A few years ago, I worked for a company that discriminated against me because of my type 1 diabetes. They didn’t have a group health insurance plan, and because I am diabetic, it is virtually impossible for me to get health insurance without one — health insurance companies are perfectly within their legal rights to refuse to cover me under an individual plan because of my diabetes. (I’ll rant more about that another time, but it’s one of the worst ills of the health insurance industry.) I did ultimately find health insurance, but it cost an arm and a leg, and about four months into it my employer refused to pay the full amount anymore (even though he still did for all of my coworkers).
Anyway, my doctor told me a little bit about when he has his own practice. He said all that you need in order to get a group health insurance plan is two people. He had one just for himself and the other doctor who shared his practice, so there was no reason why my employer, who had at least six employees at any one time, couldn’t get a group health insurance plan.
He also said that part of having your own practice — or business, in my boss’s case — is taking care of this kind of stuff. You also have to provide things like life insurance, and as a doctor you have to think about things like own occupation disability insurance. Basically, this is a disability insurance policy that pays out full benefits any time you are unable to do your “own occupation,” i.e., your work as a doctor. However, not all disability insurance companies offer own-occ clauses with their disability insurance for physician, which can mean a lot of tedious shopping around.
To make a long story short, my doctor was appalled that my employer would discriminate against me because of my diabetes, especially because — as he pointed out — there was no reason to. He could have simply gotten a group plan, and called it good.
This whole Disney Princess thing has gotten rather out of control, as you can tell around Halloween, where virtually every little girl is dressed up as a Disney princess or other character! For example, a girl I babysit for is wearing a mermaid costume, and I’m willing to bet I’ll see plenty of Belles, Auroras, and Cinderellas that night too.
I think it’s good to encourage girls to dress up as non-stereotypical, non-girly characters for Halloween. There are plenty of good girls’ Halloween costumes that aren’t helpless Disney princesses. For example, how about dressing your daughter in a Wonder Woman costume? Talk about teaching girls to be strong and self-reliant! Jessie from Toy Story and one of the female characters from X-Men are other good choices for breaking the damsel-in-distress stereotype to pieces this Halloween.
Just because you have a little girl doesn’t mean Disney Princess is your only choice on Halloween. There are plenty of other strong, creative costume choices available — from stores and online, as well as wherever your imagination will take you!
For about 8 years now, my mom and I have been collecting hard plastic dolls from the 1950s era. Of course, every collector ends up with items they don’t want, so to get rid of those — and also to try to make a little extra cash — we decided to try starting an eBay business.
We had some success with this, but not a whole lot. Because our main idea was to get rid of our castoffs, we didn’t have a whole lot of success business-wise — but we did accomplish what we wanted, which was to downsize our collections and focus on our better quality dolls. It’s not easy to start your own eBay store, though, and we did encounter some bumps and bruises along the way: It is time consuming to write item descriptions, answer questions, and pack and ship items, and there are of course always the malcontents who make selling a pain in the you-know-what.
For aspiring small business owners, thogh, eBay is a great way to start your own business. Although the fees are annoying, they aren’t as a high as the overhead you would face if you leased a brick-and-mortar store or even ran your own ecommerce website. But the biggest advantage to eBay is how high traffic it is — you’d never get that many potential customers looking at your own small online shopping site!
Yes, eBay has its down sides — but overall, I think it can provide some really great opportunities for entrepreneurs!
Anyone who has kids — or, heck, even knows anyone who has kids — knows what a disaster area your car can become. Toys, snacks, etc. congregate on your floorboards and in the crevices in the seats. Your trunk gets filled with strollers, diaper bags, and other types of equipment. Your console and door pockets become stuffed with all that emergency stuff that you keep on hand because you just might need it someday (i.e. individually wrapped plastic spoons, napkins and tissues, kid-friendly snacks, etc.).
Thankfully there are ways to kid-proof your car so that it doesn’t get so trashed. Here are a couple of suggestions:
Buy a catch all. Catch alls are useful organizers that go inbetween the bucket seats in the front of a truck, SUV, or minivan. This is a great place to put drinks, sippy cups, and random things such as little toys and travel games, hair ties and barrettes, and tissues.
Use a jobox. By creating locking storage space in the bed of your truck, you are freeing up a lot of limited space in the cab. This helps keep the clutter to a minimum.
Look into dog boxes for Fido. Everyone loves the family dog, but boy do they mess up the inside of your truck! Plus, if you are carrying the dog around, where do you put the kid? Locking, vented dog boxes give you a way to carry your dog in the back of the truck without worrying about him jumping or falling out, getting stolen, or making a mess inside the truck!
Having kids doesn’t have to mean your car should be a disaster area. Take advantage of the auto accessories on the market, and you can easily keep your car organized, even with kids!
Disney World is one of the most popular family vacation destinations in the United States. Unfortunately, a Disney World vacation takes some planning. Here is a checklist of things you’ll need to make sure you do in preparation for your trip.
Find a good Orlando airport car rental. Most people prefer the freedom of having a rental car and being able to drive themselves wherever and whenever they wish. This also makes planning the details of your stay a little easier. Make sure you shop around for the best prices on Orlando rental cars and Fort Lauderdale rental cars.
Pack plenty of sunscreen. There are many reasons why sunscreen should be an important part of any Disney vacation. For one thing, getting burned on your first day at the theme park or the beach can really put a damper on the rest of the vacation. And of course, skin cancer is a real threat that should not be ignored!
Shop around for the best prices. Disney World vacations can be expensive. For those of us who are traveling on a budget, it’s important to shop around for the best possible prices on everything: hotel rooms, tickets, dining, even package deals.
If you plan your Disney World vacation just right, it should be nothing but fun — so get all of these little details out of the way ahead of time!
A few years ago, I worked for a company that discriminated against me because of my type 1 diabetes. They didn’t have a group health insurance plan, and because I am diabetic, it is virtually impossible for me to get health insurance without one — health insurance companies are perfectly within their legal rights to refuse to cover me under an individual plan because of my diabetes. (I’ll rant more about that another time, but it’s one of the worst ills of the health insurance industry.) I did ultimately find health insurance, but it cost an arm and a leg, and about four months into it my employer refused to pay the full amount anymore (even though he still did for all of my coworkers).
