Cutting down, cutting back and cutting out. That seems to be what I’m not only hearing but doing in our on household. I really find it intriguing to try new ways to save a dollar and I’m finding a lot of it is just taking advantage of things I already have like my cell phone. I use the cheap free one that you can get every two years. I did add unlimited texting after I looked at one of our bills and found out that teenagers don’t talk anymore they just text their fingers off. I actually called my cell phone provider when I was scanning my bill and saw that we had over 4000 text messages in one month. I didn’t realize someone could actually send that many messages without damaging some part of their anatomy but obviously they can, because that seems to be the average per month over the last year. I found out that we weren’t using all of our minutes so to save money I lowered our minutes and went to unlimited texting. It seems to be working, so far and we’ve saved money every month. To get information on phone numbers, weather, directions, temperature and a bunch of other things you may or may not use, you can text 466453 (Google) and put in a business or persons name and location. You will be texted back the information you desire. If you want to know the weather just put in the word weather plus the zip code and it will text you back the weather. I haven’t kept up with the savings but we never have a charge for directory assistance anymore. You will either be charged for texting or it will go against your plan like a regular text so keep that in mind if you don’t have unlimited texting. It’s a way to save on charges if you’re not at your computer.Do you ever get tired of getting calls every time you sit down even after you’ve added your name to the no call list? I know we did. I mean really, could there be that many surveys? In most places you can keep your DSL and turn the phone off, it’s called a naked line. Since we already had cell phones we rarely used the landline anyway, so we said good bye to Ma Bell and just kept the DSL for $19.95 and saved about another $30 a month. We’ve been trying out another gadget called Magic Jack. If you have DSL and at least XP on your computer this is another nifty little gadget we have been using for the last year. I have to admit it’s not perfect but gives us a way to save on cell phone minutes while we’re at home. It just plugs into your computer’s USB and after you follow the first time directions, you plug in a regular phone and you have a dial tone. You can choose an area code for most places in the USA and I’ve heard you may even be able to use your own phone number very soon. It’s really nice if you live in a place you don’t have great cell phone reception or I understand some people even use it to call back to the States while out of the country. It may not be for everybody but it’s worked for us and it also comes with free long distance, voice mail, directory assistance and lot of other things. We paid $39.95 for the Magic Jack, including the first year of service and then its $19.95 per year after that. You can get more information at www.magicjack.com. We do find that sometimes the connection isn’t always perfect and have to unplug the device every once in a while and restart it, and that seems to do the trick. We also have been able to use our fax machine with this but found we had to slow down the fax speed for it to work. It seems that along with HDTV, Online TV will also be one of the next big things. You can take advantage of the DSL you already have by connecting your newer flat screen TV directly to your computer and watch your favorite shows at your convenience and it’s FREE. It’s not the best quality yet but it’s on the way and they’re adding new websites all of the time. You could also just watch it on the computer but we like the bigger screen. All the major networks already have their own websites. We’ve been able to not only catch up on past episodes that we’ve missed but have actually found new shows to enjoy and its available 24/7. We have found websites like hulu.com and many others that are free. There are devices that you can buy to connect your TV directly to the internet but the prices I’ve found, are still too high.
These are just a few of the fun ways we’ve found to save a little cash. May or may not be for you.
Have you found a way that saves you money without the pain of doing without? I would like to know what’s working for you.
Just Saying!
Odes Roberts
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Can You Hear Me Now
My wife and I walk almost every day and have watched in dismay the decline of Main Street in Walhalla. It’s disheartening to see a town of such possibilities go to seed, especially after the Oktoberfest weekend when there were so many happy people everywhere. The sidewalks were full and Main Street was being used for something besides a road that led consumers to Highland’s or some other mountain destination.
Although I’m not an actual resident of this town, I used to be and even served on their city council. Way back then, I made the comment that it would seem that a town with such a rich German heritage would take advantage of it. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that Walhalla didn’t want to be another Helen, Georgia, which at the time was attracting huge amounts of tourism for a town its size.
As the years have passed so have a lot of opportunities to capitalize on this and most of the business owners have grown old and retired or moved to greener pastures. As a result there are lot of empty buildings and decaying store fronts.
It seems to me that this little town is nothing less than the land of opportunity! You could almost open any basic business and have little, if any, competition. Walhalla has got to be an entrepreneur’s dream. Now I’m not saying that just any business would have a 100% chance of making it but chances of success would have to be a lot higher than in a town that has 20 of the same thing.
Like I said, we walk as much as we can and one of the best things I’ve seen in a while and something that can really sharpen up a town’s image and shopping appeal are new sidewalks, which are being poured at this very moment. It only makes sense that you have to first have a safe way to enter an establishment. I for one think it’s a wonderful improvement on the little German Town that could be.
Just Saying!
oer
I've enjoyed the feedback.
You can email me at odeseroberts@gmail.com
Although I’m not an actual resident of this town, I used to be and even served on their city council. Way back then, I made the comment that it would seem that a town with such a rich German heritage would take advantage of it. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that Walhalla didn’t want to be another Helen, Georgia, which at the time was attracting huge amounts of tourism for a town its size.
As the years have passed so have a lot of opportunities to capitalize on this and most of the business owners have grown old and retired or moved to greener pastures. As a result there are lot of empty buildings and decaying store fronts.
It seems to me that this little town is nothing less than the land of opportunity! You could almost open any basic business and have little, if any, competition. Walhalla has got to be an entrepreneur’s dream. Now I’m not saying that just any business would have a 100% chance of making it but chances of success would have to be a lot higher than in a town that has 20 of the same thing.
Like I said, we walk as much as we can and one of the best things I’ve seen in a while and something that can really sharpen up a town’s image and shopping appeal are new sidewalks, which are being poured at this very moment. It only makes sense that you have to first have a safe way to enter an establishment. I for one think it’s a wonderful improvement on the little German Town that could be.
Just Saying!
oer
I've enjoyed the feedback.
You can email me at odeseroberts@gmail.com
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Day is Finally Here
The lines of democracy were longer than in any recent memory but it seemed to move quickly. You could just sense freedom in the air and to know that my vote would count just as must as the persons in front or behind me is a wonderful feeling. It’s the one time in our life that we are all equal. It doesn’t matter how old or how young or how rich or how poor you are on this day, if you are a registered voter and you’re standing in that line you can’t help but have a feeling of pride in just knowing that you count. As different as we all are on some of the issues, this one day all across America we come together as a nation to make a choice and to be heard. We are surely blessed to have the freedom that many before us and sadly many after us will fight and die for. It’s hard to believe that still today somewhere in this world other’s can only dream of the opportunity to do what so many here will take for granted.
It’s exciting to hear all the chatter from the first time voters, as one of my sons will be this year, to some of the older ones. You seem to see the same people in line every time the polls are open and you suddenly realize that you’re quickly becoming one of the “older ones”.
You find yourself listening to someone behind you talking about who the President was when they voted for the first time and then you hear someone say “next” as you move up a little closer until finally it’s your turn. The voting official motions for you to walk toward them and the excitement starts to build as you’re shown the electronic voting booth you’ll be using to cast your vote. This is what you’ve been wait for the last several months. Everything has been building to this opportunity to make your voice count.
This is my experience this morning: I got to the station 15 minutes early, stood in line and made some new friends; we snaked our way across the fire station parking lot and into the building. I signed in with no problem and finally made it to the voting booth in 45 minutes, considering some people stood in line over 5 hours to vote early, I was pleased. I scanned the electronic pages and made my selections clicking the “next” button at the end of each page, when I finished I pressed the “review” button only to find that I’d missed something somewhere. Frantically I went back through the selections because somewhere in the back of my mind I heard you only have 3 minutes to cast your ballot. What could I possibly have missed? Are they really only going to give me 3 minutes? How much time do I have left? Then I see the selection I somehow missed. Clicking hurriedly through everything I finally cast my ballot. A feeling of relief filled my entire body as I walk through the line and was awarded with my “I Voted” sticker. Its funny how, throughout the rest of the day, I looked at people’s chest to see if they sported the same badge of honor.
I took advantage of my rights as a citizen of the United States of America. Today I’m not only proud to be a southerner but much more than that, I’m a proud American with the freedom to vote.
You may not always vote for the one who wins but you’ll always be a part of the process if you get out and Vote!
Just Saying!
Odes Roberts
It’s exciting to hear all the chatter from the first time voters, as one of my sons will be this year, to some of the older ones. You seem to see the same people in line every time the polls are open and you suddenly realize that you’re quickly becoming one of the “older ones”.
You find yourself listening to someone behind you talking about who the President was when they voted for the first time and then you hear someone say “next” as you move up a little closer until finally it’s your turn. The voting official motions for you to walk toward them and the excitement starts to build as you’re shown the electronic voting booth you’ll be using to cast your vote. This is what you’ve been wait for the last several months. Everything has been building to this opportunity to make your voice count.
This is my experience this morning: I got to the station 15 minutes early, stood in line and made some new friends; we snaked our way across the fire station parking lot and into the building. I signed in with no problem and finally made it to the voting booth in 45 minutes, considering some people stood in line over 5 hours to vote early, I was pleased. I scanned the electronic pages and made my selections clicking the “next” button at the end of each page, when I finished I pressed the “review” button only to find that I’d missed something somewhere. Frantically I went back through the selections because somewhere in the back of my mind I heard you only have 3 minutes to cast your ballot. What could I possibly have missed? Are they really only going to give me 3 minutes? How much time do I have left? Then I see the selection I somehow missed. Clicking hurriedly through everything I finally cast my ballot. A feeling of relief filled my entire body as I walk through the line and was awarded with my “I Voted” sticker. Its funny how, throughout the rest of the day, I looked at people’s chest to see if they sported the same badge of honor.
I took advantage of my rights as a citizen of the United States of America. Today I’m not only proud to be a southerner but much more than that, I’m a proud American with the freedom to vote.
You may not always vote for the one who wins but you’ll always be a part of the process if you get out and Vote!
Just Saying!
Odes Roberts
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