Save on water and electricity

Opening my monthly water bill about made me have a heart attack last month. A month of water usually runs two people about $28 dollars. This particular water bill was $103 and it was all due to a small leak or should I say large leak around the rubber stopper of the stool. It is hard to believe that we used 25,000 gallons of water that month. Make sure to fix any leaks even if it is just a drip.

We work too hard for our money to give it away to the water company. Also turn off and unplug any items you can. When a can opener or anything is plugged in even when not running it draws some electricity. After we did this for one month we notice a big savings in the electricity and water bill. Try it and you will see a difference.

Honest Americans

A majority of people are honest and trying to live within their means. In this economy it is very hard to live, work and have enough money to put food on the table. My hat goes off to these Americans that cannot afford to live but do there best to keep on trying to survive. We are classified as the working poor. I call us the people that keep America going. The taxes we pay is what keeps the government running while we go into debt actually working a minimum wage job.

We have to be more creative, stronger and wiser to live than giving up and taking money from government programs. You are true blooded Americans and should be applauded for your effort to keep on helping our country. So you have to go to Harvesters to get food once a month. Thank God that there are people that help these programs. The average American is honest and deserves more attention than what you are getting. You can actually run your household on less money than what it costs for one meal in the White House.

Do not let anything separate us, the people, as we are the backbone of this country. We will keep coming and together we will pull us out of this recession. I only fear that because we cannot afford to give our family all they deserve that some people will steal your money using dishonest means. Do not let the people that promise the stars and deliver nothing take your money. Use your energy and money to create and build, not to destroy.

There are many people that if given the opportunity have an idea for a good business that could create jobs. We need to rely on ourselves and trust the honest Americans to get us out of this recession. The person that is hardworking and has an idea for a business but cannot put it into action due to NO MONEY needs to be trusted by the banks we put our money in. Honest hardworking Americans are a great risk as they know what it is like to need. Is there anyone willing to have faith and take a risk on us changing our economy?

Credit card or cash purchases

It is really best every month to check your credit card transactions every few weeks and maybe even more. Aldi's grocery store had an electronic device attached to the swipe machine stealing your credit card number and you didn't even know until it was too late. The awful thing about this type of stealing is it cannot be detected immediately.

After 3 months and 1,100 stores the amount of victims was very numerous. Until credit cared statements are read by the consumer then reported it still takes the credit card company time to find the source. Meanwhile you are a victim of credit card theft which takes you time to repair all the problems the thief has created for you. For more information: Identity Theft Hits a Grocery Store.

This is the lowest, meanest and lowlife of thievery. Stealing from others is one of the 10 commandments first and foremost. The prices of everything must increase in the long run and the consumer and thief will pay for it in the long run.

It has been suggested that plastic it is the safest way to shop as long as you can pay off the full balance. It seems that as soon as you think you are safe the thief stays one step ahead of you. It's too bad that thief's don't use their energy to do the right thing. Using cash is not safe either as people can rob you but at least you don't have to prove who you are when they steal your identity.

Taking a picture with their camera phone of your card is done after you hand the waiter or waitress. Many restaurants take your card and being a little old fashioned this panics me as the new plastic generation snickers when I watch their every move if possible. Better to be careful and safe then a victim of identity theft.

A family that cleans together has more fun

Everyone likes a clean house even if you are a family that is sloppy by nature. A messy house creates mental confusion and chaos according to scientific reports (source unknown). When each family member participates in cleaning up each mess made directly afterwords this can majorly improve life both mentally and physically.
Answer these questions so you can decide if cleanliness is important to you:

1. Do you feel compelled to clean a mess made by another person?
2. Can you find anything you need in your home without searching for it?
3. What is your definition of clean?
4. Do you talk about how clean or dirty another persons house is?
5. Can your house be messy and clean at the same time?
6. Do you empty an ashtray or a trashcan before it is full?
7. When you clean do you get worn out just after picking up the general mess?
8. Can you clean the bathrooms, kitchen, dust and do 1 deep cleaning chore all in one day?
9. Are you embarrassed when someone unexpected comes to your home?
10. Do you feel uncomfortable or motivated to clean about your home after visiting a clean home?
11. What do you consider to be a clean home?
12. Is your opinion of a clean home the same as your family members?
13. Just answer with the word clean so I know you are answering these questions?
14. Define a dirty house.
15. Do you have OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
16. Do you constantly make excuses for the mess in your home to visitors?

After answering these questions could you have cleaned at least one room? If your family helps you do the housework you do have more time to have fun. A family that uses teamwork to get the house clean has more fun and time to have fun. They have also taught their family valuable life skills. Now if you do not feel guilty about the state of your house at this very moment then you have a clean home or do not care how others view your home. I know sloppy people that function quite well and are generally happy with life.

Life is too short to spend it cleaning! If you learned about what is important to you by answering these questions then this post was worth the time. You can fix what is broken when you know the problem if there is one. Picking up each mess will help you really clean your home. As an ex-professional cleaner it can be done in 2-4 hours depending on the size of your home. Less time with teamwork! It sure feels great mentally to come home to a clean home.

Customer review and impact on purchasing the product

By typing in the words best sellers on Amazon I was surprised with the results. This article is a test to see if this product really is a best seller of Amazon customers. I am going to show you the top 5 products and see if you are interested these products. The first product is The Fat Flush Plan which is to be the best selling book about losing weight from Amazon.

Orka Deos Stainless Steel Soap. Here is the link and image for product #2 as this amazed me to go a step further and see what it was. Apparently this product is to remove odors and smells from your hand such as garlic or fish.

According to the reviews I saw they both agreed it was a good paperweight and great decorative item but there were as many positives as negative reviews. The positive review decided it worked well at removing a variety of odors for them and said it looked great on the wall.

One review said they gave it a fair chance by trying to remove as many different odors as they could. They decided it is was better used as a paperweight verses an odor remover. Do you read product reviews before you purchase an item that is unusual?

The #3 product that was a best seller is the Back to Basics Egg-and-Muffin Toaster. The link is Back to Basics TEM4500 4-Slot Egg-and-Muffin Toaster. Out of 188 reviews there were 158 people that gave it a 4 to 5 star rating. The common thing the reviews shared were that it did what it was suppose to do. The scariest reason was a customer that felt the smell of the oven itself was overwhelming and attributed this to the MADE IN CHINA label which made them "a tad nervous" in there own words.

Product #3 is the Hitachi Cordless Drill and Driver Kit. I am giving you the link and the picture to experiment is this makes any difference to searching the site for the product. It had a 110 reviews and out of this 83 people gave it a 4 to 5 star rating. They both said it had a good torque but housing was cheap plastic, broke easily and did not fit well on a carpenters belt. Guarantee was faulty.

The next best selling product is #4 is Baby Einstein Take Away Tunes. How could you lose with a product that was made with Einstein in the name. Here is just the link as I want to see how interested you are to seek out the looks and style of the product. Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes had 572 reviews and 526 people gave this a 4 to 5 star rating. Only 14 people gave this a 1 which I thought very interesting. The average opinion is it had good quality non-electronic sound but they were not long enough to hold the attention of a child age 1 that could push the buttons. A consensus in longer tunes would make this a great product. For less than $10 what do we expect?

Product #5 is my pick of products as the results came out to be over 200,000 choices. This product is expensive but being a nice Swiss Army Man's watch with Dive Master Black Dial I wanted to test quality and price to how the consumer selects a product. Here is the link and the picture as I want you to see a watch that costs over $600 dollars. With only 4 customer reviews and the original price being over $1000 I take that not many people buy or wear a watch like this. It is said to be like a top of the line Rolex watch. The customer reviews recommend a plastic band due to the weight of a Quartz watch. But they feel this is an unsurpassed value and even though it is not COSC certified which means it accuracy for time is within chronometers. If you need accuracy within a chronometer this watch will not fail you.

Help me with this experiment and let me know what moves you to search deeper about a specific product. This will make a great article and help me know how advertising works in the on-line world. Leave a quick comment about it you read at all or if you just skipped through or of it compelled you to check out a product. To become a good affiliate is a process and the difference between success and failure on-line.

Cleaning as you go

If everyone lived in a perfect world each person in the house would pick up the mess right when they made it. With some training this can be done. When everything is picked up the day you actually use to clean your home means deep regular cleaning can be done.

How do you teach everyone in your home to clean up the mess they make? This is a process and will not occur over night. If you get the whole family involved in cleaning your home then they begin to gain an understanding of why it takes so long to clean. If you must pick up messes first and then do deep cleaning you probably never can finish the job. You are worn out before you start.

When you have a child clean up each mess they make and they don't do it the natural consequence is less time to play. When they do clean up each mess and you notice that it took them less time to clean their room than usual make sure you have them identify why it went faster. Take notice and reinforce the positive behavior.

Another natural consequence is when a child wants to stay up past their bedtime remind them that they must get up at 7 am and not complain. The natural consequence is being tired yet you empowered them by allowing them to make their own decision. Eventually they will decide that they would rather get sleep then wake up tired the next day.

When it comes to teaching an adult to clean up after themselves this brings a whole new set of problems. The more they are set in their ways the more work it takes to help them learn that picking up after themselves makes house cleaning easier. The only way I know to get an adult to understand is by making them participate in regular cleaning of the home.

In an equal world the woman works just like the man and usually even more. They should clean house just like you do. Eventually they will realize how much time it takes just to do normal cleaning of bathrooms, etc. Give them a job and do not accept the excuse but you do it so better than I do and it takes you less time. They will try this but in time they will realize that if they clean up their own mess you may be less likely to ask them to help do all the deep cleaning chores.

This empowers them to decide it is better to do a little than a lot. If you have a family that participates in the whole cleaning process then be grateful as you have a clean house that takes less time out of your life to clean. Here are some tools that can make cleaning easier as well.

The 2-year contract scam

Satellite, cell phone and many other companies offer the 2-year contract which promises to save you money. The way the satellite companies pull you in is by advertising the low price of $29.99 giving you Prime movie channels like HBO for 3 months for free. When you get your first bill you are charged for the rental of the receivers which was not included in the advertised low price of $29.99. The basic package does not include channels anyone wants so you must move to a more expensive package.

Finally you find a package deal you like but it is the $39.99 so your first bill is $55 for the first year. A promotional $100 rebate card which had no cash value adds to the great deal. Phone companies give you a free phone with all the newest bells and whistles which all sounds good, but is it worth binding yourself to a 2-year contract? A lot can happen in two years in this economy like a loss of a job. Your financial situation changes and there you are stuck in the middle of a two contract that is legal and binding.

Year two comes and then the boom is lowered. They make up for all the costs not paid in year one. You are a prisoner of the two-year contract and at their mercy of whatever they decide to charge at that moment. You are penalized if you stop their service before 2 year is up. They have your bank account and credit card information to make sure you do. You are caught in a vicious but legal scam and do they care that you lost your job or life changed for some reason? No, definitely not as you signed a legal and binding contract made to order for their company without you the customer in mind.

Solution:

• Try not to purchase anything that requires signing a contract.
• If you are in a 2-year contract notify the promotional department as they want to keep you as a customer when the contract ends. Request a lower payment. Sometimes they will take off $10 or more.
• Bartering in furniture stores, appliance and major stores like Home Depot can get you a good deal, It never hurts to try as everyone really needs your business especially in these difficult economic times.

Being at their mercy they can charge whatever they desire and they make sure to cover themselves to only their benefit not the consumer. There is something very wrong with 2-year contracts and being a victim of life changing events beyond my control I have learned a costly lesson. They do not want people to skip back and forth between satellite/phone companies but could care less about the customer after you are in their trap. Being stuck in a 2-year service agreement you must pay them any outrageous price they decide to charge. Believe me you are going to pay them back for everything you thought was a great deal initially.

My price now for satellite was $85 for the next year. This was not okay and not fair. They offer packages that are very rigid when I only watch about 6-10 of the 300 channels they offer. Most channels are useless so do not believe the 500 channel scam. They can turn certain channels off and on form the office, give you pay-per-view but they cannot offer you a individualized package that could help you the customer save money when your situation changes and make attempts to talk to them verses avoiding them. You are at their mercy and they make no effort to try and work with you. Advertising uses psychology to pull you in and millions of dollars are spent for this very reason. Really make sure it is a good deal before signing your life away.