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We really had no insurance coverage once we started IUI cycles, just v am u/s was $200 per visit....IUI from start-finish was about
1,500 per cycle, I can't imagine IVF costs!

We truly just were more frugal, $$ saved by just not spending causal and no crazy trips!

Also just prayed, I know prayers don't put money in your account, but it helped me/us know we were not alone

Prayers to you

@winter_wonder: Hugs dear

We don't have to budget as much anymore, though we should get back into it. But a few years ago, my DH had health issues and had to slowly quit working so we had to cut down our expenses and solely (?) rely on my income.

We cut out cable and netflix. We couponed to save money. If you have a smart phone, you should download the Favado app. It allows you to compare local grocery store prices and then you can use coupons more efficiently.

Call credit card companies to see if they will reduce your interest rate.

Costco or Sam's club could save you money. You can share a membership with family or friends. Milk, eggs, fruit and frozen meals can be cheaper than grocery store prices.

If you don't have a budget app, I would look into getting YNAB. Great app to track your spending and curb it.

Joining cell phones to a family plan is good, too. You can go one step further and see if your cell phone plan is a mobile share plan. I just switched and it's saving us about $30 a month. (I have At&T)

I didn't do this, but I should. Try to sell anything and everything you can that you don't see yourself using again. Use craigslist or HB classifieds. That could add a few bucks.

Bring lunch instead of buying lunch.

See if you could cut down on your commute costs by taking a bus or vanpool to work. I cut down my car expenses, a lot, by doing this. I was putting 50 miles per day driving to work, and now I drive 10 miles to the vanpool pick up location.

Re-evaluate your car insurance premiums. Is there anything you could do to make things cheaper? Raising deductible could save money. Shop around to other companies.

@winter_wonder: First of all, don't think about all of the money as one big mountain. Just think about it as one expense at a time and break it into pieces.

If you or your husband have FSA coverage through work, I would elect to enroll in those and max those out for next year, which should allow you to save $2000 each in pre-tax dollars that you can use towards IF treatments. Its good timing, considering most employers are going to be doing open enrollment soon.

The only caveat on the FSA is that you have to use it or lose it! We missed out on enrolling for my FSA, but maxed out DH's for IF treatments which sucked at the time, but a blessing in disguise because we ended up getting pregnant spontaneously a month later. So now we're trying to use it up before the end of the year on random things. But luckily virtually ALL breastfeeding equipment and related supplies are an eligible expense, so you should be able to spend a good chunk of it on that. If not, you can get lots of dental work, glasses, etc.

Our initial plan was to look at IF treatments as a 2 year process. In 2014, we were going to max out DH's FSA (since we missed the boat on mine) and then save as much as we could during the year and try to cash flow Clomid, IUIs, etc. We planned to cut travel, holiday visits, etc. If the less invasive stuff wasn't working by the fall (when our next open enrollment period began) we'd max out BOTH FSAs for 2015 and just keep at it for IVF the following year.

Some people also elect to have a lot of taxes withheld from their paychecks so they will get one large refund in the spring instead of thinking about saving every month. It depends on how good of a saver you are.

Other tips I have are to try and coordinate certain IF services with your OB/GYN. A lot of times, the initial testing is stuff your OB/GYN can do but that you get charged full price for if an IF clinic does it. So sometimes IF clinics can arrange for your OB/GYN to prescribe some tests for you under your existing insurance coverage and then release those results to the clinic. It doesn't always work, but it did for us. We got 2 sperm analyses, hormone panels, and blood tests done through our regular insurance coverage when I was expecting to have to pay for them outright. I would have gotten my HSG and a follow up ultrasound covered too, but we got pregnant before that was scheduled. I think some of the prescription drugs would have worked out the same way, particularly for common drugs like Clomid or Metformin.

The other thing is to ask for a price sheet from the clinic and stick it on your fridge. This way it will make it easier to say no to things when you can quantify the expense. Its easier to cut down a $160 cable bill or a weekend getaway when you know that's exactly how much _____ will cost, etc.

Menu planning saved us a LOT of money. I plan a menu based on what's on sale, repeat the same sides or veggies a few times during the week, and try to find 2 or more recipes that share ingredients. At our most intense, I could feed us on $25-40 a week based on what I already had in the pantry and freezer. Even though we had only been eating out at "cheap" restaurants or grabbing lunch here and there, it was shocking how much money we saved when we buckled down. Crockpots are your friend.

For household expenses, we got rid of cable and just got Netflix and Hulu and the NHL hockey package for DH. We watch it off an Apple TV that someone got us for Christmas. I even got rid of Netflix recently because there was a lot of overlap with the Amazon Prime videos we were getting with our Prime subscription. I put my Hulu account on hold after the seasons were over too, so I'm not paying for that now.

Check to see if your employer gets a discount for your cellphone service. DH and I found we both get 15% off Verizon from our employers and applied to have those discounts added.

We put our electric/gas bill on that plan where they average the cost out every month so that the expense is more predictable and easier to budget for.

We checked our insurance policies again to see if we could get more competitive rates or if we could move some deductibles around. We double checked our credit card benefits to see if they offered certain services for free that we were currently paying for and found a couple that we could cancel.

DH and I stopped caring about clothes and switched to "uniforms." Before I got pregnant, I wore 3-4 different pairs of black slacks with some kind of top and a cardigan just about everyday with 1-2 pairs of sturdy shoes. DH wore slacks, a button down, and Rockports every day. Same for outside work. We have a few outfits appropriate for each season and just wear them over and over. Everything I bought was on clearance or sale too.

@winter_wonder: I totally understand how you feel. It was really hard seeing what we worked really hard for as a down payment for a house just dwindle down due to us having to pay out of pocket for IVF. I just have to keep reminding myself its just money and making a family is more important.

Some things we did was take advantage of our work Health flex spending account when you can put a certain amount of money in it that is rep taxed for medical bills. I picked up extra shifts at work and my husband took on some freelance projects to off set the cost. Not sure how close you live by a budget but every time we are super strict with a budget its amazing how much less we spend on food, nonsense stuff.

@winter_wonder: We are also big fans of YNAB which @bluestriped bee: mentioned. It has really changed our budgeting and we have noticed a difference in our finances and approach to money.