Grocery shopping tactics:

 

1. Shop when you are not hungry.

2. Try not to bring younger children, if possible.  Older ones can help you gather items.

3. Go early morning or late evening when the store is less crowded.

4. Start with the fresh vegetables, then canned and boxed goods aisles.  Continue to refrigerated items, ending with the frozen foods.

5. Take a grocery list with you.  Learn the layout of your favorite store.  Create your lists to follow the flow of your route.  Do the same with your coupon order.

6. When completing your purchase, make sure you have all your grocery bags.

7. Always keep an ice chest in your vehicle.
2007 ARCHIVESText Box: POST OFFICE TIPS Let the post office help ease your mailing tasks. They have a great website: www.usps.com . You can find a variety of services available there. Find zip codes Calculate postage. Request parcel pick up Redelivery of mail pieces. Purchase stamps. Print labels & pay postage, which entitles you to free delivery confirmation. Put your mail on hold. File a change of address. Create greeting cards! Don’t want to use the internet? You can still buy stamps-by-mail. Ask the carrier to leave you a stamps order form. 1-800-ASK-USPS can answer questions and provide services, too.

INTERNET SHOPPING

 

Don’t have time to go shopping; or maybe like me, you just don’t like the whole shopping experience.  Driving all over the place, finding a parking space, standing in line to make your purchases, and then loading them into your car.  Then, when you get home, you still have to unload the car, and carry your stuff into the house.  Heaven help us if we need to take something back.  Internet shopping is growing more and more each year.  It has been predicted that US online shoppers will double to 132 million in the next 5 years.  With today’s hectic schedules, people need a way to save time and shopping online is a way to do this.  63% of people who shop online are women.   I do a lot of shopping online.  I prefer shopping on my couch than dragging off to a crowded shopping mall.  But, you do need to take some precautions. 

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs23-shopping.htm has a lot of good advice about shopping online safely.  Some of my favorite sites are:

 

Jcpenney.com

Half.com is a book seller.  They sell new and used books.

Ebay.com

 

INTERNET SLANG TRANSLATER

A MUST FOR PARENTS

 

Can’t read what your child is typing on the computer?  You need to go to this website.  It lists the top 25 slangs you need to know.

http://www.noslang.com/top20.php

 

Another site that translates the messages you don’t get.  This translator works just like the ones that convert French to English, for example.

http://www.noslang.com/
Text Box: What do you think of text messaging? When you first start typing, it can seem pretty slow and tedious. A couple of tips; use both hands and learn some abbreviations. The most complete list (700) I have seen is at Webopedia (online dictionary dedicated to computer technology.) Below is the link: http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp One I like to use is BIB (boss is back). Just kidding, boss. And since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, you might need to know that H&K means “hugs and kisses”.

The BIGGEST TIME SAVERS are getting rid of the time stealers.  The 4 top things that wastes our time are:

 

1. TELEVISION- According to nationmaster.com, the average American spends 28 hours per week watching TV.  Even if you are doing other things while watching TV, it will use up your time.  Turn it off.

2.  DISORGANIZATION- We spend too much time looking for things because we don’t know where those things are.  Get organized.

3. LACK OF ENERGY-If you are not eating right, or getting proper exercise and not enough sleep; it will affect your energy level and you will not be as ambitious as you could have been.  Take care of yourself.

4. STUFF-The more stuff you have, the more time you will need to take care of stuff!  Keep it simple!
TEXT MESSAGINGText Box: TIME SAVING TIPS Theme: telephones When you are on the phone and placed on hold or you must listen to a recording, use the phones speaker feature. This frees up your hands to do other things; open the mail, pay bills, etc. When you are making important phone calls, take notes. If you have to refer to that call later, you will want to know who you spoke to and so on. If you are away from home and need to remember something, call home and leave a message on your answering machine. You can also do this at home by pushing the memo button. ( Leave messages for other family members, too.) Monitor telephone calls. Frequently, it will be a telemarketer. Eliminate many of those nuisance calls by going to www.optout.com.