Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to make a plan for the upcoming year
Speaker 1: for anything in your life that is use it or
Speaker 1: lose it. You don't want to be doing things frantically
Speaker 1: next December, when with a little thought you could have
Speaker 1: spread those things out and enjoyed using your benefits all
Speaker 1: year long. So I find it fascinating that eye doctors
Speaker 1: are completely swamped the last week of December. Now, on
Speaker 1: some level that is because a lot of people are
Speaker 1: off of work or off school, and so it is
Speaker 1: a convenient time to go see an eye doctor. But
Speaker 1: in other cases it's because people have certain health benefits
Speaker 1: that need to be spent the end of the year.
Speaker 1: The end of the year is not exactly a surprise.
Speaker 1: It happens December thirty first every year, but still people
Speaker 1: don't think about it. There they are trying to get
Speaker 1: an appointment or waiting a long time as a walk
Speaker 1: in which might not have happened in say October. It
Speaker 1: is the same with charitable giving. I know people feel
Speaker 1: generous with the holidays, but there is also a lot
Speaker 1: of rush to get deductions for the year before December
Speaker 1: thirty first, Then there are vacation days. Some places roll
Speaker 1: these over, but some don't. You get a certain amount
Speaker 1: each year, which means that people are either trying to
Speaker 1: take days off in December when everyone else is too,
Speaker 1: or they risk losing some of their time off. Not good.
Speaker 1: I know not everyone has use it or lose its
Speaker 1: resources in their lives. But if you do fall into
Speaker 1: this category, take a few minutes now to think about
Speaker 1: the upcoming year. What resources do you need to use
Speaker 1: by the end of the year. When can you use those?
Speaker 1: If you get a certain amount of paid time off,
Speaker 1: you might go ahead and book an extra day or
Speaker 1: two somewhere, even if you don't have a planned vacation.
Speaker 1: That way, you'll be more likely to take these days
Speaker 1: and maybe build in a little decompression time into your life.
Speaker 1: In many cases, you can ultimately decide not to take
Speaker 1: a vacation at that time if work is really busy,
Speaker 1: or if you wind up needing to use a lot
Speaker 1: of PTO because a family member gets sick or something
Speaker 1: like that. But by thinking ahead you can spread out
Speaker 1: the fun. If you support some smaller nonprofits, there might
Speaker 1: be a real benefit to giving a donation in say July,
Speaker 1: when they might be facing more of a cash crunch
Speaker 1: versus December may be a bit more flush thanks to
Speaker 1: other people's last minute donations. And if you get benefits
Speaker 1: for regular checkups like dentists or I doctor visits, go
Speaker 1: ahead and schedule those now. No need to wait until
Speaker 1: next December. I mean, unless you aren't allowed to book
Speaker 1: less than three hundred and sixty five days since your
Speaker 1: last one and you just squeezed one in. But even
Speaker 1: if you do have that restriction, you could book now
Speaker 1: for next December and a lot of places and then
Speaker 1: not have to worry about not getting an appointment because
Speaker 1: the place is slammed. This episode is airing at the
Speaker 1: end of one year, but there is another year coming,
Speaker 1: and there will be another one after that too. There
Speaker 1: is no need to be surprised by the end of
Speaker 1: the year. Make a plan for any use it or
Speaker 1: lose it benefits, and you will be way ahead of
Speaker 1: the game in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: Here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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