Don’t Do IT…Put The Ladder Down
December 15, 2010 by Home Services Link · 2 Comments
How many times has this been you? You think it’s not a big deal to hop up on a ladder to hang the Christmas lights, get some excess snow off the roof, fix some flashing or clean the gutters. Have you ever sat down and put on paper how much it would cost you if you were injured while performing these tasks? This is not meant to put fear in your mind, but to make you think about your family and what it would cost if you were injured performing one of these tasks,
I’m a customer of Home Services Link and a few months ago I had a quote to have some flashing and down spout’s fixed. I saw the quote and thought, that’s not bad. But then I had to buy some items for my kids for school, and you know how that adds up. I knew I needed to get these items fixed on my home. I borrowed the neighbors ladder, got my wife to hold it and proceeded to climb up the ladder to look at the flashing. Now this is where you are thinking I’m going to tell you a story about me falling off the ladder and getting hurt, WRONG. I got about 10 feet off the ground, looked down at my wife (who started making fun of me) and I climbed back down. She asked me what was wrong, was I scared. I said “yes, kind of, but the reason I got down was I started to think how much money we’d lose if I was laid up in bed for months with injuries from a fall off the ladder.” I told her the quote was a few hundred dollars and based on my income, our only income, it was not a large sum. So I went inside and emailed the contractor that Home Services Link had contact me. A few days later the items were fixed and I was safe.
I’m telling you this story because sometimes we all do stupid things and don’t think about the consequences. I have done PLENTY of really stupid things ( a forklift ride about 25 feet in the air comes to mind), but these past 5 years or so I’ve really tried to focus on the positives and negatives of each scenario. That’s why I climbed down the ladder and hired someone to fix the gutters and flashing. In a week I’m going to write another blog for Home Services Link that does not have the same outcome for the same situation…Stay Tuned.
Matt from Florence.
5 tips for holiday electronics shopping
December 8, 2010 by Home Services Link · Leave a Comment
(CNN) — Prices on consumer electronics products can be pretty recession-blind. The iPad — a hot tablet computer on the wish lists of 6- to 12-year-olds — starts at $500 and climbs to $830. Microsoft’s no-controller gaming system, Kinect, another hot item, runs $300 to $400 when you include the Xbox 360.
And 3-D television starts at about $1,200. Yikes.
That said, there are deals to be had; you just need a few tricks up your sleeve. CNN turned to consumer electronics and holiday shopping experts to come up with this list of five tips to guide your holiday tech shopping in 2010.
1. Pretend you’re at a swap meet.
Ignore that little voice in your head that says things like, “I can’t haggle prices with employees here; they’re wearing matching vests and name tags!”
Ramon Llamas, a senior analyst at IDC, said consumers at big-box stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy should argue prices with employees.
Bring your smartphone so you can do research on the fly, he said, and then show a store employee a lower price you found online.
“Information is going to be your sword. That’s going to be the power that you’re going to wield,” he said. “Negotiate away.”
If this info-sword trick doesn’t actually help you get the price down,Consumer Reports’ Mike Gikas says, shoppers should ask for package deals. If you do buy a 3-D TV, for instance, ask for extra 3-D glasses (about $100 each) to be thrown in.
2. If you buy a TV, buy big (and not 3-D). Click Here For The Rest Of The Story
