Another from the museum
Okay. I've been 50 for nearly six months, now. The other morning as I checked my e-mail messages (I have no less than 4 e-mail accounts - don't ask), I saw that my electric bill was very close to 4 times higher than normal. WTF?! My "normal" electric bill is $70 a month.
I was concerned to say the least. The only thing I could think of that changed in the last month was that my daughter, her boyfriend and his cousin set up the downstairs basement into a gaming room. Complete with 3 X-boxes, 3 TVs, electric guitars, etc.. Sometimes they play into the wee hours of the night and all the lights are on for hours at a time.
Still. That seemed a bit excessive to me. My niece lived with me for over 3 years (using the basement as her bedroom area) and my electric bill was not affected. She didn't leave lights on, but was known to leave curling irons on etc...
I've had a couple of nephews stay with me for a few months at a time - still no great increase in electric. I have a gas furnace and a gas water heater.
One time my dryer ran all night (timer broke) and that barely caused a blip on my electric bill. So, what was causing this excessive amount?
I sent my daughter a text message. I made sure to tell her that I was not mad, just concerned and we would have to figure out what was making the bill so high.
Of course she became defensive at first - blamed the heater in the downstairs bathroom. I told her that we ran the heater every winter and it has never been an issue before. I told her that perhaps my refrigerator was dying. This was all in text format.
I looked at the bill online again to see what the exact date range was. That's when I saw it. Last months' bill. At first I thought that I paid it late and it was not registering on the bill. Nope. I had not paid it AT ALL! WTF!? This is the first time I have ever done this!
Oh, my. Now, I have to tell my daughter. But first I had to figure out why I didn't pay it. I had switched all utilities to on-line payments two months ago. I guess it just didn't register or I didn't get one in an e-mail from that utility. Nope. Just checked. I got a notice alright. I just moved it to the utilities folder and promptly forgot about it. I guess.
You would think that somebody who works with and on computers every day would be a bit more aware of on-line banking and bill paying. Not so! I do SO much on-line it figures that some things go by the wayside.
I actually was probably one of the last members of the family to begin on-line payments. What is up with that? Well, I'll tell you. Since I work with computers and am very generous by nature, I left my wireless router wide open for anybody to use. Almost everyone who visits me has an iPhone or iPad that needs a connection to the Internet. I didn't lock it down with security. Bah, I said. Back then the router was in the basement and the signal died as soon as one walked out my door. Eventually I moved the router upstairs and while enrolling my daughter into college, I thought "It's time to lock it down." And, I did.
Over the past two years, I have been allowing myself to relax and do a bit more on-line than I used to. It is because I know and read about all the horror stories of stolen identities etc... and I know HOW they happen and it has just taken me a while to trust this stuff.
And between you and me - I actually LIKE the process of writing checks and paying the bills. I KNOW, right?! Who in the world LIKES to pay bills?! Sigh. I'll rephrase that. If I have the money in the bank, I LIKE the PROCESS of writing checks. I just do. Maybe I should have gone into accounting.
Back to the electric bill. As I looked over the past 12 months, I realize that "normal" has crept up to over $100 a month - to $170 a month. Huh. This past month was actually ONLY $80. It has not been that low since the spring. Stupid A/C and hot flashes!
I decided this warranted an actual phone call instead of a text. I called. My daughter answered. I started with "Now, don't be mad! I'm only human!" I was laughing the entire time. And, I told her what I had done. She yelled "MOM! I've been going nuts running around unplugging everything!" Whoops.
Ah, well. At least I know she will work with me if we ever DO have a problem with utilities. When I related the story to an older and dear friend she quipped "Oh, yeah. You're fifty alright!" And I always thought the electric company had to worry about the 20-year-old age group not paying their bills.
10 comments:
Thanks for the visit to my blog....
I do everything online, banking, bill paying, shopping. With a secure connection of course. Have never had an issue with my account numbers or credit card numbers. And I've gone paperless on all bills and statements. I'll admit it takes a little more thinking without a paper bill sitting in front of me.
I do everything by hand, with pen and checkbook. I use a four column analysis pad, eye-ease, to record what I owe and check it and write in the date paid when I do. I like doing this. I've done it this way for fifty years. I was going to pay my bills online one time. Set it up, moved everything online, found out I was going to be charged $7 bucks a month. I pulled everything off line and continued to use my pad, even after the bank told me it was a mistake, the service is free.
I did forget a bill one time. I forgot to pay the electric bill but paid both of them when the next one came. My philosophy is, why fly when you can drive; why pay your bill on line when you can do it by hand.
I do about 75% bill paying online. Some things can't be done online, like our water bill and our trash bill. Of course, both those bills are rather new since we never had to pay them till all the uppity out-of-state people moved into the neighborhood and wanted those things.
And, yes, I too forgot to pay the electric bill one month. What a shock that was when the next bill arrived. I now have an alert system set up tied in with my calendar online and it lets me know what's due and when.
I am 60 and this has recently been happening to me. A bill doesn't get paid for some reason and I have almost converted completely to on-line. So, I guess it will not get better.
Beverly - you're welcome.
Grumpy - I am not certain if it was out of necessity or convenience that I finally switched the utility bills over. Probably a little bit of both.The CC and a few others I had already started on-line payments.
I would say it was the price of postage stamps but I have a couple of family members that work in the post office and I would kind of like to help keep them in their job for a while longer. Even if it is only my few cents extra a year.
Bill - I am glad to see that I am not the only one who still likes to write them out by hand. But alas, life is getting in the way and my hoarding (paper)habit has made my desk/office/table space a living hell. It is beginning to create too much stress as I do not take the time to organize like I should.
But then forgetting a payment was pretty stressful, too. So....
Cheyenne - I like that alert idea. I may have to look into that.
Tabor - I'm still glad I'm not the only one who forgets. Even if it is not going to get better, I can see we are all in the same boat. That in itself makes me feel better and I no longer feel like a dolt.
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