I am a strong advocate of Netflix. I just love it. For awhile, I used blockbuster online rentals but once I switched to Netflix, I never turned back. Although Netflix already boasts over 15 million subscribers, they’re not done yet. They’re preparing themselves to tap into Canadian market and will start offering streaming only service in a few months.

Currently, due to lower profit per subscriber numbers, the Netflix stock price is declining. As of right now at 11:32 am EST, the price is down 10.66% at $106.81. I believe this might be a good time to invest in some Netflix stock. The fundamentals haven’t changed and the future still looks bright.

If you have not taken advantage of Netflix service, you can still try it out for free for two weeks. You can cancel within the two-week trial period and pay nothing. You can simply cancel the service online so you won’t have to deal with trying to come up with excuses talking to a real live representative.

I wrote about Netflix service a few times already. I have listed them here so you can refer to them easily.

Netflix Streaming Review: Save Money With Netflix
Roku Becomes Friendlier with Netflix
Use Your Wii To Stream Netflix, Save 10%
Hulu Competes With Netflix

Now, you can receive $100 bonus when you trade in your gold for cash. Cash4Gold.com is offering a special $100 bonus when you trade in your gold valued at least $250. So when you trade in $250 worth of gold, you’ll receive an extra $100 bonus, totaling your receivable amount to $350.

Trading in gold at Cash4Gold.com is easy. You simply fill out a form to request a return pack. Cash4Gold will then send you a package where you can place all your broken jewelry in. The package is pre-paid so no additional postage is required. When the package arrives at Cash4Gold facility, they take a photograph of all the contents in the package and each individual item is assessed for value. Value is determined by the amount of gold present in the item, quality of gold, and the current price of gold. After the assessment, a check will be sent to the customer. The entire process takes about one week, a little longer depending on mail delivery time. The people at Cash4Gold tries to make the entire process as easy as possible for their customers. If you’re not satisfied with the amount paid, there is also a 12-day return policy.

Remember, the current price of gold is sky high at over $1,200/oz. Market analysts are indicating that there is still room for gold prices to increase by the end of the year and also into next year. If you have jewelry that you don’t wear and would like to get some cash value out of it, cash4gold is there to help you out with that.

I’ve read all of the FAQ’s from their webpage and listed below what I thought were important information.

Q: How is payment of my items determined?
A: Payment is based on gold content (karat), weight, and the daily price of gold.

Q: I paid $500 for my ring. I should expect to get $500 from Cash4Gold, right?
A: Retail stores mark up jewelry five, 10 and even 20 times or more. Cash4Gold pays for the “melt value” of your jewelry – that is, the value of the gold itself once it has been melted down and sent to the refinery. Craftsmanship is not a consideration when assessing value of your gold.

Q: The insurance company appraised my jewelry for $500, so I should receive $500 from Cash4Gold, right?
A: Insurance companies will appraise your jewelry based on “retail replacement value.” In other words, what will it cost to replace your jewelry if it is lost or stolen? Therefore, these appraisals do not consider the value of the gold itself and have nothing to do with payment you should expect from Cash4Gold.

Q: What testing methods are used to determine purity of gold?
A: Upon receiving your gold, Cas4Gold testers will first look for a stamp on the jewelry made by the manufacturer indicating the karat. Testers then have three testing methods (acid/scratch test, electronic tester, and X-ray fluorescence scan) to verify the gold purity of your items.

Q: I sent my Jewelry Return Pack today. When can I expect to receive payment?
A: You will need to account for the time it takes for your Pack to reach Cash4Gold and then for the amount of time it takes for your check to go from Cash4Gold to your home. Once received, most Packs are processed the same day. Due to inconsistencies in mail times, it should take a total of 10-14 days for you to receive payment.

Q: What can I do if I am not satisfied with the amount I have been paid?
A: If you are unhappy with your payment, call customer service at 1-800-241-1811 within 12 days of the date on the check to request your items be returned. Once we have your check, we will return your gold or jewelry, no questions asked.

Q: Some of my old gold jewelry has diamonds, or semi-precious stones, in the settings. Do I try to remove them before sending to you, or do you return them to me?
A: Any jewelry containing diamonds will be credited back to your account and paid for on your settlement sheet. Any jewelry containing semi-precious stones will not be paid for. We recommend that you remove these stones before sending.

I usually tip 15% for lunches and 20% for dinners. But what’s the proper percentage? I heard on the radio the other day that the average diner is tipping less these days as opposed to a couple years ago, probably due to the recession. It’s kind of sad to hear that because if you can afford to go out and eat, you can definitely afford to pay a little extra for good service you received.

I open this discussion up to the readers because I had an argument with some friends when we were ordering pizza and wings one night.  Total bill came out to be around $58 and one friend suggested just giving $60 total. Another friend said that was too low and suggested giving 15% tip while still another friend said 10% is sufficient. In a case where the delivery person provides the same service whether one pizza is ordered or 10 pizzas, do you just give a flat tip for both situations or by percentage of the purchase price? I’m not sure.

What about when you’re dining at a restaurant but you sit at the bar? Will tipping be less because you’re not sitting comfortably at a table? What about for beers and other alcohol? Do you tip for a bottle of beer that the bartenders just grab from the fridge and hand to you? I’m not sure.

When you order water instead of a drink at a full service restaurant, do you not tip the service for water or tip for the cost of a regular drink?

I was curious about all these scenarios and decided to find out for myself.

Tipping Rule of Thumb

1. Bellman at Hotels: $1-2 per bag

2. Hotel Maid Service: $1 per night

3. Full Service Restaurants: 15-20%; If using a coupon or discount, tipping should be based on pre-discounted price.

4. Take-Out/Curbside Service: 10%

5. Self-Serve Buffets: 10%

6. Bars: 10%

7. Cabs: 15% of full fare

8. Valet Parking: $2-5

9. Food Delivery: 10%

10. Salon/Barber: 20%

Have I missed anything? How much do you tip and what’s your rule of thumb?

It’s been very frustrating lately as this site has been very slow to load each page. I had no problems a week ago and I haven’t installed anything new since. But lately, each page has been very slow to load. I thought maybe perhaps it’s my internet connection but other sites load fairly quickly as my site lags behind.

I use Lunarpages as my host server. Perhaps they are the culprit. I don’t have enough traffic on my site to make it lag at this point (that would be a good problem to have). I installed Super Cache plugin to help increase the load speed but I haven’t noticed faster speed.

Any suggestion or tip is definitely welcomed, as I am a beginner blogger. Thanks in advance.

**UPDATE**

I called my host server, Lunarpages, and they informed me that the server where my MYSQL server is located is not running properly. They moved me over to another server where they promised me that it’ll run much smoother. I’ve done everything I can do on my part and they informed me it’ll take a day or so to complete the transition. So, hopefully, this will resolve itself and the site will run smoothly again.

How often do you change your light bulbs? If you use the out-dated incandescent light bulbs, you probably find yourself replacing the bulb once every 6 months or so. If you use the more energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs, you might find yourself replacing them every 3-4 years. Now, imagine if you didn’t have to replace your bulbs for 17 years! That’s truly a “set it and forget it” kind of deal.

Recently GE announced a new bulb that will last 17 years before it finally dies. It is an LED (light-emitting diode) version, which is even more efficient that the compact fluorescent counterpart. Their use is very comparable to incandescent as you do not need to wait a few minutes before it is fully bright, as compact fluorescent light bulbs do.

However, the cost for each bulb will be in the range of $40-50 each.

Here’s what you can expect from these new 17-year LED bulbs:

• Expected to consume just 9 watts—compared with 40-watt incandescent/halogen or 10-watt CFL, while delivering nearly the same light output;
• Expected 25,000-hour rated life—will last 17 years (4 hours per day), which is 25 times longer than a general service 40-watt incandescent or halogen bulb and more than 3 times longer than a standard 8,000-hour rated life CFL;
• LED technology delivers the instant full brightness of an incandescent or halogen bulb;
• Durable solid-state design with no filament to break;
• Contains no mercury and will be RoHS compliant; and
• Feels cooler to the touch than CFLs and far cooler than incandescent bulbs.

Expect these new LED bulbs to hit your local supermarket shelves later this year or early next year.