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Keep the bills out of sight--sm

Posted By: mlstoo on 2006-03-04
In Reply to: Anything to help you focus? - Jen

For me they are the biggest distraction. I can ignore the phone, tune out the noise but those stinking bills in my line of sight are the worst. I either have to go online and pay them or call so and so and tell them why I am late. I don't pull them out until after I am done or before I start. Otherwise, they stay in the drawer. Now, I keep the paid receipts on top of the desk to remind me why I work like a mule!


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No end in sight for outsourcing
I believe some of the accounts will come back state side, but the outsource offshoring will continue - no end in sight. To look at the bigger picture, our healthcare system is in a mess with no solutions actively being worked on. As monies become tighter in the future and if nothing is being done about fixing our healthcare mess, the motivation is strong for financial officers to send more work offshore because of the cheap labor. Some hospitals now accept offshoring as a solution and when the hospitals themselves directly use this service, well, not much hope to keep the work state side. I believe there are some facilities that will not accept inferior work from any one, state side or otherwise, but I am also seeing that some hospitals WILL accept inferior work motivated by the cheap price. This is happening across all sectors of business in this country. More than 50% of IT jobs are now in India and China with no end in sight. More and more business are trying to find ways to dump their benefits - #1 is health insurance and this affects all of us as more and more people are going without health insurance.
Love at first sight?
Hey - I know this is the wrong board for this but if anyone would switch over to emotion/depression and/or chit chat I'd like your opinion. Thanks
OMG. I'm never letting my legs out of my sight again. LOL.
nm
Ya'll want to see a sight? Get a look at this poor

guy! OMG!


 


 


Been at this 8yrs as an IC - no raise in sight, ever
XX
I don't think I am in a light of sight for cell towers either. sm
They pick up signals within distances like cell phones do. I don't think a direct line of site is needed period like it is with satellite. With satellite, you have the big dish that is placed on your house and it beams the satellites in space to get your signals. With wireless it gets signals from the towers. You have nothing but you wireless network card or USB plug that picks up the signal from the tower. No big, ugly dish around on my home.

If you can only occasionally get a cell signal, it might not be the best option for you. Do you know anyone around that has wireless? My brother had it and came to my home with his laptop to show me how it worked and that is when I choose to get it. I like that I can now also travel and pick up signals rather than be limited to one location with the satellite on my home also. No need to worry if a hotel has wireless or not as I have it. I would figure out who the best cell phone company provider is in your area and contact them. Tell them specifically your location, your situation with iffy cell signals and see what they suggest. Like I said mine had the 30-day money back guarantee so I knew I could go that route if I saw it wasn't getting good signals for me. All the major cell companies have wireless now, but your best bet is who has the most towers in your area. I am thinking there is a website that shows cell towers and locations, maybe research it? Cannot recall right now, but I have seen it before. Just contact the company in your area and tell them to explain their wireless INTERNET plans to you.
Hell, I didn't let my kids out of my sight in the 1980s!
Freaks and loonies didn't just crawl out of the woodwork recently.
Love at first sight on the Long Island RailRoad
On the Long Island Railroad, traveling to Greenwich Village for the day and he traveling to a concert in Queens, NY.  The instant I looked at his face and he talked to me and sat across from me on the train, I knew we would make history together, I knew something was gonna happen between us.  He got off the train, I continued on to Greenwich Village, NYC..didnt get his number, nor he mine.  Four months later I was driving into my apartment parking lot and he was driving behind me, said he recognized me from my sunglasses as I looked in the rear view mirror.  He asked for my phone number and the rest is history..It was truly love at first sight..
it's TASTE. You have lost sight of the original concept of the posts.
i'm not doing an ethical evaluation on why i am drawn to toby keith or if he may be gay or rock hudson's qualities if he was gay or jude law.  it is just the type of guy women are drawn to and why.  shallow has nothing to do with the discussion.  but you aren't paying attention are you?
It's called DLS for direct-line-of-sight...mountains could be a problem...sm
I have wireless but hold a direct line of sight to tower only 1 mile away. Mountains could block signal. The only way you could know would be to take the laptop there and see if the signal holds. Are there any neighbors there that might be using it too? That's your best "test." Ignore poster below who talks about router. The initial signal is sent from the tower TO your router, router takes care of wireless internet INSIDE house, not outside. If you do go wireless router inside house, buy one with a speed booster. I have connects of 100.0 mbps routinely.
I pay all of our bills but I never would
He makes money and I make money and we should each be able to spend some of that on ourselves if we desire. The only time we really consult the other on any purchase is if that purchase is over a certain amount. I do not ASK him if I can buy anything for my business. If I need it and we can afford it, I buy it. If it is a major purchase that might involve a credit line, I would definitely discuss it with him but not ask his permission. It should be shared. When you get married, you are sharing, not one person owns you/controls you or vice versa. I would be willing to bet that at some point during his little outings, he has chipped in for beer. I doubt one person would be willing to supply all the beer for all the guys every single get-together. My DH used to play softball and there were lots of times they'd hang out and have a few beers after and all the guys chipped in for their share of the beer. If he's telling you the beer is always provided for free, I would have a real hard time buying that. Sounds like you are an understanding wife and you deserve time out to go to lunch or do whatever (and some of that time should be without your kids to give you some alone time, too). If he can't see that, he needs a reality check! Leave him at home with the kids for a weekend and see how fast he wants to run out that door once you get home! lol
Can you really pay your bills with only 29K though???
nm
If you have bills to pay you take whatever

you can get.    You can refuse a job, but the work will just go to India or some other country and the company can get rid of all but a few MTs who will edit the work. 


I have been in this business at least 20 years.  I make better than most people these days, but I have not had a raise in 5 years.  I have been offered at least 8 positions the past 6 months and not one of them offers what I make now.   I test very well, usually getting at least 98 on the highest level of testing,  I can do any ESL given to me, I do all Op notes, so I would be an asset to any company, but none will offer me what I am making now, much less offer me more. 


 


Pay bills or make a
list of things I need or want.
Do you have bills that NEED to be paid?
If there is no other job but those with companies that send work offshore, are you going to refuse to work for them?  How do you feel about stores that sell merchandise that was once manufactured in US and now outsourced to another country?   How about the very merchandise itself.  Do you check to see if Liz Claiborne or Nike or other favorite brands are outsourced and decide against buying them, hoping that somehow you are going to force these goods to be manufactured in US and are you willing to pay higher prices to justify American workers wages?
What bills could we possibly have?
That was exactly what one doctor said to me when he called wanting my services and I told him what my charge was. He was in a town 15-20 minutes away and since tapes were the "in" thing", I charged for picking up and delivery, minimal charge.

Well, he thought that was ridiculous and told me I didn't have any "expenses" associated with this job, so what was I charging him for other than doing the reports. BTW, he got my name and number from his partner in the office who thought my charges were more than reasonable and willing to pay for it to get what he called "great" service.

Of course, we have no expenses, we live free, not having to eat, buy gas, pay all the same bills they do. You know, the necessities of life!!!!!!

Go figure!!!
we did just the opposite, but now bills alone about 2,500.....
We had a place similar to yours on a slough with lots of wildlife...loved the wildlife. Used to sit out on the deck and watch the great blue heron, raccoons, muskrats, ducks, etc. But never got it paid off as we kept building on as kids came along (3). We were there 30 years and finally sold to move out of the flood zone and into a new, easy-maintainance one story with smaller yard up near the hospital. The other place was so hard to paint and maintain that I knew we had to move before we couldn't take care of it anymore. Problem is our mortgage alone is 900$ month! Not as steep as others on this posting, but lots for us as the MT thing is not bringing in the money I expected! The house is worth lots more than we paid for it, and I keep saying we should sell it and rent until the big housing "adjustment" that I keep predicting, but family won't budge!
High bills
In Georgia, it's not unheard of for the power bill to exceed $300 during summer. In fact, it's expected. I can't believe the posters with two-digit bills. My water bill is $65! Everything around here has gone up in the last year. My doing MT was supposed to be for extras and fun money, but it's not turning out to be so.
I have plenty of bills to pay...
Hubby had open heart surgery and was off work during the busiest season last year. I now handle ALL the bills except his truck insurance and truck payment to the tune of at least $5000 a month and that doesn't include the $75,000 hospital bill that the insurance doesn't pay. I couldn't do that if I didn't stick to my guns. Sure, we're not in the best of shape right now, but we are scraping by with a little ingenuity and things will get better for us...but I surely will not work for peanuts,never have, and never will...and neither should you.

You have to prove you're worth it that extra $.01 or so,(ahem), but in reality, we really need to stick together. Fighting amongst ourselves doesn't solve the problem.
that's determined by your bills!!...
There is an easier calculation but I think most companies require 1200 lines a day nowadays. Some 800 to maintain fulltime. One way to figure it is that you take the amount of lines x cpl and divide by 8. If you typed your other stuff in word, check the line count to see what you have done on a good day when paid by the hour. Hopefully you are getting paid characters and spaces as opposed to just characters.

If you figure you can put out only 800, which is still a good bit, 800 x 0.08 cpl divided by 8 would be $8/hour. 1200 lines would be 12 an hour. So, if you are currently making 10 an hour, you would have to put out 1000 lines a day for $10 an hour.

It can be done.
What? Not only easy, but I did it Still pay bills.


But I do make what I need to pay my bills
so I am satisfied and like I said, just work part time, not full, work the time I want.
for tracking congressional bills
http://thomas.loc.gov/


Kansas utility bills
Hi, I live on the Kansas/Oklahoma border have a 3000 sq ft home (2 levels) and 2 boys who don't know how to close doors. Anyway, our last electric bill was $260.00. This was keeping thermostat at 80 upstairs with ceiling fans going in every room. If it gets too warm, you just go downstairs where you have to wrap up in a blanket as there is a good 10 degrees difference in temp. I have to admit, I thought mine was high but am now thinking we don't have it too bad. Good luck to all and hopefully, we will still be able to pay these next year at this time and the rates won't have put us all in the poor house.
arkansas utility bills
Wow.  I live in a 6 room house and my last bill was 328.00.  We have very high rates here.
Used to, but compared electric bills
I used to never turn my computer off. Then my grandchildren visited me for 3 wks. Because I did not want them playing on my computer (they had their own laptop), I kept mine off when I was not working. When the electric bill came it, it was almost $60 less, so from that point on, I began turning it off between the hours of 5 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. plus my days off (and I get more done around the house as well) -- continued with the same savings. Figured I can buy a new tower for $720 a year in savings.
I keep the unpaid bills on my desk
and put the college tuition bill right on top. Money motivates.
Single person and bills
How does any single preson today make ends meet as an MT?  I work a 2nd job and still way behind in bills.  Job-hunting for a full time position other than MT is fruitless, as employers take on look at all of your years in transcription and ask you how you think can do anything else.  It seems like a curse.  The dreaded "transcription" word is getting me nowhere fast when it comes to breaking in to other clerical work.  Had I know this would be the case, I would have left the MT field years ago.  I can do SO much more than transcription if given the chance.  Maybe I should lie on my resume and not mention all the years of transcription. 
Nice doesn't pay the bills. They still only pay .06 line.
You need to be a speed demon to make any money there and top pay is still only .08 per line at 225 lines per hour. No thanks. I prefer to work a 40 hour work week, not an 80 hour work week.
Curious, how much of household bills is BF carrying?

is withdrawn?


If you are carrying the lion's share of the bills, then you surely will be better off when you have cut the ties and are in your own place.


If he is carrying a good bit of the bills, and you are then responsible for them when he moves - whoa - think about this.  Will any childsupport you manage to get suffice for what you are taking on that he is paying now?


 


I worked as one, too. It paid my bills. Barely.
I hated that job because I could so totally empathize with the people I was collecting from. Plus, we had to be real hardnoses. The thing is that our "numbers" were tied to our bonuses. The more you collected, the more money you made. I lasted 9 months and received two raises and promotions to keep me there before finally finding another job. By that time, I had developed sleeping problems and an ulcer and started smoking again.
There were a few bills that Arnold would not sign - not passed
x
Oh dear, maybe you could pay some bills or surf the net while she's impressing herself

Insurance companies already know. Doctor bills them you know.
I'm not running for political office. Who would be interested in my medical records and what could they do with them if they did have them?
Not everyone bills based ona 65-character line
An MT billing gross lines would stand to lose a great deal with a smaller font.

See, not so confusing.
DH pays the big bills and know he won't have more taken out on him, we don't share checking ac
I have mine and he has his but like I said before, he pays for my car, his and the house note. Just moved here in 2004 and not planning a move, ever hopefully! But, as in my previous post, I have as regular employee been told to take off everything that pertains to my working at home (before becoming IC), room, DSL line, phone (have to have to use the DSL), computer, printing materials, all so I keep all receipts in all years plus we have 3 tax bills for 3 different properties for this past year (just sold a home where I used to live) but all that is kept. What I am saying is I have been told for years as an employee working from my home ok to exempt these. I do not like TAX TIME!!
Sounds great. You gonna pay the bills for
nm
A husband to take care of the bills and the health
nm
You need to talk to the people who pay the bills where you work. nm
x
But if that account is paying your bills, you must negotiate and be flexible. IMO
I know you can only lower a little bit, but to let them know that you are flexible and care about keeping their account may just encourage them to stay with you.  I can't afford to let an account go without just a little negotiation.
Does paying your bills rely on offshore? No. Easy
asdf
Yep if I needed a job, beats not eating/paying bills - nm
xx
Correction note to husband. Meant BILLS NOT AUCTIONS LOL
Freudian slip. Have to read whole post to get joke. LOL.
How are you planning to deal with the oncoming high winter heating bills?
I'll be bumping the thermostat back another degree or 2, down to whatever leveI I can  not be cold at.  Otherwise there will be less "fun" money spent if it has to go to the oil companies!
Fear of change is worse than fear of not being able to pay your bills? nm
:)