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Free trials are a double-edged sword. They allow you to test drive a service you are interested in for free, but almost always end up with a charge on your credit card because you forgot to cancel the trial. That is exactly the reason companies are quick to offer a "free trial" to anyone with a credit card. Approximately 50 - 70% of the free trial takers will forget to cancel and the company will make at least one month's payment from them. Charge-backs are not too bad, unless you're running an internet porn company (so I'm told.) "I swear, honey. I have no idea how that charge for one month access to "Giant Glorious Jugs" ended up on our credit card statement. I'll call them and challenge it!" Herre are a couple of tips to make the most of those free trials, without getting stuck with a fee for something you don't like or won't use.
This is by far the easiest method to save yourself money while still reaping the benefits of free trials. I use this method exclusively. I use my PDA phone for work appointments anyway, so it's a trivial thing for me to quickly add an appointment reminder 2 weeks before my trial expires.
This is a great little trick to get back at the companies that take advantage of our forgetful nature. Just buy a $25 Visa/Mastercard/American Express gift card, and then use all but about $5 of it. Now you have the perfect card to use for those free trials. Most companies will only zing the card for $1 to ensure it's a valid card. That $1 will not actually be charged - it's just a place holder for about 5 days, after which it falls off. (BTW, I know what some of you are thinking - Please don't use this trick for buying gas at a self-service station. While I'm sure it would work, $40 worth of gas is not worth 1-3 years of your life!) That brings me to the last tip - Always leave yourself a couple of weeks to cancel the trial. Some sneaky companies have been known to make it extremely difficult to cancel. I remember reading about one well known company that required you to mail in your cancelation notice. They would not accept it over the phone "for security reasons." BS! (That may be illegal in some states now, however.) Using a gift card will protect you from those sneaky companies.
This is a friendly warning to anyone who likes to travel. Heed this advice - it will save you valuable time and possibly thousands of dollars.
The first time we got hit was at the last place you would expect - a 5-star, adults-only, all inclusive resort in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico called Aventura Spa Palace. It was an amazing resort where the people treated us like royalty. After we checked in, we were kindly asked to enjoy a drink while our concierge was contacted. They would be the one who showed you around the massive resort and take your bags to the room. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. As we sat there enjoying our cocktails, we were approached by a "greeter". This individual was extremely friendly. They began asking us some questions and made small-talk while we waited for our conierge. It turns out they were "pre-qualifying" us for the timeshare presentation they would soon suck us into. Typical qualifications are married homeowners over 21 with a houshold income of $50,000+. They cleverly extracted our age and homeowner status as if they had done this 1,000 times before. After a few minutes, the greeter offered us a $100.00 voucher, good at any of the local spas, and other activities not included in the all inclusive price. All we had to do was spend 90-120 minutes at a presentation by an unamed third party who would show us around the resort. Sure, we said. Sounds like fun. The first 30 minutes was exactly as they had described. They took us for an extended tour around the massive resort, and showed us some of the large 3-bedroom suites on the way. We later found out that these 3-bedroom suites are owned by timeshare holders. Once back in the presentation room, the hard sell began. We were asked a series of questions about how much we spent on this vacation, and the salesman used those numbers to compare their offer of a lifetime ownership in the RCI program. A few minutes into the sales pitch, I busted him on something most people don't catch. We were in an all-inclusive resort, and yet the offer they were making us was for the accommodations only. There were also taxes to be paid, or other service charges, including monthly maintenance fees. There were about 30 couples in this presentation room, so it was hard to have an intimate conversation with the salesman, which is part of their game. Their starting price for their "VIP" package of 4 weeks per year at any number of resorts was over $24,000. For a couple that travels maybe once a year (which they knew, because they asked), this was ludicrous. They did manage to sell at least two of these VIP packages to some very wealthy looking suckers, I mean customers. The salesmen quickly showed us the next package, which offered less days, and certain other exclusions I won't get into here. The price dropped in half to $12,000. This was still not even remotely interesting to us, as we simply don't vacation enough to take advantage of their offer. The salesman proceeded to drop it again to around $8,000. We still weren't biting. This is where it started getting interesting. Much like a car dealership, the salesman called overhis "manager" to speak with us. This guy had used care salesman written all over him. The haircut, the$3,000 suit, the rolex watch, the shiny shoes, etc. He started off friendly enough and asked if the salesman did a good job of explaining the incredible deal we were being offered. Of course he did. "Bob" now began his hard sell. Why were we interested? What could he do to get us to take advantage of this timeshare? I quickly ran out of patience with him, as it was extremely cold in this giant room and I was having a hard time hearing him over the other conversations and occasional grand-standing when they announced the most recent sucker to buy in. I flat out told Bob that if he wanted to continue talking to me, we had to go somewhere warmer or the conversation was over. This annoyed Bob, but he obliged. (He was actually sweating, as Bob was a large man.) Bob showed us yet another lower offer. This one was only about $6,000 and we could buy in with just $600 down. No thanks we said - still not interested. Bob dropped it again. This last offer was for two weeks we could use in the next 18 months (only at a select few locations), and he even threw in coach airfare to sweeten the deal. All this for only $4,500. This was actually not a bad deal, but I was a but annoyed with his pushiness at this point. Bob's attitude quickly changed from friendly to downright cocky and pushy. The more he pushed, the more fun I had messing with him. I would feign interest, only to change my mind minutes later. Bob was getting very angry with us at this point. Verbally angry. He could not understand why we could spend over $6k for this one week (we flew first class), and would not bite on $4,500 for two weeks + airfare. I explained that we weren't in a position to do this right now, even if we were interested (which we were - a little). I just shelled out a ton of money for the ring, wedding, and honeymoon - all in the last month. I was tapped out to below my comfort level for a while. (See another blog of mine regarding keeping three months of reserves at all times.) At this point Bob must have considered us a lost cause. During our conversation he cockily blurted out that he made a few hundred thousand dollars with RCI and was their top closer. At that point I said "then you don't need our measly $4,500 Bob." He quickly escorted us to the gift desk and left in a huff. Total time - THREE hours! I was pretty annoyed with this whole ordeal and began warning other couples as they came in off the shuttles. "Keep saying no - the price drops dramatically" I informed them. I also warned them that 90 minutes is a flat out lie.
Heed this friendly warning the next time you travel. It's not worth whatever "free gift" you are offered. If you think it may be, simply ask them to allow you access to a computer so you can google their company for complaints. That is a conversation stopper, I guarantee it.
-NK5 Content copyright NK5 LLC and may not be re-printed without prior permission
Content copyright NK5 LLC and may not be re-printed without prior permission
Identity theft is a very real threat in this day and age. If you have been lucky enough to avoid the nightmare of having to clean up after someone steals your identity, heed this advice. Did you know that over 70% if internet users polled admitted to using the same password for every web site they frequent? They said it was just too much of a hassle to remember different passwords for all those different places. The problem is that while web sites like your bank are extremely secure, other web sites you visit may not be. All someone has to do is break into one of those web sites, steal the entire database of users, email address & passwords, and then use that same password to login to your email. From there it's like taking candy from a baby. They can use your own email account login and password to find other web sites you visit, and then login to those too. Even if the password for your banking site may be different, the hacker could easily have the password reset or emailed to you email account, now that they have access to that. (Ironically, people's email password is almost always the easiest one to guess or hack.) So what should you do about it? The answer is obvious - use different passwords on different web sites. You may be wondering how you are expected to remember all those passwords without having to write them down, defeating the purpose of this exercise in the first place. I'll let you in on a method that is both easy to remember and extremely effective at keeping the hackers at bay. This method is what I call the multi-tier approach. Decide how important a web site you visit is, based on what kind of personally identifiable information is kept there: Low risk: If it's just a place where you are only known by an alias and they didn't ask for any personal information that could be used against you, that site is considered low risk. If someone were to hack into your account, the worst thing they could do would be to leave comments on a forum pretending to be you or perhaps read all that spam in your inbox. I have many low risk accounts. I create different email address for different web sites, forums, etc.. and always lie on the registration form. Just be sure to remember what you filled out in case you need to reset that password. These low risk accounts are great for registering an account without having to worry about getting even more spam. The password I use for low risk accounts is not easy to guess, but is easy to remember. If someone really wanted to hack into those accounts, it probably wouldn't take them long. They would be surprised to find that my name is Jabbr Mouth, and that I live in Alaska. An example of a low risk account password would be '07honda'. I don't drive a Honda, so it wouldn't be easy for someone else to guess. I consider Honda's one of the best cars for the money, so it's easy for me to remember. Medium risk: Medium risk web sites are places where I need to use real information, and might be a little bothered if someone were to hack into them. Places lke MySpace and Facebook are good examples, assuming you use real information on those types of web sites. The password I use for medium risk accounts are similar to the one for low risk accounts, with something added in to make it difficult to hack in a timely manner. An example would be '20black07honda'. Again, I don't drive a Honda, but if I bought one, it would be black. I also change the password on medium risk web sites at least every 90 days. If you use Outlook, it's a trivial thing to set an appointment reminder. High risk: High risk web sites are banks, PayPal, Amazon, or any web site that has ever asked for your mailing address, bank account number, credit card number, etc. A hacker could do some damage to your life if they were able to login to a high risk site. For these high risk sites, I use a password that is next to impossible to hack, even by brute force. I typically use long foreign language words with mixed case, and throw in some numbers and symbols, if the web site will allow them. An example would be 'Negra2@@7Honda!' Notice how long that password is, but yet still fairly easy to remember. It's also important to use a similar pattern when chosing passwords for high risk web sites. I use a pattern that I can figure out within three attempts if I happen to have forgotten which password I used. That will keep you from locking out your own account and having to phone the bank to have it reset. As an added precaution, be sure to change your high risk web site passwords at least every 30 days. It may be a pain in the rear to do so, but having to untangle the mess of identity theft will make your life a living hell for well over 6 months. I personally use a lot of high risk web sites, so it's become a problem to remember them all. (Not all web sites let you use symbols in password fields.) I've often resorted to saving them in a text file on the computer, and then using GNU PGP (free software) to encrypt the file with a password that would take years to hack. If you decide to go this route, be absolutely sure you don't forget the password you used to encrypt your master password file! (And stay away from software solutions like Gator - they are incredibly easy to hack into.) By the way, your wireless router should be considered high risk. If someone were to use your wireless internet connection to hack into somewhere else, YOU would be held responsible. If you haven't done so already, secure that wireless router with WPA, MAC Address and an impossibly difficult password. WEP can be hacked into in less than 5 minutes, regardless of MAC address lock-down or password difficulty. By following this multi-tier password approach, you can sleep sound at night knowing your most intimate details are secured from prying eyes!
Content copyright NK5 LLC and may not be re-printed without prior permission If you're like me, you use a lot of different electronic gadgets that enhance your daily life in various ways. Cell phones, iPods, Blackberries, Bluetooth devices, handheld games, etc.. The most frustrating thing about having all these devices is the ever shortening battery life! Regardless of what the manufacturers tell you, Lithium Ion batteries do have a "memory" that gets more forgetful the more you charge it. I'm going to let you in on a little secret that will make short battery life a thing of the past! Supposedly this memory effect was eradicated with the mass transition to Li-Ion batteries, but anyone with a cell phone will tell you that is simply not true. The more you charge it, the less time that battery lasts. Eventually you are forced to buy a new phone, as the battery typically costs as much as the phone is worth. The secret to fixing this problem is simple: Buy a second battery for your phone and then let one completely drain before changing it. If you don't mind shelling out the extra cash right up front, buy it at the same time you buy your phone. Sometimes you can get the phone resellers to throw one in for free, depending on how much you are spending on services they are getting a commission on. Personally, I always look on eBay first. You want to find someone selling in your same country (over-seas shipping takes forever!), and you want to look for an OEM battery. The cheap knock-offs are just that: cheap. If the retail price of your battery is $40, expect to pay $15 - $20 shipped for a decent OEM battery. Once you have the second battery for your phone, charge it completely. Now simply use the first battery until the phone turns itself off due to low power, then swap out the empty battery with your second one. That is the only way to be sure the battery is completely drained. Li-Ion batteries have intelligent circuits in them to prevent damage to the battery, so don't worry about hurting the battery or your electronic gadget. I do this with my battery hog of a Windows Smart Phone, and I can go almost 5 days without having to change batteries. I even use Bluetooth for my headset and sync, which typically shortens cell phone battery life. Considering most people's batteries are almost dead before they make it home at night, that is an amazing performance gain from such a simple technique. So there you have it - a simple and extremely effective way to double or even triple the battery life of any electronic gadget. -NK5 Content copyright NK5 LLC and may not be re-printed without prior permission
By: Barry McDonald
Thinking this way is a skill you can learn and develop with consistent practice, but it is worth it to create a habit of positive thinking? In some circles positive thinking is sometimes cynically referred to as pollyannaish, a naive and overly optimistic view of life by overlooking the things we don't like and focusing only on the good. So how about you? How do you view things, negatively or positively? It can be easy for all of us to focus only on the negative but it's usually as easy to look for a positive angle to things as it is for a negative angle. By looking on the positive side we can affect our subconscious mind as we invoke the law of attraction and we can then attract a better set of circumstances into our life. Remember concentrate on the positive and expect a positive result but did you know that it takes as much effort to think about the negative as it is for the positive. In some ways positive thinking is infectious and can lead to a 'can do' attitude within an individual, a team and an organization. It's been said that the only difference between a success and a failure is the attitude of mind the person had before they entered that task. One cannot pay lip service to positive thinking. You need to practice and make positive thinking your prevailing attitude towards life. The very feel of positive thinking itself will help you to feel confident and move towards your goal. In order to acquire the great status of positive thinker, we must realize what positive thinking is all about and what it is not. Our usual misconceptions about positive thinking are that money will drop out of the sky; GOD will come on a chariot to take away the sufferings and pains and lot more imaginations, while this would be great unfortunately it won't happen but by staying positive you remain open to new directions and guidance rather than just shutting down and giving up. Attitude forms an important part of positive thinking whereas thinking contributes lot to the attitude. It's kind of like the chicken and egg, which came first? If you have a bad attitude you'll never consider changing how you think but can positive thinking change your attitude. How you answer this age-old question about positive thinking and attitude may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude toward yourself, and whether you're optimistic or pessimistic. A positive attitude and optimistic thinking are healthy. When you wholeheartedly adopt a 'with all your heart' attitude and go all out with the positive principle, you can do incredible things. Happy, optimistic people are usually described as having positive attitudes and expressing positive thoughts. Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. After Christopher Reeve's accident in 1995, I was so deeply touched by his attitude. Of course he could have given up and cursed life for giving him a raw deal but he didn't. But consider this if hadn't have been so brave and positive do you really think he would have survived for so long as he did? And deep down we all admire him for having such a positive attitude and inspiring us all. As I finish this article, no matter what happens to us, we can choose positive thoughts and choose a positive attitude. It may not be something that we were all born with but it's a way of looking at the brighter side of life that helps us build the life we want. You could sum it up in one word, and that one would be "Faith". Article Source: http://bestdailyarticles.com
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