Do you ever contact companies to complain and get rewarded?

There are times that I get so frustrated with companies and their services or products that I email them. Just last week I complained about my Blockbuster service. I have an online rental service with them and they make it so hard to interchange their mailing rentals with their stores. Sure I can return mailings to the store and exchange them for in-store rentals but I can't exchange the now in-store exchange for another in-store exchange. Kinda dumb if you ask me. Not only that, you cannot return a store rental to another Blockbuster store - cuz they are all independently owned!!! Now I know why they are having a hard time staying in business, because their rental strategy was not thought out enough.

So I emailed them and politely suggested that they forward my email to someone who makes the decisions about rental policy. What they sent back was an email that had attached a coupon I could print out for another rental! I emailed back that my printer was out of ink right now and when I could afford $30 for the ink cartridge I would use the coupon, but until then, they should be thinking about other ways to make it easier for their online customers to exchange movies. I then added that in this day of digital information, why would I need a "printed" coupon to take to the store?

I have not heard back from them and I doubt I will.

Another thing that gets my goat is truth in advertising. How many times have you shouted back to the TV "that's not true," during a commercial? I know I have. Most of the time they are ads about drugs, supplements or some cleaning product I have used that didn't work. There is one stupid ad for a natural testosterone supplement that I just want to grab the announcer by the neck and shake and say, "it is not true."

As my family keeps telling me, claim down Mom, nobody really believes those claims.........but I think they do.

The financial movie you have to watch - Inside Job

This weekend I watched what has to be the most eye opening movie about the financial crisis that has ever been made. The movie is the Oscar winning, Inside Job. It explains in detail who, what and when the entire real estate market melted down and who made the big money from the entire mess and walked away from it.

I was lucky that during the time from 2008 till the present we did not have any mortgage loans. The last time we had a loan on our home was in 2004 when we sold the house and moved to where we are now - mortgage free. Yes investing in real estate does work, but only if you pay off the damn loans on it. You will never get ahead if you owe someone.

When we did have a loan on our second home we went through a loan broker who was able to find us the best deals and lowest rates. Do I suggest you go through a broker? Not at all, if you can find a loan through a bank that works for you then use a bank. Of course watch that movie first so you know where your mortgage note will end up. I prefer smaller local banks, credit unions and private lenders. If you are curious about your current loan versus another loan then try the online loan calculators at this mortgage broker Calgary. Keep in mind they are in Canada so interest rates that they advertise will be different than here in the USA.

The best quote about our government I have heard in years

With the budget crisis in full swing and all of the articles guessing about the proposed cuts, I saw the best and well worded comment under one of those articles. Here it is in reference to our elected officials in Washington DC:

"They are NOT supposed to lead. They are supposed to represent. We have given them control of the helm and until we take it back, they will continue to be the self-serving ba$stards that we have enabled them to be. Some of those pricks actually believe that they are part of 'management'. As long as we just sit around and complain, it will never change."

That comment is so true.

My long term goal to make $150 a day online with only 2 hours a week work

I want to turn my money earning blogging adventure into something different. I am currently working on making 100 affiliate stores and promoting them with my SEO techniques.With any luck and lots of work, I should be able to make at least $1 a day per store, that's $100 a day to start.

So what kinds of products am I promoting? Right now I am doing a few niche stores ro start off with. One deals with skin care products with a section on acne. I might add a Google ads banner for extra income since skin care products like accutane pay well for clicks.

Another store has technology products. The main thing about the stores I develop is that it must be a product or niche that I know something about. That way I can write a few articles about what to look for in purchasing that product. The articles will also help direct search engine traffic to the store.

I want to get them established enough that they (the stores) will get regular daily traffic without doing much more in the way of SEO. Then I can spend my time just updating the sites once a week if needed.

I am a member of about 10 affiliate companies, so there is no lack of items to promote. My most successful one so far is eBay. A few months back I made $40 in one day promoting eBay. I like Amazon.com but the only drawback is that they pay out only after 90 days while most other companies pay out at least once a month, if not more often.

Spring break and Easter week

Is it my imagination or are the schools moving spring break further and further away from Easter week, or as us older generation use to call it "holy week." This year spring break for most schools took place 2 weeks ago or last week, at the end of March. Easter week this year is almost at the end of April. That means that spring break takes place about one month ahead of Easter week.

Just a few years ago spring break was either the week before or the week after Easter week. So why the big change? This year's spring break was much too early since the weather was not nice enough that early in the season to enjoy the week.

It seems so strange to wander into the local stores and see all the Easter baskets and candy just being put out.....after spring break. Some stores are even putting together Gift Baskets for Women as a way to cash in on more than just baskets for kids.

If anyone has a clue how the schools base their spring break schedule, chime on in and leave a comment.

Shrimp and guacamole bites for appetizers

We can save money with not eating out so much, so with that in mind here is a guest blogger.

Guest post written by Rose Miller

My husband is having a bunch of his co-workers over to our house for a dinner party as kind of a way to celebrate the New Year. Sure, it's a month late but it's better late than never!

Now my responsibility is figuring out what I'm going to cook for the dinner. I have the main course already made up but I wanted to come up with some really neat appetizers to serve to people as they arrive. I went online with our cleartvbundle to find some ideas for something really different. I think that's the area where I can really take my chance and fix something off-beat. The worse that could happen is that people don't eat the appetizers and just eat a little more of t! he main course and dessert.

After a little bit of searching, I decided on fixing some shrimp and guacamole bites. I've never had any before but they sound so crazy that I think they just might be delicious. If no one else likes them, I’ll just eat them all after everyone has left.

Why credit scores are abused

It used to be that your credit score was nothing more that what a lender needed to know when you applied for a loan. Nowadays it means your entire livelihood depends on it, even if you don't have any loans and don't believe in credit cards. Forget the government, it is big business that controls our lives.

For example, if you have a low credit score you will have higher car, home and health insurance rates. Yes, those insurance companies base their quotes on your credit score not your driving record or current health although those items do play a percentage of the quote but only after they run a credit check on you.

High insurance rates are not the only way that we are screwed, employment is another way. Most states allow employers to run a credit check on prospective employees (this happens only if you give them your SS#). A few states have passed laws that make this illegal. Oregon in one of them. One way to stop a company running a credit check on you is to not give them your SS# until after you are hired. In fact you shouldn't be listing your SS# anywhere on applications for employment, just write in the box "will be supplied after hire."

Then of course, big business likes to scare you with the threat of identity theft so they offer a free credit score service so you can get a free credit report.Then they try to get you hooked into paying a monthly fee to "protect" your credit. I say it is all a big scam that the credit card and credit bureaus are pulling just to rake in more money from us poor saps.