Tag Archives: telephone

Teaching Your Kids Proper Telephone Manners

I’m marking today’s date so in ten years (hopefully it will be that long) I can look back on September 12, 2008 and remember how blissfully uninterested my preschooler was in telephones. She knows what the device is used for and how and when to call 9-1-1, but beyond that she really has very little desire to use the phone (oh, how I wish I could freeze time) save for her occasional desire to answer it when it rings more than three times. In my last blog I spent time discussing tips parents can use to get young children acclimated … Continue reading →

Mastering the International Fax

I have written recently about how I have been doing more and more work internationally. There are definitely some inspiring things about expanding my work world in such a way—but there are some challenges too. Besides language barriers and time differences, I have had to learn how to master the international fax… It really is not a big deal—as many of you know—but I did have a bit of a block around it. After all, different countries have different quantity of numbers in their telephone numbers. Some of them can me so long and smooshed together that it looks more … Continue reading →

5 Ways to Save on Your Phone Bill

Phone charges can be a very costly monthly expense. It is not unusual to pay $40 or $50 a month before you even make a long distance call. And if you get caught up in the whole local carrier versus long distance carrier issues, it can get really nuts. We found out about this the hard way, a year ago. Our phone company automatically switched us over to a new long distance carrier when the old one went under. Our first bill revealed charges that were three times as much as we would normally pay. And it was a complete … Continue reading →

Google 411

If you’re as old as I am, you can probably remember calling “Information.” It was a friendlier phone company then. No “What city, please?” said in a disinterested voice. It was INFORMATION. Before computers were commonplace in homes, there was the information lady. 411. “Do you know the capital of Missouri?” “What time is it?” “Can you tell me how to call another country?” These were real information operators – not simply people who typed in a request to a number database. And they were free. Now it costs me $1.25 in my area to find my neighbor’s misplaced phone … Continue reading →

Saving Money by Cutting the Phone Cord

Two years ago my husband and I moved into a new home. While I hate moving, I love the opportunity it gives me to clear out the clutter. How often do we get the chance to empty every single drawer, closet, nook and cranny in our homes? I’ve moved about five times in ten years and I am finally starting to get good at it. This time, I decided to use the move as an opportunity to rethink (and reduce) some of our monthly bills. Since I’ve always had the tendency to be a bargain shopper, I wasn’t able to … Continue reading →

Outgoing Family Answering Machine Messages

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Do you record everyone’s name on your answering machine’s outgoing message? I don’t, but I know of families who do. It never occurred to me how kind of silly this was until reading a rant in the current issue of, Cookie. In the short piece, the writer pleads with families not to include everyone on the outgoing message. It was partly tongue-in-cheek but it also made a lot of sense. I suppose the families who do it think it’s cute but it’s really kind of silly to include young kids on the message, who as the author points out, “don’t … Continue reading →

Telemarketers Invading Your Home: Eek!

Have you had it with telemarketers? Are you just about ready to murder the next one that dares to call your house? Don’t their calls always come the moment you are about to sit down to dinner or watch your favorite television show? And isn’t it wonderful when they get your name wrong and/or struggle with the pronunciation? When they do, I love to correct them. I spell my first, middle and last name as many times as I can get away with, regretting only that they aren’t longer and more difficult to spell and pronounce. I often wonder if … Continue reading →

Tips To Avoid Getting Scammed

I will never forget a news story I did a few years back with a retiree who fell for a telephone scam and subsequently lost a large chuck of his savings. We’re talking thousands and thousands of dollars. My heart broke for him. He thought he was “investing” in a company that would help him double what he had shelled out. Alas, he became another statistic, another victim of some selfish “business owner.” The kind of greedy low-life that targets the elderly and preys on the financially vulnerable… the kind of individual that we should all be aware of. A … Continue reading →

What is VoIP?

VOIP! VOIP? What is that? It sounds like the name of a pizza mascot. It’s not really. What it means is Voice Over Internet Protocol. Simply put it allows you to use a high speed internet connection such as cable internet or DSL service to talk to someone else. This type of service has been available for a few years now but with some new technology and more people signing up for high speed internet, it becomes a much more widespread option. VoIP convents your voice into a digital signal that is sent out over the internet and then is … Continue reading →

Television and Telephone Time Disputes

With a family of six, four of whom are children, the fight for the TV is always on. With two of those children being teenagers, and another cruising toward the teen years quickly, the fight for the telephone rages on as well. What are parents to do? Should we buy another satellite receiver or install another phone line? These don’t seem like very cost effective solutions to this mom, especially when you can pick up a kitchen timer for just a few dollars. This is how it works. Each child gets the same amount of time, and that time limit … Continue reading →