We all know about some of the ways to save on our energy costs – having good windows, sealing up leaks, insulation, etc. But once that is all said and done, how can we save money on our actual bill? Until now, we haven’t worried too much about our natural gas bill. We do what we can to save on heating costs, and have enrolled in our provider’s budget plan to make life easier. The budget plan is really nice – you pay a fixed amount 11/12 months out of the year, and then pay the remaining balance on...
Monthly Archives: August 2008
Make a free $10 donation to Alzheimer’s Association
I saw this posted at Meishien.com this morning when dropping Entrecards, and thought that I would spread the word. Basically, Caring.com will donate $10 to the Alzheimer’s Association for every blog or website (up to 1000) that creates a purple ribbon and puts it on their site. You do need to click on the ribbon once in order to activate it (I’m assuming that upon activation, the ribbon is validated and the donation will be made). Seems like an easy thing to do for a good cause! If you like, please take a moment to create your own ribbon...
Boomertowne review – proceed with caution
I’ve reviewed Boomertowne in the past, and talked about how it used to be a legitimate place to earn gift cards. Even after June 1, when they made some changes, I still thought they were pretty good. Now I would like to change my opinion. They currently owe my husband and I over $500 in gift cards, and nothing has been sent for orders placed after May 9. Apparently communications are starting to break down (checking the Discussion Forums on the Boomertowne web site is one indication). There are reports that some people have gotten a gift card here...
We’re blessed
It was an interesting weekend, to say the least… On Friday evening, our tv and light started turning on and off on their own, as if possessed. Upon investigation, we found that a switch that is used to turn on that particular outlet was extremely hot and making popping noises. This didn’t seem good. After cutting the circuit and letting things cool down, we took the switch out of the wall. It looked like it was from 1950 (when the house was built) and smelled awful. Ironically, we smelled this earlier in the week, but thought it was the...
Ding Dong, the Dell is dead
It’s almost official. We decided not to extend our warranty on our Dell Inspiron 9100 (from 4 years to 5 years) because of the cost. It would have been about $350, and we had just gotten a new hard drive, DVD drive, and motherboard while it was still under the 4-year warranty. What could possibly go wrong? Maybe the CPU could die? That’s a possibility. At least, that’s what the error code said yesterday. I reseated the CPU in a lame attempt that it might have been knocked loose. This process took a little over an hour and countless...
The Money Case
If you’re looking for a free tool to help you at your first attempt at making a budget, I would recommend taking some time to check out The Money Case. After taking a couple of minutes to put your initial information in, you are given a breakdown of your budget by percentages. After taking the time to input your actual expenditures, you are able to compare them to your budget. Good stuff! This software is very visual, with graphs that make it easy to see where your money is going. I currently use Microsoft Money, and most of the...
Frugal idea – exchange services
I am really happy – I just got myself some “free” babysitting! I have a neighbor who is studying for a math exam she needs to pass for teaching, and I offered to tutor her. She’s got the concepts down, but just needs some help with test-taking strategies and finding some ways to solve the problems a little faster. For me, it’s been some time since I have tutored math, and I have forgotten how much I enjoy it. When my neighbor insisted on paying me, I felt that it wasn’t fair to charge an hourly rate, since we...
I got a hotel room for under $10
…and it’s for a whole night! Wisebread posted about the Super 8 promotion, where you can book a room for $8.88 if you’re one of the first 800 people to make a reservation after 8PM EST. This promotion lasts through August 15th, and I can verify firsthand that it works. We were able to book a room for our Arizona trip – we’ll be staying in Sedona for one night, and had budgeted $70 for a hotel room (rooms in Sedona go for anywhere between $100 – $150, and we were going to split the cost with our friends). ...
Enjoying the good weather and life
OK, I dropped the ball after being bamboozled. I had one heck of a headache yesterday, and took a day off from everything internet. I did the same thing for most of today. It was a nice break. Why was it so good to get away? Perhaps it has something to do with watching the Olympics at night. It might also have something to do with the nice weather – the kid and I have been outside all day today (as well as yesterday). I also took some time to finish reading Tolle’s “A New Earth” (would recommend getting...
I got bamboozled by my kid
It was a hard toddler head that inadvertendly hit my nose. There was no nosebleed (although I kept checking, since my entire nose was numb), but I have one heck of a headache despite two tylenol. I’m just hoping to make it through tutoring tonight, and will sleep this one off. Until tomorrow…
