Window Shopper

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

We looked high and low for the perfect computer desk for our office/bedroom. It wasn’t that hard to find cheap ones from Target and Walmart. What was more difficult was to find that special one that just says to you….come here. I’m yours. Then, of course, we would have to find another place for the thing because if it was in the bedroom/office, the thing would be cramped in a corner. Might not fit. We are still looking, by the way.

What we really need is a house with an actual office/office. And of course, we really need to go scouting around to see what else is available and where. For instance, if you wanted an office desk, then you would go to offices and see what they have, right? When we did that, we had our fill of, not office desks, but reception desks, lots and lots of reception desks. They all  had a receptionist that would not allow us to go inside and actually SEE the desk so we could get a clue what we wanted. Isn’t that sort of a bad attitude? Are you kidding? Why are they so resistant to someone wanting what they have?

Ah well. It was a great idea at the time but you know what great ideas look like in the light of day. Not much usually. Now we have to go looking at houses so we can have a large office/office that does not actually have a bedroom in it, for a change. After that, we are off to find the place that makes this really cool reception desk I noticed.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This is something that is so annoying. Everyone in our family loves MickyD. Why not? They give you what you want, when you want it, right? Not so fast. I recall when Burger King had the saying that they would “do it your way” and they meant it. You could go in and get the type of burger with all the stuff only you wanted on the thing. No real problems.

Not so with MickyD. Do you know that if you ask to have them leave something off that it takes an extra….5-10 minutes to get your order? That would be IF it isn’t busy. You know why, right? Because they have this little pile of already done burgers sitting there. If you want something they don’t have piled, they have to specially make it for you. Ah. There’s the rub. For those who are willing to waste their time, head on over to MickyD and enjoy the wait…..5 minutes…10 minutes. Even more some days.

Now, all that is the normal for them. Do you know what the problem is at the area McD? They no longer carry the double cheeseburger as a dollar menu item. I cannot tell you how much that devastates us. We can’t believe there is such a problem. What is up with that anyway?

On another note, I hate raw onions on a burger. Cooked onions are good. Love em. But not raw onions on a burger. McD does not hear you. They now have a supposed big and tasty on the dollar menu. The thing is a normal sized sandwich which is marginally tasty. It has huge globs of mayo and a ton of onions. ACK!!! Why must they do this to their customers? Why? Guess it’s another one of the mysteries of the universe. Uh, NO! Wait a minute. It is not that. It is the greedy owners of McD. There ya go.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Now, I must say that I love a good burger. Over the years, I have developed a talent for making some pretty nice sandwiches on buns. Of course, you can always get a burger at the local fast food joint. That, by the way, is a pet peeve of mine but I do digress and will talk about that later.

In Huntington, W. Va., there is a place where you can get a HUGE burger. If you thought you were hungry, I would say that you would not be hungry for days after consuming this burger. 10 lbs. of burger, bun, pickles and all the other extras you expect on a good burger. So, I thought I would show you what I was talking about. It’s a biggie.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When I think of an anniversary gift for my husband, all sorts of things come to mind. Not all are an option. For instance, he wants a new computer. We are not able to handle that right now. But, oh the computer he wants! Then, there are individual things for the computer that he is wanting a whole lot. There are always the movies. Of course, he likes to read so books are also possible.

The trick here is to get the thing he really wants right at the moment. Do you realize what a problem that can be when all I want to do is get him an anniversary gift? ACK!! See, it’s really difficult just trying to get the item into the house without him knowing. We both are at home all day and night. Then, often he’s the one to get the mail. Again, difficult because he always wants to know what the package is. If I tell him it’s a secret he will, of course, honor that but that cat’s out of the bag by then. So, it can be a real task getting the item in without his knowledge. I still have no idea how to do this but I have until in October to figure it out.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Ack! Sometimes that’s me! Over the years, the one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was that when I went to the store and just bought what I wanted to buy as I saw it on the shelves, I spent WAAAAAAAAAAAY more money than I expected to. Often, that meant we did not have money for other things that we actually needed. It wasn’t totally that but it happened often enough that it became a problem for me.

It was that impulse buying that really cost so much more than anything else. Of course, a lot of times I really did know what I wanted. I simply didn’t want to actually say that I wanted the potato chips and the other things on the end caps that will destroy your budget if you don’t watch it.  The thing I did learn was that if I didn’t have a list, I would spend up to about $50+ more than I had anticipated doing. That usually hurt! The budget was out the window the first time I did that….and the second…the third…fourth…and on and on.

So, the giant tip for the day is that if you are needing to save money, pinch pennies til they scream or whatever your situation, you will absolutely not be able to impulse buy. Turn the eyes away from food and other items that you do not need.  Remember: It is NOT a savings if you were not intending to buy it anyway. It is only a savings if you would have bought it at a higher price and it was on your intended buying list.

For those who have already been impulse buyers and you have no idea what to do with the items in the cupboard or pantry, I have a suggestion. Why not take those things that still are within the “use by” date and take them to the local food pantry or church. There are a lot of folks out there that can’t buy food for their families right now.

If you have foods that you know you will never use because it was some type of impulse buy, give them away. It will not hurt as much as you think and it will clear your cupboards and pantry for things you might actually cook for supper some night. I think it would make you feel good and it might be the food that family needs to get through the rest of the month. How about it?

Happy Shopping!!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When I first heard about buying and selling domain names, I thought that was nuts. We’re talking about cyberspace here. That invisible place that no one has ever really seen but all of us know about. Some of us can visualize it. That big place in the air.

So, I saw this article on domain names being a really hot item because companies and individuals are trying to get a name for their websites that says the name in the url. I got a couple too. They are not so hard to come by as long as you do the research on them. The article I read today said that these guys were bidding at an auction for a specific name that ended up costing them $150,000. Wow! I wish.

But, this is an excellent time to tell you that there are domain names available at “Purrfect Domains” where the names are far cheaper than that! You should at least go look and see what’s available there. Hey, the names are pretty cool.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I have friends that have trouble breathing at night. They have either a cpap machine or a bi-pap. Both take care of those who actually stop breathing when they sleep. Have you ever heard of that? It’s called Sleep Apnea. There are a whole lot more folks in the U.S. with that than are known about.

So, the question is, do you snore a lot at night? If you do, it is a possibility that you have some form of sleep apnea which means that you actually stop breathing for short moments as you sleep. As I said, I have friends who have this and use either cpap machine or bi-pap. A cpap machine has the ability to blow air into your body as you sleep which keeps you breathing. A bi-pap adds oxygen to the mix. This is necessary for some people who have a much more severe case of sleep apnea.

Then there are those who use a portable oxygen concentrator because they have other problems that are associated with having trouble breathing. A relative of mine has one to take medication that you breathe into your lungs. The meds open the air passages so that the person has an easier time breathing too.
So, if any of these problems sound like you and you haven’t done anything about it, maybe it’s time to go see a doctor and get the help you need. Right? And where do you get the machines I mentioned? When the doctor has prescribed them, you can get them at a local hospital supply or medical supply store. They will have all the information you need.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As you know by now, I am giving tips on saving money with groceries and other things. This particular saving helps our family probably more than any other regular expense during the month. Oh, we do our little slips, like go out to eat occasionally. But we usually stick to the plan. So, here are more tips for those who are looking to save at the grocery store or warehouse outlet.

Tip: Find a day old bakery outlet store. It’s pretty easy to save at least a few pennies and often a whole lot more. We have a store that sells bread for 89 cents a loaf. Not bad, huh?

Tip: Try and shop on an off day. That would not be Friday, aka payday. More customers means the possibility of buying more because you see somebody else getting a great buy and you want it too.

Tip: Watch the sales in the paper. Our free paper comes out on Wednesday. I plan around those items quite often. The savings on those is huge as long as you stick to what you are planning to buy. These products in the paper are those loss leaders I talked about previously.

Tip: Take a look at the products on the shelf. The eye level things are usually the ones they are trying to sell more. Those can also be the highest priced. For instance, check the cereal aisle. The healthy stuff is on the top shelf, right? Kids don’t want that. They want the sugary stuff that’s right at your eye level and theirs.

Tip: Sometimes you can get a really great bargain if you buy day old poultry or meat. You can get a huge savings there, sometimes 50%. Warning: You must watch what you are picking up. Some of it may not be the good buy.

Tip:  In case you have not noticed, your normal foods like staples are in the back. Shocker! You must go through the whole store to get to them. I’m thinking of a store we have in our area where the meat and cheese items are all the way at the back.

Tip: Have you ever noticed that, for the most part, the fresh foods and the stuff you should buy for healthy eating, is on the outside wall of the store? The other items in the middle are all the canned and boxed items. It is possible to get the healthy stuff and never touch the middle of the store. BUT, those are also some of the highest priced items unless in season, in the case of the produce.  So, if you are buying to have produce year round, you might want to buy frozen.

Tip: DO NOT IMPUSLE BUY. It’s like shopping hungry. Do not do it. If you do, there goes your list. All the savings you planned on is gone. The only way around that is to plan some end cap buying into your budget.

Tip: In this day of high gas prices, it pays to shop all in one day if possible. We live in a rural area where everything is a long ways away. We plan our trips to include as much as possible. Several stores can be visited on the same day. We even plan doctor visits and grocery shopping. No store is less than 9 miles from us!!

More later from the Window Shopper. Happy Shopping!!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Is there such a thing as a virus proof computer? I dunno. When I started using a computer, the words “Norton Anti-virus” meant big stuff in getting rid of viruses on your computer. Still are. I didn’t even know what a virus was then. You know what you think at first, right? A computer has the flu? Come on! Ah well. That’s a newbie for ya. I did finally get a rough idea of what they do now. They blow the computer’s nose, right? I knew that was it.

So, the answer to the original question is……I still dunno. Probably not. But the Norton people are trying to keep viruses out of your system. They can do that. Know what that sounds like? Yeah, I thought so too.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I really love to save money any way I am able to do so. Groceries are going to take a huge bite out of your pocket every single month. So, you need to have a plan that will help you get more for your buck. So, here are some more tips for you to save money at the supermarket. And don’t forget to read my first post on saving money at the grocery store called “Save On Grocery Trips“.

Tip: Look for the “loss leaders”. These are the products from the newspapers that catch your eye before you shop. Those items have been reduced a lot so that you will come into the store and then see a whole lot of other things to buy. When you get there others will often be on the endcaps or the ends of the isles. Stick with your list but snag the loss leaders usually for a huge savings.

Tip: Plan meals around the loss leaders because your meal will definitely be cheaper. Especially if the items are non-perishable (a lot are), you can stock up and store the rest. Make certain you have the room first. People often overestimate their storage space.

Tip: Check out those coupons. The cents off are great IF they happen to be what you want to purchase ANYWAY. Do NOT take a coupon for something you had no intention of buying. It is not a savings if you haven’t already budgeted for it. Also, make sure your savings is better than the generic that you would have bought. Sometimes those coupons are great, others not so much.

Tip: Speaking of generics, go for it. If you are not now buying mostly generic, take the plunge. Those generic brands are usually made by the same companies that make the name brands. The taste is often the same. We buy almost all generic and the difference, if any, is minimal. This will save you a lot of money. We cut our grocery bill at least a third by using generic products.

Tip: I mentioned this previously but it is worth mentioning just one more time. Do not shop hungry. Why? If you do, you will find yourself with a basket full of junk foods and probably not have bought the items you came for in the first place. Happens.

Tip: Plan ahead. Cook your own meals instead of giving in to the masses and have take out food. It costs way more to eat fast foods. Plan your meals. Make lists. Buy from the list and do the cooking yourself. It will save mucho dinero on your budget. And there is a plus. If you can cook at all, the family will love it.

Tip: Go to a wholesale warehouse and check the prices. If they’re better than the local store, join and save, save, save. Beware: Not all items are a savings. Not all things are a good deal. Be smart and price check. If the price is good, buy in bulk when you are able.

Tip: Watch how you buy the perishables like milk, meat, produce. If you are not likely to use what you buy, it can spoil and your savings is gone. Buy only what you need and can either eat or freeze.

I will have more from the Window Shopper soon. Happy Shopping!!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!