Window Shopper

Okay, that is not so easy to answer. I almost NEVER know when to be silent….well, like now. I really do not have much of anything to talk about but that’s never stopped me before. LOL!

Hmmm, my sister was shopping for karate lessons for my nieces. In our area, there isn’t much to choose from but this place seems to be really good. In a way, I’m sort of jealous. With my problems, it isn’t possible for me but they will have so much fun!!! I am happy for the girls.

My brother-in-law won some places at the local fair with his beautiful pictures. He got 1 third place, two second places and one first place. Grats to him!!!

My husband is currently looking for truly annoying little things like that badger, badger thing I mentioned a while back. He plans to put them on a DVD to send to a friend in Texas. ROFL!! I started collecting annoying pages back a few weeks ago. I’ve got at least 18 now. Most of them are things seen on the web for some time now but……some day I will post some of them.

I just had to put two of the links here. HOPE they don’t drive ya crazzzeee.

That’s it for now. Happy Shopping!!!

We live in a rural area so taking car trips is almost a daily necessity, most certainly every few days. We try to limit our trips to the “have to” category instead of the “I want” list. Most of the time that works very well. But the gas prices make it difficult to do too many of these trips since we live at least 9 miles from Walmart (that’s like the central location for nearly everything we do).

Saving on gas is a high priority since the prices are so high. Thing is, paying for the gas alone is killing our income because we’re almost on a fixed income. Almost I say because we have learned how to get paid for blogging too. It doesn’t bring in a fortune but it does give us some extra money for the little things in life….like food. Our budget is stretched to the max most months. That’s why this particular post is sponsored by a company that sells personalized cups and other assorted business promotional items. You can visit them anytime by clicking on the link in this post.

Usually, I don’t do a lot of blogging tips mainly because it wouldn’t work well. I would rather give tips on getting the best cabbage or something. But, I ran across an article called “What we’re going to do together here” and I thought I would share this with you. He gives a couple of good tips and a major place to check your rankings and stats. I recommend doing this.

The name of the blog is My Thoughts. I love the look of the site. Good articles and very friendly. They have plenty of tips for you on a variety of subjects. It is worth the visit.

Normally, I don’t speak too much about television shows. And as far as The View is concerned, usually the less said the better especially after the lost year (I meant lost..not last)….as in having Rosie O’Donell as a co-host. ACK! I used to really like Rosie. She was funny….until I heard her nasty mouth. Then, that so turned me off about her that it really did not matter anymore who or what she was attacking. The View allowed such things to occur…for ratings, I guess. I realize they like being controversial but that was too much.

Now, a new day dawns. ABC is asking Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd to come in and take on the task of clean up. I do realize that Whoopi has her own mouth to curb but her style of humor is so funny that you are not necessarily offended by what she says. Sherri Shepherd is a funny person and I have loved listening to her when I can find her on a show. I truly hope that they are willing to go to The View and bring it back into the realm of honest, compassionate and personal instead of attack, attack, attack.

More on other television shows in the future.

Happy Shopping!!

I have to tell you that I am so not looking forward to school starting. Think about all the stuff each kid has to have to get into each class. Have you checked out the price of binders lately? Our (what a laugh) school system expects us to buy a load of binders each year. For instance, last year we purchased 9 binders for two kids to take to school. Where is the justice in that?

Leaving out the clothes the girls have to have, the list is huge concerning just supplies. When I was going to school, you bought a binder and some paper, a pencil or six, some dividers and waltzed into class to find out if there was anything else you needed. Usually, it was a folder or two or erasers, something small. But this school has to have a box of tissues in each class…this is 7th grade, mind you. They need crayons, paper, pens….red and marking…hilighters, the aforementioned binders, folders and dividers…so many dividers for each class in each binder. Have you gazed at the price of DIVIDERS???? You get them in a pack of 5 for an obscene amount and the kid needs over 20. I could scream. ACK! Maybe I will. (covers her ears so that the scream doesn’t hurt too much. She hears a scream in the distance)

So tell me, what are you doing to get your kids ready for the new school year?

Happy Shopping!

ADD ON: The teachers sometimes do not revise their lists each year. We found that out when we bought items that were “necessary” but were never used during the year. I believe that it is important that the teachers work with the parents and guardians too. Usually, it’s the teacher pleading with the parents and guardians to care about the kids. I am asking that the teachers care about the fact that we must buy all the supplies and clothes for the kids. At least, make the list relevant to the current year. Thanks!!

I worked for a company that did everything by hand. It was a trucking company that handled quite a list of customers but especially a local factory that made farm equipment. The truckers, for the most part, drove flatbed trucks to haul the farm implements across the country. The dealers received them and signed the paperwork.

It was all pretty heavy on the paperwork because one person had to type out the paperwork for the load to go with the trucker. He then had to have the receiver sign it and then mail it back to the terminal. Then someone cleared the load for payment. In between those things, a person had to make sure each trucker had the proper permits to drive through a state or area with a wide load, each state with different rules and regulations for the permits. Not to mention that the company had to keep an inventory of every farm implement assigned to them at the factory.

The same company paid their drivers and their office employees the same way. By hand. Someone typed out the paychecks to be signed. Then that person took them to the boss who signed the checks. As the drivers cycled through the office, they received their checks. The office employees got theirs on a regular timetable. Wouldn’t it have been easier by far if they had a payroll software package? Can you see what the difference would be? Spreadsheets and programs specifically designed to take care of that problem. Sort of an automatic thing. I love it.

This is under the heading of a shopping no no. I belong to Columbia House Video Club. That, in itself, really isn’t a problem as long as I shop smart. When I joined, they had the Fun Cash thing, still do but the rules have changed and it is not for your benefit.

First, are you a member of Columbia House Video Club? If so, do you use the Fun Cash feature? Here’s what I found out about that. At first, the Fun Cash was great because you could actually get free DVDs if you did it right. I used it up fast that way. Guess that was the problem for Columbia House. Somewhere along the line, they changed the rules. Now, if you want to use your Fun Cash option, you can only receive $10 or $20 off of the price, depending on what the original price was. It won’t be free anymore.

The problem here is that when you buy the first DVD for the regular price, the rest are at those discount rates, some quite good. I have bought DVDs on their site for $5.98 when the original price was up to $19.98. If you think about it, that’s a great deal. However, when you use the Fun Cash option, you are in a different world. All the prices are at full price. Then, when you put the item into the checkout, you get up to $10 off of the normal price. Get that? Normal price NOT the discounted price you would have otherwise. So, it is entirely possible to buy a DVD through the Fun Cash and pay MORE for it than you would with a normal transaction.

Does anyone see a problem here? Yeah, I do too. Makes me mad. That was my shopping rant for now. No, I don’t feel better. I feel ripped off by them everytime I see the difference. So, I shop for the best offer.

Tip: When shopping with Columbia House, try the checkout both ways. Pick the one that gives you the savings. Don’t forget to watch for the shipping charges too.

Tip: Once in a while, they offer a free shipping with so many DVDs. Grab that!

Happy Shopping!

The scam of the month club awards it’s best in show to Aquafina who has been selling us water that we could be getting at home. The letters on the label read P.W.S. Now what the heck does that mean anyway? Why, it means Public Water System. That means that the company is selling tap water.

How could they do that, you say? Easy. People want to believe that the water in those bottles is good for you while the water coming from your sink is not. That just does not work for me. I have been drinking water from the kitchen sink for years. The bottled water just seemed to be much more expensive and did not appear to be better. Millions of people want to have the healthy life they thought they had. Well, now we know that it just isn’t so. I can smell lawsuits coming.

Maybe we should check out some of those other water bottle places too. I wonder how many are bottling the same thing you can find at home.

I have never been to London. It would be a fantastic trip ending with a great hotel right in the heart of London. However, you cannot get past the part about hotels costing too much in areas like that. But wait. There are Cheap Hotels in London! I checked out this great looking place called Corbigoe Hotel in downtown London. They have really nice looking rooms and are within walking distance of the train station.

If you have your heart set on staying outside of London, head on over to Edinburgh where you will find the Cairn Hotel Bathgate. This beautiful 3 star hotel can give you special discount rates. With a friendly staff and a warm feeling, you will enjoy your stay in this country style atmosphere. Have a good time in your Edinburgh Accomodation.

Okay, that was too far from London. You can find London Hotels in the suburbs too. Abba Queen’s Gate Hotel, in South Kensington and 4 star rated, is a spacious Victorian town house type hotel. Conveniently located quite near Hyde Park, the Museums, Kensington Palace and Knightsbridge. You are sure to have a rewarding time there.

One of the ways I have found to save a lot of money is to buy ground turkey. Now, I know that there are some tried and true blue ground beef eaters out there. I was one of them. I still am at times. However, when heading out to the store, I find that the price of ground beef is jus too high most of the time anymore.

Ground turkey is a wonderful substitute for ground beef in so many recipes. We use it in spaghetti, casseroles, slow cooker meals and so many other things. The taste is not that different and it is so much cheaper that we decided that if the ground beef was not under a dollar a pound, we would buy the ground turkey instead. For years, I was paying almost $1 a pound for ground turkey. Then I found the ALDI’S store in Missouri, just north of where we live about 50 miles. That is not a long way to go to save so much money.

The current price of ground beef around here goes anywhere from about $1.19 a pound to well over $1.79 a pound. That is far too much to pay for ground beef. It’s HAMBURGER, for crying out loud. So, we get our ground turkey at that store and save money. The turkey is currently at 89 cents a pound. We have paid as little as 59 cents a pound at times.

So, try something new. Get the ground turkey and give it a try in some of those dishes that were using beef. You might just be surprised to see that it does not matter so much about the beef and you will save a whole lot of money in the process.

Happy Shopping!!