No sooner is Christmas and New Years Day are over, out comes the Valentines Day stuff and Super Bowl party decorations in our local Walmart. I don't know about you but I am starting to feel a bit pushed along. The Valentines stuff takes up 4 isles and is a bit over the top this year. How many stuffed pink animals can one person own? I think I would go for personalized gifts for boyfriends, husband, wives and girlfriends rather than an off the shelf box of candy with a stuffed animal. It takes more thought and the person getting the gift knows it.
But back to the holiday pushing by stores. Have you noticed that nowadays many stores are now putting out items for 2-5 months in advance of the event? This morning I was buying kitty litter and looked over to another department of the store and they are putting out the bar-b-que stuff for the summer...........HELLO??!! We are still in winter with another 2 months to go before spring. This is in the Pacific Northwest where we have snow and heavy cold rains for the next 2 months. What are those stores thinking?
Showing posts with label Shopping wisely. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping wisely. Show all posts
Is Coupon Suzy a great deal?
You have perhaps seen those ads on TV for couponsuzy.com a place to get store coupons. I checked it out and I am warning you to steer clear of that website and here is why.
A tried to print out at least 3 of the coupons on the website and came up to a page that said I needed to install their coupon printer -WTF!! I have printed many, many coupons off of websites and used them without problems so why do they need to have me install some software on my computer? That was a big red flag so I checked it out.
I typed in the words "coupon suzy scam" into Google and came up with the facts that the printer program that they want me to install is full of malware and computer worms. Here are 2 websites that computer security programmers are telling their experiences with it:
Is installing a coupon printer safe?
Coupon Suzy - NO THANKS
If any website asks you to install anything on your computer in order to use their website, either stay away from that website or do some research first, like I did. You will save by not having to pay someone to fix your computer once the "bad" software takes it over.
A tried to print out at least 3 of the coupons on the website and came up to a page that said I needed to install their coupon printer -WTF!! I have printed many, many coupons off of websites and used them without problems so why do they need to have me install some software on my computer? That was a big red flag so I checked it out.
I typed in the words "coupon suzy scam" into Google and came up with the facts that the printer program that they want me to install is full of malware and computer worms. Here are 2 websites that computer security programmers are telling their experiences with it:
Is installing a coupon printer safe?
Coupon Suzy - NO THANKS
If any website asks you to install anything on your computer in order to use their website, either stay away from that website or do some research first, like I did. You will save by not having to pay someone to fix your computer once the "bad" software takes it over.
Store discount cards
How many of those store discount cards do you carry around? I must have at least 12 in my wallet. I have a Safeway card, one from ACE hardware, Staples, Albertsons, Kohl's, and even one from Goodwill. I have more but I don't use them that much, maybe once a year. Of all of the discount cards I have only 2 of them send me emails with coupons to print out and announce special sales. They are Staples and Kohl's. Both of them offer generic 10% off coupons all the time.
10% is not that big of a deal when you live in a state that charges sales tax but if you live in a state that has no sales tax (like I do) then 10% is a good deal. Of course I just got more Kohls coupons emailed to me and Staples has a new sale going on.
What I do not understand is why do the stores even bother with discount cards? Don't they want everyone to shop at their store? By putting up 2 different prices on items - one for card holders and the other the "regular" price, they would discourage new shoppers in their stores. So why do they continue to do that? If you have the answer, chime in.
10% is not that big of a deal when you live in a state that charges sales tax but if you live in a state that has no sales tax (like I do) then 10% is a good deal. Of course I just got more Kohls coupons emailed to me and Staples has a new sale going on.
What I do not understand is why do the stores even bother with discount cards? Don't they want everyone to shop at their store? By putting up 2 different prices on items - one for card holders and the other the "regular" price, they would discourage new shoppers in their stores. So why do they continue to do that? If you have the answer, chime in.
Carl's Jr now sucks, along with Arby's
The one thing about having a blog is the ability to rant to the world about the latest rip off. This time it is Carl's Jr, that fast food chain. The Carl's Jr in our town is joined with The Green Burrito. While I hardly ever eat hamburgers at Carl's Jr, I will eat their Green Burrito meals...............until today.
What happened today is that I found out that they changed the Green Burrito menu. Gone are the refried beans and rice side dishes, now they just offer tortilla chips or french fries with their soft tacos and burritos. I thought it was odd when I ordered my southwest chicken tacos and the server offered chips or fries. My thought was WTF? Then the "meal" came and I was highly disappointed to get a bag of tortilla chips along with my 2 tacos that were wrapped up like they came from Taco Bell. Where was my plate with the refried beans, chips and my tacos? They changed the menu and now have lost 2 customers, I was not the only one who was disappointed with the meal.
Arby's was recently bought by another company and they changed their menu about 5-6 weeks ago. They removed several of the only sandwich meals that I would eat there. I no longer stop at Arby's.
So along with McDonalds, I can add Carl's Jr and Arby's to the growing list of fast food chains that have changed their menus or hiked their prices to the moon. Let's see what is left.............Taco Bell, Subway, Burger King and the hot food section at Safeway.
What happened today is that I found out that they changed the Green Burrito menu. Gone are the refried beans and rice side dishes, now they just offer tortilla chips or french fries with their soft tacos and burritos. I thought it was odd when I ordered my southwest chicken tacos and the server offered chips or fries. My thought was WTF? Then the "meal" came and I was highly disappointed to get a bag of tortilla chips along with my 2 tacos that were wrapped up like they came from Taco Bell. Where was my plate with the refried beans, chips and my tacos? They changed the menu and now have lost 2 customers, I was not the only one who was disappointed with the meal.
Arby's was recently bought by another company and they changed their menu about 5-6 weeks ago. They removed several of the only sandwich meals that I would eat there. I no longer stop at Arby's.
So along with McDonalds, I can add Carl's Jr and Arby's to the growing list of fast food chains that have changed their menus or hiked their prices to the moon. Let's see what is left.............Taco Bell, Subway, Burger King and the hot food section at Safeway.
Are the prices of real estate really that cheap?
So your neighborhood real estate price has dropped to levels seen in 1998 or before, but what about other parts of the world? London at one time was known as the most expensive place in the world to buy a home or even a small flat. Are their real estate prices deflated as well? What about Hawaii real estate? Surely their prices have not dropped as well. So here is what I found out:
The prices in Great Britain have dropped but not nearly as dramatically as they did in the USA. Their peak in real estate prices was reached in 2006-2007 and now they have dropped back down to 2004 levels. Their current average price is roughly $300,000 (US) compared to $100,000 (US) back in 1995.
Hawaii has some improvement in sales over the last few months but only on the homes priced under $500,000 (and there are very few of them around). Homes priced at over $600,000 are slow to sell and in fact their prices have to be cut to get them to move. The average wage in Hawaii is at $49K a year so it is obvious that the homes are being snapped up by people who do not make a living in Hawaii.
The hardest hit place in the world with the real estate market is still the USA.
The prices in Great Britain have dropped but not nearly as dramatically as they did in the USA. Their peak in real estate prices was reached in 2006-2007 and now they have dropped back down to 2004 levels. Their current average price is roughly $300,000 (US) compared to $100,000 (US) back in 1995.
Hawaii has some improvement in sales over the last few months but only on the homes priced under $500,000 (and there are very few of them around). Homes priced at over $600,000 are slow to sell and in fact their prices have to be cut to get them to move. The average wage in Hawaii is at $49K a year so it is obvious that the homes are being snapped up by people who do not make a living in Hawaii.
The hardest hit place in the world with the real estate market is still the USA.
Do not use UPS mail innovations if you want a speedy delivery
I ordered a small one pound item from Walmart's online website store. I ordered the item on a Monday and the promised delivery date was to be on Thursday or Friday of that same week. The item was shipped out from their warehouse just 600 miles south of me. I received an email that the item was shipped out via USPS (the postal service) and I was given a tracking number. The problem was that the tracking number was not for USPS but for UPS. They had used what UPS calls "mail innovations."
How UPS mail innovations work is that UPS moves the shipment then delivers it to the local post office where the delivery is to take place from. Sounds good so far but here is what happened with my shipment:
If the dumb shits in the Walmart shipping department had the brains of a monkey they would have shipped my item by regular parcel post and it would have been here in 3 days instead of 7. The shipping cost would have been cheaper too. I paid $1.97 in shipping which is about right for that package size, weight and zip code at the parcel postage rates.
How UPS mail innovations work is that UPS moves the shipment then delivers it to the local post office where the delivery is to take place from. Sounds good so far but here is what happened with my shipment:
- Monday - item ordered
- Tuesday - package received into UPS facility
- Wednesday - package sits at same facility as it did on Tuesday
- Thursday - it finally leaves the UPS facility
- Friday - my item just arrives at a location which is about 300 north of me in another state!!! WTF!
- Saturday - item arrives at local post office waiting for delivery
If the dumb shits in the Walmart shipping department had the brains of a monkey they would have shipped my item by regular parcel post and it would have been here in 3 days instead of 7. The shipping cost would have been cheaper too. I paid $1.97 in shipping which is about right for that package size, weight and zip code at the parcel postage rates.
Why buying a LCD or LED TV is more than just buying the TV
Yes I love those big screen TV's that are on display in electronic stores and our local Walmart. With the prices coming down why have I not bought one? Buying one of those TV's is not as simple as it seems. First they are not like hanging a picture on your wall. They do have some weight to them and they will require a special tv bracket for it to hang on the wall. Then those wires have to be hidden so that requires some decoration of some type. If you don't want to have the TV on the wall you need a stand with a bracket that holds the TV in place so it won't fall over.
So you will need to add at least $200+ to the cost of those TV's just to mount it on the wall or purchase a stand. If you do go wireless, and some of the new LED TV's are wireless (but I still can't figure out how they are powered........ batteries?) then you might be able to hang it without having to hide anything.
Until the prices come down just a bit more, I'll wait to get a slim LED TV for our living room.
So you will need to add at least $200+ to the cost of those TV's just to mount it on the wall or purchase a stand. If you do go wireless, and some of the new LED TV's are wireless (but I still can't figure out how they are powered........ batteries?) then you might be able to hang it without having to hide anything.
Until the prices come down just a bit more, I'll wait to get a slim LED TV for our living room.
Laptops versus tablet PC's
My daughter's laptop bit the dust last week. She has been using an older laptop of mine since then. I know she is a good money saver so I promised her that if she saved up enough money for a new computer I would add $100 to it. She already has enough for one of those tablet netbooks but she wants a wide screen laptop since she does graphic arts. She has a few more pay periods (she gets $30 a week for doing some heavy duty chores) to go and she will have enough to buy that new laptop.
So what brand has she decided on? An Acer. She had a Toshiba and we have had HP's but so far all of them get really hot. Her test was to feel under each one of the laptops that were on display in a local store. Most of them were hot except for all of the Acers. So an Acer is what she wants.
So what brand has she decided on? An Acer. She had a Toshiba and we have had HP's but so far all of them get really hot. Her test was to feel under each one of the laptops that were on display in a local store. Most of them were hot except for all of the Acers. So an Acer is what she wants.
Coupon crazy people
Have you seen that new TV show about the extreme coupon shoppers? I watched a few episodes and here is my opinion about the women who shop like that:
THEY ARE NUTS!!
Yes they do save money but they are buying a lot of stuff they will never use. For example one family bought 25, 5 pound blocks of cheese. Unless they have the room for it in their refrigerator and can use it before it expires, they have wasted their money. Another family bought about 20 boxes of cereal. Do they realize that cereal has an expiration date too? One family's home looked like a grocery store inside, they had gone to the extreme of food hording.
If I was to shop like those women and buy $500 or $600 worth of groceries for less than $20, you can bet that most of it would be donated to the local food banks. I simply don't have the room for that kind of extreme shopping, nor could I use that much food before it expired.
What I would really like to see is coupon shopping for non-food items. If the stores would issue coupons for money off of gasoline, furniture, electronics and pet supplies I could see some real savings. Even the fast food restaurants have coupons so why not other stores? With Mother's Day coming up in the next few weeks maybe there will be some store coupons for money off of mothers day photo frames, flowers and even dinners.I am not talking about online coupons for online stores but coupons for brick and mortar stores.
Now I just wish that there was an easier way to coupon shop in the stores without clipping coupons.
THEY ARE NUTS!!
Yes they do save money but they are buying a lot of stuff they will never use. For example one family bought 25, 5 pound blocks of cheese. Unless they have the room for it in their refrigerator and can use it before it expires, they have wasted their money. Another family bought about 20 boxes of cereal. Do they realize that cereal has an expiration date too? One family's home looked like a grocery store inside, they had gone to the extreme of food hording.
If I was to shop like those women and buy $500 or $600 worth of groceries for less than $20, you can bet that most of it would be donated to the local food banks. I simply don't have the room for that kind of extreme shopping, nor could I use that much food before it expired.
What I would really like to see is coupon shopping for non-food items. If the stores would issue coupons for money off of gasoline, furniture, electronics and pet supplies I could see some real savings. Even the fast food restaurants have coupons so why not other stores? With Mother's Day coming up in the next few weeks maybe there will be some store coupons for money off of mothers day photo frames, flowers and even dinners.I am not talking about online coupons for online stores but coupons for brick and mortar stores.
Now I just wish that there was an easier way to coupon shop in the stores without clipping coupons.
Do you ever contact companies to complain and get rewarded?
There are times that I get so frustrated with companies and their services or products that I email them. Just last week I complained about my Blockbuster service. I have an online rental service with them and they make it so hard to interchange their mailing rentals with their stores. Sure I can return mailings to the store and exchange them for in-store rentals but I can't exchange the now in-store exchange for another in-store exchange. Kinda dumb if you ask me. Not only that, you cannot return a store rental to another Blockbuster store - cuz they are all independently owned!!! Now I know why they are having a hard time staying in business, because their rental strategy was not thought out enough.
So I emailed them and politely suggested that they forward my email to someone who makes the decisions about rental policy. What they sent back was an email that had attached a coupon I could print out for another rental! I emailed back that my printer was out of ink right now and when I could afford $30 for the ink cartridge I would use the coupon, but until then, they should be thinking about other ways to make it easier for their online customers to exchange movies. I then added that in this day of digital information, why would I need a "printed" coupon to take to the store?
I have not heard back from them and I doubt I will.
Another thing that gets my goat is truth in advertising. How many times have you shouted back to the TV "that's not true," during a commercial? I know I have. Most of the time they are ads about drugs, supplements or some cleaning product I have used that didn't work. There is one stupid ad for a natural testosterone supplement that I just want to grab the announcer by the neck and shake and say, "it is not true."
As my family keeps telling me, claim down Mom, nobody really believes those claims.........but I think they do.
So I emailed them and politely suggested that they forward my email to someone who makes the decisions about rental policy. What they sent back was an email that had attached a coupon I could print out for another rental! I emailed back that my printer was out of ink right now and when I could afford $30 for the ink cartridge I would use the coupon, but until then, they should be thinking about other ways to make it easier for their online customers to exchange movies. I then added that in this day of digital information, why would I need a "printed" coupon to take to the store?
I have not heard back from them and I doubt I will.
Another thing that gets my goat is truth in advertising. How many times have you shouted back to the TV "that's not true," during a commercial? I know I have. Most of the time they are ads about drugs, supplements or some cleaning product I have used that didn't work. There is one stupid ad for a natural testosterone supplement that I just want to grab the announcer by the neck and shake and say, "it is not true."
As my family keeps telling me, claim down Mom, nobody really believes those claims.........but I think they do.
Leaving bad feedback on eBay
When I buy things on eBay, which is not as often as it use to be, I always left honest feedback. I rarely, if ever, left negative feedback, but tonight I left neutral feedback. Now if you are a seller on eBay, you would know that your buyers do read your feedback.
The feedback I left was "item broke after a few hours of use." It was a brand new laptop charger and it overheated and stopped working. Since I got it for a cheap price I am not worried about getting my money back but the seller will lose buyers, which will cost them in the long run. I admit that I should have read their feedback before I bought the item. They had a 99.2% positive rating but I failed to see that they had over 300 negative and neutral feedbacks in the last 30 days.
Now if the item was advertised as used or "as is" then I take the gamble. If the item is a collectors item or a custom made item then I am more careful. I also try to look out for fakes like counterfeit cell phones or fake bella bracelets. Granted, eBay has always been a buyer beware website but most of the time I have gotten some great deals on there. I guess most of the great sellers have moved on to other selling venues now.
The feedback I left was "item broke after a few hours of use." It was a brand new laptop charger and it overheated and stopped working. Since I got it for a cheap price I am not worried about getting my money back but the seller will lose buyers, which will cost them in the long run. I admit that I should have read their feedback before I bought the item. They had a 99.2% positive rating but I failed to see that they had over 300 negative and neutral feedbacks in the last 30 days.
Now if the item was advertised as used or "as is" then I take the gamble. If the item is a collectors item or a custom made item then I am more careful. I also try to look out for fakes like counterfeit cell phones or fake bella bracelets. Granted, eBay has always been a buyer beware website but most of the time I have gotten some great deals on there. I guess most of the great sellers have moved on to other selling venues now.
Technology that ends up at the Dollar store
You have got to wonder about those little electronic gadgets that end up at the local Dollar store, I know that I do. Those little tiny FM radios, the mobile cell boosters that claim to increase your cell phone coverage range and the LED book lights. I must admit to buying the FM radio for when the power goes out at the house and found out that most of the stations that I could receive were gospel stations. All I can say is "thank you" XM satellite radio (which we get in our truck). The radio is pretty much useless. I am not sure about those other technology items.
Buying a foreclosure
I must admit that at one time I did investigate buying a property that was being auctioned off by the lender. It was one of those properties that once the foreclosure had taken place, the property went up for auction on the county court house steps.
I don't know if those auctions are still done or not. There are so many real estate auctions nowadays and even short sales confuse the heck out of me. I do know of 2 people that were very successful in buying their dream horse properties in a short sale but it took almost a year for the banks to haggle over the price and finally accept their offers. One went through an agent that helped them through the process and the other one knew enough to handle it on her own.
When I was property shopping I used several online websites. The major one I used was realtor.com but once I found the area that interested me I found the local MLS website that the local realtors used. Since then, many real estate websites have popped up all over the place. Zillow is one that comes to mind. I have never used it much but others have. Then there is Trulia which I only found out about a few days ago. Of course there must be hundreds devoted to just listing foreclosures. If you are looking at buying a foreclosure then please stay away from those websites that want you to join (for a fee of course) just to look at the listings. There are plenty of free websites that list foreclosed homes.
I don't know if those auctions are still done or not. There are so many real estate auctions nowadays and even short sales confuse the heck out of me. I do know of 2 people that were very successful in buying their dream horse properties in a short sale but it took almost a year for the banks to haggle over the price and finally accept their offers. One went through an agent that helped them through the process and the other one knew enough to handle it on her own.
When I was property shopping I used several online websites. The major one I used was realtor.com but once I found the area that interested me I found the local MLS website that the local realtors used. Since then, many real estate websites have popped up all over the place. Zillow is one that comes to mind. I have never used it much but others have. Then there is Trulia which I only found out about a few days ago. Of course there must be hundreds devoted to just listing foreclosures. If you are looking at buying a foreclosure then please stay away from those websites that want you to join (for a fee of course) just to look at the listings. There are plenty of free websites that list foreclosed homes.
Shopping wars are under way
I do believe that the advertising war on the internet has heated up to a furnace level. I say that because I have been swamped with offers to write advertising articles. Some are easy such as a home remedy for acne, in fact I did an article about that same subject a few years back for Associated Content and I still get paid on page views from it. In fact I normally get at least $3 a month in PV's on that one article.
Since I have been swamped with offers to write, I have had to turn many of them down. I will not even look at them if the offer is under $12. That helps to weed many of them out. If they want more than 250 words the price goes up even further. It takes time to write those articles and my time just went up in price.
If companies are will to shell out the money for advertising then they can afford to lower their prices on many of the items I see on "sale." Those sale prices are still too high for my tastes.
Since I have been swamped with offers to write, I have had to turn many of them down. I will not even look at them if the offer is under $12. That helps to weed many of them out. If they want more than 250 words the price goes up even further. It takes time to write those articles and my time just went up in price.
If companies are will to shell out the money for advertising then they can afford to lower their prices on many of the items I see on "sale." Those sale prices are still too high for my tastes.
Getting up at 2am to shop? No way!
Why in the world would people want to shop on Black Friday at 3am in the morning? I have heard that many stores are planning midnight openings or just slightly later. If a store opened at 3am in the morning that means you have to be up at 2am just to get ready to go to the store. What on earth would be worth getting up that early for? The stores would have to have some pretty low priced items to get me out of bed that early. There are only 2 things that would get me up that early and they would be a notebook computer priced under $150 or an iPod touch for $100 or less. Everything else will eventually go down in price about 1 week before Christmas.
I feel really sorry for the people who work retail during this time of year. Most of them are part time and they don't get paid extra money to show up for those early openings......it is just expected of them.
Are you sick of Christmas shopping yet?
I don't know which is worse, shopping at stores that have their Christmas decorations up on the day after Halloween or seeing the first "Chia Pet" ad of the season on TV last week. Can we please get through Thanksgiving before we have to think about Christmas trees and personalcreations.com stockings. Yes websites are also popping up just to push Christmas stuff.
Just as a side note, did you know that several Halloween costume places (mostly online stores) filed for bankruptcy the day after Halloween? Most of them just shut their doors. When will these places get the big hint and realize that people do not have huge parties when the economy has not shown positive improvement.
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, people are only buying the basics this holiday season. If you have a company that sells novelties or frivolous items, then expect less than stellar sales.On the other hand basic clothes, food and household items that need to be replaced will do well. The only electronic extras might be for the kids toys or iPods. Amazon's Kindle might do well since they have lowered their price on them. But expect lower prices on everything as we get closer to Christmas.
Just as a side note, did you know that several Halloween costume places (mostly online stores) filed for bankruptcy the day after Halloween? Most of them just shut their doors. When will these places get the big hint and realize that people do not have huge parties when the economy has not shown positive improvement.
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, people are only buying the basics this holiday season. If you have a company that sells novelties or frivolous items, then expect less than stellar sales.On the other hand basic clothes, food and household items that need to be replaced will do well. The only electronic extras might be for the kids toys or iPods. Amazon's Kindle might do well since they have lowered their price on them. But expect lower prices on everything as we get closer to Christmas.
Saving money on your own bills
One of the easiest ways to save money is to look at your own current bills ans see where you can reduce them. For example are you paying for duplicate insurance? Say you have an accidental death insurance policy that you pay for out of your own pocket but your employer offers one that is free to you. The same thing for term insurance, health insurance and other types of insurance.
Next look at that home protection plan, the one that covers items that break around the house. I had one for 2 years when we first moved and it cost $800 a year. I had one thing fixed, a leaky toilet and the hassle of finding someone that was under the protection plan was a PITA. It took 2 days of calling people since the plan did not have a provider list for me but said the people that they contracted with would be able to tell me if they were on the plan. After the repair was done and even approved by the repair person via phone to the protection plan, the plan refused to pay. Their reason was that I could have found someone closer to me!!!! After 3 months they finally paid up and then I dropped them. The repair cost $150 and the deductible for me was $35 so for that year I still paid $835 for a $150 repair. Was it worth it? NO
Another bill to look at is your electric bill. I saved $20 to $30 off of that every month. I switched to those florescent bulbs all over the house. I use to think that they did not give out enough light, until I realized that the light has to be left on for at least a minute for it to warm up. After that first minute the light was as bright (if not brighter) than the original incandescent bulb. Of course the incandescent bulb will be phased out in the near future all together.
Lastly you can bundle services for money off your bills. Internet, phone and TV service is the first one that comes to mind but there are others. Insurance can be bundled too. Having your home, auto and health insurance through the same company will often get you a discount off of your premiums. Banks will often offer great discounts on having your mortgage, CD's and loans all tied into one checking account.
Look over your bills, you can reduce them.
Next look at that home protection plan, the one that covers items that break around the house. I had one for 2 years when we first moved and it cost $800 a year. I had one thing fixed, a leaky toilet and the hassle of finding someone that was under the protection plan was a PITA. It took 2 days of calling people since the plan did not have a provider list for me but said the people that they contracted with would be able to tell me if they were on the plan. After the repair was done and even approved by the repair person via phone to the protection plan, the plan refused to pay. Their reason was that I could have found someone closer to me!!!! After 3 months they finally paid up and then I dropped them. The repair cost $150 and the deductible for me was $35 so for that year I still paid $835 for a $150 repair. Was it worth it? NO
Another bill to look at is your electric bill. I saved $20 to $30 off of that every month. I switched to those florescent bulbs all over the house. I use to think that they did not give out enough light, until I realized that the light has to be left on for at least a minute for it to warm up. After that first minute the light was as bright (if not brighter) than the original incandescent bulb. Of course the incandescent bulb will be phased out in the near future all together.
Lastly you can bundle services for money off your bills. Internet, phone and TV service is the first one that comes to mind but there are others. Insurance can be bundled too. Having your home, auto and health insurance through the same company will often get you a discount off of your premiums. Banks will often offer great discounts on having your mortgage, CD's and loans all tied into one checking account.
Look over your bills, you can reduce them.
TV commercials I would love to see banned
I bet you have seen a TV commercial that you thought should never be on the air. Was it one of those lawyer ads for asbestos mesothelioma victims or an infomercial that looked like a real news cast? I have a dislike for those pharmaceutical ads. You know, the ones that are advertising a prescription drug that you have to ask your doctor about and list side effects a mile long. What I don't understand about them is why are they pushing those drugs to the patients? Is it because the doctors know about them and refuse to prescribe them because the side effects are worse than what the drug is treating? Now you know those ads are not cheap to produce and put on the air waves. Are they (the drug companies) hoping to get the money to pay for the ads and a nice profit by pushing those drugs on people who don't need them or are best treated by a cheaper drug? I almost feel like I have invited a drug pusher into my home every time one of those commercials comes on the air.
Of course they are not the only commercials I don't like. There are the fast food commercials that want to ram food down your throat at every opportunity. Even Taco Bell tries to get customers in late at night with "4th meal." Gads, don't they know it is called supper? They are hoping most Americans have never traveled and know that other countries have breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. In England you add 4pm tea. Supper is usually around 9-10pm and is a very light meal....I think that we call it eating in front of the TV at night in the USA. Of course there is the Burger King commercial with the girl on the beach in the bikini eating a burger. You know darn well that she didn't get to look that way from eating burgers. I wonder if she had to binge and purge just to eat a burger during each take of the ad?
What I would really love to see is the cable and satellite TV providers go back to how it use to be.......when you had cable 20 years ago, there was no commercials on it. The only commercials were on the major networks that were broadcast via air waves. It was understood that when you paid for cable, you had paid for the privilege not to have commercials on the cable channels. Nowadays even some of the PBS channels are putting commercials on its programing. Where will it end....or will it?
Of course they are not the only commercials I don't like. There are the fast food commercials that want to ram food down your throat at every opportunity. Even Taco Bell tries to get customers in late at night with "4th meal." Gads, don't they know it is called supper? They are hoping most Americans have never traveled and know that other countries have breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. In England you add 4pm tea. Supper is usually around 9-10pm and is a very light meal....I think that we call it eating in front of the TV at night in the USA. Of course there is the Burger King commercial with the girl on the beach in the bikini eating a burger. You know darn well that she didn't get to look that way from eating burgers. I wonder if she had to binge and purge just to eat a burger during each take of the ad?
What I would really love to see is the cable and satellite TV providers go back to how it use to be.......when you had cable 20 years ago, there was no commercials on it. The only commercials were on the major networks that were broadcast via air waves. It was understood that when you paid for cable, you had paid for the privilege not to have commercials on the cable channels. Nowadays even some of the PBS channels are putting commercials on its programing. Where will it end....or will it?
Scam alert - the Green Millionare
Have you seen those infomercials about the "Green Millionaire?" The commercial claims to tell you that by reading their "free" book you will know how to get your electricity for free and drive a "green" car for free. DON'T FALL FOR IT! What they want is access to your credit card. The first thing they want when you get to their website is you name, address and email. When you click on submit then they want your credit card for the $1.95 for shipping and handling. Wait a minute..if they are "green" then the book would be delivered digitally to your email addy. After they charge your credit card the $1.95 then you will see another charge for a email newsletter at a whooping $29 or more! That charge shows up every month. The only green going on with this company seems to be in their pockets.
Doing a search online about them brought up huge numbers of complaints. One woman was charged $300 over the course of six months by the Green Millionaire or should I say the Green Scum Bag.
As to what they are offering. I also found out from the complaints the simple fact that the information can be found online for free and is nothing special. I know for a fact that the state of Oregon helps people with grants to install solar power generating grids on their roofs. Each state offers energy saving rebates and incentives so you should check out your own state's official website for links to the information you want.
Doing a search online about them brought up huge numbers of complaints. One woman was charged $300 over the course of six months by the Green Millionaire or should I say the Green Scum Bag.
As to what they are offering. I also found out from the complaints the simple fact that the information can be found online for free and is nothing special. I know for a fact that the state of Oregon helps people with grants to install solar power generating grids on their roofs. Each state offers energy saving rebates and incentives so you should check out your own state's official website for links to the information you want.
Walmart credit card warning
If you are a Walmart credit card holder and user, you may want to read this warning
This warning concerns those promotional purchases, you know the ones, buy something over "X" amount of dollars and take a year to pay it with no interest.
If you are making regular payments and the original amount of that large purchase is not going down or going down very slowly then here is what is happening - Walmart is NOT putting your payment to the first purchased items on the credit card and working its way down the list, NO they are putting the money on the non-promotional items first then if there is any money left over it goes to the promotional item.
You have to PHONE them and tell them what items you want your payment to be credited to. You can only do this about 3 days after your payment to them has cleared unless you made a cash payment in the store. You will still have to call them. You have to call them EACH TIME you make a payment.
DO NOT LET WALMART GET AWAY WITH THIS! Make sure you let them know where you want your payment to go and PAY THE DAMN CREDIT CARD OFF - CUT IT UP AND LET WALMART KNOW THAT THEY MADE YOU DO IT.
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