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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to make a plan for the upcoming year for anything in your life that is, use it or lose it.
You don't want to be doing things frantically next December when with a little thought you could have spread those things out and enjoyed using your benefits all year long.
So I find it fascinating that eye doctors are completely swamped the last week of December.
Now on some level.
That is because a lot of people are off of work or off school, and so it is a convenient time to go see an eye doctor.
But in other cases it's because people have certain health benefits that need to be spent by the end of the year.
The end of the year is not exactly a surprise.
It happens December 31st every year.
But still, people don't think about it.
There they are trying to get an appointment, or waiting a long time as a walk-in, which might not have happened in say, October.
It is the same with charitable giving.
I know people feel generous with the holidays, but there is also a lot of rush to get deductions for the year before December 31st.
Then there are vacation days.
Some places roll these over, but some don't.
You get a certain amount each year.
Which means that people are either trying to take days off in December when everyone else is too, or they risk losing some of their time off.
Not good.
I know not everyone has use it or lose it resources in their lives, but if you do fall into this category, take a few minutes now to think about the upcoming year.
What resources do you need to use by the end of the year?
When can you use those?
If you get a certain amount of paid time off, you might go ahead and book an extra day or two somewhere, even if you don't have a planned vacation.
That way you'll be more likely to take these days and maybe build in a little decompression time into your life.
In many cases you can ultimately decide not to take a vacation at that time if work is really busy or if you wind up needing to use a lot of PTO because a family member gets sick, or something like that.
But by thinking ahead, you can spread out the fun.
If you support some smaller nonprofits, there might be a real benefit to giving a donation in say July, when they might be facing more of a cash crunch, versus December, when they may be a bit more flush thanks to other people's last-minute donations.
And if you get benefits for regular checkups like dentist or eye doctor visits, go ahead and schedule those now.
No need to wait until next December.
I mean, unless you aren't allowed to book less than 365 days since your last one, and you just squeezed one in.
But even if you do have that restriction, you could book now for next December in a lot of places and then not have to worry about not getting an appointment because the place is slammed.
This episode is airing at the end of one year, but there is another year coming and there will be another one after that too.
There's no need to be surprised by the end of the year.
Make a plan for any use-it-or-lose-it benefits, and you will be way ahead of the game.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
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I'm investigative journalist Melissa Jeltsin.
My new podcast What Happened in Nashville tells the story of an IVF clinic's catastrophic collapse and the patients who banded together in the chaos that followed.
It doesn't matter how much I fight.
Doesn't matter how much I cry over all of this.
It doesn't matter how much justice we get.
None of it's going to get me pregnant.
Listen to What Happened in Nashville on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
Guaranteed human.
