Mishmash Musings » Services

Self-Checkout

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:28:12 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE the self-checkout lane at places like grocery stores and Wal-Mart! I think running all of the items I bought through the barcode scanner is fun, and I seem to be able to do it a heck of a lot faster than the cashiers working there. I use self-checkout whenever I can and just wish more places had these aisles!

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What is health travel?

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:27:18 +0000

So have you heard of the latest health care trend? It’s something called health travel, which is basically when someone elects to go to another country to have a medical procedure done — usually due to cost considerations. I’d heard of people doing this to take advantage of experimental treatments not offered in the U.S., but hadn’t really thought about folks doing it to save money.

One of the biggest destinations in health travel is Mexico, where most everything is around 80 percent less than similar procedures in the U.S.

Hmm, I guess if you really need something done and don’t have proper insurance, it would be worth looking into a trip south of the border.

Credit Check

admin — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:08:13 +0000

I always read that you’re supposed to check your credit rating ever once in a while, regardless of whether or not you’re shopping around for financial services. The reason is that doing so is supposed to help you spot fraud or identity theft before things get too far out of hand, because loan applications and whatnot will appear on your credit report.

Anyway, there are lots of companies out there that provide credit report services, so it shouldn’t be difficult to take a quick peek now and then.

I have to admit that I’ve only checked my credit rating once in the past four years. I guess I’m just too lazy to follow through on advice even when I know it’s good. I’m gonna do it soon, though! (Yeah, famous last words….)

Playing the Odds

admin — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:23:03 +0000

I was reading something about Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) today, and was kind of shocked to see this figure: according to a recent Social Security Administration (SSA) study, a 20-year-old worker has a 3-in-10 chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement age. That’s a 30 percent chance, which means that almost one in three people will become disabled to some degree. Wow, that’s pretty frightening!

If this does happen, you can of course get Social Security disability insurance from the federal government — provided you can navigate through all the red tape and paperwork required to start receiving benefits. I know a couple people who have tried applying for SSDI, and pretty much gave up on the whole ordeal because they simply couldn’t get everything in order.

Seriously, this is kind of a scary knowing that I have a 30 percent chance of becoming disabled. And then I might not even receive the benefits that I’m entitled to just because of paperwork snafus? If something catastrophic ever happens to me or my husband, I would probably go to a company like Allsup for help. They provide social security disability representation, and boast a 97% success rate in getting benefits for people who go through the process with them. That’s comforting to know, especially when my family’s very livelihood would be at stake.

Dangerous Jobs

admin — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:53:35 +0000

I have a friend who works in an automotive plant near San Antonio, TX. Gil’s job is to load steel coils into huge press machines, where the material will then be punched out into various auto parts. The steel coils weigh upwards of 1,000 lbs., so it’s very dangerous work. In fact, Gil told me that when he was transferred to the department, several of his co-workers mentioned that it would be a good idea to locate a San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyer just in case legal services are required further down the road.

Since I had some free time on my hands, I decided to help Gil out by getting a couple of law firm names for him. One of the top personal injury law firms in the San Antonio area appears to be O’Hanlon, McCollom, and Demerath. Founded in 1992, some of the name partners have been practicing together since the early 1970s, and have a great deal of experience handling cases involving personal injuries due to motorcycle, ATV, automobile, construction, and workplace accidents. They’ve got an excellent track record at winning favorable settlements, and seem like a good bet for my friend.

At any rate, I’ll be sure to pass the info along to Gil so he can make his own decisions. Of course, I hope he’ll never be in a spot where he needs this kind of service, but better safe than sorry….

No More Contacts

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:09:50 +0000

Jerry has been wearing contacts for about 10 years now, and is thoroughly tired of the hassle that goes along with them. Between revising his prescription every year, going through gallons of cleaning solution, and always having irritated eyes, he’s had enough. That’s why he’s really been pushing for Lasik surgery lately.

I haven’t looked into Lasik much in recent years. I know I checked it out in-depth when the procedure first became widely available, but the cost was prohibitive back then and we didn’t have enough money to pursue that option.

Now, however, I’m sure we could manage somehow. We’ve got some savings, and Jerry’s Christmas bonus should be fairly sizable this year, so maybe he’ll be able to have the procedure in early 2009. I’m sure he’ll be happy to finally be done with contacts for good!

In Too Deep

admin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:25:58 +0000

I just got my credit card statement this morning and was shocked to see that my balance was well over $1,000. I mean, I knew that I spent a lot of money last month, but I guess I didn’t realize just how much it was. I reviewed all the charges, and everything is indeed accurate, so that means I’m on the hook for a ton of cash.

Since there’s no way I’m going to be able to pay off the whole thing by the due date, I’m going to get stuck with a huge finance charge. I absolutely hate paying credit card interest! It’s so high and feels like such a waste, ya know?

What I might end up doing instead is taking advantage of a 0% balance transfer. That would allow me to pay off my debt slowly without worrying about interest rates at all — as long as I get everything paid off in a reasonable amount of time, that is.

I usually don’t get into financial binds like this anymore, so I figure one balance transfer won’t hurt. Let’s see if these offers are as good as they sound!

Protect Your Identity

admin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:24:23 +0000

If you think identity theft is something that would never happen to you, then you’re actually leaving yourself vulnerable to this kind of fraud. Even if you are extremely careful about how and where you transmit your vital information online and shred any documents containing your credit card and bank account numbers before throwing them away, identity theft is still a very real possibility. Just think of all the news stories we hear about bank or government employees who lose laptops and files full of sensitive data. Incidents like that are completely out of your control, and yet could still lead to a multitude of problems.

That’s why it’s important to take a proactive approach to protecting your identity by signing up with a service like lifelock. Lifelock is a company that provides identity theft protection for individuals, families, and even children by setting up fraud alerts on their behalf. Then, if someone tries to open a new account, get new credit cards, or apply for a loan using a name listed in an alert, the bank or financial institution will be required to verify that person’s identity. In short, Lifelock is an extra safeguard that will protect you when all of your other precautions fail.

It could take months or even years to undo all the damage caused by identity theft, so signing up for Lifelock seems like a good idea. Check out their website today to learn more about the valuable services they provide!