Celebrity Weddings And The Media: Don’t Believe The Hype
This year has brought a rash of celebrity weddings that dominated the media. From William and Kate to this past weekend’s Kim Kardashian nuptuals, the messages have been about making the day bigger and more extravagant, criticizing everything from the dress to the guest list. But the hype is just that – hype. Fairytales Are Still Just Tales The royal wedding back in April was a ratings coup, with 22.77 million Americans [...]
Credit Card Interest Rates: More Motivation to Get Rid Of Your Credit Cards
The CARD Act of 2009 not only put caps on penalty interest rates, it also made credit card companies that hiked up their rates between January 1, 2009 and February 22, 2010 have to re-evaluate customers’ credit cards every six months, meaning their rates have a chance of being reduced. There’s a catch, though – depending on how the card is used the interest reduction may not even affect you (for example, if [...]
Getting satisfied…… the l-o-o-o-o-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-g way
My favorite business strategist is Jack Trout, a marketing expert who has been arguing for decades, consistently and successfully, that marketing efforts should be simple and direct, and that the obvious solution is often the best solution. (One of his books is titled simply The Power of Simplicity.) His take is that businesses that throw tons of cash at the latest "business strategy fad of the week" and/or succumb to Wall Street's demand [...]
Budgeting Tip: Check Out Your Local Dollar Store
When my budget is thin and the local grocery store seems too daunting, I head to the dollar store – which, oddly enough, is 4 doors down from the usual grocery store I go to. Trust me on this – you’ll be surprised by what you’ll find at a fraction of the cost at the regular store. With an idea of what you’re looking for, you can find some great deals! But like [...]
A Quick Back-To-School Guide
It’s August, which means that school is right around the corner – and in the next few weeks there will be a whole lot of sales and specials to remind you that it’s back-to-school time, trying to get you to buy more and more. But don’t fret! You can still stick to your budget while getting the kids what they need for the new school year – and feel a little less stressed [...]
Why the Economy is Bonkers
Here's another one of my quickie weekend posts to get me into trouble - just augmenting Kari's smart articles for Postconsumers.com week in and week out. How dare I suggest in the title that there's a bigger reason than all the others as to why the economy is bonkers or that I know exactly what it is. Never mind that I'm not even allowing for those in America who don't think the economy [...]
Summer Satisfaction Poetry: “Summer Sun” by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for writing the books Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but he was also a great poet who wrote about almost everything. With the summer in full swing all over America, this poem about the summer sun is a sweet little meditation on the ruler of the daytime: Great is the sun, and wide he goes Through empty heaven with repose; [...]
Tips On Reducing Junk Mail
It feels like a never-ending barrage: the amount of random junk mail that lands in our mailboxes every single day. All that paper gets thrown in the recycling bin, or worse, thrown in the trash (5.6 million tons of it!), and it just keeps coming back! But there’s a way to at least reduce the amount of junk mail you’re getting – and it doesn’t take long at all. Online Opt-Outs There are [...]
Satisfaction Tip: Visit The Library
When I was a kid, my library was one of my favorite places to visit, read books, do some research, and get involved with some cool crafty projects. When I was in high school, the library was the place I’d go to get the latest novels and just blaze through books I hadn’t read before. I don’t visit as much as I used to, but the library near my house is a hub [...]
Quote Of The Week: Lao-Tzu On Enough
You may know Lao-Tzu as the father of Taoism, an ancient Chinese religion. As part of that religion, Lao-Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching (or Way Of Power), a text that serves as a kind of personal guidebook. It contains many beautiful passages that can be applied to anyone’s life, despite their backgrounds. One of the best quotes I’ve read from the ancient philosopher doesn’t come from the Tao Te Ching itself, but [...]