Day Off

I took a day off Thursday to do some work. I know this is a personal problem, but it was worth it. After working four hours in the morning I transitioned to a pile of mail on my kitchen table.

I read my Christmas cards.

Then I opened a notice from PG&E and discovered my bill was past due. Next I opened up another one and learned that it is really past due. I had auto-pay set up, but it turns out I haven’t been paying lately. I called customer service. The guy informed me, “Yeah, you’re scheduled to be shut off today.”

Good thing I took Thursday off.

I paid my bill over the phone with a service charge of $1.45 and I called back and asked the lady to put me on the, “Don’t shut me off list.”

Last month I was late paying my car insurance so next I called the company in San Diego to see if everything was okay. I was without coverage for five days, and had a balance of $3.20. Because I had paid in full for the year she put me on hold to check to see if she could waive the fee. She came back and told me that she was not authorized to waive amounts greater than $3. I asked to pay the balance over the phone, but there was a $5 fee to pay with credit card over the phone. I went on-line to take care of it.

Fortunately, they had my bill broken down into monthly payments in case I couldn’t come up with the entire amount at once.




I don't mail a lot of stuff, so I'm no exactly sure the current price of a stamp, but I do know that it is more than my monthly car insurance balance.

Except for rent I have all my bills set up to pay automatically, and I usually forget rent about quarter of the time. So far I haven’t accrued a late fee.

In the end I still have electricity. I still have car insurance. I still have a place to live, and I’m only out $4.65.