Tips

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Brian and Wild Animals

Posted on August 16, 2009 by Ching under Tips, Travel.

Brian was looking up all of these animals indigenous to the Philippines on the web. He’s making me check this out or that out. It’s funny hearing him say bayawak and Palawan because he kept accenting the wrong syllables. I had to keep correcting him. I think if I can get him to accent the right syllables, blending in when we visit in October will be cinch. But I digress…

I finally had to ask him what he was doing. He goes, “I’m studying all of the animals in the Philippines. I want to be informed to make sure I don’t get eaten by anything.”

I’m like, “Baby! You shouldn’t worry about the animals. If there’s anything you need to worry about, it’s the crazy people.” Then again, there’s crazy people everywhere. So nothing special to worry about, I guess. LOL.

P.S. When traveling to new places, it is generally a good idea to do your research. I really hope he doesn’t come across the aswang pages and web sites on the internet, otherwise he will be really freaked out. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!

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Goodbye Cable, Goodbye Dish

Posted on July 10, 2009 by Ching under Tips.

Scott Johnson is my hero.

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Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

Posted on March 27, 2009 by Ching under Tips.

Here are some Mother’s Day gift ideas to get you started:

Fun at Heart – Had the chance to check out Fun at Heart in Derby while I was getting my prescription filled at the Dillon’s across the street (my doctor’s office is in Derby). Fun at Heart carries Pandora (they are the only authorized retailer in Derby) and Brighton jewelry. They’re actually having a Pandora event tomorrow. If you buy $25 worth of Pandora, they will throw in an authentic Pandora lobster clasp bracelet for free.
The Pink Boa – The girls recently returned from market and have lots of new goodies. Also, April 2nd marks their second anniversary. I’m sure there’s fabulous deals to be had this weekend. Brian and I are going to check things out tomorrow (before our couples massage).
Sun Room Crafts – For more traditional Mother’s Day gifts like aprons, quilts, bread basket cloths, casserole carriers, embroidered towels, and purses made from recycled jean skirts and children’s jeans, check out Sun Room Crafts.
Modern-Day Relic – If your mom likes fashion jewelry, check out Modern-Day Relic’s collection of exotic fashion jewelry imported from Cebu, Philippines.

Anyway, these are the stores I recommend that you check out this weekend. What about you? What stores will you be hitting for Mother’s Day gifts?

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Germany Only Cost Us $26 Extra

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Ching under Money, Tips, Travel.

Brian and I have the best cellphone rate plan ever. We have unlimited messaging (picture and text), free nights and weekends, free mobile-to-mobile, and 500 whenever minutes all for under $70 (for two phone lines). Yes, we are frugal even when it comes to our cellphone bill.

Needless to say, we were a little apprehensive about Brian’s trip to Germany and its impact on our cellphone bill. Well, I just checked our bill online and the damage was only $26 extra. I couldn’t believe it. All of that planning paid off after all.

Here’s how we were able to minimize our cellphone costs:

[a] Don’t use your cellphone. International calls are generally a dollar a minute (contact your mobile carrier to find out the exact rates to whatever part of the world you or someone you know is traveling — it varies — in our case it was .99 cents a minute) so call only when absolutely necessary. Ever heard of email? Good. Use it.

[b] Text sparingly. Sending text messages (SMS) will cost you, so don’t text message like you’re still in town. For T-Mobile it is .35 per message sent. Received text messages don’t cost anything extra if you have an unlimited messaging plan. This means that you can receive a gazillion text messages while outside of your local calling area with no major financial repercussions — as long as you don’t reply to them.

[c] Learn to text online. You can send SMS from your mobile carrier’s web site. Any decent telecommunications provider offers this service. You might have to find it somewhere on their web site. If you have Gmail, you can send SMS through the built-in chat option.

[d] Enable your Twitter alerts. This is an alternative to online texting. If you are too lazy to go to your mobile carrier’s web site (or maybe their web site is not user-friendly enough) and don’t have Gmail but you do have a Twitter account, enable your direct message (and other alerts) and have your friends and family do the same. Usually Brian will DM messages to me on Twitter that I would receive on my phone. This allowed him to avoid the .35 text messaging charge. It worked most of the time except when the lag/delay got really bad.

[e] Get a local prepaid cellphone. If you will be going to that part of the world on a somewhat regular basis, it may be worth the money to invest in a local prepaid cellphone. Brian says it costs less than a dollar a minute so you can still talk to friends and family without having to sound like a telegram.

How about you? Got any tips for saving money on your cellphone bill when going out of town (or out of the country)? Post them in the comments.