I made it about 20 yards in my Prius before I noticed that the left rear tire was completely flat. I changed the tire and found out that the spare in the trunk is a tiny small dounut of a tire. The Prius tires are small. But, this spare is really small! It even has this really attractive yellow center that makes everyone notice you’re driving with a dounut. I just replaced the two front tires three months ago, so luckily the flat happened on the rear tires. I called Costco and they told me they do not carry the tire I needed, a Dunlop P175/65 R14. Costco doesn’t sell this tire and said they recommend a different tire. Also, Costco won’t replace a single tire at a time. They charge $89.99 to install the tire. I then called Toyota and they said they carry the tire but it costs $110.00 to install and they will replace both rear tires. Total cost $220.00 Unfortunately, after they had my car for a few hours working on oil service and finishing the 70k mile service, they called to tell me that the tires are on backorder and not in their inventory. What? They told me they had the tires in stock and could put them on today. Fortunately, they were able to take a large wood screw out of the tire and repair the leak. The service rep told me the tires are on backorder from Dunlop and they will be available in January. Hopefully, I can avoid wood screws and all sharp metal objects for the next month and a half. I spoke to my service rep and calmly stated that I was frustrated that the tires were not availably after he told me they were in stock. After a short pause, I mentioned that I had an expired coupon that was emailed from Toyota for 5% off service. He quickily told me he would honor that discount and applied the 5% discount to my total of $215 for the 70k mile service. A savings of $10.75. Not a lot, but I’m hoping to get another 5% coupon via email to use on the tires. Or, I could ask my service rep to honor the 5% for the tires too. Spending $200 on my Prius is small compared to my “other” vehicle. I could write for hours on my “other” vehicle. That will be for another day!

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I found a link to Big Crumbs on an Ebay Seller’s about me site and wanted to find out more about them. Big Crumbs is similar to Ebates or Upromise but with one big difference. Big Crumbs You can earn up to 36% of the Ebay Seller’s fee. They also have a referrel program and you get paid when others shop on ebay or dozens of other stores. I have just made a purchase for $114.82 on Overstock.com and I should earn 2.5% or $2.88 on my purchase. Very cool concept and could make some nice spending money if you make purchases online and have friends/family that do the same. Let me know if you have used Big Crumbs and what you think of this site.

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I have finally received my first payments for all ten of my loans through Prosper.com I was a little concerned about one of my loans because they were 5 days late with the first payment. Not a good thing! But still, the payment was made and I’ve received all ten payments. My criteria for my first $500 investment in Prosper was to stay fairly conservative and look for AA to B credit ratings. Prosper has a credit grading system from AA-HR. Rates on loans range from around 7% for an AA to 35% for an HR. You do risk more of your investment with an HR since they do not have a credit score to worry about. Interesting that my first late payment was from a B credit rating and not an D or E.
My 10 loans for $50 each:
AA 8.7%
E 19%
D 16%
D 17.5%
A 11.5%
B 27%
B 14.15%
C 18.5%
A 8.5%
AA 8.95%

Since all 10 of my loans are complete, I’m thinking about investing $100-250 more. Let me know if you have tried Prosper and how your investments are working out?

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Of Course I found this out after I signed up. Prosper is offering a $25 bonus for new members and if you use one of my links to sign-up, I’ll get $25 as well. Wish I knew about this offer before I signed up. Oh well! Just to be clear, I don’t work for Prosper.com nor do I recommend investing your hard earned money on this site. Do your own research and let me know what you think about Prosper. I’ve done my own investigating and have decided to invest $500 and will be documenting my loans over the next few days.

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Prosper.com is a P2P borrower/lender website that I found while looking for investment and budget information on the web. I was amazed at the returns lenders could make (8%-25%) and wanted to start an account with a few dollars before jumping in with more. It took 5 business days to transfer funds from my checking account over to Prosper. Now I’m able to review borrower profiles and make my selections for loans, a very interesting process. I’m fascinated by the level of detail outlined in borrower’s requests as you kind of feel like a loan officer that is reviewing income, expenses, and savings records. Very interesting! Check out the website Prosper.com, and let me know what you think. Now it’s time to review some profiles and get my $500 to work.

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