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Archive for the ‘Economy Issues’ Category

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Airwaves robbery

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

Have you seen the price of cable these days?  First of all, it was very disappointing and unfair  to the general public when they took free television broadcasts from the airwaves.   I never thought I would see the day when we paid for television, but it is here, and what a sad day it was.

I, like everyone else, pay for my cable TV service.  I live in an apartment complex and it is the only option that I have.  Due to the close proximity of the buildings, we cannot get good reception with a satellite dish, so I am stuck.  How I would love to have Direct TV.  The programming packages include a lot of channels that I currently cannot get through my cable provider unless I pay extra for them; and they keep changing the channel lineup.  Channels I used to get, I don’t get anymore.  They do this without notice and it can be very frustrating.

In looking at the packages for Directtv, I see that the introductory price for the premier package is less than what I now pay for my extended basic cable!!  The basic package is about 1/3 of the price I pay for my cable service.  If I had a choice, I would definitely visit dx3 on the web and sign up today!!

Posted in Economy Issues, Entertainment, Life, Technology | No Comments »

shopping with Dad

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

My friend’s daughter received a Target gift card for her birthday last week.  She had wanted to go to the new Target store ever so badly since it opened in her small town last December.  She had been begging her Dad to take her almost every weekend, until she had about driven him crazy.  You see, they live in a relatively small town, where shopping options are very limited and the new Target store had opened up a whole new shopping experience for them.  She and her parents knew that you can save money when shopping at Target, especially since all of the stores prior to this had been small, locally owned shops, where the prices were a bit high as compared to the larger discount stores in the larger towns.

He is not big on shopping, as most men are not, and he is a very busy contractor and really did not have the time to take her. There was a Target located about 40 miles away, and he didn’t want to drive that far to go shopping, gas prices being what they are, and now he had no excuses not to go, so he agreed he would take her.  It happened to be raining this particular weekend, and his crew was unable to work in the rain, so this freed up his weekend to take his daughter shopping.

So she finally got to go to the new Target store.    The gift card she had received was for one hundred dollars, which is a lot of money to a 10 year old.  She made a list of all the things she wanted to purchase and off to the new Target they went.

She was only able to get about half of the things on her list, one hundred dollars does not go as far as a 10 year old imagines that it does, even when you are shopping at a great discount store like Target.  She was able to get some new clothes, so that she could wear what all the kids were wearing these days, you know how kids are.  And she was even able to get some new jewelry and a new purse; she had to have the latest and the greatest.   Then there was the MP4 player and a few CD’s she wanted too.  She certainly got a whole lot for her money that day.  I was impressed.

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Posted in Economy Issues, Finance, Friends & Relatives, Girl Stuff, Life, Men, Shopping Around | No Comments »

Honesty

Friday, February 17th, 2012

When I was a child, about 12 years old, if I remember correctly, I found a $20 bill in the driveway of the local general store.  I lived in a small town in the country,  in a lower middle class community and $20 was a lot of money.

So, being raised as an honest person by my wonderful grandmother, I did the right thing and turned the money over to the store’s owner.  He said that he would hold on to it and if it was not claimed, I would get it back.  Fair enough, as it was more than I expected.

So, we waited for four weeks and no one came back in looking for that $20 bill.  I received it back, along with an additional $10 from the store owner, in appreciation of my honesty.  It made me feel good about myself that I did the right thing, and it also paid off in the end!!!  I was able to buy quite a few things with that $30 – money went a lot further in those days.

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Posted in Economy Issues, Life | No Comments »

BONUS

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

Well, my better half got his semi-yearly safety bonus today.  He got over $1,000.00!!!  And I won the $1,000.00 jackpot at bingo last week for the first time since I started playing Bingo 30 years ago.  What to do with the money, we asked ourselves.

We could pay bills, but that would be dull, don’t you think?  We have been wanting to remodel the bathroom for awhile now and never had the extra money to do it.  I picture a beautiful vessel sink, they are available in glass, stone or porcelain, and are absolutely beautiful!!  Then, we need a vessel sink faucet to complement the sink.  The vessel sink faucets are very unique in style from the standard faucet that we are all used to.  We can get an oil rubbed bronze or brushed nickel finish.  They really do look great and I can’t wait until we get the bathroom finished.  We may even get a custom made copper bathtub to complete the look.  I am so excited.

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Posted in Economy Issues, Finance, Home Improvement, House/Home, Life | No Comments »

Shopper’s Frustration

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

So, I went to the local WalMart the other day.  I bought a steam mop for easier clean ups of the kitchen floor after my Roo.  The tag on the shelf says it is $49.00.  I thought, a great deal, right?  Wrong.

I get the mop home, and use it and I loved it!!!   I was reviewing my receipt and see that I was charged $79.00 for the mop, not the $49.00 price that was on the shelf.  So, I load the mop back into my car and go and get the box that it was in, which had been left at a friend’s house (I demonstrated the new mop for them) and headed back to WalMart.  I hunted down a manager and explained my dilemma to him to which he said “Let me go back to the shelf and take a look.”  I then followed him back to the shelf where I had gotten the mop.  He looked around a bit, saw the $49.00 tag and compared the UPC code on the shelf tag to the product I had purchased and told me that I should have compared the UPC code on the box to the tag on the shelf!!!  I told him that it was not my job as a consumer to have to check UPC codes to be sure they match and that it was his job to be sure that the correct product was in the correct place on the shelf.  In fact, the product that was $49.00 was not even available!!

So, I came home and contacted WalMart corporate offices via the web.  I have not heard anything back from them yet, but I will say this:  I am currently refusing to shop at WalMart.  I think that they have gotten so big that the individual consumer no longer matters.

Posted in Economy Issues, House/Home, Shopping Around | No Comments »

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