What I gave the coworkers for Christmas
I decided to drop off a little something for the coworkers here for Christmas. There are over 85 people here so it was not practical to get everyone something.
I focused on a few that I really speak to and got everyone cards. I also got them these little candy canes with a gummy elf stuck to it.
They were soooooooooooo cute in the store that I just had to get them. I originally got them for the children I work with…but then I had a few extras.
The canes come in a box of 20 for about $5 so I thought that was not too bad a price.
I took this picture with the camera phone (still don’t have a digital camera yet!!!) and the lighting in the room was bad so forgive me for the quality.
The canes come in two colors so I am not sure if there are two flavors…I just know that this lighter colored one is peppermint.
There is also a darker red candy cane but I have no idea what it tastes like.
I put the cards with the canes taped to them in everyone’s boxes on Monday and on Tuesday I got a few thank yous from different people.
I guess some of them were not expecting that so it really surprised them. It was a small thing….but it does leave an impression on some people.
Got the Hospital Bill!!!
I finally got one bill from my stay in the hospital and it took me a while to open it. I thought the hospital bill would be really high because of the time I spent there so I was afraid to open it.
I learned a few things while in the hospital and I knew that it was very expensive. When I opened the bill the first thing I saw was figures over $1400!!!!
Took my breath away for a few seconds because I was trying to think of just how I was going to be able to pay for all of that.
Then I took a second look and saw that the amount due by me was $100 of that amount. The rest was pending from the insurance company. Whew!
I paid my part over the phone using my Chase card and I am now waiting on the insurance to do its part.
I think there is one more bill on the way but if the ratios stay about the same then I should not have too much to pay when the bill does come.
I had a follow up exam with the doctor on Thursday….but more on that later.
How I get a Cash Inflow every month
I became a lender on Prosper so that I could see how the whole process works. I made a loan of $50, which is the minimum and used the automated investing option.
This means that Prosper will use its algorithm to choose a loan that is the best match for me according to the criteria I put in. I funded the loan and the system just told me that I should expect $1.59 on January 14, 2008 and then every month thereafter.
I know that it seems like just a small amount for the cash I invested but I am taking it slowly right now because I do not have a lot of money to invest. That money was actually my savings for this month.
The loan is currently funded at 8.9% so that should be a nice little rate of return for me on my investment.
I am still looking at becoming a lender on the site because I have some ugly credit card debt that is at a very unattractive rate that I would like to get lowered so I can save some money.
I will see how things go and then set up my loan in a few days.
Use Grand Central to lower your Phone Bill
UPDATE: I am all out of Grand Central invites. If you still need one, then go to Baz and leave a comment on the blog and he will get you one.
If you have not already gotten your Grand Central number then all you have to do is send me an email or leave a comment and I will send you the invitation to get one. Grand Central is a free service that allows you have a number that controls all of your other numbers.
This way you can have telephone number to give out to people that you can feel comfortable with. I do not like giving out my home phone number to everyone that asks for a number so I have a Grand Central number (that is a different area code) that I give out. This way the people that I work with have a number to contact me that is local to them and I have the privacy of keeping my cell number secret.
The other really great thing with Grand Central is that you keep that one number forever. If you move to a new city and get a new house phone all you have to do is edit the settings in your account and the rest of your information remains the same.
You can use Grand Central to control the amount of access that different numbers have with regards to your profile. If you wanted to set up a group with people that you work with then you could easily do so with just a few clicks. Then you could set up all calls that go to that number to go straight to your voicemail if you wanted.
If there is someone that you need to always take the call then you could set it up so that number always goes through to your phone.
Setting up Grand Central is easy and you can pick any area code for your account, regardless what your home area code is.
If you are looking for your Grand Central number then just let me know and I will send you the invite.
It’s FREE!!!!
How I Saved Money on my Christmas Shopping.
I am away from my family and most of my friends so I do not have to do Christmas shopping. I got cards for a few people that I work with….but that was not a big number. I am sending cards to my family at home so all I have to worry about is the cost of the cards and postage.
I am getting something for Honey and I was going to stop there but then his mother is coming up to spend Christmas with us. This means that I need to get her a gift because it would look bad to have one gift for him under the tree and not have one for her too.
