I read product reviews. Sometimes I find the information contained in them helpful and other times they aren't. I think product reviews aren't going to be a one size fits all thing. Alot of it is going to depend on the information that you are looking for and whether or not the product reviewer expounds in that area. Sometimes a person's position on a particular product is going to be a matter of taste.
I always check the product reviews but I take them with a grain of salt. You have to assume that people generally take the time to write a product review more often when they are unhappy or completely over-the-moon for the product. You don't see many middle-of-the-road purely objective reviews. So, I look for common problems with the product that are mentioned in multiple reviews and just try to gauge an overall quality from that.
The "people lived there before air conditioning" argument doesn't hold up in my opinion. If that's the standard for deciding you can do without AC, then let's remember that people have lived north of the Arctic Circle for a long time, and done it without a furnace or baseboard heat, etc. So turn off your heat. And hey, people didn't have cars, kitchen gadgets or refrigerators either. So let's give them up--after all, people lived like that once, so we can do it too.
We have a really late last-frost date (May 15) but last year I started my seeds in an unheated sunporch (which we obviously don't use for much in February and March). What I found was that my seedlings were smaller, but more vigorous, than when I started them under heat lamps.
There are also cold-hardy greens that do really well started as soon as the ground is clear, well before last frost date - in Texas you could probably grow kale, broccoli, and cold-hardy beets all winter. I start mine about now and we eat them in early May.
I only buy Horizon organic milk now because I can taste something bad in regular milk. For me, the bad taste is quite strong in regular milk and I don't know how people can drink the stuff. I also drank Oberweis milk in the past and I know one of their bottles had the same taste as regular milk so one non-organic milk slipped through the quality control at Oberweis. I also got at least one spoiled milk through Oberweis (they gave me a new one). So, I would still strongly pick Oberweis (organic) over regular milk. Anyway, I strongly believe that Horizon organic milk (and Oberweis usually) is healthier because it doesn't have that taste that regular milk does. I don't know what that taste is, but I believe it is bovine growth hormone that has been injected in the cow and got in the milk. My dad didn't want to drink organic milk, I guess because he thought in some way it was not normal. But when I had him do a taste test, he thought the organic milk was the regular milk (I think because the organic milk tasted better). I think that says it all.
I always read reviews before I buy a product - I usually check at amazon rather than other sites. As the wife of a guy who blogs and reviews products for a living, I know that there are ethical bloggers out there who give true reviews. But he doesn't get to keep anything he reviews, so that helps keep him honest, I guess. I have stopped reading blogs on occasion when I feel like they are trying to sell me stuff rather than give honest thoughts.
I have been repairing my 15 year old car since I can remember. So I would try looking on amazon for parts or try frugalmechanic.com if you are a DIY'er. That is if you do not mind waiting for the part to be shipped to your house. Usually it is way cheaper this way as opposed to the auto parts store down the street.
I believe that the only real way to be successful in this world is to be pro-active. I’d bet you’d be very hard pressed to find a success story where the person just sat around and waited for the perfect opportunity to fall into their lap. That would be nice, but it’s not realistic.
In order to make all your dreams a reality you have to just go for it sometimes. It’s true that you might miss, but you’ll never succeed if you never take a chance.
Instead of sitting around waiting for some great idea it's important to get out there and do something. Right now is the perfect time to buy a small to mid size business. This economy has left a whole lot of businesses out there selling for less than their worth. Now is the time for people who want the most out of life to grasp on and take the plunge.
There are many mature, profitable businesses for sale out there. Most of these are for sale by owner on the hidden market. All you need is to do the due diligence and maybe get a little help from someone like a business broker, or even better an Authorized Business Buyer Advocate.
Find an area where your expertise can be put to work for you rather than just hoping and praying for the next great idea. Most of the totally great new ideas have already been taken. Wouldn’t it be easier to take someone's great idea and make it even better?
Anyone interested in the buying of a business should check out http://www.businessbuyeradvocate.com/ . It is a great blog full of must have knowledge for anyone thinking about taking the plunge. It’s frequented by quite a few experts in various aspects of the field that can help you with any questions you might have or perspective you might need.
Buying a business very well could be the most important decision you ever make in your life. You have to make sure you buy the right business the right way.
Something similar happened to me a few years ago--the way TurboTax worded a question caused me to get hit with a penalty for underpaying taxes (they asked had I lived in my NYC neighborhood for the entire year, which I had not, but answering "no" marked my return as a part-time resident of the NYC tax locality, which wasn't correct, and their error checking didn't catch it despite my previous address being a NYC address).
I called and complained, and they did refund my fees, and the next year the question was asked correctly. I think you should definitely keep trying to get your money back--their software caused a problem and it didn't live up to their gaurantee.
Product reviews written by consumers are invaluable to my purchasing decisions. In fact, I will hardly ever buy ANYTHING over $5 without first consulting the 'net or friends for reviews. That way I waste less money buying things on impulse because the packaging looks good.
I generally prefer to see several different reviews of the same item before I buy, so I can make a more educated decision. Amazon.com is particularly good for that. If I can only find a few reviews, I judge their accuracy based on the writing tone:
Is it overly harsh or overly bubbly? Probably not trustworthy. Does the author list both pros AND cons? I prefer to hear the potential negative "side effects" as well as the good things (just as with medicine) before I buy, so I know what to expect. On blogs, are there pictures of the product in use? Especially for hair and makeup items, this one is important.
I disagree. I think your statement is very much dependent on where you live.
We bought our 3bedroom/2 bath/2car 1600 sf home 2 years ago and pay a grand total of $1,020K/month which includes taxes, interest, insurance.
If we were to rent a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1,500 sf apartment in this neighborhood we would be paying around 2,200/month. Before we (hubby, me, 2kids) purchased this home were were crammed, paying $1,200 for a 2 bedroom, 800 square foot apartment with a rat infestation and electrical problem in a crappy neighborhood. We needed 3 bedrooms but the apartments in decent locations were far too expensive. Even 2 bedroom apartments tended to run at least $1,500 in the nicer areas.
Despite being and old and decrepid apartment building, our rent continued to go up.
Now about that electrical problem. Because it was an old apartment complex with old AC units, our electricity cost was roughly 400 a month sometimes higher. We had no control since it wasn't "our place" we couldn't change the AC unit to a higher efficiency one. Since purchasing our home we pay approx $200.00/month in electricity. Curiously enough, our water bill is also lower, about $20.00 less a month in our home than when we rented.
In two years living in this home we have done "minimal" maintenance(all do it ourselves). Mostly cosmetic. For a very small cost a year, our appliances are all warrantied-including the heating/AC system. We also have warranties on plumbing issues.
whatever we do have to pay for down the road would have been offset by the savings of not renting.
In otherwords, we estimated that our savings are well over $1,000 a month by purchasing rather than renting a 3 bedroom apartment "comparable" to our house.
That is money in the bank we stash for a "rainy" day. We don't ever have to worry about "rising rent" either since our interest rate is fixed.
My parents rented for over 25 years before they were no longer able to keep up with skyrocketing rents and decided to buy. They were convinced that renting was the way to go, until they ended up spending more money and getting less and less with each year that passed.
Renting was a decision they have come to regret, especially since they passed on a home they could have afforded yrs ago. My father discovered about 2 years ago, that the home he passed up was worth over 800K in today's market. He could have bought it for 55K. and have long since paid that mortgage off.
Instead after 25 years of renting he found himself starting all over again with a mortgage. Still, it's a mortgage which is far less than what he used to pay in rent.
Renting only makes sense in your first few years of young SINGLE, NO KIDS, adulthood while you are still trying to decide what to do with your life and living in a tiny box is no big deal.
>>If you calculate ALL the costs that go into purchasing a house, not only the loan, but the taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc. you'll find that it often costs 3x the amount it would if you simply rented.
I was just talking about this to my husband. I do read reviews, and I do try to get reviews from different sources, because I think it's the safest way to guard against falling victim to "reviews" that are advertisements in disguise. This is easier to do with appliances, than with something like a sewing machine or overlock machine, in my experience, probably because of the number of consumers looking for each.
Same thing happened to us! In fact, the repair guy we work with regularly (that moonlights as an independent and we found on Craigslist) let us know that we didn't even need to replace one of the MAF Sensors in our vehicles. Turns out that just using the $7 spray to clean it out got us thousands of more miles before even having to consider replacing it. Something a repair shop probably wouldn't have told us!
Yes, being resourceful is the key. We've also used online auto parts dealers like RockAuto.com for bottom-dollar new parts and Car-part.com for finding hard-to-locate used parts from You-pull-it dealers in the area. Even with shipping, we've been able to get entire transmissions shipped from out of state for far less than buying new from the dealer. It definitely pays to shop around!
I had never thought of using Craigslist for inexpensive car repair. But it is a great idea. And Craigslist is probably applicable to every other money-saving idea. :)
It should be clarified, the PMI deduction is only for purchases or refinances made since 2007 and is scheduled to expire at the end of 2010 unless it is extended. Also, there are income limits where it phases out (I believe phase out starts at $100k and stops completely at $110k for married filing jointly).
It's great getting to read so many different views on this topic. I do want to point out however, that I never said to lie or deceive on your resume, nor do I recommend doing it in your interview.
So, let me just clarify a little:
Resume "B.S." isn't lying or being deceitful. It's simply taking the skills, experience and talents you have and really highlighting them so your potential employer sees your brilliance. Imagine being asked to write your own bio because you've won an award... these introductions are designed to show why this person won the award in the first place... your resume should do basically the same thing... I think Julie's bricklaying example is perfect: men laying bricks are asked what they are doing... one says he is laying brick, another is making a wall, and the third is building a cathedral: which one would you hire?
Point #2 - I never said the "greatest weakness" question was a good one - simply that if you're asked it, you have to have an answer other than "i hate mornings", "I have ADD" or "I'm not organized". So, if the interviewer is going to ask me what my worst habit or flaw is, then I should be able to spin that a little so that it doesn't cost me the job.
And while we're on this subject, "spinning" doesn't mean lying either. Perfectionism is a weakness and if left unchecked can immoblilize you because the work is never good enough to say "done". Likewise, my example in this article - doing things outside my job description because I don't believe in "that's not my job" - has actually gotten me in trouble a few times early in my career. Apparently, when the company has an entire department to handle a specific task, they get kind of cranky when someone else handles it without going through proper channels.
So, honestly, that is one of my weaknesses. I've just learned how to play it so that it doesn't cost me the position.
And lastly, I do agree that writing a thank you note is a great idea and should have been included on my list. I also agree with taking props to your interview - the more you have to show off your stuff, the more impressive you look.
And yes, if you can do some research and learn a little about the company you're meeting with, that's always a classy move too.
In addition to the tools you have outlined, I have found that finding a good local junkyard and online forum's about your car can be a huge savings. I recently purchased a Mass Air Flow Sensor from the junk yard for $40 dollars. It would have cost $300 to buy the part new. Since I drive a maxima, I am constantly on maxima.org learning about DIY projects and other peoples tips on diagnosing problems.
Depending on the make/model of your car, you can often pull check engine codes without the use of a cable/computer. On my car it as simple as turning a screw on the ECU and counting the number of long/short check engine light flashes. As mentioned in this article, the key is to be informed. Your ability to project a solid understanding of problems, could prevent mechanics from ripping you off.
...but I always take them with a grain of salt. We all have different opinions. Obviously what is an amazing thing to one person might be utterly worthless to another. So, I really only research product reviews if I'm truly on the fence about something and then I consider the source when perusing them and, ultimately, the reviews are but a small part of what affects my decision.
I've actually bought a code reader from Costco for only $40. Not sure if it covers all cars, but it's a great deal if it works for you!
It depends. If the review gives enough details explaining why it is good or not, I will believe it
I read product reviews. Sometimes I find the information contained in them helpful and other times they aren't. I think product reviews aren't going to be a one size fits all thing. Alot of it is going to depend on the information that you are looking for and whether or not the product reviewer expounds in that area. Sometimes a person's position on a particular product is going to be a matter of taste.
Christine
dazed1821@aol.com
I always check the product reviews but I take them with a grain of salt. You have to assume that people generally take the time to write a product review more often when they are unhappy or completely over-the-moon for the product. You don't see many middle-of-the-road purely objective reviews. So, I look for common problems with the product that are mentioned in multiple reviews and just try to gauge an overall quality from that.
The "people lived there before air conditioning" argument doesn't hold up in my opinion. If that's the standard for deciding you can do without AC, then let's remember that people have lived north of the Arctic Circle for a long time, and done it without a furnace or baseboard heat, etc. So turn off your heat. And hey, people didn't have cars, kitchen gadgets or refrigerators either. So let's give them up--after all, people lived like that once, so we can do it too.
We have a really late last-frost date (May 15) but last year I started my seeds in an unheated sunporch (which we obviously don't use for much in February and March). What I found was that my seedlings were smaller, but more vigorous, than when I started them under heat lamps.
There are also cold-hardy greens that do really well started as soon as the ground is clear, well before last frost date - in Texas you could probably grow kale, broccoli, and cold-hardy beets all winter. I start mine about now and we eat them in early May.
I only buy Horizon organic milk now because I can taste something bad in regular milk. For me, the bad taste is quite strong in regular milk and I don't know how people can drink the stuff. I also drank Oberweis milk in the past and I know one of their bottles had the same taste as regular milk so one non-organic milk slipped through the quality control at Oberweis. I also got at least one spoiled milk through Oberweis (they gave me a new one). So, I would still strongly pick Oberweis (organic) over regular milk. Anyway, I strongly believe that Horizon organic milk (and Oberweis usually) is healthier because it doesn't have that taste that regular milk does. I don't know what that taste is, but I believe it is bovine growth hormone that has been injected in the cow and got in the milk. My dad didn't want to drink organic milk, I guess because he thought in some way it was not normal. But when I had him do a taste test, he thought the organic milk was the regular milk (I think because the organic milk tasted better). I think that says it all.
We build a cat condo for our cat to play with, and she likes to eat chicken and tuna. So we feed her some leftover meats.
I always read reviews before I buy a product - I usually check at amazon rather than other sites. As the wife of a guy who blogs and reviews products for a living, I know that there are ethical bloggers out there who give true reviews. But he doesn't get to keep anything he reviews, so that helps keep him honest, I guess. I have stopped reading blogs on occasion when I feel like they are trying to sell me stuff rather than give honest thoughts.
I have been repairing my 15 year old car since I can remember. So I would try looking on amazon for parts or try frugalmechanic.com if you are a DIY'er. That is if you do not mind waiting for the part to be shipped to your house. Usually it is way cheaper this way as opposed to the auto parts store down the street.
I am just now filing my 2008 taxes....can I still get the Stimulus Check?
Don't forget utilities.
Travel costs are also a potential good one. You can deduct mileage if you're running around town doing business for your rental.
I HAVE A TOSHIBA RDXV59DTKB2 DOES ANY ONE KHOW HOW TO MAKE IT REGION FREE
I believe that the only real way to be successful in this world is to be pro-active. I’d bet you’d be very hard pressed to find a success story where the person just sat around and waited for the perfect opportunity to fall into their lap. That would be nice, but it’s not realistic.
In order to make all your dreams a reality you have to just go for it sometimes. It’s true that you might miss, but you’ll never succeed if you never take a chance.
Instead of sitting around waiting for some great idea it's important to get out there and do something. Right now is the perfect time to buy a small to mid size business. This economy has left a whole lot of businesses out there selling for less than their worth. Now is the time for people who want the most out of life to grasp on and take the plunge.
There are many mature, profitable businesses for sale out there. Most of these are for sale by owner on the hidden market. All you need is to do the due diligence and maybe get a little help from someone like a business broker, or even better an Authorized Business Buyer Advocate.
Find an area where your expertise can be put to work for you rather than just hoping and praying for the next great idea. Most of the totally great new ideas have already been taken. Wouldn’t it be easier to take someone's great idea and make it even better?
Anyone interested in the buying of a business should check out http://www.businessbuyeradvocate.com/ . It is a great blog full of must have knowledge for anyone thinking about taking the plunge. It’s frequented by quite a few experts in various aspects of the field that can help you with any questions you might have or perspective you might need.
Buying a business very well could be the most important decision you ever make in your life. You have to make sure you buy the right business the right way.
Something similar happened to me a few years ago--the way TurboTax worded a question caused me to get hit with a penalty for underpaying taxes (they asked had I lived in my NYC neighborhood for the entire year, which I had not, but answering "no" marked my return as a part-time resident of the NYC tax locality, which wasn't correct, and their error checking didn't catch it despite my previous address being a NYC address).
I called and complained, and they did refund my fees, and the next year the question was asked correctly. I think you should definitely keep trying to get your money back--their software caused a problem and it didn't live up to their gaurantee.
Product reviews written by consumers are invaluable to my purchasing decisions. In fact, I will hardly ever buy ANYTHING over $5 without first consulting the 'net or friends for reviews. That way I waste less money buying things on impulse because the packaging looks good.
I generally prefer to see several different reviews of the same item before I buy, so I can make a more educated decision. Amazon.com is particularly good for that. If I can only find a few reviews, I judge their accuracy based on the writing tone:
Is it overly harsh or overly bubbly? Probably not trustworthy. Does the author list both pros AND cons? I prefer to hear the potential negative "side effects" as well as the good things (just as with medicine) before I buy, so I know what to expect. On blogs, are there pictures of the product in use? Especially for hair and makeup items, this one is important.
I disagree. I think your statement is very much dependent on where you live.
We bought our 3bedroom/2 bath/2car 1600 sf home 2 years ago and pay a grand total of $1,020K/month which includes taxes, interest, insurance.
If we were to rent a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1,500 sf apartment in this neighborhood we would be paying around 2,200/month. Before we (hubby, me, 2kids) purchased this home were were crammed, paying $1,200 for a 2 bedroom, 800 square foot apartment with a rat infestation and electrical problem in a crappy neighborhood. We needed 3 bedrooms but the apartments in decent locations were far too expensive. Even 2 bedroom apartments tended to run at least $1,500 in the nicer areas.
Despite being and old and decrepid apartment building, our rent continued to go up.
Now about that electrical problem. Because it was an old apartment complex with old AC units, our electricity cost was roughly 400 a month sometimes higher. We had no control since it wasn't "our place" we couldn't change the AC unit to a higher efficiency one. Since purchasing our home we pay approx $200.00/month in electricity. Curiously enough, our water bill is also lower, about $20.00 less a month in our home than when we rented.
In two years living in this home we have done "minimal" maintenance(all do it ourselves). Mostly cosmetic. For a very small cost a year, our appliances are all warrantied-including the heating/AC system. We also have warranties on plumbing issues.
whatever we do have to pay for down the road would have been offset by the savings of not renting.
In otherwords, we estimated that our savings are well over $1,000 a month by purchasing rather than renting a 3 bedroom apartment "comparable" to our house.
That is money in the bank we stash for a "rainy" day. We don't ever have to worry about "rising rent" either since our interest rate is fixed.
My parents rented for over 25 years before they were no longer able to keep up with skyrocketing rents and decided to buy. They were convinced that renting was the way to go, until they ended up spending more money and getting less and less with each year that passed.
Renting was a decision they have come to regret, especially since they passed on a home they could have afforded yrs ago. My father discovered about 2 years ago, that the home he passed up was worth over 800K in today's market. He could have bought it for 55K. and have long since paid that mortgage off.
Instead after 25 years of renting he found himself starting all over again with a mortgage. Still, it's a mortgage which is far less than what he used to pay in rent.
Renting only makes sense in your first few years of young SINGLE, NO KIDS, adulthood while you are still trying to decide what to do with your life and living in a tiny box is no big deal.
>>If you calculate ALL the costs that go into purchasing a house, not only the loan, but the taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc. you'll find that it often costs 3x the amount it would if you simply rented.
I was just talking about this to my husband. I do read reviews, and I do try to get reviews from different sources, because I think it's the safest way to guard against falling victim to "reviews" that are advertisements in disguise. This is easier to do with appliances, than with something like a sewing machine or overlock machine, in my experience, probably because of the number of consumers looking for each.
Same thing happened to us! In fact, the repair guy we work with regularly (that moonlights as an independent and we found on Craigslist) let us know that we didn't even need to replace one of the MAF Sensors in our vehicles. Turns out that just using the $7 spray to clean it out got us thousands of more miles before even having to consider replacing it. Something a repair shop probably wouldn't have told us!
Linsey Knerl
Yes, being resourceful is the key. We've also used online auto parts dealers like RockAuto.com for bottom-dollar new parts and Car-part.com for finding hard-to-locate used parts from You-pull-it dealers in the area. Even with shipping, we've been able to get entire transmissions shipped from out of state for far less than buying new from the dealer. It definitely pays to shop around!
I appreciate your comments :)
Linsey Knerl
I had never thought of using Craigslist for inexpensive car repair. But it is a great idea. And Craigslist is probably applicable to every other money-saving idea. :)
Thank you for this list.
It should be clarified, the PMI deduction is only for purchases or refinances made since 2007 and is scheduled to expire at the end of 2010 unless it is extended. Also, there are income limits where it phases out (I believe phase out starts at $100k and stops completely at $110k for married filing jointly).
It's great getting to read so many different views on this topic. I do want to point out however, that I never said to lie or deceive on your resume, nor do I recommend doing it in your interview.
So, let me just clarify a little:
Resume "B.S." isn't lying or being deceitful. It's simply taking the skills, experience and talents you have and really highlighting them so your potential employer sees your brilliance. Imagine being asked to write your own bio because you've won an award... these introductions are designed to show why this person won the award in the first place... your resume should do basically the same thing... I think Julie's bricklaying example is perfect: men laying bricks are asked what they are doing... one says he is laying brick, another is making a wall, and the third is building a cathedral: which one would you hire?
Point #2 - I never said the "greatest weakness" question was a good one - simply that if you're asked it, you have to have an answer other than "i hate mornings", "I have ADD" or "I'm not organized". So, if the interviewer is going to ask me what my worst habit or flaw is, then I should be able to spin that a little so that it doesn't cost me the job.
And while we're on this subject, "spinning" doesn't mean lying either. Perfectionism is a weakness and if left unchecked can immoblilize you because the work is never good enough to say "done". Likewise, my example in this article - doing things outside my job description because I don't believe in "that's not my job" - has actually gotten me in trouble a few times early in my career. Apparently, when the company has an entire department to handle a specific task, they get kind of cranky when someone else handles it without going through proper channels.
So, honestly, that is one of my weaknesses. I've just learned how to play it so that it doesn't cost me the position.
And lastly, I do agree that writing a thank you note is a great idea and should have been included on my list. I also agree with taking props to your interview - the more you have to show off your stuff, the more impressive you look.
And yes, if you can do some research and learn a little about the company you're meeting with, that's always a classy move too.
In addition to the tools you have outlined, I have found that finding a good local junkyard and online forum's about your car can be a huge savings. I recently purchased a Mass Air Flow Sensor from the junk yard for $40 dollars. It would have cost $300 to buy the part new. Since I drive a maxima, I am constantly on maxima.org learning about DIY projects and other peoples tips on diagnosing problems.
Depending on the make/model of your car, you can often pull check engine codes without the use of a cable/computer. On my car it as simple as turning a screw on the ECU and counting the number of long/short check engine light flashes. As mentioned in this article, the key is to be informed. Your ability to project a solid understanding of problems, could prevent mechanics from ripping you off.
...but I always take them with a grain of salt. We all have different opinions. Obviously what is an amazing thing to one person might be utterly worthless to another. So, I really only research product reviews if I'm truly on the fence about something and then I consider the source when perusing them and, ultimately, the reviews are but a small part of what affects my decision.