Have you ever had a company rip you off? Have you ever been victim to a scam? Didn’t you want to let everyone else know so that it wouldn’t happen to them as well? It’s happened to me, and boy was I mad. Recently I came across a site called The Ripoff Report. It would have been the perfect place to post my complaint publicly.

Visit Ripoff Report to see a great site for anyone that’s suffered a scam or been ripped off by a company. The site let’s you inform others of your experience, with the goal of public awareness so others don’t have the same experience and possibly help get your problem resolved. Visitors are able to file a report, update a report, research companies and access to loads of helpful resources including helpful tips. Companies may choose to join their Corporate Advocacy Program to assist with advocacy, remediation and customer satisfaction. Go check out the site, there’s a lot of interesting and helpful info there. And it’s all put there for the consumers by the consumers.

I’d never heard of Bookcrossing until about a year ago. When I mentioned it to a coworker, they weren’t familiar with it either so I thought there might be a lot of people out there who weren’t familiar with it. Bookcrossing is a way of sharing, or recycling, a used book with other people and tracking where else it’s traveled or has been. It is free to register as a member. Members register a book that they own and it receives a unique identifying number. The book is then placed in a  location (released) where someone else is free to pick it up and enjoy it. From the site you can search by a number of features. If you’re hoping to find weight loss success stories, for example, you could search by title or author or category. Ideally, the person that picks a book up will see the identifying number and website and then write on the journal that they’ve caught the book. I think that Bookcrossing is a great idea, and a terrific way for people to share  a book and promote reading.

I like to learn things and I’m usually interested in learning more about when I was younger. Sure, I remember stuff after the age of four but they’re memories of childhood. I’m interested in learning what was going on in the world at that time. I found a site today called Information Please, which allows visitors to put in the year they were born and learn more about that year. I thought it was neat to learn that in the year I was born Medicare began, Miranda rights were established, the first Star Trek episode aired, the FDA said the pill was safe to use and Walt Disney died. Go see what happened in the year you were born. It’s an interesting website.

Do you wonder how things do what they do? For example, do you know how system memory works? Do you want to know? HowStuffWorks is a website that was started in 1998 by a North Carolina University professor. It’s goal is to educate people on how things work. It tackles the questions we all wonder about one step at a time until they’ve figure ou how something works. The website is part of the Discovery Communications group, the number-one nonfiction media company. Discovery Communications holds many tv channels and websites we’re all familiar with including the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, The Science Channel and Discovery Health. The site not only contains thousands of articles on how things work but it also contains helpful tips and articles related to the topics. For example, you can learn how a dishwasher works and then read tips on countertop cleaning. The site is quite enjoyable and offers something for everyone. And it’s child safe and user friendly. I love  HowStuffWorks.com.

If you’re like a lot of us you can’t always afford to call a repairman or handyman everytime something needs to be repaired. You can watch how to videos and learn how to do it yourself. Two sites offering videos on how to do it yourself are HomeDepot.com and MonkeySee.com. The MonkeySee site also offers videos on many other categories including cooking, gardening, dance, sports, auto and others.

With summer approaching lots of people are trying harder to lose weight. Some exercise. Some take a diet pill. some count calories. No matter which way you’re doing it, I’ve always found a little help welcome. Some people prefer a little inspiration. There’s a website called WeightView that allows people to upload a current photo and after entering their current weight they’ll receive a computerized image of how they’ll look at their target weight. The site is free to join and offers a member community as well.

Noone likes to be stuck in traffic. The phone number 866-698-7232 can be called anytime, from anywhere. It’s the phone number for Traffic.com. When you dial in you can give the name of a major city and get a report of traffic delays. Traffic.com also offers a website that powers the phone number I gave you. Listings keep visitors informed of traffic incidents, events and roadwork and monitor traffic hotspots. The site is easy to use but I think it needs to cover more areas to be truly helpful.

I’ve been checking out a lot of personalized birth announcements lately, with the birth of my niece in the near future. PhotoAffections.com offers holiday photo cards, as well as personalized birth and wedding announcements. All of the photo cards looked terrific but some of the cutest ones of all were the Halloween cards. (I love the one with the cat on the front!) All of the products are created here in the US, with printing done by the in-house professional photo lab.The process is fairly simple. After finding and personalizing the design you want, simply check out and upload the photos you wish to use. Within three days you’ll receive your first of the three email proofs involved in the editing process. Once you’ve made your final approval the finished cards ship out in about two days. The site is very easy to use and there’s a big selection of unique cards. If you’re looking for some colorful and unique cards, check out PhotoAffections.com.

I’ve located another site that compares all sorts of travel rates and deals. It’s called BookingBuddy. It allows visitors to put in information on the travel they want to do and then choose which sites they want searched for pricing (there’s more than 140 according to the website).There is an option to check recently made searches. A free weekly newsletter is available as well that offers the latest deals.

About four years ago I had a heck of a time finding drapes to coordinate with my jade sectional couch. I looked in every store within two counties and checked more websites than I can count. Had I known about FabricWorkroom.com back then my search for the perfect window treatments could have been solved in a day instead of taking more than a month.

You see, FabricWorkroom.com lets visitors shop the site’s designer fabrics and then have products custom made according to their requirements. Some of the products they can make include curtains, drapes, valances, swags, shower curtains, pillows and bedding. Now anyone can have a home that looks like it was done by an interior decorator without the high price of hiring one. Concerned about ordering fabric over the internet? FabricWorkroom.com has an online fabric library and will gladly mail you sample swatches of many of their products.

To order your custom home decorations just select the the product you’re interested in customizing. Then select the fabric that you’ve chosen. Then consult the toolbox, which contains information on measurin, width, care and cleaning. Order the item and check out. That’s it. After you place your order your customized product will be made in a state of the art workroom here in the United States and shipped directly to you. There is no sales tax on US orders shipped to states other than CT. Most finished products shipped within the continental United States are shipped with no charge.

If you’re having a hard time finding just the right things for your home or if you enjoy creating a look, check out FabricWorkshop.com. There’s a fabric there for every taste. Happy window shopping!