Now, as fuel prices climb daily from the Valentine’s Day level of under three bucks, to over four bucks by Memorial Day, it is time to play some Archie Bell and the Drells and “tighten up”! The year was 1968, gas was 27 cents a gallon and I was cruisin’ on five bucks ALL night long in a car that got seven miles to the gallon… Ahhhh, the good ole’ days… Driving for no reason and in no direction. WOW!!!! What very cool memories!
Well, it is 2011 and I have come up with tighten up ideas.
Find the nicest Dollar Store and buy your soups, shampoos, toothpaste, detergent and crayons. These stores carry name brand stuff.
DO NOT have a car payment! If your car payment is $350.00, even at $4.00 a gallon, you can get almost 88 gallons a month. Yep, EIGHTY-eight gallons.
Consolidate your trips like you are driving the downtown bus; minimum miles, maximum stops.
Get your gas where you spend your grocery money. A nickel is a nickel.
Call your insurance agent ASAP and get higher deductibles on every single policy. You don’t play with fire and you do not take the family mini-van on the Saturday night dirt track. Go with the odds.
Remember Wal-Mart has jeans, slacks, dresses and golf shirts.
Clip coupons and get on every store’s discount mailing list. Double and triple coupons are a must on everything you buy.
Get your shoes professionally repaired rather than buying the new ones.
Wear things until holes develop. In fact, with some things, holes are in fashion…
PLEASE spend your money locally; our restaurants need a break too. And the kids need a night out. In fact, you need a night out. Use Twongo! Go to the restaurant sites and print the coupons.
Plant the garden you always put off this year. Cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes grow like weeds in the Triangle. Have you noticed the price of tomatoes?
Time –Warner has 14,622 channels! (Seems like it!). Get the basic back and watch TV movies for free.
Got a green thumb, fertilize your own lawn.
Now, the economy will turn down the road. Just carry these same strategies when gas goes back down to $3.00; you can take me out with all that extra cash!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Commercial Insurance is Essential
Running a business is complicated enough without having to worry about insurance. Just like homeowners, every business owner needs to protect their hard work and investments. Whether you paint for a living like Schleter Painting and Drywall, or you sell beer for a living like the Beer Dispensary in Downtown Apex, insurance can sometimes be considered an occupational hazard. But there is good news.
Woomer Group - Insurance and Financial Services offers a nice menu of commercial insurance for all kinds of businesses. And there are essential reasons to stay protected. Here are four of them.
1. Property Protection: Your property and business are your livelihood. Any chance of loss is something that must be considered. Investment protection is an integral aspect of your business plan.
2. Loans and Lending: Lenders will require you carry business insurance in exchange for offering funds. They consider your property collateral.
3. Risk Transfer: The risk of financial loss should be in the experienced hands of an insurer in exchange for regular premium payments. General Liability, professional liability, workers comp, and business auto are ingredients to less worry and more focus on what you do best... the business.
4. Legality: Professional liability is essential for errors and mistakes. It is sound and wise, especially in higher risk businesses like the medical arena where exposure can really hurt your future.
Our new website www.woomerinsurance.com lets you quote right on the website or call Jim Vogel at 919 533 9069.
We are independent for you since 1932.
Woomer Group - Insurance and Financial Services offers a nice menu of commercial insurance for all kinds of businesses. And there are essential reasons to stay protected. Here are four of them.
1. Property Protection: Your property and business are your livelihood. Any chance of loss is something that must be considered. Investment protection is an integral aspect of your business plan.
2. Loans and Lending: Lenders will require you carry business insurance in exchange for offering funds. They consider your property collateral.
3. Risk Transfer: The risk of financial loss should be in the experienced hands of an insurer in exchange for regular premium payments. General Liability, professional liability, workers comp, and business auto are ingredients to less worry and more focus on what you do best... the business.
4. Legality: Professional liability is essential for errors and mistakes. It is sound and wise, especially in higher risk businesses like the medical arena where exposure can really hurt your future.
Our new website www.woomerinsurance.com lets you quote right on the website or call Jim Vogel at 919 533 9069.
We are independent for you since 1932.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The End is Near!
Hi Blog Spots!
We need you again, and thank you ahead of time for possibly being one of our regular VIP's (Very Important PINT!). Please go to www.mysignup.com/apexkiwanis and take the two minutes to sign up again for our Spring Kiwanis/ Jordan Lutheran Church/ REX Blood Services Drive. We need 100 pints a day to serve the needs of the Triangle community, seven days a week, and every pint helps so much.
Monday March 28th from 3-7 p.m. at Lowes Foods supermarket (5400 Peakway) in Apex. WE NEED YOU!
If you have already signed up today... awesome... if not, this is a sweet reminder of the the most precious gift we can give, the gift of life!
Thank you for your continued support of community and civic responsibility! We want to continue to be a big part of your calendar. Don't be shy, pass this e-mail to anyone you know who shares our focus of continued life for those less fortunate because of disease, accident or injury.
We need you again, and thank you ahead of time for possibly being one of our regular VIP's (Very Important PINT!). Please go to www.mysignup.com/apexkiwanis and take the two minutes to sign up again for our Spring Kiwanis/ Jordan Lutheran Church/ REX Blood Services Drive. We need 100 pints a day to serve the needs of the Triangle community, seven days a week, and every pint helps so much.
Monday March 28th from 3-7 p.m. at Lowes Foods supermarket (5400 Peakway) in Apex. WE NEED YOU!
If you have already signed up today... awesome... if not, this is a sweet reminder of the the most precious gift we can give, the gift of life!
Thank you for your continued support of community and civic responsibility! We want to continue to be a big part of your calendar. Don't be shy, pass this e-mail to anyone you know who shares our focus of continued life for those less fortunate because of disease, accident or injury.
Friday, February 18, 2011
The Apex Chamber: The Peak of Great Opportunity
I was in a meeting recently, when the owner of a small business I often frequent complained to me about the lack of things her local Chamber does for her business. She also commented that being in the Chamber is not a great value to her and her business . She plans on leaving it when her membership renewal comes due. She stated to me that there are absolutely no benefits from a Chamber membership. Now, this is not the first time I have heard of unhappiness with one’s local chamber. But this is the first time I want to tell you about why she is wrong.
I respectfully and politely disagreed with her comments and I told her that the local Chamber of Commerce is often the best vehicle for business opportunity. This is what I said.
As a current four business member of the Apex Chamber of Commerce (Kiwanis Club of Apex, Woomer Insurance and Financial Services, T.O.P.S Club of Apex, and VTR Consulting LLC) I have a unique opinion of my Chamber, both as a profit-driven small business owner and as a non-profit organization member.
Without a second thought, my Chamber, the Apex Chamber of Commerce, is where my businesses need to be. The Apex Chamber offers many opportunities for growth. It offers continuing opportunities to participate in the community. It offers key opportunities for business success. With an outstanding website www.apexchamber.com and an excellent business public directory, the Apex Chamber is a continuing investment with very large professional and personal return.
Morning and evening networking events create even more opportunities for meeting the people you need to meet to help your local business grow. Joining the member supported committees within the Chamber give you not only a communal sense of accomplishment and participation, but a straight and true focus of making businesses better.
But it is up strictly up to you. You must make the most of what is offered. Opportunity is an action word. The Chamber is what you put into it. It is a conduit for so many things. And there are many additional byproducts that are benefits for growth. For example, the byproduct of an effective and well established Chamber is a stronger local economy. Another byproduct is having all of our businesses on the same page under the same umbrella moving forward in a tough economy in the same way. Success is a team sport. “We” are always stronger than “me”. An ancient African proverb states this: “no person is truly a person until they are with other people.” This is the true purpose of a Chamber filled with opportunity. The Apex Chamber of Commerce is the principal vessel of local business prosperity through participation.
Finally, here are some things I know the Chamber is not. The Chamber is not an extension of your marketing department. It is not an organization that automatically makes your business more successful. It is not a profit making apparatus. The Chamber is simply what you make it to be. The Chamber works full-time setting up success. But it does not create it. It puts into place the professional opportunities to help you grow. The Chamber is only as successful as the businesses it supports.
In my view, the best move any business can make is to be a visible and contributing member of the local Chamber. Let’s hope this business owner stays in her chamber and makes it a little better.
I respectfully and politely disagreed with her comments and I told her that the local Chamber of Commerce is often the best vehicle for business opportunity. This is what I said.
As a current four business member of the Apex Chamber of Commerce (Kiwanis Club of Apex, Woomer Insurance and Financial Services, T.O.P.S Club of Apex, and VTR Consulting LLC) I have a unique opinion of my Chamber, both as a profit-driven small business owner and as a non-profit organization member.
Without a second thought, my Chamber, the Apex Chamber of Commerce, is where my businesses need to be. The Apex Chamber offers many opportunities for growth. It offers continuing opportunities to participate in the community. It offers key opportunities for business success. With an outstanding website www.apexchamber.com and an excellent business public directory, the Apex Chamber is a continuing investment with very large professional and personal return.
Morning and evening networking events create even more opportunities for meeting the people you need to meet to help your local business grow. Joining the member supported committees within the Chamber give you not only a communal sense of accomplishment and participation, but a straight and true focus of making businesses better.
But it is up strictly up to you. You must make the most of what is offered. Opportunity is an action word. The Chamber is what you put into it. It is a conduit for so many things. And there are many additional byproducts that are benefits for growth. For example, the byproduct of an effective and well established Chamber is a stronger local economy. Another byproduct is having all of our businesses on the same page under the same umbrella moving forward in a tough economy in the same way. Success is a team sport. “We” are always stronger than “me”. An ancient African proverb states this: “no person is truly a person until they are with other people.” This is the true purpose of a Chamber filled with opportunity. The Apex Chamber of Commerce is the principal vessel of local business prosperity through participation.
Finally, here are some things I know the Chamber is not. The Chamber is not an extension of your marketing department. It is not an organization that automatically makes your business more successful. It is not a profit making apparatus. The Chamber is simply what you make it to be. The Chamber works full-time setting up success. But it does not create it. It puts into place the professional opportunities to help you grow. The Chamber is only as successful as the businesses it supports.
In my view, the best move any business can make is to be a visible and contributing member of the local Chamber. Let’s hope this business owner stays in her chamber and makes it a little better.
Friday, February 11, 2011
J.O.B.S.
Apex, NC
J.O.B.S.
Joy Over Budget Success! We simply need more JOBS!
Squeezing every dollar for value is central to getting our local and national economy back to even 2007 standards... Raleigh is now the 10th biggest coupon clipping city in the US. And it is no wonder. Gas is UP to three dollars and silly, up a little more silly each day. My favorite grocery store has all my regularly bought items like cheese, cream and cereal priced thirty cents higher than the prices in December. On the back of the grocery bill is a coupon for a $7.99 large extra cheese pizza; that coupon was $5.99 last year.
Have your pay checks gone up as well? Thought so...With confusing signals from the stock market and even more confusion with lower unemployment coupled with lack of job creation, it is indeed no wonder Dave Ramsey's show about personal financial strategy on the radio has a huge audience base.
Ahhh, but I am a crazy optimist first, well before my realist persona ever sets in. We are managing our household budget strategies very well as Americans. We indeed squeeze every dime out of that nickel.
Many of us are bustin' bugs to get our taxes done. We are assessing our financial and insurance profiles to see where changes can be made. This simple awareness is making us stronger. We no longer pound our charge cards with impulse buys. We are fixing our cars rather than buying them; and we are cutting our phone and cable bills at a furious pace.
Welcome to the New Normal. It is great to be back at our roots with real world, down home values again. Where a penny saved is indeed a penny earned. It is refreshing.
We now know, we can never return to mindless spending and speculation that created the collapse of the economy back in September 2008; that is pretty cool. You just cannot put a price on that.
Have a great weekend!
J.O.B.S.
Joy Over Budget Success! We simply need more JOBS!
Squeezing every dollar for value is central to getting our local and national economy back to even 2007 standards... Raleigh is now the 10th biggest coupon clipping city in the US. And it is no wonder. Gas is UP to three dollars and silly, up a little more silly each day. My favorite grocery store has all my regularly bought items like cheese, cream and cereal priced thirty cents higher than the prices in December. On the back of the grocery bill is a coupon for a $7.99 large extra cheese pizza; that coupon was $5.99 last year.
Have your pay checks gone up as well? Thought so...With confusing signals from the stock market and even more confusion with lower unemployment coupled with lack of job creation, it is indeed no wonder Dave Ramsey's show about personal financial strategy on the radio has a huge audience base.
Ahhh, but I am a crazy optimist first, well before my realist persona ever sets in. We are managing our household budget strategies very well as Americans. We indeed squeeze every dime out of that nickel.
Many of us are bustin' bugs to get our taxes done. We are assessing our financial and insurance profiles to see where changes can be made. This simple awareness is making us stronger. We no longer pound our charge cards with impulse buys. We are fixing our cars rather than buying them; and we are cutting our phone and cable bills at a furious pace.
Welcome to the New Normal. It is great to be back at our roots with real world, down home values again. Where a penny saved is indeed a penny earned. It is refreshing.
We now know, we can never return to mindless spending and speculation that created the collapse of the economy back in September 2008; that is pretty cool. You just cannot put a price on that.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
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