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What? Not only easy, but I did it Still pay bills.

Posted By: AG on 2007-08-13
In Reply to: Does paying your bills rely on offshore? No. Easy - for you to say don't do it. nm




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Does paying your bills rely on offshore? No. Easy
asdf
The easy answer, taking all the easy work and
x
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!
Keep the bills out of sight--sm
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!
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.
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
Well, Word is easy to buy and easy to install. Word 97 works great. Cheap. SM
I still would not work anywhere I could not use a spell checker with grammar checker and a Steadman's Medical Spell Checker.

IF they want people to TRANSCRIBE MEDICAL REPORTS, then I guess they better get the programs they need.

It's like probably 110% easier to buy and install Word 97 than to try to program their own programming. And, yes, I do mean Microsoft Word 97. Why? Because you can install it unlimited times, in case you need to install the operating system again. And it has a few features that Microsoft, in its un-wisdom, took away in Word 2000 and 20003 and 2007. So, yes, I'd go with Word 97 for its cheapness and it works better than the later versions. Just my opinion, with 20 years experience being an MT. So what if they "don't have it" on their computer? It's easy to get.
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.
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!
Easy easy money they are!

I don't mind seeing those puppies filter in at all.  Same for H&Ps.  They are always different though, so can't really pop in the same pre-formatted autotext, but it's usually WHAMMO 2-3 pages at a time.  Give them a shot...you may just be pleasantly surprised! 



I think I smell either VR on the easy stuff, or offshoring of the easy stuff.
d
Fear of change is worse than fear of not being able to pay your bills? nm
:)
it's all easy to say when it's not you

If the mom wasn't in Aruba throwing a fit and crying on TV, we would all speculate about why she wasn't there and why she doesn't care.  Either way, whatever she did, there would be someone there complaining about how she was doing it. 


I would say until it is your daughter or son, maybe we should just keep our mouths shut and not pass judgment on them. 


Also, I don't care what kind of bad decision or how drunk the young girl was, wrong though it may be, that doesn't mean she deserves to be murdered or raped.  It makes me sick that we are always so eager to jump on the victim and the family at times like this. 


We are doing it now - it's not so easy for my DH

He began the process of buying a new business in April. It was supposed to be completed by July 15, but there have been so many delays and things getting dragged out, it still isn't done.  At first he was very excited about spending the some time home with the kids this summer, but I can definitely see for the last month or so he's gotten very depressed, sleeping more, not getting motivated, doesn't want to do anything with the kids anymore.  I think men in general need to be productive (at least the good ones do), and unfortunately, raising kids doesn't offer a lot of immediate gratification.  It's fun for a little while, but they eventually need more.  I can't want for him to be gone so I can be "mom" again.  


 


That's easy enough to do when you get the
same dicators on a routine basis. I type for a very large hospital with many outside facilities and rarely do I get the same dictators on a regular basis. Therefore, my paycheck is considerably less than cherry-pickers. What these people do is listen to a few minutes of the report and, if they don't like what they hear, they send it back. Also, of note, these are not necessarily the mumblers, ESL, or speed talkers. Many of these are reports that have a problem, i.e., wrong MR# so I have to enter all of the demo info (not paid for), wrong report type so I have to change it and make a note to send to the hospital, no date of service given with again a note to the hospital, etc. All time-consuming, frustrating, and cutting into my paycheck.
very easy. I have my 2 as well as
my parents next door networked, a total of 4. make sure to have your network password protected.
that's an easy one
Worked for an owner-operated MT company and the owner was an alcoholic. She expected no less than 18 hour days 7 days a week and if you asked for even ONE day off per week, she would start cursing and carrying on and saying she would give the accounts away. Then when she got really drunk, she'd start messaging all this personal stuff about her husband and former husbands and their sex life and all that. She was this astrology nut who hired on the basis of the "signs" of the transcriptionists and if she would call to curse you out about something (even if it didn't pertain to you) she would say it was the person's "aura" that was bad for the company. Yup there are real nuts out there.
That's easy. sm
I have been a fry cook, nurse's aid, farm worker, receptionist, clerk in a U-Totem.  I kind of enjoyed all of them.  My worst job was waiting tables.  It's grueling work, for little pay and you have to rely on your tips to get you through.  It's more demanding physically than most people can imagine and you never get to sit down.   Plus, you deal with attitudes all day long.  Never again.
That's an easy one...
Congratulations!! You are now qualified to do most every job in medical records, except for the supervisory roles. We, MTs, would make awesome coders!! We are also qualified to do positions in medical offices, receptionist, coder, referrals, etc. Start putting out your resume!! You'll see!! And, by the way, when the Transcriptionist is on vacation, you are the automatic fill-in. More money!!!
Not easy, but this is what we do. . sm

Four kids. Birthdays are 2 in mid September, 1 end of October and 1 two weeks before Christmas!   We now have a new grandson who is just a month old, so we can just add on to the pre-Christmas insanity for next year as I'm sure he won't expect much this Christmas. :) 


My poor hubby's birthday is 2 weeks after Christmas. We usually just make him a card or something. :)  Nothing until my birthday in May, but I get the homemade cards too. Must make mental note to buy construction paper. :)


I never bought BIG for my kids at Christmas. I spend about $500 total. I make a lot of stuff too. My parents are gone. His parents just want school pics of the kids.


I guess I'm lucky. Our whole family from grandparents right down to my youngest don't see Christmas as "I want, I want." They know that Christmas is about giving and that presents should come from the heart. I still have every badly glued Christmas ornament that my kids ever made me hanging on the tree every year.


Every year, no matter how much or how little money we have, we always pick a name off from one of the local "giving trees" to buy a gift for a child from a needy family. Usually these requests are for socks or  boots or something, but we always include an age appropriate toy or book or game.


We donate food items to the Christmas food drive and  would never even dream of walking by a Salvation Army Christmas donation kettle without putting in at least a dollar or two.


These furniture ads that scream, "WOULDN'T DAD LOVE A NEW FLAT SCREEN TV FOR CHRISTMAS?" make me ill.


Re: Not easy...

<<we always pick a name off from one of the local "giving trees" to buy a gift for a child from a needy family. Usually these requests are for socks or  boots or something, but we always include an age appropriate toy or book or game.>>


I'd like to share my story about those 'giving trees.'  Last year, I was going through a divorce.  My ex decided to stop paying child support, dump all our bills on me and leave the state.  I was also sick and racked up several thousand dollars in medical bills.  The school counselor put my kid's names on the giving tree at Wal-Mart.  My kids got really, really nice gifts, and it was wonderful.  Those gifts meant the world to my kids.  It really made them feel great that a stranger cared to give them something when we were going through so much.  This year I've pretty much gotten back on my feet financially and things are much better.  We were at Wal-Mart last week, and my kids saw the giving tree.  They both decided to spend their birthday money that they have been saving on a child from the giving tree.  They each spent $40.  My daughter, who is 10, said that she thinks the most important present she is going to give every year is to the giving tree.  It was really hard going through my divorce and the financial difficulties, but I think it taught my kids a really important lesson that they couldn't have learned any other way. 


Not easy 50K

I can't say it was an easy 58.5K this year but I did it.  It was 50K for me as I paid 8.5 to my subs who work 5 to 6 hours per week for me. That is all they want to work.  But I did it and hoping to go above 60 next year, we will see. 


 


 


UR very welcome - nobody said it was easy biz.NM
xx
something easy!
I just can't get into heavy duty cooking.  I  think it will be chicken fajita salads, have the chicken thawing that is already southwestern spiced!  Hubby will eat about anything, lucky for me!