The Shopping Nazi

Yesterday, I shared, with you, some of the great benefits I have experienced since I moved to Idaho 15 years ago. Today, I want to share with you the top 7 businesses that impress me the most when I went to the state capitol building as part of annual Buy Idaho event.

Idaho Candy Company has been around since 1901. They are not a world player that competes with Nestle or Mars candies, but they do offer some tasty treats. The Cherry Cocktail and Idaho Spud are two of my favorites.

Dream Chocolate is another candy company. Well not just another candy company. They specialize in great chocolate bar with a custom label. Can you think of a better way to impress a future employer than by attaching a candy bar with your picture on it to your resume. Read the rest of this entry »

My dad always said, “Charity begins at home”. I believe this also holds true when it comes to any form of economic recovery. It is not the large corporations that will create jobs and make the United States a world economic leader again. It will be the small individuals and the business that is started in spare bedrooms and garages which will have the biggest affect on our economy.

When I was originally offered work in Idaho, all I knew about Idaho was that it was where potatoes were grown. Since then I learned that Idaho was much much more.

The first thing I noticed about Idaho was the drivers on the road were so polite. In the general people talked slower. Not as slow as people south of the Mason Dixon Line, but definitely slower than California. In addition to many other great factors, living in Idaho lowered my stress level and cost of living. Read the rest of this entry »

If I need to take a quick business trip from Boise, Idaho to San Francisco to meet with Leo Laporte, I could easily spend a $1,000. Now if I did some research and planning, I could cut that cost in half.

A flight to San Francisco from Boise Idaho starts at $216, with one stop in Salt Lake City. Most of the discount airline booking website average around $260 to $300 for a round trip ticket, for the same trip.

Now there is a few things that you can or can not do that will raise that cost.

Pre-Ship Luggage - If you have a lot of luggage you may want to pre-ship it UPS. Airlines are watching how much up check as well as what you carry on the plane. Many of the airline are charging $25 to $50 extra per piece. This is where shipping an extra bag of cloths to your hotel may just be cheaper Read the rest of this entry »

Summer is almost over. Our daughter starts school next week. We need some time together before we are drawn apart with work and school.

Because of the economy, we opted for a stay a home vacation this year. The Western Idaho Fair is in full swing. Since the fairgrounds is less than 5 miles and 12 minute drive from our house, the fair tops the list as something to do on our stay at home vacation, or Staycation, as some would like to call it.

Monday was Kids Day. For $20 each we could get into the fair and have unlimited rides from noon to 5 pm. If you haven’t price the rides at your local fair lately, they could run you $1 to $2.50 per ride.

Fair admissions was $7 dollars for adults and $4 for our daughter. That would make admission and rides a great deal. I guarantee you that we all rode on more than 10 rides.

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There is nothing like bumped by friends and strangers with the Bumper cars. Watching my wife overcome her fear of heights on the smallest of 3 Ferris wheels was worth the whole day’s experience. I must mention the Wip, the ride my dad took me on at 10, now I am riding on with my wife and daughters.

The biggest revelation to me, which should not of have been a revelation, is how much our family enjoys the exhibits. My wife would sign up all the drawing for a big gas BBQ. My daughter was looking at all the jewelry. Then I was looking at cookware, and internet provider.

When the day was over, after all the rides, exhibits, and eating our favorite fair food, we went home and crashed in our favorite spots.

The bottom-line is we spent just under a $100 for a once a year event that will carry memories for the rest of our life.

Sale Alert: New Balance Tennis Shoes 24 hour sale.

One more week before the kids are back in school. Camping trips, get away time is going to be harder. Weather is going to start to get colder. So a short day trip along with getting wet brings a smile to my face.  Now those who live in Southern Idaho, floating down the Boise River is concerned on such getaway.

You can not call it a raft trip. There are a few shallow rapids, and a 12 inch waterfall, in a float that is just over 5 miles.

The City of Boise makes it easy for the whole family to have a fun time. They provide free air to blow up your raft or intern tubes. They have a rental place to rent a raft. They even provide a ride back to Barber Park to where the float down the river starts.

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For the residents if Boise Idaho, this is a great way without having to drive miles, for a little fun on a hot summer Saturday.

1. It is just under 9 miles for the drive to Barber Park @ 68 cents per mile equals $12.24 round trip.
2. Parking for Friday, Saturday and Sunday is $6. The rest of the week parking is $5.
3. Four person raft with life vest and paddles is $45 for 3 hours. They charge a $30 per hour late fee per item. The deposit is $20 or credit card on file.
4. Shuttle Service back to Barber Park is $3 per person.
5. I would recommend to take some refreshments. A bottle of water per person or sport drink. Then when the trip is over go out to dinner.

A ride down the Boise River will run you just under $75 for a family of 4. However, you save money like many of the locals do by having their own raft. That reduces the cost to $35. Carpooling with another family and having one families car at the beginning and the other families car at the end can reduce the cost to around $26. Of course you will have to have a joint family BBQ at the end of the rafting journey.

Now going to most any other family outing will run you about the same. We will explore them as the summer winds down.

I am so thankful that I live in a metropolitan area where I do not have to compute 10, 20, or more miles to work every day. In fact most of my weekly activities are within a 5 mile radius of where I live. This has not always been the case. Once, I live 100 yards to my nearest neighbor, and 15 miles to the nearest 7-11. The cost in time and money was unbearable to make a quick trip for a dozen eggs.

Fortunately, I now live where my weekly activities are within a 5 mile radius of where I live. In the 5 mile radius, there is 3 major grocery stores, 4 major pizzarrias, 5 big box stores, and one large medical complex. This allows me to take the car or ride my bike to where ever I need to go.

This morning, I was sitting at my desk looking over all the places I need to go on this Friday. I have 3 meetings to attend, 2 stores to visit, and dinner with my family. All within roughly an 8 hour period. Realistically, it will mostly likely be over 10 hour period.

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In planning my day, I have a method to my madness for maxium efficiency. I started out with a Google Maps of the area I live and work.

1. I took the one meeting that I could not have control over what time, and marked it on Google Maps. That is the one at 1 pm.
2. Then I look at the other places I needed to be at  and marked them on Google Maps.
3. The first meeting I setup for 9 am. It is easy to get people to meet with you in the mornings. I usually do all of my meetings between 9 am and noon, for this very reason.
4. Dinner with my family was easy; 5 pm. We may do it earlier to beat the Friday dine out rush at the Golden Corral.
5. After my schedule and route is set, I print out a copy of Google Maps with all the places I need to go, along with a marked route.
6. The final step is to write in the times next to places where I have commited.

As a final comment here; I am a realist. There are going to be changes. Things are going to come up. However, what I now have in front of me is guide, plan, or map of what I am going to do today, when I leave my home/office.

I should of have titled today’s post as Red equals Dark and Light Green. Red is the color of my bike a nice mountain bike. Dark Green is the color of money that I save by riding my bike. Light Green is the color of saving the planet.

I bought my a mountain bike from Wal Mart, on sale, for $169. I plan on keeping it for 5 years. Every year maintenance will cost me $60.

4 years of  maintenance plus cost means my total cost is $409. Over a 5 year period breaks down to $81.80.

I average close to 25 miles a week, riding my bike. If I ride it for 30 weeks out of the years. That comes to 750 miles per year.

So 750 miles per year costing $81.80 per year breaks down to almost 11 cents per mile.

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Cool August morning is so rare, yesterday was a perfect day to save money and ride my bike to the local trade show.

The cost of driving my van is 68 cents per mile. It is 6 miles to the public parking lot, making the trip cost me $8.16.

I usually 5 hours at the tradeshow. The first hour at the public parking lot is free after that it is $1.25. So parking would of have cost me $5.

Did I mention that I do need the extra exercise. I had eaten a little to much chocolate cake, last weekend. So I need the extra exercise.

$8.16 for driving and $5 for parking equals $13.16 to get down the local convention center. It cost me $1.32 to ride my bike, and nothing for parking. I did burn some calories. However, they needed to go anyway. So the the benefits of riding my bike leaves only alternative.

Just like any good profitable business there airlines will always try to up sale you to more expensive setting, and extras. What makes me angry is when I get a great deal on a flight to San Francisco then when I go to check in I am hit with $25 or $30 just to check a bag!

I do not fault a business for making money. After all that is what they are in business to do. What I do not like is the hidden cost they do not tell you. I would be much happier if I could get one set price for my flight.

That one set price would include checking bags, drinks, WiFi, and telephone service. I would even be happier if I could get a set price at time of booking my flight that would include, taxi ride to airport, everything during flight, taxi ride to hotel, and everything in between.

I know this will never happen. However, I can calculate it these extra costs pretty close.

If you want to get an idea what some of these cost will be per different airline, I would recomend that you go Billshrink.com and their comparison chart.