Tag Archives: earn cash and prizes

Ups and Downs in 2014, el parte uno

January 14, 2014 mindfieldonline 2 Comments

Prices, that is. The folks at Money Talks News have put out their annual list of items expected to get more expensive in 2014. Let’s check out some highlights (with bonus dumb commentary!)

Going UP in 2014

Wine: Bad weather wrecks the French industry. Will wine snobs stoop to drinking Spanish wine? I’m on pins and needles!!

Getting a GED: In some places, the cost will TRIPLE. (Meanwhile, they cut costs, cut staff and most of it is done on computer now.) They must be pretty confident that you ain’t knowin’ math good.

Chipotle: Well, tree-huggers, you wanted organic, sustainable and locally sourced. Time to pay up.

Milk: Doesn’t it seem like every year they say that “milk prices are going to double or triple this year!?” Not gonna happen, but prices WILL go up.

Stamps: Hilarious. “We have just approved a temporary one-cent increase. And by temporary we mean permanent. And by one cent we mean three.”

Luxury cars: The BMW M5 is going up by $2,000? Guess my 1982 Ford Pinto will have to last one more year…

McDonald’s Dollar Menu: The McDouble is $1.29 now. This made me sooo mad!

The Olympics: You know what’s more expensive than staging the stupid Olympics? Getting killed in a terrorist attack at the stupid Olympics. Pass.

Next time, we will hear some GOOD news about 2014 prices. And of course, MUCH more items and insights at the original article so blah, blah, blah. How about you? We don’t all drive a BMW M5, but we DO all drink milk! What items are going up in your world? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

A Nutty New Year’s Eve

December 31, 2013 mindfieldonline

Time to check in with New Year’s Eve traditions, some familiar, some downright NUTTY.

Auld Lang Syne: What’s the story behind this classic? Find out HERE.

Kissing at midnight: if you don’t, it’s “a year of loneliness” for you, according to tradition.

Black-eyed peas and collard greens: In the South, they represent pennies and dollars. In other words, prosperity!

Colorful undies: in Latin America, the color of your unmentionables at midnight will affect your fortunes in the coming year.

Ooh, MELTY! Those crazy Germans drop molten metal into a bucket of water, and whatever twisted shape it takes reveals your fortune for the coming year.

Fireworks: The Chinese invented them, and set them off at midnight to ward off evil spirits.

Polka dots: In the Philippines, the circle represents prosperity. So wear those dots!

The night for white: In Brazil, you wear white on New Year’s Eve. Otherwise, bad luck!

Renewal in Japan: New Year’s is super important in Japan. Lots of emphasis on flushing away the troubles of last year, and hoping for better in the new. Temples strike their gongs 108 times, to banish the 108 types of human weakness. Personally, I have 137 kinds of human weakness. So GET ON IT, Japan!

Burn that mother down! In the Netherlands, they build bonfires in the streets using their Christmas trees.

Chew carefully: When eating New Year’s cake in Greece. One lucky person will find a gold coin, bringing good fortune in the new year.

12 grapes: In Spain, you eat one grape for every stroke of the bell. Statistically, it’s the New Year’s tradition with the most Vitamin C.

You dropped something! In Mt. Olive NC (oddly, the home of the Mt. Olive Pickle Co.) they drop a lighted pickle instead of a ball. Meanwhile, in Eastport Maine, it’s a lighted sardine! And Brasstown, NC lowers an opossum in a Plexiglas box (and PETA hates that!)

So, we’re all from somewhere else… do you have any different or oddball NYE traditions to share? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a happy, SAFE New Year!

Sources: Here, here, here and here!

Notes on 300

December 27, 2013 mindfieldonline 1 Comment

Welcome to MindFieldLive’s 300th post! This blog came online on September 11, 2010. A Saturday, oddly. Just a quick hello and an invitation to tour the site – which thousands have done. The various permanent pages describing how the whole MindField thing works have always been the most visited pages.

But we have also talked about a bunch of other stuff, some serious topics and some goofy ones too. We have made note of just about every Facebook milestone. Note this headache-inducing graphic from October 15, 2010…

We’ve asked questions like “what makes this product FOR WOMEN when all they did was take the regular product and make it pink?”

We have discussed the return of old habits, like layaway. Who would have thought?

We talked a lot about technology changes, and how they affect our shopping habits. Online shopping immediately springs to mind. Other “advancements” include a boatload of smartphone apps that allow you to comparison shop on the showroom floor, make dinner reservations, help you remember where you parked, receive insta-coupons, etc. Where is this trend heading? Will our increasing paranoia about privacy blunt its growth? (I kind of doubt it!)

The sad journeys of some old favorites. JCPenney comes to mind, with the hiring of an old Apple retail exec. He made a bunch of changes (no more Saturday sales, everyday low prices, etc.) that everybody hated, forcing JCP to flip-flop. They continue to circle the drain, and it doesn’t look good for the 110-year-old retailer.

Mom & Pop video stores vs. Blockbuster vs. Netflix vs. Redbox. It has been a wild 20 years in this segment, but it really came to a head in the MindFieldLive blog era. Mom & Pop were already dead and Blockbuster was king – though stumbling. Netflix was killing them with home-delivered DVD’s – until Redbox came along and forced them to change course. Today, Blockbuster is dead (with zero tears shed,) there’s a Redbox at every corner gas station and Netflix owns home streaming

Overall, the major trend has simply been the economy. What decisions have you made in the last 3 years that weren’t colored by anxiety over how things are and where they are heading? Is it getting any better? I honestly can’t say. What do you think?

Anyway, it’s been fun. We’re glad to see you every Tuesday and Friday, and we hope you keep coming around. Thanks to the best bunch of consumer panelists in the business! Have a great weekend, and see you on New Year’s Eve!

TARGET-ed!

December 24, 2013 mindfieldonline 1 Comment

Been keeping up with that credit card breach at Target? Here’s the skinny….

Target says 40 million credit and debit cards may have been compromised. If you shopped at a U.S. Target store between November 27 and December 15, you should assume you’re at risk and keep a close watch on your account statements. It’s not clear whether every Target store was affected, but at least one card issuer says it’s seeing signs of fraud all over the United States, according to Krebs on Security. You’re not in any danger if you shopped at Target’s website, or one of the company’s Canada stores. Time Magazine

At my house, we got our notices from Target via email. It answers a lot of questions, offers advice, as well as the opportunity to access free credit reporting from the big agencies.

Some, of course, are saying it’s too little too late. The public relations nightmare – and the lawsuits – have already begun. In my opinion – very much a “seems to me” without any hard evidence – Target was a little late in admitting there had been a breach. When they did, they talked about it happening on Black Friday weekend (let’s say 11/27 to 12/1.) By the time I got my email, that weekend period had stretched to December 15!

On the other hand, let’s not place ALL the blame on (seemingly) inadequate security. Let’s be sure to thank the jerks who stole the credit cards. They KNOW you and I won’t be held accountable for the fraudulent purchases, and they see it as a victimless crime. In my opinion, it’s ECONOMIC TERRORISM pure and simple.

Anyway, here are some (FRESH) links if you need to catch up:

Did you get your notice? Is this an outrage, or more of the same in today’s super-connected, ever-more-vulnerable world? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and Merry Christmas Eve!

The Smell of the Sell

December 20, 2013 mindfieldonline 1 Comment

What does a Hugo Boss store smell like? I couldn’t tell you. But I know it smells like something. And the scent was scientifically chosen, and it’s the same in every store. Why? To sell stuff!

Such sensory branding is becoming a bigger part of stores’ consumer marketing. Retailers often rely on music and colors to create a mood, but now they’re targeting the other sense, smell, to get customers to make a more sophisticated connection to the brand through their shopping experience — they even have a name for it: olfactive branding. Time.com

What have the eggheads learned with these sorts of sensory branding?

Sight: displays consisting of warm colors (red/yellow/orange) are good at attracting impulse buyers, while cooler blues and greens attract the more analytical shopper.

Sound: you may be tired of the holiday music in stores now but, like it or not, it put you in a Christmas mindset, which fuels gift buying.

Taste: there’s a reason Starbucks (and everybody else) whips out the pumpkin spice in the fall and peppermint in the winter!

Smell: has really captured the retailers’ imaginations in the past few years. Baby powder smell in the kids. Section, coconut in the swimwear section, and so on. There are even professional smell consultants who design official scents for retailers. By the way, I said I didn’t know what a Hugo Boss smells like. Actually it’s “musk with a hint of citrus.” I don’t know what that MEANS, of course. So, technically, I wasn’t lying!

So, what do YOU think? Trickery or smart business? What smells have you noticed? Do you notice them at all? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Ditching the Name Brands?

December 13, 2013 mindfieldonline 1 Comment

Here’s a lightweight Friday piece on brand loyalty vs. pinching pennies. Times are tight y’all! We all have our favorite brands of food and health & beauty items. For some, our loyalty is so strong we will stick with them even when the budget gets tight. Others, not so much. Turns out, according to Forbes.com, there’s a pattern to which items we will sacrifice first.

Here’s a list of everyday items, with the percentage that the name brand has lost to the generics since the economy up and got dead in 2008 (with bonus dumb commentary!)

Paper Towels down 1%
Facial Tissue down 8%
Laundry Detergent down 9%. Not in our house. Sgt. Wife insists on Tide!
Pasta Sauce down 10%. Definitely. A couple of cans of Walmart Italian-style diced tomatoes (68 cents each!) is just as good.
Fruit Juice down 12%
Soup down 12%. I do think Campbell’s is better, but it’s been forever since I bought any.
Shampoo down 12%. Can’t say. I have always been a Suave girl. Guy. Whatever.
Toothpaste down 12%.
Mouthwash down 14%. It’s blue alcohol. Is NameBrand-sterine that much better than Walmart-sterine?
Over-the-counter medicine down 17%. When one is $7 and the other $4.59? Definitely!

There’s more to be had at the original article (not much, really) including the percentage of each of these segments that the generic brands have swiped from the name brands. So check it out!

How about you? Which of your fave name brands have you given up for the economic apocalypse? Did you switch, and then switch back? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Holiday Spending 2013

December 6, 2013 mindfieldonline

Ah, statistics. How much are we spending this holiday season? You can ask 5 different experts and get 5 different interpretations of the numbers. What seems to be universal is that we still aren’t back to where we were in 2007, before everything went wacky, but slowly (painfully slowly) we are clawing our way back. Of course, that’s relative too. Is spending $800 per family at holiday time something we SHOULD be striving toward? I’m not so sure.

Anyway, here’s the latest look at Holiday Spending by the Numbers, 2013 edition, courtesy of Mint.com.

2007: The year holiday spending peaked, before the crash
39%: How much spending went down in 2008
2009: The year holiday spending bottomed out
$682: The low point, per family, in 2009
$750: what we worked our way up to, per family, in 2012. Expected to rise again in 2013
$400: How much we spent on family gifts, 2012
$75: Gifts for friends, 2012
$25: Gift for co-workers, 2012
60%: The number of us that bought gifts for ourselves, 2012
$224: The amount moms spend on each child and spouse
#1: The most requested gift on wish lists: Gift cards!

The article is full of stats from different survey firms. Sometimes the numbers differ, but the trends seem stop hold up across the board. It also offers for tips to cut costs (I’m going to guess “buying gifts for yourself” is the first to go!) So check it out!

How about you? Are you spending the same? Less? More? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great (shopping) weekend!

Holiday Shopping Season Begins!

November 26, 2013 mindfieldonline

Holiday shopping season is upon us, so let the madness begin! It used to be so simple – around about 5am on Black Friday the doors would fly open and the trampling would commence. Now, the times are all over the place. Kmart is particularly tricky: Open at 6am Thursday, closes at 4pm, opens again at 8pm, closes at 11pm Friday! You get all that? If not, the folks at About.com have compiled a pretty thorough set of lists for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday store hours, so check ’em out!

Thanksgiving Day Opening Times

(Click the header for a complete listing)

6:00 AM – Kmart (closes at 4pm, reopens at 8pm)
7:00 AM – Big Lots
8:00 AM – Bass Pro Shops
8:00 AM – Family Dollar
9:00 AM – Old Navy
10:00 AM – Gap
8:00 PM – hh gregg
8:00 PM – Kmart
8:00 PM – Sears (stays open until 10pm Friday)
8:00 PM – Toys ‘R Us
8:00 PM – Wal-Mart (stays open until 10pm Friday)

Black Friday Opening Times

(Click the header for a complete listing)

12:00 Midnight – jcpenney (open from 8 PM Thurs thru 9 PM Friday)
12:00 Midnight – Kohl’s (open from 8 PM Thurs thru 9 PM Friday)
12:00 Midnight – Kmart (open from 8 PM Thurs thru 11 PM Friday)
12:00 Midnight – Old Navy (open from 7:00 PM Thurs)
12:00 Midnight – Sears (open from 8 PM Thurs thru 9 PM Friday)
12:00 Midnight – Target (continuous hours from 8:00 PM Thurs)
12:00 Midnight – Walmart (continuous hours from 8:00 PM Thurs)
5:00 AM – Bass Pro Shops
5:00 AM – Lowe’s
8:00 AM – Radio Shack

So, what’s YOUR battle plan? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page! And don’t forget, we did an online Holiday shopping guide a couple of weeks ago. You can check that out HERE.

Saving for a Rainy Day?

November 18, 2013 mindfieldonline 1 Comment

Admittedly, for some folks, life is already an emergency. Others are getting by OK, but you never know what’s around the corner. That’s why building an emergency fund makes some sense. What’s an emergency fund? According to Investopedia.com, and emergency fund is:

An account that is used to set aside funds to be used in an emergency, such as the loss of a job, an illness or a major expense. The purpose of the fund is to improve financial security by creating a safety net of funds that can be used to meet emergency expenses as well as reduce the need to use high interest debt, such as credit cards, as a last resort.

How much do you need to set aside? Dave Ramsey says 3 to six months’ worth of expenses. So, how do you go about it? Here are some links!

What about you? Have you built your emergency fund? If so, did it give you a little sense of security? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

November is Financial Literacy Month

November 12, 2013 mindfieldonline 1 Comment

Well, in Canada anyway. But good advice knows no borders!!

November is Financial Literacy Month, and that means a deluge of tips from banks, consumer groups and financial industry professional groups and regulators. The Globe and Mail

True enough, but what about regular folks? The Globe and Mail financial editor received some fan mail from an ordinary dude, a retiree who has written a letter of financial advice to his grown kids. You really have to read the whole thing, but here are the bullets…

Spread the pain of saving and pleasure of spending over your whole life.
Get out of debt and stay out of debt.
Come up with a realistic cost of retirement.
Leave your home out of your retirement income plan.
Hire an investment planner who does not sell any investment products of any kind.
Don’t plan for inheritance, lottery winnings or other windfalls to fund your retirement.
Diversify.
Plan to be in your investments for 50 years or more.
Don’t try to time investment ups and downs when buying and selling.
Don’t assume everything will work out on its own.
Don’t gamble with individual stocks. Buy whole stock markets.
Don’t worry if markets crash.

Like I said, MUCH more detail at the original piece, so check it out. So what do you think? Some good advice? Anything you’d like to add? Head over to the MindField Online Facebook page and let us know!

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