This is a guest post from my friend (and huge DMS supporter) Christian Losciale, staff writer for Smart Military Money, a personal finance site dedicated to educating veterans, service members and their spouses. Follow Christian and his work on Google+.

The bill hurt more than the surgery.

After not going to the dentist for about 20 months and seldom flossing during that time, I paid the price. Between several teeth I had deep crevices, as deep as 6 millimeters. The dental hygienist warned me that 5 millimeters is too deep. In short, I was going to need a deep clean, which was a lot like non-invasive surgery.

Without insurance, I would have paid $1,256. MetLife helped me out and I paid $727 for the procedure that left my mouth numb for the better half of a day. The hit to my emergency fund taught me a few lessons.

I should floss every day. Floss is an inexpensive alternative to two-hour visits to the dentist. For a few bucks you can buy plenty of floss for a few months’ time. Flossing only takes a couple of minutes each night. Do it.

My dental insurance helped. Not only did cover some of the costs for my deep clean, the price of my wisdom teeth removal was cut in half. I paid $260 to get all four of my teeth pulled instead of $520.

Always pad your emergency fund. The operations weren’t paid for completely by emergency fund. Since it was my first dentist visit in almost two years, I expected it to be bad, but not that bad. I had $500 ready. The emergency fund did the rest without being emptied. Every time you get paid, put some money in your emergency fund. Get it ready for six months of expenses.

Flossing is like saving for retirement. You can floss now and prevent dental problems down the line, just like you can save money now and be ready for retirement. Not taking action now means battling gingivitis or having insufficient income later, respectively.

All this I learned the hard way: on my back, staring at a bright light with hands in my mouth. It’s not the most comfortable position in which to have financial epiphanies. But like I said, the surgery wasn’t as bad as the cost.

Jana’s note: Going to the dentist is one of those things that many people just put off, claiming that they don’t have time or it’s too expensive or uncomfortable or any number of excuses. But dental health is just as important as taking care of your physical health. Because, in addition to the financial reasons Christian discussed, you don’t want a toothache or an impacted tooth to land you in the emergency room. Then you’re stuck with that bill as well as all of the other problems.

Other cost saving ways to protect your teeth and avoid huge bills or unnecessary dental expenses:

• Watch your sugar intake. Good for your teeth, waistline, and overall health.
• Watch your coffee and tea intake. Yes, there are at home remedies for de-yellowing your teeth but really, who wants to do that? And those whitening strips are expensive.
• If you have dental insurance, review what your policy covers. For instance, my insurance covers bi-annual exams and one set of x-rays per person but there are certain x-rays that are not fully covered. They’re for my daughter so we need to make sure that we have that money set aside. Same for orthodontia, co-pays for dental visits, fillings, etc. It’s crucial that you know what your policy does and doesn’t cover so you’re not surprised with the bill.

Readers, what suggestions or advice do you have for avoiding huge bills at the dentist? 

This post is a continuation of the series I started last Monday. Make sure to check out the first post before  (or after) you’re done with this one.

While you’re in the process of saving money, you’re also going to start looking for an apartment (or house). After all, you can’t move out if you don’t find somewhere to live! And knowing where you’re going to move also gives you an idea of how much money you’re going to save. But how do you look for an apartment?

This is probably the easiest of all the steps. There are so many places that have “for rent” advertisements that it’s almost impossible not to find them.  Before you start looking, though, you need to ask yourself some questions:

• Do I want to live by myself or do I want a roommate?
• Do I want a whole apartment or do I want to just rent a room in someone’s house?
• How small of an apartment would I be comfortable with?
• Would I be OK living with strangers?
• What amenities are important to me?
• What utilities would I like included in my rent?
• Is there enough parking/is it close to public transportation?
• Are there on premises or in apartment laundry facilities?
• Can I bring my pet or get a pet?
• What kind of location am I looking for? Do I want it near stores/shops or a bit farther away?
• What am I willing to compromise on and what is nonnegotiable?
• What can I afford?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be able to start your apartment search. Because now you know what you’re looking for!  Not knowing what you want in an apartment makes looking for one even more painstaking.  If you just jump into apartment hunting without any sort of parameters, you’re either going to love every place you see or hate every place you see.  This doesn’t help make planning any easier.

But where do you look for apartments? There are several options:

• Craigslist. This is probably one of the more robust sites for finding places to live. You’ll see advertisements for people looking for roommates, empty apartments or houses, rooms in houses…any type of housing can be found on Craigslist. Use a great deal of caution, however, You never know what kind of scam you might get caught in. Or what kind of crazy person you’ll be living with or renting from. Make sure you thoroughly vet the apartment/roommate/landlord before you sign anything.
• Apartments.com. Prior to buying my house, this was the site I used. Well, this site and it’s free companion guide that’s available at supermarkets, libraries, some stores and restaurants. The guide is usually a hard copy of what’s on the website, which is a listing of all apartment complexes in a given area. Just enter your ZIP code, your price range, amenities, etc and it’ll produce a list of places to live.
• The newspaper. Either the online or paper version. In the classified sections, you can usually find apartments or houses for rent, and these are typically through a private landlord.
• A realtor. Depending on where you’re moving, you may need to use a realtor because a) the online resources are scant or b) it’s so competitive that you need help. For instance, in the beach area my family is moving to, we need a realtor’s help finding places to live because it’s a huge vacation area and the online resources only show vacation rentals. We need someone with insider knowledge to help us out.

It may seem like a lot of work but if you’re going to spend the money on a place to live, you should find the best place possible for you, your needs and your budget.