Start up business ideas

What kind of business would you start in a slow economy? The answer to that question can be found by the process of elimination. First off you wouldn’t want to start up a construction company, become a real estate agent or a loan broker. That’s almost like trying to sell ceiling fans in the middle of winter.

What you might want to try is opening up a low cost, part time day care since some people will need to hold down more than one job and might need babysitting for their children for just a few hours a day. Another idea would be a car pool service that you would just shuttle people from one or 2 locations in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Think more along the lines of a service oriented business since there would be much less money involved than having inventory to sell.

Consumers are telling us the economy is not that bad

More people than ever are celebrating Halloween this year even with the doom and gloom of Wall Street (watch the video below). Now what does that mean? It could mean that people still have lots of disposable income. Keep in mind that the unemployment rate is around 6% right now so that means 94% of the workers are still employed.

Not everyone is losing their home to foreclosure and some people are doing just fine. Did you see the woman that chained herself to her home so that she would not be evicted from it? It turns out that the same woman lost 7 other homes in foreclosure. She was a speculator that couldn't handle the price of real estate going down. As I have been telling everyone all the long - this real estate market bust was the result of speculators running the show. Instead of turning those houses into rentals for the long term as most speculators did in the past, they held on to them to try and "flip" the house in a few months. Of course everyone and their brother was doing the same thing and finally the bottom fell out of the market. People finally got fed up with the price of housing going up and just refused to buy into it anymore. The same thing happened to the price of gasoline, it went too high and people said ENOUGH!

The consumer has the last say. Halloween is doing fine so let's see how Christmas turns out. If what stores are selling is overpriced junk then the consumer will put a stop to it in this market right away.

Can you say "price gouging?"

Exxon just announced the company's biggest profit gain in the company's history. This comes at a time when us consumers are feeling squeezed out of our last drop of blood every time we went to the gas station. Thankfully the price of gas has been dropping steadily for the past few weeks but now I wonder how much of those prices were actually related to the price of oil.

Back in the late 1990's, just about 10 years ago, there was a rumor that the oil companies wanted to get at least $2.50 a gallon. This tidbit of information came from a friend that worked at one of the oil refineries in California. At the time we were paying 99 cents a gallon in the San Fransisco Bay Area and I really thought the guy was blowing smoke about the $2.50 a gallon price. Within a year the price shot up to just over $2.00 a gallon and stayed at that point for a few months. The price then went back down but never dropped below $1.50 a gallon. Then there was talk about how the oil companies had gotten together to boost profits and price gouge the public. I never did hear much more about if there was any type of investigation done at that time.

It looks like the oil companies are pulling a fast one again. Now I really wonder if there is an oil shortage because the only ones that are telling the world about how much oil there is - are the oil companies themselves. Now I really want to have an alternative energy source to using oil. That I think would be the only way to rid us of the all powerful oil companies that rape us for our hard earned money and boast about it in their earnings statements.

The election will soon be over

Is anyone else out there sick and tired of having election coverage news rammed down our throats every evening? Last night on the national network news, coverage of the Presidential election took up half of the 30 minute show. That left about 5 minutes to cover the economy and less than 5 more minutes to cover any real news going on in the world. The rest of the time went to commercials.

You know when the election coverage is getting too long when you get reporters visiting local restaurants and bars to talk to the patrons sitting on bar stools and having a beer. Obviously those voters have too much time and money on their hands. Why don't they visit a huge company's parking lot that just announced a layoff and see what the voters think?

Just a few more days until it is all over with. Don't get me started on how much money each candidate has spent each day on campaigning. The money that each one has spent so far could have boosted the economy up. Instead of saying that they (yes both candidates) would help the poor why don't they just DO IT? They both have the money to donate to food banks, homeless shelters and soup kitchens all over the USA. I doubt very much that the people who donated to the election would mind one bit if that money went to REALLY help people out.

Watch out if you are in foreclosure

If your home is under threat of foreclosure you should watch the video below. There are plenty of sharks in the waters that are circling for helpless home owners.

Popular and awful blogs

Popular blogs are not necessarily good blogs. Sometimes in fact they are absolutely awful. When I mean awful, I mean terrible grammar and often they make no sense at all. Take for example the most popular group of blogs at Entrecard. You would think that the blogs with the most popularity would be fantastic blogs that have a great following and regular readers - you are probably wrong. One of the top blogs listed on their with over 2292 popular votes is The Success. It has got to be written by an 8 year old with no sense of grammar. At the very least it might be written by a person that has English as a second language. One of the blog writer's latest posts starts off with this "One of the important things to maintain our site is consistent to post the articles." That was not the only post with terrible grammar, most of the other posts are the same way. If the only way to become a popular and well trafficked blog is to write like an 8 year old with ads all over the place then count me out.

I took a look at another one that is high on the "popular" list. This time it was Cromely's World. With over 2500 popular votes I thought it might be worth the visit. Looking at the blog it is just ramblings off about anything with a few posts here and there with advertising "I got this or that on sale at so-and-so's". It looks like the blog owner/writer has just done lot's of mutual link sharing and networking. I don't really see why the blog is so popular.

After looking at those 2 blogs I had to find a good one to boast about and I did. The one I liked was Mommies Home. That blog stays on track with the subject matter, makes sense and above all else is written well.

Someone is making money - wacky inventions

We all want to be the inventor of the next "pet rock" craze and make a mint, but how about these inventions?

• A USB toaster - make toast by hooking up a toaster to your computer via the USB
• An Armadillo Breadbox, a breadbox that looks like an Armadillo
• A cookie mug. A mug with a place to store your cookies
• And one of my favorites (pictured) a weight watchers belt
  
  

You can find out more at the wacky invention website including pictures of the above mentioned inventions.

Slightly warped inventions

Becoming rich

There are only 5 ways of becoming rich:

1. Being born into a wealthy family
2. Inheriting a fortune
3. Owning your own business and working hard to make it successful
   
4. Winning the lottery
5. Marrying into wealth

That being said, I am sure that very few of my readers fall into many of those categories. Number 3 is probably one of the only ways most of us have any chance of getting ahead of inflation and setting aside a nest egg for our retirement. There is a slim chance of getting any money from number 4. What about number 5? Do you think that you might have a chance of meeting someone rich?

Meeting Mr. or Miss Right is always a challenge. Just look at the divorce rate, it seems that most people are not finding the "right" person at all. Add to that challenge finding someone with money and you are almost out of the ball park for finding anyone. To me just finding someone that doesn't have a big spending habit would be a big plus. I am satisfied with who I am with since he has put up with me and I him with our financial troubles of the past. We had each other to lean on for moral support.

Only a week to go before the stock market rebounds

Just over a week to go for the elections. After the election you will see the stock market settle and start to slowly climb again. This happens every election year. i still fail to understand why people have such short memories when it comes the Presidential election and the effects on the stock market.

Christmas card time is almost here

For the past few years I have not sent out Christmas cards because of the cost of postage. This year I might just break down and send some out with family photos inside since it has been a few years since anyone has gotten any family photos from us.

It is also getting that time of year when I start getting all sorts of Custom Christmas Cards from businesses that I don't even remember dealing with. I can fully understand why they send out Christmas cards - to get your business, but I can't understand the Christmas cards from one time only transactions like buying a home or the mortuary. I am more likely to deal with them again from past experience and not because they sent me a Christmas card.

Now if you have a business that needs to say "thank you" to your regular customers then by all means send a Christmas card. Now here is what I would love to see from you, a coupon I can really use or a discount off of one of your services. That would make a great addition in your Christmas card envelope to me.

Why is it people never learn?

I have a brother-in-law that has a house that they owe more on than it is worth. They kept re-financing their home to pay off their credit cards but the forgot to cut the damn things up. His wife then charged them up again. This has been going on for a few years and I think it will bite him in the ass one of these days.

Cell phones and saving money

As you well know I am a big fan of pay-as-you-go plans for cell phones. I absolutely hate contracts of any kind and especially when a major cell phone contractor tries to saddle you with an outrageous cost of a phone if you cancel your contract under the 2 year mark. I had that happen over 4 years ago when I knew the contract was up and I canceled the service. Along came a bill from the company stating I owed $600 for the phone since I canceled before the 2 years was up. I called them up and told them I had the receipt from when I got the phone and the contract had been up for 2 months. I also told them that the receipt listed the retail price of the phone at $120 dollars not $600. After going around and around about that for the next week it finally got cleared up but I will never return to having a contract with a cell phone service again.

Now that I have a pay-as-you-go phone I thought I would have a better selection of them. I erroneously thought that since we have a Tracfone, Net10 or Virgin Mobile phones that we would be stuck with what they had to offer. Boy was I wrong. I recently found out about unlocked cell phones. Cell phones you see can be bought without service contracts at the regular retail price. They are bought in an unlocked state so you can use them on almost any network that uses a SIM card. Tracfone and Net10 uses SIM cards and so does many of the main cell phone service providers. You simply insert the SIM card in your phone and you are set. The locked phones are the ones that you cannot transfer between providers and they are usually the free phones they offer when you sign up. Verizon is one of the providers that only has locked phones.

So if you were thinking that you were limited to the bare basic cell phones you saw in the store when you looked at pay as you go cell phones you are wrong. Just check out what is available for unlocked cell phones. You will find that the prices are really reasonable for what each phone does.

The unemployed looking for work

Being unemployed and looking for work is no fun. I have been that route several times in the past 8 years. At one point I was working only part time jobs until a full time job came around. I have also sold items on eBay to not only make extra money but to have it as my major source of income. I still have a small part time business even though I now have a full time job simply because I always need something to fall back on should the company I work for shut down. I always have a back up plan when it comes to money and income.

If you are employed right now you should also be looking at a small business opportunity, one where you can start up and maintain part time. If you are unemployed look into starting your own business on a very small out lay of capital. Amazon, eBay, eCrater and Etsy are all good places to sell items online for the small entrepreneur. I personally would stay away from franchises if you are unemployed because they can cost lots of up front money with no guarantee of success. In my book franchises are a gamble.

Remember that not everything sells well online. I found that out when I was selling Sterling Silver jewelry online. People are easier to sell to in person and some items do better in person too.

Another Federal stimulus check on the way?

The Feds are talking about a second stimulus check. At first Bush said no but now he has changed his mind. One does wonder if Congress can get a bill passed that quick on a second stimulus package by the end of the year. I did see several online newspapers doing surveys of what people think about a second check from Uncle Sam. One result surprised me. They intereviewed a group of parents at a soccer game and most of them said no they would not want to see it happen. I don't know what planet they are on but my thoughts are if the Feds can dish out $700B+ to the financial industry then I would like to see some of that money come my way too. After all I paid it in, in the form of taxes and I bet the banks didn't pay any taxes.

Here is my own poll on the subject. Let's see what this blog's readers think -

Budgets and how to screw them up

I truly believe that the great majority of us lacked in any basic training in budgets before we left our parent's homes for the real world. Sure we had those high school classes in budgeting and setting up a household but where did it put any practice in our real lives? I had it a bit better in the fact that when I started my first job I still lived at home but now I had to pay rent to my parents. The only problem with that is that I had not learned how to budget for a real household. Rent being just one small part of a true budget I had no experience in learning how to stretch my small minimum wage salary to buy food, gas and maintenance on the car. When I got married I moved out of my parents home and into my own. At least I learned one thing and that was how to save. Any time I was thinking about buying some expensive item my dad would always ask me "do you really want that?" He not so much was asking if I could afford it but was showing what he thought about the item. Being a "good" daughter living at home I did not want to cause waves and it more or less forced me to save my money.

When you don't know how to budget your paycheck for the basics every month like rent/mortgage, utilities, food and bills you can run into trouble every week. If you don't make a list when you go to the grocery store WITH a spending limit you will have a hard time trying to get ahead. Going clothes shopping with my daughter and telling her she can get a coat but the spending limit is less than $30 causes a fight with her but I have to stick to the family budget. She just can't understand why she cant have that "cheap" designer coat for only $79. My husband would give into her but he refuses to manage the family money or budget so he knows that I have the last say. One of the biggest things to screw up any family budget is when you have one person that has access to the family money and likes to spend, spend, spend. You need to put a stop to that right away. Establish a separate bank account just for them if you need to with a spending limit or just keep a limited amount in the account. Another way would be to purchase on of those VISA cash cards that you can preload with money.

Once you find out where the money is being wasted each month on non-essentials then you can put your budget on a diet. I only wish you could take a little diet pill for money management like a natural fat burner and be done with it, but it is never that easy. Often when trying to establish a family budget for a family that has never needed nor wanted a forced budget with have some nasty verbal fights in the process. It is more than likely the older children that will fight it.

Learn to make use of your computer to help you manage your money. Keep track of each and every transaction in and out of your accounts. I often see people at the ATM machines discard their receipts like they were nothing. They should be keeping and tracking those transactions daily. I use Microsoft Money to manage my checking account. I set up items like reoccurring bills and have them entered into my checking program on my computer automatically. Learn to manage your money before you find out that you have run out of money.

The days of saving data on floppys and CD's are gone

You remember when you use to save your files on a floppy disk then later a CD? I bet there was more than one time that you tried to retrieve the data or file and it was GONE! CD's get scratched and old time floppy's got erased by magnets. Last year I started to use flash drives. I bought a 2 GB flash drive for $19.00 and thought that was a great deal. This year the prices are dropping even lower to under $10.00. I have now seen flash drives that look like Sponge Bob Square Pants and other characters. They are not my first choice of a flash drive design but if they are cheap....maybe. Now they have come out with personalized flash drives which is great for different subjects like "Joel's photos" or "Ann's doc's". It is a good idea since I also work at a company that orders flash drives by the box for the technical group. You should see the stickers on those things just to label who the owner is.



The ad above shows some really cheap personalized flash drives to be had. Why bother with the over the counter ones now if you can have them personalized.

Keywords to use in your blog or website to attrach visitors

There is no one magic keyword or groups of keywords to get people to land on your blog or website. Keywords that people type into search engines change by the hour and season. For example "Joe the Plumber" is ranking rather high right now in the search engines. Chances are that this blog post will show up in those searches but probably not clicked on since this is a topic about keywords and not politics. If you are selling anything online or have a blog you want to have visitors come to then you should know what the current trends are in keywords and searches.

One really great tool is to watch what people are searching for in real time. That little tool can be found at DogPile. You can just sit and watch to see what people are looking for. You will also see how many times an usual item or misspelled word comes up and use that on your blog or website. Remember that keywords are only good for a few days or weeks then the trends change.

An easy way to makey money if you can write

Education is an important part of your life. Do well with it and you can go places. I have always been an avid reader as a child. As an adult I became a writer. At first it was just for my websites and early blogging attempts but later it blossomed into freelance writing jobs and writing for other people's blogs. I have seen my early writing works as clumsy and full of typos that I should have caught. I can do little to correct them now since they were published complete with no editing on part of the publisher. I cringe when I look at them knowing that my readers must think of me as a 12 year old trying to master English grammar.

I have come a long way since then. My articles on Associated Content have been received very well and I earn a nice little paycheck each month from them. Apparently I have done so well in such a short time I received an email from them yesterday. They congratulated me on my readership and offered me a "deal". They are lacking in good writers to earn money on their site. They want me to encourage my readers to sign up with them and write articles for AC. In return not only will I get a bonus but I would have the warm feeling that I would have helped someone earn some extra cash.

If you can write short 400-500 word articles on anything that interests you I encourage you to sign up with AC. You can get paid by upfront offers or just submit your own written works. When I signed up in 2006 I did it out of curiosity. It was not until late 2007 that I submitted my first work. I did not get paid for that article but since then it has earned me $2.00 in views. You earn money on how many times your article is viewed online. Right now I have 68 articles on AC with another 5 that were written for specialty sites (the offers came through AC). The great majority of the articles were "calls for content" where AC makes an offer for you to write an article on a specific subject or theme. AC paid me for most of my articles in the range of $4-$6. That is not much you say, but those same articles earn me views per month. One article last year earned me an additional $18.00 in one month for views alone. Now multiply that by 68 articles and you have a nice chuck of change every month. One writer on there earns over $700 a month on views alone.

If you have a blog you can drive traffic to your own articles on AC or network with the other writers on AC for more exposure. My daughter also writes the occasional article for AC and she has earned enough for a new digital camera that she has wanted for a long time. I pay a few bills off each month with my earnings. Go over to AC and sign-up so you can start earning some extra cash now (they pay out 3 times a week to your PayPal account).

Internet sales are picking up

I have gotten several reports that internet sales are picking up despite the fact of the gloomy economy news. People are still spending money online. Just today my sister-in-law reported that her and her husband's online store sales are picking up. They have a free online store at eCrater and I highly recommend having one of those to anyone just starting out selling online.

Despite the news from eBay about their profits are down (because people are fed up with paying all those fees to them no doubt) other E-tailers are reporting an increase in sales. It is probably due to early Christmas shoppers. I have not listed or sold anything on eBay in quite some time now. It looks like I might just start my own eCrater store and see if I can earn some extra cash for MY Christmas gifts.

Illegal activitity to rise with unemployment rate

With money getting tighter than ever I can see an increase in illegal and immoral behavior in society just in order to survive. Depression and fear about one's own future will be the number one driving force. People will do just about anything to pay their bills, buy food and keep a roof over their heads. Growing marijuana, prostitution, cooking meth are just a few of the illegal activities that I can see increase with the pending recession. It is not about the people that have had previous criminal backgrounds but the regular middle class working families that will think about turning to a life of crime just to survive.

Will society change because of the economy? You bet it will. Some activities that are now considered legal maybe outlawed and some that are now outlawed will become legal. Take for example gambling. At one time only one state in the USA allowed legalized gambling. The mecca for it is las vegas nv and probably will remain so for some time to come. Since then many states have now allowed American Indians to open up huge mega casinos for their own tribes. The states are now even in the act with state run lotteries. Gambling is now deemed OK.

What does that all mean to you? Since you are probably aware of email scams and offers that are just too good to be true you should also be now more vigilant about protecting your property from thieves than ever before. Give to fundraisers that you know are not scams. Help those who have to resort to soup kitchens for a meal by donating a few of those extra vegetables from your garden to the kitchen or church. My family has been down and out and I know how much we really appreciated a bag of groceries at Thanksgiving donated by friends. The Thanksgiving meal that year was a frozen lasagna but it sure did fill a void in both stomach and heart.

Beware of false claims of making thousand per day on the internet

You have seen them, claims of making $10,000 or $50,000 or more a day on the internet while you do only 15 minutes of work a day. One claim that I saw was how to make a million dollars a day with Google Adsense. That one is so outrageous I thought I would take a look into it. They claim with the use of screen shots of their Google Adsense page the huge dollar amounts of what they were earning.

After a bit of digging I found out how a person can fake their screen shots to prove just about any claim they want. Here is the link to a video on how someone can fake the amounts claimed on Google Adsense. Video how-to.

Now if you have a printer it is only one more step to print out a fake check from whom ever you want to say is paying you. Just take a photo of the check and presto you have fake proof of earnings.

My advise to you is always treat what ever claims you see online or in TV ads about earnings from the internet with suspicion. When in doubt draw from your own common sense first.

My own experience with Google Adsense was getting my first check for $100, it took almost a year to earn that much. I also had the amazing experience of having one of my lesser known blogs get 18,000 hits in one day! I happen to get mentioned on a major message board and everyone just had to take a look at the blog. Out of 18,000 visitors I only got $14 in Google Adsense clicks. In comparison on this blog I got about 75 visitors a few days later and 4 clicks on the Google Ads for a total amount of $12. Now if someone can only tell me why that happens then I would know how to work the "system" better.

Are you ready for the next roller coaster ride?

I do believe that the newscasters on the network nightly news just cannot leave well enough alone. When was the last time you heard what stock markets around the world were doing? Tonight on the ABC nightly news they even did an economy report from Kenya! OK guys give it a break. We all know the economy is down but it is no worse than the last down turn in the economy in the late 1980's. It is the panic stricken news reporting that is blowing everything out of proportion and that is why I hear news reports of people killing their families then committing suicide and leaving notes blaming the economy.

I have news for everyone, we'll survive this one and the next one and the one after that because these types of economy markets have swings of every 10 to 20 years. Have you noticed it is always bad just before a presidential election?

How to stop a headache

Here is my Friday tip: To stop a headache quit watching the DOW Jones average go up and down. Just keep in mind it has only been a few short years since the DOW was just below the 8,000 mark back in 2003. In fact most of the time the DOW has been below the 5,000 mark until internet access and day trading became common. In my opinion it is the gambling day traders that have been causing most of the markets heavy swings now. The old adage of "buy low and sell high" is their motto to the point of even buying and selling thousands of shares of stocks for a few pennies gain per share.

I must admit that back in 1999-2001 I was actively day trading along with most of my co-workers. We set up buys and sells before we go to work and would check on the stocks during the day. It was great when you came out ahead but when you lost money it was - well a loss. The headaches and worry were not for me after a few years and I gave it up. One of the people I knew got involved with futures trading. He tried to get me interested but I never got involved with it. It just seemed too complicated for me.

Do I still invest in stock? Yes I do but my shares of stock are in it for the long haul. I get dividends from them and sometimes the stocks split giving me more shares and more dividends from them. I also invest in a mutual fund that has been doing very well even in these tough times.

The wild stock market ride

Can we take a breath yet? The $700B bail out was suppose to stop the wild ride on Wall Street. I guess that didn't happen. All I can visualize is a video with flashes of the stock market floor with traders going nuts to the tune of Tom Petty's "Free Falling". Wait, why don't I put that on YouTube!!!

There is an up side to this so far, the price of oil is dropping. With that happening what is OPEC up to? They are getting an emergency meeting together to decide on cutting production - WTF?!

Let's see what comes down next in price. Will it be computers, iPhones, acne treatments, health insurance, autos, internet providers or any number of other products and services. It all comes down to supply and demand. If people don't want to pay or afford the high prices anymore for things or services then the prices WILL come down.

Foreclosures are creating a rental shortage

Several cities and communities have been reporting a rental shortage for 1 and 2 bedroom apartments and condos. The areas that are having the shortages right now are the Atlanta area and Vancouver, BC as well as Australia (yep, down under is having a real estate melt down too). The Los Angeles area is also expected to have a rental shortage too.

I first got wind of it when a lender friend of ours sent us a detailed chart showing the rise in rental shortages. Now before you go out and invest in rental properties I do warn you that the shortage only applies to "affordable" housing, meaning low priced rentals. You can find many high priced rentals in those markets but they are NOT being rented because no one can afford them.

Now if only the banks and lending companies would rent back those homes that were foreclosed to the previous homeowners then maybe the economy would have a better chance of turning around.

What we go through to get a job

It is no longer just a case of filing out an application either in person or online to get a job nowadays you also have to go through some sort of employment screening or tests before you even get to the interview. Now I don't mind one bit the drug screening since I don't want to work with a bunch of co-workers that are "out-of-it" while I am around. The screening I don't like is the one where they run a credit check on you. I think that the credit check is an invasion of privacy and has no place as a screening method for employers. If they want to see if you plan on stealing from them they can run a criminal background check.

I wonder how many people that have lost their homes due to the foreclosure crisis have also found that they are having a hard time finding employment? Here is a heads up for them - the employers are checking on your credit reports. They need your SS# to do that and that is the number one reason that I don't ever, but never put my SS# on my employment application. If the company wants me bad enough they can ask for it later when I fill out my tax exemption form - after I am hired.

More big companies merging

There are more big companies merging. They will have some interesting names once the merger has been approved. Here is just a brief list of the companies and their proposed new names.

1.) Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush, and W. R. Grace Co.
will merge and become:
Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace.

2.) Polygram Records, Warner Bros., and ZestaCrackers join forces and become:
Poly, Warner Cracker.

3.) 3M will merge with Goodyear and become:
MMMGood.

4. Zippo Manufacturing, Audi Motors, Dofasco, and Dakota Mining will merge and
become:
ZipAudiDoDa .

5. FedEx is expected to join its competitor, UPS, and become:
FedUP.

6. Fairchild Electronics and Honeywell Computers will become:
Fairwell, Honeychild.

7. Grey Poupon and Docker Pants are expected to become:
Poupon Pants.

8. Knotts Berry Farm and the National Organization of Women will become:
Knott NOW!

And finally ..

9. Victoria 's Secret and Smith/Wesson will merge under the new name:
Titty Titty Bang Bang

Now you can start you week off with a chuckle.

A sad Halloween for those living in sub divisions this year

Take a look at the cartoon above, the date is '07. It has gotten worse since then. My brother-in-law lives in a sub division in Central California and almost one house in 5 is foreclosed on. Many of them were rentals so it looks like some people got in over their heads in investment properties.

Now here is a thought, where did all the people go to live after their homes were foreclosed? I want to hear where they are living now. Did they move in with relatives? Are they living in their cars? Where are they?

The stock market is down again

If you have been watching your 401K or the stock market in general you would have noticied that the past 4 trading days has been a roller coaster ride with the huge dips. Investing on Wall street is not for the faint of heart at this time. If you have any stocks and can afford to hold on to them just hold them for now. I have a few shares in a biodiesel stock that has gone down but I have the faith in the company that it will be big in the near future so I am holding on to the stocks.

Cheap vacations

Cheap has got to be the word for vacations at our house for the past summer and the next year at least. The price of gas put a big stop on any of our plans to go anywhere this last summer. Now that the price of gas has gone down slightly the weather has gotten colder and wetter, so no traveling by car for even a day out for us during the fall either.

My husband and daughter have both voiced a desire to go on one of those exotic cruises one day when we can afford it. I had to tell them that they would be going without me since I get sea sick. The last time I was on board a ship was when my parents took me to Australia and the trip took 6 weeks. I was sea sick the entire trip.

For now our "vacations" are limited to local weekend day trips that don't cost more than $40.00 in gasoline to get there and back. Even at that price the trips have to be budgeted into our monthly spending. It's rough being just an average working family nowadays.

Expanding your knowledge to get ahead

Just about everyone realizes that in order to get a higher paying job or starting a business requires more than just a high school education. Often that higher education is out of reach, cost wise, to many people. That should not stop you from learning though. I have discovered another method that you can use to expand your knowledge base, it is downloadable audio books. If you have anMP3 player you can download audio books and listen to them at your leisure. There are so many free books online as well as paid services it is overwhelming as to the shear volume of books there are.

I have found both old classics as well as some college textbooks in audio for the MP3 player. Just doing a search using the words "free audio book" brings up pages and pages to explore.

Don't let time or money be a constraint when it comes to learning.

Safe investing in troubled times

I found and interesting video about what to invest in these days. With the valve of real estate and stocks going down it makes you wonder if stuffing you money in a mattress is worth it. News video is below:

Products that should not be on TV

I am sorry to say this but there are just some products I don't want to see advertised on TV. Right at the top of the list is the medication to enlarge the male sex organ with a close second on medications dealing with ED (erectile dysfunction). It has gotten to the point at our house where we call the ads "reptile" ads now, with reptile as a twist on the word "erectile". After the sex ads has got to be ads for medications that less than 1% of the viewing audience really needs but after seeing the ad I am sure that they are convinced they have the ailment that the medication "cures".

Did you ever notice that the price of those advertised medications are high? The price of Viagra can cost close to $90.00 for 3 pills! The over the counter prices for name brand diet pills like alli can cost a mint too.

Considering the side affects of some of those "miracle" drugs and pills I can certainly leave them alone. Some side affects are male erections lasting longer then 4 hours! (I remember when my small dog got horny with a stuffed animal and my daughter came running to me and said the dog was "broken" since he was swollen and couldn't get his "pee" thing back inside him. That lasted only 10 minutes. I can't imagine 4 hours of it.) Some men I must admit would be strutting their stuff - but not for 4 hours or more. The alli diet pill can cause anal leakage! Forget that diet.

I wonder what unusual and distasteful ads will come out around Christmas time this year?

Cheap shipping options

You learn something everyday. Today I learned of the least expensive way to ship items cross country and it is not what you think. Of course I had almost always shipped larger items that I had sold on eBay via UPS. The small and sometimes heavier items went USPS because I use their flat rate boxes. Today I learned about the most inexpensive way to ship large items - via the Greyhound Bus line. A person I know on one of the many message boards I frequent mentioned that she sometimes ships small furniture via Greyhound. The only downside is the fact that they don't deliver the item to the door of the recipient but they have to come an pick it up at the bus terminal. She mentioned that the shipping times are often faster than UPS. Generally if the item can fit in the cargo area of the bus then they will ship it for you to the bus terminal. She mentioned that it just cost her $20.00 to ship a item that UPS was going to charge her $120.00 for. I say that if you ship out large items, Greyhound might be something to think about.