I need to make more money

I'm about to move to a new place. Move in is September 1st. I have to prorate rent on my current place for three days, 1st thru 3rd, so I can move out and clean the place. It'll run about $210 for those three days. I have to pay $2,100 for the first month's rent. I have connection and reconnection fees for utilities.

It sucks!

This will be an extremely rough month financially, particularly because it follows an already tough month of August.

In August, there was school registration for both children, one college sophomore and one high school senior. Books for the college student. Band registration and fundraising as well as theater performance dues for the high school senior. Both need new laptops for school. One of the current nine-year old laptops is dead and the other one is dying.

I had to put our family pet's recent surgery on a payment plan with Care Credit. If I don't pay the $1,700 within eighteen months, I'll pay a whole lot in deferred interest.

I already had a payment plan for a recent ambulance ride and E.R. visit for the wife. That started out at like $1,400.

I also have a few more payment plans and just paying outs of accrued debt with interest that won't end for at least six months to a year.

But I try to remain positive. We have our health (barely/mostly). We have a place to move to (as long as nothing goes wrong). I have a job to pay for necessities as well as all this debt (well I have credit to pay and then some money from the job to make payments towards the credit).

So, life is good!

AT&T Uverse tried to skim $7/mo. off me

Here's something to look out for when you move. This happened with my ATT Uverse account/contract but I'm sure seemingly little things like this occur in all aspects of B2C interactions that people overlook or discard as not that big of deal. Not this consumer!

I recently moved. These days most utilities can be canceled, restarted, and/or relocated from one location to another via an online portal. ATT Uverse is one of them and I used their portal to set up my start date and installation time at my new place.

All was fine and dandy until I received my first bill for the new address. I see this $7/mo charge listed for a receiver. I don't know why as I signed on to a contract for a free wireless receiver with my home base DVR. So, I call Customer Care.

Longer story shorter. I signed on for a one-year commitment contract with a guaranteed price for two years. When I moved, about six months after the start of my contract, the promotion for a free receiver had ended so the new pricing took effect at my new address. They said that because the free-receiver promotion had ended that now I'd be charged a $7 monthly fee for it.

I don't think so! This isn't my first rodeo.

After raising my voice and getting my $7 back for the already billed charge, they gave me a lump sum for the remainder of my two-year pricing to cover the $7/mo. It came to $112 plus some estimated taxes. They had to do this because their system will not allow them to remove the $7 fee since the promotion is no longer going. I never ended my service, I just transferred it to a new location. So, I will be billed $7/mo for the next 16 months because some programmer does not know how to program to keep the original contract valid after a promotion ends.

The Customer Care rep kept telling me I forgot to check a box that said keep my receiver or some idiotic thing she knew nothing about. I had to tell her that when I used the online portal to move my service. I had to input my new address and then it stated something like the following: Congratulations! You are able to move your service "AS IS" to your new location. Press 'Next'. To me, that means service at my new address will be exactly like my service is at my current address. When I pressed 'Next', it took me to a page to pick my appointment date for a technician to come out and set up my service. Nothing else.

Anyway, that's my rant. I've not had any issues with ATT Uverse service since my original DVR was bad after initial installation. However, this kind of action just pisses me off as they are already charging so much for something and now they are trying to milk an extra $7/mo out of me because their stupid system can't keep up with all their promotions.

So, lesson to learn from Absent-Minded Jay?

Always go over your bills with a fine-tooth comb. At the very least, it could save you the cost of a Chipotle burrito/tacos.

No work or class today

I didn't go to work today. We made it a possible visit-every-living-domicile-for-rent-you-can day. It's final. We are definitely moving into the $1550 duplex. We put down a $1000 deposit and signed the lease. All we have to do now is wait for move-in day.

I really should take this extra time to start my paper but I don't think that's going to happen. I tried to be good about it but I just can't get really motivated to do so. I'm such a slacker!

I had to run to the credit union today to make my car payment. For some reason, they send me a statement sporadically these days. I got one last month and I think the month before but I don't recall getting one this month. Of course, I could have gotten one and the wifey placed it some where like I tell her she shouldn't but she does anyway. So, then it gets lost and I have to make a 20 minute drive to the credit union to put it in the night deposit. I can't fully blame this one on her but I'd give it a 50/50 chance. She won't like that I said that.

The kids liked it though. They just like to get out and go sometimes, especially if there is a possibility that we will stop by my parents' house. They are no longer alive but there's something my kids dig about going there. I'm sure part of it is because it has a huge ass yard they can play in versus the 4 x 10 slab of cement we have out back of our apartment/condo. It's nice though that they like it. I think it may also bring them a sense of comfort knowing they are in the house of their grandparents.

I wish they got more time with my mom and dad. It's unfair really. Most of my older brothers and sisters' kids got to have 10-20 years with them. Mine barely got 3-5. I'm sure my nieces and nephews miss their grandparents as well, some more than others, but I don't think they felt the same joy and fun and excitement that my kids did when they went to see my parents. Most of my nieces and nephews came over because their parents were fighting and the safest place was my parents' house. They didn't always or even mostly come over just to flat out visit or play. My kids only went to play and hang out with their grandparents. At the ages of 4 and 2, 5 and 3, they loved working in the garden with my mom or being pulled in a wagon or pushed in a dual stroller during a walk with my parents. They loved when my mom would sing to them when they got hurt and cater to their pain. They loved when she cooked for them. They loved when my dad would let them do things that I NEVER got to do when I was their age. Best yet, they got to feel deep, true love that my parents showed them when they came over. My parents enjoyed having them over because they weren't "watching" them. I didn't pawn my kids off to my parents so I could go have fun without them and my parents knew that. My parents could not wait for us to wake up in the morning (when we lived next door) so they could come over and see my kids or take them back to their house for breakfast or to play in the yard or do whatever.

I guess my kids still feel that when they go to my parents' now, after they've been gone for over a year. Then again, I have no earthly idea what is so fantastic about being in my parents' house for them. I like it because I remember the memories when I see them play in the yard as I did as a child. I guess the memories are what they like too.

Anyway, I don't know how I got off on that Kodak moment but I'll stop.

So, problem of having a new house to live in is solved (for now unless something goes wrong). Now, I just need to start my paper, hopefully sometime today but I'm sure I'll freakin' procrastinate until Sunday. I know myself too well but Sunday will be tough because I have hockey at 4 and then 7. I guess I'll need to get up early like last week and start it.

Have I mentioned that I hate school!? And working for a living? And having to move?