RyanWoolsey

Discovered this post over at LifeHacker.com and it’s worth sharing.  Hope it helps!

Lots of stores are looking to make space for their big fall inventory push, and everything left over from summer is going cheap. Time to look into cars, appliances, holiday airfare, and other good buys in September.

Big appliances: Stoves, washing machines, and other gear that’s way too big to fit into your car starts appearing in showrooms right about now, according to Bankrate.com. But you’re not buying that stuff—you’re wisely watching the stuff that’s still new, but just slightly older, get real markdowns to make room for the new stuff.

Cars: Now is the sweet spot between last year’s inventory needing to move quicker off the lot and all that inventory being gone. Go in on a weekday morning if you can to get the sales staff’s full attention, and try to keep track of cars you like, then watch how long they sit on the lot. If you’ve got a favorite that isn’t moving, that’s the time to sweep in for the much better deal.

Wines: Somewhat obvious, sure, but you can also lock down some hard-to-find, small-run wines in the early fall harvest season, according to SmartMoney.com.

Holiday airfare: As we’ve suggested, the cheapest time to buy a ticket is eight weeks before a flight. Guess what’s just about eight weeks from now? Start buying your airfare for Thanksgiving, then wait a bit and grab any tickets you need for the longer December holidays.

Laptops: Just because you don’t happen to re-enrolling in undergraduate studies, or (thank your lucky stars) heading back to high school, doesn’t mean you can’t pick up a sweet back to school laptop deal. If you are in school, hey, we admire your ability to manage free blog reading time and your studies.

Grills and Lawn Mowers: As you might imagine, the people are looking one way (toward fall and winter indoor things), while retailers are looking back at the grills and lawn maintenance stuff they didn’t sell. Meet an outdoor store halfway and pick up a deal, as AOL Shopping suggests.

Shrubs, Bushes, and Other Landscaping Plants: If you’ve got a warm area to keep plants, or you live in an area where growing happens all year, now’s the time to jump in, Kiplinger says, and help your local greenhouses clear out the stuff that people didn’t get ambitious enough to plant this summer.

So thrilled to have had the opportunity to spend some much needed time away with my wife.  We had an amazing time basking in the hot, hot sun of Cabo San Lucas.  If you’ve never been, you need to go!  And if you can tolerate the intense sun and heat, then go in August during the off season.  Virtually had the resort to ourselves.  Amazing!

Of course, I couldn’t go without the help of so many.  Many thanks to my staff and volunteer teams at Madison Park for picking the pieces.  Truth is, they never skip a beat when I’m gone.  I’m blessed to have such an amazing team.

Something to leave you with…

The church I work for is kicking off a new teaching series entitled ‘Do Something’ this coming Sunday.  The series (and artwork) has been inspired by the Miles McPherson book with the same title.  The premise: Do Something-Make Your Life Count.

To coincide with the series, I thought it might be fun to spotlight people who are doing something.

This week, meet Blake Mycoskie, TOMS Shoes founder.  In a nutshell Blake visits Argentina, discovers that children without shoes not only are susceptible to health risks, but are also not allowed to enroll in school, comes home and launches TOMS.  The movement:  For every pair of TOMS Shoes sold, a new pair is donated to a child in need.  In April of this year 600,000 pairs of new shoes had been delivered to those in need.

To read more about the movement, go here.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father”  -John 14:12

The 2nd Annual Dollar De$ign Project is back in motion.  Not sure how I stumbled upon it, but what a great idea!

“It’s been over 100 years since the American Dollar was conceived and ‘designed.’ And since its inception the bills have gone through minor modifications.

If you’re a de$igner, then check it out.  You could win yourself an iPad.

Click here for the details.

Love these!

Love me some Google… here’s another one that has gotten me all excited.

No joke… a Titantic 2 movie…