Saving Money: Cost Cutting Endeavors

Mid-year cost saving ideas:

- Review all your billing statements for mistakes or reoccurring payments that should have been canceled.

- Think about cutting back on subscriptions. Look for free or less expensive options.

- Go through closets and home for things to sell online.

- Consider replacing, consolidating, or going without kitchen appliances to save electricity.

- Warmer weather in the Northern hemisphere means line drying is quick in the sun.

- Shop online through discounters to take advantage of savings. Ex: Ebates. For instance, Dollar General often has online coupons and clicking through discount sites can earn you money back.

- Consider small A/C units instead of central air. Zone cool only where needed behind closed doors.

- With careful control of water, hand washing dishes can be less expensive.

- Consider turning down the water heater and taking luke warm showers in warmer weather. Turn it up an hour before you plan to use it for washing dishes or clothing.

- Reduce your daily calories and eat simple nutritious meals. Three meals(small amount of protein, a carb, and veggies)and three 150 calories or fewer snacks per day. Good ideas here, but research online.

- Yard sales are in full swing - look for clothing and other basic necessities. Think ahead and stock up.

- Use Groupons and Airbnb for family vacations and travel off-season. We got discounted attraction tickets for our vacation destination using Groupons. There is a student discount currently running for a limited time. Consider renting a car through an online discounter to save wear and tear on your vehicle and airfare. Sometimes rates are less expensive from the airport agencies.

- For students, spend the summer CLEPing classes, most are Freshman level tests. Many free online study resources and the test is only $85. If you want to avoid a transfer fee later, add the college where you want the scores sent. We were able to do this even though the student was enrolled as a part-time student with one class. Check with the college first, though.

- Plant edibles in your yard or window. Sprouts are the easiest to grow. I keep adding fruit trees and berry bushes every year to my backyard. Cucumbers are fairly easy in a big planter or sunny bed section of the yard. Pumpkin grows every year where I discard the Halloween pumpkins. A lot of stuff grows where I kitchen compost freely among the garden beds. Easy surprise gardening.

-  I've thought about this, but I grow too attached to my fish. You could grow your own edible fish in stock tanks with an aquaponics garden.

- Remembering to buy and use discounted gift cards.

- Buy school books at Ebay.

- Do you own nails and hair. YouTube lessons. I use Sally's Beauty for supplies for my hair. Some of the  longest lasting nail polish, oddly enough is $1.00 Wet N Wild. I've gone back to this and now the polish lasts a week, or two weeks with some minor touch-ups and a top clear coat.

Image source.

Low Tech Planted Fresh Water Fish Tanks

I started two low tech planted fish tanks three years ago, and they are still doing very well. The key is adequate lighting and a light fish load. If you want a heavily planted tank, you won't get much growth without a strong light source. If you happen to have a sunny window, direct sunlight for at least 6 hours a day is a good substitute. Most people will need a secondary or primary light source.

I started with a 75-gallon tank, and a LED light bar made for aquarium plants, full-color spectrum, Edge and Marineland, but this one is less expensive. Marineland light bar prices have increased over the years. There are timers on some light bars and programmable light levels, including a blue moonlight one for the evening.

A planted tank is simple to maintain as the plants give off oxygen for the fish, so a bubbler may not be needed. A filtration system is not necessary because the fish waste is used by the plants. Partial water changes are needed every other week for optimal water quality, although it may be okay with less. I've read that established tanks can go for as long as two months between changes. I killed off some fish this way, so I'll never wait that long again to change out the water. For both my tanks, I drain and fill a five-gallon bucket.

The first thing I did was research the Walstad Method.

I purchased ordinary garden soil, the heavier, the better. I used simple top soil. If you buy soil that has a lot of peat moss or mulch, it will float to the surface. Adding 100% red clay(crafters clay) is helpful for holding down the soil, and the plants use the high iron content. I topped my soil off with some sand for aesthetics and to hold down the soil.

Inexpensive plants can be found online on Facebook groups or eBay.

A few easy low light plant choices from the Walstad link:

I didn't like the floating plants because they multiplied and blocked out light, limiting the undergrowth.

After you plant, wait for a month, testing the water quality before adding any fish.

Add fish that don't make a lot of waste. I would avoid any type of goldfish. The system is self-filtering to a point. The plants are not a high power filtration system, it's a balance that you find slowly. At first, you may have smaller plants and some algae issues. Wait for plant growth which will crowd out the algae. A heavily planted tank will outcompete algae for nutrients. Once the plants grow in heavily, you get a nice balance and adequate oxygen for fish.

Fish to avoid:

• Plecos that grow large and dig. These are sold small, but some get over 11 inches.
• Goldfish because of heavy waste and limited swimming area.
• Any fish that like wide open spaces
• Silver dollar fish which eat plants like salad
• Any large fish

Shrimp do very well in planted tanks because of the many places to hide.

Fish and others that have done well in my tanks:

• Golden, tiger, and cherry barbs
• Angelfish
• Cory catfish
• Ghost, cherry, and bamboo shrimp
• Apple snails
• Clams

Mistake fish:

I added a pleco that has grown to 11 inches. It has dug up my tank a few times, and I had to add a filter with a circulation pump hose to the 75-gallon tank because of excessive waste. I am committed to keeping him/her until she passes, so adjustments were made. They like water movement, so the circulation hose keeps it happy.

I added an algae eater to my 50-gallon tank, and it got rather large as well. I didn't need it when the tank established itself, but I'm committed to keeping this fish as well.

If you want to add a little movement to keep a bio-scum(organic decay) from forming on top, add an underwater circulation fan. I added one to the smaller tank when the bamboo shrimp were alive. They liked to sit on a piece of wood and grasp the food flowing through the pump.

To aid in the growth of plants, add a little Flourish Excel.

If you get a case of the snails, add a little aquarium salt. Snails love planted tanks and tend to multiply quickly.

Excuse the mess. Both tanks need "weeding" and the glass cleaned. My pleco made a mess in the larger tank, tunneling under the soil in the back.

The first tank was purchased on sale years ago and the larger tank was found for $10.00 at a yard sale.

An instructional to a very basic planted tank on the cheap.

Free Art Activity Guides for Children

Saw these at The MET, and they are free for downloading. See here.

YouTube "Read Aloud" Book Videos for Kids

Nice list to choose from! See here.

Homemade Gingerbread House Recipe

We are using this recipe without a stand mixer. We used our hands and plastic gloves to mix the dough.

Here is a gingerbread house template to download. We are not going to place an entryway front porch on the house.

I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and will roll it in same. This prevents the need for flouring a surface and the roller. Here is an example of this method.

 Tomorrow we roll it out, cut, and bake. I'll update soon!

Rolled out the dough, baked, and put together tonight.

A few issues: not rolling the dough out evenly and getting the house to stay together while the icing dried.

Next time we'll add toothpicks to the edges. It was tough to get the pieces to stay together while the royal icing dried.

Don't laugh, a little kid put this together, and the icing bag broke, and some candy had to be removed because the roof was sliding off. In the end, it had to be eaten, so there was no waiting for more icing or decorations. Most importantly, it tasted very good!

DIY Ribbon Mesh Wreath Tutorial

I saw these at a Christmas bazaar today for $50.00! It's probably a $10 project if you can use items from a dollar store, or recycle your Christmas balls and ornaments.

See here.

Free Documentaries Online

I've been enjoying some of the free movies here.

I just watched two documentaries on North Korea and now one on President Nixon.

How to Get Rid of Flies in Compost

We've got a bad case of the flies this year in our compost.  Here's a few things that are working for us:

- Turn more brown into the compost
- Add diatomaceous earth to top layer
- Boiling water over the top
- Top with leaves

`Staving Off the Impulse to Eat Out at Restaurants

We never buy meat at the meat counter because I steer myself over to prepackaged sale meats, but the other day I happened to glance at the specialty meat area and noticed that they have marinated and seasoned steaks. The price was less than a restaurant, and it was relatively convenient. I think we'll be saving quite a bit now. Tonight we popped over to the store and had a steak meal after a short baking session with a dollar seasoned frozen vegetable pack. Finally, I found another solution that's workable for us. This was fast and easy.

The next time we have the impulse to eat out, I'll set a nice table with candles, music, and wine. Going old school again.

National Coffee Day on 9/29 Free Coffee and Donut at Krispy Kreme Stores

If I see any other offers, I will post them here.

See here.

Free Chemistry Video and Text Course for High School and Up

Thirteen units with video and online text, and three labs. Provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. See here.

Free U.S. History Video Series for High School and Up

See here.

A video instructional series on American history for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 26 half-hour video programs, coordinated books, and Web site. 

CLEP Success and 90 Day College Plan

My son passed his Algebra CLEP today. He's gotten his feet wet and feels more confident now. We have a 90-day plan for college at home - study and test for the Introduction to Psychology and Pre-calculus CLEP tests. If this works out, he'll test for 2 CLEPs every 90 days and take a class at the community college every semester. It may take less than 90 days; this a journey of discovery.

Anyone thinking of taking a CLEP test this month can get $10 off registration bringing the cost down to $70.00. Use this code: CLEPSEPT at check-out.

Primary resources we will use:

Saylor.org and Khan Academy (free)
Study.com($25 a month, may have gone up, but this is our rate)
Peterson Testing($19.95 a test)
CLEP prep for Introduction to Psychology
Pre-calculus Demystified

1/27/17 update:

Study.com was not necessary, so we dropped it.

So far he's taken 3 CLEP tests(algebra 3 credits, psychology 3 credits, and pre-calculus 6 credits per community college) and passed them all with CLEP prep books, Khan Academy, and free resources online. At the official CLEP site, there are numerous recommendations for free study resources. It's worth checking out. Testing is running slower than expected because the math has been challenging, and he was taking some other classes. His next CLEP will be calculus.

Primary resource for calculus:

Calculus Made Easy
Khan Academy
REA CLEP prep
Calculus Problem Solver (Problem Solvers Solution Guides)

2/7/17:

Ran into some problems with the above resources, so purchased Calculus for Dummies with problems.
He may need some review and/or detailed explanations. So far, he's less frustrated.

Also trying an EdX class for Calculus.

6/17: Melt down with the calculus and it was taking too long! So study was reduced to two days a week with Calculus and the focus is on Sociology and English which will be CLEPed next week, and hopefully the other later this month. After this, he'll take a literature CLEP.  Hopefully, three  CLEPS will be completed during the summer to catch up.

So far, he has been credited 13 credits with one class taken in the college. A little slow going, but he should catch up during summer with his CLEPS. Troubles with Calculus really put him behind, but he will prevail. Encouraging him to use the free math lab for help at the community college.

Heads-up! CLEP test price rises $5.00 in 7/2017. Buy your test registration(s) now to save. The ticket is good for 6 months.

Free College Literature Course: Literature and Mental Health

The University of Warwick has teamed up with some famous faces, and a team of doctors to tackle these questions and others like them, in a free online course on FutureLearn.

The course is offered through FutureLearn which means it’s broken into chunks – so you can do it step by step. FutureLearn also features lots of discussions so you can share your ideas with other learners, which often can be as beneficial as the course material (as one previous student put it “a really wonderful experience and I’ve loved the feedback and comments from fellow course members”).

Here’s a run-through of what’s on the syllabus. The course focuses on six themes:

1. Stress: In poetry, the word “stress” refers to the emphasis of certain syllables in a poem’s metre. How might the metrical “stresses” of poetry help us to cope with the mental and emotional stresses of modern life?
2. Heartbreak: Is heartbreak a medical condition? What can Sidney’s sonnets and Austen’s Sense and Sensibility teach us about suffering and recovering from a broken heart?
3. Bereavement: The psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross famously proposed that there are five stages of grief. How might Shakespeare’s Hamlet and poems by Wordsworth and Hardy help us to think differently about the process of grieving?
4. Trauma: PTSD or “shellshock” has long been associated with the traumatic experiences of soldiers in World War 1. How is the condition depicted in war poetry of the era? Can poems and plays offer us an insight into other sources of trauma, including miscarriage and assault?
5. Depression and Bipolar: The writer Rachel Kelly subtitles her memoirBlack Rainbow “how words healed me – my journey through depression”. Which texts have people turned to during periods of depression, and why? What can we learn from literature about the links between bipolar disorder and creativity?
6. Ageing and Dementia: One of the greatest studies of ageing in English Literature is Shakespeare’s King Lear. Is it helpful to think about this play in the context of dementia? Why are sufferers of age-related memory loss often still able to recall the poems they have learned “by heart”?

Start the course for free today.

CLEP Tests Are $10 off in September

Use code: CLEPSEPT

Teach a Class Online for a Little Extra Cash

Udemy.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B36Ce6vESfo

NYC Tenement Museum: Free Immigration History Lesson Plans

We just visited the Tenement Museum in New York City recently, well worth the visit! The tour was excellent, gift store chock full of interesting books, and their website has some nice lessons plans.

See here.

Find Discounted Books and Compare Prices

Just found this site: Bigwords.com

Weekly Savings and Deals: One Fail and Two Wins

Dollar General Online Fail:

Through Ebates: 4% off(get later) and $5.00 off and free shipping.

Description: Maxwell House Coffee 
Quantity: 3 @ 5.02

Description: Bausch & Lomb Multi-Purpose 4 ounce(for trips)
Quantity: 3 @ 3.97

Description: Clorox Disinfecting Wipes Citrus 35 count (for pets)
Quantity: 6 @ 1.83

Description: Comet Cleaner Orig w/Bleach 
Quantity: 6 @ 0.91

Description: Stationery Tissue Paper White(15 sheets)
Quantity: 10 @ 0.46

Description: DG Health Ibuprofen soft gel 40
Quantity: 1 @ 4.43

Sub-Total: $52.40
Shipping: $0.00
Sales Tax: $2.35
--------------------------
Order Total: $54.75

Minus my Ebates rebate of $2.60

$52.15
 

The only good deals that I got was the coffee and the Comet. The other deals could be found for the same or slightly less elsewhere. I needed a smaller size of contact lens solution for travel, so I ended up paying more per ounce for the smaller size. Around $4.00 is probably about right for 4 ounces at a discount store. A 12-ounce bottle can be found for about $8.00. The wipes ended up being .05 cents per count, a little more than Amazon with Subscribe and Save at 15%,  or Sam's Club which  prices them at .04 cents a count. The tissue is about the same per sheet at the Dollar Tree. The Ibuprofen is less expensive in pill form and in bottles of 75 to 100, but I don't think I'd use that before it expires, so I'd end up paying more after throwing half of it out. The gel form is easier on the stomach.

You think you're getting a real deal until you look at the numbers closely. I ended up paying a little over $2.00 more for the Clorox wipes. The ibuprofen gelcaps are 10 for $1.00 at the Dolar Tree, so I lost around .30 cents.

I saved a trip to two stores, so that's something. Big Lots sometimes has powder cleanser for less than a dollar. I think I've seen Old Dutch cleanser there for .75 cents or less, but that was a few years ago. I should take a trip there again to see the prices. I had stopped going because the prices were no longer competitive. It's over 6 miles away, another reason I don't go often.

Discounted Gift Card Sucess:

A much better deal was had after I visited Gift Card Granny where I saved $86.00 purchasing discounted gift cards to places where I shop for food and medicine, and restaurants that we frequent as a treat once every few months. Gift Card Granny compares savings across a good number of card discounters. Two of the card discounters are under Swagbucks, so you can get an additional discount by clicking through a Swagbucks link.

Search and Earn Sucess:

Earned a $5.00 gift card from regular searches via Swagbucks when I added them as a browser extension. Today I watched a few videos for Swagbucks points and signed up for something free, and I'm half way to another gift card! Easy.

Clip art source here.

Inexpensive Travel Lodging

Airbnb provides a reliable marketplace for people to advertise their short-term, or sometimes long-term,  home or room rentals. Airbnb maintains certain standards and funds are exchanged through them.  I've seen camping places with just a tent advertised as well. You can sign up to rent your extra space and/or use Airbnb to find places to stay. 

We've been using Airbnb for the last three trips, and so far they have been pleasant frugal experiences. The first time we used Airbnb was for a trip to Philadelphia. We found a private room and bath in the art museum district within walking distance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Franklin Institute, Museum of Natural History, Fairmount Park, and the Eastern State Penitentiary Museum. The room was only $65 a night which was a great rate for the area.

The second Airbnb rental was a short trip to West Virginia  where we stayed in a newly remodeled vintage camp house for $35 a night. It was within walking distance of a river park and the old logging town of Cass where they have steam engine trains that travel up the mountain.

This last trip was to New York City. We usually stay at clean bargain hotel in the Chinatown area of Manhattan, but they were booked, so I found an inexpensive tiny apartment in the Lower East Side. It was a comparatively good deal at $150 a night. I would have liked to have found a lower rate, but there was nothing for a family of four (other than hostels) that I could find in Manhattan in September for less. This place was very basic and while clean, a little run down on the inside. Still, the location was excellent for inexpensive food and fun. We were able to walk as far as the Hudson River and up to Greenwich. We ate at all the places marked with one $ on Yelp.com. Our rental car was only $17 a day through Kayak.com! If you use it to travel to New York City from your home and back, you can drop it off and pick it up at the airport and hire a shuttle to get to your rental. I found a shuttle online.

We plan to use Airbnb for future trips as long as the price is right. 

Read the reviews carefully at Airbnb and check the pictures. Ask questions of the host before you book a place. I'd also check the area on Google to make sure it is well situated and safe. Some places have minimal contact with the host, and others have more interaction and extra services.

Check it out here. If you sign up with my link, you get $35 off your first rental. I also get some travel credit. This is not an affiliate link. Anyone who signs up can refer friends for travel credit.

Free Federal Park Pass for Children

Mentions fourth graders specifically, but pass rules indicate that this is good for children 16 and under.

See here.

Seven Ages of Britain - Season 1, Episode 1 - Age of Conquest