Saturday, November 7, 2009
Emergency Preparedness
Just got back from a great class about Emergency Preparedness. We learned about getting free stuff through using coupons, which I admit I have always been to lazy and unorganized to try, but I am going to see how much I can save for a month. Then we learned about different ways of preserving foods, using a food preserver to preserve food in bags and suck the air out to keep it fresh longer; even using Mason and Kerr jars with a special attachment on this machine to preserve nuts, candy, and more. The best thing, I learned to use a Pressure Cooker to save fuel and energy creating meals in much less time with much more flavor. Oh, I heard all of this before a long time ago, but I didn't have any incentive to try it out. Now I do and I really appreciate Preparedness Pro for the wonderful information and informative class.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Time Passes...
Time slides by quickly when one keeps busy and this Summer and Fall just flew by for me. Working from home can be a challenge and I found that I put in a lot more time than I would at a "job" to get everything done. My biggest challenge is organizing my time to fit in working, keeping house, cooking meals, grocery shipping, serving in my church, working on finances, and spending time for family members.
When you work for a "company" and you work 8 to 5, you go to work, chat with the co-workers about your night, settle into you workspace and get started. Someone may stop by your desk to tell you about the good time you missed by not going with them to the bar or something. Each time you stop to chat, you don't stop the "company clock". The "company" still pays you for your time, no matter how many times you stop to chat. When you work at home, you only get paid only if you produce results. If you are billing time, you can't keep the clock running when you get interrupted. This can create a stress. How do you keep interruptions to a minimum? If you know, give me some insights, in how you handle this problem.
I bill time, so some weeks I may work 50 hours just to bill 40. (I can't bill for the time I am spending right now to write this blot.) One thing that helps me, is getting started early in the morning. If I can work several hours before the rest of my world gets up, then I will accomplish more in the day. Sleeping in may be nice at times, but losing those hours can be costly. (I read once that Martha Stewart only sleeps 4 hours a day! She uses 4 more hours each day than I do, because I sleep 8. That can really add up quickly, 4x7=28 hours a week. But if I find I don't get sick as often if I get more sleep.)
Structuring my time and making every spare minute count can help me get the other things done that I want to do. When the TV went Digital, we didn't get a box, because TV can waste a lot of time, and now we don't watch TV, unless it we rent a DVD on the weekends. This frees up so much time for family and for accomplishing other things, like hobbies or spending time with friends.
Our world may be changing with the recession in that people are spending more time with family instead of spending money going out. We may be getting better acquainted with our children and friends and finding that they are great people. My challenge this Holiday season will be to relax a little in my drive to get everything done, spend some time looking for those who are in need of help getting through the season, and making a difference. I challenge you to find people you can help and make this a Thanksgiving season to remember.
When you work for a "company" and you work 8 to 5, you go to work, chat with the co-workers about your night, settle into you workspace and get started. Someone may stop by your desk to tell you about the good time you missed by not going with them to the bar or something. Each time you stop to chat, you don't stop the "company clock". The "company" still pays you for your time, no matter how many times you stop to chat. When you work at home, you only get paid only if you produce results. If you are billing time, you can't keep the clock running when you get interrupted. This can create a stress. How do you keep interruptions to a minimum? If you know, give me some insights, in how you handle this problem.
I bill time, so some weeks I may work 50 hours just to bill 40. (I can't bill for the time I am spending right now to write this blot.) One thing that helps me, is getting started early in the morning. If I can work several hours before the rest of my world gets up, then I will accomplish more in the day. Sleeping in may be nice at times, but losing those hours can be costly. (I read once that Martha Stewart only sleeps 4 hours a day! She uses 4 more hours each day than I do, because I sleep 8. That can really add up quickly, 4x7=28 hours a week. But if I find I don't get sick as often if I get more sleep.)
Structuring my time and making every spare minute count can help me get the other things done that I want to do. When the TV went Digital, we didn't get a box, because TV can waste a lot of time, and now we don't watch TV, unless it we rent a DVD on the weekends. This frees up so much time for family and for accomplishing other things, like hobbies or spending time with friends.
Our world may be changing with the recession in that people are spending more time with family instead of spending money going out. We may be getting better acquainted with our children and friends and finding that they are great people. My challenge this Holiday season will be to relax a little in my drive to get everything done, spend some time looking for those who are in need of help getting through the season, and making a difference. I challenge you to find people you can help and make this a Thanksgiving season to remember.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A beef with PayPal
After using PayPal for several years, I really have a beef with their new policy. In the past, a person without a PayPal account could purchase something using their credit card and they didnt' have to have a PayPal account. Well, I tried to do that on a personal purchase, but I had been checking something in our business PayPal account and it was still open. When I entered my Credit card information, it took it and I thought the transaction went through OK, but when I looked in our business PayPal account, to my horror, they paid for my purchase out of that account, taking a bank draw from our business account.
Now, these economic times don't allow for much flexibility in a business account and taking a big draw, without even telling me, can cause all kinds of problems. I called PayPal and of course, I got a man with a heavy accent, reading a script in a monotone voice, who kept trying to read the policy to me as to why they did what they did. He probably didn't understand much of what I said, because he couldn't do more than tell me he couldn't help me. I did finally get out of him that the person I was paying could cancel the transaction from his end, if it was still pending. Luckily we were able to cancel it. But PayPal should have had a popup or second screen that would warn me that my credit card was declined, for whatever reason, and give me the choice to cancel or to use my PayPal account.
Because of this, I lost 4 hours of work, trying to get it all straightened out, and I still have not been able to pay for the item. I had the seller send it to another email, not connected to a PayPal account, I double checked to make sure everything was correct, and PayPal said I had to sign up for a PayPal account to get the transaction to go through. They wanted me to connect my account to another bank account. Fat Chance that will ever happen again. They have just lost a customer, for we will not be using them again for our businesses.
Now, these economic times don't allow for much flexibility in a business account and taking a big draw, without even telling me, can cause all kinds of problems. I called PayPal and of course, I got a man with a heavy accent, reading a script in a monotone voice, who kept trying to read the policy to me as to why they did what they did. He probably didn't understand much of what I said, because he couldn't do more than tell me he couldn't help me. I did finally get out of him that the person I was paying could cancel the transaction from his end, if it was still pending. Luckily we were able to cancel it. But PayPal should have had a popup or second screen that would warn me that my credit card was declined, for whatever reason, and give me the choice to cancel or to use my PayPal account.
Because of this, I lost 4 hours of work, trying to get it all straightened out, and I still have not been able to pay for the item. I had the seller send it to another email, not connected to a PayPal account, I double checked to make sure everything was correct, and PayPal said I had to sign up for a PayPal account to get the transaction to go through. They wanted me to connect my account to another bank account. Fat Chance that will ever happen again. They have just lost a customer, for we will not be using them again for our businesses.
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