look better.

[Momof3Labs]

Depends on your employer; not all companies allow that.

[Momof3Labs]

Depends on your employer; not all allow that.