Author Archives: Unsigned Podcast

Last Minute Savings

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Yesterday started off like a normal Sunday, woke up and made coffee, walked the dogs, turned on the computer to check emails. That’s when everything went downhill really fast. I had an email from my sister that her husband had died the previous night, they had tried to call but my cell phone went right to voicemail, so they resorted to email to get the word to me.

Of course, I dropped everything and made arrangements to go to Maryland to be with the family. Thankfully, I was able to find some coupons online to take care a lot of the details for this unexpected trip and I saved some money.

End of the Year Games

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Thinking ahead to Christmas and electronics, I think I need to take a survey between family members and see what kind of game console and game systems they have or want. Christmas is the best time to get new games and nowadays you have to make sure you get a game for the right system. There are some exciting new games coming out at the end of the year – just in time for Christmas!

An article in the New York Times had a sneak preview of some of the games expected to be the greatest hits:

  • Fallout 3 to be released in October (for PC, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3)
  • Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2 to be released in November (for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3)
  • Guitar Hero World Tour to be released in October
  • Rock Band 2 to be released in September for 360 and later for PS and Wii
  • Left 4 Dead to be released in November
  • LittleBigPlanet to be released in October
  • Spore for PC and Mac now on sale

College Bound and Down

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My step daughter had decided to become a professional student. She goes to school for a bit, then quits. Then a few months later she regrets having quit and signs up again. Then she find a reason to not go. Then she hears about a scholarship program or student loans and she goes again. I think she will be 30 before she ever actually finishes school.

My son is much more serious about getting a college education and we are in the process of evaluating the different colleges and universities to see where he would like to go. Of course, I would prefer an in state school to help save on tuition and take advantage of the scholarships available to residents through the lottery funded programs. But if he gets his heart set on an out of state school then I’m down with it and will find a way to get the money for him.

There’s a cool website that helps kids with their college applications. Here are their top tips:

  1. Proofread your applications for spelling and grammar
  2. Read the instructions carefully and all the way through before beginning
  3. Type the applications and write legibly
  4. Apply to several schools
  5. Don’t use a silly nickname in your email address – get a free email account using your first and last name to appear more serious and professional

Spin Ads

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Reading through this month’s Spin Magazine I am struck by how many ads are targeting the younger demographic that must read this magazine regularly with products that are not necessarily good for them or helpful to them other than designer clothing lines.

The inside cover is a special slick trifold page that gives this advertiser 4 actual full pages of exposure for 1800 Tequila.

The next two pages are DKNY Jeans, and the next two pages are for VanHeusen shirts – their Studio line.

The next two pages are Quiksilver shirts, jeans and hoodies.

The next two pages are Ben Sherman coats. I guess it’s coats. Can’t tell for sure.

Then we finally get to a page that I thought might be a table of contents page opposite a full page ad for Boost cell phones. But it’s not a table of contents. Its a page called Spin Flash with photos from four of the summer’s big concerts.

Then FINALLY a table of contents page, opposite an ad for Hennessy cognac.

So to just get to the table of contents page we’ve been exposed to:

  • Liquor – 5 pages
  • Clothing, shoes, handbags & accessories – 8 pages
  • Cell Phones & Electronics – 1 page
  • Personal Care Products – 0 pages
  • Music & Concerts – 0 pages

So for fun I went through the rest of the magazine and tallied the rest of the ads into basic categories. The rest of the magazine might have halfpage ads or quarter page ads, but I’m counting the occurrences of the types of ads, so some pages maybe be counted twice if they contain two half page ads.

  • Liquor – 12 pages
  • Clothing, shoes, handbags & accessories – 16 pages
  • Cell Phones & Electronics – 6 page
  • Personal Care Products – 2 pages
  • Music & Concerts – 16 pages
  • Other – 9 pages

Wrecking Their Credit

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My sister’s husband was in a car wreck back in March and hasn’t worked since. He hurt his back and has been back and forth to all kinds of different doctors. It’s bad enough that his car was totaled and he can’t afford a new one, but he’s in pain every time he does the least little bit of lifting or carrying or pulling on things. We figure the car insurance will help take care of most of these kinds of things. What worries my sister and me is that he’s not earning any income all this time and the household bills are piling up.

Sis had to come out of retirement and go back to work just to bring in some money and pay the basics, like food and the utilities. But the rest of the bills are getting harder and harder to put off. I’ve helped her out a little here and there, but they are going to need a lot more help than what I can give.

She finally started looking into debt consolidation and counseling, and I’m sure the possibility of filing for bankruptcy is in the back of her mind, too. There’s a wide difference in the types of debt relief services and I want her to make informed decisions about this important financial matters. It’s bad enough that we are in a tough economy, but with her husband hurt and her two sons in college, she has a lot of worries.