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malnpudl at 06:36pm on 18/09/2014
malnpudl at 06:36pm on 18/09/2014Today's dose of Good & Happy is financial, and that is a very welcome thing this year, as the CPAP acquisition process wiped out all but $28 of my savings account. (That $28 is looking very sad. And slightly scary. I deeply dislike having no safety net other than a credit card.)
So I was extremely pleased, a few weeks ago, to find that I had a couple of modest sums of money in the hands of California's Unclaimed Property department. Since they were both well under the $500 limit, I didn't have to mail in any documentation. I just typed in my data and it matched what they had on file, so it was accepted. Today I got two checks, for a total of about $275.
That makes me feel much less insecure, and also gives me a head start on saving toward the $600 I need for new glasses (which I was supposed to get this summer, but which got trumped by the CPAP). I just had my eye exam last week, and my doc says the prescription has changed enough that the old glasses really aren't adequate any more. With any luck, I'll now be able to do that in no more than six months, which is way better than the year or so it would otherwise have taken to save up enough money.
If you've never looked, it might be worth checking to see if you -- or a family member, or a deceased parent, etc -- might have something out there. There's a good summary of how to find out, at least in the US, in this Forbes article: How to Find Unclaimed Money and Property
I might mention that this came to my attention because my own deceased ex-husband turned out to have over $18K out there that was missed after he died. His sister won't get her brother back, but she will get this belated gift from him, and that's a lovely thing. She'd never have known about it if an asset-recovery firm hadn't contacted me, apparently thinking I was the heir (I'm not). So she benefits, and so did I, because I found a wee bit of my own money there, too. It's all good.
So I was extremely pleased, a few weeks ago, to find that I had a couple of modest sums of money in the hands of California's Unclaimed Property department. Since they were both well under the $500 limit, I didn't have to mail in any documentation. I just typed in my data and it matched what they had on file, so it was accepted. Today I got two checks, for a total of about $275.
That makes me feel much less insecure, and also gives me a head start on saving toward the $600 I need for new glasses (which I was supposed to get this summer, but which got trumped by the CPAP). I just had my eye exam last week, and my doc says the prescription has changed enough that the old glasses really aren't adequate any more. With any luck, I'll now be able to do that in no more than six months, which is way better than the year or so it would otherwise have taken to save up enough money.
If you've never looked, it might be worth checking to see if you -- or a family member, or a deceased parent, etc -- might have something out there. There's a good summary of how to find out, at least in the US, in this Forbes article: How to Find Unclaimed Money and Property
I might mention that this came to my attention because my own deceased ex-husband turned out to have over $18K out there that was missed after he died. His sister won't get her brother back, but she will get this belated gift from him, and that's a lovely thing. She'd never have known about it if an asset-recovery firm hadn't contacted me, apparently thinking I was the heir (I'm not). So she benefits, and so did I, because I found a wee bit of my own money there, too. It's all good.
(no subject)
Heck, I get all excited if I find a dollar left in my jeans pocket.
I'm glad the CPAP thingie is working for you. I think it would take me a while to get used to going to sleep with something attached to my nose. Actually I'd likely end up tangled in it, and half strangle myself. :P
(no subject)
I won't kid you, the CPAP is a bizarre thing to do to yourself. I am still getting used to it, what, three weeks later? Something like that. The hose doesn't tangle so much as flop about when you move... not that that's much better when you're rolling over in the middle of the night. And even though it's much quieter than I had expected, there's still this soft little Darth-CPAP whoosh-whoosh with every inhale-exhale. (That part is sort of hilarious. As is the elephant trunk metaphor, which is just incredibly apt.)
It really helped that the woman who taught my CPAP class suggested using it while awake for a while before trying to fall asleep with it on. That went a really long way toward getting over the OMG WEIRD!!! initial feeling and ramping it down to a sort of lowercase weird. If that makes sense. *g*
I went into it determined to become BFFs with my machine and all of its paraphernalia. It was going to be a love match, dammit, and that's all there was to it. I think that has been a great help.
(no subject)
You need your scrip and a measurement of your intrapupillary distance (which your optometrist will measure for you, but in my experience they will bitch heartily about it while doing so. OH WELL).
I've now bought 2 pair from them. Other friends have since gotten glasses from them too, with no problems, including my friend Suz who needed correction for astigmatism, and Derek who needed bifocals. Both were a bit more expensive, but I don't think anything topped $60.
I know this seems unbelievable. Glasses are one of those things we all just grow accustomed to costing the equivalent of rent or a mortgage payment. But seriously, they are legit, and there are a dizzying variety of options.
(I have absolutely no professional ties to this company. I just read about them in an AJ Jacobs article, and figured that it was cheap enough that if it didn't work out, I wouldn't care. They did work out though, so now I TELL EVERYONE.)
(no subject)
Found Money
Also, Zenni Optical rocks. Get your script and PD, make sure your size choices fit your script, and they're awesome. I add that caveat because I'm one script less than legally blind, ordered a pair with frames to large, and they work, but not well.
The pair I was replacing (The new ones were cuter) are fine. The cute ones make me nauseous. But, they are adorable.