It’s that time of the year again…time to make my quarterly (usually but sometimes more often) call to Charter to see what kind of promotions they can offer me.  I logged in to pay our bill this morning, and I just happened to remember that our current promos would be ending sometime in January, so I figured I better go ahead and make the call while I had time.  Otherwise I knew I’d forget until the next bill arrived with a much higher price.

The bad news is there aren’t many great packages to choose from right now that will lower or keep our bill relatively the same without locking in to a 2 year contract.  I have many reasons for not wanting to lock into the contract price.

1. The whole locked in thing scares me because we like to have the option to change our package on a whim.
2. There are services we only use certain times of the year.  We only need the sports package in the fall during football season, and we only watch Showtime when our favorite shows are running.  I want the option to drop these services when we’re not using them.
3. Termination Fees.  The initial termination fee is $150.  It drops by $5 each month you keep the package, but with so many layoffs in our life in the last 2 years I don’t want to chance locking in then having to terminate the package.
4. The locked in price doesn’t truly lock in for 2 years.  As it was explained to me by the customer service rep today your price is automatically locked in for the first year.  Then your bill will increase by $20 (or possibly more depending on the package) for the second year.  What’s the use of locking in the price if it’s actually going to increase?
5. Lack of promotions.  We actually have saved a great deal by calling every few months and switching our promotions.  We’ve kept most of the same services over the last 3 year period, and we’ve even added a few thanks to the savings.  Why would I give up the ability to do that?

We had a pretty enjoyable weekend around here.  Ben worked Saturday, so Ellie and I had a girls day.  We decorated a cardboard Christmas tree we made for her last week, baked some sugar cookies, and snuggled up to watch Christmas movies after hanging some more decorations. 

We’ve just about finished decorating the inside of the house with the exception of our Christmas tree.  I would love to have the tree now, but because the wood heat keeps the air in the living room so dry we have to wait until 2 or 3 weeks before Christmas to put up our tree or it will dry out and die before Christmas.  Yes, we are pro real trees, and we recycle them in a number of ways.  Even though I contemplated buying Ellie a small fake tree for her room I’m not a fan of them.  I don’t think they’re very pretty, and I don’t like the lead hazards associated with most artificial trees.  The National Christmas Tree Association has an interesting article about fake trees, how they’re made, the hazards they pose.

Anywho, getting back on topic of the weekend, we had a very enjoyable one.  Sunday we took Ellie to her first parade.  Even though it was a very small parade she absolutely loved it.  She fell asleep before we even made it out of the parade traffic, so our plans of Christmas shopping afterwards were put on hold.  Instead I came home and window shopped online to get a few ideas of what to buy. 

I still have no earthly idea what to buy for Ellie.  I got her a pair of toddler roller skates with my Swagbucks gift cards, but that’s it so far. Our house has become hoarder central for toys.  Seriously we have so much stuff I don’t know where t put it anymore.  There are boxes in the attic and piles of toys all over the house.  She’s filled her bedroom, most of my office, and most of the living room with stuff.  I’ve been packing up stuff she doesn’t play with often and donating it, but we still have a massive amount of toys.  Plus I have to consider all the gifts she’ll get from our family for Christmas, so I have no idea what to buy her.

At least Ben is a lot easier to shop for this year.  I have his present picked out and ready to order as soon as I get paid.  Each year I plan the same present for him, and it gets put on hold because we can’t afford it.  He’s been looking at titanium rings and talking about getting a new one to replace his broken and too small wedding band, so that’s what I wanted to get him.  I found a few that I like in our price range, but now the issue is finding one that will fit.  I’ve searched high and low, and no one seems to carry anything over a 13.5.  He needs a 14.5 to fit his big ‘ole finger.  With titanium there isn’t an option of buying a size smaller and having it stretched, so I’ll have to keep looking.

Now that I’ve gotten off topic again I guess it’s time to wrap up this post.  I have a ton of housework to do today anyway, and I definitely can’t get it done if I’m sitting here on the ‘net while Ellie is napping!

You would think out of the countless boxes of computer parts and cables I have around here I would be able to find the one cable I need.  No, of course not!  My box of hdmi cables is completely empty, so it looks like I’ll be running out to buy another one tonight.  I would just order another one if I didn’t need it like right now, but since no one has invented a way to teleport purchases through my monitor I guess it’s a trip to town for me.

I need to start making a list of the cables I lose the most so I can add them to my Christmas list.  I should probably pick up a few on sale during the big end of the year sales instead because most of my family members would look like me like I’m crazy if I asked for something like that.  Then again most of them aren’t very technologically savvy.

I’ve been doing a daily craft project in our house, and I’ve ran out of ideas!  Okay, so I have ideas, but just not related to what I was hoping to do.  I was hoping we could use craft time to make some accessories to go with our Halloween costumes.  Ellie already has a costume for Halloween, actually she has two, but I have absolutely no idea what I want to be.  That means I don’t know what to make!

I’ve spent countless hours looking at Adult Halloween Costumes hoping I would find something I want to be or at least get an idea of something I can make.  So far, I’m still clueless.  I know what Ben will be.  He’s one of two things every year!  He either throws on his leathers, motorcycle boots, gloves, and carries his helmet to be a “biker”, or he grabs his tool belt and hard hat to go as a “carpenter”.  What can I say?  My husband is very unoriginal!  It’s more like he’ll do whatever he needs to do to get me off his case because he hates dressing up!

Kids Halloween Costumes are so easy to choose, so why is it so hard for me to find an Adult costume that I love?  Honestly I’ll probably be stuck doing the same thing I’ve done the last two years.  I’ll probably end up breaking out the black construction paper Halloween morning to cut out a couple cat ears that Ellie and glitter and glue before I attach them to a headband and throw them on with a black outfit.  I really don’t want to be a cat yet again, but if I can’t make my mind up on anything else it’s always my backup plan.

I think I have found a new shopping website to try.  I’ve been browsing around Become.com, and I really like what I see.  One thing I really need to purchase are bulk thank you cards, and Become has great price listings on them.  I’m going to pick out a generic card that can be used for birthdays, Christmas gifts, and just a general thank you. 

I love that Become.com works with a ton of top merchants we all know and love, like Home Depot and Sears, to bring you a new shopping experience.  You’re able to search for an item and compare the prices from different stores all from one page.  This makes it much easier to choose where to buy.

If you’re looking for things for your business Become can help you with that, too.  My little side business has been booming lately, and I admit I’ve been having dreams about what it would be like to have my own boutique.  Out of curiosity I searched for reception counter and found a ton of great options at great prices.  I know I definitely won’t be needing anything like this anytime soon, but it’s nice to know I can compare prices on business stuff as well.

Hop on over to Become.com and check it out.  With Christmas quickly sneaking up on us you may be surprised by the price differences you find at different stores.  Use the handy dandy price comparisons to find the item you want at the cheapest price available!