The Shopping Nazi

Have you ever wondered what Shopping Day is like for The Shopping Nazi?

When I say Shopping Day, I refer to that day twice a month where we restock and upgrade. This day corresponds to the day my wife and I get paid. It is, usually the day we are off work. Yesterday, was one of those days. I thought it would be good for you see how we go through our shopping day. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of discussion about moving from large banks like Bank of America and Chase to smaller local banks and local credit unions. This has been the result of general frustration that a lot of people have had with their big banks. Now that frustration has reached the point of taking action.

In my travels, I see smaller local banks and credit unions courting the average depositor. They want people like you and me to move our money to their smaller bank, where we will be treated with more respect. Read the rest of this entry »

In this past week, I have seen the price of gas go up a good 15 cents per gallon. For many of us that are struggling in the Great Recession, this makes another obstacle we have to climb over to get out of the hole.

This week, I have found three more obstacles. Each of the three hidden charges were in my monthly bills. Things that I did not realize that I was being charged, then the money coming out of my pocket. When I questioned the charges, I was told it was written in to my agreement or terms of service.

Phone Bill – $15.61 in Other Charges, What is Other Charges? When asked for specifics I go the answer, “These include non-communications related charges such as Premium Handset Protection and communication-related charges, such as certain fees”. Read the rest of this entry »

Summer be will soon here. It will be time to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. Spring and summer are great times for family fun along with taking pictures of those events. The quality pictures you take from those events will determine how you remember them. This will be determined the camera used in taking those pictures.

Before you look to get a new camera or maybe up grade to video camera there are few important facts that can save you a lot of money and frustration down the road.

Almost everyone with a cell phone has a camera built into their phone. These cameras are good for 3 to 10 feet, usually with the subject posed.   Taking pictures of kids on a stage in a school play,  or playing soccer does not produce good results.

I have a 5 mega pixel camera on my phone. Every time I have taken a picture where the subjects were at a distance, I deleted it in disappointment.  The camera has what is know as digital zoom.

Some point and shoot digital cameras have optical zoom. However, most digital cameras have what is known as digital zoom. They both claim to make your target image 10x or 30x larger. Read the rest of this entry »

Once again, how much is enough? How much square footage does a person REALLY need?  How many rooms in a house are full of “stuff?”

It is a universal principle that if you are a good steward to what you have you will gain more. Those who are bad stewards will lose what they have. You see these people who never seem to have anything nice. They don’t take care of what they have, or they are replace what was stolen from them.

I hang my head low in shame over the amount of stuff I have had stolen or lost over the years. I must admit it was through carelessness on my part. I either did not lock locks or I left valuables in open tempting people to come by and steal from me. Read the rest of this entry »

As much as everyone of us does not like to think about death, it will happen. We are going to leave behind family members, friends, and stuff. What we want our family to do with that stuff after we are gone is a very important issue.

I am not big on stuff. I realize that I am only going to be on this planet for a very short time. So I am not into collecting a lot of stuff. What concerns me when I am gone is my family and how they will live when I am gone. Read the rest of this entry »

Setting priorities and watching where our money goes can be a very painful thing. Especially when it gets close to pay day and there is not money to buy lunch a McDonald’s.

Some time back, I was watching a group of people leaving working from a local business that employed a 1,000+ men and women. Over 90% of them make the same hourly wage. However, you would not think that by the way each one dress and the car they were driving. Read the rest of this entry »

In the first part of February, I set down with James Stocker to talk about insurance we progressed from auto insurance to homeowners insurance. From that meeting he help me write Auto Insurance – Get the Facts.

It was in that meeting, James was telling me that he has seen about 95% of the family’s who group their homeowner and auto insurance together save up to 20%.

All mortgage companies require homeowners insurance. Many realtor’s, mortgage companies refer or recommend certain insurance companies for homeowner insurance. The truth be known you can shop around for the best company and best rate for your homeowner insurance. Read the rest of this entry »