I tend to buy the flavored waters (which I find too sweet tasting) and add at least an equal amount of water, cutting the cost by half, but I think the RealLemon, cucumber, and tea bag options sound interesting.
Which cheap MP3 player works with audio books? Last year I bought one for $40 and it would only play the first 20 minutes of a book and then start over at the beginning. The ones with all the recommended features seem to be over $100.
I grew up in a rural area and we had a program called "Mail a Book". You sent a little postcard to the library requesting the books you wanted and they mailed them to you. When you were done, you put them back in the envelope, attached the postage-paid return label they came with, and shipped 'em back to the library with your next requests. It was great. We also made regular visits to all the area libraries (we were equidistant from a number of them). My sister and I would practically stagger out of the library with our selections. It was great. Inter-library loan is also great - we've gotten books from libraries in New York (I'm from the upper Midwest).
I think one of the best ways of knowing if a hotel will suit your needs is reading reviews of other hotel guests. Sometimes pictures can give a nice impression but they don't show how the mattress feels or how noisy it is. The only way of knowing this on forhand is by reading the findings of others. Right?
I live in Kent county Michigan---the west side of the state. We have 2 competing library systems in this area; the Grand Rapids Public Library (which serves the city) and the Kent District Library (with 17 branches in outlying areas). Both are part of the Lakeland Library Co-op, which covers much of this side of the state. At one point, we were charged $1 for both DVDs and videos and $.50 for CDs borrowed from GRPL and KDL, but when GRPL hired a new director a few years ago, she eliminated the fees for GRPL patrons, reasoning that they had already paid for the AV items with their tax dollars. Within a few months, KDL dropped their fees.
I can get almost any book, movie or CD I might want, but we do have a limit on the number of items we can check out (120) with a limit of 15 DVDs/videos and 25 CDs. Movies can only be checked out for 1 week with one renewal and a $1 a day over due fine. Everything else can be checked out for 3 weeks with one renewal and a $.15 a day fine if the item is over due.
I was the victim of identity theft - my checkbook was stolen and some woman got a fake id and wrote checks on my account. Now, no money was taken from my account because I closed it right away. However, the companies she wrote the bad checks to are calling me. I don't want to deal with them. I used to answer their calls and explain myself but I'm sick of it. Now I don't answer any 'unknown' numbers that call me. I don't listen to their messages. Am I going to get into trouble?
Great idea, I haven't tried it yet. We got some moon sand from grandma and I was trying to figure out what it is exactly- I don't think there's any actual sand in "moon sand". It's messy but relatively easy to clean up. The kids were tracking it every where, so it's band for outside use only now.
I think this is worth a try because although moon sand last "forever" it gets nasty, bits of all kinds of lint and hair and dirt extra get in it causing it to look, well yucky. You need to throw it out and get more after playing with it for a little while, so it would get pricey. Also I was thinking of my son's preschool and filling a whole preschool sized water table with moon sand would be very expensive and unpractical.
We need to prepare for the future; pump serious money into science education, and make conservation a priority, particularly within government purchasing. Due to favorable fuel prices here, and high fuel prices in other countries, our energy efficiency is low. We'll need to be able to learn and adapt these foreign technologies quickly, to catch up. We're already in this process, due to rising fuel costs, but a capital infusion into general science education, for everyone including adults who were miseducated by the school system, will help.
I've worked in libraries, myself, and if it weren't for them, I'd be broke from all the books I want to try. Here's a few things I've learned:
1. Sign up for email notices and check your account frequently online. That will really help to cut down on overdue fees and lost books.
2. If you don't like what the collection offers, libraries frequently ask patrons to suggest purchases. Librarians can't read everything that gets published, in every genre (though they'd like to try! lol) And don't feel embarrassed about the type of book you want to read, or whether or not it's "worthy." One of the primary missions of most public libraries is to offer the materials the public wants, not what the librarians FEEL they need to read.
3. Library sales are a great way to stock up your own shelves, and for a good cause. And "library booster clubs" often offer a discount to paying members!
4. The reason libraries have increased their dues is because of budget cuts/shifts in the local government. If you don't like the way the budget is spent, get politically active.
A. Contrary to what many people think, people who work in libraries often have to be paid a salary.
B. Donations alone could not stock a library. Materials cost money.
5. A great way to help the library save a FORTUNE in man-hours and materials: Be polite. DON'T put a book back on a shelf, because it will almost invariably be in the wrong place, and DON'T tell your kids to "put a book back where they found it." Leave it on a table, at a librarian's desk or where they leave space for discards. AND!! Be accountable. If you or your child damages something, don't make excuses for it, because they've heard 'em all. Pay for it.
Libraries are also great for frugal "vagaond"-style travelers. The first day of your trip, you go to the library and copy maps, learn the bus and train system, read travel books, get pointers to "nature" stuff, and plan out your week.
I haven't switched to all organics yet, but I did notice a huge difference in my grocery bill when I switched from boxes of stuff on sale to real food (what I call "one-ingredient" items). My bill is about 1/7th of what I used to spend because I switched from "convenience" foods to mainly big bags of beans, peas, lentils, rice, couscous, oat meal, etc. in combination with whatever the produce of the season is (plus occasionally whatever meat my husband puts in the slow cooker). I have never eaten better and I haven't felt better in a long time.
While I occasionally do splurge on exotic fruits or expensive seasonings, my bill is still way lower than it used to be. And amazingly, buying one-ingredient items take up less space in my experience than boxes of combination stuff. Plus, I haven't had any issues despite being more interested in eating than cooking (raw fruits and veggies are the ultimate convenience foods).
I look forward to the months ahead, though, because we've got a garden started along with some fruit trees and the frame of a chicken coop.
Three that I go back to again and again (and that stay on the shelf and don't get thrown out at spring cleaning) are Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and his book Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness. There is a gardening book I like (and try to apply the sensibility's to inside the house as well as the garden) and that is Zen in Your Garden: Creating Sacred Spaces by Jenny Hendy.
I tried a search on Chicago. It is a great tool to get a visual rundown of all the hotels and locations. I think this interface to get an idea of what is where is better than any of the other search sites. But every hotel listed had the rack rate price. Certainly not a deal. I still think using Betterbidding.com + priceline & hotwire is going to get you a far better deal. But using this site combined with those would make figuring out what is available in the various zones would make figuring out the hotels presented on sites like hotwire even easier combined with betterbidding.
Since we were getting $350 rooms for $120 both times we booked in downtown Chicago it is certainly worth a bit of extra time. I would still use this new site to get a really good idea of the lay of the land. Another good one is Tripadvisor.com. I found out more info about hidden fees, what to avoid and things like where cheaper parking is there than anywhere else.
Another great resource is your public library's downloadable media - no charge & no scratched DVDs. Visit your public library's web site & look for a link. Many public libraries subscribe to either OverDrive or NetLibrary, services that allow you to download movies, audiobooks, eBooks, and music to your computer for free. You can then watch or listen on your computer, load on MP3 or media player, and burn many to CD. Right now, due to Digital Rights Management, you can't load on an iPod - but OverDrive will have unlocked titles to download to iPods in the near future. If you will be listening or watching on your computer, no problem - or buy a cheap $20 or less MP3 player to listen to audiobooks. You'll find the latest audiobooks, classical music, fiction & nonfiction eBooks, and movies. The movies aren't the latest titles, but there are plenty of classics, such as Fellini's 8 1/2, or campy B&W monster flicks that your kids will love.
I work in a library in Bucks County, Pa and we have free movie rentals, you can rent 3 dvds and 3 vhs at a time for 1 week with 1 week renewal option. There is no fee unless they are returned late and then it is $1 per day with a cap of $5. We have everything from classics to Gilmore Girls. With the economy we are starting to see a lot more people coming in and they are amazed at the number of videos we have and the fact it is free.
I haven't paid to get a movie or book in 8 years and am amazed at the amount of money people will spend on movies and books.
I will seriously consider moving closer to work even though it will be a burden on my family.
I tend to buy the flavored waters (which I find too sweet tasting) and add at least an equal amount of water, cutting the cost by half, but I think the RealLemon, cucumber, and tea bag options sound interesting.
Thanks!
Bob McDonald
www.platinumyears.net
Which cheap MP3 player works with audio books? Last year I bought one for $40 and it would only play the first 20 minutes of a book and then start over at the beginning. The ones with all the recommended features seem to be over $100.
I grew up in a rural area and we had a program called "Mail a Book". You sent a little postcard to the library requesting the books you wanted and they mailed them to you. When you were done, you put them back in the envelope, attached the postage-paid return label they came with, and shipped 'em back to the library with your next requests. It was great. We also made regular visits to all the area libraries (we were equidistant from a number of them). My sister and I would practically stagger out of the library with our selections. It was great. Inter-library loan is also great - we've gotten books from libraries in New York (I'm from the upper Midwest).
I think one of the best ways of knowing if a hotel will suit your needs is reading reviews of other hotel guests. Sometimes pictures can give a nice impression but they don't show how the mattress feels or how noisy it is. The only way of knowing this on forhand is by reading the findings of others. Right?
I live in Kent county Michigan---the west side of the state. We have 2 competing library systems in this area; the Grand Rapids Public Library (which serves the city) and the Kent District Library (with 17 branches in outlying areas). Both are part of the Lakeland Library Co-op, which covers much of this side of the state. At one point, we were charged $1 for both DVDs and videos and $.50 for CDs borrowed from GRPL and KDL, but when GRPL hired a new director a few years ago, she eliminated the fees for GRPL patrons, reasoning that they had already paid for the AV items with their tax dollars. Within a few months, KDL dropped their fees.
I can get almost any book, movie or CD I might want, but we do have a limit on the number of items we can check out (120) with a limit of 15 DVDs/videos and 25 CDs. Movies can only be checked out for 1 week with one renewal and a $1 a day over due fine. Everything else can be checked out for 3 weeks with one renewal and a $.15 a day fine if the item is over due.
I looked for a three-night stay in Annapolis, MD for early May.
Nothing under $90 a night.
Went to hotwire.com and got a 4-star Westin for $69 a night, plux tax. I found out hotel name, after booking it, non-refundable.
I have used Hotwire.com for about 7 years, and never spent more than $70 a night for any stay in a 2.5 star or higher property.
I compared this website against www.sidestep.com , which is my usual flight/hotel search engine.
Sidestep found consistently cheaper rates, so I recommend using that instead.
I was the victim of identity theft - my checkbook was stolen and some woman got a fake id and wrote checks on my account. Now, no money was taken from my account because I closed it right away. However, the companies she wrote the bad checks to are calling me. I don't want to deal with them. I used to answer their calls and explain myself but I'm sick of it. Now I don't answer any 'unknown' numbers that call me. I don't listen to their messages. Am I going to get into trouble?
Great idea, I haven't tried it yet. We got some moon sand from grandma and I was trying to figure out what it is exactly- I don't think there's any actual sand in "moon sand". It's messy but relatively easy to clean up. The kids were tracking it every where, so it's band for outside use only now.
I think this is worth a try because although moon sand last "forever" it gets nasty, bits of all kinds of lint and hair and dirt extra get in it causing it to look, well yucky. You need to throw it out and get more after playing with it for a little while, so it would get pricey. Also I was thinking of my son's preschool and filling a whole preschool sized water table with moon sand would be very expensive and unpractical.
Now that has this extreme rural resident excited. I'm going to check and see if our closest one has that.
We need to prepare for the future; pump serious money into science education, and make conservation a priority, particularly within government purchasing. Due to favorable fuel prices here, and high fuel prices in other countries, our energy efficiency is low. We'll need to be able to learn and adapt these foreign technologies quickly, to catch up. We're already in this process, due to rising fuel costs, but a capital infusion into general science education, for everyone including adults who were miseducated by the school system, will help.
I've worked in libraries, myself, and if it weren't for them, I'd be broke from all the books I want to try. Here's a few things I've learned:
1. Sign up for email notices and check your account frequently online. That will really help to cut down on overdue fees and lost books.
2. If you don't like what the collection offers, libraries frequently ask patrons to suggest purchases. Librarians can't read everything that gets published, in every genre (though they'd like to try! lol) And don't feel embarrassed about the type of book you want to read, or whether or not it's "worthy." One of the primary missions of most public libraries is to offer the materials the public wants, not what the librarians FEEL they need to read.
3. Library sales are a great way to stock up your own shelves, and for a good cause. And "library booster clubs" often offer a discount to paying members!
4. The reason libraries have increased their dues is because of budget cuts/shifts in the local government. If you don't like the way the budget is spent, get politically active.
A. Contrary to what many people think, people who work in libraries often have to be paid a salary.
B. Donations alone could not stock a library. Materials cost money.
5. A great way to help the library save a FORTUNE in man-hours and materials: Be polite. DON'T put a book back on a shelf, because it will almost invariably be in the wrong place, and DON'T tell your kids to "put a book back where they found it." Leave it on a table, at a librarian's desk or where they leave space for discards. AND!! Be accountable. If you or your child damages something, don't make excuses for it, because they've heard 'em all. Pay for it.
Libraries are also great for frugal "vagaond"-style travelers. The first day of your trip, you go to the library and copy maps, learn the bus and train system, read travel books, get pointers to "nature" stuff, and plan out your week.
I haven't switched to all organics yet, but I did notice a huge difference in my grocery bill when I switched from boxes of stuff on sale to real food (what I call "one-ingredient" items). My bill is about 1/7th of what I used to spend because I switched from "convenience" foods to mainly big bags of beans, peas, lentils, rice, couscous, oat meal, etc. in combination with whatever the produce of the season is (plus occasionally whatever meat my husband puts in the slow cooker). I have never eaten better and I haven't felt better in a long time.
While I occasionally do splurge on exotic fruits or expensive seasonings, my bill is still way lower than it used to be. And amazingly, buying one-ingredient items take up less space in my experience than boxes of combination stuff. Plus, I haven't had any issues despite being more interested in eating than cooking (raw fruits and veggies are the ultimate convenience foods).
I look forward to the months ahead, though, because we've got a garden started along with some fruit trees and the frame of a chicken coop.
Three that I go back to again and again (and that stay on the shelf and don't get thrown out at spring cleaning) are Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and his book Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness. There is a gardening book I like (and try to apply the sensibility's to inside the house as well as the garden) and that is Zen in Your Garden: Creating Sacred Spaces by Jenny Hendy.
Margaret Garcia-Couoh
I tried a search on Chicago. It is a great tool to get a visual rundown of all the hotels and locations. I think this interface to get an idea of what is where is better than any of the other search sites. But every hotel listed had the rack rate price. Certainly not a deal. I still think using Betterbidding.com + priceline & hotwire is going to get you a far better deal. But using this site combined with those would make figuring out what is available in the various zones would make figuring out the hotels presented on sites like hotwire even easier combined with betterbidding.
Since we were getting $350 rooms for $120 both times we booked in downtown Chicago it is certainly worth a bit of extra time. I would still use this new site to get a really good idea of the lay of the land. Another good one is Tripadvisor.com. I found out more info about hidden fees, what to avoid and things like where cheaper parking is there than anywhere else.
Another great resource is your public library's downloadable media - no charge & no scratched DVDs. Visit your public library's web site & look for a link. Many public libraries subscribe to either OverDrive or NetLibrary, services that allow you to download movies, audiobooks, eBooks, and music to your computer for free. You can then watch or listen on your computer, load on MP3 or media player, and burn many to CD. Right now, due to Digital Rights Management, you can't load on an iPod - but OverDrive will have unlocked titles to download to iPods in the near future. If you will be listening or watching on your computer, no problem - or buy a cheap $20 or less MP3 player to listen to audiobooks. You'll find the latest audiobooks, classical music, fiction & nonfiction eBooks, and movies. The movies aren't the latest titles, but there are plenty of classics, such as Fellini's 8 1/2, or campy B&W monster flicks that your kids will love.
Nice Site.
A new website just launched that compliments this one called http://www.0daymovies.com.
In addition to movies it has tutorials on how and where to download movies (usenet/torrents/cheats).
great website.
i swear by my library request system! plus it almost feels like shopping sometimes, putting in your request online. :)
Could anyone recommend some good books on zen living that they have found helpful?
I am currently spring cleaning and need inspiration!
you can upload some of your vacation or hotel photos to
hotelroomphotos dot com
thanks
I work in a library in Bucks County, Pa and we have free movie rentals, you can rent 3 dvds and 3 vhs at a time for 1 week with 1 week renewal option. There is no fee unless they are returned late and then it is $1 per day with a cap of $5. We have everything from classics to Gilmore Girls. With the economy we are starting to see a lot more people coming in and they are amazed at the number of videos we have and the fact it is free.
I haven't paid to get a movie or book in 8 years and am amazed at the amount of money people will spend on movies and books.
This librarian cheers! It's so lovely to see people actively using all the things we spend your tax money on.
This is a superb article! Thanks!
I especially appreciate the tips about books.