FReeper Canteen ~ Online Shopping 101 ~ November 22, 2005

22-NOV-05 | Gummy News

[GummyIII]

Gummy Style!

Newsflash:  Gummy Hates to Shop November 22, 2005 I hate to shop.  I know. You are thinking, "She's not normal."  Perhaps I should clarify.  I hate to drive to a busy mall or store, get out, fight the crowds, look in umpteen stores for the best bargain, and come home with nothing but achy feet and head.  When Al Gore invented the internet, he did it for me.  Honest. (Psssst....He would have told you that, but he's afraid you wouldn't believe him.) OK,  you've guessed it...I do all my shopping online.  Below are my best tips for online shopping. Oh, there is ONE drawback, gentlemen...you can't wait until Christmas Eve to shop.  It's a good thing I believe in Santa Claus! He brings me my present EVERY year. (Hint:  if the animated background bugs you, hit the "stop" button on your browser.)

We Support Our Troops!!!!  Thank you for your service!!!

Shop Online Safely Use credit cards. The big three credit card issuers, American Express, MasterCard and Visa, have a zero liability policy. You pay nothing for unauthorized transactions if you notify your financial institution. For extra fraud protection, sign up for MasterCard's SecureCode or Visa's Verified by Visa. These are password challenge programs for online shopping. Look for signs that online purchases are secure. At the point that you are providing your payment information, the beginning of the Web site address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating the information is being encrypted. Your browser may also signal that the information is secure with a symbol, such as a broken key that becomes whole or a padlock that closes. Never enter your personal information in a pop-up screen. When you visit a company's Web site, an unauthorized pop-up screen created by an identity thief could appear with blanks for you to provide your personal information. Legitimate companies don't ask for personal information via pop-up screens.  Keep your computer secure for safe shopping and other online activities. Protect your computer with spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, pop-up blockers and a firewall, and keep them up to date. Go to http://www.staysafeonline.org and http://www.onguardonline.gov to learn more about how to keep your computer secure. Or use El Gran's wonderful site:  Canteen Resource Center. Disclaimer: Not suitable for Grinches or Scrooges. Santa reads this news, too!!

Tips for Saving Money and Sanity Try online coupons. Many online stores provide regular customers with promotional codes. These codes are entered during the online checkout process. They save you money, just like a traditional coupon. Coupon Cabin, Current Codes and Naughty Codes are three websites that list promotional codes for online stores. (Google "promotional code" and the name of the store from which you are purchasing.  Others may show up.) Promotional codes usually offer free shipping or a reduced price. Often, online stores offer multiple codes, but you'll probably have to use one or the other.  Use disposable e-mail. You must register an e-mail address with stores when you purchase online.  The store e-mails a confirmation of your purchase and, often, tracking information. Additionally, it may send you promotional codes. But it may also send you unwanted e-mail.There are a couple ways to handle this. You could create a new e-mail address. A number of sites offer free e-mail, including Hotmail (www.msn.com), Yahoo (mail.yahoo.com), Techemail (www.techemail.com) and Netscape (www.netscape.com). Or, sign up for a disposable e-mail address. Free services such as spamgourmet and Sneakemail allow you to create a temporary e-mail address. They forward mail to your "real" one. Sign up for a temporary address before making a purchase. When you've received your purchases and are satisfied with them, you can eliminate the temporary address. COMING NEXT WEEK:   All I want for Christmas is.......... Gummy News is produced  as a service to our troops.  Volume 1, Number 1.

Comparision Shopping 101 Yahoo, Inc., Shopzilla, Shopping.com,  Google Inc.'s Froogle.com, PriceWatch, PriceGrabber, NexTag and ShopLocal are a few of the top contenders for online comparison shopping.  Take the time to see how each one works.  Most will sort by price, look for items within a price range, and look for specific brand items which you specify.  Many of the above sites have ratings for you to check the product.  Other sites are cnet.com, zdnet.com, consumersearch.com, epinions.com, PCMagazine, BusinessWeekOnline, ConsumerGuide, and many others.  Also, many of the consumer online sites offer customer reviews.  Use those in conjunction with other reviews. For example, Amazon.com and Circuit City's online store are two sites with customer reviews. Best viewed at 1024x768,  medium text size

[trussell]

Prayer ping. Please see post 1,011 posted on 11/22/2005 5:07:08 PM MST by no more apples (click the number)

Please post your replies to no more apples

no more apples, My prayers going up for your husband and your family. God's guidance for your husbands job search. 

Blessings,
trussell

If you want on/off my prayer ping list, please let me know. All requests happily honored.

[AZamericonnie]

Would someone PLEASE loan me some motivation to go scrub the kitchen floor!!!:)

[GreenHornet]

My prayers are with you and your husband this evening, that the Lord will provide for your needs.

[luvie]

Just had dinner...the last slice of the pizza that hubby brought home last night. I wasn't very hungry after that burger and fries for lunch!

Addict! LOL!

Yes, we go where we know they have REAL turkey! :o)

[AZamericonnie]

Prayers up for gainful employment & prosperity for your family!

[luvie]

I would never do a thing like that! Work is not on my agenda today, and it shouldn't be on yours! ((((hugs))))

[txradioguy]

Here you can have some of my motivation.

Don't worry about paying it back...I've got plenty. :)

[fatima]

Well Baby Jeff is a Mamma's boy and he is pretty.So you just want to hug him but if he can't see his mother forget about it.He takes after his father-my son.I left my sister to babysit and went out to dinner with Ed-never call home.I called home to check on Baby Jeff-my sister said she called the rescue squad -they came and said the baby was OK-he was just crying for me:) We went right home of course -never call home.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Well, no need to blush at the truth. :)

[Lady Jag]

Tofurky!!!!! LOL! Blech!

All Vegan fake meat is soy. The only reason soy is being marketed like there's no tomorrow is that it is the cheapest crop to grow and it will grow virtually anywhere. Profits are OBSCENE! This is a huge marketing ploy to the ignoramous guinea pigs of the US. It is incredible the horrible things soy can do to you.

Below looks like baked cottage cheese stuffed with Stovetop Stuffing. If it were, it would taste a whole lot better than what it really is, Tofurky.

Bon appetite! I'm having the real thing!

[AZamericonnie]

Thank you Tx! I have no doubts that you do!

Ok Luv...although I like your idea better....This floor ain't gonna clean itself!:)

I'll be back when it's clean enough to eat off of!

*Hugs*

[EsmeraldaA]

Are you back from dinner?

Very silly question....

[luvie]

I am so glad I didn't see that before I ate my pizza! Blech!!!

I'm having the real thing, too! No vegans in this household! :o) That picture would cure one of being vegan!

[AZamericonnie]

LOL.....so it runs in the family! He is a beautiful boy!

[luvie]

((((hugs))))

Good evening/morning, TX! You doin' okay?

[luvie]

Need some help?

[fatima]

He looks like his mother.She was our director for TV.My camera people had to take direction from her on their headsets.I liked her because she took direction from me.If I said do it this way she did it and no-one gave her a hard time.She was my best director and she was in love with my son:)

[luvie]

Are you making the women blush now? Hmmmmmmmm....

[Colonel_Flagg]

I am. Watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with my son and starting the evening. :)

[Colonel_Flagg]

I'm trying not to. How am I doing?