Archive for the ‘ Sundry ’ Category

Do you like me – I mean really “Like” me?

Author: Holland Saltsman

Oct 31

If you’re anything like me, you may follow different people or companies through a variety of avenues-  twitter,  RSSfeed, direct email or facebook. In case your main way of connecting with Life Simplified is something other than facebook, I wanted to share a few links with you that I had recently posted ‘over there’ as I’d hate for you to miss any great shortcuts, suggestions or solutions.

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Filed under: Apps, Home & Garden, Saving Money, Sundry, Technology | Tagged as: , , , , , ,

“Hear’s the Thing”

Author: Holland Saltsman

Apr 23

After years or borrowing my family’s headphones, I finally went in search of my very own. I promised myself that good headphones would be the key to  start exercising. Here are ones, plus a few accessories, that made the final cut:

  • Zipbuds earphones – Tangle resistant zipper integrated cabling keeps your cables in line so you spend less time untangling your earbuds and more time listening to your music.
  • Vers earphones -  individually crafted with sustainably sourced hardwoods & Bamboo, and produce that familiar, natural sound quality Vers has become known for. Also, for every tree Vers uses in production, they re-plant 100 through their partnership with the Arbor Day foundation.
  • iFrogz EarPollution Plugz with microphone
  • Skullcandy earphones – IF I was a sports fan OR badas*
  • Modcloth funky headphone splitter
  • fredflare GIANT earbud speakers
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Would you like to purchase the Extended Warranty?

Author: Holland Saltsman

Apr 8

Ugh, this question gets me every time no matter where I am & no matter what I am buying. The very nice salesperson does his/her best to make me feel like an idiot if I don’t purchase it but my head tells me that I’m not supposed to – right?

Since I’m admittedly no expert, here’s what I’ve found from others who are more knowledgeable than me in this area. Mark Huffman from ConsumerAffairs.com offers the 5 Reasons NOT to Buy An Extended Warranty:

  1. They Usually Cost More Than They’re Worth.
  2. Warranty Work May Be Unreliable.
  3. The Warranty May Not Cover What You Think It Does.
  4. Warranty Underwriter May Go Out Of Business.
  5. The Extended Warranty May Overlap the Manufacturer’s Warranty.

Gary Altunian from About.com poses the following questions about electronics & their extended warranties.

  1. Does the Product have Moving Parts or is Delicate?
  2. Is the Product Based on New, Unproven Technology?
  3. Is In-Home Service Provided?

Specifically for auto extended warranties, there’s a considerable amount of research online, and Stacy Johnson from WiseBread had pulled together a great article that puts it all in one place. Overall it seems like a gamble and by buying an extended warranty you are essentially betting that your item is going to break & the companies are betting that it won’t. Who’s got more stacked in their favor?

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Filed under: Saving Money, Sundry | Tagged as: , , , , ,

Outrageous Offermatic!

Author: Holland Saltsman

Mar 13

I had never heard of offermatic until last week when my sister, Nancy, sent me an email about it and all I can say is – WHERE THE HECK HAVE I BEEN? Michael Arrington describes it best, “offermatic is the freak love child of Mint, Groupon & Blippy“.  Here’s how it works: You register your credit cards with Offermatic via the Yodlee back end (which is secure). Offermatic then downloads your individual credit card purchases and matches offers from advertisers relevant to your purchase history. If you buy something at Home Depot, for example, you may get a $30 off coupon from Lowes. You’ve spent money on textbooks and you get a special offer from Chegg. Etc. All offers will be 40% – 90% off normal retail, says Offermatic.

Within 5 minutes of registering my main credit card, I received a FREE $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com and $5 off coupons for Walgreens & Macy’s. Check it out!

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Do the (good) deed!

Author: Holland Saltsman

Feb 11

timeisloveblog.com photo

February 14-20 is national Random Acts of Kindness Week. Not that we all shouldn’t be looking for ways to be kind on a daily basis but next week in particular encourages us to ramp it up a bit. There are thousands of ways to perform a random act of kindness (at home, work, running errands, etc) and these sites make it really easy to start.

So put your kindness cap on & plan out warm, fun, inventive and creative ways that you can bring some light into someone’s life next week!

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What makes your pulse race?

Author: Holland Saltsman

Jan 26

So that’s me…at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival (!) with friends.  I returned yesterday and I’m slowly trying to integrate back into reality. It was everything that I had hoped it would be and more! Fabulous films (The Music Never Stopped, Miss Representation, Higher Ground, etc), celebrity run-ins (Liv Tyler, Adrian Grenier, Morgan Spurlock, etc.), and THE best time hanging out with friends old & new. This trip was conceived many, many years ago with my friend Lesley, and a few years ago we got serious saving and planning to go this year. For weeks, I was was like a little kid, getting more excited every day until finally we left. Honestly, it was one of the best times of my life and it was great fun to check it off my “list”.

I’ve got to go on record stating that I think everyone should have a list of things they want to accomplish in their lives. 2 sites -2dobeforeidie & 43things are great places to record your list and  Lifehack & Squidoo both help you get started. It can really be anything – but I’m a true convert that if you “list” it, it can happen.

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Filed under: Sundry, Travel | Tagged as: , , , , , , , ,

The Gift of Organization

Author: Holland Saltsman

Dec 15

Today’s post is totally shameless and self promoting but practical. A friend asked over the weekend if her mom could get her a gift certificate from Life Simplified to help her clean and organize her office. “Of course” was my enthusiastic response because unlike others, I have a unusual enjoyment of assisting and guiding others through the clutter and disorganization in their lives.

Take a moment to check out the services section on the Life Simplified site and you’ll find additional information regarding:

  • Tailored Gift Shopping
  • Media/Photo Projects
  • Home & Business Organization
  • Small Business Support
  • Research

I’ll be happy to do a gift certificate for any of these services for you or someone on your holiday list. Ho! Ho! Ho!

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Filed under: Sundry

3 months or 3000 miles

Author: Holland Saltsman

Dec 6

Do you have trouble remembering to change the oil in your car or do other regularly scheduled maintenance? Driverside.com is a new free site that will automatically remind you, plus ballpark the repair costs for your vehicle. I first heard about this new site from Clark Howard on HLN who provides great tips on how to “save more, spend less & avoid getting ripped off”.

After a simple registration process of adding my vehicle, it provided detailed information regarding what would be upcoming in regards to “scheduled maintenance” and also provided information about any safety recalls.  While I’d like to trust my local garage to have my best interest at heart, it’s nice to have a back-up to double check their recommendations and “ballpark” out potential repairs.  There’s an especially great section that I have yet to tap into called “Ask Our Auto Mechanics – We pay for their advice so you don’t have to”.

For someone like me who abhors dealing with any car issues, this allows me to feel a little more in control.

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Filed under: Sundry

I know I put it right here!

Author: Holland Saltsman

Nov 15

Big thanks to my sister, Ashley, for turning me onto I Can’t Find My Phone.  No frills, no surfing through pages or ads, simply type in the phone number of the cell phone or home handset that you have lost track of and they will ring it for you. I just tried it and it’s brilliant. With so many people giving up landlines for cellular service only, it’s hard to call yourself when you’ve misplaced your phone. Now if they could just manage to help me find my keys!

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Filed under: Home & Garden, Sundry, Time Savers | Tagged as:

Tested Time Savers

Author: Holland Saltsman

Nov 4

I don’t think anyone will argue that our time is getting more valuable and I’ll admit to saying NO a lot more this year if something doesn’t align with my priorities. (Thanks 168 Hours!) Needless to say I’m always trying to find more time in my day and these 2 FREE services have helped me tremendously.

1) Running errands – a necessary evil for me and a lot of times my kids. Route4me.com is the best route planner I’ve found! You enter up to 10 stops (or less) and it will route out the most efficient way to go. You can pay to add more stops but c’mon you don’t need to do more than 10 errands in one day! This has been a saving grace for a geographically challenged person such as myself who seems to backtrack a lot.

2) HATE to be put on HOLD? lucyphone.com users can hang up, and are then called back when a customer service representative finally picks up. On the free service’s Web site,  users type in a customer service number (or click on one of many stored on the site), and when a human being finally answers the site will ring you at your given number. After multiple occasions of screaming into my phone ( see AGENT!!! post ), this allows me to quite possibly change the world while “lucy” waits on hold.

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