5 Fabulous Finds and 1 Creepy One

Some things I stumbled across recently...

1. I was in a meeting today and one presentation focused on preparing for planned power outages.  I learned that many power companies have special programs to help medical patients who rely on their medical equipment at home having an uninterrupted supply of power.  One company provides free battery banks to help these customers, another company will send a special notice to these customers ahead of time so they have time to plan.  So if you or someone you know must have power for vital medical equipment, contact your power company to see what services they offer.
2. As I was checking my local energy company's website, I saw that they offer several useful programs.  I then checked my other utility company's websites and found they all offer extra useful services as well (examples here and here).
3. I have been binging this lady's YouTube videos lately.  She has so many great videos about how to save money on food and how to make cheap yet nutritious meals for the whole family!
4. Apparently I am old since I remember several of these "old school" pictures.
5. I guess No Buy July is a thing?  I'd never heard of it before but it sounds like a good idea.

Then there was this creepy thing...

• This popular YouTuber is a polyglot which means he speaks A LOT of languages.  His channel is usually entertaining as he films himself talking to (and shocking) the locals when he starts speaking to them in their own language.  Lately he has spoken to monkeys and dolphins in their language (?) which was also entertaining.  However, in his video today he spoke to ChatGPT in a computer language (hexadecimal) which was weird because #1, the ChatGPT sounds so real in both its conversational tone and choice of words, and #2 the ChatGPT seemed to dislike taking in this computer language (my questions would be why the dislike and how was this programmed into the language model).  I think in a few years we won't be able to tell what is real and what is fake anymore.  eeekkk

A Bunch of Links from This Week

In no particular order... 

• It is still stormy here but nowhere near as bad as in California!
• Our library has always been amazing but now they have added another great feature--we can now check out day passes to our state parks!  While I don't mind paying for the annual senior pass (an inexpensive $30), for years that we don't go to many parks, free is definitely a great option!
• Speaking of parks, all National Parks offer free entry day next Monday for MLK Jr Day.
• We finally got our natural gas bill and it is a good $40 over the normal price we have been paying for years.  We use natural gas for our stove, hot water heater, dryer, and furnace so I guess we will try to cut back on using these appliances as much as possible.  That is a huge increase!  :(
• January 26th is the annual point-in-time homeless count.  This is a national event and I am thinking about volunteering to do this in our city.  While I have done these counts many times in our previous city, homeless people here seem particularly shooty and stabby so I'm not sure if I will do this or not...
• I finally got a new cell phone and I think I will be keeping it.  I've had the Galaxy S10 for a few years so I figured it was time to upgrade.  I tried the S 22+ and it was big and clunky and not even as clear, screen and photo-wise, as my S 10.  I then tried the S 22 Ultra and while it took amazing pictures, it too was big and clunky.  I really like the small folding form factor of the Z Flip 4 that I picked up yesterday at Best Buy (they even matched the price I found on Amazon for the phone so I saved an additional $150 and I will check to see if the price drops any more for the next two weeks because they also do price adjustments!).
• If you like skywatching, you should be able to see the first green comet near our planet in more than 50,000 years this month!
• Finally, I just ran across an offer from our local electric utility company for free things like dryers and refrigerators!  After I do our taxes next month I will see if we qualify, income-wise, and if so we will definitely sign up for this program!  Note that many utility companies offer similar programs across the nation.
  

10 Things from This Week

In no particular order...

1. We had a great monsoon season this summer!  Rain, clouds, even flash floods, but now the weather is settling down and it is nice and warm--not hot--so hopefully we will have a nice fall (and hopefully we won't need to use the AC or heat for a month or more which will save money on electricity!).
2. I love this list of odd things, several of which I think I need to buy!
3. Here are some good ways to get glasses or contacts without a recent prescription.
4. I'm debating whether or not to delete my Facebook account.  It is not a good company (examples here, here, and here), their algorithm is whack (I clicked like on one fishing picture, now I get nearly 100 fishing pictures a day on my feed ?!?), and I believe that some of my factually correct (I site my sources) yet politically incorrect comments are simply not shown to anyone.  It's extremely biased and overly invasive (even with browser isolation) so I am looking into other ways to connect with people so I can leave Facebook in the dust.
5. The same with Blogger which is owned by Google.  I inherited another blog/website from an old client many years ago which I still keep updated.  Imagine my surprise when I logged in a couple weeks ago and several posts and one page had been unpublished (there is no way to hit publish on them now) because they were contrary to their terms of service.  These posts had been on the blog for nearly ten years and NOW they are contrary to Bloggers terms of service?  And they weren't even on controversial topics so that was weird so I may be looking at other hosts for all of my Blogger blogs including this one.  I did a quick search and I guess it is common for Google to censor Blogger blogs.
6. Speaking of tech, OSINT is a new hot-button tech issue.  OSINT stands for Open Source Intelligence and it's a way to scan, parse, and aggregate all of the info people post online which can then be used against the person in shocking and scary ways.  Here is a good explanation about why this is/will become a serious issue.
7. Customer service is still god-awful.  My neighbor asked me to swing buy a fast food place on our way home and pick up lunch for her kids so we stopped by a restaurant, went up to the door, and found it locked.  Several places in our city have kind of perma-closed their dining rooms either because they can't find staff or don't pay well enough to attract staff so they go to drive-thru only.  There was a sign on the door, which we couldn't read because the writing was facing the inside of the restaurant, and it was posted upside down (we looked through the facing window to read it) which said no more dining room, just drive-thru for now.  I mean, people can't even post a sign correctly???  ayayay
8. On September 24, all National Parks will have free entry.  I checked our state parks website and our state will have free entry to all state parks on that day as well in honor of National Public Lands Day.
9. I spend way too much time online.  I really need to get out and move more which is now possible since the weather isn't hotter than the surface of the sun.  Also, spending so much time online is not good for my stress levels; it seems like all news is bad news and most interactions with others online, like on reddit or Facebook, devolves into a flame war over the stupidest of topics.  eeekkk
   
10. Finally, hubby and I went to the dining hall at the local military base last week and had a very nice, and very inexpensive, lunch.  For some reason we never thought to check this place out because at other bases we had been to, their dining facilities were only open to active duty personnel.  We were pleasantly surprised that this base opens their dining facility to active duty, retired and DOD/base personnel.  And the food was actually very good!
    

A Bunch of Links

Here are a bunch of links you might find interesting...

• I love articles like these...50 Times People Hit the Jackpot at the Goodwill
• And if you like milkshakes, this looks like a great opportunity from Farmer Boys
• Here are 65 Money-Saving Hacks
• It seems like every YouTube channel either wants to sell you something or stress you out.  Dave Ramsey seems pretty stressed out over this situation.  tldr; no kid needs a loan for a car, they should pay cash; a car is not an asset generally speaking; never do arbitrage with borrowed money.
  
• In another YouTube video (again, maybe it is just something to scare people as so many videos do), this guy talks about problems in the mortgage industry, particularly with Wells Fargo.  Our mortgage is through Wells Fargo so I immediately logged into my mortgage account and printed off all the info I could in case any shenanigans start happening, at least I will have some sort of evidence.
• On the flip side, this is a very useful YouTube video from the Prepper Princess (I've definitely done some of these things she warns against!).
  
• Finally, $25k for 41 acres of property far and away from people?  Sign me up!
   

 

Happy Labor Day and Other Things

Happy Labor Day!  Hopefully you aren't laboring today but like any holiday--even one dedicated to laborers taking a rest--there are a lot of people working in customer service/hotels/restaurants/etc today in order to take care of all of the tourists who are enjoying their three day, end-of-summer vacation!  In other news...

• We had a small table in the corner of our kitchen which we replaced with this little cabinet that we found at the Goodwill for $16.  Instead of just being a table, this little cabinet can hold some of our extra food and provide a nice place for our plants to get some sun too (the storage system we have in the garage to hold our extra food is practically collapsing under the weight of it!).
• Get your free Museum Day tickets here (this is a great opportunity to visit a local museum in your area for free!).
• How's customer service in your area?  I'm not sure if this is new or not, but three times in three days we experienced pretty lousy customer service.  At McDonalds a girl was taking our order at the counter and in the middle of us ordering she just wandered away to do something else(!).  No "excuse me" or anything, just wandered off and came back a minute or so later and said "what did you want?".  Weird.  The next day at Starbucks, again we were at the counter and the girl was taking my order and in the middle of it she went over to the oven to take something out of it.  No "excuse me" just wandered off then came back and totaled up our order.  The next day we were at a mid-priced restaurant and I asked for an extra plate (hubby and I always split an order because a single order is so big).  The girl brought me a plate with noticeable dried on food on it and handed it to me.  I handed it back and asked for a cleaner plate.  She brought me a second plate with, again, dried on food on it.  Ick.  I ended up using the bread plate for my baked potato.  All of these people were young so maybe they weren't taught basic manners?  Maybe these businesses are scraping the bottom of the barrel for employees since a lot of people don't want to work these days?  Mass psychosis?  I don't know what it is (or maybe I am old and cranky) but there seems to be a lot of people who lack even the most basic of manners these days.  This lady's rants on her YouTube channel basically mirror my own feelings about everything.
• Speaking of YouTube, I got the bright idea to start a YouTube channel (it looks so easy!) so I set up the channel, downloaded some editing software, went to downtown Las Vegas and shot some footage, came back home and quickly found that #1 I'm pretty terrible and shooting video footage (it was bumpy, randomly zoomed in and out, and cut off the tops of some things I wanted to show), #2 I am equally lousy at editing, and #3 I don't have an artistic bone in my body, unfortunately.  So I deleted the channel and will just be a YouTube watcher and not a YouTube creator.
  
• This is Lorraine's blog post today, the title nearly made me spit my cheerios all over my computer this morning.
  
• I opened a Schwab investment account and they gave me $101 in fractional shares.  All in the tech industry.  The tech industry as a whole is not doing so well these days.  Bummer.
  

Lots of Links

Since the month ends in a couple of days, I will just save my week 4 cash-only recap until we finish up on the 31st.  So for today, here are a bunch of links you may like...

• Here is a coupon for Great Clips.
• And here is a website that lists financial incentives from towns and cities to people who might be interested in moving to these places.
• This looks like a fascinating website that I saw Dar talk about on her blog.  I haven't tried it out yet but it looks pretty interesting!
• This is 'A Porn Star's Guide to Surviving a Recession'.
• On Saturday, some theaters will offer $3 tickets for movies on National Cinema Day.
• Finally, here are 10 frugal habits from Warren Buffet.
  

A Bunch of Links and Other Things

In news that isn't news to anyone, the cost of everything continues to increase.  We went to Sam's Club today and pretty much everything we bought was a few dollars higher than the last time we shopped here.  All of those extra dollars add up!  On a happier note, we got corn on sale at our local grocery store for 5 cents an ear!  And here are some useful links...

• You can get free garden seeds from the Community Garden Project here.
• Did you know that along with the increasing cost of gas, some stations are increasing the hold they put on your credit card when you buy gas from $50 to $175?  Yikes!
• And here is information on how you can save $30 per month on your internet access if you are signed up for Social Security/SNAP/Medicaid/etc.
• When all of the bad news you are hearing gets to be too much, here is one of my favorite YouTube channels for relaxation and realigning your thoughts.
• Here are 11 Education Tax Credits and Deductions you can get for 2022.
• Finally, here are 8 Money Tips for Seniors Suffering from Inflation.
  

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Actually we are waiting for a nice big thunderstorm to begin (which I am looking forward to, I like storms!).  In other news...

• I found this coupon online for Great Clips.  I'm not sure if it really works but I will try using it tomorrow.
• I went into a store looking for a tablet last week then after giving my credit card to the guy I decided to cancel because they had so many additional fees so I ended up buying the tablet online.  When I checked my account today I saw the store had charged me for the tablet anyway!  So I filed a dispute with my credit card company and will go back to the store tomorrow and see what the heck happened.
• Social Media Detox Day is August 2nd.  I am definitely participating!
• The science geek in me loves this illustrated periodic table.
• As if I need to waste any more time online but here are 'The 50 Best Websites to Waste Your Time On'.
• Next Wednesday is one of this year's free national park entrance days.

10 Great Links

Here's some cool things to check out...

1. Students can get free internet from T Mobile.
2. If you have a fourth grader in the family, you can get a free National Parks Pass.
3. This lady made a huge list of freebies you should check out.
4. Here is a list of the National Parks Free Entry Days for 2021.
5. Here's a state-by-state guide for the Covid vaccine.
6. And here's another great deals website.
7. Here's a list of cool deals for Valentine's Day.
8. This was an interesting article on what groceries people buy.
9. Speaking of food, there's millions of videos on YouTube that show how to stretch your food dollars.  Here's one example.
10. Finally, tax time is just around the corner.  Here is where to get help with your taxes.

Here We Go Again...And a Bunch of Links

It looks like we are headed towards pandemic lockdown version 2.0 soon.  Our governor asked everyone to stay home for a couple weeks but everyone is still out and about so if our covid numbers keep spiking there is talk that most businesses will be shut down again...yikes!  We are pretty much stocked up on everything but we ran out to Walmart this morning to pick up a few things for our Thanksgiving dinner for two and we saw that the ammo (first shelf) was nearly all gone and the toilet paper aisle (second picture) only had a couple packages of toilet paper left.  I think we will avoid Costco and Sam's Club because I heard both places have been packed with people for the last few days.  In other news...here are a bunch of interesting links...

• We have a lot of mining activity in Nevada but I had never heard of mining for denim before!
• I just found out I am a taphophile!  I love photographing cemeteries and helping people research old gravestones like on Find A Grave.
• This looks like an interesting app for free podcasts although I haven't had time to try it yet.
• I used to love looking through Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs when I was a kid; here's some interesting facts about those old catalogs.
• Also, I hadn't heard much about Romney Travelers in ages but here is an interesting story about them.
• Finally, here is some interesting info about how the pandemic has impacted businesses.

Some Interesting Links

 Just cleaning out my favorites file and came upon these interesting links...

• Here are Five Ways You Can Travel the World From Home
• And a list of vegan substitutes for recipe ingredients
• Here's some more info (in addition to what I put in my last post) about making a bug out bag
• Here's a Costco membership deal for military members and veterans
• And finally, Michelob Ultra will pay someone $50,000 to visit our national parks!

It's Hot...And Some Great Links

As you can see, it's getting hot here!  We probably won't walk at all this week because even at 7am, it is already pretty warm outside.  Unfortunately our indoor malls and casinos are also closed so there is literally nowhere for us to walk when the temps get as high as they will this week :(

In other news...

• I found this interesting subreddit called 'Random Acts of Cards' which looks pretty cool.  You can send and receive cards from people all over the US and even the world!
• We use an over-the-air antenna instead of cable TV and get 50+ free stations.  I saw on the news that there is some sort of new OTA system so I rescanned our antenna and it does look like we are getting several more stations now.  Maybe this is new all over the US?
• My unemployment claim is still up in the air I guess.  I will keep filing weekly and see what happens but it looks like a lot of people are having trouble with this system which was built like the regular unemployment system so it really isn't optimal for things like temp work. contract work, ride share drivers, etc.  I don't really need the money now, so I will wait a while to contact them to figure out my claim since there are tens of thousands of people in my city who really really need the money and so far haven't been able to contact them or receive any money even though they have been out of work for months!
• I saw another news story about people who live in nursing homes and these nursing homes are taking their residents' $1200 stimulus checks.  I personally don't know anyone in this situation, but if you know someone this happened to, it is illegal for nursing homes to do this!  Here's what you can do about it.
• Finally, hubby is a disabled veteran.  Getting through the disability claims process is pretty much a nightmare since you can be badly wounded in the military (hubby literally can't hear because he worked in the engine room of navy ships for years back before they offered hearing protection) and they will still decline your claim.  Hubby's sister used this company which helped her get her disability claim submitted and approved so she told hubby to try it.  I can't say this is good or bad as he hasn't completed the process with them yet but it is definitely something for veterans to look into.

A Few Links

Just cleaning out my favorites file...

• Here's an interesting living wage calculator.
• And here are some cool lifehacks.
• A couple of websites that are more interesting to peruse than the news can be found here and here.
• Here's an interesting guide about herbs you should put in your tea garden.
• Here is a list of bank discounts for young people.
• And a really long read about the impact of the pandemic on consumer spending.
• Finally, here are a few subreddits to help you stretch your food dollars here, here, and here.

10 Things From Today

In no particular order...

1. I woke up this morning to a beautiful, slightly belated, Mother's Day bouquet from one of my step daughters.  It was a wonderful surprise! 
   
2. I voted!  For this election, they are doing vote-by-mail which is a great idea.  I will see if I can do this permanently because it is so much better to be able to research the candidates and fill out my ballot at home instead of trying to figure out who to vote for at a polling place (the voter's guide isn't very useful so sometimes I end up researching candidates who aren't even in our area).
3. I watched a crime drama last night where a girl was kidnapped and she was able to let the police know where she was by secretly hitting a couple of keys on her cell phone.  I didn't know that nearly all cell phones have this ability.  Info for Android and iOs here.
4. Hubby got a text message that all of the Goodwill stores will open tomorrow.  We will probably go next week and avoid the big crowds that may show up there tomorrow.
5. We went to Target today and I used a gift card I had to buy stuff like extra soap, a bottle of Tylenol etc.  We are slowly stocking up for the next possible wave of the pandemic (if we are shut down again I want to have everything we need to stay home for a few months if necessary!).
6. I've seen it mentioned in the news several times that the cost of food is increasing.  We haven't noticed this much yet at our grocery stores (except for chicken which is $10+ for a whole, raw chicken but if you wander over to the deli you can get a whole, cooked chicken for $5!?).
7. I checked my bank account and got my first refund from our car insurance company today.  I called a month ago and asked if they were doing any sort of refund because we have hardly been driving for the past couple months and they said yes.  I should get another refund for next month (we pay our car insurance once every six months so they will give us a 20% credit for at least two months, maybe more if the lockdown continues).
8. Apparently people who have started being more frugal are tanking the American economy.  I know our spending habits have changed and we plan to continue to be much more frugal as we go forward so while I feel sorry for the state of the economy, we also want to be more prepared with as little debt as possible and as much savings as possible.
9. I am slightly worried about our state budget.  I'm sure many states will be facing budget challenges because of the pandemic but our state gets a huge chunk of its funding from gaming and tourism-related activities as well as sales tax; ALL of these things are barely happening now and probably for several months into the future.  eeekkk
10. Finally, here are some ways to earn extra cash in the age of the coronavirus.

Lots of Links

Just cleaning out my favorites file today, here are some links you might like...

• This is why you might want to reevaluate your cell phone bill.
• And here are some virtual tours you might want to take.
• This site will provide you coornavirus resources by zipcode.
• If you have run out of yeast, here are 22 bread recipes, no yeast required.
• And a reminder from Penelope Trunk that now might be a great time for a career change.
• Here are some free blueprints to make a gardening sphere.
• This subreddit has inforgraphics for every topic under the sun.
• Finally, here is a good subreddit for cute things.

The Weather and Some Links

Our weather has been a bit temperamental, ranging from this...

...to this...

And some interesting links...

• I'm not sure what this website is but it looks interesting.  I am waiting for the next event to start right now so I can understand it better.
• This will teach you how to turn your yard into a garden.
• Here are seven digital libraries you can visit from your couch.
• Use this link and Hallmark will send you some free cards!
• Automakers are offering some extreme deals (but I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone who is currently unemployed or facing an uncertain financial future would buy a new car right now no matter how good the deal is!).
• On the flip side, if you are rolling in money, here is what it costs to own or charter a private jet.
• Finally, if you want to watch mostly naked men on your computer, Chippendales has an app for that.

Hopefully The Last Link Post for a While

I was cleaning out my favorites file and thought you might like these links (I'll try to cut down on the number of links I post but every time I see something interesting online I always want to share!).

• Here's a contest that will pay one lucky winner $900 to binge watch all nine 'Fast and Furious' movies.
• If you have a Bank of America credit or debit card, you can get free admission to a number of museums around the US.
• And here's a contest where you can win $15,000 for designing equipment for NASA.
• Finally, here are a bunch of checklists for determining how well your life is going (here, here, here, and here).

Freebies and Other Money Things

Here are some freebies and other interesting money links that have come across my feed reader...

• Today Only!  Denny's is giving away free 'Beyond Burgers'.
• On February 22nd, your kids can try out ice hockey for free!
• This guy went viral when a Rolex watch he bought for $345 in 1974 was recently appraised for nearly $700,000.  The appraisal literally knocked him off his feet!
• And a good reminder...wealth is what you don't spend.

10 Links...

...in no particular order...

1. This sounds like a wonderful opportunity, being a caretaker on an Irish island.
2. Thoughts on our possible future without work.
3. How to make 126 meals for $30.
4. And a $3700 grocery haul(!).
5. Free tax prep services for 2020.
6. 40 easy Ways to Save Money in College.
7. 17 Free Financial Resources.
8. This week/weekend is Chinese New Year.  Our city is having several celebrations for this holiday and many other cities will be doing the same.
9. Here are 4 Changes that Could Affect Social Security in 2020.
10. Walmart is giving a $30 gift card for turning in old car seats.

Some Interesting Money-Related Links

Cleaning out my "favorites" file at the end of the year...

• One of the reasons we make fewer and fewer trips to the Dollar Stores (hint: stuff is actually more expensive there!).
• We also are very careful about what we order on Amazon these days (hint: there's a lot of fake and cheap products being sold there with no oversight by Amazon).
• If you are looking for a short-term job, your county election office may be hiring.
• The 2020 census is hiring too.
• And if it volunteer work you are into, consider a local wildlife refuge.  Apparently our local wildlife refuges are severely short-staffed.
• Here's the low-down on those 1 Euro houses they sell in Europe.
• Finally, if you don't want to go all-out on new year resolutions in 2020, consider doing "micro resolutions".