who says churches are behind the times?

Compare, COMpare, COMPARE

I was at MY happiest place on earth (Big Lots :-) and I was looking for something chocholatey .... hey a girl needs her fix!

I came across the 100 cal count M&M's 7 packs for $1.80 - which is pretty good, but a little futher down the aisle I came across a bag of 8 M&M's packaged for easter baskets, 70 cal each for...drum roll... $1.00!

So lets see few calories and less cost.....hmmm what one do ya think I went with???!!!  You would be surprised what you can save when you spend a few minutes comparing.

7 packs, 100 cal, $1.80  = .25
8 packs, 70 cal, $1.00 = .12

$25 Restaurant Certificates for $2 - Seriously folks!

That is right folks....Restaurants.com is having a sale, $25 dollar Restaurants Gift Certificates for $2 dollars.

Enter Discount Code :BONUS at check out!

Hurry before the sell out!

Great way to reuse Items

Here was an article from MSN on re-using everyday items, very useful!

$700 for $29.00 - The Big Bundle

Check out this site The Big Bundle the are fundraising and you get offers worth over $700 for $29.00.

The site breaksdown all the offers which I LOVE! Check it out!

Comparison Shopping

A few minutes of your time comparison shopping can save you lots of money.

I recently needed to replace my 12 Oral B Power Toothbrush Brushes, so I went to Amazon first and they were running $12.34 for (4). I went to ebay and bought (12) for $15.99. I saved $25.00. for a few minutes of my time!

Save the Wild Horses & Burros

I am passing this info along for those who are interested:


I found this from following a woman and her Wild mustang horse that she rescued. She is attempting to walk from the East Coast to the West Coast. It it a wonderful story and think you would enjoy reading about her. Here is her link www.walkingwithwinnie.com

I found the information below from one of her friends and decided it should be passed along to other people who might care to. To me is just one more example of special interests getting around a law already in place which is supposed to be protecting these animals and this should not even have come up! If you care, please help now! Write and call right now!

Below is a letter that I would like to pass along and ask that if anyone cares about this issue, they will start contacting Congress, their representitives as soon as possible regarding this issue. Otherwise they will be slaughtered next month!

Dear Ann,

You might like to know about (well, you WON'T like this!) a new plan by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to slaughter 30,000 wild Western horses and, if I understand correctly, burros.The horses and maybe the burros are already penned up, at huge taxpayer expense, ready to be rounded up in August -- next month -- for slaughter.

Apparently Secretary Salazar thinks that they've been eating too much grass on the plains they've roamed for goodness knows how many thousands of years.A lovely woman named Madeleine Pickens, President of the National Wild Horse Foundation, http://www.madeleinepickens.com/sanctuary-qa/, is organizing to stop this.

Being a genuine American Mustang, and all, perhaps you'd like to help.Here's a link (or will be, if Mr. Albino will kindly intervene) to a 4 July 2009 article about this, entitled, Wildhorse Mass Extermination Planned by Secretary [of] Interior Salazar; Stop This: http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/6125.

Ms. Pickens and the Foundation propose instead the use of horse birth control to limit the size of the herds (this works in the East), and a large Wild Horse Sanctuary.

There's a petition to Secretary Salazar that people can sign if they support saving the wild horses. It's at http://capwiz.com/madeleinepic.....38;type=ANAnd of course they can contact their Senators and Member of Congress.

A change in the law will require the Secretary of the Interior to protect the wild horses.H.R. 1018 was introduced into the House on 02/12/2009 to protect our wild horses and burros. Bill Sponsors are Representatives Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ); Legislative Status: In Session.

About H.R. 1018, the website (www.hus.org) of the Humane Society of the United States says:"In addition to preventing the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses, H.R. 1018 prevents wholesale killing of healthy wild horses, prioritizes on-the-range management over roundups (including immunocontraception as a population control strategy that will save tax dollars), and prohibits particularly cruel round up methods, such as the use of helicopters and other airborne devices.

"So our Senators and Members of Congress need to hear from those of us who use phones and computers! Passing this legislation would be a win for wild horses and for taxpayers alike.

And people can tell Secretary Salazar directly at the Department of the Interior what they think of his wholesale slaughter plan. Just click on www.doi.gov
and click on the 'Contact Us' link near the top of the homepage.People may also phone Secretary Salazar at 1.202.208.3100; email him at feedback@ios.doi.gov; or scroll down that page to the form for sending questions or comments.

Or, of course, they may do all of the above!I knew that you, Mr. Albino, Winnie, and the wonderful people and horses you are meeting would want to do everything you could to help.
Now I'm off to tell the compassionate people at www.firedoglake.com
(click on the Oxdown Diaries button), who informed me about the wild horses, about y'all and your and Winnie's trek!Happy trails and best wishes,Your friend Sarah

Business Green!

Here are a couple of things we do at my work to reduce spending and save the earth.

Calculator Tape - we hardly ever use it. Turn the print to OFF on the calculator except when absolutely necessary.

Yellow/White note pads - I keep and take a lot of note and use my notes pads quite a lot, what I do is after I have used up one side of the paper, I turn it over and go back thru and use the other side.

If you are a regular reader you know that we also have a "scrap" paper bin on our copier, instead of throwing away paper we no longer need we put in in the "scrap" paper drawer and print on the other side. This is the BIGGEST cost saver, copy paper is sooo expensive and it kills trees.

We joke that we have a nice big forest in our name somewhere!!!

Catalogs - we get lots of business catalogs, sometimes with names of people who haven't worked here in years! We call up those businesses and tell them to take those names off the lists so they stop sending us the catalogs!

Saving the World & Money 1 Diet Coke at a time

How, you may ask?

Well, I get refills. What you say?

When I buy my large diet coke (my caffine fix, don't like coffee ewww!) I save my cup. (yes my car and desk look cluttered, but there is a reason!)

Then I walk (saving gas and pollution) to Carl's Jr. and get a refill (saving money and plastic) using my same cup.

I also have a cup from Mobile for the same thing when I fill up my car.

So I am reducing landfill (saving 100's of plastic cups a year!), reducing pollution (walking not driving) and saving Moola (costs .80 to 1.25 less to refill!)

That's a Win/WIn/WIN baby!

Find out How to Save Money Here

Here is a website that can give you additional ways to save money based on where you live. I live in CA so my savings may be different then yours. Check it out!

http://www.energyguide.com/

It also gives sites where you can buy the stuff you need to reduce your use!

Let me know if this helps. I will add more sites as I find them.

New Windows Save Money

You have heard the old adage "you have to spend money to make money" it could be changed to "you have to spend money to save money".

As an example, changing your windows will save you money! We changed our windows out 2 years ago. What a difference!

My house is from the 60's I thought I was on an acid trip the first time I walked in a BAAAD trip!

So windows weren't the first priority, (my mistake), but good the tile and carpet was FUGLY!

So we finally got around to the windows, we did it for looks and we figured we would get the added insulation benefit. It helped a HUGE amount. Seriously my whole back wall is glass, I have a 12ft glass slider, a 8ft glass slider, then about 4ft of windows. We had them tinted when we first moved in to help with the heat because the sliders are in the living room and bedroom with vaulted ceilings so of course those are the hottest rooms.

We saw a change immediately! The house stays at the same temp most of the day, where there was maybe a 20 degree difference up or down with the old windows you are looking at 5/10 degrees on really really warm or cold days.

It takes a lot less energy and time to get the house comfortable. A side benefit it blocks out a lot of noise. We have wierd accoustics at our house, now when you shut the windows you shut out the noise. NICE.

Our electric bill dropped about 15% immediately, of course with the increase in engery prices I am saving a lot more now. We also got a tax credit on our taxes. The original ROI on the windows was probably about 5-7 years but with the current prices it is down to 3-5 years.

I am looking into solar panels next, but I have to do the research on Kilowats/cost vs price. If anyone has done solar I would love to hear about it.

Finally, someone gets it! I like that the opening is big enough for Ice Cubes, no more having to shove them down or used the "crush" setting which means in my kitchen the fridge laughs as it spews ice everywhere EXcept the bottle!

https://www.ecocanteen.com

Ways to cut that darn electric bill!

As you know Electricity is way to expensive. How many appliances do you have that are "secretly" increasing your bill?

Lets look at my kitchen, I have the convection oven, toaster, microwave, can opener, electric tea kettle, oven, rice cooker, food sealer.

Of those I unplug when not using the convection oven, toaster, can opener, electric tea kettle and the food sealer. Of those I know for sure that when not unplugged the convection oven and sealer pull electricity because they have "lights" on them.

So lets see if those 2 appliances, pull even .5 Kw an hour, that is 24 hrs x .6 = 12 Kw a day times 30 days = an extra 360 kw a month, that is enough to bump you into a whole extra level.

I also unplug the electric toothbrush when it is fully charged, the laptop, I always turn off the computer, etc. Anything that has a "light" on it that you aren't using should be turned off so it isn't secretly increasing your bill!

Ways for Companies reduce expenses

We have done the following things to save money at our company. If you are an owner you can implement the ideas, if you are a worker, go suggest these ideas and get the gold star (at least send me a comment of how it worked if you are going to take the credit at your job ;-) Reuse: Save your company green and save the environment at the same time.

Big Lots - One of my FavoRitE places

I love this place! I can buy Name Brands for a lot less. I always go here first then I go do the rest of my grocery shopping.

An example, a 4pack of Pop-Tarts at grocery store $2.99, a 6pack at Big Lots $1.20 We drink A LOT of diet coke, (liters) so when they have them I always get them at Big Lots they range from $1 to $1.25 - you only get $1.25 when they are on sale at the store. Cereal is another big saver. Sometimes they are off brands or in Spanish but they still taste the same. I also get a lot of staples there, ie papertowels, toilet paper, deoderant, shampoo.

I don't get off brand food very often because my husband (lord knows I love him) is a pain and won't eat anything from their unless it is name brand. WhatEver. Most non-names are fine the one exception is PEANUT Butter, do NOT get an off brand, ewwwwwwww. Seriously people does it really matter where you bought it? If the price is right and the taste/function is the same why pay more?

Go Green/ Save some Green sometimes BOTH at the same time

Everyone wants to "Go" Green, but it isn't as all that easy.

We (me included) don't want to have to put out a bunch of extra time, effort or money. We will do a little but not a lot, now there are exceptions to the rule, but my posts are for the "real" people out there, we want to do the right thing with the minimum effort possible.

Does that make us "bad" or "lazy"? No that make us well meaning people who have to much to do in to little time with to little money. Now some of the advice will be more useful to home owners, but most of it will be usable by those of us who own, or rent our home or apartment.

With the home market like it is, any money saved can be used to pay down credit card debit, make rent or mortgage payments ect. If you have a "Easy to be Green" thing you do or an Idea please post, we need to take care of each other and the world because the government and big business isn't going to do it for us!

Woot Woot! Share the LOVE

I love Woot! You get great stuff there. My mom showed me it. Now my hubby is trying to ban me from here also. I am a WootAholic! AAuuggh. I got a razor, drum set for Ipod, and 3 marshmellow shooters so far for christmas gifts!

For you who are wootless here is the deal, every day there is a different deal, it is only good for 1 day and the shipping no matter how big or small is ONLY $5.00. So seriously, how could I not like it????

My marshmellow guns, usually seen for 15+ got them for 9@ plus $5 shipping, yea only 1 shipping charge no matter how many you buy, but it seems to always be a limit of 3.

I have gotten, over the years, headphones (for my youngest gamer), keyboard (for my oldest), flying helicopter (nephew b-day), oh yea on 2 fer Tuesdays, you get 2 things, soooo I got 2 heart shaped digital photo holders that could be put on key chain or necklace for neices b-days that were coming up $14 + 5 = $19 dollar for 2 bday gifts, which they LOVED!

Oh yea, Woot helps my keep up my Bestus Aunty for Gifts Title!

www.woot.com Check it out

You can still have a life on a budget!

I have seen a few blogs out there regarding who people are cutting down going out, entertainment etc to save money.

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/smartspending/?fpn=pity%20the%20poor%20deprived%20homebody%20or%20don%20t

Everyone is different, that is what makes us so unique. What works for one doesn't work for all. That said, I would think "Everyone" likes to save money when they can!

Want to get out with the family? Have dogs? Go to the dog park! You meet new people and your dogs do the happy happy Joy Joy dance.

When is the last time you packed up the family and went to the park? Take a day trip, pack a lunch and go hiking!

Go online and search for coupons! Or do what I do and get the entertainment book! (I love it!)

Have a family movie night! I had the $5 GC from my survey awards plus a Rent one Get one Free coupon, so for $.28 we got two movies! We went home, made some popcorn, got some pop, turned down the lights and watched "Get Smart" (was better then expected!)

Remember people sign up for all the loyalty programs you can! I recently took my son to lunch for helping me with some work, I used my loyalty card and got 2 lunches for the price of 1.

When we think we want to go out I pull out all my coupons and giftcards and those are our choices, another way to go is Happy Hour!

It might take a little more work but you can have fun with out emptying out your pocketbook or your savings!

Free Magazine Subscription

that's right, used my points to get a FREE years subscription to Redbook!