My heating bill

I just got my heating bill. We have an entirely electric house so there is only one bill for heating and electric. Most of the time in the winter we have a nice wood stove that heats up the entire house so we rarely turn on the heater. This winter we had several days that were cool but not cold enough to warrant making a fire. During those days I just turned on the heater but had it set a 66 degrees. We also turned on our heated blanket that we have on the bed. I was expecting a huge jump in the bill but it only went up by $60. Well I just our electric bill for this past month and IT WAS LOWER THAN NORMAL! What the heck was going on? Apparently we had a person that mis read our meter yet again - that happens to us at least once a year and during the winter at that. So after doing the math on the 2 electric bills we just about spent $10 for having the heater on and set at 66 degrees for 2 months. I can only be thankful that we have a very well insulated home.

How I make money with a blog that has no PageRank and only 3 visitors a day

When I first started blogging I use to think that I need either PageRank or traffic to my blog to earn money. At least that is what all the blogger gurus were saying. Since then I have learned otherwise. It is no secret that I do paid blogging on my 6 active blogs. When I first started with those paid blogging companies I learned what they were looking for - cheap back links to the advertisers they represented. Many of the companies I signed up for way back then have gone bye-bye and a few of them took the money they owed me as well. Only a handful have remained. Of those that remain only 2 require traffic or a low Alexa number, 3 require a PageRank and one just wants decent blogs, which they hand approve. That last one is the one that I earn my most money with. It is also the place where I have one blog that has no PageRank and the 3 visitors a day that I can earn at least $20 a week and usually more with.

That one company (which I WILL tell you) wants bloggers that actually work. I first signed up with them about 2 years ago and only had 2 blogs with them to check them out. I would get about 3 assignments a week and I would let them go until almost the due date and then I would do them. I started to notice that once I did those assignments, they would give me more. I soon found out that the faster I completed my tasks I was getting more and more assignments. At the time I was also getting lots of diet assignments with phrases like "top fat burner" that I had to fit into my blog posts. So I got the bright idea to start a blog about losing weight and sign it up with that company. It worked! I was now able to write about dieting without it looking out of place on my other blogs. I get about 4-6 assignments a week for that blog with each assignment paying from $5 to $10 for 60 words. What that company wants is bloggers that complete their assignments on time and are well written, that is it, no rocket science involved.

A word of warning, if you don't complete your assignments on time or refused to do them then they will close your account and remove your blogs from their system. Because of them removing bloggers that don't work, I have more work than ever. Just a few days ago I had over 35 assignments that have to be done by Friday. That's over $175.00 worth of work. Each one will take about 15 minutes each unless the word or phase fits in perfectly with what I will be blogging about anyway and I write more than 60 words.

So if you are doing paid blog posts and you are fed up with getting assignments that don't fit in with your blog's subject matter, don't fight it but make up another blog and make money from it. By the way here is the name of the blogging company (and I don't get any referral kickbacks for letting you know about them either) PayU2Blog.com

Another blog bites the dust

Why is it that almost every blog I become a follower of slowly dies and fades away. I was just looking at some of the many blogs that I follow through blogger and noticed an ever growing number of them that have not been updated in 3 or more months. Did they just get fed up with blogging? Where they sick and tried of getting paid to write about hemorrhoid treatments, plastic surgery and other assorted items that they only got a few cents for? Have they moved on and forgotten about their blog? I will never know because if I leave a comment asking about it, it will never be read, for the blog owner is long gone.

As a side note, I wonder if all of those old blogs are taking up much valued hyperspace room on a server somewhere? I know I have a few extremely old websites that were on those free services and they might still be floating around. I can't get to them since I have changed my email and have forgotten the sign in ID and password. I pray that they get removed from the world wide web one day.

Health insurance - what were they thinking?

If you are a women who has had a baby or ever had to deal with women's medical issues then you might want to lend a ear to this little post.

When I just got married over 20 years ago the medical insurance coverage that I had through my employer was considered one of the best in the country. The only problem with it was the fact that they would not pay for birth control pills. They would pay for the birth of a child and even an abortion but a simple little pill they would not cover. When we finally decided to start a family I was prescribed prenatal multivitamins and wouldn't you know it, the health insurance would not cover those either.They would cover a baby that was born with a defect but any expenses to prevent that defect was not covered.

I never did find out if that insurance company changed its policy or not since I used a different birth control method after our daughter was born.

I wonder how many other really stupid decisions about what a health insurance company will and will not cover are out there? Do you know of any?

A law to protect employees I would like to see

It's rough being an employee nowadays. Fear of losing a job if you have one. If you are unemployed - having to resort to becoming a temporary worker.

Among the world of workers I think that the temp worker has the short end of the employment stick. I have been a temp worker for 2 jobs in the past. One of those jobs lasted 2 years. It was 2 years of being treated like a sub-worker. I was not allowed to be in any company meetings, gatherings or functions, since I was not officially an employee. I had to be told later by my supervisor what the meetings were about since they usually involved safety or working instructions. Not only was I not allowed to be involved with the people I worked with but the temp agency offered no health insurance, vacation or sick time. All that for $11 an hour.

Since I have have been both a regular employee and a temp there is one law I would love to see either the federal government or the state governments to enact. That would be that temp workers are limited to only a few days or a week or 2 of working for a company. After that time they either must be hired as a regular employee or let go. We should end the miss use of temp workers by large companies. People need regular long term jobs not a long term job as a temp.

Is your last name Johnson? Free tax software for you!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of eSmart Tax. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you done your federal taxes yet? If you haven't already heard you can file electronicly now for free.There are a few companies that were doing it last year but you had to have an income under a certain amount. This year you can file for free with eSmart Tax and you can even get their deluxe version of their software for free but there is a catch ..... only Johnsons file free with the deluxe version. Yep you heard it right, you have to be a Johnson. Why is that? Well with over 2 million Johnsons in the USA, it is at the top of the list for last names. It's an advertising ploy of course and eSmart Tax is banking on it working.

Now here is some pre-tax advice from me if you have not filed yet. First find out if you do qualify for one of those free filing tax programs. That will save you up to $40 over the paid software versions. Some of them you can fill out and file online. Be careful about some of those programs as there are some that do have hidden fees. Many official state websites have lists of the free programs that the state accepts. You will also find many warnings on the state websites about fraudulent online tax programs. Just be careful, those programs are getting all your personal information.

A sure sign that your blog is becoming famous

As many of you know, this is not my real money making blog. I have about 10 blogs altogether and 2 of them are my money earners. This blog is where I report to you about the ups and downs of earning money with your blog. Those 2 blogs that do earn the lions share of money have been around for about 4 years now (WOW does time fly) and each of them earn money in a different way. One of them I write product reviews and use my Amazon affiliate products to put links in the post about the product. In fact Darin Prowse does the same thing with one of his blogs and sells photography equipment. He makes about $17K a quarter from Amazon. That's $68K a year. I have gone off on a tangent, so now back to the main item of dealing with your blog that has become famous.

The first sign that your blog has become famous is spammers will all of a sudden love you. They will leave comments with links to products like adipex diet pills or even use the product name as their "by" line. They leave nothing but useless comments like "great blog" or "I read your blog often and this is my first comment, I don't know what to say but I like your blog." Both of them are spammers. They are not interested in your blog but they do want a link from it to where ever they want to, to boost their site. They also tend to leave those comments on blog posts that are old. One simple way to stop that type of spamming is to go back over your blog posts and not allow comments on them. Many famous bloggers do this. Often they will not allow comments on blog posts over 60 days old. I am just starting to do that on one of my high earning blogs and it is working out rather well. I am removing the commenting ability on posts older than 6 months.

The next sign your blog is becoming famous is when you are able to sell advertising spots directly to people without going through a 3rd party. That is how my second blog is making me money. I charge $20 a month for a small 125 X 125 spot. Since it is on a Wordpress blog that I host, there is a Wordpress plug-in that handles it for me. I currently have only 2 spots left open for this month which is better than the 3 open spots I normally have. That blog gets an average of 2K visitors a day with spikes of 25K when someone has stumbled it or put a link to it on their facebook account. It use to have a PR5 but went down last year to PR2 and is now going back up. It is now a PR4.

Using scare tactics to sell us something

How often have you seen an ad that plays on our fears? Is it everyday? Think about it........how many ads did you see today about insurance? Those companies use the ploy that something bad WILL happen one day. Of course they want you to pay lots of money to them just to prepare for that one day. Even state governments have laws that you must carry drivers liability insurance, which of course is making those insurance companies very happy.

Not only do insurance companies play into our fears but some companies resort to statistics to scare us to death. Take for example those TV commercials for colon and body cleanse products. They start their ads off with a statistic like 75% of the population has a parasitic infection and they don't know it. Then they go on to claim that your body requires that your colon be "cleansed." Here is what they have not told you. That 75% is part of the world's entire population so they are comparing you to someone who is living in a parasitic jungle with no medical attention and no clean water to drink. Next they don't tell you the plain fact that intestinal worms give off a toxin that will make you very sick so you WILL know that you have something seriously going on inside you. Of course they will not tell you that in order to get rid of worms you will need some strong human wormer from the doctor and not their product which does nothing but give you diarrhea.

One of the most well known modern day scares is companies that protect you against identity theft. What those companies don't tell you is that you are not liable for purchases you did not make in the first place and that you can also keep an eye on your own credit report at no charge.

Don't fall victim to those scare tactics and others like them. Do some investigation. Google the product or company for more info. Become an educated consumer.

Backyard money making ideas

If you are as old as me then you would have come across those home spun money making businesses that used to be advertised in the small ads in the back of magazines. I am talking about worm farming, raising fish in a backyard pool, repairing lawnmowers and a few other assorted "brilliant" ideas.

I actually got involved in the fish farming idea when I was in my early 20's. The fish were Koi and we installed one of those pond kits in the backyard. Yes we were successful and the fish bred like crazy. All was well until early one morning a heron visited our suburban backyard and took our large breeding fish. We were devastated and never got over the loss. We gave up on raising the Koi after that.

I am tempted to try the worm farming now that I live in an area that has a seasonal recreational fishing industry. Have you ever tried one of those money making ideas? What was the outcome?

Walmart credit card warning

If you are a Walmart credit card holder and user, you may want to read this warning

This warning concerns those promotional purchases, you know the ones, buy something over "X" amount of dollars and take a year to pay it with no interest.

If you are making regular payments and the original amount of that large purchase is not going down or going down very slowly then here is what is happening - Walmart is NOT putting your payment to the first purchased items on the credit card and working its way down the list, NO they are putting the money on the non-promotional items first then if there is any money left over it goes to the promotional item.

You have to PHONE them and tell them what items you want your payment to be credited to. You can only do this about 3 days after your payment to them has cleared unless you made a cash payment in the store. You will still have to call them. You have to call them EACH TIME you make a payment.

DO NOT LET WALMART GET AWAY WITH THIS! Make sure you let them know where you want your payment to go and PAY THE DAMN CREDIT CARD OFF - CUT IT UP AND LET WALMART KNOW THAT THEY MADE YOU DO IT.

Warning - a reality check

Those of you who are unemployed, looking for work or are just sick and tried of being walked all over by others will find what I have to say - a dose of reality and it will hit close to home.

I bet you have tried almost anything to get ahead. Trying to get that job so you can just survive or maybe just to get higher up on the food chain at that corporation. Did they tell you that you needed more education and you went and got it but nothing happened? How about they said you needed a more positive outlook at your job? You went to counseling but everything is the same but you now have a permanent smile on your face but you don't know why.

Have you heard that a positive outlook on your life brings success? I think you have and I am here to tell you that it is a lot of BS. Why do I say that? Because, like it or not, our lives are not just us alone, there are outside influences that govern our lives.

Our lives are pre-ordained even before we are born. The determining factors are where we are born, to whom we are born to, what nationality or color we are, our level of intelligence and any birth defects we might have.

Next we have the people whom we deal with everyday that also determine how successful we are. Government makes laws to help some and hinder others. Schools constantly either re-enforce we are intelligent or stupid with tests based on how they teach but not how we learn.

We are discriminated against at every turn in our lives. Whether it is by whom we hang out with in school or choose to be a "loner," to who is attracted to us when we start to date. Colleges and employers both require resumes of some form but both want to see us in person for that interview so they can meet us - or form their thoughts on how to discriminate either for us or against us.

A person's looks plays a very large part on how successful they are. Have you noticed that most people that are successful have a full set of teeth? That is because they could afford to take care of them or had parents that could afford braces when they were young. Coming from a family that could afford health care and a higher education for their children is where most of the separation of the haves and the have nots begin.

I was at a seminar last month that had many successful people as guest speakers. It was one of those seminars that took place at a fancy hotel with ultra modern sofas in the lobby. I was watching them take their turns at the podium and they all said the same thing about their careers. They were successful by either whom they knew or by being in the right place at the right time. Out of the 10 speakers, 3 got to where they are by shear luck. One of them came from a well to do family and had all the education. Six of them worked and struggled their way through college and it was not that they were qualified for a job or career but whom they had met and made contacts with.

The next time you get that rejection letter you can rest assured that either someone who knew somebody was the one who really got the job or they just liked someone else's face.

That is reality.

A tour of town

I was just driving back from town and wanted to take the "scenic" route. Unfortunately I also took the same route as the school bus dropping the kids off after school. The trip took a little longer but following and stopping behind that school bus gave me a chance to check out the houses I passed. Something that did strike me was the fact that at least 8 out of 10 homes did not have window coverings on their living room windows and it allowed me to look straight into to their homes. I saw lots of big screen TVs in those rooms. Either those people found some great tv deals or they are in hock up to their eyeballs. I think that the latter might be the case since the homes are in the lower middle class section of town.

Another strange thing that caught my eye was the fact that I passed some beautiful homes that were treated like dumps. Old cars sitting front with weeds growing around them. Some of those houses were really nice except that they were owned by people who are either hoarders or just plain messy. Why do people do that? Spend all that money buying a house only to thrash it? I guess I will never understand that.