CBN (The Christian Broadcasting Network) posted an article by Jennifer E. Jones titled Tales from the Bride: How to have a Wedding on a Shoestring Budget.
Jones tells the tale of a lady who was engaged to be married but didn't have anything saved for it. Luckily, her mother did. A whole whopping $5,000!
She then became obsessed with finding huge budget busters, and the article centered around two items: the wedding dress and the wedding cake. The article goes in-depth as to how she went about acquiring the dress.
Bottom line: no debt was incurred on the wedding and it was done within the $5,000 budget.
Here's the link again to the article. I highly recommend you check it out.
You may also check out my ebook 99 Ways To Have A Memorable Wedding On A Shoestring Budget (available on the Amazon Kindle) for other ways to save money on your wedding.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
AuraVie - AVOID DOING ANY BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY
I am going on a rant today. On July 25th, I (using my wife's name because she is the one who ordered it) sent the following message to AuraVie using their online form--both my wife and I tried to call them several times but could never seem to get a hold of anyone.
July 25th - sent at 6:17am CST
P.S. my husband maintains a blog and is on Twitter, and we both have Facebook accounts with lots of friends, and if this is not corrected immediately, he will be advising everyone he knows not to do business with you.
To top it off, I also created the following videos, which can be viewed on YouTube:
Then, I also created these two videos regarding both my mailing of the package, on July 25th, and my final rant for the day.
On August 3rd, a week and a half later, we still have not seen any refunds from AuraVie. So, I found their e-mail address (once again, we tried calling with no success) and I sent the following e-mail:
Dear "Support"
Last week, on July 25th, I shipped a package back to you that I
didn't order. I did not sign up for recurring shipments of your
products, thereby you've also been charging me $97.88 in June and
July. I demand that you pay us back for the shipment that I just
sent back to you. It was unopened. My husband is an accomplished
blogger and has made a video of it, which he will put on YouTube
absolutely trashing your business practices if our money is not
refunded. For the June shipment, we never recieved it so unless you
can provide proof that it was, we demand a refund of that $97.88 as
well.
Get this taken care of today. If it isn't, I will also be in touch
with the MN Attorney General's Office.
I contated you also on July 25th to notify you that this package was
coming. Did I get any response from you? No. What business does
that, ignores people?
Contact us and get this taken care of. Today.
I hereby state to everyone not to do business with AuraVie. This has nothing to do with their products and if their products even work. This is in regards to their absolutely poor customer service and rip-off business practices.
Let me repeat: DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH AURAVIE!
Was I unclear? If you don't believe me, type in the company's name on Google. The first entry is their website. What's below that: complaints and ripoffs. Avoid them!
Don't say I didn't warn you!
July 25th - sent at 6:17am CST
I recently received
a package from you that I never ordered.
I don't even want to open the package and I just want to send it right
back to you. (Here at this point I inform them of the package number on the box). Please refund the $97.88 you took from my
account last week. I also noticed you
took out $97.88 last month and I never received anything from you. I will now be contacting the bank to block
any further transactions from your company.
Please cancel all future business transactions. It's funny when you look online at your
reputation, and it's not a very good one.
Auravie is in all sorts of rip-off reports. This is not a way of doing honest business.
If that #
above doesn't help, my address is (here I give both my wife's name and our address). Please refund
all of my money right now ($97.88 from both this month and last) or I will
report you to the state attorney general and the federal trade commission. I am sending the package back through the
mail to you today.
P.S. my husband maintains a blog and is on Twitter, and we both have Facebook accounts with lots of friends, and if this is not corrected immediately, he will be advising everyone he knows not to do business with you.
To top it off, I also created the following videos, which can be viewed on YouTube:
Then, I also created these two videos regarding both my mailing of the package, on July 25th, and my final rant for the day.
On August 3rd, a week and a half later, we still have not seen any refunds from AuraVie. So, I found their e-mail address (once again, we tried calling with no success) and I sent the following e-mail:
Dear "Support"
Last week, on July 25th, I shipped a package back to you that I
didn't order. I did not sign up for recurring shipments of your
products, thereby you've also been charging me $97.88 in June and
July. I demand that you pay us back for the shipment that I just
sent back to you. It was unopened. My husband is an accomplished
blogger and has made a video of it, which he will put on YouTube
absolutely trashing your business practices if our money is not
refunded. For the June shipment, we never recieved it so unless you
can provide proof that it was, we demand a refund of that $97.88 as
well.
Get this taken care of today. If it isn't, I will also be in touch
with the MN Attorney General's Office.
I contated you also on July 25th to notify you that this package was
coming. Did I get any response from you? No. What business does
that, ignores people?
Contact us and get this taken care of. Today.
I hereby state to everyone not to do business with AuraVie. This has nothing to do with their products and if their products even work. This is in regards to their absolutely poor customer service and rip-off business practices.
Let me repeat: DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH AURAVIE!
Was I unclear? If you don't believe me, type in the company's name on Google. The first entry is their website. What's below that: complaints and ripoffs. Avoid them!
Don't say I didn't warn you!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Have you done your budget today?
Today is the second day of the month. Have you done your budget for the month yet?
What are you waiting for?!?!?!?
It's time to sit down and tell your money where to go instead of having no clue where it all went. Budgeting is an important part of life, and even marriage.
There are numerous budget forms out there. Just Google search it and you'll find plenty to choose from. I personally use the budget forms from Dave Ramsey but feel free to use whatever you want. This shouldn't take very long.
Get it done today.
Your wallet, and your financial future, will thank you for it.
What are you waiting for?!?!?!?
It's time to sit down and tell your money where to go instead of having no clue where it all went. Budgeting is an important part of life, and even marriage.
There are numerous budget forms out there. Just Google search it and you'll find plenty to choose from. I personally use the budget forms from Dave Ramsey but feel free to use whatever you want. This shouldn't take very long.
Get it done today.
Your wallet, and your financial future, will thank you for it.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Always review your bank statement
This may seem like simple advice--always reviewing your bank statement--but we had an incident that recently bit my wife and I in the butt because we got out of the habit of doing this. It's our own fault for letting it happen for more than a month, but no more.
This all stemmed from a company called AuraVie.
I'm not going to talk about the quality of their products and whether or not they do what they say. What I'm going to briefly touch on is their business practices.
My wife, back in May, ordered some supposedly free samples. Free for the products, but you had to pay shipping and handling. In order to accomplish this, you needed to enter your credit or debit number--in our case it was debit as we do not have any credit cards and never will have them again. Ever! Well, lo and behold, they took it upon themselves to charge us $97.88 a month for a box of their skincare products.
We received them in the month of June--supposedly, I'm going to say, as we do not recall ever recieving them.
We also recieved them in July, just a few weeks ago. This one we did get and I've since sent it back RETURN TO SENDER. I have a video I'll be posting in a few days. I'm waiting to see if they'll respond back to either the RETURN TO SENDER package and/or the contact e-mail I sent them.
Bottom line: always, and I mean always, review your bank statement.
As far as my quest with AuraVie . . . stay tuned.
This all stemmed from a company called AuraVie.
I'm not going to talk about the quality of their products and whether or not they do what they say. What I'm going to briefly touch on is their business practices.
My wife, back in May, ordered some supposedly free samples. Free for the products, but you had to pay shipping and handling. In order to accomplish this, you needed to enter your credit or debit number--in our case it was debit as we do not have any credit cards and never will have them again. Ever! Well, lo and behold, they took it upon themselves to charge us $97.88 a month for a box of their skincare products.
We received them in the month of June--supposedly, I'm going to say, as we do not recall ever recieving them.
We also recieved them in July, just a few weeks ago. This one we did get and I've since sent it back RETURN TO SENDER. I have a video I'll be posting in a few days. I'm waiting to see if they'll respond back to either the RETURN TO SENDER package and/or the contact e-mail I sent them.
Bottom line: always, and I mean always, review your bank statement.
As far as my quest with AuraVie . . . stay tuned.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
#1 advice for dealing with debt collectors
The absolute best advice for dealing with any debt collector is this:
GET IT IN WRITING!
If you do not get it in writing, that the debt collector will settle for less than what is fully owed on the account, and you send them money, they may very well come after you for the difference.
Here's the scenario: you owe $1,000 on an old credit card. A few years pass and then you get sued. You call the debt collector and offer to settle. Let's say they offer $450 to settle on it. Before sending them any money, get it in writing. Even if they tell you that the offer is only good for today only, unless they're able to send you an e-mail or a fax, do not make a deal with them. It has to be in writing.
Period.
Or no deal.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Sheknows.com article on planning a beautiful wedding on a shoestring budget
Last year, sheknows.com wrote an article titled "Planning a beautiful wedding on a shoestring budget"
The article lists 5 major areas where you can save, from the guest list on down to the dress and reception. What's interesting, in my shoestring wedding ebook I touch on having an MP3 player as your DJ. In this article, they cite also that this method is growing increasingly popular.
The one point where we debate on, and differ, is the use of photographers. The article says you should never skimp on this. I say otherwise. The photographers for our wedding, taken by my uncle who dabbles in it as a hobby, looked just as good as others taken by those who do it for a living. Keep in mind, our wedding was 15 years ago and the wedding photography business has grown and evolved since. The bottom line for me is to shop around and find the best deal. If a $10,000 photographer is not in your budget, it's foolish to go into debt to make sure you have one for a one-day shindig.
Be sure to check out sheknows.com's wedding channel for more insightful articles on planning your big day.
Also, don't forget about my wedding ebook titled 99 Ways To Have A Memorable Wedding On A Shoestring Budget. Last week I offered a FREE promotion on this ebook and it was a tremendous success. It's now back to it's full price of $.99, which is still a bargain and continues to sell well. If you haven't picked it up, go to Amazon's Kindle Store site to pick it up.
The article lists 5 major areas where you can save, from the guest list on down to the dress and reception. What's interesting, in my shoestring wedding ebook I touch on having an MP3 player as your DJ. In this article, they cite also that this method is growing increasingly popular.
The one point where we debate on, and differ, is the use of photographers. The article says you should never skimp on this. I say otherwise. The photographers for our wedding, taken by my uncle who dabbles in it as a hobby, looked just as good as others taken by those who do it for a living. Keep in mind, our wedding was 15 years ago and the wedding photography business has grown and evolved since. The bottom line for me is to shop around and find the best deal. If a $10,000 photographer is not in your budget, it's foolish to go into debt to make sure you have one for a one-day shindig.
Be sure to check out sheknows.com's wedding channel for more insightful articles on planning your big day.
Also, don't forget about my wedding ebook titled 99 Ways To Have A Memorable Wedding On A Shoestring Budget. Last week I offered a FREE promotion on this ebook and it was a tremendous success. It's now back to it's full price of $.99, which is still a bargain and continues to sell well. If you haven't picked it up, go to Amazon's Kindle Store site to pick it up.
Friday, July 20, 2012
LAST DAY TO GET FREE WEDDING EBOOK
Today is the last day to get my ebook titled 99 Ways To Have A Memorable Wedding On A Shoestring Budget for FREE!
Want to know ways in order to save money on your wedding?
Want to know how to fund your wedding?
These answers and a whole lot more are inside my ebook. It's a quick read and is definitely worth the price of it.
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