Insurance.
She's a pricey luxury these days.
Some would say necessity.
Right now, at this very moment? I'm one of those people.
Unfortunately, I'm just now getting old and brittle enough (some would say wise!) to understand why.
Luckily, and with a little help, I figured out how to help pay for it: health insurance tax deductions! Look, you've got to pay taxes anyway.
You're going to hand over the cash one way or another, so why not get something you really need - insurance - and pay for it with money you were going to have to spend, anyway.
It's pretty simple, really: the government grants you a certain amount of leeway to help pay for things it maybe ought to be paying for in the first place.
Health insurance tax deductions are the government's way of apologizing for not picking up the tab, like your buddy paying for tomorrow's pizza because you had to bail him out of jail the other night.
There're a few things to note before your try to claim your health insurance tax deductions.
If your workplace already offers a group plan, you're boned.
But really, what're you doing buying insurance when your company is helping knock down the price? The only time I could really see this being a bummer is if you'd prepaid for your insurance.
Another catch: if your old lady can get insurance through her work? You're out of luck on the health insurance tax deduction.
So if you're like me, where the college years of beer and late nights are starting to catch up, and you're working freelance - often a euphemism for unemployed - go get yourself some insurance.
You were going to have to hand the money over to the government, anyway.
At the very least, get yourself some "end of the world" disaster insurance so that if your heart spontaneously explodes while you're waiting for the elevator one ugly day, you won't be staring down the barrel of a hospital bill long enough to wallpaper the White House.
You'll thank me and my health insurance tax deductions later.