I'm still deciding about how to pay for the braces. Upfront with a 5% discount equaling $189.05, or on the payment plan.

If I pay upfront, I have to slow down our home equity payoff which results in paying an additional $75.70 more in interest.

Obviously, paying $76 more in interest is less than the discount on the braces. The difference, to me is negligible, at $113. It's a toss up, I could go either way.

I'm actually leaning towards paying the braces on the payment plan. I would need to pull some money from our emergency fund to pay them in full. That leaves me sweating bullets. I don't like to dip into the emergency fund. And really this is NOT an emergency.

I probably should have been saving money for this. I knew it was coming, but it is something we can pay off pretty quickly. In fact, I think I can pay off the home equity loan and the braces by February or March of 2010. That's pretty fast for over $10K of debt.