Wedding dreams

I've never been big on weddings. I just always imagined that I'd be married. I never worried about colors, styles, dresses or any of that stuff. We've been talking and I've started to think about it a little. I definitely need help with Wedding Planning because I'm not a girly-girl. I'll have bold colors instead of soft colors and stuff like that. I'm going online to get advice on everything from vendors to photos to the registry and everything in between. I can also get free planning tools to help make everything flow smoothly and be as stress-free as possible.

I'm not looking at anything definitively but it's never too early to start. Especially when you're looking to spend upwards of $15k and that's on the cheap.

My teacher hasn't gotten back to me

I'm surprised about it too. He was supposed to get back to me before the New Year so he could close this semesters grades. I guess I'll hear from him next week when classes start up again.

I'm really nervous about this assignment because he's not telling me what he wants me to study, so I pretty much have to study everything. That's going to be a killer because we had 14 chapters worth of information. And judging by the way he made his exams and homework assignments, I can't afford to think any chapter is less important than any other chapter.

Sigh. I'll just be glad when this is finally over.

I won't have lunch today

Our work cafeteria is closing early today so that the staff can celebrate the holiday. I always have a big breakfast so I don't get hungry until later in the day. Since the cafeteria will be closed at the time I usually got to lunch, I'll have to eat once I leave work. I have some pizza at home but that's about it. I don't really want that though. Maybe I'll stop somewhere else and get something.

Car troubles

My boyfriends ex has a Honda. She doesn't really take care of the car because she always expected him to do it. Since they broke up, it's her responsibility now and she's not really doing what she needs to do. She needs a new Honda Radiator for her car. He even gave her the name of a company to go to.

They're on call over 13 hours a day, 7 days a week so she has no excuse that she doesn't have the time to call them. They also guarantee that the quality of radiator that you get will be the same or even better than the one you had. Top that with a unlimited lifetime warranty and you don't need to go anywhere else.

I hope she calls soon so she can stop calling us.

Shopping on New Years

I have a ton of shopping to do. It's not for clothes or anything that exciting, it's for household and personal items. I could do it today but stores are closing early and people will be out buying their last minute items for their parties. I'm sure the stores will be crowded because of it.

I don't care, as long as I get everything that I need.

Ikea can get expensive

The prices at Ikea are pretty reasonable but once you start adding everything to it, it starts to get expensive. We went today and looked at some bedroom furniture. It looked like it was pretty cheap but each piece is sold separately. It's like that for all departments too. I love the way their displays look but you'll spend a mint trying to buy all of that stuff.

I need money to pay for school

I didn't do well in my class this semester. I needed a C to get tuition reimbursement but I didn't get it. The class was harder than I expected it to be. Since I won't get tuition reimbursement, I have to come up with the money to pay for school. I may have to fill out Credit Card Applications because I certainly don't have the cash to pay for it. I can compare cards to try to get the card with the best rewards or cash back but at this point it doesn't even matter. As long as I can pay for school, that's all that matters.

Parking updated

I didn't have to pay after all. John was able to go pick up my car after he got off of work last Friday. He even paid the parking fee. Then he picked me up from the airport on Christmas day and he paid for parking then too. I did give him the money to pay for parking but when I got in the car he gave it back to me. He's such a sweetie!

I found a new search engine

Well I didn't actually find it on my own. Someone sent me a link and told me to check it out. I thought I would pass it on. The site is Earthfrisk.org and I'm really excited about it. I don't like how one company can dominate the internet and skew results. By using this new search engine, we can help level the playing field. That way the giant companies can't dominate the search results.

I put my blog name in there and it showed several entries. I have 1 blog that doesn't show on one search engine at all. They all showed on earthfrisk. I like the site and plan on using it more often. Check it out.

I do have to pay for parking

Booooo! This stinks. My friend is not able to take me to the airport so I have to park my car in a long term lot. It will cost me at least $30 depending on which lot I use. I was really depending on him dropping me off. I have the money but it's not money that I really wanted to spend. That's less money that I have to spend once I get home.

I'm not mad, even though he thinks I am. I'm just trying to make him understand that I can't depend on him to do things because he's not always available. I realize that things happen and people have circumstances beyond their control. I just wish he would stop offering to do stuff when he doesn't know if he can.

Airport parking? I don't think so

I am not parking at the airport for 5 days. That will set me back almost $50 just for parking. What?!?! No way Jose that's ridiculous. Right now I'm trying to schmooze my neighbor into picking my car up for me but if he can't, then I will park at one of the lots near the airport. It will still be expensive but not as much.

I can't leave work early since we're short-staffed so that's why I'll be driving. Normally I would catch the bus but I'll be cutting it close so I can't do that. Darn coworkers.

I hate my school

I really do. I know it's a public university but they get away with stuff that I just don't agree with. It has a lot to do with the student-teachers that aren't very good. It's just a nightmare and I'll be glad when it's over. It's times like this that I wish I had just gone to a school like capella university. I could go to class online and on my time. They are an accredited school so it's not like my degree would have just been a piece of paper.

I could also have pursued my path of business. I could actually choose from over 104 degree programs and specializations and over 15 certificate programs. My course of study would have been perfectly tailored to me.

Oh well, live and learn I guess. I'm so close to being done that I may as well just grin and bear it.
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I'm flying home for Christmas

I was gonna drive but then I changed my mind. I tried to drive 50 miles and I had one of my little episodes. There's no way I'm gonna make it 300 miles. So I decided to fly instead.

I got my ticket on Southwest. I luv Southwest airlines! lol. I know that sounds like a cheesy commercial but I do. Before they came to Pittsburgh I only had USAir or Greyhound to choose from. USAir was extremely expensive. From Pittsburgh to Philly was easily $200 roundtrip which is ridiculous. My airfare home was $125 and that's because it's Christmas and there was no sale. I've gotten a fare for as low as $75 roundtrip.

I just wish I had someone to pick me up from the airport.

Ugh I hate the dentist

I've always hated the dentist. Since I was a little kid. And it's not just the cost either although that is a factor. I have very sensitive teeth and visiting the dentist is horrible for me. They always want to floss your teeth for you. My teeth are very tightly packed together and it hurts to have that floss between them. They have to ram it down in there to make it fit. Then my gums start bleeding. I hate it.

I'm also sensitive to extreme temperatures. It doesn't matter if it's very hot or very cold, it irritates my teeth. My dentist recommended a special sensitive toothpaste for people like me. My dentist has said that it's partly from gingivitis. I've tried Biotene before and it does help me with the sensitivity issue.

It also helps me to not have a dry cotton mouth. That is so annoying too. It seems like no matter how much water I drink, my mouth is still dry. Biotene helps eliminate that problem as well. The toothpaste is really sweet. They say they sweeten it to help fight cavities and bad breath. It kills the bacteria that grows in your mouth that causes bad breath. That just sounds gross. With all of the extra health benefits that you get from using the product, you almost forget that it's a regular toothpaste too.

I sold one book back

I've only sold one book back so far. I did pretty darn good too. I paid $70 for the book online and I got $60 back for it. I didn't even expect to get that much. I would have been happy getting $30. The book sold for $90 used at the campus book store which is why I got it online.

The book schedule for spring is not out yet. I want to price my books at the school shop and then see if I can beat the price online. I usually can. I don't see any reason to pay a higher price for books that I'll never use again.

I can't wait to go home

One of the first things me and my mom are gonna do is hit the casino. We usually only go to one of 3 casinos in Atlantic City. We also play at online casinos while I'm at her house. I take my laptop and we both play at the same time to see who can win the most money.

One of the ways I decide where to play online is to go to a site that reviews online casinos. I prefer to go somewhere like Online Casino Topic that provides new articles keeping me abreast of the latest news. I can also find out other information that players need to know.

Things like payout percentages, and screenshots of the sites that are being reviewed. That way if I go to a site, I can tell if it's the one I read about. A lot of times, there will be 2 sites with a very similar name. By seeing a screen shot I will immediately know if I'm on the right site or not.

That won't be the only thing we do while I'm home. But I do know it will take up the majority of our time. We'll go to Atlantic City for a good 2 days. Plus play online another day. It should be fun.

Tuition is due

It seems like I'm always paying for school. The bills never end. I'm not paying my tuition in full because I'm waiting for my reimbursement to come in. I won't get that until my January paycheck. I'll pay my first installment today which is close to $600. I can pay in 3 installments, but I'll just pay the balance next month.

I'll be so glad when I'm done.

I miss my truck

Now first let me say that I love my car but it's weird driving it after having had a truck for so long. Even though it was only a baby suv, it was still a truck. I have to learn all kinds of things over. Things like actually using the mirrors on the car.

Pittsburgh is hilly. On certain roads when you come down a hill, I could just look over and see if I needed to yield to a car coming down the hill. I can't do that in my car. I actually need to turn all the way around and use my mirrors. It's really hard to get used to.

I also had a step bar on my truck that I could step up onto to get in. My car sits low so I can't avoid dirt getting on me and my car like I could with the step bar. I also track a lot more dirt into the car because I could wipe excess dirt, mud or snow onto the bar before I got in.

I should just be thankful that I have a vehicle right?

School is done

Well, for the semester anyway. I took my final yesterday and that thing was unbelievably hard. He used questions from the first two exams as more than half of the questions. Some of my classmates only studied the answer "a", "b" etc. Well the professor had something special for them. He used the same question and answers, but he put them in a different order! Luckily for me, I studied the answers and not the letters.

However the new material was hard. It didn't help that we only had a week to learn 3 1/2 chapters. All I want for Christmas is a passing grade!

I was late for work today

I was almost 20 minutes late for work. I missed my bus and had to catch the one after that which is usually crowded. It was actually packed. People were crammed on the bus from the front to the back so I couldn't get off. I had to ride way past my stop, get off, cross the street and catch a bus back to work.

Now let me explain why I couldn't get off of the bus. There were so many people that I would have had to push and squeeze past at least 25 people. Yes I did count. The last time I did that I twisted my knee and it's still giving me problems 2 weeks later. So now I try not to catch that bus or any bus that's super packed.

I have to make up the 20 minutes sometime this week. But I won't work through lunch. The heck with that, I need to eat!

Can I afford it?

No, I probably can't. Lolol. I'm watching a rerun of the Suze Orman show where she does the "Can I afford it" segment. Basically you call in, tell her your finances and she tells you whether you can buy the item you want or not.

It's a real eye-opener seeing how much money people have and what they want to buy. One family called in with almost 8k monthly take home income. But they only have 7k in savings. Savings include cash, cds, mutual funds and stock. They have no retirement savings right now and they're in their early 30's. They make a ton of money and hardly have any savings. I have more in savings than they do and I make way less than them. They wanted to buy 1/2 share of a lake house. They were denied because they didn't have enough in savings.

I'm floored that they don't even have 1 month of their salary in savings. That's living on the edge in my opinion. Of course their expenses could be really low but even if their expenses are half of their income, they still have less than 2 months worth of expenses.

More on travelling

I was talking about travelling the other day. I think most mainstream travel agencies are missing a targeted market, the growing Hispanic and Latino market. If I want to make a reservation at one of several Hoteles (which is what they're called in Spanish), I'm going to go somewhere I familiar and/or comfortable with. That usually means a neighborhood travel agent or a family friend. But it doesn't usually mean getting the best deal.

Hotels.com is now making it easier for their Spanish speaking customers to book in Spanish both online and on the phone. They even have a dedicated customer service line to assist the Spanish speaking market. It's about time a major booking agent got up to speed with their customers needs.

Getting fired

No not me. It was one of my coworkers. He had been employed here for less than 2 months. He's already missed several days. He had already gotten "talked to" because of his attendance. He was also making major errors. Then this past Monday, he just didn't show up, again.

He was fired at the end of the day when he showed up on Tuesday. While I do feel bad when people lose their jobs, I can only have so much sympathy when the reason is that you just don't show up when you're supposed to.

I guess a few of the office slackers feel put on notice as well. I feel like this: as long as I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing and here when I supposed to be here, I'm cool.

I'm selling my books back

Last semester they didn't buy back the books I used for my economics class. I already know that the book I'm using for this semesters class will also be used next semester. I hope to get $40 bucks for it. That's a little less than half of what I paid for it. That's good enough for me.

I also have a math book that I have to try to sell. I'm gonna take whatever I get and pay for next semesters books. That's the plan anyway.

Gold and silver as investments

I look for investments all over the place. I have a few stocks that I dabble in plus some bonds. Gold or silver is also a viable option. Right now is a great time for adding silver bullion to your portfolio. Since 1990 world demand for silver has exceeded annual production. Stockpiles of bullion are low nearing zero. That means silver will be scarce and the price will skyrocket.

Monex Depository Company will let you buy silver for immediate delivery. Or if you choose, you can choose the convenient safe storage feature and they will hold your silver for you. You can also get the silver in ingot or coin form. It's easy and a great way to diversify your portfolio.

The semester is almost over

I have 1 more homework assignment that is due on Thursday. Then I have my final the following Thursday. I am so happy about this because this class sucks. I hate the way the grading scale is set up. We have 3 homework assignments and 3 exams. That's it. Usually an exam has 50 questions worth 2 points each. So we figure the final would be set up similarly. Not quite 70 questions worth 3 points each.

It's just so easy to mess up on one thing and have your entire grade go down the tank. Right now I'm just holding out for tuition reimbursement. As long as I pass the class, that's all that's important.

The air up there

My friend is visiting Denver this weekend. He said the weather is going up and down. It will be fairly warm one day then really cold the next. He can walk almost 6 blocks before he gets out of breath now. He also said it was surprisingly sunny and he wished he had some sunglasses. The glare from the sun was really bothering him while he was making his way around town.

By this time next month he will make Denver his home. Then I'll have to fly out there to visit him. It's going to be weird not having him here. I'll just have to deal with it. I'll admit that I'm not happy about it though. At least I know I can visit OpticsPlanet and buy him some new sunglasses. Especially since he likes designer glasses and they sell things like D&G. I have to look for the bright side of things whenever I can.

No pots at Target?

What the heck. I went to Target to get some stuff that I needed for the house. I got almost everything that I needed and went into housewares looking for some pots. I couldn't find any that were reasonably priced. I just need them to last until I get down with school. I don't cook often so I don't want to pay a lot for them. There were no reasonably priced pots. The cheapest set was $79.99. Needless to say, I didn't get any.

I love free rewards

And that's exactly what you get with webloyalty. Webloyalty rewards customers for making purchases. How easy is that! Just shop like normal and I can get free stuff? That's right up my alley.

The company has been around since 1999 and has a subscriber base of over 2 million people. They increase the revenue of their clients while offering their clients customers a range of benefits. They are also on of the leading marketing services online. Their provide customized programs in every field from e-commerce to travel and other fee based businesses. What more could you want from a company?

Commuting stinks

I live very close to work. I take public transportation and I get to work in 25 minutes. If I drove I would get to work in 10 minutes. I'm now looking for another job at my same company. There are very few openings in the area where I am so I have to travel another 10-15 minutes away to our corporate offices. Blah.

Now I just have to get hired.

The Pepsi game is almost over

I'm kinda sad about it. I've only won 3 prizes. A hat and 2 footballs. The footballs are NFL regulation footballs with a retail value of $79.99 each. I gave 1 of them to my coworker Susie because she gave me a lot of the caps that I used to play the game. I'm sure at least one of her caps was a winner.

Even though I won 3 prizes, I'm still disappointed with the game. I'm a football fan so I would have preferred to have a autographed picture or mini-helmet. I wish they would have let you add your caps up and get prizes based on points values. That can be bad because people can get a lot of caps quick and get all of the good prizes.

Oh well, I just have to take what I can get.

Hey I can deduct that

Well, I could if I itemized on my taxes. There are a ton of expenses that I could write off. Things like my internet usage and even my cell phone bill. Since I have a small home-based business these things are deductible.

However my standard deduction is larger than what I could get by itemizing. I really wish I could do both. I need all the money back that I can get.

I know I shouldn't apply for more credit

But my friend just told me that he's moving out of state pretty soon and wants me to come visit. So now in addition to flying home to see my mom, going to FL to see my aunt and uncle, I also be going somewhere else. I'm not sure exactly where he's moving yet but he said it's out west. I'll be racking up the frequent flyer miles so I might as well apply for one of those Airline Miles Credit Cards. There are several that I could apply for so I need to see what's out there.

I want to compare fees and more importantly how many miles I can earn. I don't want a card that's going to limit me in any way. Between taking all of those flights every year, I figure I could get a free ticket every two years. Can you say free ticket to Aruba.

I got paid!

Someone owed me money and they paid me today. It wasn't a lot of money but I was glad to get it. I have to turn around now and pay someone else that I owe. It's football pool time and I owe about $30 so I'll just take this money and pay it right back out.

Still, it feels good to get paid what someone owes me for once.

Have more fun in the loo with the Spaloo

I remember when I was a small child, I used to watch cartoons like The Jetsons. I used to be amazed at what people thought the future would bring. I never imagined we would get some of those products, especially something like the Spaloo.

So what exactly is a spaloo? Well, it's almost like a regular toilet but much much better. It's similar to the bidets that you find in over 80% of Japanese households. The Japanese believe in luxury and comfort so this is getting my attention already. The spaloo is much more affordable however. Instead of spending over $4k, the spaloo costs $399.

It has a heated seat with "cleaning" options for both males and females. And for the ultimate in comfort, there is a dryer setting as well. Now this is a product that I wouldn't mind testing out.

Grrrr!

See this is why I hate having multiple blogs. I just posted something to my other blog. Lo and behold I have to move it. Never mind that it doesn't really fit this blog, it's already down. I know I should have looked at what I was doing more carefully but I was in a rush. No excuse I know.

I need to start paying better attention. I'm doing double work.

People are so vain

The economy is starting to slow down. But in the past year people have had more money than they knew what to do with. Plastic surgery is on the rise and leading the way is houston lap band surgery. If you're going to get the surgery make sure you do your research.

Lapband is reversible and doesn't cut, staple or reroute the stomach or intestines like other surgeries. It can also be done on a outpatient basis and offers a shorter recovery time. Another important aspect is follow-up care. Make sure your team offers it. You need support and care as much after the surgery as you needed it before the surgery.

Raising my 401K

I wrote in my last post that I can raise my allottment next month when I get my job increase and raise. I should have said "if I get" my raise. My department decided to upgrade us to the next job grade. I didn't get it yet. My boss pulled me aside and said that she upgraded people on seniority.

I was the last person hired in my area. That's besides the newer people that have been hired since September. Most of whom were hired at the new job grade. She also told me that she will upgrade me as soon as she can. So I don't know when I'll be upgraded. I was hoping it would be in November but now it looks like it will be December. At least I hope so.

Upping my 401k contribution

I need to put more money away for retirement but I also want to reduce my potential IRS Tax Debt. I owed the IRS 2 years ago and it was a mess. They threatened me with a tax lien for less than $1k. Don't get me wrong, it was my fault I owed the debt but they came after me like gang-busters!

Of course, the most important reason to raise my 401k allotment is to put away more money for retirement. I cashed out my account when I left my last job so it's like I'm starting all over now. Right now I'm only saving 3% but I'll raise that by a percent or two when I get my job increase next month. Then when I get my annual increase, I'll raise it again to 6 or 7%. Anything to avoid the tax man.

Exam 2 in the books

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The problem is that I thought exam 1 was ok and I didn't get a good grade on it. I passed but I thought my grade would be much higher. I'm not getting excited about this exam until I see the actual score.

Of course because Thanksgiving is next week, I'll have to wait 2 weeks to get the grade.

Not happy with school

School sucks right now. I'm struggling big time. Macro is supposed to be easier than micro, that's why advisor recommend that you take it first to help prepare you for micro. I took micro first and even though the class was hard, I did so much better in that class.

First in micro we had a lot more in class assignments and quizzes. In macro, we have 3 homework assignments, 2 exams and one final. So you have to cram a lot of information into those 3 exams. If you don't do well on one, it affects your whole grade. Where as with more assignments, you have some slack.

I will be so happy when this semester is finally over.

Residual income for cinematographers

It used to be the once a film was finished with production, the cinematographers were done making money. Now by having their movies listed in the HD Stock Video Library they can continue to make money. And since the work on so many projects back to back, they can build a large collection of work.

AlwaysHD takes their body of work and makes it available for sale and delivery over the internet. They also set the price in such a way that will maximize not only distribution but also profitability. The best part for the cinematographer is that they receive 50% of the net revenue generated by the sale of their clips and they get that money paid monthly.

It's about time the cinematographers got their due.

I need some more money

Gah, I can't seem to buy anything. I just don't have enough money for anything. Everytime I think I'm going to get a few extra dollars, something falls through. I thought one of my family members was going to finally pay me what they owed me. No such luck,

I could really use that money too.

Short term loans

I've never taken a payday loan, but I know quite a few people that have. I was surprised when I found out one of my coworkers took one. He makes a decent salary but said he always found himself short of cash. He got one of those No Fax Payday Loans. He said he could get up to $1500 and the money was deposited to his checking account. So there is no waiting for checks and having them clear. The money was immediately available.

He got the money he needed to get him through his short term cash crunch.

Are cheap car payments possible?

I was talking to my coworker and mentioned that I might have to get a used car because I didn't want a high payment. He said that his car is 4 years old and his car payment is less than $200. When he told me that, my jaw dropped. I seriously didn't think it was possible to get a car for less than $250 per month. At least not a new car.

But he bought his car brand new, and it's a automatic. I hope I can find something that affordable.

Car shopping

I might be getting my car sooner rather than later. I was shooting for next year but I might actually get it the end of this month. I've been looking online for Honda Car Quote, Dodge and Chevy quotes. But I'm really leaning towards a Hyundai.

I can get 2 free car quotes, so I'm looking at a Accent and a Elantra. The site will also give me the wholesale price of the car. That way, I can look at the wholesale price as opposed to the sales price and know where to start my negotiations.

I just hope the rest of my money comes in so I can get this process started.

November is awesome

Why? Because instead of 1 holiday off, we get 2. Yeah baby. I love those bank holidays. We get President's Day next Monday and then Thanksgiving Day.

I'm not doing anything for President's Day weekend. I may go to Atlantic City and stay the night but I need to really budget my gambling and spending money if I do go. I'll stay home for Thanksgiving because I have to work that Friday afterwards. I don't have seniority at my job so I don't get those days off anymore.

That's ok though. I'm just happy to get extra days off from work.

More updates to my apartment

My management company is updating my appliances and carpeting. So I'm going to upgrade some of the other things in my apartment. I'm starting with the bathroom. I plan on changing the color scheme to blue. It will be from light blue to dark blue. I need a new carpet and toilet bowl set. I'll also get fabric shower curtains in blue. The one I found says it's royal blue but it looks almost turquoise to me. Check out this shower curtain and let me know what color you think it is.

Anyway I'm excited about this. Especially since it's becoming fall and into winter. If I keep my bathroom bright airy colors, it won't be so depressing in here while I'm anxiously awaiting spring to come back.

The holidays are fast approaching!

Geeze, I'm not ready at all. I'm not doing anything for Thanksgiving because I have to work that Friday. It sucks because I don't have seniority at my job and I don't get that weekend off anymore.

I am going home for Christmas but I'm waiting for 2 more weeks to get my plane ticket. I have to hurry before the fares go up.

I hate my school right now

My major is not business-related because I want to be done with school sooner rather than later. Instead of going back to my tradition university, I should have considered capella university. I could have studied at home and majored in one of their bachelor degree programs. I would have chosen business because that's what I really want to study.

The most important thing is that their program is accredited so the degree would be recognized. It wouldn't just be a piece of paper. I could always choose to get my graduate degree online. I just need to finish this program first.

I'm still bummed about school

I didn't even go to school today. I just didn't feel like it. I got to work on time, looked at my coworkers then looked at all the work on my desk. I heaved a big sigh, threw my bookbag down and decided that I wasn't going to school. Towards the end of the day, I debated going then decided not to.

I'm still bummed about my grade on my test. I mean I go to class every week, take good notes and studied like crazy. I still got a sucky grade. I might as well stay home and just read my book on my own.

iFloor offers a $1,000,000 warranty

How's that for backing your product? I've been talking a lot about the updates that are being done to my apartment building. One of the reasons the building managers were unwilling to shop online was because of a lack of a warranty for the products. Well iFLOOR is now offering a $1 million dollar warranty on flooring. Buyers no longer need to fear purchasing a product like flooring online.

Check out this press release from iFloor and let me know what you think:
iFLOOR, America's largest online flooring retailer, today announced a $1,000,000 limited warranty designed to protect its customers from predatory manufacturer policies that exclude warranty coverage from online purchases.

The policy, which goes into effect immediately, offers up to one million dollars of coverage in the event that a customer's warranty claim is denied specifically because they made their purchase online. It is complimentary for every iFLOOR customer, and protects the buyer under the same terms as the original product warranty.

iFLOOR, Inc. CEO, Steve Simonson, came up with the program to combat "scare tactics" used by manufacturers of hardwood floors and laminate flooring. "Their idea is to discourage you from buying at a discount!" wrote Simonson in his blog "It's About Flooring". "This is not right! You deserve to save money! So we're going to take care of this problem once and for all."

And it would appear that federal law is on his side. Section 108 of the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Act, states that, "In general, tie-in sales provisions are not allowed. Such a provision would require a purchaser of the warranted product to buy an item or service from a particular company to use with the warranted product in order to be eligible to receive a remedy under the warranty."

Under iFLOOR's new warranty, a key provision allows for iFLOOR to "seek justice" on behalf of the customer in the event of legal action. According to Simonson, "I'm putting iFLOOR's money where my mouth is."

About iFLOOR, Inc.
Since 1998, iFLOOR.com has been the leading online and retail flooring company, with 36 local retail stores nationwide offering more than 70,000 products, including hardwood floors, laminate flooring, bamboo flooring and cork floors. iFLOOR.com is the largest online flooring retailer according to Internet Retailer Magazine, and was named by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States for the past three years. Committed to quality customer service, superior selection and friendly expert advice, iFLOOR.com enables customers to buy flooring both online and in its retail stores at a substantial savings over traditional retailers. For more information about iFLOOR, please visit www.iFLOOR.com.

I need to study more

I don't know how much harder I could have studied for my macro-econ exam. I studied the weekend before for several hours and I studied two days before for a couple hours each time. I still didn't do as well as I would have like to on the exam. I passed and that's the most important thing but I thought my grade would have been much higher.

I'm pretty bummed about this. I wish I wouldn't have looked at the grade.

Gold gold and more gold

The economy is crazy so I'm looking to invest in other instruments. For instance, gold bars are a great alternative to invest in. Gold is a great way to preserve my purchasing power, while protecting my wealth and diversifying my investments. I can buy bars, bullion, coins or ingots.

Personally I'm looking to invest in gold coins. They're small and portable. If I would need to sell them, I can easily transport them myself. I can have a company like Monex hold onto the products for me in their depository. Or I can spend them. After all, gold coins are legal tender in the U.S.

I really need to watch my spending

I overspent like crazy these past 2 weeks. I'm only supposed to spend $125 dollars but I've probably spent closer to $250 which is double. I can only account for $50 of that extra $125. I owed my mom some money and I had to pay for my football pool. I don't know what the heck I did with the rest of that money.

I definitely need to tighten my belt and stop wasting money.

I'm not looking forward to dealing with car dealers

I've been looking for a car. I haven't decided whether to buy a used car for cash or finance a 2 year old car. I probably won't decide for sure until just before I go out to actually buy a car.

Anyway, I've been looking at car at a certain dealer. The price keeps fluctuating like crazy. The price has changed by $2000 in about a month. The price first came down $2k. Then went up a grand. So it's now $1k lower than the original asking price. According to car guides, the $2k price is about what they should be asking for. Which means I'll have to negotiate like crazy.

Yuck!

I'm getting new stuff for my apartment

It's about time. The maintenance man stopped by today to tell me that I was approved for new carpet and new appliances. My carpet is old and cleaning it just won't do. The new carpet will only be in the living room. I'm also getting new appliances for the kitchen including a Frigidaire Ranges. I always talk about going online and buying stuff so my management company went to a website and compared prices and features on appliances.

After they got a quote online, the got it price matched at a local store. So I got a credit on my rent for a couple of months since I helped save them money. They would have never thought to go online looking for major appliances if I had not talked about it.

I just wish I could find another way to get more rent credits.

Making mistakes and new posts

Whenever I make a mistake in my post, or realize that I left a thought off, I write a new post. I know a lot of people go back and just edit their own posts. I only go back and correct spelling mistakes or glaring gramatical errors. Other than that, it's a totally new post.

Do you edit old posts or write new ones to explain your point more clearly?

Part time job part 2

The reason I might get the part time job is because I want to graduate in 2009. Some of my classes won't get reimbursed so I'll have to pay out of pocket. Well I sure as heck can't afford that.

That's why I'm considering the part time job. Believe me, it's not something I'm happy about.

I might get a part time job

It would be working at a company that works as lists brokers. Basically, people call in and ask questions about products and decide whether or not they want to be contacted again. If so, they're added to the list to be called again, if not we don't call anymore.

I say we and I don't even work there yet. I never thought I would even consider working at a direct marketing firm but after talking to the people there, it's not what I thought it would be. No cold-calling, no harassing people that don't want to be bothered.

I haven't worked two jobs in a while so I'm a little nervous.

More money for school

My job has increased out tuition reimbursement allotment from $5k to $5250. The $250 is not even enough to pay for 1 credit (tuition is $525 per credit), but every little bit helps. I can take 10 credits next year and get all of the money back. I have a 4 credit math class plus 2 regular 3 credit courses and there's my 10 credits.

I hope to be able to take an additional class that I won't be reimbursed for.

It's time to register for spring classes

I don't know what to take. There are only 2 or 3 classes available to me. I'm not even remotely interested in one class. I could take that pre calculus class but it was so hard this semester that I don't know if I'm ready to try it again. Even my Innovative Tutor couldn't help me. The class was only 1 day a week and it was 14 weeks instead of 16. I think we covered too much material in the time allotted.

Add to that the fact that I don't think my teacher was very good and it was a recipe for disaster. I won't ever take a math class as an accelerated class again. I would like to take a literature class, but the one I need is only offered as a day class.

I better get in touch with my advisor soon since I don't have a lot of classes to choose from.

I'm looking for a new job

My 6 months are finally over! I've been looking in the job bank for the past 2 or 3 weeks but I haven't seen anything worth applying for. Most of the jobs that I have seen are lateral moves. I don't want a lateral move because it's usually no more money but the same level of responsibility.

I would like to advance by 2 job grades at least. However if I see a job that's only 1 grade higher but has the potential for advancement, I'll go for it.

Down with Google! Up with Yahoo!

Or even Ask.com. I hate hate hate Google right now. A lot of bloggers do. They've decided that they wanted to update page ranks and a lot of people got hit hard. I lost page rank on all of my blogs except 1. That blog didn't have a page rank to begin with!

So why am I so mad at Google? I'm a paid blogger and my assignments are generally based on page rank which Google supplies. Since people are losing page rank, we'll probably lose money as well.

This sucks because I use that money to help pay for school.

I have to help my friend move

I hate moving. At least this time it's not me that's moving though. I just have to go and help my friend move. She has to deal with all of the packing and sorting of stuff. I'm just providing some extra labor.

We're using her boyfriends truck to move her stuff. He has a truck bed liner in the back of his pickup so we don't have to worry about her stuff sliding around on the truck. All we need is some blankets to cover everything since we're not sure if it will rain this weekend or not.

I'm not looking forward to lifting all of that stuff, but I am looking forward to the pizza party that we're having afterward. Oh, and the wine. We're gonna break in her new place in style.

Sometimes I really miss overtime

I never thought I would miss overtime pay. I knew that I was tired of working overtime and I was glad that my current job didn't offer it. We were short-staffed at work for about a month. For 2 weeks during that month we were so swamped that we had overtime offered.

I worked a couple of hours and didn't think anymore about it. When I got my check I was surprised that I actually saw the extra money in there. That made me realize that I miss getting overtime pay.

But I hope we don't have anymore overtime for a while.

CRM software has been updated

Business owners hate training new employees. It's a necessary evil but make no mistake about it, they hate it. Why, it's time consuming. Most employees learn better by actually doing the job, not reading about it in a book. Well there is a product out there that will let you spend more time increasing sales. At the same time, your employees spend less time learning software. What is this wonder product? It's AIMpromote. Superior to traditional CRM it has a lower cost of implementation and total cost of ownership. And now the software has been updated.

Have your sales force focused on making those sales not sitting in a room learning software. Check out the company press release for more details:

Traverse City, MI October 19th 2007 -- AIMpromote, provider of lead management and customer relationship management software, has launched a significant upgrade to their CRM offering. The newly added white-label CRM software feature enhances the value that lead aggregators can offer to their lead purchasing customers. The enhanced reselling functionality provides an intuitive interface to completely manage the selling of a privately labeled CRM as their own.

Lead aggregators operate in the highly competitive B2B space, and need ways to add value to their offerings. Michael Myles, President and CEO of AIMpromote said "The significant added value provided by the AIMpromote white-label customer relationship software gives lead aggregators a way to differentiate themselves in what has become a highly commoditized market." He went on to say that "this product also provides an easy way to leverage existing client bases to more rapidly increase sales."

The close tie-in between the selling of leads and the powerful sales management functionality of the AIMpromote customer relationship software enables the end-users of the system to easily purchase leads that are then available to be worked directly in the system. There is no importing necessary. Billing is also consolidated, providing an easy way for the end-user to manage their funds and billing profile. The system has been designed from the ground-up to offer high levels of customizability and advanced functionality for everyone involved, while requiring little investment in time.

The CRM reselling and lead sales functions functionality includes the ability for lead aggregators and CRM software resellers to completely customize pricing, including setup fees, discounts, and free trials. This flexibility empowers the resellers of the system to enhance their profit margins as they see fit. The CRM reselling system allows lead aggregators and consultants the ability to brand their system with their own logo and contact information. Integrated Authorize.Net payment processing gives an interface to take credit cards automatically, and have the funds deposited directly into their bank accounts. The advanced accounting and reporting pages in the AIMpromote system give a top-down view of the business as a whole, as well as for each individual account.

The tiered approach that AIMpromote has taken to the reselling of their powerful customer relationship management software gives even the end-user clients the ability to also resell the system. The billing and accounting system automatically takes care of everything for them, even automatically setting up accounts. "The ease of use and flexibility of the AIMpromote CRM for those providing business-to-business consultation services and those selling leads has created an opportunity to significantly improve the bottom line, with very little time or expense," said Matt Wolfe, Vice President of Operations for AIMpromote. Wolfe added, "The service and functionality of the system is unique in that customers are supported through an integrated support ticket system by their parent account. The end-users of the system will never know that the service they are using is being resold, or that the company from which they are licensing the software are not the actual manufacturers of the software. To them, it won't be AIMpromote at all, it will be 'ABC Software Company CRM', or whatever name the company reselling the software chooses."


About AIMpromote
AIMpromote leads the market in growth and technology for on-demand lead management and CRM reselling solutions. AIMpromotes enterprise lead management software empowers companies in any industry to more effectively generate, delegate, and report on leads and the teams that manage them. AIMpromote is the only solution that integrates detailed web analytics with sales and marketing analytics to provide a complete closed-loop view of the sales process. The AIMpromote lead management software offers a completely customized solution that can be tailored to fit any organization's customer acquisition workflow. The unique combination of having the most functionality, and the lowest total cost of ownership, AIMpromote is the most cost effective solution for improving close rates and marketing efficiency.

Reading other blogs

I like reading other blogs especially finance blogs. It gives you an idea of what other peoples investing styles. Sometimes I agree with their style but sometimes I don't. I just find it interesting to see what they think and what motivates them.

I don't really write about my money too much on this blog, I do that on my other blog. What about you, do you write about your money on your blog?

Nothing but junk mail

I was looking forward to getting the mail today. I'm expecting a check to come in and instead I get all of this junk mail. There were several credit card offers in there. I have bad credit right now that I'm working on improving.

Having bad credit is a pain because you can't get things like home loans or auto loans. If you do get someone to give you a loan, you will get outrageous rates. For instance a car loan. Most places will give you a car loan but you might pay over 40% during the life of the loan in interest.

That's why it's always in your best interest to compare rates. Even if you have bad credit, there is someone out there who is willing to compete for your business. All you have to do is show them that you're responsible and you've moved past whatever caused you to get the bad credit in the first place.

Speaking of texting

Do you have a seperate texting plan or do you just pay as you go? I pay $.10 or $.15 per text message that I send. I don't send a lot so I don't see the need to have a plan. One of my friends texts all the time so she has a plan where she pays $5.00 per month. Maybe it's just me but it seems that the need to text message decreases with people over a 24. Just seems to be an observation.

What about you? How often do you use text messaging.

Bills by text

I just got a text message while I was at work. I was all happy because I thought it was a friend of mine. Instead it was one of my credit cards letting me know that my bill was due. I'm happy for the reminder but I just wish it was something better than a bill.

I'm considering switching credit card companies because I've found some better deals out there. The new company offers bills, statements and payments by text. But they also have a 0% on balance transfers for 13 months. I could use that money to pay for school, and use tuition reimbursement to pay it off.

Hmm, then I could take the money I would have used for school and spend it on something else.

I hate my job

I hate it more and more each day. Recently, they decided to give everyone in my department the same job title. Some of us were at the old level and some already at the new one. Out of all of the people in my department, I'm the only one that hasn't been upgraded yet. And I was told that I might have to wait until next year. Ummm, I don't think so. I was already thinking about posting to a new department, now I'm ready to take just about anything that comes along.

I need to make better investments

I read a lot of money magazines and articles looking for investment information. I've made some good investment with some of the stock that I've chosen but I could do better. Speculation for the most part is not a good thing, but sometimes you just know something is going to take off.

Take for instance the price of oil. Once the price per barrel starting soaring, you knew that oil companies would be a good play. But did I get in then? Noooo. I feel like I had good investment information and that I should have acted on it. It's not too late, but the prices have soared since my original inquiries.

I need to start listening to my gut more. I could have made some serious cash.

It's registration time already

I can't believe it's already time to register for the spring semester. I've looked through the schedule of classes and nothing is really jumping out at me. I only need 6 or 7 classes so I kinda have to wait for specific classes to become available.

Do you earn interest with Paypal?

I have a Paypal account. I basically just use it as a clearinghouse. People pay me for posts, Ebay stuff or whatever and then I transfer the money into my regular checking account. Then I break down the money into whatever categories including savings.

One of my friends told me that Paypal pays interest. I didn't know that. Does anyone else get interest off of their Paypal account?

It's never too late to make a change

Sometimes I wonder where my life is going. I'm back in school studying economics and sociology while still working at a bank. I've worked in banking forever. My last job was at a bank. It's been almost 14 years in one industry. I think that I can't make a change then I read about Kevin Koss who is now a San Francisco Real Estate Agents. But that's not where he started.

Kevin starting working at a restaurant in high school. This lead him to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY. He graduated and worked in nationally recognized restaurants in a variety of cities finally settling in San Francisco. Then after tiring of working opposite schedules as his partner, he went in a new direction - real estate. Now how do you go from food to real estate? He had interests in both his whole life. If you read his bio you can understand his journey better.

Reading that just made me see that if I have the drive and determination, I can branch out into another field and be successful. I just have to graduate school first.

When free isn't free

I saw an ad to get a free bathroom cleaning product. I was excited because it looks like something that would work well. I went to the site to order it and after I hit submit it asked for cc info for shipping. The product is $9.99 and shipping is $4.99. I shop online all the time, for a product of that size, the shipping should have been less than $3.00.

I went back to the ad and looked and it said you had to pay for shipping in teeny tiny print, but it was there. I unsubscribed from those emails. I wouldn't have minded paying shipping if it had been blatant that it was expected. Don't hide it in the fine print and spring it on me after I place my order.

Build instead of buy?

Would you rather build a house or buy an existing home? I'm not in the market right now, but I am leaning towards building my own. First of all, I can get exactly what I want. If I want 3 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, I can get that. Ok, that's a bit extreme with but you get the idea.

Sometimes you're constricted in the amenities available unless you design the home yourself. From cabinetry to carpentry, all of the decisions are yours. Do you want wood or laminate flooring? How about glass or ceramic tile? It can be mind boggling with all of the choices that are out there. There are places online like Floorzbuzz that can help with your decisions. Because they sell products wholesale, you'll save a ton of money and you have a variety of products to choose from.

That's one of the main reasons why I'm trying to save all of the money that I can. I know that building a home will be expensive and the last thing I want to do is cut corners. Save money and keep prices low, yes. Be a cheapskate and buy cheap materials? Definitely not.

I broke one of my piggy banks!

I just wrote a post yesterday about my piggy banks. 2 are ceramic and 2 are plastic. I broke the tiny ceramic pig from Toronto. That was really my favorite of the 4. It had my birthstone as a accent on the front plus it said Toronto. Who knows when I'll get back there to get another pig.

I doubt if I'll be able to buy that exact same bank. I just wanna cry.

Backing up your computer

Do you back up your site? I backup all of my sites weekly. It can be a pain because I have to transfer the information off of my computer to a neutral site. I figure if my computer goes down, it won't help to have the backup info on that computer. I'm looking into something like Anytime@Anywhere online backup that will make it easier and more convenient for me to save my data.

My computer and all of it's info is important to me because it contains a lot of financial info as well as my means for making extra income. I have to protect my investments.

Piggy banks to become extinct

Oh no. I love my piggy banks. I read an article where they predict the top 10 things that will be extinct in 10 years. Piggy banks were number 8.

I have 4. 2 are really tiny souvenirs banks from Canada, 1 from Niagara Falls and 1 from Toronto. The other is a small bank from my job. The last bank is a big blue plastic pig that I got from a dollar store.

Only 2 are full. One of the tiny banks and the small bank from my job. The biggest pig is about 3/4 full. I can't wait until they're all full.

I just hope I can continue to find them. I love piggy banks.

My first economics exam wasn't bad

I was scared to take the test. I've spent so much time studying for that stupid math class that I really never studied for my economics class. I ended up doing all of my studying at the last minute. But I feel good about my grade.

There were some tricky questions but only 2 that I was totally unsure about. I guess I'll find out how I did next week.

I can not afford to get sick

Ugh, I don't feel well again. I'm run down and stressed out. I was coughing, hacking and sneezing all day at work today. I also had to get a warm cup of cocoa because I was so cold. I just got over the flu back in September.

I can not afford this. I don't have any sick days left so if I miss a day of work, I don't get paid. I'll be there hacking all over everybody. I know that's bad but I can't afford to lose the pay.

Stupid I-Phone Commercial

I don't like this newest commercial. It tries to make the I-Phone seem like the best thing since sliced bread. I know it's a cool phone, but it's not the end all to end all.

First the guy is talking about how he needed a ipod, phone, camera and texting device but the I-Phone is everything. Umm, you can get a camera phone with texting abilities so you would only need a seperate ipod.

I don't even use the music player on my phone because it drains the battery. I don't want an important call to have to get cut short because my battery dies. I know Apple needs to make their product seem like the best on the block but it really isn't. Especially when you need to pay a mint for all of the features of the phone to actually work.

How am I going to pay for school?

I don't know where the money is going to come from. I dropped my math class so I won't get that money back. I was planning on using that money to help offset the next semester. I would take a student loan but the first time I went to school I took more money than I was allowed to.

How does that even happen? If I took too much, the school should have denied me the additional funds. I could go to my bank to get a private loan but I may not get that either. I may take advantage of a student loan consolidation loan and then try to get a private loan.

I have 3 months to figure something out.

Tracking your net worth

Do you track your net worth? Do you post it on the internet? I do on my other blog. I actually messed up this quarter. I added the amount I paid my loan for the quarter instead of subtracting it. It was almost a $500 dollar difference. Right now my net worth is pretty low, but I'm working on it.

What about you? Are you happy with where your net worth stands right now?

Would you ever take a payday loan?

I know several people that have. They can really help you out in an emergency. All payday loan companies are not the same. There are some really bad ones. There are some that aren't that bad.

You can even get a payday loan over the internet now. I believe that each individual should do what's right for them and their situation. But if you look at the website offering the loan, all of the information that you need is right there to make an informed decision.

I'm dropping my math class

Well I'm actually withdrawing from the class. I don't even remotely understand it. When I get home and study, I think I understand what's going on. Then I get to the next class and see the exam. He takes the hardest questions from the homework and uses them as exam questions.

I don't expect him to use the easiest questions. But damn, not the hardest ones either. We practice working out the problems but they're not similar to what shows up on the exam.

I'm not mad that I'm withdrawing. I'm more mad that I'm totally losing the money that I paid for the class. It's past the time where you could get a partial refund and since I won't get a grade, there won't be any tuition reimbursement either. I could have done a lot with money too.

Online gaming

I love online gaming. I win frequently too. Much more than in regular casinos. Once I started with less than $25 and won over $500 playing slot machines. I didn't play card games or roulette even though I would like to.

I think it's a shame that you have a hard time playing at a online casino anymore. But you can go to onlinecasinobluebook.com and find casinos that still accept U.S. customers. You can find regular casinos, bingo halls, pokers rooms or my personal favorite, sports books.

The best part about online casino bluebook is that they have a list of the top 10 online casinos with 8 out of the 10 having a online review available. You can find a list of casinos with any promotions that are available. And you can read stats of certain games. The stats include odds, tips and strategy.

If you like online gaming, you should definitely check the site out.

Use due diligence when using online auctions

Research the items you plan on buying online before you buy. There are stories out there about some of the sellers on online auctions selling old, out-dated and expired merchandise. They are also selling items that have been recalled by the manufacturer.

Read the fine print before you buy. Some of those sellers are shady and some just don't know any better.

I found cargo pants!

Yes! This is a major coup for me. I'm average height but I have long legs. Most women's inseams are 30" to 32". I need at least a 34". I found them at MetroStyle catalog online. I always shop online because it's cheaper and I get the clothes delivered right to my house. Plus, I found some great coupon codes that will save me a lot of money.

For Christmas I'm telling my mom to buy me clothes or stuff for my house. I need new sheets and towels. She can shop at Overstock.com because they sell really nice sheet sets. You can find sales there and get really good deals. I saw a set of satin sheets for less than $20 one time.

I hate shopping for the holidays but I love getting presents. I'm giving my mom my list early.

I need to study for my exam

Blah. I have 6 exams in my math class. Yeah, 6 exams in 14 weeks. It's an exam every two weeks. It's always on 1 chapter but some of the chapters are a lot shorter than others. For example, my last exam was on 6 topics. This exam is on 3 topics.

Hopefully I'll do better on this exam than I did on the last exam. I got a horrible grade. I need to pass this class with at least a "C" in order to move on to the next class. If I don't get this, I surely won't understand the next class which will be much harder.

Did I mention how much I hate school?

Study for your exam

I'm studying like crazy for school. Anything worth having is worth working for so you have to study for it. Even if you study in a non traditional manner like for the real estate test. You could always go to compucram to get a real estate appraisal test. They have different programs and each one has a free trial download.

I wish my classes had a download. Sometimes I think they make the classes a lot harder than they have to be.

I upgraded my theme

It's the same theme colors and all. I just updated the blog to the newer version of blogger. I know I'm missing some of my widgets and links. I'll have to go into my old blog and dig out the ones that I really want. Some of them should have been deleted eons ago so I won't bother.

This newer theme is easier to navigate.

Business blogs

I love reading different blogs on the internet and I've found some good ones. The newest one is the XML Aficionado blog. The best thing about this blog is that it's run by the CEO of Altova, the company that made XMLSpy. Now how's that for getting into the mind of a genius. The actual CEO of a company writes his own blog.

I think I can learn a lot from this blog. Alexander discusses technology and trends and breaks down geek speak into something I can understand. You should check the blog out and see for yourself. Plus he just bought a pinball machine. So I think he's extra cool.

Another reason why mega-banks suck

No not normal banks. I'm talking about those huge honking banks that take over every other bank in site. What now. There's a issue of what they're doing with trusts. Say you have a large estate and leave it in trust to be distributed to different charities.

The large banks are controlling the trusts and using them to generate fees. They're also not paying out the endowments as the trusts really wanted them to. Big banks are all about making money. They suck.

I may have found my new bank

I've been researching banks to invest in. I think I may have found one. As soon as I went to the website the first thing I noticed was that there is a 6.49% interest rates on deposits. The rate is guaranteed for one year.

That's not the only thing that got my attention though. There is also a deal where you can earn rewards on your purchases made with your credit cards. For example, there is a travel card with travel rewards points. I love to travel so that would be awesome for me.

Of course I need to read the fine print and decide which would be the right accounts for me. It's looking promising though.

Work is unbelievably busy

It's ridiculous. We're short-staffed by 1 person so that's hurting us. On top of that, we just merged with another company so we've had an increase in the volume of our work. Management set aside a position for the increase so we need 2 people now.

They've hired 1 person but between the background check, security screenings and drug testing, she won't start for at least 3 weeks. They're interviewing for the second position right now.

I hope they find somebody quick. I'm losing my mind.

I don't like the new Pepsi game

I thought I would love the game. But I'm not having any luck with it. The worse part is that I keep seeing the same plays over and over. Stupid losing plays.

I wish they would bring back the older games where you collected points or codes and were basically guaranteed to win something. I got nice prizes from those games.

This promotion is the pits!

I'm not buying anything right now

I won't be making any large purchases anytime soon. I won't even be making any small purchases. I just looked at my slush fund and it's pretty anorexic. I had to use most of the money to replace the money from my paycheck that I lost.

Now I have to start replenishing my slush fund. I like having a decent amount of money in there. I can decide on Tuesday that I want to go away on the weekend and if my slush fund can cover it, I can go. I don't like not having any extra money.

I guess it's belt tightening time.

Coin offers in the newspaper

I always see offers to buy a gold coin in the newspaper. You don't have any commitments and it's a one time deal. I'm afraid to take advantage of the offer because I'm afraid the quality of the coin will not be what I expect.

I think gold coins are more of an investment than just something pretty to look at. The value of gold rises each year. So I don't want to get coins that are scratched or won't get graded well. The grading of coins determines the value.

Did you know that a coin that has never been touched by human hands is worth much more than a coin that was handled by human hands? The oils on your hands remain on the coin. When you buy coins from reputable dealers, those coins have never been touched. I don't know too much about the dealers in the paper so I won't buy from them.

I know there are reputable companies out there for me to buy from. I'll have to research them and make a good solid decision.

I almost bounced a check

I only balance my checkbook once every 2 or 3 weeks. I save up all of my receipts and write everything at once. Well tuition was due 3 days before payday. And I had a bill due and withdrew lunch money from the mac machine. Luckily, the bill took 3 days to clear. If it had cleared the same day, I would have gotten hit with a bounced check fee.

I know I need to balance my checkbook more often but after looking at numbers all day at work, I don't even want to think about balancing anything else.

Win free advertising?

I've noticed a lot of bloggers offering free advertising on their blogs lately. Some offer it as a prize, some offer it for links. Is this just link bait? What does the blog owner get from giving away free space on their blogs? Or is it just to get their blogs in front of new eyes?

Now that makes sense.

My hair is a mess

Why is this personal finance related? Because it costs an arm and a leg to get your hair done that's why. I only get my hair professionally done twice a year. I might go to a salon once every quarter for a hair cut but not all the time. The last time I had my hair cut was April.

I'm thinking of going to a hair school to get my hair done. All licensed hair dressers have gone to hair school at one point or another. You have to pass a test to get licensed. If a person doesn't have a license they shouldn't be working in the salon. At least not in PA anyway.

I need to find somewhere near me. I know there's a school close by, but I need to make sure they accept walk-ins.

Waiting for my car Part II

In my last post I talked about waiting to get a car and not rushing. What I didn't say was that I went car shopping with a friend today and she got a car. It's a cute little sporty car. Of course, being on a car lot around all of those brand new cars made me want one even more.

When the salesman headed my way, I shook my head really fast. Then I said the magic words "Don't waste your time, no money, bad credit". He started laughing and walked away. Man it's easy to get a car. I would probably get screwed with the interest rate though.

I'm waiting. Impatiently, but waiting.

Waiting for my car

I don't want to rush out and get a car and put myself in worse financial shape than I already am. I have bad credit so that makes getting loans harder for me.

It's easier to get a car loan than any other type of credit because the car acts as collateral. I've been researching loans and rates and I've decided to wait a few more months. I want to look before I leap.

I also want a much larger down payment than I have. That will make the payments lower and show the dealer that even though I have bad credit, I'm serious about the car.

Saving a little here and there

I need to start saving for a computer since mine is acting loopy. I don't have any real wiggle room in my budget to allocate to savings. I'll have to find a dollar or two here and there and put that to the side. It won't be easy but I'm sure I'll manage.

Getting a hotel in Orlando

The company that I work for is having a conference in Fl. The conference is near Orlando, but I'm not sure how close. I notice a lot of companies in Fl. will say that they're near the biggest city that's either close to them or that they think people have heard of. In fact, the place might be miles away.

Anyway, a bunch of us got together so we could get group hotel bookings. That way we could save money on our hotel. We also looked over the internet to find restaurants and clubs that we could go to while there. You can get better deals over the internet than if you just show up in the city.

Hopefully, the conference won't get rescheduled again. I have that weekend off of work, so right now I'm able to go.

My computer is goofy

My computer started right up today. No hesitation or blank screens. I was surprised. I still plan on starting a new computer fund though. I don't like the fact that my computer is acting up and I don't know why. Even if it doesn't stop working for 6 months, I want to have the money to buy a new one.

My computer is acting up

This is the worse possible time for this. I have a very limited amount of money and can't afford to buy a new computer right now. Right now I have a notebook because my desktop blew up. That was horrible. I was without a computer for over a month.

I decided right away that I wanted a laptop instead of another desktop. So I used my friends computer to start looking at different stores looking for cheap laptops. In the end, I chose a computer that was mid-range priced but had all of the features that I was looking for. Unfortunately now it keeps going to a reboot screen and I don't know how to make it stop. It stops after a few times but it's nerve-wracking. I haven't added any new programs or devices so I don't know what's causing it.

I guess I better start another computer fund.

I didn't get the credit card

I found out yesterday. I was a little sad but not really. I wasn't really expecting to get the card. Especially once I saw that it was a Platinum card. They usually have tighter requirements than other cards.

I have a credit card and a personal loan that I'm paying on. I'll just pay them on time and build my credit back up slowly. Maybe I'll apply again in 6 months to a year just to see if my credit has improved.

Making insurance a piece of your portfolio pie

Everybody knows the normal investment strategy. Stocks, bonds, cash, and mutual funds. But insurance? Yup, you bet.

You should have enough insurance coverage equal to 4 to 5 times your annual salary. You never know when you will need that coverage. It's always better to be safe than sorry. It's also wise to shop around for insurance rates. They can vary widely amongst insurance companies. You should also check out some of the great sites on the internet to get information applicable to your situation.

Most people don't like to think about insurance because of it's morbid connotations. But it's always better to plan ahead and be prepared than not have the money when you need it most.

School is getting a little bit easier

My math class is so hard. Today, most of the information seemed to click. I wish it would have clicked earlier in the class while I was taking my first exam. I know I tanked that thing. That was one of the hardest exams I ever took. I'll be doing homework all day Saturday to make sure I'm actually retaining the info.

My economics class is not bad at all. I'm taking macro-economics this semester. It's much easier than micro-economics was. That class was awful. It just seems like the material is easier to read and understand. Thank goodness, I need at least one of my classes to be easy.

Check out my newest widget

It's for BlogRush. When you sign up and add the widget to your site, it presents relevant posts on your widget. If you sign up under someone, their posts get access to extra blogs etc. I think there are something like 10 down lines. Since this is my personal finance blog, you should see finance types of posts in the box.

The purpose of this widget is to help drive extra traffic to your site. Extra traffic is always good.

If you're interested in signing up, here's my referral link: http://www.blogrush.com/r99179327

Would you ever use the services of a telemarketer?

Now before you have a fit, hear me out. Telemarketers actually serve a valuable purpose. How you may ask. Well first of all they do all of your market research for you. If you ever need statistics or leads for your business you can go to a Telemarketing Lists Broker. The broker has a database full of consumer information. If you're a business-owner you'll need every competitive advantage you can get.

The database can help you because they have qualified leads of consumers. You won't waste your time marketing products to consumers who may or may not be interested. You can request a list that's in the same niche as yours so you know these people are interested in your products.

I wish something like this was around when I had my online store. I would have done so much better.

Nobody hit our football pool

I had crappy number but worse, I have a crappy block. I don't even know how I ended up with the block that I got. When I called my friend, I gave her a list of numbers of which block I wanted. Of course, my first number was 86 followed by 36, 43 etc. I ended up in some awful numbered block. We don't even have a player with that number. Ugh. Next time, if I can't see the pool to literally write my own name in the block, I won't take any.

I guess it's a good thing that nobody hit, the money now rolls over to next week.

Are you looking for a roofing contractor in South Florida?

Then you should look no further than Tri-County Roofing. They are a South Florida Roofing Contractor with over 25 years experience. Not only are they a residential company, but they do commercial work as well.

This is the time of year when everyone is concerned about their roof. Hurricane season is in full force and storms pop up often without warning. Tri-County specializes in metal roofing. While metal roofing may be more expensive initially than shingle or tile, you will save money over the life of the roof. Another benefit of metal roofing is that some systems have a wind rating guarantee in excess of 170 MPH. Tile and shingle roofs can't make that same guarantee.

If you're in the South Florida area, check out Tri-County Roofing. It's a local company based in Hollywood Florida and they are members of the Better Business Bureau, The National Roofing Contractors Association and the Metal Roofing Alliance.

My checkbook is out of whack

As usual my checkbook is a mess. I haven't balanced it in 2 weeks. I've noticed that I only balance my checkbook when I get paid. Then for the next two weeks, I just write down the transactions until payday when I balance again. The bad thing is that sometimes I go overboard with incidental purchases.

This week I know I overspent because I bought extra health related items. That's why I always keep an extra $25 or so dollars in my slush fund.

I paid my friend some of her money

It's not really her money. It's money for the football pool. I gave her $25 and the blocks are $5 per week. I'm covered for the first 6 games. The Steelers have a bye week 6 so I won't owe her anything for that week.

Once I have to pay again, I'll probably give her $20 each time to cover a months' worth of games. I hope I win, I was just thinking that I haven't won in almost 2 years. Talk about being due.

Testing the credit waters

My credit is not the best right now. My credit score is really low and I've been trying to raise it up slowly. I applied for a credit card last week to see how far I've come. About a year ago, I would have gotten a automatic rejection. I guess the fact that they're going to actually review my credit is a plus.

When I was looking for a credit card to apply for, I went to a website where I could search through the different types of cards offered. You can get cards specifically for rewards, cash back or even a Small Business Credit Card. I even saw cards for people like me with bad to average credit. The card I applied for has no annual fee and a average interest rate.

I guess I'll get a answer one way or another some time next week.

My tuition is due tomorrow

I just looked at the post I wrote about consolidating my student loans. As I was reading over it, I realized that my tuition is due tomorrow. Pitt changed their payment pay plan from 4 payments to 3 payments per semester. But since I paid the bulk of my tuition in the first payment, the balance becomes due in the second payment.

Now to make sure I pass the classes to get my moneys worth.

I need to save money on my student loans

I thought my job was going to deny my tuition reimbursement. I have a coworker who is also in school and the department only has so much reimbursement in the budget. I was sweating bullets waiting for the acceptance paper to come back. Luckily I go it today.

I also had to call my bank to get student loan consolidation papers. The payments are way too high. If I consolidate my student loans into one payment, I cut my payments in half. I need that money to pay for the classes that I'm taking now.

The best thing that I read about consolidating my loans is that I can get a reduction in the interest rates for using automatic payments and for making so many consecutive on time payments. Hey every little bit helps.

I won something else from Pepsi

This time I won a hat. Pepsi has a new game running. This one is NFL related and it's the "Call Your Play" promotion. You get to decide which type of play to run. The more difficult the play, the better the prize. For instance, the top prize is a truck. You have to use the hail mary play to have a chance to win.

There are 4 types of plays to choose from. 4th and goal, red-zone, trick play and hail mary. I won the hat on a 4th and goal play. Now I'm running the red-zone plays trying to win a better prize.

This game is hard though. I've already played a bunch of times and only won once. I plan to keep trying though.

I may decide to dabble in real estate

I'm always looking for other ways to make money besides my job. The more income sources you have the better. I've considered taking real estate classes. One reason is because I can work around my schedule. It's flexible and it pays well.

Besides that I can take the classes online. So it wouldn't interfere with my other activities. I looked on fastclass.com and I can find schools that offer only online classes as well as traditional classes. And I can look up the requirements to get my real estate license in every state. I always say I want to move, so it's wise to have a back-up plan before I go.

I finally got my math book

I had to go pick it up from UPS. Luckily one of my coworkers is cool and he took me over there during our lunch break. I'm behind in the class since I didn't have the book.

I still need to go buy a scientific calculator. I totally forgot about that. Right now all I have is a regular 4 function calculator and that's not going to cut it. And I forgot to take that to class yesterday. So imagine doing pre-calculus work trying to add up everything in your head. Not fun!

I almost made up some of my lost pay

I'm not getting paid for 4 days because I was sick. I was only sick for 3 days, but I missed the day before the holiday. Anyway, we had overtime because the one of the other teams is really behind. My supervisor asked us to work some overtime to help their team catch up.

When I went back to her later in the day to see if they still needed people to stay, she said no. I was hoping to get an hour or two. I'm taking the money out of my "fun" money account. Now that account will basically be zero until I can get my hands on some more money.

Pepsi has a new game

I did pretty well on the last Pepsi game. I won a total of $75.00 from that game. All you had to do was enter the cap codes online and enter the sweepstakes daily.

This game is similar except you enter the code and play the NFL game. It's called Call Your Play. The type of play you call determines which prizes you can win. I always call the red zone pass. You can win xbox games, memorabilia and other prizes. The really cool thing is you get to watch a Madden play. I hate when I see certain teams on offense because I know they won't score.

I figure it's no skin of my back, I drink a bunch of Pepsi everyday anyway so I might as well play the game and try to win something while I'm at it.

Weddings are expensive

One of my coworkers got married recently and she spend a ton of money on her wedding. She hosted it as a backyard bbq so one of her major expenses was food. The food was delicious by the way. Almost all of it was homemade.

To cut down on expenses Susie made her own wedding invitations. She created them on the computer and bought colored envelopes to put them in. There weren't any bridal shower invitations because this was a 3rd marriage for both the bride and groom. She did go to a store to buy save the date cards. Susie and C are both very religious so their cards had a religious theme to them.

I've always joked that I wanted to run away to Vegas and elope. Whenever I hear how much money people spend on their weddings, it becomes more of a certainty instead of a joke. Well, first I need a groom though. At this point, it's more wishful thinking than anything else.

I'm glad I never let anyone host my blog

I've been reading about a hosting nightmare. Someone who is a horrible host has shut down a fellow blogger.

Angie wrote that she might give her daughter Benadryl on a long road trip. She didn't write that it was suggested by her daughter's pediatrician. And she shouldn't have had to. Administrator A decided she didn't like what Angie wrote and suspended her blog. Not asked her to explain and/or remove the post, just suspended her. Her blog is now "suspended" for two weeks. Angie can't even get to her old posts.

As a fellow paid blogger, I feel bad for her. Her paid posts are being rejected because someone else is on a power trip. The administrator could have just locked her out of the blog as a suspension instead of taking it offline. That just sucks.

If you don't learn anything else, don't let anyone else host your blog. Yes, even blogger. Both of my blogs started and remain on blogger, but they also have their own domain name. Once my domain names get as highly ranked as blogger, I'll totally shift away from blogger.

Edit: I took the link out of this post. The offender shouldn't be rewarded with a link. The site is www (dot) rainbowofwords (dot) com

I need to give my friend her money

I owe my friend money for the football pool. We don't see each other very often so I have to pay for multiple weeks at one time. I'll probably give her $20 each time. That way we only have to adjust our schedules once a month.

Unless of course I win, then she can just take the money out of my winnings.

My major is still undecided

It's supposed to be Economics but the way the classes are offered I may have to change it. I need 3 upper level classes to get a degree in econ. Pitt only offers 1 upper level class every year. Sometimes it's the same class for 2 out of 3 years. It could potentially take me 4 years to take 3 classes just because they aren't offered.

The only reason I'm unhappy about this is that I want to move when I graduate and this will severely push me back. I know patience is a virtue but that's the one virtue I'm lacking.

Would you buy a house in Hawaii?

Of course this would be determined by whether or not I ever win the lottery. I don't know if I would though. I like Hawaii but I don't know if I would like to live there.

I saw the price of homes on a real estate blog and let's just say I was blown away. I know real estate is expensive but I was amazed at the price. It was ridiculous. I mean who can really afford Hawaii real estate? Rich people of course, but how do retirees manage it?

Maybe when I finally retire I can find out what the fuss is really all about.

I'm still waiting for a book

I got one of my books for school in the mail on Tuesday. It's the economics book. Unfortunately, it's the math book that I really need. The seller sent it UPS so I have to wait until they attempt delivery 3 times, then go pick it up on Monday.

Of course the math class is hard so I need the book asap. I guess I'll have to spend all night Monday and Tuesday doing math. Yuck!

The housing bubble is about to burst

It's horrible to try to profit off of other people's tragedy. But that's what a lot of people are going to do when a rash of Foreclosures are likely to take hold. There are so many hybrid mortgages out there that people aren't going to be able to afford the new payments and will lose their homes.

The worst part is moving from the homes that they know. They will need Moving Quotes as well as Insurance Quotes. They majority of people will have to move back in with family or friends, or rent tiny apartments just to get by.

The American Dream shouldn't turn into a nightmare. It's really sad, but you can't help but wonder if people didn't try to live beyond their means would this happen. You can't just borrow, borrow, borrow without wondering what might happen tomorrow.

What I hate about holiday weekends

I always get thrown off by long weekends. I keep thinking today is Sunday and I'm going crazy. I keep looking for the Sunday shows on tv. I also went looking for mail today even though I knew there was no mail service.

I also have to keep track of my school schedule. I go to school on Wednesday and Thursday and I don't want to forget and miss a day. I can't afford that. I have a feeling I'll be struggling with school this semester. So I don't want to miss any days.

I might need a mid-semester break

This semester is not starting off so well. I'm already stressed on the personal front and school looks to be a killer this semester. I just got back from a not so relaxing vacation so I'm looking to get away and really relax.

I might look into Miami beach vacation rentals. I was thinking about Orlando vacation rental homes, but I decided I would rather be on the beach. Florida vacation rental homes are a good idea for me. That way I can spend some time relaxing but I don't have to be in a crowded hotel with a lot of other people.

The best part about going on vacation in the fall is that there won't be a lot of people there. The normal tourists, but not a lot of young kids and college students. I wish I could go now. I need to get away.

I got the weirdest comment

Someone sent me a really weird comment. I deleted it as soon as I saw it. It was on the post where I talked about how much my books cost. They said that nothing in life was free and that people in institutions got free educations.

Well I never said that my education should be free or that my books should be free. I don't like paying for school but I realize that I have to. As far as the institutions comment, I don't even know how to answer that. I'm not in a institution and I never have been.

I just think that person was wacked!

Spending money to redecorate my apartment

Do I really want to spend money to redecorate right now? I don't know, I'm really torn. I plan on living at my apartment for at least 2 more years. That's how long it will take me to graduate from school.

Right now my apartment is black and white in the living room and wood in the little nook where my computer desk is. The bedroom is a mess and has no theme to it. I saw some Rustic stone home decor and some furniture made out of stone and onyx. I think that would look cool in my apartment. Especially since it's just me and I don't have any kids to worry about breaking it.

I guess the biggest decision I have to make is whether I can stand to look at this apartment for the next two years or if I want to make a change.

I got my books for school

They set me back $170, just about what I thought they would. I got the econ book used for $70 with shipping. The campus bookstore wanted $92 for a used book and $120 for a new book. I'm not sure if the math book is used or not but it didn't come with the cd they offer so I'm assuming it's used. Anyway it cost $101 with shipping. If I would have gotten it new, it would have cost $151 so I saved $50.

The cost of books is outrageous. The thing that really ticks me off is that they only use the books one semester and then order a new edition so you can't even sell it back.

My neighbor is a speed demon

My neighbor went home this past weekend. He's originally from NJ too, but he lives in Jersey City which is north of where my family lives. He was going to New York to hang out and was driving like a madman and got pulled over. He claims he slowed down just before he got pulled over so he wasn't speeding when they clocked him.

Now he has a ticket and points added to his license. I told him to fight the ticket. Most people don't bother fighting the tickets so the odds may be in his favor. Since he doesn't want to go to NJ to fill out paperwork, I told him to go to the Jersey City Municipal Court online. That way, he can get what he needs done without another trip.

You can find out everything you need to know about the area on this site. For example, Jersey City is the second largest city in the state of NJ. Also, it's a very diverse community with 30% African Americans, 28% Hispanic and 17% Asian. If you're not interested in Jersey City, you can find information about any other city in NJ that you may need.

Meanwhile, I told him to slow down. Maybe his girlfriend needs to confiscate his keys.

Speaking of shopping

I need to buy my books for school. I am not looking forward to this. I've priced them and for 2 books I'm looking at $175 minimum. And that doesn't include the scientific calculator that I need for my math class.

I'm off to find a cheap online book seller. So far I have 2 that I work with. I just hope they have the books that I need.

I'd rather be shopping

Do you like to save money when shopping online? Of course you do, who doesn't like to save money. Well I have a site for you to check out, it's the Rather-Be-Shopping.com Blog. There are coupon codes for over 450 stores on the site. And if you're looking for a particular coupon, you can email the author of the blog, and they will email you back with an answer.

There are all kinds of stores online. Most people know the big stores, but even places like the Gap, American Eagle, and Old Navy have coupon codes. If you shop a lot online like I do, check out the site and save yourself some money.

Keep up with your affiliate links

Are you an online affiliate? Do you have badges or ads on your site? If so, make sure your links are up to date. I know some affiliates are changing the links that you use. The email you get looks like junk mail, so most people don't pay attention to them.

The worse part is that you can see that people are clicking on your links, but you aren't getting credited for it. I know at least 2 companies that I work with have recently made changes. Read all of your email or alerts on the sites carefully.

School is gonna drive me crazy

School starts tomorrow. Actually today. I'm registered at Pitt, but I'm trying to save some money by registering at the community college. There's only 1 class that I can take and it's pre-calculus. It won't count on my transcript at all. I only need it as a refresher course before I take regular calculus. So why not save some money.

I just have to make time to get over to the community college and register. I hope they're open late this week.

Do I really want to buy a car?

Right now may not be the best time to do so. I am slowly rebuilding my credit and I do mean slowly. With large banks tightening up their credit requirements, I'm looking at getting bad credit personal loans. The downside of that is that my interest rate will be through the roof. Interest rates on car loans are generally lower than on personal loans but still.

I really want my car payment to be low. Low to me is under $300. I would prefer a lot cheaper than that but I know that's not realistic. Most of the cars that I've been looking at are between $13k-$15k and I'm looking at cars that are known for being low priced cars.

I'm leaning more towards a sedan to have more room. My last car was a suv so I'm used to having lots of room. I also don't want a 2 door car because I don't want to have to get out of the car to let someone else in.

I guess I need to work on getting my down payment together before I do anything else.

Wedding present dilemma solved

A bunch of us from work chipped in and got the couple a gift card. Since the bridge shops at JC Penney a lot, that's what we got.

They have a house full of people. Between the two of them they have 6 kids, but they're all grown. We figure they can always buy some more stuff for the house. Especially towels. They have a pool and people are always coming over to go swimming. They go through towels like crazy.

Apple IPhone Uh-Oh

A teen from NJ has found a way to unlock the Apple IPhone. So what does that mean? Well, now anyone on any network can get the IPhone. T-Mobile, Nextel, Alltel...no problem now you can use the IPhone too. Even overseas carriers can use the phone.

I bet Steve Jobs is crapping his pants right now!

Would you move for your job?

Now if you're an average person making less than $40k per year, you're probably thinking heck no. But what about those people making significantly higher salaries? I'm talking in the range of $75k-$100k per year. I think a lot of them would consider it.

My uncle definitely falls into the latter category. He's moved several times in the last several years following the money. He's a computer systems coder and his skills are in demand. Right now he lives in FL but they're thinking of taking a job and going back to NC. He's looking into wilmington nc real estate. The thing they like about NC is that they can get a house starting from $150k-$400k for an average house. It's way more expensive where they are now.

As long as they get enough bedrooms for me to visit, I don't care where they move to.