A better tactic is to hold on to at least a week of your leave and use it only when you have to use it.

That sounds like a good suggestion. However, what if you work at a job 40 hours a week but your contract only gives you a week of vacation, sick leave, whatever time, period? How would you suggest building in a “leave buffer”?
At one job I had, they had me on part time status though I worked there 40 hours a week. I had to take a deduction out of my paycheck in order to get another week to visit my grandparents in about a year. The company had bereavement leave of three days but due to the fact my deceased grandmother lived in a country across the world it would have taken two days just to get there, flying. It also takes a week to get over jet lag traveling that far. I explained the situation to my superiors and asked if I could tack on that leave to my other pool of leave so I’d actually be able to go pay my respects;(and not bankrupt myself by buying a last minute ticket well over $4000 on a salary of 20,000) they refused and said it was a “use it or lose it” situation. So I took the three days and I cared not a farthing for their irritation because they had been scheduling their back to back two week vacations during December for the last two years.

The emergency kit info is really important where I live (earthquake country!). My workplace is having a seminar tomorrow on earthquake preparedness, because a major quake in our area is not an “if”, it’s a “when.”

I’ve sent emergency info to friends and relatives who live outside my area, that way if our phone/computer contact is down (like it was in the 1989 quake), they’ll know where we’ve headed, etc.

I made a spreadsheet that I keep in a Ziplock inside my wallet for water safety. It is updated with all the pertinent information on my health and life. One side includes My full name and DOB, all of my medications by name, dose mg, daily dosage, physical description of the medicine, date filled, date to refill, Dr., their address, phone & fax numbers, last appointment and next appointment. My extensive allergy information is on the bottom of this page. On the flip side I have listed all of my doctors and the reasons that I use them, all appointments, medications, surgeries, procedures, etc. I have on this side listed Emergency contact information for any Paramedic or person that looks through my wallet so they can know what medications I am taking, my doctors and basically just who to call. I also have my last wishes there as to living will, not the estate information. My family members all have that information.

If you haven’t updated your cell phone yet, now is the time to do so. Make the 411 a code for your main emergency contact. This way Paramedics or others can take your cell phone and dial 411 to get the person that you have chosen as your emergency contact. I hope to never need this, but it’s better to be prepared and safe than sorry.

Now as far as scheduling paid time off work, here’s what I’ve noticed at my current and previous work places:

Most of us who are parents do keep anywhere from 1 to 5 days in reserve, not scheduling them during the initial vacation day sign-ups but waiting for the inevitable “things that come up.”

This drives management crazy because they keep sending memos out: “Please schedule your unscheduled days.” We have a use it or lose it policy by Dec. 31. And management really doesn’t like it when too many employees are out of the office during the same day or week!

My boss had a horrified look on her face when I told her I probably would need to take a day off in December and can’t schedule it yet.

But it’s not like I have much choice over the matter — I need to be the one picking up daughter from college during finals week. We won’t know until well into the semester what her exam schedule will be (some professors are known to give papers in lieu of exams for example.)

My husband can’t do the college day pickup … he works at a factory where employees’ time off is pretty much when the factory is shut down.

Backup plan if I can’t take the entire day off when I need it: I will work four hours in the morning and leave for college at lunchtime.

The part II of this article is, of course, having your estate in order (living will, trusts, durable powers of attorney, etc.) and making sure that they are accessible by the executor(s).

Part III is having this talk, as the other posters said, with anyone whose death or incapacitation will affect you. Spouse, parents, grown children if unmarried.

I pestered my parents for years before they finally got their estate in order and just in the nick of time as my father died suddenly early on Christmas day. (Have you ever tried to book a funeral home on Christmas day?)

I don’t have kids or a spouse, but I still have durable powers of attorney and a living will so my family knows what to do in case something happens to me. They know my lawyer personally so they know who has the papers.

My apartment is neat, tidy and not cluttered so disposing of my things won’t be a giant chore.

We need to make sure to follow the Boy Scouts and Be prepared for anything that might come your way. Have a years supply of food and a 72hr kit with the necessary things of life.

Your emergency fund should be one of the first on the list to take care of.

But just think BE Prepared in every needfully thing. Doubt not fear not. If yea are prepared yea shall not fear and all that.

Trent You Rock.

Keep up the great work. There are thousands and thousands of people that need this message.

You are making a difference in a lot of lives.

Clint Lawton

http://www.a-debt-free-life.com

My parents have let each of us know where their most important documents are and what their wishes are for when they pass. This only came about when they had problems in dealing with their own parents final wishes. This is a load off of our minds and it lets us know that when the day comes our family can worry about each other instead of worrying about finances.

How about writting about how to manage things while in this great “haze” if the opportunity to prepare was not taken?