Window Shopper

Welcome back!

First, you should know that I am in no way an expert about saving money. I simply had to learn how to do so when our income went way down and we have kids to raise. To start, my husband and I are both disabled and have an EXTREMELY SMALL income from disability. So, because we have very little to work with, we had to learn the ins and outs of saving money pretty much the hard way. But now that we do know a bit about it, I can share with you some of the things we do.

The first thing, because of huge gas prices, cut down to the bare bones all of the travel you can. In our case, we live in a rural area and all of our movement is by car. Our car is not the most economic vehicle in the world but it is what we have so we use it as sparingly as we are able. Now, I do know that those of you who have a job do have a different situation. In those cases, it would be a great idea to carpool. Yes, I know. Not your favorite idea in the world. But is going broke because of gas prices a better deal? If you cannot carpool and you have a big car or truck that is going to run you out of money before the end of the month, how about a trade in? Get a car that gives you your money’s worth in gas and comfort at the same time. Yes, that means those big man cars have to be history. Sorry guys.

On to food savings. We found a place that sells at greatly reduced prices on food. We shop there once a month, usually. Unfortunately, it’s about 50 miles from our home so it’s not as good a deal as it once was. But we will still go there as often as possible because even if we only go there once every couple of months, the savings are well worth the effort. And we also go to a store that is a little wholesale place that has awesome bargains. Most meat items are half off even now.

A few tips on purchasing food:

1) Buy what you need. Even with a sale item if it’s a perishable, some of it is going to go south before you use it all. Guaranteed.

2) Buying things for the freezer is great but buy what fits. At the beginning, I remember buying all these fab things but found out that when we got home, it did not fit the freezer. So make sure you have the room.

3) Buy loss leaders IF YOU NEED THEM!!! If the loss leader is not what you usually buy, do not bother. It will get you hooked on the item and then it will go sky high in price. I hate that.

4) Check your pantry and shelves before you go to the store. Buy those things that will help you make meals, not some speculation thing. If you do not have an idea of what it will be used for, leave it alone till you do know. Purchases of that type will take your grocery bill HIGHER AND HIGHER. While that works great for people it does not work for a bill.

5) Get the basics in bulk when you can. Things like pasta, potatoes, rice. Those things are meal stretchers. Use them liberally. This allows you to have enough so that people don’t feel cheated out of a meal or leave still hungry.

6) Have a meal plan before you leave home. Make a list of those items you have used up.

7) Any extra treats are going to cost you so be extra careful about those. Sugar is at an all time high so things made with sugar are going to be more expensive too.

8 ) Go for the bargains and buy the generic brands. I can talk till I am blue in the face about this one since many people still do not believe it BUT most, I did say MOST, generic brands are made by a national brand maker. So, those brands will taste the same as the brand name items. There are a few that I have run up against that I did not think were as good but most are. Buy generic when you can. It saves A LOT OF MONEY!!!! Sometimes, it will cut the cost of that item by one half.

I realize that today with the prices going up and up, sometimes it might seem a lot overwhelming. It is. But you can do things to change that. These are just a few of the tips that will help you get through this time and hopefully teach people that it’s a different world out there and we have to adjust to it or lose out completely!

Happy Shopping!

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Ever wanted to show someone else how things are going with you and your family but the only thing you had were a few pictures? Now you can give people a better idea with custom photo cards from CardsDirect who specializes in custom made photo cards.

They have a large number of models to choose from or a blank card can have your logo and picture on it just the way you want it. 73 custom photo cards are available to view on their website right now. Taking a look at the picture I’ve put here, you can see what a great idea this is to get Custom Photo Cards for you, your business or your family cards at a special time like an anniversary, birthday or Christmas.

The particular custom photo card I chose for you to see is a Green Border Christmas Photo Card. As you can tell, it’s very pretty and the color is sharp and the picture is clear. Think of this as a great idea for your business to show your family values. It could also have a picture of your business building on it to advertise especially at those times when you have a huge new advertising campaign going on.

Why not take the time to go to the website at CardsDirect and see what all they have especially for you!

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Like you didn’t already know that, right? But from what I have heard, the price is not heading down anytime soon either. We have been learning how to save money for some years now. It looks to me like all of those things that we learned are going to have to be put into play right now.

If you have not learned how to save money and shop cheaply now is a great time to learn. In our case, we live on a semi-fixed income. That means that we have a fixed income and have learned to do some things that give us a little…stress the LITTLE….income from home. It is not enough to have a street dance over but it does help us in times of financial stress, like when we get an unexpected medical bill that is only partly covered by medicare. It helps that we are able to pay the co-pays with that.

Sometimes, we have a little bit so that we can have a treat now and then, something we could ill afford if we only had our fixed income to go by. And now, gas prices being what they are, we would be in deep doodoo if we did not have that extra income.

I guess this is sort of a rant on gas prices because once those prices filter down, which they already are, you will see higher and higher prices in the stores. Food prices will be way higher than they ever have been. Do not look for dropping prices anytime soon. My guess is that when all of the dust settles, the prices will go up and down a bit but mostly up. We will never see prices on goods and food be lower than they are right now ever again, except on some loss leader sale. Never again. Isn’t that sad? More than sad, it’s a disaster.

For those of you who are getting that stimulus check, I would think long and hard about how to spend it. That would be contrary to what the government wants. But here’s the thing. The government wants us to get it, spend it and wave goodbye to it. That way, the economy will be stimulated. Good. That works. BUT, those awful gas prices will not go down when the people who are controlling them are living in the middle east. That means that when you spend it, it’s gone. Yes, it will help stimulate the economy to a certain extent. But not as much as it might appear.

These people want to see our country fall so they are doing what they can to accomplish that. It began long before this in the 70s when they tried out the gas shortage deal. I was there in those horrible gas lines waiting to get to the pump before the car ran out, before the station ran out, before they told you that if you had enough gas for today, you didn’t need any there. People were pushing their cars into a station to the pumps and finding out that the gas was out at the pump too.

The people who are running the majority of the crude oil in the middle east right now are happy that our country is having problems with it. They want this. So, what can we do to change that? For one thing, use less gas. Yeah, I know. Tough thing to do. We have that problem too.We live in a rural area with no public transportation. We must rely on ourselves and family to get around. We live 18miles from the rest of our family. That means that they cannot help us too much either. We have learned to conserve.

It’s a tough thing to have to learn right now. But it is necessary before the government thinks to make it mandatory….and eventually, they will. Only those people who lived during the second world war and know about ration cards can get a tiny clue what it will be like but it is coming, count on it. Learn to deal with that now while you can.

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Recently, I signed up for a thing called Entrecard. This is, as I stated in the title, a free exchange network or traffic exchange website. I found it to be fantastic for finding new blog friends and generate more traffic in the process. If you have been blogging for any length of time, you realize that in order to get more traffic, you have to work at it. You must write a pretty good post and hope people read it. That was frustrating to me in the beginning because I thought I had some things to say but not that many people ever saw it. More people are now actively reading my blog. Wheeee!

Entrecard has a very interesting way of bringing in the readers. As you can see, on the sidebar of this post, there is an Entrecard. It has an E on it and it says Drop. If you click on the E you will be sent to their signup page. After you sign up with them, you are able to go to blogs with this card and click on the word “drop” which then records the fact that you have been to that blog. It earns you ec or points. When you have a sufficient number, you can purchase a day’s advertising on another blog. While you are doing that, others are wanting to advertise on your blog too! When I started up with them, I already had about 10 other bloggers who wanted to advertise on my blog. You are allowed to drop cards on 300 blogs a day.

Beginners will have an amount on their own advertising at 2 ec since your blog is new. As you drop your card on other blogs, you earn more and more ec. With those, you can purchase more valuable advertising. And as you drop your cards, the more you drop, the more your ads cost to others. You earn ec for dropping cards and when others drop theirs on your card. Each of these things earns you more ec. I just started with Entrecard and I have 3 ads running currently. Each ad runs for full twenty four hours on blogs you choose. Ads you allow will run on yours for twenty four hours. I can tell you that traffic has picked up on my blog quite a bit since I signed up.

Why not go check it out right now! It’s FREE!

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Some friends of mine, who are really family, have never been on the net before. They only recently got a computer. Is that a shock or what? But they have had a hard time of it. The guy is disabled and so is she. Obviously, their income is really down. So, for them to get on the net is fantastic! I cannot wait for it. We do talk fairly often but only when their cell phone provider allows for free minutes. Neither they nor we could actually afford regular day minutes. ACK!

One of the things that we decided to do was to get a flash drive, send it to them and that way they can send us stuff they want us to see. Of course, now that they will be on the net, that won’t be nearly as necessary but we still plan to do that. Not everything needs to be on the net, right?

I am waiting not so patiently for them to get online. They will finally be able to see my blog in about two weeks! Awesome!

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For years, I have heard so many old wives tales or so they called them. But some really do work. For instance, had you ever heard of having a sip of wine for your stomach problems? In fact, that one is actually in the Bible. The reality of it is that some of the old things are actually good for you.

Today, we talk about anti-inflammatory or antioxidants instead of giving out the old remedies. But the old things are still here. How about using plants for healing? Berries, peanuts, there are all sorts of plants that have particular properties that help you with ailments. Many are preventives as well. But one thing that is a major natural ingredient in many of the plants is Resveratrol. This anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimutagen is found in so many of those same plants. Because of the grapes in red wine, this natural ingredient helps your stomach problems too! Isn’t that great?

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We have been married now for almost 12 years. In the beginning, I was pretty sensitive to what I got for my anniversary. You ladies understand this, right? I knew my first marriage was a bust when all I got for anniversary presents were “useful” items like vacuum cleaners and pots or pans. He never had a clue. No, I did not divorce him for that. (I am not that shallow)

My husband really did not know how much he needed to dazzle me that first year. I did not want to go through that “useful” thing again but I didn’t say a word. We didn’t have much money then (or now for that matter) so I didn’t expect him to give me much but it had to, at least, be special. It was a very pretty red rose. I was dazzled!

After that, always he gave me things that were special. But the main thing was that they were not useful. So, I was dazzled all the more. There were years that it was pretty sparse because of our finances. That was fine with me. My husband proves that he loves me each day. If it gets forgotten now, that’s not the important thing. Actually, I am the one who is more likely to forget the day than he is. I am blessed that he does not feel slighted because of that either.

But one year, we had an enormous fight right before our anniversary. We went back and forth about something; I actually do not know what right now other than he had asked me what I wanted for our anniversary. It was a fierce word battle. But the last thing I remember him yelling at me was “What did you expect, a Patek? Well, it won’t be THIS year, that’s for sure.” I simply stood there with my mouth open. I had nothing to say. That was probably a shock to him! I will not soon forget that either.

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In an effort to ease the pain caused by the latest mess with credit, the Fed (Federal Reserve Bank) is increasing the amount of loans available to banks. Banks and lending institutions are feeling the crunch of the failure to pay back loans including the foreclosures which are currently at an all time high. Foreclosures continue to plague the homeowners, banks and loan companies.

The fear is that we are falling into a recession. With jobless rates up due to large numbers of layoffs all over the country, 65000 in February alone, and people unable to pay off their mortgages because of incredibly ridiculous subprime loans made on mortgages a couple of years ago, recession does appear to be on the horizon.

The Fed is trying to stop the bleeding with boosting the size of the auctions to lending institutions by $50 billion. The auctions are a form of short term loans to the banks to make sure they have money to lend out. The Fed has plans to keep the auctions going for the next six months and beyond that if necessary.

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Do you want to win a Wii? I definitely want to win a Wii! How about high speed internet service? I would love to have the Wii and the high speed service. Although our area does not have this service at this time, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of this service to add to the already great Charter Communications cable we have had for years. We are extremely pleased with them. When you call them for anything, they do respond quickly.

Tell you what. Just Click Here for a Chance to Win a Nintendo® Wii™!. While you are on that page, take note of the fact that you can also bid for the high speed net service they offer. I can tell you from experience, they have a great deal on that. It would be especially great with a highest bid win as well. In order to qualify for the Charter High-Speed® Internet for Life bidding, you need to go to the page and qualify by entering your zip code. If you are in a service area, you have qualified! Then just put in your bid starting March 12th. The bids start at $10. Remember, this is high speed internet for LIFE! For the rules for this great bidding contest, go to Action and Sweepstakes Rules.

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Lately, there have not been as many recalls but today there is one for Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix. This affects those who buy this product in 17 states across the country. The actual health risk is only if the batter is eaten raw or undercooked. They have not had anyone sick from this product at all. Most of the recalled boxes have not made it to the shelves of stores yet.

The affected products are Aunt Jemima Pancake and Waffle Mix: Original, Original Complete and Buttermilk Complete. They have a freshness date of between Feb. 8, 2009 and Feb. 16, 2009. The products are packaged in two-pound and five-pound boxes with any of the following 10-digit UPCs: 30000 43272, 30000 05040, 30000 05070 and 30000 05300.

If you do have any of these products with the specific codes, please return them to the stores that you bought them from where they will give you a full refund. If you need more information on this recall please call 1-800-407-2247 to reach the consumer relations line.

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