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RESEARCHING YOUR CAR INSURANCE RATES ON THE WEB

Posted by Stacy on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 4:08 PM

I have always been one of those people who will stay with a company just because they are familiar. As a matter of fact when it came time to add home insurance I just put it with the same company that I carry my car insurance with. It was kind of a no-brainer and the rate seemed really reasonable, so I just went with them.

Well, the economy is in such a state and with all the insurance companies coming on television and telling you to shop around for your car insurance, I really just felt that it was time to consider the possibility that I was paying too much for my vehicle insurance and possibly even my homeowners insurance as well. I was reluctant to switch companies but I knew that I would feel better about doing it if I knew I was going to save a bundle.

I went online and found one of those car insurance comparison sites and I started by providing them with the same exact policy information that I was currently carrying to allow me the fairest possible comparison. At first it seemed that my current insurance carrier was offering me the best possible rate, but then a friend gave me the name of several insurance carriers that were known for their extremely reasonable rates and so I got back online and checked them out. Surely I was amazed to find several insurance policies for much less than my current one, and when I say less I mean several hundred dollars less per 6 month term. I was completely astounded.

But I really didn't want to rush to judgment, so I researched each of these companies on the web and with the Better Business Bureau, and what I found was that all but one were in very good standing with those that they had insured and with the Better Business Bureau.

I wound up saving over $1000 per year on both of my insurance policies when all was said and done. There are savings out there on insurance, so don't we afraid to shop around you may just find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I know I did.

COMEDY MIMICS REALITY, OR VICE VERSA

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, September 17, 2009 6:48 PM

I was watching this comic on television and he was talking about the new drug, the internet. The joke was basically that you hop on the internet just to check your e-mail and two hours later you are still there in front of your computer looking at this and checking out that.

Now perhaps you are a bit more disciplined than I am and maybe you can sit and check something online for just a minute without getting lost in it. If that is the case then good for you. I am really bad like that, for instance yesterday I got on this health food site to look for a joint supplement for my father and while on that site alone, I must have gotten distracted looking at all kinds of nutritional supplements and reading detailed information about each one, and next thing you know I am looking at an article about the best night cream and which ones work best for different skin types and skin conditions. When I was working on getting off the computer I got an IM from a friend of mine and after responding, there was a pop up window that took me to a sight about day trading and before long I was reading about day trading strategies, something I have been longing to take a look at.

It is amazing how one site leads you to the next, each one filled with articles that you can't resist clicking on and checking out along the way, and what starts as a few minutes becomes hours and hours spent in front of the computer. It is actually a really weird phenomena and one that should be investigated further. It is like eating one M & M or potato chip or something. It is a system definitely designed to suck you in, but why? After all you don't pay for the internet by the minute or the hour, so what it the point? Well, just like television my friend the point is advertising. The more you see the more advertisements they can plug you with. So get online and stay online, not only will you have a blast but you are making a lot of companies and advertisers happy as well.

FIND THE NO WIN NO FEE ATTORNEY THAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU

Posted by Stacy on Sunday, September 06, 2009 2:51 PM

Accidents happen and can strike at any time. You can be innocently going about your own business when suddenly out of nowhere someone else's negligence can cause you to suffer a personal injury and when this occurs you may find that you need help dealing with your accident claims. This is the time to seek out an attorney that can help you settle your claim with the insurance company. You may find that you are tempted to settle with the insurance company directly just to get it over with, but if you have been seriously injured this is not the wisest choice.

Insurance companies tend to try and settle personal injury claims very quickly because it may take people some time to figure out how injured they truly are. Once you have chosen to settle with the insurance company there is no further recourse available to you if you find that your injuries are more extensive than was originally thought.

The amount that the insurance company will usually offer you may sound like a lot of money, but over time medical treatment and lost wages can really add up, so the insurance company is trying to get off by paying out as little as they can.

This is why it is important that if you have been injured by someone else's negligence that you find a no win no fee attorney to fight for your rights and to help get you the compensation that you deserve. You can contact The Law Society to help you find an attorney and you can contact Claims Management Regulation through their website to check on a personal injury attorney that you may be considering to take on your case. Dealing with accident claims can be difficult and that is why it is so important to find an attorney who is well versed in personal injury law so they can help you get full compensation for the accident and the injuries and pain and suffering you have incurred. Don't try to deal with the insurance company on your own, they can easily manipulate you into believing that a settlement is fair and this can leave you with unpaid medical expenses that you will have to pay out of your own pocket for. Find a good attorney and get the money you need for your injuries.

MICHAEL PILLSBURY HAS CHANGED THE COURSE OF THE WORLD

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, August 27, 2009 2:52 PM

It is difficult to understand sometimes how things between countries truly develop. Recently it has been brought to my attention how difficult it is when super power countries are out of touch with what other large and powerful countries and what a large threat this actually is to national security. You see if you are not in communication with another country then you have no insight into what type of intelligence and weaponry they have available. This goes along with the saying keep your friends close and your enemies closer The best way to know what other countries have going for them is to get a look at their infrastructure from the inside out.

Now this is where Michael Pillsbury comes into the picture. Under the Reagan administration, Mike Pillsbury served as the Assistant under Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning and under the President George H.W. Bush he served as the Special Assistant for Asian Affairs. With his extensive knowledge of Chinese foreign policy and matters of defense, he has been able to advise many Presidents on matters of national defense and wartime strategies. Michael Pillsbury is currently serving as an adviser to the Pentagon.

All of his extensive education and training in the military has allowed Michael Pillsbury to have a global effect in some serious wartime issues. He was a key player in Charlie Wilson's War and was also instrumental in not only improving relations with China during the Reagan and Carter administrations, but also in persuading officials in Washington to supply Afghanistan with Stinger missiles.

In addition to all his work in military matters he also found time to author two books on the subject of international intelligence and communications. These books are called “Chinese Views of Future Warfare” and “China Debates the Future Security Environment” both of which are completely enthralling if you are interested in issues of national security and worldwide intelligence. There are also two other books that if you have a chance you should get your hands on and they are Philip Heymann's 2008 book “Living the Policy Process” and James Mann's “About Face” and both of these works as well as Wikipedia document further information about Michael Pillsbury and his role in US military strategies. An incredible scholar who has also written several journal articles, congressional reports and RAND reports about international relations with China, Mike Pillsbury is by far one of the most influential military strategists of our time and a key player in our relationship with China.

FINDING THE RIGHT PROMOTIONAL ITEMS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, August 20, 2009 7:20 PM

When considering a promotional campaign to promote your business you must not only consider which promotional products to advertise on but also how best to distribute these products.

Shopping for promotional products, you will see that there are many choices of incredible items to imprint your logo on. Sometimes having so many choices can be a bit overwhelming. There are several things that you need to consider when choosing.

1. The type of business you are running. Promotional products that directly relate to your business or the industry that you are in will be very effective in not only promoting your business but your cause.

2. Your customers and their demographic. After all providing a group of senior citizens with promotional water bottles is probably not your best promotional outlet.

3. The interests of the group you will be giving these promotional items to. For instance if you are dealing with a large corporation and the employees all have name badges that they wear, then it might be a good idea to advertise your business on some promotional lanyards. To them this would be a useful item and one that will probably get a lot of exposure.

4. Consider your budget. Probably one of the most important considerations when purchasing great promotional products is the amount you can afford to spend. The reason for this is because the quantity of promotional products you can afford to purchase is actually more important than the quality, because the more custom logo items that you distribute, the more attention you will draw back to your business.

Considering these important factors will help you choose the perfect promotional products to advertise your business on. Remember whether you choose promotional clothing, promotional lanyards, promotional water bottles, or key ring you will get more from this investment than from any other form of advertising. Promotional advertising is the best way to gain exposure for your business while providing others with incredible, useful items that they can use over and over again.

Psychic Readings For Extra College Cash!

Posted by Stacy on Friday, July 31, 2009 9:56 AM

I was in my second year of school, living in the dorm and broke as usual. The part-time job I had working in on campus in food services was a pain. I almost considered quitting school and just going to work out in the real world. So, I started thinking of any way to make money other than my part-time job on campus. I remember my mom used to do psychic readings for her friends with a tarot deck and crystals or something. She had sort of showed me how to read the tarot cards and do the psychic readings, so I thought I'd brush up on my psychic abilities in the hopes of making some extra college cash. We all know that psychics make a fortune in tough economic times! :)

So, for the next month I searched around the Internet for articles about how to do psychic readings, and brushed up on my skills with some friends I had in the dorm...they were really intrigued by it all and actually encouraged me to continue. Everyone always wanted to know about their future, boyfriends/girlfriends, or if they were going to meet a new guy/girl, etc. I didn't charge much because nobody had much money and that made it kind of fun and a cheap brand of entertainment for me and them. It went from there to the weekends once a month (what I'm doing now) where people from other dorms on campus were seeking psychic readings. I was able to quit my part-time job last year and only had to 'work' once in a while during the week and made enough money on the weekends doing psychic readings that I was in heaven! That started a whole new avenue for me and lots of interest from some of my friends and people I read for all over campus. I also found a professional online psychic reading site, which had quite a few articles that I learned quite a bit from while I was refreshing my psychic abilities.

Anyway, to make a long story short, if you are working part- or even full-time, you can make some extra cash doing psychic readings on the side, or even full-time. I did it and now it's two years later and I do love school but may find that I can just continue what I'm doing now and not have to 'go to work' right after graduation. I think it's strange the way things worked out, but I couldn't be happier!

NOW IS THE TIME FOR DEBT CONSOLIDATION AND FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Posted by Stacy on Monday, June 01, 2009 8:09 AM

These days it is important to have your finances under control. We are in a time of financial crisis and if you are a person who has a large amount of credit card debt, then it is time to take a look at your options to lower your debt and reduce your monthly payments. Many people are still not heading the warnings of the financial experts and taking this opportunity to seek out debt consolidation options. Of late I have heard many financial advisers speaking about how to consolidate credit card debt by using what they call debt loans or a debt consolidation loan. Using debt consolidation is considered a good option for most people who have outstanding credit card debt, because this does not let the balance keep building, which in the long run will help you get out of debt more quickly.

Numerous news articles of late have been speaking on issues of debt and debt consolidation, trying to encourage people to get a handle on their financial situation before they wind up unemployed and wind up losing everything. I guess the thing that really gets me about the financial problems facing some of the biggest companies in the US, is the fact they are still continuing to spend money as if it were water. And on the other hand the credit card companies are willing to continue to extend credit to people in amounts much larger than is within their abilities to repay. This is perhaps the biggest down fall in the economy at the present time. It is obvious that if you make $30,000 per year that you can not afford a home that costs $200,000, yet if you have a good enough credit rating, then you actually could be eligible for a mortgage of that much, and let's face it, that is just way above your head.

I guess what I would like to see across the board is some accountability, not only on the part of the person borrowing the money, but on the financial institutions doing the lending. After all, they are the ones who understand the bigger financial picture, and allowing people to sink themselves in debt that is well beyond their means, just isn't right either.

Decorating with area rugs

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, May 07, 2009 3:40 PM

For the average college student it can be a chore just simply getting by in your time here at college. Between getting up for class and getting all of your work done on time, you have a lot on your plate without having to manage a packed social schedule and all of those fun activities that you sign up for without thinking you might not have any time for anything else. With all of these things going on in your life we can often forget what it means to actually make a home a space for you to come to and relax. We all now the image that our parents created for us when we lived at home. Our home was always clean and there was a logical sort of comfort to it all. We never had to worry about how to make the place more comfortable as our mothers handled all of that. If we ever did run in to some kind of an issue we'd just tell our parents and we'd go out that day and get what we needed. Here it's not so easy. We have to balance all of these pieces of our own lives without them and our personal home comfort usually suffers in the process.

To make life more comfortable here at school there are a few fairly simple things that we can all do that will make things at least seem more homely. One of the first things I did while here at school was to put in area rugs all over my house. This is a simple thing that can make a room feel more open and make it feel much better to walk around in bare feet. Plus, rugs are so easy to clean at all times of the year that you won't need to do anything super time consuming to keep them nice. It's also really easy to get a hold of these pieces because swaps and flee markets always have tons of area rugs that don't cost much if you just want something simple. My other big tip is to look in to designer lighting which can be accomplished with only a few standing lamps. The designer lighting can really open up a room or make a space more intimate. Just give these things a thought because they make your time here a bit more comfortable and less draining.

HEARING AIDS, TANNING LOTION, AND FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS...GRANDPARENTS

Posted by Stacy on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 12:00 PM

My parents passed away when I was 14 and so it was at that time that my brother and I were sent to live with our grandparents. At first we were very concerned about leaving our home and our friends, but that was really the least of the problems, we soon discovered. We had visited with our grandparents very seldom when we were younger, so when we did see them it was mostly cookies and candy and playing games. I don't think that either Tom or I really had any clue what living with them would truly be like. When we first arrived, they had set up rooms for us, which really were quite nice, but most of our stuff went into storage and we really only got to bring a few items with us. The one household item that we did convince Grandpa that we needed was our computer. We told him we really needed to have it in order to do our school work, which really wasn't what we were thinking at the time, but that is how we convinced him.

The first few months started out okay, but it seemed that tension was getting thicker the older we were getting, and I mean all of us. First grandpa got his hearing aid because he couldn't hear right, but that was not a good thing because with the hearing aid he could hear some things really well, but still spent all his time saying WHAT? So I am not sure if the problem was really his hearing or just HIM! Then it was we couldn't access free music downloads on the computer because they said that was illegal...Everybody does it, but still they were constantly policing us. Then in the summer they started complaining about the smell of the tanning lotion that I was using and how it was making my grandmother sick.

Don't get me wrong, I love my grandparents, and do appreciate the fact that they took us in when mom and dad died, but I must admit that when it came time to go away to school, I really was not sad to be on my own. I must admit that I still go visit on school breaks and stuff, because they are still family, but boy I am glad that we don't all live under the same roof anymore, that was just too much!

Finance Class and Credit Cards

Posted by Stacy on Monday, April 20, 2009 1:34 PM

I remember in my finance class we learned a lot about credit cards. We talked about things like Smart Balance Transfers and also what should be charged with credit and what should not (if the payment outlasts what you charged it should not be put on credit, like a meal or a movie).

This class was enjoyable, definitely applied to all of our lives and was extremely informative and helpful. HOWEVER, it came about 2 years too late for a lot of the students in the class (and I'm assuming many that took it at other times as well). Thankfully I am not in this boat (really, thank God) but a lot of the students were already into debt by their junior year when we could take the class. It isn't offered to freshman and sophomores; however that happens to be the time when people start getting credit cards (when they leave home and are on their own at school) and by the time they reach their junior year and are taking this class, they have already accumulated some sort of credit card debt most likely.

We do talk about things like balance transfer credit cards for those who have a high interest card (and most students do), a lot of times can find 0% APR. But the talks we have about establishing credit and paying your bill on time and even negotiating a lower interest rate with the company before you get into trouble really do come too late in a lot of cases. I really do feel like this course is extremely informative and helpful and would be very beneficial, but it definitely needs to be opened to students starting their freshman year of college. This way, while students are getting their credit cards and before they actually have a chance to run themselves into debt or use it irresponsibly, they can learn about the consequences and also about how important it is to work on establishing good credit throughout college.

Right now, we are laying the stones for our future. We want to graduate and be able to buy a home in the near future or a car and if you spend irresponsibly throughout college and prove that you aren't worthy of credit, you are going to end up like one of those commercials for the credit reports where the kid is living in his parents basement and I am guessing that's not what most people want.