Entering Panic Mode

For the past several months we've been having unexpected expenses creep up & we've got more future expenses associated with the new baby & it is just all starting to make me feel frazzled.  We have a savings to cover these expenses; I just HATE to see that savings dwindle.  When our savings goes down, I tend to freak out & have dreams where my teeth fall out.  Not good.

We went to the doctor to figure out the payment plan for Little Baby & it turned out our insurance won't cover as much with this Little Baby.  Here are the facts:

• Our monthly payments went from $90 with E to $175 with LB

• Our old insurance had a prenatal program that I completed & as a result the insurance company waived the $250 hospital co-pay.  This insurance does not offer that option. 

That's  $845 more than we had to spend with Emerson & that's assuming that everything else goes perfectly well. 

So what's a frugal girl to do when she feels her finances are out of control?  Come up with a plan of course!

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Return anything possible--I bought Emerson a really fancy dress from Amazon, but upon looking in her closet she really doesn't need it; I'm returning it to use the money toward a booster seat for Emerson.  I also went through some recent stockpile purchases that were unneeded & exchanged them for diapers for Little Baby.

Sell Jewelry--Has anyone ever done this & had luck?  I don't have a lot to sell at the local "We Buy Your Gold" place, but I do have some missing earrings & other broken items that are of no use.  I figure even if I only get $15 it's more than we had.   

Sell on Amazon & Ebay--I made around $1,000 selling old textbooks & teaching books on Amazon while I was pregnant with Emerson.  I don't have as much to sell this time, but every little bit counts right?

Have a Garage Sale--We need to make room for Little Baby, so why not try to make a little money too?  I'm hoping I'll be feeling 100% shortly, so this shouldn't be the daunting task that it seems now.

Apply for Owed Money--We need to apply for a rebate on JC's contacts & we also need to use all of the money from our health savings account by the end of the year.  Using the HSA won't be a problem, but making sure to apply for the rebate promptly isn't always my forte.

Conserve, Conserve, Conserve--We need to cut expenses wherever possible, so that means we'll have to cut back on going out to eat (my Achilles heel), & I need to shop smarter at the grocery store, only buy essentials & rely more upon our freezer & pantry.

Hopefully with these steps we'll be able to come up with the extra $845 without dipping into our savings.  

Does anyone else have any suggestions?  What do you do when you need to come up with some extra cash?  I'd love to hear your ideas.