Some weeks ago some friends asked about which cameras in the market are good buys. I haven’t bought a digital camera for the last 1.5 years, so I don’t really know. But what I suggest to anyone who’s looking for a camera is to go read up on what others have said. Of course you must find out the little nitty-gritty details from actual users of the cameras and not just mere digital camera reviews from magazines or websites.

It helped us to pick out our digital cameras in the past. We bought 2 Nikon cameras in the last 3 years and both times we read lots of reviews and even asked for opinions to be shared on this blog when deciding on THE one.

Now that the Mega Sales Carnival is on and most shops are offering some discounts on their products, it’s a good time to quickly get a good buy during the sale period. Just do some searches on the internet and you will find plenty of resources to read up on users’ feedback.

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There are already lots of companies and banks in the country offering all kinds of insurance policies. From the usual life insurance to medical policies we are now seeing more contemporary ones like protection against handbag thefts, credit card protection, etc.

I guess everyone has to move with the times and the trends of the society. More bad news on the street sound like good news to the insurers to offer all kinds of everything, don’t you think?

When I saw an ad this morning about OCBC Bank now collaborating with Great Eastern to offer more bancassurance products, I thought “Wow, another avenue for people to buy insurance policies!”.

I don’t view it as a bad thing because the more avenues we have as consumers, the more competitive or compelling a product has to be. Isn’t that great for us? Let’s just hope that the prices are also competitive and affordable to us consumers.

Now it’s going to be easier than ever for us to look up life insurance rates from all these financial institutions. Take advantage of the competition in the market in the coming years so that you pick up a plan that’s most comfortable to your pocket as well as features that are compelling. I’m due to sign up for another year of auto insurance policy already so I’m shopping hard and smart!

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Here’s a quick note to alert online shoppers that they should always exercise caution when shopping online, especially when paying through a credit card on a shopping website. Whilst it is true that in today’s world the payment gateway security for many online shopping sites have improved tremendously to protect shoppers, but there are still some lurkers out there who still manage to hack through sites and gain access to personal and private information about people. I think there’s no site out there that dares to claim a 100% identity theft protection because technology evolves so quickly that you just won’t know if a hacker has managed to get through your system.

So if you are shopping online, try as much as possible to use safer payment methods that does not require you to divulge information. You can opt to do a payment by depositing money to the vendor or if you need to use a credit card, see if there are options to pay through PayPal. Personally, I feel that it is a safer option than typing in credit card details on the shopping sites.

A good tip that I’ve often been reminded of when needing to key in information such as credit card number or passwords on websites is to type those information in a word document. Then, copy that information and paste it into the website that you need to input it. That way, it supposedly minimises the risk of your information being stolen. This method makes sense to me. You may want to try doing it this way just to be safe than sorry.

Hope this little community service message helps you to shop smart and safe online.

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I’m a fan of high heels. I wear nothing less than 2.5 inch heels. I walk better in them and while many ladies feel that flats are more comfortable, I am just the opposite. I can’t walk in flat shoes, but extremely comfortable in high heels, platform shoes and wedges.

Then one day, when I had to endure quite a long walk, I felt the ball of my feet aching. And while waiting for my friend to pick up something at the mall, I popped in to a Guardian pharmacy to have a look. That’s when I chanced upon the foot gel cushions and got intrigued. Since I felt the ache at the ball of my feet, I decided to buy a pair of these gel cushions for the forefoot to try if they can help to relieve the ache in the feet.

The foot gel cushions are made of thermoplastic elastometer. Each pack comes with a pair of foot gel cushions and you can pick between the Scholl brand or the Guardian house brand. The Scholl ones cost about RM18+ per pack whilst the Guardian ones cost RM13+.

The foot gel cushions are very easy to use. Before inserting them into your shoes, you should clean the insides if your shoes and ensure that the shoes are dry. Then, just place these cushions where you need them to provide comfort. There is a smooth side and a textured side to the cushions, and you need to place the smooth side downwards onto your shoes so that you are stepping on the textured side.

I found immediate relief at the ball of my feet once I inserted these foot cushions into my shoes. Before I tried them, I used to think they probably won’t be much help but I’m clearly mistaken. Even if I don’t have any aches in the foot, I continue to wear these cushions in my shoes as they make me feel so much more comfortable in my heels.

Try them for yourself and do your feet a big favour by making them comfortable with these cushions!

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We had dinner at Burger King one night, and three of us only ordered a set meal each. The bill came up to RM48++. I didn’t think much of it at first, thinking that Burger King isn’t really a cheap fast food restaurant. Then my eyes fell on the three huge paper cups of soft drinks. I asked the Burger King staff what size the drink was and she said they were all large.

I then asked her “You gave us all large meal sets without asking us first?” and her reply was simply “Yeah”. I told her we only wanted the medium sets and not large. So I made her change the order and re-bill us for the meal. It was significantly reduced by some RM13.

Had I not realised that Burger King silently forces all its customers to buy large meal sets that cost more than the medium set prices that they put up on their menu boards, I would have been cheated! For a large meal set that you pay more for, you are not really getting any more food, as the size of the burger remains the same no matter what size meal you order.

The only extras you get are the fries and a larger cup for drinks. Remember that the drinks are refillable and free flow no matter what size meal you order too, so you are essentially only paying the extras for the little bit of extra fries! And I believe we don’t really need the extra fries so that we don’t expand the waistline and resort to diet pills to trim down later on.

I personally feel this is not the right way for Burger King to increase its revenue and profits. You can’t just give your customers a large meal by default when the menu board’s default prices are for medium sets. Even if you would like your customers to buy your large meal sets, have the courtesy to ask the customers first instead of quietly charging them. This is as good as cheating, you know.

I’m not a cheapskate who can’t afford a large Burger King meal set. But it’s a matter of principles in doing the right thing that made me force the Burger King staff to change all our orders. I would do it all again anywhere and anytime I come across dishonest sellers of any kind.

The next time you are buying a Burger King meal, take note and see if are you given a large meal when you did not ask for it. You don’t need to pay more for something you don’t need.

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