So today a lot of people and businesses voluntarily turned off unnecessary lights and other equipment to help conserve energy. I guess you can say it is very similar to the Earth Day event as its purpose is to bring awareness on what we can do to help conserve energy while at the same allowing many people to save money.

Feels like a very eco friendly initiative year so far I must say as it seems like every other week I have been hearing about something related to conserving energy and resources. Kind of makes me want to watch that planet earth dvd that everyone says is suppose to be very captivating as it kind of puts you in the mood in wanting to see the Earth’s natural happenings and resources.

I’m not sure about everywhere else, but here it seems like you can still see sunlight even after 8:30pm and I personally prefer using natural light rather than having to flip something on. I guess if you are really serious about conserving energy or doing it as a way to save money, like anything else it has to become a daily part of your life to really be effective.

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I was watching a program that had a couple who were talking about how financial management is so difficult and that making money is a boring everyday chore. For myself, I personally find it kind of fun to see how doing certain things can drastically save you money or watching your income grow as a result of wise decisions. Some people have told me that for them it is like an addiction wanting to see numbers climb up higher each time.

I guess the main thing is that in my mind I can control what happens to me financially as oppose to thinking that money controls me. I personally think that is true for almost everything else as well for someone to enjoy a task. Now people often get very cynical over a remark like that and begin saying how this and that person has it all and so obviously they would enjoy it.

My usual response to people who say that is what is stopping them from doing the things that are necessary to achieve similar results? Every time thus far when someone has tried to give me some kind of justification on why they were forced into a rut they end up admitting that they can change. In my opinion, it’s almost like a person running with ski boots on all the time and saying that running around the neighborhood is too painful and tiring which is why they can’t exercise. Like with that, what is stopping one from wearing running shoes instead? I’m sure it will be a lot more fun afterwards too.

Seeing results is the biggest factor I’d say in being able to enjoy taking care of your financial responsibilities. If you are someone who is in debt for example, I’m sure that wiping out even a small one within your pool at first will provide you with a lot of motivation to keep going and eventually it will become like an activity. When it comes to making money, it may be very cliché saying, but you should first focus in enjoying what you do as the money will come. Why shouldn’t it be fun?

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Back in March I made a post on how the local natural gas company here called Terasen Gas is losing its monopoly which is opening up choices for residences. Some of the alternative providers seem to be sending out an army of people going door to door as a way to get people to sign through them.

For myself I had previous knowledge of the event and generally from a business perspective I understand how everything works in terms of everyone reselling the same energy source. The real interesting thing is how some of the door to door solicitors presented their pitch which was very interesting.

The last person who knocked on the door presented himself as kind of like an inspector wanting to make sure that everything was okay with the billing and all. Afterwards, he talks about how there is a new program where we could receive the exact same service and by signing to this new five year service term it will be cheaper than what we are currently doing now. He then mentioned how everyone has been asking for something like this and so it is now available and all we would have to do is register on the spot.

That is kind of a sneaky way of doing it I think. I think for a regular person they would have assumed that the person was from Terasen gas. Basically, when you think about it he didn’t really mislead or do anything illegal, but rather the way he worded everything can easily get so many people to sign up emotionally as most people would interpret that as a better service contract with their existing provider with mentions of things such as how the service is all coming from the same sources and so fourth.

I did actually test the person out to make sure that he was really an honest person with just some very interesting sales techniques as I began to talk about things such as deregulation and asked him to confirm whether or not that is what this was all about. He was kind of shocked that I knew so much about it, but he did in fact say that was the case and so that at least showed that he wasn’t trying to mislead people in a extremely unethical way. Of course, I did not sign as I would rather see all of the options was everything kicks in.

So for everyone else in the BC area, just be sure that you really understand and evaluate all of your choices first I’d say as I’m sure you want to go with the provider that offers the best price and service.

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So today is mother’s day and I will be heading out soon to go to a family dinner. Since it is a calm day today I decided to look at some humorous material and in the midst of it I accidentally bumped into this piece of work. I’ve actually seen this before and it is basically a funny but often true take on what happens when there is poor communication between a business and its clients. Just click on the picture below to see the full version.

It’s a funny but important lesson for everyone who tries to earn a living by trying to take someone’s proposed thoughts or requests and turn it into something real.

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This afternoon I went to look for something to unclog the drain in the bathroom for the house as the water was not going down smoothly. Obviously something like a plunger wouldn’t work due to the design of the bathtub, so I specifically went to look for one of those liquid based products where you would simply poor down the drain.

Now for most things I usually try to do my research ahead of time to see what would be the best thing to look for, but instead I figured that it was just a household product and that there couldn’t be too many confusing choices for something this specific. Was I ever in for a surprise as there were probably over 5 different products with fluctuating prices and some claiming to be the extra strength ones and so fourth.

At that moment I think I just became one of those consumers who are susceptible to any type of propaganda based on the product’s listed information or what the store signs tell you. On top of that, I couldn’t help but to have a little bias towards the products that costs less money as I have no sense or appreciation for the item brands since my knowledge of them are close to nothing.

Now fortunately this was a small item as oppose to something bigger as shopping for things where you know absolutely nothing about can be a real money waster. For example, one of the more natural assumptions as well in these cases is that the more expensive item is obviously better than the cheaper one or that they are all the same and so you may as well pay for the one that costs less. Normally it should be about the overall value and how that service or item will specifically satisfy your needs.

So what I did was that I first read the information on the products. It was kind of scary as all of them stated how the product was extremely corrosive and all of them suggested that you should wear gloves and a mask if it is a poorly ventilated area. I was thinking if it was that bad that I shouldn’t use my existing gloves and instead buy another one. It almost sounded like surgery.

Here is the part where I was able to use a value approach to the purchasing process. I figured that it felt kind of wasteful to buy one glove just for this and so what I did was purchase a small bundle of disposable ones as I knew that I could use those for other tasks as well. As for the liquid product itself, even though I had very little knowledge of any of them I quickly cross compared the information that each product tried to highlight. In this case, I tried to find the one product that emphasized that particular task and drain type the most. The one I chose actually turned out to be on sale too which was a great coincidence as well and was the cheapest out of them all.

In the end, after using the product the water was draining perfectly again just for those who are wondering. It didn’t seem like a very hazardous process like all the labels said it would be though. As demonstrated, it’s always to better to have at least some knowledge on what you are buying ahead of time to save time and money or get help from someone who knows a lot about it.

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