The 2 http://www.gemeinde-kalbach.de/mamysja/1066 Most Important Lessons I Learned During Approximately 3 Hours on the Phone with Delta and Orbitz:

1. When you need to make changes to a trip, call the people you booked through, even if it wasn’t the airline.
2. If you miss your original flight, you will be automatically taken off of your return flight.  Counter-intuitive, that’s why it’s important.

 

A few weeks ago Husband and I came across a very good deal on plane tickets to a destination we were planning on driving 24 hours to anyways.  We bought them.  We were stoked.  

As life is prone to do, things changed and we found out that we weren’t going to be able to make our original flight, but we would be able to make the return flight.  I immediately went to Kayak to see what the price was running, and was delighted (relatively) to see that it had actually dropped from $230/ticket round-trip, which we had paid, to $220/ticket.

Things were going my way.

I called Delta even though we had booked through Orbitz, because I wasn’t aware Orbitz even had phones or employees.  In my mind, Orbitz was just a big self-aware robot hell-bent on saving people money; it was a good robot.  

Two different Delta ladies (I called twice because I assumed the first lady was out of her mind) broke down the costs for me:

• $150/ticket change fee – I’m told the president of Delta himself couldn’t get out of this one.
• $50/ticket external (Orbitz) ticket handling fee – see learning point #1 above.
• $100/ticket difference in fare

That’s a total of $600 in fees, etc.  I paid $460 for the tickets originally.  I could have bought a brand new pair right at that moment for $440.

click here now $200/ticket of the fees apply even if you are simply canceling your first flight.  No, you can’t just miss your first flight, book another, and then take your original ticket home – see learning point #2 above.  My helpful Orbitz lady later explained to me the this is another source of revenue for airlines. 

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Article publié pour la première fois le 06/10/2010

Everyone judges other people’s spending habits at one time or another, but eventually the shoe will be on the other foot.  Today the shoe was on my foot; my newly pedicured foot.  And it was smelly.

 

Today I went and got my nails and my toe nails done; rare occurrences by themselves, practically unheard of at the same time.  Sure I could do it myself, but my left hand just won’t paint worth a da… darn.  Actually, today I just felt the need to take care of myself in a special way.  This is my moved here rationalization and I’m sticking to it. rencontres musulmanes mariage    

Actually, I was treating myself big-time because I also got my hair done (I love Wal-Mart, you only have to make one trip and POOF! everything you need is all in one place).  My stylist noticed the toe-separator-thingamajig and said to me with judging eyes, “oh, do you get pedicures often?”  So, I may have misread said “judging eyes,” my own judgment clouded with guilt by my previous splurges, but website link I felt judged. 

With my sensitivity on alert, my ears perked up when Stylist mentioned she was a smoker.  Ah ha!  What a hypocrite, judging me for spending just a few bucks on myself when she herself was throwing money down the tubes daily…  Wait a minute.  http://summerigloogames.com/?morkov=quand-une-fille-cherche-le-contact-physique&d09=b0 I realized the reason I was peeved was that she had stuck her nose into my finances without knowing me, and I was doing the same to her. 

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Article publié pour la première fois le 31/08/2010

Whether we like to admit it or not, most people spend a lot of time and money seeking for ways to entertain themselves. Sure, we should be nothing but productive all the time, but where’s the fun in that!? It’s because of that longing to be entertained that people pay over $100 a month for television service, $50 for internet service, and $10 per person to go see a movie at a theater. People like to be entertained; we like the escape from reality that it provides. But, finding ways to entertain ourselves can get expensive. Taking a family of four to the movies can easily end up costing $50 for two hours of fun, and that’s not even including popcorn. So it begs the question: how can we entertain ourselves and our families and not have to sell pints of blood on the weekends to finance it? To answer this question all you have to do is look back to your childhood.

Most kids play games growing up. Be it tag, foursquare, or red rover, kids love to play games. That’s why most people have memories of playing board games as children. Usually, those memories provide some of the fondest of our youth. That is because board games are a communal activity; something that we do together. They require interaction and communication. They also provide a little dose of healthy competition (or an unhealthy dose, if your dealing with some people!) But, as you get older, it’s easy to forget just how fun board games can be. Do yourself a favor and check out these helpful tips for bringing back the board games and bringing back some good old-fashioned childhood fun.

Pretty much every family I know has the same closet in their house. Maybe it’s a coat closet, or a cupboard in the garage. Sometimes it’s hiding in the basement, or tucked back in the guest room. I’m talking about the game closet. The place all of the old copies of Monopoly and Clue are hiding. And while those classic games are a lot of fun in and of themselves, sometimes after years of enjoying them, they can seem a little stale. Here’s where the Boardgame Remix Kit (http://boardgame-remix-kit.com) comes in. The guys behind the Boardgame Remix Kit know that every house has the same basic games in the closet: Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, and Trivial Pursuit. Using the boards, cards, and pieces of those games, the Boardgame Remix Kit creates new games from those old pieces. Don’t want to spring for the shipping costs of the Kit? They even have an app for iOS with all the rules to their new games.

Sometimes even repurposing old games isn’t enough to make board games interesting again. Luckily, board game manufacturers have been busy at work making new games every year. Sometimes its difficult to hear about these new games and know which are worth putting down your hard-earned money for. Here’s where Table Top comes in (http://tabletop.geekandsundry.com). Table Top is a web-based show where geek favorite Wil Wheaton gets together with some friends and demonstrates how to play a variety of “new” games you may not have heard of. Some of these games have been around laboring in obscurity for years just waiting for discovery. Some of the games Wil and friends have highlighted include Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, and Munchkin. Not only are the videos entertaining and funny, they make you want to go out and schedule your next game night post haste. Want to know where to find all of the games highlighted on Table Top? Starting on August 1, 2012, and continuing for three months, Target stores will carry and sell games highlighted on Table Top. Now you have no more excuses to upgrade your game collection.

While board games are a ton of fun, sometimes you want to do something that is still communal, but more passive. (It can be hard to have good conversation while you’re plotting how you are going to take over the Risk world.) It’s times like these you need to break out a jigsaw puzzle. I love puzzles. They are challenging and fun, but they also provide opportunities to converse with friends or just watch TV. They are also super cheap and provide a lot of bang for your buck. Plus, there is no greater feeling than perfectly inserting the last piece of your completed puzzle.

Full Report So friends, any other board game fans out there? Any other old-school recommendations for cheap entertainment? Any game recommendations? Sound off in the comments.

Article publié pour la première fois le 03/09/2012

I never understood how Roger and Anita planned to take care of 101 dalmations.  How could they possibly afford a Dalmation Plantation on a songwriter’s salary?  What a ridiculous plot.

Husband and I are dog lovers, though we have none.  This week we get to dogsit Badger, a lab/greyhound mix with a pension for burrowing under the covers.  If we were impulsive people we would abscond with this dog to Mexico; she is that awesome.  But alas, we are planners and, aside from the obvious faults with the Mexico plan, we have our reasons for not having a dog already. 

Cost Considerations When Deciding to Buy a Dog

1. $Time – your most valuable asset. 

All animals require a significant amount of your attention on a daily basis; not to mention vet visits, additonal shopping trips, and other doggy-type errands (poop patrol!).   If you’re thinking of buying a puppy, then consider the time it will take to train your new family member.  We haven’t been able to commit to a time sacrifice because we are so busy and it wouldn’t be fair to neglect a new puppy; that, or more likely, sacrifice our other committments because we are easily distracted by cuteness.   

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Article publié pour la première fois le 26/07/2010

Are you ready to save money, make money, reuse, reduce, recycle, and go green?  Are you tired of being weighed down with clutter?  Put on our captain’s hat, throw that heavy anchor (or armoire) overboard, cut the chain,  and get ready to set (yard) sale.   It’s that time of year, you have done your Spring-cleaning and now you have a heap of stuff you don’t want to tuck back into your closets and garages.  Time to put together a yard sale!   I have been working on a handy list of suggestions to help you get started.  Here are the her explanation Dos…

site de rencontre entre blanc Do make it easy on yourself.  Bundle things up to sell in increments of $1. Use rubber bands to make sets of silverware or fill clear bags with small toys.  Change is a pain.

Do invite a neighbor or a family member to do the sale with you.  That way you have more merchandise to draw customers, and more customers draw even more customers.  Also you can split the cost of advertising.  Just be careful not to spend all your profits buying each other’s stuff.

Do display some of your coolest items at the front of your yard or driveway to entice people.  Also, you may want to position yourself and your “check out” there so you can monitor all comings and goings to prevent your stuff from just “walking off.”  From this spot you can share quick info with drive by shoppers, like whether or not you’re offloading any power tools.

Do play some generally appealing, non-offensive music at your sale.  It encourages browsing just like at the mall and it gives the customers a sound screen so they can talk amongst themselves about whether or not your velvet Elvis is worth $8 without feeling like you are eavesdropping.

Do clean up the items you want to sell.  Blow up kid’s arm floaties, put clothes on hangers, shelve books.   No one wants to wade through nasty cobwebby rat poopy boxes.  Plus, if things are dirty they will think you didn’t take care of them so it is probably broken or messed up anyway.  Why would they buy that?

Do make readable signs, put them up at the right time and take them down at the right time.  That is all, thank you.

Do have a FREE box with things like broken appliances that may be good for parts or unwearable clothes that make good scraps or rags.

Do label all items if possible.  You don’t want to keep answering “how much for this?  How much for that?” all day.   For things like children’s clothes or toys you can have grocery sacks that people can stuff for say $2.  Or a sign telling customers “All Items On This Table $1.”

I hope you found these tips helpful or at least interesting.  Stay tuned next week for the Don’ts for your yard sale.  Have you ever pulled off a successful yard sale?  Do you have some other good tips?

Article publié pour la première fois le 06/06/2012