A friend of mine is having a big yard sale tomorrow and invited me to bring some stuff and keep her company. I do have a few things I can take over there. I didn't have enough to have my own yard sale. I most have electronic gadgets that work bu are outdated. I have Motorola accessories and chargers for cell phones, lots of software for Windows 95/98 as well as electronic organizers.
All the used clothes we did have go to Goodwill or end up as dust rags, I just don't see myself selling used clothing. I would take some books but books never seem to sell at yard sales.
Now I am off to sort through some more stuff to take over tomorrow. At least I'll have good company.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
As a person in debt, do you know your rights?
It never fails to surprise me, the number of people who think that you can be arrested or thrown in jail for not paying a bill. People, you have rights, but do you know them?
No you cannot be thrown in jail for non-payment of a bill, no matter how large. You can be thrown in jail for writing bad checks but not for not paying. Sounds odd but it is true. Bad check writing comes under the fraud laws because you knowingly are trying to obtain money under false pretenses. While not paying a bill or loan payment because you have no money falls under the Fair Debt Collection Act and you have rights.
Did you know that debt collectors could not collect a past due bill after a certain amount of time? It is called the "statute of limitations" and it is different in every state. In some states the period is as little as 2 years while other states it can be as long as 15 years. The state statue that takes precedence is the place where you debt was made. For example if you left an unpaid bill in the state of California but move to Maine, the statue of limitations would be based on California and not Maine............but the bill collectors will not tell you that.
Before you start screening your phone calls from bill collectors, know your rights and find out exactly what you need to say to them in order for them to stop calling. Yes there is a 2 sentence saying that will get them to stop and it has nothing to do with paying the bill or even agreeing to pay the bill.
I had a bill collector try and collect on a bill that I did not owe. I found out my rights and read to them from the fair collections act and informed them that if I had another call from them it would be referred to the state authorities. I never heard from them again.
No you cannot be thrown in jail for non-payment of a bill, no matter how large. You can be thrown in jail for writing bad checks but not for not paying. Sounds odd but it is true. Bad check writing comes under the fraud laws because you knowingly are trying to obtain money under false pretenses. While not paying a bill or loan payment because you have no money falls under the Fair Debt Collection Act and you have rights.
Did you know that debt collectors could not collect a past due bill after a certain amount of time? It is called the "statute of limitations" and it is different in every state. In some states the period is as little as 2 years while other states it can be as long as 15 years. The state statue that takes precedence is the place where you debt was made. For example if you left an unpaid bill in the state of California but move to Maine, the statue of limitations would be based on California and not Maine............but the bill collectors will not tell you that.
Before you start screening your phone calls from bill collectors, know your rights and find out exactly what you need to say to them in order for them to stop calling. Yes there is a 2 sentence saying that will get them to stop and it has nothing to do with paying the bill or even agreeing to pay the bill.
I had a bill collector try and collect on a bill that I did not owe. I found out my rights and read to them from the fair collections act and informed them that if I had another call from them it would be referred to the state authorities. I never heard from them again.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The greatest pitfall of earning money online
If you are selling anything online you must figure out a way to get paid for your product or service. Unless you have your customer/buyer pay via a check sent by snail mail you would have use a payment processing service. Of course there are many Credit Card Payment Processing companies you can use. There is also PayPal and Google checkout. But all of them will charge a fee for their service.
All credit card processing companies will charge a set up fee and a per transaction fee. They are not all equal when it comes to the fees they charge and the transaction charges. If you opt to go that route then you will need to shop around.
The other options are PayPal and Google checkout. Neither of them charge a set up fee or a monthly fee but their transaction fees will be higher than regular credit card processing companies. It is a trade off of which method you decide on going with.
All credit card processing companies will charge a set up fee and a per transaction fee. They are not all equal when it comes to the fees they charge and the transaction charges. If you opt to go that route then you will need to shop around.
The other options are PayPal and Google checkout. Neither of them charge a set up fee or a monthly fee but their transaction fees will be higher than regular credit card processing companies. It is a trade off of which method you decide on going with.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Local SEO company that fails at social websites
I was browsing through indeed.com and came across an interesting job ad. Indeed.com gathers job listings from across the web and puts them in one spot for you to look at. You can check out what is being offered in your zip code or a radius around it. The ad was for someone to write articles and do basic linking strategies for a local company that was suppose to be a top SEO company. I clicked on the ad to find out more and found out that Indeed had gleaned this gem from ODesk. I know about ODesk and in my opinion any legitimate company that deals with ODesk is a cheap ass. ODesk is a job bidding website where people from all over the world try to get writing jobs and the people listing those jobs often want someone as cheap as they can get. The website also installs a desktop environment on your computer so they can watch what you are doing while you work. Sorry but even brick and mortar companies don't even do that. But back to the ad.
The ad had the companies website and the fact they were paying an average of $3.78 an hour for work on ODesk. Out of curiosity I checked out this local company. They had no contact information on their website other than a form you could submit to contact them. After a bit more looking around their website I found many typos and terms like the term life insurance, either misspelled or put into the sentence incorrectly. They did mention that they were located in a local city. I found that they had a Twitter account and a Facebook account. I cruised on over to Twitter and Facebook.
On Twitter I found that their account had not been updated since May 2011. That was odd for a SEO company. Then I visited Facebook and found the same thing. Now this is a company that is promoting other websites but it is failing to promote themselves. Talk about a rip off.
Here is my lesson for the day:
The ad had the companies website and the fact they were paying an average of $3.78 an hour for work on ODesk. Out of curiosity I checked out this local company. They had no contact information on their website other than a form you could submit to contact them. After a bit more looking around their website I found many typos and terms like the term life insurance, either misspelled or put into the sentence incorrectly. They did mention that they were located in a local city. I found that they had a Twitter account and a Facebook account. I cruised on over to Twitter and Facebook.
On Twitter I found that their account had not been updated since May 2011. That was odd for a SEO company. Then I visited Facebook and found the same thing. Now this is a company that is promoting other websites but it is failing to promote themselves. Talk about a rip off.
Here is my lesson for the day:
- Investigate any company you plan on doing work for. Make sure they know more than you do and check out their other accounts like Twitter and Facebook. Google them and check out what others are saying about them. Lastly, if the company is an SEO company, check to see what their website's pagerank is. If it doesn't have any or is lower than 3, steer clear of them.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
I finally joined Facebook
After saying that I will never join another social website (my last one was MySpace) I broke down and joined Facebook. The only reason is that most of my relatives are already on it and they were sharing family updates only on Facebook.
So after taking the plunge I found lots of people that I use to work with. We reminisced about company picnics where everyone had to wear graphic t shirts with the company logo on it just to get into the venue where the event was taking place.I also found out that some of them had passed away in the years since I last worked with them.
I was amazed to find that once the company I use to work at had closed its doors that many people left to live and work in other states.
Yes Facebook, I could waste a few hours on that site just looking for people. By the way I think their people search filter is broken. I tried to filter people results by location and nothing changed from the previous results.
So after taking the plunge I found lots of people that I use to work with. We reminisced about company picnics where everyone had to wear graphic t shirts with the company logo on it just to get into the venue where the event was taking place.I also found out that some of them had passed away in the years since I last worked with them.
I was amazed to find that once the company I use to work at had closed its doors that many people left to live and work in other states.
Yes Facebook, I could waste a few hours on that site just looking for people. By the way I think their people search filter is broken. I tried to filter people results by location and nothing changed from the previous results.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Store discount cards
How many of those store discount cards do you carry around? I must have at least 12 in my wallet. I have a Safeway card, one from ACE hardware, Staples, Albertsons, Kohl's, and even one from Goodwill. I have more but I don't use them that much, maybe once a year. Of all of the discount cards I have only 2 of them send me emails with coupons to print out and announce special sales. They are Staples and Kohl's. Both of them offer generic 10% off coupons all the time.
10% is not that big of a deal when you live in a state that charges sales tax but if you live in a state that has no sales tax (like I do) then 10% is a good deal. Of course I just got more Kohls coupons emailed to me and Staples has a new sale going on.
What I do not understand is why do the stores even bother with discount cards? Don't they want everyone to shop at their store? By putting up 2 different prices on items - one for card holders and the other the "regular" price, they would discourage new shoppers in their stores. So why do they continue to do that? If you have the answer, chime in.
10% is not that big of a deal when you live in a state that charges sales tax but if you live in a state that has no sales tax (like I do) then 10% is a good deal. Of course I just got more Kohls coupons emailed to me and Staples has a new sale going on.
What I do not understand is why do the stores even bother with discount cards? Don't they want everyone to shop at their store? By putting up 2 different prices on items - one for card holders and the other the "regular" price, they would discourage new shoppers in their stores. So why do they continue to do that? If you have the answer, chime in.
Friday, September 16, 2011
The retail stores must be desperate
It was just last July that I remember seeing the back to school stuff in the stores. My daughter even remarked to me how it was much too soon to see that stuff. Now the stores are putting in the Christmas stuff at the same time as the Halloween costumes are being displayed.
Now I don't mind stores preparing for the next season or the next month but Christmas is 3 and a half months away! I have also noticed that for the last few years, Halloween has become more and more of an adult festivity. I saw one aisle devoted to, lets say, racy costumes such as naughty nurse costumes and sexy witches while the kids costumes were about 1/4 that size of an area.
In between the Halloween section and the Christmas decorations I saw no sign of Thanksgiving at all. I wonder if we will start seeing Easter eggs and bunnies just after Christmas rather than Presidents Day stuff or St. Paddy's Day green.
Why can't we convince the stores to slow it down some.................way down.
Now I don't mind stores preparing for the next season or the next month but Christmas is 3 and a half months away! I have also noticed that for the last few years, Halloween has become more and more of an adult festivity. I saw one aisle devoted to, lets say, racy costumes such as naughty nurse costumes and sexy witches while the kids costumes were about 1/4 that size of an area.
In between the Halloween section and the Christmas decorations I saw no sign of Thanksgiving at all. I wonder if we will start seeing Easter eggs and bunnies just after Christmas rather than Presidents Day stuff or St. Paddy's Day green.
Why can't we convince the stores to slow it down some.................way down.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Carl's Jr now sucks, along with Arby's
The one thing about having a blog is the ability to rant to the world about the latest rip off. This time it is Carl's Jr, that fast food chain. The Carl's Jr in our town is joined with The Green Burrito. While I hardly ever eat hamburgers at Carl's Jr, I will eat their Green Burrito meals...............until today.
What happened today is that I found out that they changed the Green Burrito menu. Gone are the refried beans and rice side dishes, now they just offer tortilla chips or french fries with their soft tacos and burritos. I thought it was odd when I ordered my southwest chicken tacos and the server offered chips or fries. My thought was WTF? Then the "meal" came and I was highly disappointed to get a bag of tortilla chips along with my 2 tacos that were wrapped up like they came from Taco Bell. Where was my plate with the refried beans, chips and my tacos? They changed the menu and now have lost 2 customers, I was not the only one who was disappointed with the meal.
Arby's was recently bought by another company and they changed their menu about 5-6 weeks ago. They removed several of the only sandwich meals that I would eat there. I no longer stop at Arby's.
So along with McDonalds, I can add Carl's Jr and Arby's to the growing list of fast food chains that have changed their menus or hiked their prices to the moon. Let's see what is left.............Taco Bell, Subway, Burger King and the hot food section at Safeway.
What happened today is that I found out that they changed the Green Burrito menu. Gone are the refried beans and rice side dishes, now they just offer tortilla chips or french fries with their soft tacos and burritos. I thought it was odd when I ordered my southwest chicken tacos and the server offered chips or fries. My thought was WTF? Then the "meal" came and I was highly disappointed to get a bag of tortilla chips along with my 2 tacos that were wrapped up like they came from Taco Bell. Where was my plate with the refried beans, chips and my tacos? They changed the menu and now have lost 2 customers, I was not the only one who was disappointed with the meal.
Arby's was recently bought by another company and they changed their menu about 5-6 weeks ago. They removed several of the only sandwich meals that I would eat there. I no longer stop at Arby's.
So along with McDonalds, I can add Carl's Jr and Arby's to the growing list of fast food chains that have changed their menus or hiked their prices to the moon. Let's see what is left.............Taco Bell, Subway, Burger King and the hot food section at Safeway.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
What is an annuity?
Have you seen those TV ads with the opera singers from JD Wentworth? They are singing about cashing out structured settlements and annuities. So what is an annuity? I always thought that it was something like a trust fund that was paid out over a period of time but I found out that it is a bit more than that.
It turns out that YOU buy the annuity much like an insurance policy and then hold on to it until it is due to be paid out (typically after you turn 60). There are different Annuity Rates that you should be aware of and their terms. They are a form of retirement income. What the annuity issuer is betting on is that you die before the annuity can be paid out.
Another thing you should know is that annuities are paid out once a year, that is where the word annuity comes from - annual. There are also scams involved with annuities just like other investments so you should do your homework and do some sort of background check on the company or broker you plan on going through before you invest.
It turns out that YOU buy the annuity much like an insurance policy and then hold on to it until it is due to be paid out (typically after you turn 60). There are different Annuity Rates that you should be aware of and their terms. They are a form of retirement income. What the annuity issuer is betting on is that you die before the annuity can be paid out.
Another thing you should know is that annuities are paid out once a year, that is where the word annuity comes from - annual. There are also scams involved with annuities just like other investments so you should do your homework and do some sort of background check on the company or broker you plan on going through before you invest.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)