In My Bag

In an attempt to save money, I sometimes buy generic brand cereal. One brand in particular that I often pick up is Shurfine. Shurfine’s line of “knock off” cereals include Apple Rolls (Apple Jacks), Tootie Fruities (Froot Loops), Frosted Wheat Puffs (Smacks) and Magic Marshmallows (Marshmallow Alphabets).

Generally, the value is well worth the purchase of the cheaper brand. I paid $1.89 per 15oz - 18oz bag (volume depends on the cereal), which is almost a 50% savings on each cereal!

Look, taste and texture is identical. I honestly cannot tell the difference between Apple Rolls and Apple Jacks or Tootie Fruities and Froot Loops. The fact that the cereal is bagged makes it easier to save space, since the bags can be rolled down and crimped as more cereal is removed from them.

My one critique is of the Magic Marshmallows. The marshmallows themselves were not soft. They were on the hard side, and so they squeaked when you bit into them, and they got hard and almost like a tootsie roll when you chewed them. This happened even after letting the cereal soak in milk for ten minutes. Soggy grains, hard, squeaky marshmallow bits.

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onlinecheck.com offers a lot of services, including business loans and sba loans. A business loan may be exactly what you need to get your business up and running. The costs of starting a business, even a relatively small one, can be staggering. Between legal fees, registration fees, the cost of merchandise and licensing, not to mention leasing a building, furnishing it and setting up utilities, you’re looking at a lot of money, and possibly more than you have and what you could gather together by liquidating existing assets or investments.

onlinecheck.com claims to offer business loans with less strings attached than normal. The advantage to choosing them is quicker approval rate, less requirements, no fees or closing costs, and no paperwork.

Of course, you should always do your research before settling on a particular lender. There are many lenders out there, and each have something different to offer you. Research loan amounts, interest rates, penalties and due dates, and refinancing and increasing loan amount options later on, when you might need additional funds or working capital to keep your business going, or to make improvements or additions.

For more information on all of the services that onlinecheck.com provides, check them out at onlinecheck.com.

Original post: Kleargear

Well, I’m quite disappointed. PayPal canceled the credit card transaction on the evening of August 15th, since it was a pending hold that was never finalized. My money was returned to me, but what I really wanted was the shirt. I called Kleargear and left them a message, and sent emails to all of the contact email address I could find, but I never heard back. Wow. Way to drop the ball Kleargear!

So, with that being a finished and disappointing matter, it’s back to my search for a plus size “I’m Blogging This” t-shirt that doesn’t have additional wording or advertisements on the back. Wish me luck!

Trade your Gold for fast cash. I see commercials advertising that kind of stuff late at night. Apparently as the world’s supply of gold dwindles, existing gold is becoming more and more valuable. Me? I don’t have a lot of gold, and the gold items I do have I wear all the time. Those would be my wedding band and engagement rings. With the exception of those, I don’t like gold. I really don’t. White gold, sterling silver and platinum all the way. Gold? I’ll pass. It just doesn’t go with my complexion, my hair or my eyes, as silly as that sounds.

Anyway, the Gold and Stone Exchange offers you the ability to trade in your unwanted gold, silver, platinum and diamond jewelry and other items for free. They ship you a free gold exchange kit, you send everything in through the secure and padded mailing kit, and they send you a check for the recycle value of your submission, minus a 6% processing fee.

That sounds fair to me. I have no idea what gold and other precious metals are worth these days, but I know they’re definitely worth more than dust collectors sitting around in jewelry boxes and drawers. If I had enough to send in I could definitely see me using the money to buy groceries or fill up my car’s gas tank. Lame, I know, but hey, that stuff costs money!

For more information, check out goldandstoneexchange.com.

My laptop is a beastly nine and a half pounder that throws off a lot of heat. So much heat, in fact, that even routine use in an air conditioned room for more than an hour can cause it to overheat and shut down, unless there is adequate airflow around and underneath it. For the past year I have been using Rubbermaid’s metal mesh laptop stand to elevate my laptop so that enough cool air circulates beneath it. It has worked perfectly, but it doesn’t fold flat and so it isn’t a good candidate to take on the road with my laptop bag.

So when I saw the Targus Laptop Portable LapDesk, I was intrigued and very interested. Not only does it help provide balance and stability for when a laptop is on your lap or other soft surface, it elevates to provide air circulation AND folds flat. So… I bought it. $20 at Walmart.

Now, don’t let the photo fool you. The tray is not made of metal. It’s a heavy duty plastic. The elevation is enabled by a little kickstand (a flimsy looking piece of plastic) that flips out from one side of the tray and locks in between two rubber slots on the other side of the tray.

Using the tray in the elevated position doesn’t make me feel comfortable with walking away and leaving my laptop unattended. Unlike my Rubbermaid tray, which features two metal lips on the bottom edge to keep the laptop securely in place, there’s nothing on the Targus tray to prevent it from sliding off, except supposedly strong rubber grips.

Also, that little kickstand? After having it securely in place and typing away on my laptop (without applying much pressure to the wrist rests) for about a half hour, it gave way, causing the tray to snap down and my laptop to hit the kitchen table with a thunk. Good thing I was there, and the laptop wasn’t close to an edge, or it could have gone right off.

Bottom line: the Targus Laptop Portable LapDesk may work nicely as a tray, but forget the elevation unless your laptop weighs less than five pounds.

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onlinecheck.com offers several financial services, including a merchant account for interested customers. From my experience as a freelance writer, I can tell you a lot about merchant accounts. The basic merchant account provides a business with a way to safely accept credit card payments from all major credit cards. The account works by transferring funds from the credit card, through the payment gateway (set up by the merchant account provider) and to the bank account the business has set up for business purposes.

Merchant services vary from one merchant provider to the next, but in general they all do the same thing: allow merchants to accept credit card payments. Some merchant accounts also allow businesses to accept check payments, debit card (pin) payments and even gift card payments.

A merchant account is a must for any company that wants to stay ahead of the competition, or at least be in the same league as the competition. You see, nearly 75% of consumers in the US and UK shop with credit cards. This includes for paying for mundane things like gas fill ups, dinner at McDonalds and a newspaper and coffee at a local newsstand.

onlinecheck.com’s merchant account has no setup fee or activation fees. There isn’t even a contract — you’re free to create your merchant account, use it at any time and cancel at any time. According to the site, their processing times are fast too: just one business day!

For more information on merchant accounts and credit card processing, check out onlinecheck.com.

Original post: Jimmy Dean Sausage, Egg & Cheese on a Biscuit

I wrote to Jimmy Dean (their parent company is Sara Lee), and they responded yesterday with the following:

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for contacting Sara Lee. It is always important to hear from our consumers, and we appreciate the time you have taken to contact us. We are truly sorry the product did not meet your expectations.

Sara Lee is committed to providing quality products and service to our consumers. Please be assured that all comments are helpful in achieving our goal of customer satisfaction. It is only by meeting the needs of the consumers like you that we can continue to be successful. Your feedback will be shared with our marketing department.

In appreciation of your time, we would be happy to send you a complimentary coupon to be used on a future purchase of a Sara Lee product. You can expect the coupon to arrive in 7-10 business days via the mail. Should you have any comments or questions in the future, please contact us via our website at www.saralee.com or by calling our toll-free number, 1-800-323-7117. Our representatives are available Monday-Friday between the hours of 7am and 6pm CST.

Sincerely,

Amanda
Sara Lee Consumer Affairs Representative

Now, free coupons are always nice, but I’m kind of concerned that there was no mention of the fact that their supposedly “fresh” food had fuzzy mold growing on it!