http://theshoppingnazi.com Wed, 23 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://theshoppingnazi.com/water-water-where-is-the-water/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/water-water-where-is-the-water/#comments Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:00:00 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7381 It is raining outside. It has been raining off and on for over a week. Soon the rain will go away. It will then be replaced with the heat of summer. Emergency rooms will start to see people suffering from various symptoms of dehydration. Big money can be save from going to the emergency room by simply drinking water. The Mayo Clinic says men should be drinking roughly 3 liters or about 13 cups of beverages a day. For women it is 2.2 liters or about 9 cups of total beverages a day. Many doctors and health care professional say eight 8 ounces cups of water per day is minimum. That is 1.9 liters of water per day.  Most health care professionals say we should be drinking water, not counting soda, juice or milk. I realize there are parts of this planet where the water tastes very, very, bad. In fact you can even get sick drinking the water. That is why certain travel agents once recommend that you drink beer instead of water. In later years they started recommending bottled water. I was in Wal Mart the other day. As I was walking down the wide aisle that separates the grocery section from the clothing section, [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/water-water-where-is-the-water/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-an-eye-doctor/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-an-eye-doctor/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:00:00 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7367 I don’t know what it is about Spring that gets me think about being healthy. It could be warmer weather, and sunshine. Late Spring and the Summer months will be busy for me. My vision has been getting blurry. I know I am going to need another pair of glasses this year. Even my wife has mention she is in need of another pair of glasses. Just as I was getting ready to make an appointment at the optometrist we visited two years ago. That was when my wife reminded me that our health insurance had changed. We could not longer go to the same optometrist. This meant we would have to look around and find another place where we could get our eyes check. Hearing this news got me nervous. Several years ago, I went to the one of those places which offer two pairs of glasses for the price of one. I went through the examination. The individual who was giving the examination did not say anything about me needing  bifocals. Then when I was passed off to his assistant for pick of frames, she gave me the usual up sales. I did not want more than a scratch guard [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-an-eye-doctor/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/online-health-advice/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/online-health-advice/#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:00:02 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7239 It is expensive to go to a doctor. The average doctor’s visit can get over a $100 with little or no effort. The base visit can run from $35 to well over $100, depending on the doctor and his or her specialty. Then things like blood tests, x rays, ultra sound, and whatever other tests the doctor deems necessary. In this day and age the old saying, “An ounce of prevention with worth a pound of cure” is more than relevant.  Maybe that is why when I go to places like WebMD.com prevention is discussed. Exercise and diet are at the top of the list. I has been my experience there are three types of people in the world. People who run to the doctor with every little ache or pain. People who when what their body does something out of its norm. People who ignore what their body is telling them until the very last minute. The first group are better known as hypochondriacs. These people are constantly worried about every little ache and pain they have. They are constantly running to the doctor. In fact it is these people who make doctors and nurses harden to people who have real complains about an [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/online-health-advice/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/health-insurance-review/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/health-insurance-review/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:00:58 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=6419 The year is coming to the end. This is the time of the year where most companies roll out the benefit package, aka health insurance plan for the coming year 2011. There are so many different types of health insurance plans. In addition to all the different types of people with different insurance needs. It is common for many businesses to offer their employees three or four different options for health insurance in the coming year. So today we are going to look a some of the basics. The fundamental differences between the different health insurance plans can be summed up with three groups of three letters each.  I am taking this information from NAIC insurance education Web site, www.InsureUonline.org PPO which stands for Preferred Provider Organizations, HMO for Health Maintenance Organizations, POS for Point Of Service plans or indemnity plans Health Maintenance Organizations or HMO refers to health care coverage provided by a Health Maintenance Organization. Your typically HMO physician is your primary health care provider. This doctor will coordinate all of your medical care, including referrals to specialists, such as a dermatologist, cardiologist or surgeon. If you choose to seek treatment from a non-network physician, you will generally be required to pay [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/health-insurance-review/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/cat-health-by-the-numbers/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/cat-health-by-the-numbers/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:00:54 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=6109 A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how we were looking for a cat doctor for our beloved named Princess. She was loosing weight and acting very strange. I share with you process in finding a vet that we felt would give our cat the best possible care. It was a couple days later, every member of our family cancelled their planned activities. We put our beloved feline in the cat carrier and off we went to the Cat Hospital. When we got there, I was amazed the genuine warm friendly atmosphere of the staff and the cat that seem to oversee the reception area. From the parking lot to the examine room was spotless, with warm colors, and spoke these people love cats. Now the bill for the visit was just under $450, after everything was said and done. The office visit was $49. Tests  including medication was $358.08. There was one test that was sent out for results. Since that test came back negative we had another $48 in medication. I am pleased to announce Princess start showing improvement withing a couple of days. We had to change her diet per the docs suggestions. This was mostly because Princess [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/cat-health-by-the-numbers/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/kitty-is-getting-sick/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/kitty-is-getting-sick/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:00:33 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=6039 Our cat is not really a kitty. She is at least 10 years old. Our cat’s name is Princess. She carries herself like royalty. There has been other cats and a few dogs that have went running when Princess stood her ground. Princess has always been in excellent health. Other than vaccine shots and getting fixed so she would not be getting pregnant. Over the last couple months she has been loosing weigh and starting to display some abnormal behaviors. Princess will from time to time stand on the bed and start whining at my pillow. Other times she will stand in the kitchen and start to whine there also. We have paid more attention to her by petting and talk to her. Still  her behavior stays the same. My wife and I has discussed it. We feel it is time to take Princess to a vet. We have moved since the last time we took her to a cat doctor. Like I always do, I started to do some research on the internet. Hoping to find an answer at the very least a recommend cat doctor. At the very top of my Google search results was JustAnwser.com.  I selected Vets and Cat, then I typed in Princess’ [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/kitty-is-getting-sick/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/emergency-kits-part-2/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/emergency-kits-part-2/#comments Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:00:00 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=5147 Yesterday, I wrote about Shopping for Emergency Kits. When I finished I felt that I had done a very incomplete job in covering the subject. So, today, I have added a part 2. Because the you can specialize emergency kits for cars, trains, work, buses, and home, I do not expect this will be the last. In today’s post I want to cover emergency kits for cars. It is while we are driving about that we run the largest chance of being in or coming upon some emergency situation. Quite a few years ago, there was the Kim Family headed north out of the San Francisco Bay area into Oregon for a family road trip for Thanksgiving back in 2006. Through a series of wrong turns they ended lost and stuck in the snow for nine days. They survived by taking what they have and using it to their best advantage. We may never get stuck in such life threating situation, but we can certainly be prepared for the worst. That is why I have listed below 10 things you need to have in your car in case of an emergency. And keeping with The Shopping Nazi theme I will give you [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/emergency-kits-part-2/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-emergency-kits/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-emergency-kits/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:00:47 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=5117 Considering the recent events in Japan have got us all thinking about how we should be prepare for an earthquake. Especially, if we live in along a major earthquake fault. Over the years I have had several emergency kits. Some were homemade others were store bought. I have even got one from just attending a trade show. It has only been a couple of times that I have actually had a need to use anything that was packed in my cars as part of my emergency kit. The first time I really needed something from my emergency kit was in San Francisco. I has stopped at a gas station to fill my gas tank. A car stopped on the street, in front of the gas station. Flames coming out of the engine compartment. I grab my fire extinguisher and ran over to help. Along with another guy and his  fire extinguisher we were able to put out the fire before the fire department arrived. Another time I was driving early one rainy day down the coastal freeway of central California. All of a sudden, I slammed on my brakes. There was a pile of cars that had just has ran into each other. [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-emergency-kits/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-at-walgreens/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-at-walgreens/#comments Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:00:02 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=5090 Walgreens has long been the drug store for choice mostly because of them being open 24/7. Then there is the drive up window. Where I can drop off a prescription and pick it up one or two hours later. The old fashion drug store was where you walked in and was met by some clerk cleaning up or stocking shelves. Then the pharmacist was in the back filling prescriptions. The three or four rows of shelves between the front door and the pharmacist was the over counter medication and other products the help my medical needs. Now flash forward to today. The early part of the 21st century. The family drug has become a thing of the past. It has been replaced by the multi merchandise stop that happens to fill you prescription from the doctor. Just like last Sunday when I walked into my local Walgreens. I did not seen any cold pills or cough syrup until I had walked 3/4 of the way to where the pharmacist’s hang out. Considering the wide selection of stuff I saw, Walgreen could be the local quick mart on steroids. Walking in the front door I was met with a display of metal water bottles. From there I had the choice [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-at-walgreens/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-dentist/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-dentist/#comments Fri, 14 Jan 2011 13:00:01 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=4787 We are starting a new year. For those who have health insurance through work, your allotments have been reset on January 1st. Some of are going to have to change doctors or dentist because of a move or the company you work for has changed insurance carriers. I don’t know about you, when it comes to choosing a dentist it is more personal than choosing a doctor. A doctor usually stands a foot or more away then only examines me for a few minutes. A dentist is right on top of me the whole time sticking me with that big needle, prying my jaw open to the max, and grinding on my teeth. In my mind I hold that dentist to have a high level of skill and professionalism than the family doctor. Mostly because every time I go to the dentist I am going to feel PAIN. I do not like pain. If I do a Google search for a dentist the first thing I see is 1-800Dentist.com. Here I can type in my zip code and find local dentist. What was surprising was when I typed in my zip code, I found only three dentist listed. This was in a [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-dentist/feed/ 0