Hi! My name is Kimberly Sepulveda, my friends call me Belle. I am an independent product tester, blogger, Navy-mom, and wife living in north Florida. I buy all of the products I recommend, and I do not accept free test products from manufacturers. While I wish the cost of maintaining a blog was free, it is not. And since I am a Navy Mom, instead of using my husband's and my family's income to support this site, the providers of some—though not all—of the sites mentioned are generous enough to provide compensation for my honest opinions about their products or services. Feel free to check out my full compensation disclosure.
My goal with this site is to help you steer clear of the many scams out there so you can run effective people searches, learn a few tools that are right for the job, and turn safe-keeping into habit with your person-to-person interactions on the web. Consider this site a blueprint to every day, modern networking. Let me show you how easy it is to be safe, be educated, and be in control!
~ Belle
More About Me
Who I am: My name is Kimberly Sepulveda, but all my friends call me Belle. I’m a Navy-mom, wife, blogger, and product reviewer living in sunny Florida.
My mission: To educate others, through effective products and tips, to be more careful about the very people they befriend, date, hire, buy from, and even marry.
My motto: “Be safe. Be educated. Be in control.”
Most people I know use the Internet for almost everything, and as a result we end up “meeting” many more more strangers on a weekly if not daily basis than ever before. In my case, I love to buy and sell things on Craigslist. Most times the person on the other end is a good-hearted being like I am. But *really* how safe is it to allow some stranger into your home or, worse, to go into their home as if you’ve known them for years?
And what about all those social networking sites? How safe are they? Don’t get me wrong–they have their place. In fact, I met the man of my dreams on <blush> MySpace! We’re now married with a 1 yr old baby boy. But before we met, I was smart and arranged for a friend to be there when he picked me up. I also checked him out online.
You’ll find there are many reasons to check people out online. But what I also recommend checking out is the companies that let you check people out. Beware of those that make promises you cannot keep. Remember, be Smart, be Safe, and be in Control!
Posted by Belle
Annabelle,
Great site and recommendations. What about those of us who can’t afford these sites with their terms and conditions. I guess there isn’t anything free these days.
Thanks again!
Thanks, John. Well, I would just say you get what you pay for. Maybe some day they’ll be free, but not now. Out of curiosity, what service are you interested in?
~ Belle
Barbara,
Good luck.
Thank you!! You’re helping, too, by being a better consumer.
~ Belle
thanks for the tip belle, you are doing the online world a huge service and deserve some credit for saving trees! well done. -barbara o’dell, Colorado