MAKE A NOTE!! -- February 15th, 1999

CIRCULATION 1918

A Free Twice Monthly Newsletter with (Hopefully) Useful Information on a Wide Variety of Topics

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In This Issue:

NOTE: Each entry has a suggested "POST IT..." location at the end. If you cut out the entry you are interested in, it helps to post it where you might be using it, then you are less likely to forget about it.

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IT'S YOUR MONEY

Many of you may have seen recent news stories about unclaimed property turned over to the state. Whenever a financial institution loses track of a client, they prefer to turn the property over to the state so that they won't have to continue to let interest accumulate. So after a certain number of months without being able to find a client it gets turned in. Most of these accounts are small accounts that were opened to become a member to get a loan, utility distributions, insurance settlements, or sometimes inheritances. Don't get too excited, in most cases they amount to between $50 and a few hundred dollars, but there have been cases in the thousands. Most states now have web sites where you can either type in a name to check or scroll down a list of names. Unfortunately there are unscrupulous folk who will contact people and tell them they have money and for $20 or 10% they will tell you how to get it, but most states have a statement saying that it is against the law to use the lists for commercial purposes. It is YOUR money, you just need to find it to claim it. So go to http://www.unclaimed.org/ and then click on the state property offices links for all states that have web sites. Or you can go to another organization's site with links at http://www.uphlc.org/page4.html Things to consider checking on: states you have lived in in the past, deceased relatives' names, maiden names, neighbors, bosses (maybe you'll get a raise out of it :)), church members, co-workers, relatives, etc. And if your site has the list to scroll down, and you find someone in your local town, check the phone book. Quite often they are listed and you can be your very own prize patrol. So far I have found $52 for my brother in law (forgotten credit union account for auto loan), $190 for a business (forgotten insurance payments), $52 and $103 for two different people (utility co-op distributions), and another man found some mutual funds he had forgotten about. And if someone contacts you & asks for a fee or percentage to get your money, get their info & turn them in to the state attorney's office. They will know if laws are being broken in your state or not. Because most of our readers have internet access, I will make a one time offer to our email only readers. If you send me ONE name and the state, then I will check out one name for you. If I get more responses than I can handle, then I will only do it for the first 25 requests. POST IT...by your computer. 

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AFFORDABLE BODY FAT MONITOR/SCALE

Now here's a way to spend that money you find (hopefully) AND find out what kind of damage all that Valentine's candy has done. For many people weight scales and charts are only partially helpful. There are people who can weigh a lot and still be in good shape (when I am on a regular exercise program I tend to weigh about 12lbs more than when I haven't exercised for months, yet I look thinner), on the other hand, there are people who are very thin who are in poor shape. Measuring a person's body fat percentage is a much more accurate way of determining your true condition. It used to be that the monitors could only be found in clinics, or you could have fun using the body fat calipers (pinch tests) in the various locations & then using all the formulas to figure things out, and of course have to find someone to actually do the pinch tests on you. But as some of you may have seen in a recent Consumer Reports there is now an affordable (as body fat monitors go) monitor for you. The Tanita TBF-611 looks like a regular scale, but you punch in your gender and height and after it gives you your weight it will also give you your body fat percentage. It sends an electrical impulse, that you can't even feel, through your body to make the determination. You can read more about it at http://www.tanita.com/ or get more info by calling 1-800-826-4828. However, if you decide to order it, the cheapest place I could find was Health & Fitness Medical in California at 1-800-959-4089 where it was only $85.50 for the complete bill (monitor, shipping & handling). One thing to remember though is that Consumer Reports found that it was CONSISTENTLY 3% over for men, and 8% over for women, on the readings. So remember to subtract that amount from whatever results are shown. But most of all, it should be used to look for movement up or down. There's really no need to check more than weekly or monthly. This particular model will only measure people 17-yrs-old & older. POST IT...by your phone or computer.

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TICK REMOVER

Anyone prone to heebie-jeebies at the discussion of parasites should probably skip this entry, BUT if you live in an area that has tick problems, as we do, then you will want to read on. Whether you find the critters on pets or humans, you have probably struggled as I have to get them off without fuss or mess. This product is one you will want to get and is dirt cheap. The Jeffers Pet Company (1-800-Jeffers or http://www.1800jeffers.com/) has a product called Ticked Off. It looks like a small measuring spoon, but has a V shaped notch on the bottom edge. You slowly slide the tick between the notched space until it is at the narrow end of the V, then you gently pull with the spoon until it releases the skin on it's own. No mouth parts stuck in the skin, no poisons squashed into your system, and you have a live tick to take to an environmental health office (if you have one) to have them check to see if it has Lyme disease. By the way, a tick has to be attached for at least 12 hrs to be able to transmit most diseases. This product is ONLY $2.59, even with the added $3.95 shipping, it is an excellent deal. POST IT...by the phone or computer.

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FOSTERS & SMITH PUPPY CATALOG COUPON & FREE VET LINE

This catalog may be a little more expensive than Jeffers, BUT they have a VERY informative catalog. Their catalogs have a lot of articles about pet care mixed in with the product descriptions. They have a dog catalog, a puppy catalog, and probably a cat and/or kitten catalog also. You can request one at 1-800-826-7206 or you can check them out at http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ Their puppy catalog comes with a $5 off coupon too. AND, as if that wasn't enough, they also have a free vet advice line from 8:30am-3:00pm (CST) on Tue & Thur. When I called to check on a minor problem our puppy was having, the vet was very helpful and made several suggestions to try before taking the dog into the vet. You do not have to purchase anything to use the advice line, but it seems only fair to request their catalog & look at their products before using the free service. Their catalogs have the free vet advice line numbers listed, but just a warning, it is not an 800 number, but might save you an expensive vet visit. POST IT...by your phone or computer.

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FREE EMAIL AND LONG DISTANCE

Most of you know of, or use Juno and other free email services. The idea is that the advertising banners that you look at whenever you use Juno pays for your free email service. You can get more info at http://www.juno.com/ or by calling 1-800-555-1212 and asking for the 800 number for Juno. Now a long distance company has come up with the same idea. For every 15-30 second commercial you listen to at an 800 number, you get 2 min of free long distance to anywhere in the country. You can check it out at http://www.broadpoint.com/ This may not be for everyone, but for someone on a very tight budget or someone with a college student who lives on the phone, this might be your solution. There are also some internet services that are free, and a recent ad for a "free" new computer has even been going around. The catch with this is that you are required to use the computer for at least 10 hours a week and they monitor your system, so you give up some of your privacy. To read more about these and other services, go to my friend, Thomas Dildine's site at http://it.stlawu.edu/~tdil and don't leave without checking out one of my favorites "What can you do on the World Wide Web" it is a wealth of information. POST IT...by your computer. 

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WEEKLY FREEBIES (from Gina S.)

One of our readers was kind enough to share a great web site called Weekly Freebies. Unlike many web sites that I have come across along these lines, this one actually seems to have a lot of good and useful material on it. Check it out at http://www.weeklyfreebie.com/  POST IT...by your computer.

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JOKE (from Robert P.)

"Diplomacy is saying 'nice doggy' until you can find a big rock." --Anonymous

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QUOTE

"I am beginning to think that Washington, DC is the only city in the country that has no mirrors." ----Alex Lekas

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FEEDBACK-FEEDBACK-FEEDBACK

"I am 29 yrs old. Married, first marriage. I am a homemaker. Husband is student & works nights/evenings. We have two preschoolers. Husband will get bachelor's degree in June. I have a master's degree...very active in our church. Our annual income is below $15,000 and we are making it fine.  You just have to decide to do it... Good newsletter." ---R. Cook

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All for this issue. As always please feel to pass the newsletter on to anyone you think might be interested. And let me know what YOU would like to read about. That includes our international readers; I've just been informed that the Make a Note goes out to about 29 different countries around the world. As my list manager said, perhaps I should call it the "Make a Note International". :) Keep that feedback coming.

God bless,

Sharon ^i^

Editor, Make a Note

Make-A-Note@worldnet.att.net 

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