Wednesday, March 6, 2013
CHOP Orientation and free parking in the city?!
CHOP
Children's hospital of philadelphia.
Day 1
Today was my first day of orientation. It went good. Alot of information about policy and procedures, as well as benefits and discounts. I was able to hear two stories about pt families that made me really be thankful for my career in oncology, but also learn to listen to family and put them more into my nursing care. I also met couple of people who were very friendly and nice. I was able to speak up on some occasions because the 66 new employees were very quiet.
Day 2
More relaxed environment. Did a funny skit on drug free zone which i enjoyed. i also drove around town and saw an apartment. i was able to to hangout with someone i met during orientation and he showed me around town in the car and where to park and how to get around. that was really cool. We did see an apartment, but it was too much money. I must find something under $500. It the only way that I can come up on top with this job pay increase and pay off my student loan.
Day 3
General orientation finished and it went great! Now we are in the nursing orientation. I am becoming more financially savvy and made a great financial decision today. I FOUND FREE PARKING!! I was able to find parking near the hospital and walk. It was a ten minute walk, but it was free parking. I would not be spending $10 for one day parking anymore. I can now only worry about ez pass and maybe a trolly which will be $2 one way. Total before was $15. total now is $5 (toll only) but if i have to catch a trolly is would be $9. Im saving more than $6! and Im not buying food from the cafe! saving me more money!! yesss dave ramsey would be proud!(even if I know I have to sell my car eventually)
in other news.
I got to meet my floor managers(who hired me) and orientation manager and that was great. Off course I thanked them for hiring me and showed them how happy I was to be part of their floor. Im so happy to be at CHOP. They gave us a free shirt and a bag of goodies about Philadelphia which was good for me. I met tons of people and learned so much about the hospital.
Day 3 was much better than day 1 when everyone was quiet and shy. Now everyone knows each other and able to really maybe hangout. I went to check out another apartment today that was under $500. This place was great(inside), but the outside needed some help. Its not in the location i want to be, BUT it has other positives. I will write a review about my apartment shopping and how that will help me with my student loans.
Tonight i will go over my budget to check out where is my money going to go for the rest of this month and next month.
My goal is to find an apartment by the end of the month and pay off the rest of the collection agency. Just one more agency and I will be done with them.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Collection Agency
Collection Agency 1- Gym contract
They don't play. I am sucker when it come to joining things unfortunately. I now finally starting to say NO, but before I learned to say no I decided to do a gym membership contract (bad idea). The owner said if I were to move out of town it will be cancel. I move out and it wasn't cancel. It went straight to a collection agency. I did make a settlement before it went to my credit score. So I am happy about that, but upset about the whole thing. DO NOT DO CONTRACT!! There soo many gyms out there that you can do month to month with no contract. Do not get pushed/bullied by the people about "how good the deal is" or "why not, why not, and why not" or "its only 30 bucks a months", "its nothing, you pay do it","think longterm"... NO NO NO NO two letter, one syllable, one word so simple yet we don't say it because we scared. well I was since I got suckered in. I unable to say no. I said maybe, let me think about it, but i should have said no. so simple yet far from my head. That guy was persistent and did not let me leave the gym without saying yes and once I said yes wow did those paperwork go fast. So many signatures and BOOM one year contract! bully I tell you! a big built bully! I am now making two payments of 185 to a collection agency because of me! not the bully because I could have just said no, but I blame myself.
Collection agency is another story. they are mean and do not, I repeat do not want to be your friend. they want your money and are going to call you up to five times a day to get it. Im lucky that did not happen to me because I decided to settle on the first phone call. I also did not know my gym membership went to collection till they called me and was not ready to destroy my credit again. march 2nd will be my last payment and i will make sure they are deleted from my checking account because i don't trust anyone with my hard earned money. i should have sent them a money order or a check according to articles, but it was too late.
Collection Agency 2- Medical
Now this one is soooo not my fault. I went on a mission trip to Nicaragua. It was actually a medical mission trip and I came back sick. I had to go to cdc and a tropical disease doctor! so many doctors appointments and medications. This trip was four years ago!! I sent all my bills to the school. Majority of the bill was all the labs and Dr appointments. The school said that my trip/school insurance should pay for it. NEGATIVE! They did not pay and for years it went not being paid. Guess who is paying for it now. THIS GUY! Four years later I am called by a collection agency letting me know my unpaid balance from my medical bills. I told them my story and they really didn't care. It did affect my credit score unfortunately without me knowing, but i am now paying for it $1600. I have paid off $1000 so far and have one more payment at the end of march for $527, but will pay early with my emergency fund. This sucked balls, but i learned that when you get a bill make sure you know what happen to that bill. check if it got paid or not. don't just forget about it.
tip 1- pay it off fast- Do not do 20 payments of $10 dollars. Figure out a way to pay it off fast. I will be using my emergency fund since i don't want it to ruin my credit anymore. I also would say pay it off fast by selling stuff or working an extra shift.
tip 2- no credit cards- The lady said i should use my credit card and then pay my credit card monthly and built my credit. NEGATIVE! no no no i will pay with my debit card because thats my money that i worked for. Im very lucky to be staying at my gf parents house for free for a month (transitioning job) so the money for the rent went to pay off the agencies. Do not let this stupidity happen to you!
tip 3- check if it was paid- Do not just give it to someone else and forget about it. But check that insurance company paid for it or not. I did not.
tip 4- do not give them the story- they don't care about how you got to a collection agency. they just care how you going to pay for it. so just be straight forward about payment plans and try to pay as much as you can, as fast as you can.
March- Collection agencies- PAID total=$1926
They don't play. I am sucker when it come to joining things unfortunately. I now finally starting to say NO, but before I learned to say no I decided to do a gym membership contract (bad idea). The owner said if I were to move out of town it will be cancel. I move out and it wasn't cancel. It went straight to a collection agency. I did make a settlement before it went to my credit score. So I am happy about that, but upset about the whole thing. DO NOT DO CONTRACT!! There soo many gyms out there that you can do month to month with no contract. Do not get pushed/bullied by the people about "how good the deal is" or "why not, why not, and why not" or "its only 30 bucks a months", "its nothing, you pay do it","think longterm"... NO NO NO NO two letter, one syllable, one word so simple yet we don't say it because we scared. well I was since I got suckered in. I unable to say no. I said maybe, let me think about it, but i should have said no. so simple yet far from my head. That guy was persistent and did not let me leave the gym without saying yes and once I said yes wow did those paperwork go fast. So many signatures and BOOM one year contract! bully I tell you! a big built bully! I am now making two payments of 185 to a collection agency because of me! not the bully because I could have just said no, but I blame myself.
Collection agency is another story. they are mean and do not, I repeat do not want to be your friend. they want your money and are going to call you up to five times a day to get it. Im lucky that did not happen to me because I decided to settle on the first phone call. I also did not know my gym membership went to collection till they called me and was not ready to destroy my credit again. march 2nd will be my last payment and i will make sure they are deleted from my checking account because i don't trust anyone with my hard earned money. i should have sent them a money order or a check according to articles, but it was too late.
Collection Agency 2- Medical
Now this one is soooo not my fault. I went on a mission trip to Nicaragua. It was actually a medical mission trip and I came back sick. I had to go to cdc and a tropical disease doctor! so many doctors appointments and medications. This trip was four years ago!! I sent all my bills to the school. Majority of the bill was all the labs and Dr appointments. The school said that my trip/school insurance should pay for it. NEGATIVE! They did not pay and for years it went not being paid. Guess who is paying for it now. THIS GUY! Four years later I am called by a collection agency letting me know my unpaid balance from my medical bills. I told them my story and they really didn't care. It did affect my credit score unfortunately without me knowing, but i am now paying for it $1600. I have paid off $1000 so far and have one more payment at the end of march for $527, but will pay early with my emergency fund. This sucked balls, but i learned that when you get a bill make sure you know what happen to that bill. check if it got paid or not. don't just forget about it.
tip 1- pay it off fast- Do not do 20 payments of $10 dollars. Figure out a way to pay it off fast. I will be using my emergency fund since i don't want it to ruin my credit anymore. I also would say pay it off fast by selling stuff or working an extra shift.
tip 2- no credit cards- The lady said i should use my credit card and then pay my credit card monthly and built my credit. NEGATIVE! no no no i will pay with my debit card because thats my money that i worked for. Im very lucky to be staying at my gf parents house for free for a month (transitioning job) so the money for the rent went to pay off the agencies. Do not let this stupidity happen to you!
tip 3- check if it was paid- Do not just give it to someone else and forget about it. But check that insurance company paid for it or not. I did not.
tip 4- do not give them the story- they don't care about how you got to a collection agency. they just care how you going to pay for it. so just be straight forward about payment plans and try to pay as much as you can, as fast as you can.
March- Collection agencies- PAID total=$1926
Good bye Michigan
Last shift...
Bitter.Sweet.Goodbye Helen Devos Children's Hospital
It was my last shift on feb 25, 2013. Boy was it a good one! I had sooo much fun. Steph,jamie,jp,eric,kelly, jen, jess, and two new nurses Cristine and veronica surprised me with food and desert. It was chips and salsa which was very nice of them. The funny thing is that I don't like chips and salsa hahaha, but I was very thankful for this. We did work off course, but we had talks that were funny and sad(work,weddings etc.). They were asking me what im going to miss? what would i change? top 5 patients? worst day at the job? best day of the job? so many questions that i look back at now and realize how much I have grown and experienced in this hospital in just 12 months! I came in not knowing anything about cancer and I leave with so much knowledge, but still seeking and yearning for more and MORE! After the shift was done I had parents who said thank you for caring for there daughter/son during my last shifts/days which meant alot to me. Sometimes we(nurses) feel that we might not be making a difference or change especially during the night shift, but to have a parent wake up to say thank you before I left meant sooo much to me. After the shift was done I went out to eat with all the guys from our floor. jp,eric, and adam. I know only three haha, but we held that floor down! Especially when we all worked together! Soooo much fun to work with them. I was glad to finally eat with them and talk about the girls hahaha just talking with guys is rare in this career, but when you get to it feels great.. I was unable to say goodbye to alot of people which made me sad, but I will definitely visit soon and give them updates about things I have learned. I'm thankful and blessed to be part of that team. I will miss Helen Devos Children's Hospital. Thank you for the memories.
Good bye Grand Rapids Michigan!
NO bitter. NO sweet. just goodbye! hahahaha
Sorry, but I will not miss michigan. I miss my family too much. I was sad/depressed and thought I was suffering from sad (seasonal affective depression) it was always snowing and so gloomy outside. I love snow, but not sooo much that you can't even go out! In my twelve months of living there my favorite time was artprize(wow) and when all of chrissy friends came to visit and we went to get pizza and saw a baseball game.------> that was so much fun. i am not going to miss michigan. BUT i will miss the people i met. Moving to michigan for 12 months I was able to meet my amazing girlfriend gymnastic friends. Now I can officially say they are my friends too. To be their roommate for three months was fun. Hanging out, playing video games, and having people over was fun and I will miss it. La familia of hillcrest drive. lol other than that I am glad to be leaving. Sorry, but im just not a mitten man(michigan is shaped as a mitten) I have nothing against the people who live there and nothing against the state. Its not a boring state, it very bueatiful. i was unable to go to traverse city or makinac island or the upper peninsula, but i did go to grand haven, south bend and st joseph. i will eventually go to upper peninsula one day. goodbye michigan.
Bitter.Sweet.Goodbye Helen Devos Children's Hospital
Good bye Grand Rapids Michigan!
NO bitter. NO sweet. just goodbye! hahahaha
Sorry, but I will not miss michigan. I miss my family too much. I was sad/depressed and thought I was suffering from sad (seasonal affective depression) it was always snowing and so gloomy outside. I love snow, but not sooo much that you can't even go out! In my twelve months of living there my favorite time was artprize(wow) and when all of chrissy friends came to visit and we went to get pizza and saw a baseball game.------> that was so much fun. i am not going to miss michigan. BUT i will miss the people i met. Moving to michigan for 12 months I was able to meet my amazing girlfriend gymnastic friends. Now I can officially say they are my friends too. To be their roommate for three months was fun. Hanging out, playing video games, and having people over was fun and I will miss it. La familia of hillcrest drive. lol other than that I am glad to be leaving. Sorry, but im just not a mitten man(michigan is shaped as a mitten) I have nothing against the people who live there and nothing against the state. Its not a boring state, it very bueatiful. i was unable to go to traverse city or makinac island or the upper peninsula, but i did go to grand haven, south bend and st joseph. i will eventually go to upper peninsula one day. goodbye michigan.
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