Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Just when you think you can make ends meet...

Someone moves the ends!

This month I have car rego $640, phone bill $288 on which I owe $213 as I'm in credit (the phonebill is capped at $200, but during the flood and this past 30 days I've been a bit heavy on the calls - and I've just found out about the call rate 40C/50 seconds, with a 37c call connection charge - rip off!).

I've received the water rates, $69, but there was no water supplied in that as I have a tank and haven't used a Ml of water in the last six months, and I was in credit, too.

Rates will be due soon, too. Another $700 odd, or more. And I'm sure there's a power bill due soon, too.

I've just been to the dentist and it cost me $245 for a "surgical extraction/part bone", no wonder the sucker hurts so much, and a filling @ $172. The health fund paid $204 and I had to find the balance.

And I got the apprentice dentist. I always get the apprentice dentist. I really don't have a lot of confidence in dentists because the young ones look in my mouth (and some of the older ones, too), and exclaim at the number of fillings I have. When I was a child I had fissures in my molars and in those days your dentist would drill and fill them. These days they clean them and put a clear resin on them and they are protected from decay. I am angry now that so many of my teeth were filled needlessly as there was no decay and that now, 40 plus years later, my teeth are falling apart. I've had ongoing problems with my teeth because of decay near old fillings. It all makes me really cranky. But unfortunately that was the dental practice taught in the 40s and 50s.

But I digress, back to the whinge of the moment...

So, just to make my joy at the state of the Kae finances this month complete, I read the insert in the phone bill which tells me that Telstra are changing their billing of timed calls so that instead of billing in 30 second blocks they'll be billing in 1 minute blocks. WTF? I mentioned this to MDFD and she sent me this extract via email:

There are reports that Telstra will bring in an extra $100 million a year if it implements a plan to charge customers by the minute, rather than in 30 second blocks.

According to the herald Sun, the telco giant is reportedly planning to bring in the new charges in late March.

Under the new pricing structure, customers would be charged a minimum 80 cents a minute for mobile and international phone calls instead of the current 40 cents for 30 seconds.
I can tell them, they've implemented the plan.

I hope it goes the same way as the charge for paying your bill by credit card.

Update:
Did I mention the electricity bill? It's gone up, too. A lot. This quarter it is $321.51. It arrived in the mail today - I was lamenting the outgoings this month on the phone with Mum when it arrived!
Anyhoo, the good news is that I've managed to overpay the last bill and I am $1.01 in credit with the electricity bill.
The ambulance levy seems to be rising all the time, too. What the hell are they doing with that money? I am in a health fund which paid my ambulance fare if I needed to use one.

10 comments:

Merilyn said...

"Surgical extraction/part bone", ah that explains why it was dearer then normal, good thing you are in a fund, [I am in the same one].
....and yes all our bills are rising.
PS RebeccaH is back! At Paco's.

stackja1945 said...

But think of all the ways we are reducing our carbon footprint.

Pedro the Ignorant said...

My dentist (who is a true craftsman, IMO) always comments that my gob represents the "Seven Ages of Dentistry".
He wanted me to go to UWA's dental school as a specimen, but there wasn't even a free lunch involved, so I declined.

I feel your pain, Kae.

kae said...

The painkillers only last four hours, and I can only take them every six hours.

*sigh*

Pedro, I don't want you to feel my pain, I want someone to take it away!

Stacks
Dunno about my carbon footprint, but my molar print has diminished.
I like to eat food that you need to chew, too!

Merilyn
Hello! Didja get my picture and the article I sent to you? I thought it wasn't a bad one.
I saw Rebecca was back, but I did email her and she told me she was OK... I didn't expect Tim to put a piece up about it. She did vanish once before and worried El Cid quite a bit! (But we found her!)
I'm over the rising bills. And I've go noone to share them with.

As I said somewhere else, to all my Valentines who sent me stuff, thanks for nuthin'.

Now I'll have to go to bed and see if I can get six hours sleep.

Robbie said...

Yep saw it this morning Kae.
Just trying to see if my thing comes up under the name of Robbie

Merilyn said...

Nope still doesn't work.

Caz said...

I love the dental billing of extraction "with bone" ... which basically means they have to exert a little more arm muscle, ie, they have to pull harder. The activity is the same as "without bone", and might add a couple of minutes to the process if done by a dentist with weak muscles.

So, yes, for that they charge an extra $50 or $100. Kinda cute way of billing, if you can get away with it.

Hope the mouth pain is subsiding; the deluge of bills never does, alas.

kae said...

Caz, maaate
This is the only extraction of the four I've had in my life (that I can remember), where the dentist used the DRILL. He "sectioned" the tooth, and the roots kept breaking off into bits as he tried to pull them out, and he had to drill into the bone to get the roots out.
No wonder it's so bloody sore.
Now it's sore and ITCHY.
Grrr!

Minicapt said...

My dentist never has those problems; thus far his estimates have not been exceeded.

Cheers

kae said...

Hi Mini
With every medical/dental procedure there is an item number a description and a set price which is what the health fund pays on, but sometimes the dentist/doctor will charge more than the listed price, in which case you're stuck with the difference.