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Paying the bills

Dear Reader,

I'm off again tomorrow on a round the world tour - 2 weeks in Santiago, Chile, followed by 2 weeks in Sydney, Australia.

Per company policy, I'm responsible for paying my own hotel charges and then expensing that back to the company. No big deal for the average person. If only I were average!!

Because I so recently received my UK visa and even more recently was added to the UK payroll, I'm in a little bit of a situation financially. I have very little money in the UK at present - like 100 pounds, which is not nearly enough to cover 4 weeks of hotels. I can't get a credit card here, because I haven't been in the country long enough, which means I have to pay for my hotels with my US credit card. But then I pay that bill with dollars and get reimbursed in pounds. I had been reserving the money left in my US accounts to get me through a year or so of Sallie Mae payments, and it's frustrating to have to reallocate that money with no expectation of it being replenished.

And then the unthinkable happened. I screwed up my taxes!!! And Uncle Sam returned the money I had sent them two months ago. (You've got to double check those numbers, people!!!)

So that makes Sallie Mae and me very happy.

In addition, I've been able to make free phone calls with Skype to the Verizon customer service center. (I made similar calls from a cell phone when I was a student here in the UK. I was put on hold so long, I ran through 10 pounds worth of pre-paid minutes and the call was dropped.) Because I've moved out of Verizon's service area, they will cancel my contract without charge.

These aren't particularly miraculous things, but they come at a time when I need them, so I'm very grateful to God all the same.

May He bless you as well,
~~LeAn

Comments

  1. Wait - they RETURNED money??? I didn't even think that was possible! Oh, by the way - be sure to check out your favorite blogs while you're in these fun places! Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete

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