I’m so worried about burial and funeral expenses – it’s one thing that really makes me nervous, because, it can be so expensive. My friend and I were discussing it last night and I think she must think I’m crazy. I told her I’d like to buried right in the dirt. Just me. No box. No funeral home – nada. Kind of like that girl on the TV show, Six Feet Under. It is, however, illegal…so I don’t think that will be happening.

When you lose someone near and dear to you, it is such a highly emotional time. Having to worry about covering the cost of the burial and the funeral and everything involved can add way too much stress onto an already difficult time. So planning ahead and getting burial insurance might be the best way to go, to lighten the load on your loved ones.

Another thing we all think about is life insurance and leaving bills behind, etc., for our loved ones to have to take care of in the event of our death. There are companies that will even provide life insurance for senior citizens. So if you are older and still need to get life insurance, you might be able to get some.

Funerals are just so darned expensive these days! It’s really crazy! They can be between $5,000 and $10,000. And that is why I think it’s a great idea to consider insurance and burial insurance for seniors is available through different companies – and most of them do not require a physical before the policy is activated.

So it’s definitely something to think about. I’m a weird one and it’s been on my mind for a number of years, probably at a younger age than it is on most people’s minds. I just saw how expensive and stressful it was and began thinking of other ways the whole process could be handled.

That’s what I’ve been told…

• You have exceeded the maximum number of payments allowed on this account.

And which fine company do you think has shared this lovely information with me? The electric company, perchance? Yes – the electric company. You know, Alabama Power Company – the ones that want me to pay them extra money for not having enough money – now won’t let me give them any money! WTH??

Nutters, I tell you, it’s just plain nutters. See, I’ve been paying them bits and pieces here and there as I can, and it just so happens that in the last two weeks, I’ve been able to send them four or five different payments.

And I had $200 I could send them on Friday, but, it was on two separate cards – which would mean two separate payments. I paid the first one, no problem. The software then asked me if I’d like to make another payment. Why, yes – I would. How did you guess?

So I head back in to do just that and that is when I received the lovely message above.

And yet, it is due to be cut off on Wednesday. Just lover-ly.

One more chapter in the ongoing saga of Lisa VS. Alabama Power. Heh.

…to pay us what you owe us, so, we would like you to pay us even more

What the heck?! I’m late on my electric bill, because, the darn 100 degree days just did. us. in. Our darn bill is $359! And I guess I had a slow blogging month, or maybe I would do better to say, an unproductive blogging month. Things have just been so busy around this house, that it has been really hard to get much work done online! But that is a whole ‘nother sack o’ potatoes! (I need an office with a door, to lock the family out, so I can get some work done!)

What I’m really bitching about here, though, is that, for two weeks, I’ve been bustin’ my rumpus trying to get all the money together for that stinkin’ electric bill, among others….when I get this just loverly letter in the mail from them:

The electric service account at the above referenced address indicates a delinquent payment record. As a result, a deposit in the amount of $250.00 must be paid on this account.

See what I mean? “You can’t pay, so pay us some more.” That’s intelligent. Gah.

This same thing happened to me at the bank a couple of years ago – it was just like credit cards, you’re drowning, and in your dire struggle to get caught up – they push you back down under the water!

Life makes so much sense sometimes, doesn’t it? Ugh! I am almost there – to the original bill amount, that is! But, I still don’t have the total amount – I have until tomorrow. Wish me luck! And feel free to help out, if you’d like! All you have to do is click on my pretty Hippie Spelunker mug up there in the top left, and you will be taken to PayPal, where you can send me a buck or two, if you like. I only need $69 more, and I’m trying to avoid the pawn shop, but, I’m definitely not ruling that out – Mark’s got lots of watches, maybe even some Luminox watches. He loves those darn dive watches, but, they might just pay a bill this month!

I will work better this month. I will work harder this month. I will work more this month.

Work better, work harder, work more.

My new mantra. Heh.

My husband and I are in some debt and it makes life so difficult! I’ve been reading up on ways to help us get in a better situation and today I’ve been looking at a very helpful site, GoldStarCredit.net. There is definitely a lot of good information available on that site. First, I was reading their section on Debt Help, in which there were a number of interesting and informative articles, found on the left sidebar. The page on Collections Information really explained a lot of what we have been going through.

I have always wondered if it was bad to order a credit report – I thought I had heard that that was bad to do too often. But this site says that you should really stay on top of your credit report and order one at least once a month. Eeks! That sounds too frequent! I’ve never actually ordered one, but, I sure would love to see exactly how bad ours really looks! Funny how it can feel as scary as a bad report card in high school!

We would really love to get a mortgage in our name, but, I’m not sure how soon that will happen. We recently applied for one, but, were turned down because of our credit. I did learn a lot about the different types of mortgages on the Gold Star Credit site, though. I think it’s probably a good thing to learn and study about all of these things as we go along toward our goal of cleaning up our credit and owning our own home!

My friend, Cat, is from the UK and moved over here to the US later in life. I always love talking to her about the differences between life here and across the pond. I’ve learned some interesting things from her. One time I think we were talking about the different ways that we serve toast than she is used to. And more recently we were talking about the differences in things like healthcare and car insurance.

So then I was investigating UK car insurance online and I found it interesting to read their different terminology. One of the things that this website that I was looking at talks about is breakdown cover. And the cool thing about the breakdown cover is that it covers you, not your car! So even if you are in a friend’s car, you are covered! That is totally awesome!

One of the other interesting terms was keycare cover. As long as your keys are attached to the key fob, they will help you recover your keys. And they say they recover 90% of lost keys! Wow! I imagine they have a GPS tracking system in the key fobs. That is pretty cool!

It really sounds like some pretty good coverage over there in the UK, and I just love hearing about the different ways the same exact things are handled – especially in the same language! You know what I mean?
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A lot of people these days are really focused on getting more financially healthy. I constantly run into, or hear from, people who are in financial classes to learn how to better handle their money, and how to get a handle on their debt. My brother and his wife were in one, and they just loved it! One good way to get yourself on the road to a more healthy financial life is consolidating. For example, student loan consolidation – often this can reduce your monthly payment up to 50%! That is a big difference! And in addition to dealing with just one lender, you can lock in a low, fixed interest rate that will not increase. Another very good thing about it is that you can work on upping your credit score, because you will have less open accounts. That right there is a great reason to do it, if you ask me! Getting truly healthy means working on all parts of our lives, and that includes our pocketbooks!