State unemployment systems crash

Wow, this is sure some craziness. I saw the State unemployment claim systems overwhelmed story on Yahoo earlier today and opened it on my browser but just got the chance to read it. It seems that several states had so many people filing for unemployment that systems crashed. Websites went down and phone lines were full. That is pretty crazy right there. And it paints a real clear picture of the economy, huh? Craziness. There are some stats in the articles that might be of interest to some people on unemployment numbers in the affected states. So check it out.

Holiday = too much spending!

Ah, the holidays are tough when it comes to spending. Sure, I set a budget. And I even tried real hard to stick to it. But I'm thinking it's just impossible. Impossible to stay on budget during the holidays. It seems like I have been doing nothing but spend, spend, spend! It almost makes me wish for the holidays to be over!

Don't over eat on Thanksgiving!

It is a big day for yummy food! But that also means that it is a big day for overeating! And when the food is as yummy as it is on Thanksgiving, that usually does mean overeating. If you are worried about that then you can find all kinds of tips on how to avoid overeating on the web.  Like How to avoid overeating at your Thanksgiving Feast. Of course, if you are like me you will likely overeat anyways cause it will be so yummy!

New president, new economy?

Well, now we have a new president. And the question for me is likely the same as a lot of people. Can he fix the economy? And if so, how fast? Sure he won't take office till next year, but still. I dunno what he can do, but I sure hope he is able to get in there and get something positive going for the economy ASAP.

Govt to buy stocks in American banks?!

I saw an interesting headline on Fox News. I had the tv on mute so I did not get to hear the news story. But is said that the government is going to buy stocks in American banks.

Yikes.

Is that really necessary? I mean, I do not think I like the idea of the government being that involved with banks. It seems kind of like it could get very 'big brother' if you know what I mean. 

Joffrey's Coffee - super awesome customer service!

While experiencing craptastic Bertolli olive oil last week, I also experienced some disappointment with my current order of Joffrey's Coffee. 

In March I signed up to "beta test" some Jamaican Me Crazy coffee from Joffrey's. In April, I got my sample coffee in the mail. Until Joffrey's, I had been strictly a Millstone coffee drinker (Caramel Truffle and Swiss Chocolate Almond - I hate plain coffee!) By the end of April, I was totally hooked to Joffrey's coffee. It beat Millstone and it beat my fave Tim Horton's butter caramel coffee. And Tim Horton's just hasn't tasted the same after Joffrey's. Since May, my household has been regularly buying Joffrey's coffee. We have also been gifting it - everyone we know that loves coffee gets a bag of Jamaican Me Crazy coffee from Joffrey's.

And last month, I took advantage of a discount Joffrey's was offering and stocked up on three bags of Jamaican Me Crazy coffee. After it arrived though I was super disappointed cause it didn't taste right. It tasted like plain coffee. Two bags were not drinkable at all and the third was drinkable but not of the same quality as the previous shipments. My dad had also just re-ordered (yup, I got him hooked too!) so I called and asked how his coffee was and he said it was the same as usual. See, I thought maybe they had changed something up. 

Since the coffee is $12 a bag, I called up Joffrey's to ask if they were doing anything different and to see if I could get some replacements. I spoke with Rica, who was lovely, and she assured me nothing different has been done to the coffee. And she let me send back two of the bags for replacements! Joffrey's even paid for the return shipping. Rica faxed me over a UPS label and actually had them come to my door to pick up the package (which is nice because Amazon.com charges you $5 for that). So, they picked up the bad coffee on Wednesday and that was also when my replacement coffee was set to go out.

My post on here also caught the attention of Adam over at The Future Buzz. He offered to help me out as well. Thanks again Adam!

And then today, this arrived from the coffee gods, Joffrey's:

Rock on! See that - two bags of coffee AND a french press! How awesome is Joffrey's throwing in the french press?!? While I have not yet opened up the coffee, it smells heavenly - and much better than the last two bags! I suspect someone just got the bags mixed up and some poor person ended up with yummy Jamaican Me Crazy instead of plain old coffee last month. Lucky them!

I rate Joffrey's customer service OFF THE CHARTS! This is really above and beyond. Thanks Joffrey's! I Heart You!

Now - if you want some awesome coffee, just click on the banner below. But I warn you - you will never be able to drink any other coffee again! Joffrey's is THAT good! Or you could just try to get on my Christmas list since I plan on giving everyone Joffrey's! But seriously - there is a promo going on now where you can get FREE SHIPPING on the Pumpkin Creme Brulee coffee. Just use discount code: TRICK-OR-TREAT

A Bertolli update - customer service is above average

Last week I wrote about how I got some Bertolli olive oil and didn't feel that I got what I paid for. I had the impression that Bertolli was a top of the line olive oil and my experience with it reflected otherwise. I thought there might be a possibility that maybe the bottle I had was a fluke though.

So, I contacted their customer service and told them my story. I had gotten a 25 oz. bottle for around $14 or so that I could not use and I asked for a coupon for another bottle of the same size. See, they have different types of olive oil so I thought I could try out another one.

A few days after I contacted them I got an email saying they were sending me out a coupon and they apologized profusely for my experience and noted that the taste I described was not typical of their product.

Yesterday I was happy to see that I had mail from Bertolli. There was a short note and a coupon for a free bottle of Bertolli. The only catch was that the coupon had a redemption limit of $8.99. That means a smaller bottle than what I had paid for. I find that slightly annoying. But I am glad that I can at least get something, so that makes me happy.

So, overall I rate Bertolli above average for their customer service. Thanks for caring, Bertolli!

Funny saying

I came across this funny saying on a site about Southern sayings.

"The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket."

(Note: I'm from the South and have never heard most of the things on that page.)

Get your free Transunion credit monitoring

A few months ago there was news of a class action settlement with Transunion. To qualify you basically just have to have had a credit card at some point since 1987. This 'settlement' is supposed to be compensation for them selling your private data to businesses. As a result you can get up to nine months of credit monitor service at no cost. The catch here is that you need register by September 24th! So visit https://www.listclassaction.com/ to sign up now.

You really can negotiate things

Recently I was traveling and had to stay in a hotel. I did not get to my destination until around 2am. I did not have reservations. The first hotel wanted to charge over $100 (a Hampton Inn) and would not budge. I did not see the logic here as it was unlikely they would sell the room as it was 2am. And I was not about to pay full price considering that checkout was 11am. So, on to the next hotel! The Best Western next door quoted a similar price. Then the negotiation began. I was able to name my price. I picked $70. Guess what? I got the room for $70!

Behind on debt roundup

I just noticed something. I never posted my debt roundup info for July. And now it is August. Fortunately I keep all of that stuff in a spreadsheet. And my July sheet is up to date. But I can't say the same for this month so far. In fact, I have a little sandwich baggie that is full of receipts. I need to enter them into my spread sheet. But there is really no time. At least that is how it seems. So, watch for a few debt roundup posts to play catchup on those posts.

We all need a Charles Barkley in our life

Man, I sure wish I had a Charles Barkley in my life. I have some hella student loan debt. And some kid will not have any thanks to Charles Barkley.

According to a story I saw on Yahoo, Charles Barkley will be paying for college tuition for a busboy he met. Apparently he liked what he heard about the guys plans. And he wanted to help him out. Pretty awesome all around.

hooray, lower gas prices

I had to do a little driving last week. Gas prices were remaining constant then. And they have been dropping this week! It seems like as soon as I got back the prices started dropping. Don't get me wrong - dropping gas prices is a good thing. I just wish it had been a few days sooner! But I am stoked to see the gas price of $3.73 down the street. Hooray for gas under $4.00 a gallon!

Even Starbucks is hurting!

I read online earlier that Starbucks is going to be closing some stores. Actually it is 600 stores that they are closing. That is a heck of a lot of stores. Of course, when they put so many of them in such close proximity I guess it is not too surprising.

I guess this shows how bad the economy is though. It looks like more people are opting for coffee at home instead of on the way to work at Starbucks. It really sucks though for all of the employees that will soon be out of a job!

Ugh, heat and humidity

I am not a fan of heat and humidity.

Today, it was 80 degrees outside at 7:30am. That is just so many shades of wrong. I mean, seriously.

Summer is just getting here and I am already wishing for it to be over!

It's too bad I don't live some place with a nice mild climate year round. That would be pretty sweet.

Depressing indeed

As a Hillary supporter last night was disappointing. I'm not sure the Dems can with with Senator Obama. I say this because I know some hardcore Republicans that voted for Hillary in the primaries. Those same people have said that if she was not the nominee that they were not going to vote. There is talk of people saying she should run third party. I can't wait to see what she does. It is certainly disappointing though.

Staying on track is hard work

I have been paying down debt for some time now. And apparently the summer weather is getting to me. I just want to go out and do stuff that costs money! But I need to be paying things down instead. Argh. So frustrating. I try to tell myself that I can have the fun once the debt is paid off. But the debt is so much. It could be so long. Just frustrated.

What are you saving for?

I like to think about what I will save for when I get out of debt. Sometimes I think that it will be for a nice trip. You know a whirlwind tour of the world. Or at least hte countries that I am interesting in. But you know what. Sometimes I think that I won't want to part with money like that once I am debt free. Kind of strange, huh?

My new official coffee

Last month I signed up to be a part of the Joffrey's Coffee and Tea blogger beta test of their new Jamaican Me Crazy flavored coffee. I got my free coffee sample in the mail and let me tell you - it was AWESOME! I usually drink the Millstone Caramel Truffle coffee. I love it. And when I go to Tim Horton's I get the Buttery Caramel coffee. Well, this Joffrey's Coffee blows them outta the water! It is so freaking good!

The only bad thing about it is the price. It is not as cheap as my Millstone but man - this is what pampering is all about. If you like coffee then you need to give some Joffrey's Coffee a try! I wish they had a store near me so I could get some whenever I wanted!




If you want to give some Joffrey's coffee a try, click on my affiliate link below. It is now the official coffee of this blog. And at least check out their site as they have some really cool info on coffee roasting and the whole process and whatnot. Pretty interesting.

Three random things...

I got tagged!

Messy at My Crazy Debt tagged me for the Three Random Things meme. So that means 3 totally random things about me.

1. I have a metal plate in my face over my right cheekbone thanks to an incident involving an 11-yr-old me, a bicycle and a tree. Enough said.

2. I have an unhealthy addiction to making spreadsheets. :)

3. In high school, I used to hustle all the boys in my class in poker games. Muah haha. (too bad I didn't save that money)

Now, I am apparently supposed to tag 5 people. But I know this one has been going around a while. So, tag yourself! And then lemme know so I can read it :)