That Blozzz

Remember just a few years back when you paid full price for all your vacation needs? Yes once in a while you were lucky and a local promotion offered you a coupon for a few bucks off. We are so lucky now to have the Internet and it is so easy to find a discount just at the tips of your fingers.

Karen and I are planning are end of the year big vacation and we are still deciding where to go. We are also debating rather to drive or fly. I have an SUV and that is out of the question so the first thing I will have to find is some Car Rental Coupons. The rental will pay for itself with the savings on gas and wear and tear of my SUV.

We are thinking about maybe driving to a theme park and spending a few days. I found some great deals and some Six Flags Discounts which will cut the cost on the park and many area attractions. Since it is only five hours from us, it would a nice getaway but close enough to home that we would not have to drive for hours.

Another option we have is a trip to Las Vegas. Karen really wants to go but I am afraid of losing to much money. Karen did some great searching and found some great Las Vegas Coupons. However, we have not decided which to do yet.

It is great knowing that whatever we decide, we can find some great discounts on the Internet. I am not sure how people planned a vacation without it.

The following is a Sponsored Review.

Many Americans are deeply in debt and have no idea how to get out of debt. Credit card bills could wipe out your paycheck in no time flat. It is time to take action and control your debt. That is what Debt Consolidation is met to do. It is not a magic bullet, it a means to and end of your debt. The folks at Debt Free 24 are dedicated to helping people get their debt under control.

Like many Debt Consolidation programs, they attempt to negotiate with your creditors to lower your interest rates and consolidate your payments into one large payment. Once your payments are set into a single payment, you will pay that amount until the debt is paid off. As one loan or credit card is paid off, the additional amount is applied to the next highest interest debt until all are paid off.

Along with the program they offer, Debt Free 24 offers a lot of interesting and informative articles that explain how to reduce debt for good. They will point you to the right course of action for your set situation.

Debt Free 24 seems like any other credit counseling programs. Many of these programs are non profit but as far as I can tell that is not the case with them. This can be good or bad. For profit programs tend to be a little more aggressive in their negotiations with your creditors which equal cheaper interest rates. Many non profit agencies receive funding from the creditors themselves which always seems to me to be a conflict.

The disadvantage of a for profit program like Debt Free 24 is that the fees are often higher than a non profit program. If they get you a much lower interest rate the fee pays for itself. Also the fees are how they make their money so they do not rely on creditors to fund them. That means they work for you.

I like what I see and read on Debt Free 24. Their advice is sound and they offer an easy to contact form for clients to get more information. They seem to offer solid advice and do not state like many that there is a one size fits all fit for all debtors.

If you are in the situation where you need help, I say fill out their easy online form and talk to their representatives. You have nothing to lose from talking to them and they will offer you the best plan for your needs. Make sure you understand fully what you are getting into including the fees, the set payment, and what your interest rates will be before you sign anything.

I have included links for you to check out for yourself, you have nothing to lose by filling out the form and talking to the representatives at Debt Free 24. You could see yourself debt free in three to five years.

So I came across this site that offers loans for people with bad credit. There are literally hundreds and thousands of websites that offer such services but the difference between Credit and Mortgage Index and other sites is that not only it provides you the ability to apply online for a loan but it also has a large number of different financial articles and financial tools that will help you make informed decisions. There are a number of different types of loans that you can apply for using creditandmortgageindex.com.

You can get your car financed or apply for the best credit card offer online and you can also find how to apply for a personal loan after bankruptcy. One of the best offers on Credit and Mortgage Index is the ability to apply for an emergency loan. Basically, if you are running short on cash and if you need to get some cash with in 24-48 hours without worrying about your credit report, you can do that by applying for a cash advance loan that requires no credit check. This saves you a lot of time and helps you get cash in emergency situations. If you are in a credit crunch or if you are looking for some quick cash to deal with any unforeseen financial emergency, Credit and Mortgage Index can be very helpful.

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about going to a chicken swap. Yesterday, I went to the same place because they were having a small animal auction. I had thought of selling some of the chicks but my wife did not want to get up too early to get to the auction early enough to register the chicks before the auction.

That was a huge mistake! People are crazy and was paying big prices for chicks. There were about 40 Rhode Island Reds straight run chicks that went through about the same age as my chicks (7 weeks). They sold for between $11 and $16 each. I about fell on the floor. I could have sold all 36 Plymouth Rock chicks I had and made over $400. There were some day old Rhode Island Red chicks that you had to bid on one and buy all of them. They went for $8.00 each for a dozen of them. It was crazy since they were straight run and you can buy the same thing at the feed store for $2.29 each.

They had bunnies go through that went for $16-20 each. They were cute little black and white bunnies but I did not see nothing special that made them worth that. I think they sold about 25 of them at those prices. Everything else went quite high including ducks, pheasants, and turkeys. They had sheep and goats but they did not bring the big prices.

I ended up buying some nesting boxes, a cage, and some chicken wire. I got pretty good deals on them. I was not looking for any new animals at this time but now have an idea to raise a lot more chicks for next years auction. I am also considering going into raising rabbits because of the prices they got.

All in all we got a good idea what people are willing to pay and we had a great day. It gave us some ideas for future farm ventures.

Has any of my readers been to these types of auctions? What kind of prices did you see?

Many of us are always looking to make money. The Internet is an open source for making money if you know where to look. I have mentioned before about writing articles to make money but there some great sites that pay you for doing stuff.

I thought a good way for my readers to get some great ideas on making money is to share with each other. One of my favorite sites is BoomerTowne. This site is a points site that you can earn points for clicking around, rating stuff, adding friends, chatting, and much more. You can earn 1500 points a day and at 12,500 points you can cash in for a $25 gift certificate from Best Buy or Target. For 25,000 points, you can cash for a $50 Visa card. You also can get 10,000 points if you refer five people in a month who join. Both my wife and i are members and we have both received the gift cards. I get one about every 9-10 days with about 20 minutes a day on the site. If you decide to join please put my user in as a referral; it is pezeagle. If you prefer, send me an email at frugalwizard @ gmail.com and I will send you a referral link.

I know I am always looking for ways to earn money and i am sure many of readers feel the same way. Now it is your turn to share. What are some ways you earn money online? Please leave a comment and let us know and if you have a referral link, share that too.

I have always been quite interested in the Foreign Exchange Market and how people make money from trading currency. That is why I was a bit excited to do this sponsored review of a Forex website. Prior to checking out the website, I knew almost nothing about online Forex currency trading and this was supposed to be an informational site.

The first thing I noticed when I went to the Fab Forex site was that there were a lot of articles. This is an informational site and though the articles are not written by the website owner, he does credit the articles to the proper author. There are articles about all aspects of Forex trading including from the basics all the way up to more advanced levels.

Trading currency is not for the weak at heart and it is risky. However, as I found out on this website, the rewards are worth the risk if you can afford the risk. I read through some of the articles on this site and they are well written with quality information to help you understand the process of Forex.

The articles range from how to make money to how to spot scams. The one article I liked the most was a guide of sort to online currency trading. It gave a wonderful description on how the market works and some details on how to make money with Forex. There are even a few articles about the stock market and day trading.

This website is a collection of articles from all over the Internet and placed in one neat organized place. There are many off topic articles mixed in so when you use their search engine, you may end up with stuff you do not want. However, it was very easy to find the information I needed to learn about Forex.

As with any investment, the key is to do your research. If you are looking for a new investment opportunity and want more information, this website will be a great help. The site is not trying to sell you anything, it is just a no nonsense collection of information that is provided free of charge. I have provided the links for you to decide for yourself.

As for me, the site achieved what I wanted it to. It educated me. I now have a good overall understanding on the Foreign Exchange Market. I think if I decide to enter this market, I am well informed on risk and rewards. I also know what to look for in potential scams and they even had a currency converter to keep check of the rates. What more can you ask from a free website?

There are many many blogs on the Internet and you may be one of the many who want to start a blog. Well you have come to the right place.

Basically a blog is a place where anyone can write about anything they want to. I mean anything your heart desires rather good or bad. This gives a whole new meaning to freedom of speech. However, you do have to be careful in what you say as far as hate speech or stuff against the law because unless you own you own server, you could lose your hosting account and your blog be taken down.

To start a blog, first you need someone to host your blog. This can be free or it can cost you money. If you want to be a serious blogger and hope to some day make money on advertising, you want to go the paid route. However, I am jumping a head a bit. Let me first discuss your free option.

There are many free hosting services for blogs on the Internet. I will only address the two biggest ones. The first is blogger.com (blogspot). They are owned by Google and their service is user friendly and so easy that you could have a blog up in a matter of minutes. There is no cost and if you choose to put Adsense ads up, they make it very simple to place them where you want them. Since they are owned by Google, chances are they will be around for a long time.

The first step is to sign up and register a name for your site. This is anything you want as long as it is available. The name will be your web address on the Internet (URL). Choose carefully because you want the best name possible. The final address will be a sub domain and look like this thenameyouchose.blogspot.com . You now have a home on the Internet.

The next step is to choose a template or design of your site. There are quite a few to choose from but limited compared to what you can find elsewhere for paid hosted blogs. Chances are you can find one you like. If you are a web designer or coder or you know one, you can edit and change the design to fit your needs. I am not a coder so I went with what was offered by blogger.

The next step is to add elements to your site. You can add all kinds of good stuff like ads, links and other things from the template tab in the dashboard of your account. I could have pages about stuff to add but it is best to explore for yourself.

The final step to get you up and running is to add fresh original content to your site. Try to add often and keep people interested in coming back. Some bloggers use copied material, I suggest you write everything yourself or at least approve it yourself if you have someone else write it. Bam, you have yourself a blog. They do also have a feature that if you own your own Domain Names, you can point them to your blog and eliminate looking like a sub domain.

Word Press is the other free hosting site for blogs and they are located at wordpress.com . The process is similar to blogger but there are some features like categories that blogger.com does not offer. They also have a better selection of templates. I still prefer blogger.com because it is much easier to use for beginners and much easier to add adds and stuff. To be honest, I have never used the free version of Word Press, but my wife has and she thinks blogger is easier to use. If you use the free version of Word Press, you get a sub domain like blogger gives. You site will look like this : yourname.wordpress.com .

If you decide that free is not the way you want to go, the next step would be to purchase your own hosting account. This can range from $1 a month up to about $9.95 a month depending on who you use. You may want to look at some hosting reviews to see what other think before you buy.

You also would need to purchase your own domain name. I highly recommend namecheap.com because they have been the best that I have found. You will be looking at around $9 a year for a domain name. Pick one carefully because this is what people will see first when looking for or at your site. Try to find one that fits your topic and the smaller it is the better it is to remember. This is hard because most really good names are taken but you still find some good ones, or you can search around for one that someone is willing to sell.

Once you have these two things you will need to point your domain name to your hosting account. This is done by changing the name servers on your domain account. You should receive your names servers from your hosting provider. If not, ask them for the name servers.

Now you need to install a blog software script. This is pretty easy from your hosting package if they have Fantastico. This might be something you want to check before buying a hosting service. It is much easier to install this way than through the web page of the software provider.

Most bloggers use the Word Press software on their own hosting account. It is a little harder than if you used one of the free hosting sites but you can do so much more. There are many plugins or addons that you can install for free that will make life easier and add cool features to your site. I have a few on here that improve things. There are also thousands of templates you can find at wordpress.org or other places on the Internet. Make sure that the theme (template) is widget ready and that it works on all browsers. I downloaded one before and it worked great on Internet Explorer but did not work on Firefox or many other browsers. Another plus is that the side bar is on the right side, this is better for the search engines. Once you have the right theme and add your content, you now have a blog ready to go.

If you want people to read it, you need to make sure you advertise the blog. This can be done by telling people on related forums, adding links in directories, adding it to social bookmarking sites like Stumble Upon and word of mouth. The more you advertise, the better the traffic will be.

This short guide should be enough to get you up and running with your first blog. If you have something to add that would help others, please register and leave a comment.

If at first you fail, say That Blozzz and try again!

I have recently started expanding my Online writing and now I have the time to take on more writing jobs. I just recently added a page here on the blog with information with my rates for anyone who needs to hire a writer. I can do both article writing on various topics and I can also do forum posting for anyone looking to build their forum.

I make a pledge that all my writings will be original and not copy and paste or rewrites.

The page is listed in the side bar with all my rates.

First, let me start by explaining for those who do not know what Adsense is. Google Adsense is a pay per click program that is way for advertisers or webmasters to advertise all over the Internet.

As a website owner, you can apply to Google with your website or blog to become a publisher for their ad network. It is a simple process where you provide honest information to Google about your self and your site. They then evaluate your site to see if it qualifies to be included. Most sites will be included as long as they have some quality to them and the you offer some original content on your site.

Once you are approved, you are approved for all your websites and you do not to reapply for each one. You must carefully read the Terms of Service for Adsense so you make sure that you are following the rules and that your sites comply with the rules.

You first step is to log in to your Adsense account with your chosen email and password. There you will find many things that may overwhelm you at first. It is not as overwhelming as it looks. There are four main tabs; Reports, Adsense set up, My Account, and Resources.

The first tab is the reports, you will not see nothing much here yet but you will as you earn. This tells you how many views the ads on your sites have had, how many clicks, and how much you earned. You can check for various times. If you have channels set for each site, you will see what sites earned what. I will explain channels further down in the article. You can also get advanced reports for extended periods of time breaking down in several ways. You can play around and see the reports that best fits what you are looking for.

The Adsense setup tab is all about setting up your ads. Here you can get the code, which is a java code, for all the ads , search box, and referral products that Google offers. You can change the size, design, and filter out things you do not want on you site like an ad from your competitor. At this tab you also can add channels.

Channels are simply a way to track an individual ad or a website URL, By setting these up, you will know which of your sites are making money and which ones you need to work on. They are easy to add and delete and I highly recommend you do one for all the sites you use Adsense on.

The third is My Account, which is a place to edit your main information like name address, email, etc… The final tab is a resource tab of other tools and services that Google offers.

Once you find what ads you want and where to place them, all you need to do is place the code in your website template or in the code of your website. Depending on what kind of coded site you are using will depend on how you do this.

If you are using a self-hosted word-press, it is best to install an Adsense plug- in to place the code on the sidebar as long as your template is widget ready. For the header and footer, you will have to place it in those files. I am not a coder so I will not give too much advice on that.

If you are using a free blogger.com blog, it is even easier to install the code. All you do is go to your dash board and find the layout and you can just add your AdSense with a few clicks by clicking add page element and dragging it where you want it.

For all other pages, you need to add the code in the appropriate files where you want the ads to be.

Once you have the code installed, Google will find you, there is nothing else you need to do. The ads will be based of main keywords from your content. If you chose to include both links and image ads, you may see a picture ad once in a while.

You get paid a small percentage every time someone visits one of your ads, purchasing or sign up for a product or does a search through the search box. If it is an image ad that is placed on your site, you will get paid a small amount for every 1000 people who view the ad.

Many people have made some huge amounts of money using Adsense. The key is to have a large amount of traffic and to follow the rules. The more popular your site, the better the chance people will click on the ads and you will earn money.

Once you earn $50, you will be sent a PIN number through the postal mail to the address on file. You will need to confirm this number before you can ever receive a payment. You can not get paid until you have reached $100. It takes up to a month depending on your payment method and where you live to receive payment following the end of the month you reached at least $100.

I recommend direct deposit but they will mail a check or in some parts of the world they will send Western Union but this involves a fee.

A few things that are not allowed by Adsense are:

No Adult sites

You can not click or ask others to click your ads

You can not alter the code

You can not display an image with the code

No Pop-ups

You can not try to hide the fact that it is a Google ad

You can not list them as a sponsor of you site

You can have only three of any one kind of ad on your site

There are many other rules that you should take the time to read carefully. If you break the rules, there are no second chances, you will be banned and that means banned for life.

If you try to open another fake account or even with your same information, you may get approved. However, they will catch you prior to paying you any money. Just do the right thing and follow the rules from the beginning you should be fine and hopefully make some good money.

If you apply once and you are turned down, don’t get upset, say That Blozzz and fix your site and reapply.

Here in the United States we have for several years lived by the seat of our pants when it comes to money. We are use to having the best and are often not willing to settle for less. Earlier people were not as materialistic as we are today but we have become a spoiled society.

The problem is that prices of everything have gone through the roof. We are seeing record increases in items we need every day. Our recent fuel oil bill for our house was $532 for three weeks. Gas has jumped to $3.26 a gallon and our grocery bill has climbed up about 20% a year.

We are fortunate in the fact that we have decent household income but many are not as lucky. However, even with a nice income, we struggle every month to make sure we have enough to cover all the bills with a little left over for the occasional fun stuff.

People in other parts of the world have faced these prices for many years and we are now seeing the effects in our own country. The jobs are getting scarcer and the cost of living is going up faster than the income is. It is a scary thought of the way things are going.

There are way to fight off the costs. One is to plant a garden. You can supply your family with healthier produce for a small cost of money and some good old fashion physical work. The garden offers you many benefits. You can quit paying those gym memberships because the exercise you get from the garden is some of the best exercises available. You save money on your food bill. You save on medical expenses because you know where the food is coming from and it is healthier than anything you buy in the store. Gardens also offer great family time without the added expense of finding things to do. A garden is a win win.

Another way to cut cost is to barter with others. The old ways of neighbors helping neighbors has all but faded out but it can be reborn. In my neighborhood, one neighbor has a tractor and he does all my tilling in the spring. In exchange, I help out where I can when him and his wife go out of town. I also have a neighbor who is a mechanic and I pay him much less than I pay a commercial garage but often times, I trade computer work by me for him fixing the car.

Another way to save money is to cut down on eating out. Also pack your lunch instead of eating out everyday. Instead of expensive coffee out, make some at home and add favors if that is your thing. When you do eat out, drink water instead of soft drinks. That alone can save you $2-$3 per person plus it is healthier for you.

When grocery shopping, use coupons. The Sunday paper cost anywhere from $2-$3 most places and you will get much more than that in savings from the coupons. Also when possible, buy things you use often in bulk. Use stores like Sam’s Club and BJs to save you money. Just be careful, some items cost more in the big packages than it does in the small.

Other ways to save is to buy used when possible. Yard sales are great places to find bargains and you can cut your cost by 75% or more on items you need. Shopping your local classified ads can land you a super bargain. There are now also numerous sites like eBay, half.com, craigslist, and more that makes it easy right from home to find a deal.

These are just a few ideas of how we can adjust our spending so we can afford it. Current prices suck and they can end up getting you down. You can sit and bitch and complain all day or you can use our philosophy, say That Blozzz and stand up and do something to save your family money.