Life, Finance, Work, and Womens Cloths

To Wash or Not To Wash; This is The Question

noreply@blogger.com (Joel hawkins) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:36:00 +0000

Are you a hand washer? Do you wash your hands after every trip to the bathroom? Others just do their business, and walk out. Then you see the people that only do the quick, pointless wash. The quick wash, is what individuals do when they feel pressured to wash their hands. They only cleanse because someone is in the restroom with them. I saw a guy do this yesterday. He walked up to the sink, the water just barely touched his hands, and he was done. I am not an expert, but that was pointless in my mind. I have a friend who washes only if someone is in the bathroom. If he is alone, he just walks out.

I wash on a case by case basis. That's right, I do not wash every time. Here is my reasons for why. There are people everywhere who don't wash their hands. If you are a washer, you go to the sink and turn on the faucet. So, your infected hands touched the lever to turn on the water. You wash, then touch the faucet again with your clean hands to shut it off. The sink was already touched with dirty hands though. Now you are back where you started. You have successfully reapplied the germs you were trying to kill. Next, you leave the restroom and push or pull the door. No problem, right? But wait, the people that did not wash their hands touched the door too. Now you have your original germs, and the unwashed patrons as well. You can go enjoy your lunch and feel better about yourself because you are clean.

Think of all the things you touch when out in public. Everything you lay your hands on have already been touched before. Doors, carts, products, chairs, ketchup bottles, chairs and on and on. I only wash in certain situations. Most of the time, I will walk right out of the bathroom unwashed. I don't care who is there giving me dirty looks. When I go into a bathroom , I pull the door open. This is the "cleaner" side of the door. I walk to the urinal and do my business. Most toilets are automatic or waterless these days, therefore there is no need to flush. I head back to the door and kick it open. I have completed my bathroom break without touching anything. (except for walking into the bathroom) What if the door pulls open? I kick it open going into the bathroom, then when leaving I pull out one clean paper towel, and use it to put on the handle. I then dispose of it at the nearest can. I love bathrooms without doors, and with automatic toilets.

When I do wash my hands, I will use a paper towel to turn the faucet off. Then again, to open the door if needed. I do not stress, or worry about hand washing as others do. I feel that this hand sanitizing nation is ridiculous. I rarely get sick, and can't remember the last time I had the flu. I'm a very clean person, however, I think people go overboard with germs and hand sanitizing. I grew up in "hand sanitizer free" world, and we ate germs for lunch. We don't need to wash every time, or sanitize each time our hands touch something. Some of you are so worried about saving every drop of water, quit washing your hands constantly. I will continue to wash my hands on a "as needed" basis. You can continue to give me dirty looks as I walk out of the bathroom. Part of the reason I am not always sick is, my body can handle germs. Always cleaning and keeping your body from germs, makes you more susceptible to the germs. People in food service and health related jobs, keep washing. Everyone else, quit wasting our valuable water supply. Wash only when needed. If you ever run into me on the street, be sure to shake my hand?

Beginners Guide to Buying & Selling Stocks

noreply@blogger.com (Joel hawkins) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:03:00 +0000

My wife told me this was much longer than a blog should be. I apologize for the length, however after reading several times, I added information. I do not feel there is anything that could be left out.

Buying and selling stocks can look very confusing when you first enter a website. I prefer Etrade myself as I had a Scottrade account and I did not like there format. https://us.etrade.com Scottrade ran my credit just before I applied for the loan on my current house. I did not remember reading anything about permission for that, which tells me they hide disclaimers in jumbled words, Therefore, you do not have my business. Anyway, I also use fidelity for my Roth IRA, and have purchased individual shares through that as well. A Roth IRA can be opened through Etrade as well, however I prefer Fidelity's setup over the others. They also have numerous, excellent mutual funds that are no load. Something to consider if you go that route. (Some funds have loads, known as front end loads, and back end loads. This is a fee when you open or close the mutual fund. They can be very high and take a large chunk out of your investment before you even get started. I encountered one that had a 5% front end load. The maximum you can contribute to a Roth is $5000. If you pay a 5% front end load, you automatically lose $250. Let's say you gain 10% over a year and want to buy another fund that you think will take off. Now you have the back end load. With the gain you had you will pay another $261.25. for a grand total of $511.25. This puts you negative the amount of your original investment, even though you had a ten percent gain. That does not include management fee's that also come with this. I am sure you see what I am saying.) It is simply a matter of preference. https://www.fidelity.com/ I always go back to Etrade to research stocks and mutual funds. Their tools for research, in my opinion are superior to the other platforms that I have used. Etrade's tools are so simple my wife can use it. Ha ha. (Etrade please email me, and I will tell you where to send the check for the advertisement)

The first thing you will do is sign up for an account. This can look confusing as well, since there are different types. For basic service all you will need is the brokerage account. You will see settings for margin accounts and some others that are not needed for regular buying and selling. If you don't understand something, they provide "help" tabs on just about every word. Next you will need to fund your Etrade brokerage account. You can mail them a check, go to a branch and deposit, or link your bank to them. I have my bank linked to them as this is the most convenient method for me. The only downside to this is, they will take up to fifteen days to clear the first time. This will give you time to become familiar with the site.

Enter the ticker symbol you want in quotes box. You will be taken to the next page to see all the stocks information, as well as buy and sell buttons. Click on the buy button. The first tab will say "order type". All you need to worry about is Buy or Sell. The "sell short", and "buy to cover" is for shorting stocks, and you do not need to attempt this if you are a beginner. Shorting shares is a good way to lose all your money quickly if you don't know what you are doing. Next you will enter the quantity of shares you want to purchase. They charge a commission per order, not per share, but make sure you are positive about the number of shares you want. When you buy your first shares you are automatically negative due to the commission price. You will see red on the dollar amount for your shares. Over buying and over selling can be another quick way to lose money. If you buy shares, and change your mind, and sell two days later, then buy something else, you will continue to lose money on commission cost. Make sure your purchase is what you want. There is nothing wrong with waiting. Do not feel that if you don't buy immediately you will miss your chance. I have thought that on several occasions, only to watch the market, and my stock plummet. There will be another day, and another stock. You may miss your chance with one, but there will always be others on the brink of explosion.

Next, click on price type. This is where most people get confused. All you need if you are a beginner is; Market or Limit order. I do not recommend market orders. If you have made the initiative to get this far, you will be better off without market orders, as this is just a way to get riped off. I will still explain it as some people prefer this method. When using Market orders you are buying at the markets price, at that time, however, brokers mark this up and you pay more for the share than it is worth. I was buying Apple (AAPL) through my Blackberry at $187 a share. My limit orders were not working for an unknown reason. I went ahead and placed a market order to get the shares quick. The price was marked up to $194 per share. I paid $7.00 extra, per share in commission to some broker. It takes a long time to catch up from that. Now you can see why I use limit orders. That does not happen all the time, but that is just a good example of what can happen. When using your limit order, insert the top price you are willing to pay per share. The system will not buy over that price. If I am buying a share that is currently $15.55, I will place my limit order at $15.75. This allows for some fluctuation in the price, while protecting me from overpaying. When I'm selling shares I do this in reverse. If the stock is at $15.55 per share, I place my sell price at $15.45. That is the lowest price that I am willing to sell at. This also protects you from losing a profit. If this were placed as a market order, it could sell for $15.00 or worse, whatever the market is going for at that time. Please understand that sometimes the market order can work in your favor too. I have found that market orders are not worth the risk. Using this method will give you much better results. One more example. Let's use the $15.55 again. If you set your buy price at $15.75, this does not mean that your stocks will be bought at $15.75. They will be purchased at any price between the actual cost, and the limit you set. The price could drop to $15.43 while you were placing your order. Now you bought at a better price than you thought.

Your next step will be choosing the "Term". For beginners, you want to choose "good for the day". This buys your shares during regular market hours. I will not go through the other options because they are for more advanced buyers. I will write another blog for advanced buying. Press the preview button and make sure your order is correct. There are no do-overs in the world of trading. If you want to buy a $15.55 share, and you hit the wrong key and buy at $55.55, you are stuck with it. Someone will sell to you at that price. Any doubt you have, click the "change order" button. and verify your information you provided. When certain your order is correct click on "place order". You can then go to "view orders". If you need to change any information you have added, click, "change order", before the system has made the purchase. You do not have much time if you placed a legitimate order.

When buying stocks you should be certain that what you are getting is a solid company. I will not make any stock recommendation, however there are different ways to trade. If you are looking for long term you will want to choose a company such as PG Proctor & Gamble. Please note; I am not saying to buy them, this is just a example. They have been around for a long time and pay a good dividend. A dividend is a percentage of a share, that companies pay shareholders every quarter. Some companies pay very high dividends, however this does not mean they are reliable. When you come across this use caution, and research them. Keep in mind that anyone can have a website and look as if they are a strong business. Always check several different resources, and reputable news publications to examine the company. Read about the sector your potential company is in to find out how it is performing. You don't want to buy into a sector that's going downhill or starting to slow.

The Dow Jones is made up of the top 30 companies in the US stock market. These are usually a safer bet, although nothing is ever safe. Alcoa is a DOW stock that has struggled since the recession, and has many attributes that influence it's share price. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are among the most popular, however they are not all quality companies. Research everything you like, and never go on tips. Websites that offer tips are shorting shares that you and others are buying. They will also buy shares before you. This can be noticed on charts. I have looked at shares that websites pump up, and noticed that two days before they started sending emails, there were large share purchases. They buy cheap, get you and others to buy and drive up the price. They sell at the stocks peak and short it at the same time. Everyone starts to sell over time and the price drops. The website will cover their shorts. They win twice and you lose. This is done with penny stocks mostly. Just stay away from penny shares. Cheap does not equal good.

You can find vast amounts of information on the web for free. There are sites everywhere that require a subscription. I would not recommend signing up for anything until you feel your way around. I signed up for a service, and found another one that was better on the same day. For beginners, a great place to start is Investopedia. http://www.investopedia.com/ They have archived resources that cover anything you ever wanted to know for free. Investopedia also provides a stock simulator that you can use to buy and sell shares. http://simulator.investopedia.com/ This is a great way to learn without losing money. I was up $75,000 on a trade that I was not willing to make on my real portfolio. I wanted to cry. They also provide a trading dictionary. This helps to look up terminology that you don't comprehend.
Another way of investing is to buy short term. Short term can be a day or nine months. I have been lucky to buy and sell in the same day and make a profit. However, on several occasions, if I would have held the shares for more days, my profits would have accelerated well past what I sold at. I have also watched them decline just after selling. You never know where a trade will go. I would stay away from day trading as most of these people finish even to negative. If you are up on a trade 15% percent after 6 months, and you don't see the stock moving further, sell and take your profits. You need to set stop for your losses as well. I generally sell if I am down 10% on a trade. I don't do this with long term investing, just short term trades. Setting a stop can be done by either, watching your shares daily, or setting a "stop" within your account. To do this, start like you are selling your shares. Substitute sell for "Stop Loss %". Choose the percent you are comfortable with. Something to remember, if you lose 50%, you need a 100% increase to get back to even. There are some situations where I will hold beyond a 10% decline, however this depends on many different factors.

These are guidelines for basic buying and selling. I personally enjoy stocks. For me, trading is a hobby, and my future retirement. I have made large gains, and taken large losses. It is easy to get discouraged and want to quit, however I find it very rewarding when I win. I continue to learn each day from mistakes and successes. I have quit trading several times, but I always go back , usually within the same day. I find trading a personal challenge, me against everyone. No one is on your side in the world of trading. Nobody cares about your money as much as you do.

New Blog Finally Finished, Feedback on ebay, negative

noreply@blogger.com (Joel hawkins) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 03:30:00 +0000

I finally have the blog set up. I assumed the setup and layout would take hours to finish. It was rather fast and easy. If you have been thinking about starting a blog, I would recommend this site. After you figure out the navigation on the site, it becomes a breeze.

Today was the start of my vacation. Nine days off and heading to the beach on Monday. I forgot some paperwork at one job and had to go take care of it today. I wanted to be done with it early and put it behind me. I got up at 5am and headed out. I work all over North Carolina, so a trip to work can be ten minutes or six hours. Today it was two hours for five minutes of paperwork, then two hours back. I'm glad for audio books.

The eBay store is still slow right now. I will be closing it for my vacation anyway, so now is a good time for that. I am getting close to power seller status. Unfortunately, I received a negative feedback today. I shipped an item, paid for postage online like always, then wait for them to leave feedback or let me know if there are problems. Two weeks later I sent a feedback reminder. I got what I asked for. She said it arrived, and she was required to pay $3.32 for shipping. Now there are several problems here. First being, I paid $1.55 to mail it. How would it cost her that much more. I was not aware that things could be mailed COD. I also do not believe the USPS knocks on your door to ask for money. Also, if you really have a problem with it(if this is even true) reject the package and they will return to sender. I have placed insufficient postage on mail before, and a couple days later it was back in my mailbox with a insufficient postage stamp on it. Now, like I told this woman in a email; if you would have informed me of this matter, I would have resolved it immediately. But no, she handles this with a negative feedback which is permanent. Negative feedback on eBay, is like a bad credit score when trying to purchase a house. I think she is full of it, however, at this point I do not care about her money. If she would have handled this the right way, assuming she is right, I would have figured out what went wrong with my postage and refunded her money. Considering she went backwards and left the bad feedback, and then proceeds to inform me of the situation, I do not care to give any refund without proof of her paying postage. I am very angry over this and have emailed eBay to correct the issue. They have a strict policy about feedback removal, and will most likely not help me out. The only chance I have is that, I paid for postage through eBay. They should, and I do have the records to prove the purchase of postage for this item. Most likely I will be the loser as I was with pay pal. They seem to think that buyers are perfect and honest. The seller gets screwed on many occasions. This buyer had three purchaser's before me. I am well over one hundred sales. Let's take a look and see who is credible. I think I have run this into the ground, however I feel better now.

Time for bed. Later

How To Fix A Leaking Toilet Without The Mess (Or Replace One)

noreply@blogger.com (Joel hawkins) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:28:00 +0000

Fixing or replacing a leaking toilet is much simpler than you might think. This Do it yourself repair looks intimidating, but when you step back really look at it, the job is quite simple. If you have absolutely no mechanical skills, you might want to call someone. Overall you are just looking at a couple nuts and bolts., however, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars with simple Do it yourself repairs like this one.

Step 1) I highly recommend cleaning your toilet good, inside and out. You will be placing your head very close, and I personally prefer it clean.

Step 2) Gather the supplies you will need. Having everything ready to use can save a abundant amount of time. If you have to look for a tool every time you need something, your work will take forever. You will need buckets, rags or old towels, adjustable wrench, putty knife or scraper, rubber gloves, wax ring(if the seal is leaking), pliers, and plumbers tape

Step 3) Identify where the leak is coming from: Your toilet has very basic parts. There is a waterline going from the wall to the toilet, and there is a wax ring that seals the commode. You only see when the entire unit is removed. Look at the water line. Identify if the water is coming from there. This will have two connections. One at the bowl and the other being at the shut off valve. Check to see if they are tight, if the water appears to be leaking there. If you find water around the base, and the water appears to be coming from under your toilet, it is most likely the wax seal/ring. On occasion, the actual valve will leak from around the knob. This will require shutting off water for the entire building. You will need to open up faucets to relieve water pressure.

Step 4) Turn off your water valve. Place a small bucket under the fitting. Remove both connections. If this is where the water was leaking from, I would buy a new line as they are inexpensive. Wrap two times around the threads with plumbers tape or thread sealing tape. Tighten, turn water back on slowly and check for leaks. If it is leaking at the seal, leave the line off.

Step 5) Drain all the water: with your water line turned off, flush the toilet several times holding the handle down to drain the tank. Use a rag or old towels and start soaking the excess water in the back of the tank. When finished with this task you will need to empty the bowl. Use a plastic cup that you are willing to throw away and dip water out placing it in a bucket. When the majority is out use your rags or towels to soak up excess.

Step 6) Remove the bolt caps on the base and remove the nuts from the bolts. You can discard these because the new wax seal should come with new hardware. Be sure to check first.

Step 7) Find a lucky volunteer to help pickup and remove the toilet. Carry outside quickly as there will be some water remaining. You will need to scrape the old seal from the base of the toilet, and from the floor around the pipe. Remove the old bolts. Do not get this wax on anything or you will have difficulty removing it.

Step 8) Open your new wax seal and place flat side down around the pipe on the floor. Make sure it is seated correctly and add the new bolts.

Step 9) Grab your helper and carry the toilet back in. If a third person is available, they can help here. You will need to set the toilet back down while making sure the bolts come through the holes. You will want to be careful and set it down straight without twisting. Pressure may be required on the bowl to press the seal down if bolts are not through far enough to start the threads. Begin tightening the bolts evenly so the commode seats properly. You will want these nuts snug, however do not over tighten.

Step 10) Reconnect the waterline and turn water on slowly until you hear it stop running. Check for leaks at fittings and flush several times to make sure it seated on the wax ring correctly.

Step 11) You are now ready to start a new book or figure out the meaning of life.

Teaching children financial responsibility

noreply@blogger.com (Joel hawkins) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:19:00 +0000

Let me start by saying I am not a professional financial advisor. I am however, interested in the subject, and spend a lot of time reading and practicing financial responsibility. What I have done with my son has worked well(4 years old) and is very simple. This financial training might not work with your children, although you may get ideas to expand on.

My son loves to help with anything. He is still in the frame of mind that work is fun. I proposed that I would give him a weekly paycheck to do his simple work around the house. He must put his shoe's away, take his plate to the sink, keep his toys picked up and some other simple chores. I pay 75 cents a day for his work. If he does not complete his chores he does not get paid for the day. We have two little banks for him to keep money in. One that he can not open, and one he can. He is required to put half of what he make each week into his savings bank. This was very difficult the first couple weeks. The other half can be spent at his discretion. I do not get involved with what he wants to buy, other than helping him with cost. When he wants something, we check his money to see if he can afford it. Most Transformers cost ten dollars or more, so it can take a month to have enough money.
The idea behind this is to learn how to save for something he really wants, instead of buying something every week. His savings account will build and build until one day we open it to count the money. I was not shown how to handle money growing up, and made some mistakes. I am trying to help him have a good understanding of finances. This way when he is on his own he will know what it takes to save money. Don't get me wrong, I am not cheap, and I still buy him the occasional toy, but he is at the age where he wants everything. This test was also a way to help correct his wanting.
To my surprise in the supermarket one day, he saw some cheap looking plastic golf clubs. The normal response from his mouth was," I want that". What followed Next shocked me. He asked how much it cost. "Nine dollars" I said. He asked how much he had, and I told him ten. I helped him understand that he would only have one dollar left and you could not buy much with that. He looked at me and said," no, I don't like it anymore". I could not believe that something I did finally worked. I asked him if he was sure. He said he was, because, he wanted a transformer instead. We went on with our shopping.

This was the first time he had shown me that what I was doing was working. It took three weeks to get to this point. I had started to question if what I was doing was worthwhile. Don't get me wrong. He still wants everything, however now he asks how much it is. He will then proceed to his bank and start counting his cash. Anywhere we go he looks for change on the ground. Surprisingly, he does not buy something every weekend. He saves till he has enough to get what he wants. Even then he does not always buy something.

I hope to continue to teach him as he grows, showing him mistakes I made. Ultimately it will be up to him.

The Blackberry judgement. How to get screwed 101

noreply@blogger.com (Joel hawkins) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:59:00 +0000

This is a continuation to a previous post. I had sold a Blackberry on ebay. Got the Paypal judgement. Turns out they do not have any sense. I just got schooled in getting screwed. Plus I have to pay for the return shipping. Why is it the people who are honest and trying to follow the rules, get bent over and taken advantage of. I am not sure how to protect myself against something like this. I would love to quit using paypal. I'm sick of all the money holds. Two weeks ago I had to answer questions because someone purchase something from me and they said it was a fraudulent transaction. I was questioned like I used her account to make the payment. I would not know how to do that. This was also for an eight dollar item. If I am going to rip you off, I going to hit you for more than eight dollars. We are talking Bernie Madoff ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff).
Electronics seem like a risky thing for sellers and buyers. I don't like to play with people or fight them over stupid crap. I am not an expert in that area so it makes it hard to sell something like that. I have learned for sure to stick with what you know. I have a Netbook listed just because I want rid of it. If I get screwed on this, that will be the end of career selling anything that plugs into a wall. Time to get ready for wor. Have a wonderful day.

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Time to relax

noreply@blogger.com (Joel hawkins) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:36:00 +0000

108 womens jackets later and I am almost finished counting, posting, something, and something else. I still need to post 32 more. I think the world can wait another day to buy my jackets. I believe I started at 7pm. It is now 10:30. Not bad. They weren't kidding when they said it was 160 pounds. They all had to go upstairs too. My wife watched from the couch. If she worked for me she would be fired on the spot. My son could not carry, but counting and sorting jackets he was on the ball. I will give him a raise. I finally received two more feedback to give me 50, and a blue star. No more gold for me. I am on my way to power seller. Ebay and Beyond; Basics to Business' Dave White will be calling me for an interview. Colder Ice will be asking me for advice. Maybe I am a little ahead of myself. I believe it's time for bed. Later

You can follow me on twitter @ http://twitter.com/joelhawkins7667

Ebay test run

noreply@blogger.com (Joel hawkins) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:13:00 +0000

Over two months now selling on eBay. Over 80 sales and much more to sell. I have started buying inventory in bulk and listing the items. There is a lot more work involved than I first thought. I do not mind it, But don't think for a minute that that you post something and you are done. You have to continue to check your ads for hits, then change the wording for search engines. You must answer questions all the time. A iPhone comes in very handy for that. I find that the people that ask the most questions, buy the least. Is that because they are picky and research what they want, or just bored and need some interaction. Most people are great, however I have run into a couple who I wish I never came across.

I sold my Blackberry to a guy who deals in phones. My ad says AT&T in the title. It is common knowledge that if you buy a phone that is on a certain network it is locked to them. He claimed it would not work, it is locked and will not work even on att, that it is missing parts and on and on. He said he had people trying to fix it. So then he wants to return it to me. Hell no. He paid a high price for the phone on the eBay auction and now I know why. He is trying to strip the parts he wants. He threatened to turn me into pay pal, so I went ahead and notified them myself. We are still waiting on their judgement. With everything I submitted to them, the fact that he change his story, and I have all his emails to me. I do not see how they could favor him. If they do say I have to refund his money (which is currently on hold) I will get a phone back with missing parts for sure.
I hope they have some sense over there. For now I have to wait and see.