The Green Life

Comprehensive List of Frugal Websites

nobody@vox.com(Cheapo Groovo) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:51:47 -0800

Travel

Ready to start seeing the world? It's smaller than you think, when you go via the COUCHSURFING Project. Use this site to find people who are willing to host you on their couches!
YAPTA sends you price drop alerts on flights and hotels. If the price of your airline ticket drops below what you paid, Yapta will alert you when you're eligible for a refund from the airline!

Movies/Music/Entertainment

Find the cheapest prices for hard-to-get sports, concert and theater tickets at TICKETPREDATOR.COM. The site compares prices on tickets from hundreds of ticket brokers in the U.S. and Canada.
Get free movie rentals from Redbox using their CODES.
Want to re-live those classic rock concerts from the 60’s and 70’s for free? Then go to WOLFGANG”S VAULT where you’ll find streaming audio from over 50 artists.
RADIOLOVERS offers hundreds of vintage radio shows all for free.
Learn how to get all the free music you ever wanted at MYMUSIC.
Trade your used books, music, DVD's, & video games for like items at SWAPTREE.COM. Simply set up an account and find other users willing to receive - and all for the price of postage.

Credit/Credit Cards

SIMPLEDOLLAR hasa step-by-step guide to getting your credit card interest lowered.
Clark Howard has the ultimate guide to credit at everything you need to know about your credit.
Hassled by debt collectors? Know your rights by reading the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.
How long will it take to pay off that credit card? Find out with this CALCULATOR.

Housing/Renting

Are you renting? This neat tool lets you see if you are paying too much. It is called RENTOMETER and is so simple to use!
Want to cut back on your household expenses? THISOLDHOUSE.COM has a list of 50 DIY tips for your house, each of which can save you between $50 and $500 apiece.
If you need help avoiding foreclosure, head to DOUGHROLLER.NET. The website has links to government and other websites with information on how to keep your home.
Need to cut the cost of moving into a new residence? FREECARDBOARDBOXES.COM .
Should I rent or buy? Find out with a detailed analysis at REALTOR.COM.

Solar

Power virtually all your electronic devices with SOLAR POWER CHARGERS.
Does solar power make sense for you? Find out with this quote at SUNGEVITY.

Money/Budgeting

Get all you accounts in one place with powerful budgeting tools using MINT.COM.
CHECKINGFINDER is a website where you can search by zip code for high-interest checking account offers.
MONEYAISLE forces banks to bid on the highest interest rate.

Autos

Search for new and used autos at ALLAUTOSITES. The site lets you pick search parameters including make, model, price and location. I have also found great information about vehicles at WIKICARS and NADA.
Tired of paying a mechanic for every minor tune-up or repair to your automobile? VEHICLEFIXER.COM offers video guides to let you fix your automobile yourself and stretch your dollar.
FRUGALMECHANIC.COM lets you comparison shop for auto parts from more than 50 different retailers.

Speak to a real person

GETHUMAN has the direct customer service numbers for more than a hundred businesses, ranging from Avis to Time Warner Cable.
VOIP-NEWS.COM has a list of 50 tips to get a real voice at any corporation in 10 seconds or less.
Also check out NO PHONE TREES and DIAL A HUMAN.

Education/College

Intellectually curious but can't afford tuition? ACADEMICEARTH.ORG has free lectures from some of America's most learned professors online.
Check out my free education post and 4 Sites That Teach You How to Do Anything.

Shopping

TINY MASSIVE is an online search engine that combs the Web to find you the best deals on just about any product you can think of. Simply tweet a search query to @TinyMassive. It will then reply to your tweet with the number of results matching your query. If you follow the link in the TinyMassive tweet, you'll be brought to the results page.
When is the best time to buy …? Learn the day at the cheapest day to buy certain items.
FREE SHIPPING offers coupons & coupon codes to over 800 Stores!
Tired of buying toys only to see your kids get bored with them? Try RENTAL TOYS for a low monthly membership fee.
SAVVYCIRCLE alerts members when the price drops on a "wish listed" item. The site supports most major retailers, so after adding products to your shopping list, the site "watches" the price and sends an email when the price drops.
Discount women's, men's, and kid's shoes, plus clothing, handbags, & accessories can be found at 6PM.COM.
WOOT is an online store that offers one product each day at substantial savings.
DAILY STEALS and NEWATNOON are WOOT clones.
Head on over to FROOGLES for bargains, free stuff, deals, closeouts, clearance, and overstocks.
Find expert and user reviews on just about any product at PRICERUNNER.COM. The website is a shopper's delight that aggregates info on everything, from laptops to espresso makers, to help you make an informed shopping decision.
SHORTCUTS coupons attach electronically to your participating grocery store loyalty card, so they are always with you when you shop!

Cell Phones

Free comparison-shopping with your cell phone when you're in a store! How cool is that?
Hunt for coupons on your cell phone with CELLFIRE.COM. The site lets you scour for discounts at your favorite stores and download them to your mobile phone.
Send free text message using FREEETEXTSEND.

Giving to Charity

GOODSEARCH.COM is a search engine that donates half its revenues to the charities its users designate. Yahoo powers it, so results are pretty good. Just 500 people searching 4 times a day can raise about $7,300 in a year!
THEHUNGERSITE is another great way to give to charity just by clicking.

Making Extra Money

Look for money a relative left you or perhaps an account you simply forgot about at MISSINGMONEY & UNCLAIMED
Got stuff? Rent it out and make a little extra cash at CROWDRENT.
If you have gift cards collecting dust, turn them into money at GIFTCARDRESCUE.COM. The website is a shopper's delight that lets you sell or exchange unused cards.
Get cash for old or unwanted gadgets at GAZELLE.COM. The site pays for any tech item, no matter how old, and provides free shipping.

Saving Extra Money

The FREECYCLE Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Their goal is to reduce waste by connecting individuals who are throwing away goods with others who are seeking them. They use Yahoo groups as their conduit so you must have a Yahoo user ID.
Research, compare and lower your monthly bills with LOWERMYBILLS.COM. The website, gives you the inside scoop on finding the cheapest rates on home loans, credit cards and auto and health insurance.
BIRTHDAYFREEBIES is the premiere place for finding birthday freebies, birthday offers, birthday specials, birthday deals and even birthday party venues from local and national businesses.
Don’t like my money saving tips? Try the 50 ways to trim your budget.
Want to save tens of thousands of dollars? Read how you can save $20,000 In 1 Year.
88 ways to save money, and counting... I love the way this expands like the old windows explorer.
Giveaways are real popular in a bad economy. How do you find them? Go to the big list of giveaways.
Get you hands on all that CONTRABAND TSA has been collecting at airports, and be sure to visit the PROPERTYROOM for incredible savings from this police auction online.

Miscellaneous

Get all the information you need on federal recalls at RECALLS.GOV. A joint project of several government agencies, the website lets you search for product recalls and sign up for email alerts.
Looking for love? These dating sites are advertiser supported – PLENTYOFFISH and DOWNTOEARTH.
Avoid speeding tickets by utilizing this cool DATABASE OF SPEED TRAPS.
Looking for free wi-f? Check out WIFIFREESPOT.COM or WIFIFINDER or WEFI.COM.
Lost an owner's manual? Find it at OWNERIQ. The site also has user forums to help you operate any gadget.
Check out the E-Justice Blog at CRIMINALJUSTICEUSA. The website has a list of 100 free do-it-yourself legal resources that can be found on the web.
Got empty milk jugs? 35+ uses for plastic milk jugs.

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Belated Naughty Friday funny - Parrot training

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:16:26 -0800

I got caught up with my first full day at work yesterday so like the butcher who sat on the mincer I'm all behind in my work.

Enjoy.

Terrified Cartoon Parrot

A young man named John received a parrot named 'Chief' as a gift.

The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird’s mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.

John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot.

The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.

John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.

For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.

Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer.

The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.

I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued, 'May I ask what the turkey did?'

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Casa del Chook – Living in the Bush

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:18:56 -0800

Chickens

One of the nicest things about moving away from the big city is the country living. The pace is slower and the attitude is less aggressive. The toot of a car horn invariably means a friend is driving by not someone offering negative feed back on your driving skills.

We have always entertained the notion of having chickens running around the yard and finally we have the ability. The plans have been modified though. Anyone with a garden using wood chips as a water saving method will know where I’m coming from here.

Chooks live to scratch and have no concept of how a garden should look.

But behind a chook wire fence, they have made a brilliant addition to the yard. Got leftover veggies or indeed the scraps left over from their preparation? Into the chook pen. Pulled out a few weeds and want to turn them into compost? In they go too.

After having the chooks for just on a year, the sandy soil in their yard is looking a lot more healthy. Between the chook poo and the weeds, the soil has really built up. We even have worms in there although it’s risky for them to reveal themselves. Nothing gets the excitement levels soaring like turning over a few shovel loads of dirt and a worm or two turning up.

Egg production is a real eye opener too. The eggs are big. And the yokes so yellow. Nothing like their pale cousins in the supermarket. The laying process is a sociable event too. We have 4 chooks and they take it in turns to produce an egg. After one has laid an egg it comes out of the coup and loudly declares success. Then another will walk up the ramp and lay her egg right beside the first one. Out she comes and the process continues.

The actual chicken coup sits right in the back corner of the yard under a huge gum tree. It’s shaded from about 10 am so the chooks have cool conditions throughout the day. Never the less the curent heat wave has dropped production from 4 eggs to 1 per day. I don’t blame them at all. We have had such a mild opening to the warmer weather that the 100 degree F days have been a bit of a shock to the system.

So that’s how chooks have entered our lives. Even more fun than I thought they would be and great little recyclers to boot. A welcome addition to the homestead.

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Solar Factories Closing Down or Moving to China

nobody@vox.com(Cheapo Groovo) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:00:40 -0800

General Electric plans to close its only U.S. solar panel factory because production costs have exceeded sale prices.

Solar_shingles

The Fairfield, Conn.-based company said that silicon panel manufacturing at its facility in Delaware, will stop in January. GE will shutter the factory all together by June. The factory can produce 34 megawatts of solar panels per year and employs 82 people. GE plans to layoff the workers with severance packages.

The move reflects the tough times experienced by solar energy equipment makers worldwide as supply far exceeded demand over the past year. Recession and a big reduction in solar subsidies in Spain - once a booming market - are key contributors. Some manufacturers have seen prices for their products fall by anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent over the past year.

Earlier this week, Marlboro, Mass.-based Evergreen Solar said it would move panel production from its factory in Devens, Mass., to China next year in order to cut costs.

Earlier this year, BP Solar announced it would close its solar panel factory in Maryland and outsource that work to a contract manufacturer. Last month, BP said it had hired Jabil Circuit to assemble panels at a Jabil factory in Poland.

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Living Completely Free

nobody@vox.com(Cheapo Groovo) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:32:11 -0800

Be sure to review my original blog post.

Mark Boyle (a.k.a. Saoirse, which is Gaelic for "freedom" and pronounced "sear-shuh") set up the Freeconomy website (http://www.justfortheloveofit.org). The idea is that like-minded people sign up, list their skills and donate them to others. In return they receive favours back. For instance, a hairdresser may give a mechanic a haircut and in exchange the mechanic would fix the hairdresser's bicycle. No money ever changes hands. The website appears to have been successful. Boyle says 4,200 people with 900 different skills from 85 countries have signed up.

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American history test

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:24:20 -0800

USA Topographic Map

Here is a nice quiz flavored around American Independence.

Have a crack at it. 24 out of 30 is regarded as a pass and plenty of Americans don't reach that level. It goes without saying that Aussies would struggle with an Aussie flavoured version of the same thing.

For the record I scored a paltry 16. I think a few family members who have travelled there regularly would breeze through it.

Independence Day Quiz.

By the way I selected Alberta Canada as my home state because the quiz doesn't know about the rest of the world. Sorry to those Canadians who's stats I have weakened.

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Letter to the Editor - Clean coal

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:33:08 -0800

Fumes

How's this for an elegant put down of the current plan by the Victorian government to base our future on "Clean Coal" technology.

It has been submitted to a few papers, by Noel, to see if it gets a run.

I'll also be writing a piece myself over the cheapest option for our aging coal plants in the next day or two.

Nice work Noel. Blogging should be your next career advancement. No Editors to get past!!

_Business Opportunity_!

Following the successful promotion of the "Clean Coal" technology study to the Victorian Government, "Oxymorons Inc" is now seeking interested parties to join with us in Phase 2 of the project.

This vertically integrated Phase 2 will be titled "Dry Water".

Our basic business model is to capture and dehydrate the huge water surpluses in the nation's northern river systems, using (of course) solar energy.

We will then refine and package the product in cardboard boxes which can readily be transported by air, rail or road (at minor cost) to Victoria’s brown coal plants It is then just a simple matter of adding tap water to reconstitute and apply the resource.

As a further revenue stream, surplus ‘Dry Water” packages could be sold to the State’s . drought-affected areas.

Applicants with some technical capacities could be useful, but essential skills required will include the abilities to write successful Government grant applications, and to lobby vigorously the progress of same.

N.L.Matthews

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Naughty Friday funny - At the retirement home

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:18:50 -0800

Little old dears

One day, while going to the store, I passed by a nursing home. On the front lawn were six old ladies lying naked on the grass.

I thought this was a bit unusual, but continued on my way to the store.

On my return trip, I passed the same nursing home with the same six old ladies lying naked on the lawn. This time my curiosity got the best of me, & I went inside to talk to the Nursing Home Administrator.

'Do you know there are six ladies lying naked on your front lawn?'

'Yes,' she said. 'They're retired prostitutes, - they're having a garage sale.'

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Eating Healthy & Eating Cheaply

nobody@vox.com(Cheapo Groovo) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:07:57 -0700

We use a local produce stand for fruits and veggies year round. We also use a distributor of Amish products we met at our local farmers market (keep clicking the picture below to see the great products and 10% discount). The only time we use Family Dollar or the grocery store is for paper products, vinegar, laundry detergent, and milk.

Invoice

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The Green Mafia

nobody@vox.com(Cheapo Groovo) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:29:26 -0700

I'm very concerned about planet earth. That is why I choose voluntary simplicity and frugality. I have also given environmentalists and politicians many practical ideas to reduce carbon emissions. It seems to be working ~ a nearby town (Merrillville, IN) will disconnect every other streetlight on the town's main thoroughfares. There are more than 1,600 street lights in Merrillville, and the town is paying more than $15,500 per month to power those lights. It is a win-win situation!

But I will no longer remain silent when phony environmentalists want to take away our freedoms and tax us to death. One outrageous example is in Canada. Ontario residents won’t be able to sell their houses or condos without first getting a home energy audit – which now costs about $300 – under the proposed new Green Energy Act.

Listen to this excerpt for all the proposed taxes to combat global warming! And if you still have doubts, check out all of my clipmarks which come from news sources and proposed legislation..

Global_warming_taxation

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