Here is a round-up of some of our favorite tips from the past year sent out via TheSavvyGal.com newsletter.
Make A Call With Ease
Here are some hard to find numbers to help make your life a bit easier:
http://www.amazon.com/” target=”_blank”>Amazon.com: 800.201.7575; Customer Service; 24/7 877.251.0696; Seller Support; 24/7 866.348.2492; Rebate Support; (press zero to bypass menu) 206.266.2992; Local or int’l; 24/7
eBay.com: 888.749.3229; Customer Service; 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. M-F 800.322.9266; Customer Service; 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. M-F
PayPal.com: 888.215.5506 or 888.221.1161; Customer Service; 6 a.m. to midnight CST 7 days
Yahoo.com: 866.562.7219 or 408.349.3300; Customer Service; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; M-F_866.562.7228; Corp HQ; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; M-F 866-800-8092; Billing, Small Business; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; M-F
Microsoft.com: 800.426.9400; Sales Tech Support; 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., PST, M-F, Option 2 800.936.5700; Personal Support; 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., PST, M-F, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sat/Sun
(as featured on lifehacker.com)
Call 411 Free!
Need to call for a phone number but don’t want to pay the ridiculous directory assistance fee? The number 1.800.FREE.411 (1.800 373.3411), offered by Jingle Networks company, will give you the number for free!
You do have to sit through a 12-second commercial (usually one about a competitor of the number you are requesting). But after this, the number is all yours! (We use it all the time.)
Regular cell phone charges apply via your own carrier.
Find A Seat
If you procrastinate your travel plans or suddenly decide to be spontaneous, there are, fortunately, a handful of services designed to accommodate people just like you.
BoardFirst.com: For the ultimate procrastinator flying Southwest Airlines: here’s a chance to be among the first to board your plane even if you didn’t make it to your computer soon enough to print out a coveted A pass. Dish out $5 at this site and they’ll get you one, and if they can’t, there’s no charge!
SeatGuru.com: This is the ultimate guide to booking the best airline seat. Want to know if the seats on your flight have electrical outlets or TVs? SeatGuru outlines the most comprehensive information about seating on most flights. They also reveal which seats are good and which are undesirable, so when your travel agent suggests a seat assignment, you’ll want to check it out first before you pay for a seat facing the bathroom that doesn’t recline.
Travel Well
Rated in 2006 by Time magazine as one of the coolest Web sites; by PC World as one of the 20 most innovative; by Popular Science in Best of What’s New; and by Business Week in Best of the Web — farecast.com is the place to check out your airline plans first. The site is an “airfare predication engine” that calculates when the fares out of more than 75 U.S. cities will be the lowest price — and whether they will rise or fall within the week. So, you can buy the best price on the best day. (They also have a new feature for hotels, too.)
A Few for the Books
Before you tally the shopping cart on your favorite Web site, check out currentcodes.com to see if your online store is offering a special coupon code for discounts on purchases.
Need help staying on track to reach a goal? For a few dollars a month, the Web site myGoals.com allows you to enter your goals into their private database and receive reminder emails and more.
Be Safe!
Identity theft is on the rise, and thieves will steal your identity any way possible. This video , from the Broward County, FL Sheriff’s Office, is circulating and is quite riveting. It is well worth the 3-1/2 minutes to watch it … there is footage of the actual crime being committed.
Stay safe! http://video.sheriff.org/psa_cartheft.shtml
Freeze With Ease
It’s easy to store things in the freezer — but it is also easy to forget how long something has been in there! Here are the cool facts on how long food lasts:
Fruits and Vegetables: 8-12 Months
Poultry: 6-9 Months, Fish: 3-6 Months
Ground Meat: 3-4 Months
Cured or Processed Meat: 1-2 Months
Other frozen facts:
- Food freezes faster if it’s cooled before being stored
- Food expands as it freezes, so it’s good to give extra space when filling containers, to prevent the seal from breaking
- Take an extra few seconds and label each item with a description and a date before it goes into the freezer and you’ll save yourself a guessing game
These tips as found on DIYnetwork.com
Take A Picture Worthy of Words
Have everyone oohing and aahing over your pics with these tips to improve photos, according to idigitalphoto.com:
1. Take photos in the morning or evening, because light from the side brings out shapes, textures and structures.
2. Provide more light in the room and you’ll avoid those “red-eye” eyes.
3. When you zoom in on the people, minimizing the sun or sky filling the picture, which give a feeling of open space, it creates a sense of intimacy.
4. Keep the horizon level in the picture so your shots don’t appear to be crooked.
5. Use light to your advantage: Overcast days are actually great for taking pictures of people because the soft light depicts the best skin tones. Bright sunlight gives colors a more intense or ‘saturated’ feel. Midday light has a bluer quality, which can give photos a harsher feel.
6. To keep buildings from looking as though they are leaning within the picture, photograph something in the foreground.
These and LOTS more tips are available for taking the best shots with little trouble: idigitalphoto.com
Tea for More Than Two
Here are a few more uses for the tea bags in your cabinet:
1. Make your canker sores go away: Apply a wet tea bag right on the canker sore for several minutes. The tea’s tannin tea draws out the moisture and dries it out for healing purposes.
2. Stop smelly footsies: Add 5 tea bags to boiling water (about 1 quart). Steep for 10 minutes, and then let it cool completely. Pour into basin and soak your feet for about 30 minutes. Don’t rinse at all; dry them completely. The tannin in tea closes your pores and prevents perspiration — it also kills the odor-causing bacteria.
3. Keep your eyes wide open: For puffy eyes, boil tea bags and them cool them completely; wring them out and put on eyes for 15 minutes.
(source: gomestic.com)
Google Tips
Google has been around for a long time, but it is still always amazing to learn search tips, misc. tricks and tips of the Internet trade.
These are oldies but goodies:
1. You probably already know about putting quotes around words to search together (“bamboo sheets”) to only return entries with both words — but if you put a hyphen “-” in front of a search word to exclude, you won’t wade through needless entries either.
2. Google is a phonebook. You can search for “phonebook”: followed by the name, city and state of the business you want, and it will display the address and phone number.
3. You can instantly track packages. Just type in the tracking number digits and Google will serve up the information.
There are so many things you can do; these were found in a New York Times article that is a few years old, yet still full of novel tips. *source: New York Times
Don’t Get Caught in Traffic
Want to plan your route with traffic in mind?__Call 866.MY.TRAFC for real time traffic in the 50 largest cities. It is a 2-step process — you give the name of the city and the major roadway you want to drive. Listen to a quick commercial and the traffic update is all yours!
Thinking of Taking the Stairs?
Walking stairs is a great form of exercise — even if it is a short burst two floors up. Want to keep track of your fitness routine by calories burned by climbing them?
Visit this site: http://stairway.hc-sc.gc.ca/calcalc.aro to find out!
Need to Tip?
Ever wonder what to tip? Here’s a handy guide:
Waiter/waitress: 15% to 20% of pre-tax bill
Bartender: $1 to $2 per round or 15% to 20% of tab
Wine steward: 15% of bottle’s cost (less as price rises), clearly earmarked on bill
Room service: 15% to 20% of pre-tax bill (if not already included)
Valet parking: $2 to $3 when car is returned
Taxi driver: 15% plus $1 to $2 per bag
Hotel doorman: $1 to $2 to hail cab; $1 to $2 per bag for help with luggage
Hotel bellhop: $1 to $2 per bag
Hotel maid: $2 per night, paid daily, clearly marked “Housekeeping”
Skycap: $1 to $2 per bag, $2 minimum, in addition to any fee
Hairdresser: 15% to 20%
Manicurist: 15% to 20%
Spa services: 15% to 20%
Food delivery: 10% to 15% with $2 minimum
Golf caddy: $20 or 50% of the caddy fee, whichever is greater
Source: msn money
Demand Your Fitness at Home
Have you used the excuse, “no time?” Have you said to yourself, “it’s too cold to leave the house?” Well, now there are no more reasons not to exercise for a healthy body — thanks to the online company demandFitness, which provides workout videos in the comfort of your own home, hotel room or office!
With innovative Web-based fitness classes, more than 135 from which to choose, it is easy to have a healthy body. There are no initiation fees, classes start at 99 cents a day, or there are several monthly plans providing unlimited access. demandfitness.com