What A Slacker!

Make Money Using Others Sites

1 comment August 20th, 2008

I just stumbled on this site that lets you make money simply by using their website. YouSayToo.com

Sign up, write your blog posts and reap the benefits of their adds. The more popular your content the more money you make. Might be a nice side blogging opportnity for some. at least it is worth a look-see, right?

I Want It Wednesday: Big Ass House

Add comment July 9th, 2008

This mansion is for sale in my neighborhood (okay, so it is about 5 blocks away, but still close enough to see it everyday and say I wish I could have that). Well it is WAY out of my price range and pretty much anyone else’s too. Heck the taxes are almost what I make a year. Guess I will need to start playing the lottery and get at least two more jobs! I would be working 24/7 just to pay the taxes let alone the mortgage.

 Great news though the property has been slashed from 1.2 million dollars to a mere $997,500! Well, slashing the estimated value has also dropped those taxes. When I first looked at the house at 1.2 million the taxes were $33,000 now they are $22,000. How the heck could anyone pay those property taxes? But it is really beautiful inside check it out at Kurfiss Realty.

 UPDATE: I believe this property has sold. Rumor is it will be a drug and alcohol rehab. Great.

Business Tips 101 - Email Addresses

Add comment June 24th, 2008

Small businesses often have inappropriate email addresses like smithcompany@yahoo.com or jonescompany@aol.com. This is not at all professional and often makes your company look as if it is not legit.

It really does not take too much time or money to set up a professional email with your own domain name. All you need is a good, low cost hosting company. Look for companies that offer shared web site hosting as this will lower the cost per month for their services. A great option is Concentric.com they offer email services for less than $7 per month or set up a nice web page to go with that new professional email address for less than $10 per month.

With a little more information about your company and a professional email address you’ll have customers that are more confident in your abilities as an actual business. A business should never have an AOL, Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail email account when professional email and web hosting are so affordable these days.

Scared and Confused About Credit Cards

Add comment June 7th, 2008

Starting out in life can be scary, maybe not horror movie scary, but scary nonetheless. My nieces are at that point where one will be graduating and the other is starting college. Both will be heading out into the real world and need to start handling their own finances. Trying to figure out what credit card to get to help build your credit instead of hurt it can be confusing even to us adults.

The Credit Cards Club can help explain the differences between different card services. Their articles will help you better understand your choices before you take that final leap. Reduce your fear level and check them out.

Protect Yourself From Scary Monsters

Add comment June 7th, 2008

I went to see a scary movie last night and maybe I am just getting too old, but it wasn’t all that scary to me. You know what is scary to me? The thought of someone stealing my identity is really scary to me. Why don’t the make a horror film about that? Probably because it is too frightening.

I can’t even image the horrors one must face to get the credit cleared up after an attack. Monsters are no longer hiding under the bed or in the closet they’re in our computers and stealing our mail. Thank god there are services out there like lifelock to help protect us from these scary monsters. With lifelock on your side you can come out from your hiding place and enjoy life.

More Ways To Make Money Blogging

Add comment June 5th, 2008

A new company has arrived on the scene that lets you make money from blogging. It is called Bloggerwave. Really easy to sign up and be approved. Once you are you will almost immediately be able to pick a topic to blog about and make money from the sponsor. It is based in Europe, but is available to bloggers around the world.

Wii is a Waster

Add comment June 3rd, 2008

Okay, not the Wii itself rather the Wii points cards. These are going to be an environmental disaster. The small plastic credit card sized card comes in a 5×7 inch plastic clamshell package. When global warming takes its toll we can all turn to Nintendo and point fingers. Why aren’t these points cards printed on cardboard and why are they in such huge plastic containers?

Nintendo needs to take a page from the pre-paid cell phone people who have been doing this point thing a lot longer. Print on recyclable paper and require the card to be activated by the cashiers at the time of purchase. Come on Nintendo wake up to the greener side of gaming.

I know I will be buying my points right through the console or maybe online if available, but I won’t add any more plastic to the landfill by buying the points through a retailer. Besides if they killed the huge plastic packages maybe they could give us more points for our twenty bucks.

Disney Stars Down the Shore

Add comment June 3rd, 2008

Disney will be rocking the boardwalk in Jersey this summer when the Radio Disney concert hit Wildwood. Guess what? These concerts featuring stars like Raven Symone (That’s So Raven), Mitchel Musso (Hannah Montana) and others will be coming to Morey’s Piers this July.

There will be a free concert every Monday for three weeks ending in a spectacular finale being held at the Wildwoods Convention Center. Tickets for the Wildwood events finale with Raven Symone on July 26th will be on sale through Ticketmaster, the box office and on Morey’s Mariner’s Landing pier during the concerts on July 7, 14, 21.

The free Radio Disney concerts will take place next to the giant ferris wheel on Morey’s Mariner’s Landing pier. Those shows are scheduled for 1pm and 4pm. Parents love that these concerts are free and kids love the Disney stars. It is a match made in heaven (okay, maybe not heaven, just the Disney PR offices).

Here is a list of the free concerts for interested parties:

• July 7 - A Cursive Memory
• July 14 - Jordan Pruitt
• July 21 - Drew Seeley

Morey’s Pier is the place to be this summer for family fun.

Hey, the fun doesn’t stop after the concerts are over. Morey’s Piers is offering season finale ticket holds special deals like ten bucks off admission Morey’s Piers Beachfront new jersey water park or ten dollars off a wrist band good for all three of Morey’s piers, but the best deal is fifteen dollars off the Splash and Ride combo ticket. So if you are looking for things to do in New Jersey head to the Jersey shore this summer for some great music and family entertainment.

Sweetest Contest This Summer is at Cold Stone

Add comment May 31st, 2008

Cold Stone Creamery is holding a delicious contest. Before I get into how cool and wonderful this is let me tell you it is for young adults 13 to 19 (which sucks for me because I would have so been there). Okay, so now you know and if you are between those ages you can do this.

All you have to do is go a Cold Stone Creamery and create your best combination of ingredients. Once you have the ultimate yummy combo name it and head to the internet. Yep take your ice cream to the masses.

Sign up for the Awesome Cold Stone Contest online. Here’s where the fun part comes in get all your friends, both from the real world and the internet, to head to Cold Stone and taste your creation. Once they have given you two thumbs up have them vote online for you and your yummy ice cream concoction. In a competition kind of like those I have seen on the food network your entry will be judged first by the masses then if it passes the public opinion then you get to face the judges at Cold Stone.

I have not even mentioned that you are competing for over $30,000 in prizes! The iMix America contest has already started so get out there and create the ultimate ice cream mashup and get to promoting yourself online you only have until June 5th! Oh, and good luck.

Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 4: The Costs

Add comment May 31st, 2008

Comcast has a load of problems (crappy DVR, crappy channels and crappy customer service), but the worst thing about them is their price. And it keeps going up. I wish there was a little more competition in this industry to keep the prices down.

What really gets me hot under the collar is that the prices keep going up and they never offer current customers any kind of break. Just today I saw a commercial for the internet and phone service together for $49-something. I pay almost that now for my Comcast cable plus another $5 for the dang modem. So I guess I should be given the phone for free huh? Also cable modems only cost about $100 bucks so why do I have to keep renting it? Haven’t I already paid for it like three times by now? Yet when I called and asked if I could buy it they would charge me the price of a new one!

Don’t even get me started on the cost of the DVR. Just suffice it to say a TIVO with lifetime service would ultimately be cheaper and work better.

The value of the services they offer comes nowhere near what they charge us. And come next year when everyone is forced into digital more people will be faced with the problems of dealing with cable. (Wonder who had their hands in getting the government to force digital on everyone? I’ll give you one guess.)

Stimulate Your Debt

2 comments May 29th, 2008

In this time when the economy is in need of stimulus checks to give it a shot in the arm we are all feeling the crunch. Many of us have been using credit cards to buy our gas and food just to stay a live. If you are like me your tax rebate and stimulus checks are going toward paying off some of that debt.

It is pretty bad when Americans need to go into to debt just to keep working. I am in that boat at the moment and not knowing where that next tank of gas is coming from so I can continue to work is scary. My debt keeps piling up as does many American’s, but don’t worry there are solutions out there and ways to get yourself out from under that pile of debt.

Check out ACA’s website they have a free ebook to help you learn more about what you can do relieve your consumer debt problems. Get yourself stimulated to get out of debt today.

OMG They Should Be Called PainPerPost

Add comment May 29th, 2008

PayPerPost is a really good way to make a few extra bucks each day writing sponsored posts, but sometimes they can be a BIG pain in the butt. I recently wrote a really great post about something I feel passionately about and just because I link my post to the companies and products involved in the legal case PPP decided it was a sponsored post. Well guess what? It was not!

The post entitled The Litter Box Wars: LitterMaid vs SmartScoop is completely my content and not sponsored (although I would have liked a 500 word article to have been sponsored it was not). I completely adhered to their rules that “each PayPerPost post must be immediately preceded and immediately followed by at least one non-sponsored, original content post”. (Duh, did that!) Yet they won’t pay me for the sponsored post I did for them.

Maybe they need to take another look at the post. Or maybe we bloggers aren’t allowed to have an actual opinion unless they are dictating it to us? This lawsuit is against a company that I admire and I feel strongly about. So strong in fact, that I took it upon myself to utilize SocialSpark.com to help get the word out via a BlogUBack Spark on the site. Now I am left wondering if they will pull my blog Spark from that site? Are we not allowed to get people to help us fight the fight through their system? We’ll have to wait and see.

Oh and for the record this post was not endorsed by PPP in any way shape or form (just in case they try to pull this same crap on me for my next “job” with them.

The Litter Box Wars: Littermaid vs SmartScoop

Add comment May 28th, 2008

Littermaid vs SmartScoop - it is the self-scooping litter box wars I’m talking about not a review of the expensive cat boxes. (But if you want my opinion the SmartScoop wins the review hands down so lets hope they win the legal battle too.)

For a quick run down OurPets, a company that makes great pet products introduced a self-scooping litter box, the SmartScoop last year and the makers of the Littermaid box, Salton, Inc. felt the need to squash any competition before word got out that they don’t really care about pets they just want your money over and over again.

OurPet’s was founded in 1995 by Dr. Steve Tsengas with the goal of promoting pet health, well-being and owner & pet interaction. [taken from OurPets.com]

While Salton, Inc. and its subsidiaries are leading marketers and distributors of a broad range of branded small household appliances. Salton markets and distributes small kitchen and home appliances, pet and pest products, and personal care products. [take from Salton’s website]

Which of these companies do you think has your cat’s best interests in mind and which one do you think is only out to make a quick buck? If the company’s mission statements alone don’t convince you maybe you need to take a look at the products themselves.

The SmartScoop as a large litter area it is two inches longer than the Littermaid’s usable area, which is rather important if you have a huge cat like mine. The SmartScoop is also a little higher, which can reduce the litter scattering from your cat’s digging.

The SmartScoop has a much less expensive waste bag to replace over the Littermaids plastic containers. Which raises the whole environmental issue. SmartScoops bags are biodegradable Littermaids are not (nor are they recyclable, but who would want to clean them out to recycle them any way?).

The most noticeable differences lie in the motor and the fact that it is outside of the box and removable on the SmartScoop not on the Littermaid. Which one do you think is easier to clean? I’ll tell you from experience, the SmartScoop! Since the motor is removable it is also replaceable too. That’s right if the motor goes bad you can replace just that part not the entire box.

OurPets stands behind their products, does Salton? I don’t think so. A friend of mine had gone through 2 Littermaid boxes in two years yet she could not get them repaired or replaced through the company. She finally gave up on self-scooping boxes as her experience with the Littermaid has soured her to any automatic box even one of superior quality like the SmartScoop.

This brings me to the costs. These boxes are not cheap, especially when you have to replace the entire box a $200 a pop. The SmartScoop retails for around $150 and the replacement costs are much less than that. Supplies for the SmartScoop are much more cost effective too.

As you can see the SmartScoop wins that battle but can it win the war? Maybe with our help the little guy can come out on top. Spread the word, let your congressman know how you feel about the waste of money and resources this type of litigation can be, above all else express your opinion to Salton and ask them why they are so afraid of a little market place competition. If they are as good as they think they are they should welcome some competition.

Besides I thought a person or company could improve on a current invention or patent and then claim the patent on the new and improved item (at least that’s what the infomercials tell me). So how can they really claim an infringement unless the product is exactly the same? Personally, I think they are over reacting and should go sell George Foreman Grills and forget the lawsuit, which will cost them more then if they simply welcomed the competition. Perhaps someone in their corporate offices did not do the math right or maybe they can simply throw away 1.5 million in the hopes of saving a half million dollars from a little healthy competition. Heck, if they have that much money why not throw some my way? Or better yet replace my friend’s boxes!

Boris says: What’s All The Fuss Over A Place to Poop any way?