Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/child_healinggardens.htm
Health
Published in 2001 Lifestyles Magazine
Healing Gardens
by Patricia Fry
What environment do you crave when life becomes a bit overwhelming? Many of us, when we feel upset, stressed or even despondent, seek out a quiet spot in nature. We might walk to the park or take a drive to the beach or mountains or even go sit in our own backyard. Why? Because we feel a greater sense of serenity and well-being in a natural setting. We tend to relax when we’re surrounded by nature and a relaxed state is the perfect environment to experience the healing of body, mind and spirit.
Roger Ulrich, director of the Center for Health Services at Texas A&M University, has collected some important data about the effects of a natural environment on human health during a research project some years ago. His study involved several gall bladder surgery patients.
“They had identical rooms,” says Ulrich. “The only difference was the view from their windows.” What Ulrich discovered was that the patients who had a view of trees, flowers and shrubbery, had fewer complications, needed less medication and had a shorter hospital stay than those who looked out at a block wall.
In another, less formal study, visitors to a botanical garden submitted to a test. These guests, upon leaving the garden that day, registered lower blood pressure and heart rate than when they entered.
Scientists are just starting to pay attention to the relationship between humans and nature. Chances are, they’ll soon prove what gardeners have known for centuries:
* Viewing or working in a garden setting is soothing.
* Activities such as pulling weeds, raking and deadheading help relieve tension.
* There’s a therapeutic quality to tending a garden.
* Our creative and nurturing cravings are satisfied through gardening.
There is so much evidence reflecting the health benefits of a natural setting that more and more U.S. hospitals are providing garden areas for patients and their families. It might be a patio ringed by potted plants where family members can regroup, meditate or pray. Some medical institutions have expansive lawns with trees, flowers and secluded sitting areas for patients and their families. And still others, like the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University Center in New York, provide gardening as therapy for their patients. The Glass Garden at Rusk is a 1700 square-foot greenhouse where they offer horticultural therapy programs for their patients. According to Nancy Chambers, director of the therapy program, the garden is also a place of serenity and comfort for hospital staff and the patients’ family members.
Whether you already know the joy and comfort in your home garden or you are seeking a place to turn when you feel stressed or in need of solace, here are some ideas for turning your garden into a healing garden.
Plant a memory garden. What are your favorite plants? Most likely, you’ll list plants related to your childhood. I grow sweet peas every year because I remember my grandmother growing them. When I married and set up housekeeping, she would bring me bouquets of sweet peas throughout the spring and summer months. I also grow pansies because Grandma loved them in her garden.
My mother planted a syringa because, as she says, “I remember picking flowers from a syringa in our yard when I was a girl and wearing them in my hair.” By the way, syringa means memory in Victorian flower language.
Does the sound of tall bamboo rustling in the breeze bring back pleasant memories for you? Maybe the scent of geraniums or honeysuckle is comforting because it’s something you recall from childhood or a special time in your adult life.
Surround yourself with plants that bring a smile to your face and calm to your psyche and you have taken the first step in creating a healing garden.
Keep it simple. Gardens definitely evoke emotions, but guilt shouldn’t be one of them. Avoid becoming overwhelmed by your gardening project. Plan a garden that is a pleasure to manage instead of an added pressure in your life. How do you know when you’re getting in over your head?
* When your garden becomes more work than fun.
* When a glance out the window makes you wince rather than smile.
* When you feel inadequate as a gardener.
* When a walk in your garden fills you with “shoulds” instead of joy—”I should pull those weeds, rake those leaves, prune the shrubs, feed the roses “
If you have unlimited time and enjoy caring for a large garden, go for it. But if time and even money are issues, you can still create a lovely garden area without breaking the bank or your back. Here are some ideas:
1. Start plants from seeds and cuttings taken from neighbors’ and friends’ yards.
2. Buy plants on sale.
3. Plant things that are appropriate to your climate, that are showy and that don’t require a lot of care.
4. Choose plants that are similar in their care requirements so you don’t have to continue learning about new plants.
5. Use ground cover to fill in and cut down on maintenance as well as gravel, decorative rock, bark and so forth.
Create your personal garden space. Maybe you don’t have time to tend the sort of garden you want. But you can still enjoy the illusion of a full, rich garden in an alcove or hideaway. Many busy men and women today are creating contemplation or meditation areas in a corner of their yard.
First, choose your favorite spot. Plant fast-growing trees, shrubs or reeds or put up a trellis, an old wooden gate or an equally interesting backdrop. Plant the things you love and that will thrive in this environment. Add a hammock or meditation bench and some outdoor artwork and you have a wonderful niche to enjoy whenever you need to get away.
Here are some additional ideas for establishing a garden that you, your family and friends can enjoy.
Stimulate your senses. “You’re in a healing environment if two or more of your senses are heightened,” says Christy Ten Eyck, landscape artist who has a practice in Arizona. And she suggests appealing to all of your senses including fragrance and sound.
Also use plants in various shapes, sizes and textures to appeal to your sense of sight and touch.
Create a water feature. Water has numerous purposes in a garden. The sound of water is calming and pleasant. It has a cooling affect in the summer and it can help to muffle neighborhood noise. Water also attracts wildlife such as butterflies and birds.
A water feature doesn’t have to be elaborate. It might be just a matter of buying a pump and building around it. Consider using old whiskey barrels, brass urns or just bring in a couple of bird baths, for example.
Use art. Make your garden fun by incorporating some of your favorite art objects into your design. Place decorative birdhouses and feeders, gazing balls, cement animal or cherub figures amongst your plants. Use an old barn door or window frame to decorate your patio area. Design a mosaic, beach glass or pebble wall hanging, table or bird bath for a special spot in your garden.
More and more landscape artists are helping their clients to break their garden area in to a series of garden rooms. Art can greatly enhance these intimate areas.
Add creative ground work. Every square inch of your yard doesn’t have to be planted in order to be attractive. Here are a few ideas for problem areas:
* Design a mock riverbed. Dig out the dirt slightly and line the area with decorative rocks or pebbles. Add a small bridge.
* Raise dirt mounds and decorate them with medium-sized rocks and lavender plants.
* Build a deck or seating area around a tree.
* Lay rip rap or broken pieces of cement in a problem spot. Fill the spaces between the cement pieces with gravel. We recently did this over an old septic tank that is so close to the surface that nothing will grow there. We also created a patio effect in the middle of our front lawn where it’s so densely shaded by an old oak tree that grass simply won’t grow there.
Attract wildlife. If you want butterflies or ladybugs to visit your garden, plant a butterfly bush (buddleia), zinnias, salvia, hibiscus and white alyssum. For caterpillars, plant fennel and parsley. If you live where there are wild rabbits, they will probably visit whether you want them to or not. You can entice them by planting lettuce, cabbage and other edibles. Also make sure to have plenty of good hiding places for the bunnies to scamper should something startle them.
The edible garden. There are many levels of healing potential in the backyard garden. One is through the use of edible and medicinal plants. Plant an herb garden including rosemary, peppermint, chamomile, sage, basil, corriander and anise, for example. I once grew feverfew so I would have it available for headaches. Many gardeners grow herbs in large pots just outside their kitchen door.
You can also enjoy tomatoes, squash, snow peas, green beans, corn, onions and so forth from your garden. Have fun with your veggie garden. Plant green pole beans with your corn so the beans can use the corn stalks for support. Grow pumpkins and sun flowers in your front yard for the whole neighborhood to enjoy. Grow a corn stalk maze or playhouse for the kids this summer.
Any garden with plants and trees is already a healing garden. Follow some of these suggestions, however, and the healing benefits of your garden experience will greatly increase.
http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/animalcommunication.htm
PET TALK
How to Effectively Communicate
With Animals
“That gnat looks confused,” whispered Ann, as we watched a small fly-like insect wander around in circles on the table in front of us. “I’ve been talking to him,” I said. “Every time I attempt to communicate with him, he stops and becomes real still.”
“Tell him to get up on that orchid lying there in front of you,” suggested Ann, “and we’ll move him to that big plant over there.” Again, I attempted to communicate with the gnat. I told him to get up onto the orchid and we would move him to the large plant where he might find something to eat. “When the workshop is over,” I told him, “we’ll take you outside where you’ll be free.”
To our astonishment, the gnat stopped circling and immediately jumped up onto the little orchid. Ann set the orchid in the large pot next to the ficus plant and an hour later, we carried the orchid with the gnat still attached outside and set him free.
On the flight to that workshop in Maui, I’d read J. Allen Boone’s book, Kinship With All Life (Harper and Row, 1954). In his book, Boone claims that there was a time when we spoke a universal language which was understood by all animal and human life. He shares many of his successes communicating with animals even including ants and a fly. According to Boone, mutual respect and understanding are at the core of this language link.
I’ve come to believed that animals communicate in two ways - through body language and using little mind pictures.
One summer, while at the beach with my grandchildren, we were playing in the surf one last time before the sun went down. All of a sudden, a small sea lion appeared in the shallow water. He climbed up on a rock and there he stayed. Most of the onlookers thought there was something wrong with the sea lion - that he was ill and needed help. A resident, however, came to his rescue and told us that he was fine. “His mother just sent him here to wait while she hunts. She’ll come back and get him,” he said.
Sure enough, before long, a mature sea lion appeared in the surf and the young one swam out to rejoin her.
You’ve probably witnessed similar communication between your pets. In my household, for example, two cats might simply be walking past one another when, all of a sudden, without so much as a glance at one another, they race off together down the hall at a dead run in gleeful play.
But what about communication between humans and animals? Do you believe that your dog understands the word walk when you say it or is he, perhaps, reading your mind? What about a horse who runs from you when you come out to take him for a ride? Even hiding the halter and rope doesn’t seem to help the situation.
Have you ever had to chase a cat all over the house and ultimately drag her out from a dark corner under the bed in order to keep a veterinarian appointment? She may have been sitting happily on the window sill preening herself just moments before. But the instant you walked toward her with thoughts of taking her to the veterinarian’s office, she dashes out of sight.
Was she reading your mind?
On one such day, my calico cat , Daisy disappeared under the furniture. I chased her, pleaded with her, cajoled her but she was more cunning and determined than I. Finally, I decided that if she was reacting to what I was thinking, I’d better change my mind. I brought the cat carrier in and set it on the floor and then positioned myself next to it at eye level with Daisy. I looked into her eyes and began creating new pictures in my mind.
I had been seeing visions of my chasing Daisy, eventually catching her and putting her into the carrier against her will and the cat being extremely unhappy during the car ride to the groomer. Now I envisioned Daisy walking into the carrier, my closing the little door behind her and toting the carrier to the car. I pictured the two of us riding quietly and calmly to the groomers where the cat was cleaned, mats trimmed and otherwise pampered. And then I visualized us coming home together where I opened the carrier door and Daisy walked out feeling wonderful and flea-free.
To my astonishment, just as my visual scenario ended, Daisy stood up, walked over to the carrier and went inside. Then, moving to the back of the carrier, she turned her body just enough so that her tail was free of the door and there she lay down. How simple things are, I thought, when one bothers to ask for the animal’s cooperation.
When Daisy was eight months old, I brought home Katy, a four month old Himalayan. Daisy disliked Katy on sight and immediately reduced the younger kitten to dust ball status. Every time Katy came out from under a piece of furniture, Daisy chased her under another. The only time I could coax Katy out was when Daisy was sleeping.
I expected the kittens to iron things out in due time, but three weeks later, things were no better.
One night at bedtime, Katy drummed up the courage to join Daisy and me on the bed. Each kitten lay on one side of me growling and yeowling at one another - neither one about to back down. I was glad that the cats were dialoguing, but their timing was pitiful. I had a rare pounding headache that night and was more interested in a peaceful night’s sleep than in helping them work out their differences.
I spoke a harsh “Stop it” a couple of times, but the growling and yeowling continued. Finally, I decided to try another tactic. I began visualizing a great abundance of love flowing into each kitten and from one to the other. I envisioned the two of them playing and adventuring together and becoming great companions.
In a matter of 30 to 60 seconds, the growling stopped. I raised up to see each kitten still in place but with their little heads resting on their paws and we all fell asleep.
The next morning when I woke up, the kittens were gone. I expected to find Katy under the sofa and Daisy guarding her escape. But instead, both kittens were together eating kibbles from the same bowl, thus marking the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
A friend tells the story of bringing a boxer puppy home to their cat’s extreme dismay. The pup couldn’t keep his nose out of the cat’s business, which was evidenced by the fresh puncture wounds always around his flat little snout. One day my friend, sat with the two animals and visualized them respecting each other’s space and becoming good friends. She did that visualization often during those first few months and today these two are inseparable companions who even snuggle together when sleeping.
Whether you want your pet to change an inappropriate behavior or you hope to establish greater rapport with him, communication is key. Here are some tips:
* Demonstrate respect for and a genuine desire to understand your pet. View the world through the animal’s senses. Try to determine the reasons why your dog chews on your slippers, for example, or the cat claws your favorite chair. Provide suitable alternatives and visualize the animal involved in appropriate behavior.
* Communication with animals is more effective when both of you are quiet and relaxed.
* Communicate with animals using clear, concise visualization.
The next time your dog or cat engages in unacceptable behavior or you desire his cooperation, communicate with him using something he can understand. Try talking in mind pictures.
Patricia Fry is the author of Quest for Truth(Matilija Press, 1996)
[It works, and I have the scratches to prove it...granny]
http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/an_max.htm
MAX - The Kitten Who Got a Second Chance
by Patricia Fry
It was late spring when I stepped outside to tend my garden just in time to see a neighborhood cat dash over the gate into the woodshed. It was the shy black kitten I’d watched grow into an aloof adolescent. Although, I’d enjoyed her company in the yard many times as she peered down at me from her perch on the back fence, I’d never been able to touch her.
This day would be no different except that today, she was not alone. Three perfect kittens followed her along the top ledge of the woodshed fence. When they saw me, the whole family lunged for cover into the crevices of the woodpile where unbeknownst to me at the time, they planned to set up housekeeping. I’d been chosen custodian for the newest generation of neighborhood feral kitties. Now what?
I would tame them, that’s what! The kittens appeared to be about four-weeks old. If I spent a lot of time nearby talking to them, they would surely come around. For days, I perched myself on a bench outside the woodshed gate and watched the kittens play chase and hide-and-seek games through the pile of wood. But when I spoke, moved or came too close, they’d disappear.
Braveheart, the smallest and most timid, was the image of her mother with sleek, black fur. Bella, the most curious wore a long black and white coat. Max was adorably stocky with a lovely soft brown and white coat.
Ten days later, I realized that my loving overtures were not changing the kitten’s feral ways. In order to save them, we had to capture them.
We borrowed a cage, donned leather gloves and moved the wood piece by piece until we uncovered the three kittens huddled under a pallet. One by one, we placed the three frightened kittens into the cage and took them inside.
After leaving them alone for a couple of hours, I made regular visits. I talked softly to them and touch their fur through the wire cage. They were terrified, but not aggressive. They were interested in their food and water, but didn’t understand the reason for the sandbox I’d provided.
The next morning, using caution, I picked each kitten up and moved them to a bathroom where they had more room. The kittens didn’t bite, scratch or even hiss, but it was clear that they were very frightened and that they did not enjoy my touch.
The kittens now had access to a carpeted cat tree with a circular bed on top, two sandboxes, kitten toys, kitten kibbles and water. I closed the toilet lid, moved all toxic cleaners and tied the mini blind cord safely out of reach. My plan was to visit the kittens often throughout the day every day until they were comfortable with the human touch. Then I would find them good homes.
The first time I went into the bathroom to spend time with the kittens, I couldn’t find them. I feared the worst—that they’d torn through the window screen and escaped. But I finally found them huddled deep inside an overturned wastebasket. This was to be their secure haven for the next seven days.
Since I work at home, I was able to keep a close vigil over the kittens. I visited them often—partly out of obligation to them and partly because I couldn’t stay away. I loved spending time with them and did so many times every day.
After about a week, when I’d go into the bathroom, I’d find them sleeping, not in the plastic wastebasket, but in the little bed on top of the cat tree. Yet, while the kittens had calmed down, they were still not returning our affection. They allowed us to touch and hold them, but they didn’t respond until one Friday afternoon.
During a routine visit to the bathroom, I found the three kittens curled up together in their bed. I began petting them when all of a sudden, Max rolled over onto his back, looked up at me and started to purr. I was so touched that I began to cry. This was the first time I’d heard any of the kittens purr.
To give the kittens more space and more opportunities for socialization, we’d bring them into the living room at night. I’d also bring out things that were familiar to them like their cat tree.
The kittens had a grand time playing in the larger area and we loved watching them. This also gave the resident cats (Katy, Dinah and Winfield) the opportunity to become acquainted with the kittens under our supervision. The kittens kept a wary eye on us, though and were quick to dart for cover, should we move toward them. This made it difficult to recapture them and return them to their safe haven. Our goal was to make their life as trauma-free as possible, but we weren’t always successful.
When the kittens were about 7 weeks old, I took them to see the veterinarian. He was surprised at how healthy they were, given their precarious beginnings. They got their first shots and a clean bill of health.
About the same time, I spoke with animal behaviorist, Anders Hallgren. I told him that, although I’d been working with the kittens for three weeks and they were more gentle, they were still not responding to us. He said, “You’ve got to separate the kittens. They’re bonding with each other and as long as they have each other, they may not bond with you.”
I tried to figure out a way to separate the kittens and work with them myself. My first step was to bring Max out and try letting him have the run of the house. On that eventful day, I held Max for a while—he was beginning to enjoy petting now. I fed him a couple of small pieces of chicken by hand and then, when he wanted down, I let him go.
He played, explored, peed in a basket of firewood and tried to get to know the resident cats. After thirty minutes or so, Max looked around the room, spotted me and came trotting over to where I was sitting. I reached down, lifted him onto my lap where he lay contentedly for a while before rushing off to pursue more adventure. By then, I knew that I could not give up on Max. Whether he was bonding with me or not, I had certainly bonded with him. That night he slept next to me on my bed and has every night since.
In the meantime, my veterinarian told me about a couple of people who were looking for kittens and had homes that he felt were suited to these special needs kittens. Within a day and a half, both kittens had just the sort of homes I’d imagined for them.
Max is a dear 18-month-old indoor cat now. He’s sweet, affectionate, funny, eager to please and clever. He responds when he hears his name almost every time. He gets along with humans and animals alike. Except for his ability to dive for cover at top speed when hearing thunder, the garbage truck, the vacuum cleaner or a sneeze, and the joy he derives from the blanket tents and box caves we build for him to play in, one would never guess that he had such humble beginnings.
I ask myself if I’d go to the trouble again to rescue feral kittens. My answer comes easy when I look down at Max resting contentedly, relaxed and trusting in my lap. Yes! I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
[I like this author’s writing...granny]
http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/an_healing.htm
Published in 2001 by Cat Fancy
Name Your Cat’s Personality
by Patricia Fry
I’m convinced that, when our 2-year-old kitty, Max, pushes his toys under the refrigerator, it’s an attempt to get my attention. He seems to delight in helping me probe for the missing mouse, ball or feather. As soon as the item is recovered, he bats it under there again. And again he dances around my feet as if to persuade me to get down on the floor and retrieve his toy once more. Of course, I do.
I call Max The Manipulator. I also have a Possessive Cat and a couple of Nonconformists. I have friends who own Noncommittal Kitties, Bad Boy (or Girl) Cats and Wired Cats.
Labeling our beloved cats is kind of fun and I think it tends to help a cat owner accept their kitty’s particular personality. However, animal behavior experts caution against categorizing cats in this way.
“When you use a label like The Manipulative Cat, there’s some implication of intent,” says Dr. Linda Goodloe, an animal behaviorist in New York City. She says, “I think it’s kind of amusing to look at a cat that way.” But she cautions, “When people believe their cat is doing something intentional, they sometimes get angry and they want to punish the cat. Some people believe, for example, that when a cat has a problem with inappropriate elimination, he is just being spiteful. Believing that leads to very wrong reactions and often the end of the cat. For that reason, when people come to me with a problem, I try to get them to take the idea of intention out of it.”
Obviously cats do have personalities. While some are active and boisterous others are reserved and shy. There are highly independent cats and others that are quite affectionate. Let’s explore some of the more common cat personality types. With the help of three animal behaviorists, maybe we’ll learn how to better manage the traits that can sometimes overwhelm a household.
The Possessive Cat
“Almost always, when you have several cats in a household, there’s going to be one that bumps the others out of the way,” says Goodloe. “People get very upset about it. I get very upset about it. I have a big guy right now who does that. All of my poor little fellows get bumped. If I’m petting another cat and he starts to purr from anyplace in the apartment, the big guy hears it and comes bounding in and pushes himself between us.”
Goodloe explains, “The thing about cats is that they usually work things out.” She tells this story: “I had a cat who always slept next to me on the bed. Then, I brought home this old cat that was really sick. He would not leave my side. He started lying next to me at night and the cat that usually did, just never showed up there. The night that this cat died—two years later—the other cat was right back in the same place on the bed. Cats work things out and you’re much better off not to try to change it.”
The Manipulator
Dr. Alice Moon-Fanelli, an animal behaviorist at Tufts University, describes this cat, “The manipulator cat is the one that gets up on the dresser in the morning and knocks things off just to get your attention because he wants you to play with him or he wants his food bowl filled. They are really training us. Is the cat being manipulative? No! It’s using what it has in its cat behavior repertoire to get what it wants.”
How do you stop this sort of behavior? According to Moon-Fanelli, “By ignoring it.” She says, “One morning after my husband jumped up to fill the cats’ food bowl, he came to me and said, Why do the cats keep doing that? Aren’t you going to do something about it?’” According to Moon-Fanelli, she said, “I am doing something about it. I’m ignoring them. I’m not reinforcing their behavior. If I don’t give them my attention and the food, they’ll stop doing it because it doesn’t work.”
The Noncommittal Kitty
This cat keeps its people at arm’s length. He expresses and receives attention only on his own terms. He might roll over in front of you and look up endearingly, but when you reach down to pet him, he scurries away. Or she may walk over to you on the couch, but panic if you attempt to pick her up.
My friend, Susan dreams of having a cat that will curl up in her lap and purr contentedly as she strokes his fur. While cats continue to find Susan’s home and to enjoy the food and shelter she provides, none of them have become lap cats. Most of them have, no doubt, been rejected and even abused by the time they find Susan’s safe haven. She says, “Unfortunately, it seems that an adult cat that is not affectionate, will never be affectionate even when they finally find a loving home.” But, what about raising a kitten to be a cuddly cat?
Dr. Larry Lachman is the author of Cats On The Counter (St. Martins, 2000). He says that while kittens may express a lot of affection when they’re young, they might still grow up to be aloof cats. “Sometimes cat owners will think the cat is noncommittal because it doesn’t seem to want them anymore,” he says. “It’s just the cat’s natural maturity and behavioral development.”
The Bad Boy/Bad Girl Cat
When a Bad Boy (or girl) kitty weaves his way into your heart, your life will
never be the same again. If you decide to keep this cat, you’ll have to learn to live with upset trash baskets and spilled houseplant dirt. You may never be able to display a bouquet of flowers safely into your home again.
Dr. Goodloe talks about the Bad Boy. “My first cat, before I knew anything, many, many years ago, was one of those. He liked to get up on furniture and counters and knock things over. I would chase him. When I could catch him, I’d give him a little smack on his behind. But the frequency of the undesirable behavior shot up immediately. This became his favorite game and it stayed that way until he died at 20.”
Dr. Moon-Fanelli says that she has such a cat, but she considers her just a high energy cat that doesn’t have enough stimulation in her environment. She says, “If I’m spending a lot of time at work and I’m not there with her, she torments the other cats, she jumps on things that I don’t want her up on and she gets things out of the garbage. When I’m a good owner, I fill her Play and Treat Ball for her and I set up play times each morning and evening for her. When I do that every day, she’s just fine. The high-energy cat is not a bad cat, it’s a cat that doesn’t have enough cat like things to do.”
The Wired Cat
Do you know a cat that’s excitable and rather unpredictable? He may be a Wired Cat. According to Dr. Goodloe, “There are a lot of them and they’re the ones that get into trouble with aggressive behavior. They’re very easily excited. They get into those strange states where they like to race around. Their intent is to play.”
This cat often jumps out at you from behind the sofa when you’re walking by and digs in with teeth and claws. “If you have one that does a lot of damage to body parts in that kind of manner,” says Dr. Goodloe, “then you make the body parts boring by not reacting. It’s sort of hard to do if there’s a tooth or a claw stuck in you, but if you shake your leg or hand, the cat will find that exciting.”
She recommends, “Give the cat something else to play with—something distant from your hand or your ankle. Grab a Kitty Teaser and start playing with the cat. This will gradually help them to disconnect from finding body parts to play with. With a cat that’s wired, it’s a good idea to do a lot of short play bouts. Get him to chase the Kitty Teaser. Wear him out in two or three minute play sessions throughout the day and then he won’t have quite so much energy revved up.”
Identifying your cat’s personality is easy. Living with it can take patience and creativity. The bottom line, according to Dr. Goodloe is to remember that “Cats are what they are and we have to adapt to them.”
http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/child_gardening.htm
Gardening and Children
A Healing Combination
by Patricia Fry
Eight year old Renaldo guides his wheelchair over the planks between two rows of tomato plants. He selects just the right fruit and pops it into his mouth. With a juicy grin, he exclaims, “I grew this! I grew it, and it’s good!”
What is it about gardening that nourishes special needs children and helps them to flourish in spite of their challenges? According to Maria Gabaldo, President of the American Horticultural Therapy Association in Gaithersberg, MD, “It gives them the opportunity to nurture and allows them a measure of control. When they become a responsible party, their self-esteem really blossoms.”
Although, there are no major scientific studies to substantiate the benefits of therapeutic gardening for special needs children, countless facilities are incorporating gardening into their therapy programs with impressive results.
Maureen Oswald is the Senior Therapeutic Recreation Specialist at the Kluge Children’s Rehabilitation Center in Charlottesville, VA. Physical therapy is one way they use their gardens. Oswald explains, “When kids find that they’re doing something functional something that makes sense to the child, they’re more motivated to complete the task. When a patient transplants a plant, they have something to show for their therapy that day rather than just stretching their fingers.”
According to Oswald, “We’ve found that every child can benefit from the horticulture program in one way or another.” Because most of the patients at Kluge have suffered a traumatic injury and stay anywhere from a week to 18 months, therapists get to know them pretty well.
“Some of our children have behavior problems,” says Oswald. “Many times we find that the children were in the accident because of their recklessness or their inattention to safety. Maybe they had a learning disability prior to the injury and that’s compounded. We do see a difference with some of the more hyper active and aggressive children out in the garden.
“In a staff meeting, for example, we may discuss Johnny and his inability to pay attention. The horticulture therapist might say that she doesn’t see any of our complaints about his behavior in the garden. He stays interested and on task for two hours at a time. When the other team members hear that, they may start having sessions with the patient in the garden.”
Oswald continues, “For some patients, going outside is too much, so we may bring plants inside to them. We’ll pack plants on the lap of a child who is a quadriplegic and say, All right, Johnny, you know some of the children can’t come out of their rooms, let’s go give these plant to them and cheer them up.’”
Kathleen Airhart teaches environmental sciences and horticulture at Cookeville High School in Tennessee and often works with students with behavioral problems and learning disabilities.
“Many of these students come to science planning not to understand because that’s been their experience,” says Airhart. “But, I have a little greenhouse at the school where we do science experiments and grow plants for profit. I have a few kids who are so excited about this that they offer their free time to help take care of the greenhouse.”
And the greenhouse seems to be taking care of them, too. One boy, in particular, had been dismissed from his classes for continual episodes of fighting. He had spent the past two years in what they call a behavior class, coming out only for Airhart’s science program and to work in the greenhouse. “He’s moving out of the behavior class next year,” reports Airhart. “He’ll be in the agriculture program and continue working in the greenhouse.” Airhart is so pleased with the transformation of some of her students that she’s adding a job training component to the greenhouse program.
In Virginia, the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, the Fourth Judicial District Court Service Unit and the city of Norfolk have linked to provide vocational training for at-risk students.
According to Lillian Eastman, volunteer manager for the gardens, these students are at least two years behind in school and they’ve had minor brushes with the law. Students attend classes, but the crux of this program is the time they spend working side-by-side with the probation officer and child counselors in the 155 acre botanical gardens.
Eastman sees the students come into the program like a lion and go out like a lamb. She says, “We do a pretest and a posttest and usually see an attitude change. Some of the kids even notice the changes themselves. Two girls, having completed the pilot program, looked at their pretest and commented about how “derogatory” they were on their first test.”
What makes the difference? Eastman says, “Nature is a calming and non-threatening environment. The young people are working and they’re accomplishing something and this raises their self-esteem.”
Gardens, for healing young hearts, bodies and minds? “Why not?” says Gabaldo. “When a child cares for a plant, they experience, maybe for the first time, what it feels like to see the consequences of their attention to a plant. Hopefully, then, they’ll understand how that can translate to other areas of their life.”
For more information, contact:
American Horticultural Therapy Association
362A Christopher Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
800-634-1603
How to Survive a Job Loss
by Lana Westcott
You are a stay-at-home mom. Your husband gets laid off from his job. You know that he will find a job shortly, but what are you supposed to do in the meantime? You have some money saved, but you do not want to use it all up. You certainly do not want to charge up your credit cards. I was able to reduce my family’s budget by about $1000 a month. Here are some tips to help you survive a job loss.
First, look closely at your grocery bill. This was the place where we were wasting the most money. I was able to cut our grocery bill in half, from about $450-$500 to $200 per month. I am now trying to get it even lower than that. Shop at the store with the lowest overall prices. Plan weekly meals using the store’s sale ads, especially loss-leader sales. Cook from scratch. Do not rely on convenience foods, but if they are one of the store’s loss leader sales, stock up. These items will come in handy on days that you have very little time to cook. It won t hurt to eat cheaper cuts of meat for a few months. Sure, we all prefer deli ham to bologna, but when bologna is on sale for fifty cents per pound and deli ham is $4.99 per pound, the choice is obvious. Circle the entire meat department before putting any meat into your basket. My grocery store marks meat that needs to be sold in one to two days down to half price or even less. If you are not going to cook the meat that day, put it in the freezer. Shop alone, as it is easier to stick to your list this way. Do not shop more than once a week. Those last minute trips to the supermarket put a dent in your budget. You will almost always pick up a few items that are not on your list. I shop at a no frills, warehouse type grocery store. I have to bag my own groceries, but I figure the prices are at least 15% cheaper than the other local stores.
Cut down or, if possible, cut out all trips to those huge discount stores. Of course, we all love to go to Target, Wal-Mart or K-Mart, but shopping there can put a dent in your budget. Shortly after my husband was laid off, I balanced the checkbook and cringed when I realized how much money I spent at these stores. Everyone, regardless of income, has to purchase certain household items. So, what are you to do? There are a few tricks.
* Shop at your discount store no more than once a month. Make a list of all household items (cleaning products, toiletries, baby items, etc) that you will need to get by for a month.
* Try cheaper brands. It won’t hurt.
* Do not bring children along. They will want something.
* My supermarket carries some household products for about the same price as Wal-Mart. Maybe your supermarket does too. Your local Dollar General store is a great budget-friendly resource. It carries most necessities without the frills and temptations of larger stores. No huge endcap displays to get you off track.
If you have children, they will be one of the biggest obstacles in sticking to your budget. You have to get them to understand that, for now, Mommy and Daddy don’t have the money for extras. Come up with ideas to have cheap fun. Borrow movies from your library, instead of renting them. While you are at the library, see if they have any upcoming activities for kids. They are usually free. Invite a child over to play instead of meeting at McDonalds. Serve fried bologna sandwiches.
There are certain items that you really should not purchase while your husband is out of a job. Any new clothing, unless for a very special occasion, can be purchased after he goes back to work. The kids do not need any new toys. Unless you are picking up $1 burgers or Taco Bell, eating out can wait too.
Avoid temptation. Separate the sale ads from the Sunday paper and throw them away. Sure, you will know where you can save $1 on detergent, but maybe you will notice that the shoes you have been wanting are half price this week. My sister knew that times were tough around here, so she would invite me to go to the mall with her. She thought it would cheer me up. I preferred to not see what I could not afford to buy, so I declined the invitation, but asked her to stop by and visit after she finished shopping.
Staying positive during trying times is key. Avoid people who bring you down. Well-meaning relatives would call weekly to see if my husband had found another job. This became very annoying to me. I quickly discovered that my answering machine was multi-functional. Not only could it be used to answer calls, but it could be used to screen calls also. I could tell by the messages left which calls needed to be returned and which were harassment in disguise. For example, “I was just calling to see what you all are up to” translates to “Has your husband found a job yet?” There is no need to return this call. On the other hand, “Your uncle is in the hospital” most probably translates to “Your uncle is in the hospital.” I would return this call as soon as possible. You also need to realize that everyone comes upon hard times and that you can always find something to be thankful for. During my husband’s lay-off, I was reading the newspaper one morning and noticed that a man whose son attends school with my children had died. I immediately thought of his wife. My husband was temporarily out of a job, but her husband would never go to work again. My mountain (temporary loss of income) seemed much more like the molehill that it was.
My husband was out of work for about two months. He has found another job and is back at work. One good thing that has come out of our tough time is that I have finally gotten my grocery bill under control. I spend about 10 minutes looking at the sale flyer and writing up a list. Then I go shopping and can buy a week’s worth of groceries for $50 or less. I used to spend at least double that. Now, on the way home from the grocery store, I stop at the bank and deposit $50 in my savings account. That is my prize.
Take the Next Step:
-Dont be in Denial. If you feel that your job maybe at risk, have a contingency plan.
-Take action today, so you will be better off tomorrow. For instance: Find a New Job , Get Additional Training, and Pay Off Debts.
-How secure is your job? Modern statistics allows a calculation using key variables to give you a Scientific Evaluation. Get your free evaluation now.
http://www.dealseekingmom.com/how-to-survive-job-loss-or-layoff/
Troubled Times Ahead: How to Survive a Job Loss or Layoff
Posted By Deal Seeking Mom On December 26, 2008 @ 4:55 pm In Uncategorized, frugality | 48 Comments
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sleep is the enemy
Creative Commons License photo credit: striatic
I debated mentioning this because I generally try to keep this site a positive place, but I wanted to share with you all the my husband was laid off from his job Tuesday and so now extends a 3-year streak of layoffs during the holiday season.
Two years ago he was laid off the day after Christmas. But the company that really takes the cake is the one that laid him off via voicemail last January while I was in labor with baby #5. Classy, huh?
While it’s frustrating to have this happen once again just as we were getting back on our feet, it’s made me that much more thankful for the blessings we do have this holiday season.
We’ll get through this tough period as we have the others before, but you may see things slow down a bit here as I once again must turn to my general transcription business to be able to make a more immediate contribution to our family’s finances than I can with Deal Seeking Mom. Guest posts and deal submissions would be most appreciated to help fill in any gaps. If you’re interested, email me at dealseekingmom (at) gmail (dot) com or use my contact form.
However, that’s not the purpose of why I’m writing this.
When I shared this news on Twitter, I was overwhelmed not only by the outpouring of support that I received but also by the number of people that shared that they are currently jobless or expecting a layoff in the near future. Having “been there, done that,” it occurred to me that sharing some of tips that have helped my family would be useful to others, so here’s my small gift to you.
If a job loss is still just a possibility:
Cut back your spending immediately. Review your bills and look for areas where you can start to scale back. Start small by trying to cut just $1 a day from your expenses and increase your savings from there. Learn how to maximize your savings at drugstores and grocery stores and add these additional funds to your emergency account.
Build a stockpile. Hopefulone and Erin both wrote excellent guest posts on this topic recently. In the event of a layoff, being able to cut back your grocery expenses by eating from your stockpile is a huge blessing.
Pay yourself first. Start building an emergency savings by setting up an online savings and having money automatically drafted into it from your checking account each pay period. Transfer the money saved from any cut backs into it as well. Every little bit helps!
Start paying just the minimums on any debt. Funnel anything extra you were paying into your emergency account as well.
Get a handle on the job market. Check out the classifieds and online job postings. Start doing a little networking to feel out the situation in your industry, and update your résumé so it’s ready to go.
If you lose your job:
Negotiate for additional benefits. Most companies will offer the standard severance of unpaid vacation and a good reference, but you may be able to haggle for more. Ask for additional compensation based on years of employment, extended health benefits, or reimbursement for job placement services. It’s likely that companies will be willing to provide one or more of these to avoid negative publicity. You won’t know unless you ask!
File for unemployment. Generally you should do this immediately because there’s a one-week holding period; however, from experience I can tell you there’s one exception to that. If it’s close to the end of the year, it might be in your best interest to wait until the new year. Compensation rates often increase every year, and by waiting a few days you may be entitled to more money. We learned this the hard way when my husband filed on 12/27/05. If he had waited a mere four days, we would have received an additional $40 per week in compensation. Check with your state agency, and if you can stick it out for a few days, do so.
Communication is key on all levels. Let your family members know about your situation. Explain to your friends that you’ll have to cut back on entertainment expenses for a while. Get the word out to your social network. You might be surprised by a job lead from an unexpected source. Finally, contact your creditors if you see yourself starting to fall behind on your bills. They may be able to offer some sort of temporary solution.
Seek out additional resources. These may vary by location, but it’s a good idea to see what’s available. Don’t be embarrassed to take advantage of what is available to you. There’s no shame in doing what it takes to keep your family from financial disaster.
A few to consider:
* WIC
* Food stamps
* Medicaid in your state
* Food pantries
* Energy assistance programs
* Your church
Your state department of job and family services may have additional suggestions. Don’t be afraid to ask your unemployment case worker what you’re eligible for.
Cut back your budget to all but the necessities. When it comes right down to it, things like cable, cell phones, and Internet can probably all be eliminated. Look for free sources of family entertainment such as free DVD rentals from Redbox. You might be surprised at what you can do without when it really matters.
Start looking for a new job immediately. Take advantage of any outplacement resources offered by your former employer. In most cases you will be required to report on your job search regularly to your unemployment caseworker, so you’ll want to maintain a log of companies you apply with and any responses you receive.
If you’re a union worker, as is my husband, you may be in a different position. He must wait until his layoff number on “the list” is high enough to win a bid on a job. I know the particulars vary by union, but in our case looking for work outside the union could mean thousands of dollars in fees and fines.
Be sure to stay in close contact with your union hall’s hiring manager, and ask about any additional resources that your hall may have to offer. You may be able to take a travel position and work out of another union as my husband has done on occasion, or this might be a good time to take advantage of any continuing education programs available to you. Additional certifications could make you more valuable to employers and therefore less likely to be low on the list when layoffs occur in the future.
When you find new employment:
Keep your frugal ways in place for a while. Pay off any debt accrued during your unemployment period, build your emergency savings back up, and better prepare yourself financially in the event that it turns out not to be a good fit or for future cutbacks.
There’s no such thing as job security these days. Especially with the current depressed economy, it’s important to be prepared as best as you can be for a sudden loss of income. Losing a job is never easy, but you can definitely prepare yourself so that it’s more manageable.
I certainly would not wish a layoff or job loss on any one of you, but I hope that these tips give you some hope in the event that you should need them.
Have you survived a major loss of income in your family? Do you have any additional tips to share?
http://ramven.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-survive-job-loss.html
How To Survive Job Loss
Talking to a colleague the other day, I articulated a possible Plan B if layoff hits me. Between me and my wife, we have some cultivable land that is enough to grow enough vegetables to market. While it sounds like a wacky idea — from managing a team of high-tech writers to growing vegetables — but why not? People need veggies all the time. Perhaps, to start with the income may not be enough to cover all the expenses, but it will certainly come handy to cover some part of it. More importantly, such an activity keeps one busy and a sense of purpose hangs in the air instead of gloom and misery.
It is important we think out-of-the box ideas that are practical too. I was in the high-tech sector in 2001 and was booted out from a Cupertino company. Then, while scanning the Mercury News found the Borders was opening a new store in Sunnyvale. I applied and got a job as book seller. It came with health insurance, covered my car payment and part of the rent. I was still able to lead a decent life. Actually, I enjoyed being part of the team that set up the store and the store opening day was so much fun. I continued to part-time at Borders for a long time even after I found a regular job at a newspaper and did not mind working 14-16 hours a day.
The moral of the story is, doing some odd jobs to support the expenses while we look out for a regular job should not be ruled out. While long-term career goals may take a beating during times such as now, doing something different for a while can be fun.
Trust me, downturns are temporary. However, they will come again and again ... no surprises there if you are prepared and always have Plan B.
http://www.slice.ca/Advice/SliceBlog/BlogPost.aspx?sectionID=38&postID=2822
Survive on Little to No Money
Survive on Little to No Money
Eat, drink, and keep busy ‘til payday
Of course you needed that leather purse/pair of designer jeans/Sex and the City DVD box set last week. But now you’re a little low on cash and by a “little low,” we’re talking call-your-parents-for-a-loan territory. Put down the phone. You can make it through the next week with a virtually empty bank account; you just have to be shrewd with your cash.
Prioritize
Can’t live without coffee? Drag the canister of instant grounds from the cupboard, toss it in a thermos and head to work. If you don’t have coffee or a coffee maker at home, buying one or the other is obviously out of the question. If not feeding your addiction is also out of the question, at least cut back and slum it for a while. Sure you love Starbucks’ dark roast but 7-11 and McDonalds both make perfectly mediocre cups of coffee. Just think about all the hours of enjoyment you’re going to get from whatever it is you purchased that put you over the edge.
Treat every indulgence the same way. Do you usually buy your lunch? Well, now you have to bring it. Had a dinner date planned? Postpone it or offer to make dinner instead.
Eat Smart
Speaking of food, the next little while will definitely be interesting cuisine-wise. If your fridge was recently stocked, you’re set. If not, you’re going to have to get creative. Eating smart, in this situation, doesn’t necessarily mean healthfully but rest assured, you will not starve.
Eggs and tuna are both versatile foods. Eggs can be cooked a million different ways – the omelette is good because you can throw the random assortment of vegetables, cheese and meat you have in your fridge into a frying pan and end up with something edible.
Tuna on top of lettuce makes a lovely, filling salad; with toast and a slice of cheese, you’ve got a tuna melt; in a burrito shell or wrap – instant tuna wrap. If you’ve got tomatoes or other veggies sitting around, even better. Mayo basically never goes bad, so hopefully you have a jar in the back of your fridge for tuna salad, but it’s not a necessity.
You may have to return to your college days and pick up some ramen noodles and mac and cheese. While not incredibly nutritious, both are cheap and filling. Really, pasta of any kind is pretty cheap. All you need is a little tomato sauce for a meal.
Running out of ideas? Google “cheap recipes.”
If you have enough food at home to make a main dish for more than two people, organize a potluck at your place. Hopefully you’ll get to keep the leftovers.
If you really must eat out, choose brunch. It’s usually cheap and if eaten late enough in the day, should keep you full for hours.
Finally, if you’re out of basic ingredients like sugar, milk, ketchup or mustard, when you visit McDonalds for your cheap coffee, pick up some condiments for home. Sure it feels a bit low, but you’re desperate, right?
Shopping
Chances are that you’re a bit of a shopping addict – hence the large, slightly irresponsible purchase. While buying anything during this empty-wallet period is highly frowned upon, if you must indulge, do it wisely. Visit dollar stores, sale racks at discount stores and Goodwill. Do not enter a department store or mall. These are dangerous places.
Go to a magazine or bookstore and browse. Read everything you can and leave empty-handed. While it may be tempting and seem like a good idea, do not go shopping with a friend, promising yourself that you will only live vicariously through them. You will end up buying something.
Socializing
Invite people over. Go to their houses. Do not go to bars and if you do, go only with enough money to get you in. Leave your credit card at home. Starting a tab at a bar is a bad idea.
You can leave the house but only under special “free” circumstances. Go for a long walk. Visit museums or art galleries on the days it’s “pay what you can.” Go to the gym. Go skating in the winter, rollerblading in the summer. Hell, being broke could actually get you back in shape!
Bottom line? Being broke isn’t so bad. If you prioritize and are prepared to make some sacrifices, you will make it through to payday – and you’ll be more creative, in better shape and coffee will taste much better from now on.
Written by: Vanessa Grant
If this article floats your boat, chances are you’ll like a lot of the other buoyant material we’ve got on the roster. Throw yourself a life preserver and hook it up with the slice.ca newsletter.
http://teatreemoney.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-to-survive-without-any-money.html
[Live links in article and at end]
Sunday, October 26, 2008
How to Survive Without any Money
I was checking my stats on Google Analytics and it turns out that people have been searching with the phrase “how to survive without any money”, which just goes to show how serious the global recession is.
But it got me thinking. It’s not really possible to survive with no money at all - but there are plenty of ways to get goods and services using barter or vouchers.
One such scheme is Freecycle, which allows people to collect goods that other people don’t want. The only cost is that the person who wants the stuff needs to collect it.
Another scheme is Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS). LETS is essentially a barter system, where you offer to do things for people (say gardening) and get points, which you can then cash by asking someone else to do something you need (say plumbing). There are LETS groups all over the UK. There are also LETS groups in 39 countries worldwide - see here.
Another way to buy things without money is to accrue vouchers. Vouchers are mainly offered by survey companies - see here for a list of genuine survey companies.
I hope the above information is of interest to people
Related post which might prove helpful:
How to increase your income by earning online
Earn money by participating in clinical trials
Earn money by renting out your driveway/garage
Make money renting your stuff out
Earn income by taking in lodgers
Labels: recession
[page of how to save money, with hidden links, below is one of the comments....granny]
http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2006/12/1124/how-to-survive-with-little-or-no-money/
I’m on a limited budget and here’s a few things I do.
I shop at Goodwill The first week clothes or new wares is out it’s full price, but as each week goes by they dicount it. Week 2 10% off, week 3 50% off, then 4th week 0.25 for clothing and 0.10 cents for wares. Goodwill now gets many NEW items and they often make it to the quarter rack.
When you cook, if the recipe calls for a pound of meat, use a 1/2 lb.
Dilute your juice with water and it will go farther. Juice is usually to strong anyway.
Go to Aldi’s, and Savealot and look to see if there are other food outlets near you. Sometimes there are.
Join freecycle, it’s a place to post items so they don’t go to the junkyard. You can request items you need or post items you no longer need. Anything can be posted but must be free.
Don;t buy new. Go to yard sales, garage sales, thrift stores , Salvation Army stors, goodwill, etc. You will find everything you need eventually, and for a lot less.
Find moms who have kids and start a clothing exchange, toy exchange. Kids get bored with what they have. You can plan a get together and all bring items and exchange.
If you live in an apartment, when someone new moves in the other side ask if they want to split on the garbage, usually you can put out more bags than you have anyway. So your not cheating the garbage company any.
Fill out the school lunch program forms, your kids can eat breakfast and lunch at school.
See if you qualify for hud, liheap, lira, or other programs. Just CALL! Your kids need you to do what you need to do.
I look for coupons and then I compare who has it for less. Dollar Stores are not always the lowest.
There is something called angelfood ministires check that out. It’s not what I want to eat all the time, but it can help.
collect alluminum cans & sell them. It’s not much but it helps.
Car pool with other mothers, or ask someone to take turns transporting your kids and thiers to wherever they are going.
Don’t live above your means. If you have a couch purse or drive an expensive car you are. I know several people who live like they have money but they don’t. I can’t understand whats behind that. Who they trying to impress.
Make friends, You might find you both have skills you can share with each other. Maybe she can cut your kids hair, maybe you know photography and can take pics for her holiday cards. Get creative. Go to your local foodbank. Thats what it’s there for. Many people have had to go there, doesn’t mean you will always have too. Just accept the help when you need it. Later if you can help the foodbank if your thankful.
Join a church, pray. God loves you! And God helps those who help themselves.
If your husband picks and chooses when he will work, talk about it with him. Is he being unfair to you and the kids? TELL HIM. Is he having difficulty holding a job? Perhaps he has a condition like bipolar or something else that medication could help. People who have bipolor often have unstable work histories and do impulsive things. If you suspect this, tell him, but do so in a loving way. Him getting the counceling or medication he needs can make all the differance.
Hope that helps a little. God Bless ~ Keep your chin up!
But do what you have to do!
Art of the Sandwich: Some Alternatives to PB&J
By Amanda Lerner
It’s hard to think of a better dorm room staple than peanut butter. So when word got out that – surprise – peanut butter in your pantry may be contaminated with salmonella, it seemed that dorm snacking could be forever altered. Instead of giving up altogether, however, we decided to see what else we could do with the foods that usually accompany that nutty delight. And really, what could be better than a PB&J sandwich at 3 a.m. after cramming for that psych test? We set out to find out, gathering a team of six testers to try alternative jam sandwiches without the luxury of peanut butter.
Photo by Amanda Lerner / NBN.
Almond Butter & Jam: This seems like the obvious substitute for good ole PB, since it is a nut butter. So, unsurprisingly, it did taste the most like the real thing. Testers said, “It’s not peanut butter, but its still nutty which I think is nice,” and, “I feel like it’s a little sweeter than the typical PB&J experience. It’s very subtle.” Indeed, the almond butter is just a little sweeter than classic peanut butter, so if you’re looking for the whole sweet-and-salty thing, this one isn’t the way to go. But it is definitely the most authentic.
Photo by Amanda Lerner / NBN.
Cream Cheese & Jam: Through testing, I found out that not everyone used to eat these as a kid. What a shame. While I’m personally inclined to love this sandwich, as it tastes like childhood to me, it didn’t exactly get rave reviews. One tester said, “I think the jelly kind of overwhelms the cream cheese … the textures are too similar.” Another tester brought up the point that cream cheese isn’t the most spreadable of toppings, which is why it is usually relegated to the land of Bageldom. Definitely not a bad sandwich, but not as beloved as I would have expected.
Photo by Amanda Lerner / NBN.
Butter & Jam: Avoid this combination at all costs. Not only were all of the official testers so grossed out by this that they couldn’t finish a quarter sandwich, but the inevitable moochers who came by after the test and tried all the sandwiches threw this one straight into the garbage. One tester said, “I feel like this is the sweetest so far and this isn’t a good thing.” The sandwich tasted like it should have been toast with jam and butter, but since it wasn’t, something was just off. Soft-but-unmelted butter and jam just do not go well together. Only try this on two pieces of toast if you must have your breakfast food fix.
Photo by Amanda Lerner / NBN.
Cheddar & Jam: Apparently this sandwich is popular across the pond in Britain, but Americans just don’t seem to get it. One tester said, “It tastes like feet.” The cheese, which is supposed to be sharp, was too sharp and overpowered the jam and the bread. Another tester said, “It’s just a cheese sandwich that failed.” Again, no one could finish their quarter of this sandwich. If you have all the makings for this, just eat it separately – I can guarantee it’ll taste better that way.
Photo by Amanda Lerner / NBN.
Muenster & Jam: While much more of a success than the disaster that was cheddar & jam, Muenster still wasn’t very well-liked. “The cheese isn’t as pungent as the other one but it still tastes like feet,” one tester said. I personally liked this one a lot, but I’m also a Muenster fan to begin with. One con of this sandwich is that the combination of prepackaged cheese and the jam was too slippery and the sandwich fell apart almost immediately, getting jam everywhere. If you like all the parts of this sandwich separately, chances are you’ll think they’re okay together. But would anyone reach for it first? Probably not.
The Bottom Line: While it may be fun to experiment with different kinds of combinations, there is clearly a reason why PB&J is so popular. The only sandwich that was truly loved by the testers was the almond butter one, and that’s because it was so close to peanut butter. Testers generally liked wheat bread over white bread, saying that it complimented the jam pretty well. They didn’t really care what flavor the jam was, whether it be strawberry or blueberry. But whichever alternative you choose to try, be sure to just try one; all of our testers (and moochers) felt positively ill after eating so much jam, bread and various accompaniments.
It’s time to veg out with these meat-free meals
By Rachel Kalt
Vegetables on parade. Photo by karimian on Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons.
I recently realized that I’ve hardly eaten any kind of meat or poultry in more than six months, and have had none since I returned to school from studying abroad. This wasn’t a conscious decision by any means, as I’ve always considered myself a passionate omnivore; but I guess rarely being able to afford meat dishes in Europe caused my body to lose the craving.
So it’s safe to say I’ve been toying with the idea of trying out the whole vegetarian thing, especially after my roommate recently proclaimed herself a pescatarian. Lately I’ve been experimenting with some totally vegetarian-friendly meals and I figured I’d share my findings with those of you who are beloved vegetarians, are contemplating making the change or just want a little break from your meat-filled diets.
Squash, with the seeds removed. Photo by semarr on Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons.
Spaghetti Squash with Toasted Walnuts and Herbs
People love meat and poultry because they’re filling and satisfying. When you’re missing those ingredients, it can be challenging to find ways to attain that same level of fullness. I find that great ingredients to supplement with are nuts and hearty vegetables like squash and potatoes. This recipe for spaghetti squash combines both and is a great alternative to a basic pasta dish.
What You’ll Need:
* 1 medium-sized spaghetti squash
* 3 tbsps. unsalted butter
* 3 tbsps. finely chopped parsley, basil, or combination of both
* ½ cup toasted and chopped walnuts (to toast just place on baking sheet and bake in 350 degree oven or toaster oven for about 10 minutes)
* ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
* Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Slice the squash in half lengthwise and place cut side down in a baking dish.
3. Cover with about ½ inch of water and then cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, remove foil and turn over the squash.
5. Cover again with foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
6. Remove squash from oven, uncover and allow to cool slightly.
7. Spoon out seeds and discard.
8. Using a fork, gently pull away the squash flesh from the peel. It will look like strands of spaghetti, hence the name.
9. Put spaghetti strands in a bowl and set aside.
10. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the spaghetti squash once the butter is melted.
11. Toss the ingredients to combine and add the nuts, salt and pepper and cheese.
12. Quickly toss everything together and serve immediately.
Eggplant and bruschetta. Photo by jugglerpm on Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons.
Eggplant Steaks with Bruschetta Topping
I’m not a fan of “fake-out” vegetarian style cooking, but I am a huge fan of eggplant. Eggplant is hearty and flavorful and this dish will please both your vegetarian and meat-loving guests alike. And if you’re not fond of eggplant, portabella mushrooms will work well in this dish as well.
What You’ll Need:
* 1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 4 even slices
* 3 tbsps. olive oil
* 3 tbsps. balsamic vinegar
* 1 medium tomato, diced
* ½ cup black or kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
* ½ red onion, finely diced
* 3 tbsps. fresh basil, finely chopped
* 4 tbsps. hummus (any flavor will work)
Directions:
1. Whisk together olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl.
2. Brush eggplant on both sides with mixture and season liberally with salt and pepper. Don’t worry if there is leftover olive oil and vinegar.
3. Place eggplant in a large skillet over medium high heat and cook for about 6 minutes, turning occasionally, until eggplant is browned on both sides and fork tender.
4. While eggplant is cooking, toss together tomatoes, olives, red onion and basil. Pour over remaining olive oil and vinegar and toss to coat.
5. Once eggplant is cooked, place onto serving platter and spread 1 tablespoon of hummus over each steak and top with an equal amount of the bruschetta mixture on each. A lot healthier than a big ol’ steak, but just as delicious!
And if those don’t excite you and compel you to take up the veggie cause, here are some other ideas:
* Combine white beans, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and fresh herbs in a blender or food processor and pulse until the mixture is the consistency of hummus. Spread over toasted pita, pile on a ton of fresh vegetables and you’re good to go!
* Cook up a batch of couscous or quinoa in vegetable stock rather than water and toss in a ton of dried fruit, seeds and nuts– almonds, cashews, dried apricots, raisins, dates, dried cranberries, pistachios, flax seeds and sunflower seeds will all work. Drizzle in a bit of honey for added sweetness or flavor with cinnamon and citrus zest.
* Only eat dessert. Kidding! Well, not entirely….
If you’re on the fence about going to the herbivore side, try out a few of these dishes or experiment with some of your own vegetarian-friendly recipes and see if you’re ready to ditch the meat for good.
http://creditcardpundit.com/blog/60-things-to-do-for-little-or-no-money/
Looking for things to do on the weekend or vacation time that won’t set you back a lot of money?
You don’t need to be a millionaire or even slightly well-to-do to enjoy the finer things in life. Consider this list of…
60 Fun Things to Do for Little or No Money:
1. Enjoy a concert in the park - Spring and summer begin free things to do in the park season. Concerts and movies are just the beginning.
2. Go camping - Still one of the cheapest vacations one can take, especially through the US National Parks system.
3. Go for a hike in the woods.
4. Go for a swim - Many lakes and oceans are free for swimmers, others require a small fee. It’s still a good, affordable way to spend a day. Better yet, find yourself a good, old fashioned swimming hole.
5. Go fishing.
6. Have a picnic.
7. Take the kids to the park.
8. Visit a museum -There are lots of free museums and many others take a donation.
9. Work on an arts and craft projects
10. Play board games.
11. Dig for fossils or gems. Find out where to dig in your area.
12. Build sandcastles
13. Have a barbecue.
14. Run through your garden sprinkler.
15. Play a pickup basketball or volleyball game in the park.
16. Visit the library. Take out books, movies, music or take advantage of some of their great programs.
17. Take a free online class.
18. Find a fireworks display.
19. Go canoeing or kayaking.
20. Do some birdwatching.
21. Make a kite and take it for a ride.
22. Go for a bike ride.
23. roller blade.
24. Ride your scooter.
25. Visit the zoo. Most zoos are affordable and if you get a summer zoo pass you can visit as often as you like for one price.
26. Read
27. Sell lemonade
28. Watch a play at a local theater
29. Visit a vineyard - some tours are free while others are affordable.
30. Visit a street fair. Food is cheap, plus craft displays, flea market finds and entertainment abound.
31. Tour a college campus
32. Lounge on a hammock
33. Adopt a pet - Actually adoption fees aren’t as cheap as they used to be but it’s well worth the cost.
34. Tour a fire house or police station
35. Bowling - A night out for the family really doesn’t cost much, especially if you bring your own snacks.
36. Tour a brewery
37. Bake
38. Make a chalk mural in your driveway.
39. Tour a television or radio station
40. Attend a tv show taping
41. Shakespeare in the Park - If your area has it
42. Make a birdhouse
43. Stroll through a public garden
44. Work on your own garden
45. Visit the state or county fair.
46. Join a book club at the library, Borders or Barnes & Noble
47. Browse the flea markets.
48. Find a drive in movie theater in your area.
49. Take advantage of local cultural events.
50. Visit a dairy farm.
51. Visit historic battlefields.
52. Take a day trip to Washington DC where most of the museums are free.
53. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or another place that feeds meals to the homeless.
54. Have a scavenger hunt.
55. Teach yourself a new language using online tutorials and materials from the library.
56. Start a scrapbook and fill it with items found outdoors.
57. Jigsaw puzzles!
58. Make a working volcano
59. Have a campfire in your backyard, roast marshmallow and tell ghost stories.
60. Clean out your house and have a garage sale.
[Photos on site]
http://creditcardpundit.com/blog/8-over-the-top-mothers-day-gifts/#more-159
8 Over the Top Mother’s Day Gifts
Posted on 06 May 2008 by Deborah
At a loss over what to get Mom for Mother’s Day? Had enough of the same old flowers or earrings? Here’s a few Mother’s Day suggestions for the Mom who has everything….and trust me, she’s worth it.
tttt
1. Give mom the gift of good oral hygiene with the $1750 water fountain toothbrush. Well, the prototype is $1750, eventually this puppy’ll cost $3 - which makes one wonder why one wouldn’t want to wait until the cheaper model comes out? Why so special? Because the toothbrush directs water into your mouth for rinsing.
over the top computer mouse
2. Is Mom into a little social networking or computer gaming? Then she’ll surely want this 18K White Gold computer mouse. Retailing for a mere $24,180, this mouse contains 59 brilliant cut diamonds personalized in the pattern of your choice.
Fendi bag
3. Sparkly mice not your thing? Maybe Mom is more about accessories and this one doesn’t disappoint. How about a $20,000 Hermes Birken Bagi It looks like an ordinary bag for sure, but the Hermes people pretend they’re very hard to obtain so all the bored rich people have to have one.
pgo.porsche.speedster.500
4. Won’t Mom enjoy tooling around town in this the Porsche Speedster replica covered with Swaorvsky crystals? She’ll be the envy of the early bird buffet crowd when she pulls up in this puppy.
78089841GC004_Guinness_Worl
5. Perhaps Mom is a fan of the fragrance? If so, you”ll just have to buy her a bottle of this $230,000 perfume. The perfume, 500ml of Clive Christian’s No.1 Imperial Majesty perfume, comes in a bottle featuring a 5 Carat diamond and a solid gold collar.
Amour Amour Dog Collar
6. If mom truly does have everything, why not buy a present for her favorite pet? This Amour Amour dog collar contains 1600 hand set diamonds including a 7 carat diamond centerpiece can be bought for a mere $1.8 mil.
Swavorski Crystal Bra
7. At $250 this Swavorski Crystal bra is a more affordable option. How special will mom feel wearing this on Bingo night?
diamon cell phone
8. Keep in touch with my by giving her this diamond encrusted cell phone. Choose from white or yellow gold or platinum. But hurry, these $88,000 beauties are made to order.
http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/hochman-family-cuts-spending/article99718.html
My Family’s No-Buy Experiment
We ended up richer, but not in the way we expected.
By David Hochman
A Month of No Spending
When you’ve committed to a month of no spending, the scariest sound in the world goes something like this: glug, glug, gorgle, glug, followed by my wife saying, “Oh, God. Honey? We need to call a plumber!”
Our experiment in money-free living had been cruising along beautifully. We were happily eating our way through the pantry, borrowing instead of buying, and feeling the burn from our free seven-day trial gym membership. But now-and on a holiday weekend at 11 p.m., naturally-a grotesque and putrid black ooze began mushrooming up from the shower drain, which could mean only one thing: an overtime service call from the Roto-Rooter guy.
“Think!” I thought as my wife, Ruth, rummaged for the plumber’s business card. “Think.”
I was still a no-spending newbie, but already I was one with the Zen of money-free living. Take a deep breath. There’s always a way around opening your wallet.
The idea to stop spending had been percolating for a while, but it was a trip to Target one afternoon that finally broke me. With our four-year-old, Sebastian, in tow, Ruth and I loaded up on packs of underwear, bath mats, barbecue gear, Spider-Man toys, kitchen gadgets, and a plug-in thingy guaranteed to kill mosquitoes. As we approached the checkout aisle, I thought, We don’t need any of this junk, and we abandoned the cart (after distracting Sebastian with ice cream), saving a good $300.
That got me thinking about all our pointless expenses: DVDs by mail, lunches out, car washes, “bargain” toys, fancy coffee drinks, and just about everything I’ve ever bought on eBay and Amazon. Especially given the current economic climate, not to mention the state of our landfills, it all suddenly felt like excess. With a promise that we’d stop if it was killing us, I convinced the family to take the giant leap into frugality.
The rules were that we would buy nothing for 30 days except absolute essentials, like fresh milk and fruit; and even there, after one too many “essential” trips to the market those first few days, I capped expenses at $100 for the rest of the month. A handful of key outlays like our mortgage, utilities, and Sebastian’s preschool tuition were excused, but restaurants, parking, clothing, toiletries, Internet access, babysitting, and, yes, gasoline, were now in the no-buy zone.
So were overpriced plumbing repairs, if I could help it. Unfortunately, taking a plunger to the shower drain only served to anger the sewage gods, and I watched the muck grow thicker. Searching online (thank you, dear neighbor, for not using password protection), I read about poor souls who’d paid $200, $400, and even $1,500 to have this exact problem fixed. That’s when I stumbled onto the Dawn brigade.
On a website called thriftyfun.com, thousands of users posted tip after penny-saving tip on conserving cash. There wasn’t a crisis on earth, it seemed, that couldn’t be averted with some combination of baking soda, white vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and a certain dishwashing liquid. I squirted a shot of Dawn in a kettle of boiling water, poured it into the shower, and the goop slrrrrged down the drain. Materials used: 10 cents. The look on Ruth’s face after I actually fixed something: priceless.
I realize many people live like this all the time, by necessity, not by choice, and I anticipate letters saying, “Boo hoo! You had to give up your decaf Frappuccino.” But this wasn’t an exercise in “playing poor.” Our month of no spending was a financial wake-up call, a chance to recalibrate our relationship with money at a time when everyone I know has money on the brain.
Do we really need all the things we buy? Does acquiring stuff have actual value in our lives? Can’t we be just as happy-or perhaps even happier-living on much less?
Our adventure kicked off with a rousing start. After that first day, I wrote in my journal: “Feeling supercharged. We have so much. What could we possibly need to spend money on?
Frugal Living Strategies
“By 9 a.m., Ruth had already made compote from old strawberries and picked flowers I didn’t even know we had in the garden. I cleaned the car by hand for the first time in years, then found a mother lode of black beans in the back of the cupboard. Woo! Oh, and I read and returned the neighbor’s newspaper before he woke up. Total spent today: $0. This is going to be fun, fun, fun!”
Then came Day Two. A rich person once told me money is important only if you don’t have any. I suddenly understood that when it was my turn to entertain Sebastian. Normally, we stop at the comic book shop and the frozen yogurt place and maybe the bookstore, spending all the way. Now we weren’t allowed to even feed the parking meter. Sebastian was starting to lose it, but then inspiration struck.
“Hey, Bubba,” I said. “Do you wanna ride in a silver carriage and see cool stuff and eat junk food?”
“Yaaay!” he screamed.
Okay, so getting pushed around in a shopping cart isn’t exactly Space Mountain, but Costco does have cool stuff and something even better-free samples. For an hour, we munched on chicken sausages, cheese ravioli, franks-in-jackets, raspberry fruit twists, cranberry lemonade, and chocolate pudding (nutrition goes out the window when you’re eating anything you can get).
What was remarkable was how liberating it felt to be at a cathedral to consumerism like that and not spend a dime. I’m always confused when people rave about how much they “save” at warehouse club stores. In my experience, I can’t get out of Costco or Wal-Mart for under $200. You want to talk savings? Try going in without your wallet.
One of the unexpected benefits of no spending is that it brings you closer to people. There’s a stigma in our culture about discussing money, but the mere mention of our project prompted friends, neighbors, and even strangers to really open up, mostly about how cheap they secretly are.
The advice was great: Use an Internet application like Skype for free phone calls. Ask neighbors with gardens for extra vegetables and herbs. Look for unclaimed funds under your name at missingmoney.com (I actually found some-interest on an old bank account I’d forgotten about!). Make the public library your first stop for DVDs, music, and books. Answer online surveys at reputable sites like mysurvey.com for free products and cash bonuses. My favorite tip: Fill out the order forms in catalogs and see if you still want the stuff a week from now. You won’t.
Online communities like Craigslist and Freecycle have enough free stuff to clutter a small country. Cameras, couches, skis, reptiles, “clean dirt,” everything. One guy was giving away a brand-new 52-inch plasma TV so his ex wouldn’t get it in their divorce (it was gone in less than 60 seconds). I landed a stack of financial magazines (did you know the world’s richest man doesn’t use a computer?) and then relisted them. Two weeks into our spending fast, Ruth scored a free haircut from a stylist looking to build clients at an upscale salon.
As days turned into weeks, we became so skilled at living lean, it was scary. We started riding our bikes to save gas. Sebastian’s finger paintings were recycled as gift wrap for the homemade presents we gave my dad on his birthday. We figured out the perfect time to show up at our farmers’ market for giveaways. Ruth turned stale bread into French toast and staler bread into bread crumbs. Sebastian and I had a perfectly wonderful free lunch one day at the local Hare Krishna temple.
At a certain point, though, the rush wore off and reality set in. Having just enough just isn’t enough. I love my iPhone. Ruth loves our gleaming stainless steel refrigerator. Sebastian loves his sneakers that light up.
It’s pathetic, I know. I came to the sad realization that spending tricks us into believing we lead meaningful, successful, exalted lives. Take that away, and what do you have? I suddenly wasn’t sure.
With only $8.72 left for essential expenses heading into the final week, I was feeling sorry for myself-and a bit cranky. I almost strangled a visiting friend when she poured heaping glasses of milk that we were trying so hard to conserve. Ruth and I started bickering after she bought sponges-not a necessity in my book-at the 99-cent store. And on one of our Costco runs, Sebastian cried when someone beat him to the last sample of dinosaur-shaped chicken bites.
A therapist I’ve seen agreed to a session in exchange for my running errands. (How did that make me feel? Boy, he pays a lot for organic salsa!) He listened and then smiled warmly and told me, “Go home. Play with Sebastian. Tell Ruth how much you love her and think about ways to help other people.”
What a novel solution. Gratitude. Service. Duh. I felt like an idiot. Fortunately, all those hours away from restaurants and shopping gave me time to do exactly what he said. I pedaled home and invented an outer-space-themed card game to entertain Sebastian (Jupiter and comets were wild in the homemade deck we played with for hours).
Ruth and I, meanwhile, spent our last few days volunteering at the Bread and Roses Café near our house in Venice, California. Since 1989, the café has been serving 150 people in need each morning in a restaurant setting. Ruth passed out plates of pasta and poured coffee, and I assisted the chef at the stove. Between courses, we met folks making do on the barest of resources. “This place means everything to me,” a homeless vet told me. “Anytime I get upset about my situation, I think, Things could be a lot worse. At least I’m around people who care. It helps to think like that.”
It was probably the best advice that I got all month, and it was absolutely free.
In the end, we saved more than $2,000 by not spending for a month. When we began, I imagined we would rush out the moment we were done and stock up on groceries after breakfast at our favorite pancake place. Then maybe hit the mall or go to the movies. Instead, we stayed close to home and played outer-space poker, and I wrote out a check for Bread and Roses.
Comments :
By XLaura, 01/19/2009, 6:39 PM EST
Not everyone has to be poor or struggling to learn lessons about saving money. This article really inspired me. We make a very comfortable living, but my husband and I feel our kids have way too much “stuff” so we are doing a major decluttering and finding ways to save money. There is no excuse to waste money, whether you make $10,000 a year or $100,000 a year.
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/07/17/100-things-to-do-during-a-money-free-weekend/
Ways to Live Cheap
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100 Things to Do During a Money Free Weekend 78comments
July 17, 2008 @ 2:00 pm - Written by Trent
Categories: Frugality
About a year ago, I offered up the idea of the money-free weekend:
For the last few months, my wife and I have been doing something every other weekend or so that we call a “money free” weekend, in an effort to live more frugally. It’s actually quite fun - here’s how we do it.
We are not allowed to spend any money on anything, no matter what. In other words, we can’t make a run to the store to buy food, we can’t spend money on any sort of entertainment, and so on. Since we often do our grocery shopping on Saturdays, on a “money free” weekend, we delay it to Monday or Tuesday.
We can use our utilities, but no extra expenses on these utilities. No renting movies on cable, no text messages that aren’t already covered by our cell phone plan, and so on.
I followed this up with fifteen things to do during such a weekend, fifteen more things to do, and fifteen deeply fulfilling things to do during such a weekend.
Since then, lots of people have sent me ideas for activities for money-free weekends, plus we’ve uncovered a bunch of our own. At the same time, many readers have asked for a master list of all of these ideas.
So, here we go - one hundred fun ways to spend a money free weekend. The list below includes the first forty-five (with duplicates removed), plus about sixty new ones. Print this off and use it as a checklist or a thumbnail guide for your own money-free weekend. Please note that everyone’s interests are different - you probably won’t find everything on this list fun and neither will someone else, but the two lists won’t overlap (I can think of countless things other people find fun that I find utterly dreadful). Anyway, here goes!
1. Check out the community calendar. Look at your town’s website (as well as those of cities and towns nearby) or stop by city hall to find a list of events going on in the community, many of which are free. You’ll often be surprised at how many interesting (and free) activities are going on right now in your area.
2. Visit your community library. Not only is a library a warehouse of books, most libraries also have extensive CD and DVD collections you can check out. Many libraries also have “story time” for young children, film nights, book clubs, and many other events that you may be unaware of - completely for free. Stop in and check out what they have to offer.
3. Get involved in community sports. Many towns have community sports fields where both youth and adult sports leagues and activities are regularly going on throughout the weekend. Stop by, watch a game or two, and if something intrigues you, look into joining either as a participant or as a volunteer.
4. Get your financial papers in order. This may not sound like a fun activity up front, but the peace of mind it gives you will make your life a lot more relaxing. Spend an hour or two organizing all of your statements and other financial documents. This is a perfect time to start your own filing system. If you’re more adventurous, try initiating an electronic filing system, as it will save you significant space and make information retrieval easier (though it’s more of a time investment up front).
5. Check out some podcasts. Podcasts are wonderful things - top-notch audio programs available for you to listen to for free. Give some a sample - you can do it easily by using iTunes. Visit the Podcast section of the store and check a few out. My favorites include The Splendid Table (on food topics), Marketplace (on economics and business), Speaking of Faith (on religion), Fresh Air (interviews of general interest), This American Life (quirky general interest stuff), and This Week in Tech (technology news), among many others.
6. Play board games. We have a pile of board games, mostly received as gifts, that we often pull out and play, plus our closest friend has a few choice ones. Classic games like Monopoly and Pictionary can be great fun, but our favorites are Settlers of Catan, Cartagena, Puerto Rico, and especially Ticket to Ride. Just dig through the recesses of your closet, find an old board game you haven’t played in ages, and bust it open!
7. Bake a loaf of homemade bread. You probably have everything you need to make a loaf of bread in your kitchen right now (except for maybe the yeast). Anyone can do it, and the bread turns out deliciously. Here’s a detailed visual guide for making a simple loaf with minimal ingredients and complexity.
The Court Jester by clspeace on Flickr!8. Learn how to juggle. All you really need is three balls and a video showing you how to do it. Not only is it a fun activity to learn, it’s something that’s fun to bust out as a party trick on occasion (trust me, you can always get people to smile if you juggle three fruits in the kitchen while preparing something).
9. Teach yourself how to change the oil in your car. If you’re due for an oil change, just bring the oil you need home with you and teach yourself how to do it. All you really need is an old pan to catch the wasted oil and a funnel to pour the old oil back into the canisters for later disposal. Just use your car manual as a guide for the procedure and you might just find that not only is it a lot easier than you thought, but it’s a useful skill to have and it’s cheaper than taking your car into Jiffy-Lube (or wherever you take your car for oil changes).
10. Meet your neighbors. Make an effort to introduce yourself to your neighbors if you don’t know them well. Invite any interesting ones over for a cup of coffee and a chat, just to get to know each other better. Your neighbors can not only become friends, but can also be a valuable resource - a friendly pair of eyes on your property when you’re away or a helpful set of hands when you’re trying to complete a challenging task.
11. Have a “cupboard potluck.” Go through your cupboards and find any items that might have slipped to the back over time. Invite some friends to do the same, then get together for a potluck dinner prepared from only these ingredients and whatever else you have on hand. It makes for a “free” meal and a lot of fun for everyone involved.
12. Clear out your media collection - books, DVDs, CDs, etc. Just go through what you’ve got, determine which ones you’d actually like to keep, and get rid of the rest. You can either sell them at a used media shop or swap them online using services like PaperBackSwap, SwapTree, and SwapADVD. In either case, you’ll get rid of stuff you don’t watch or read or listen to any more in exchange for either some money or new media to enjoy.
13. Make a 101 Goals in 1001 Days list - then start on some of them. A 101 Goals in 1001 Days list is a very effective way to codify all of the ideas of things you’d like to do all into one place, so that when you have spare time, you can just turn to the list and do what’s next on it. Spend some time thinking of things that belong on this list, then when it’s finished, you’ll have an excellent list of potential accomplishments and be ready to go with lots of activities.
14. Make decisions about and write out your will. This is a thought process that many people put off, but it makes you feel quite relieved when it’s done, adding to your peace of mind and relaxation. Spend some time thinking about what you want to happen to your personal assets when you die, particularly in terms of the personal mementos that you want others to have and where you want the value of your estate to go. Do you want it all to stay with family members? Do you want to remember a charity? Then, when you’ve figured it out, sketch out the basics of a will. Later, you’ll likely have to have a lawyer prepare it for you, but just having the decisions made doesn’t cost a thing and is a big mental relief.
15. Do a household maintenance walkthrough. Just go through your home and look for any little maintenance tasks that need to be done. Do filters need to be replaced? Are there any burnt-out light bulbs? Here’s a maintenance checklist that might give you some ideas as to what to look for. It might not be the most fun activity you can think of, but it’ll add subtly to your enjoyment of your home when it’s done - cleaner air, light bulbs in place, and so on.
16. Organize a walking tour. Find out about the interesting historical and cultural sites in your town, then go on a walking tour of it. Pack a lunch in your backpack and have a picnic on the village green or in the park. You can easily turn this into a full day if you live in a compelling area.
17. Teach yourself how to knit. Knitting requires two needles (a dollar, or probably free if your closet looks anything like ours), some yarn (extremely cheap and also likely laying in the closet if your home is like ours), a lot of patience, and an instructional video or two. Try making a scarf or two for your friends or a small blanket for a new baby in the home of a friend or a family member. While it’s not quite free, if you stick with it, you’ll make things much more valuable than the input cost of a bit of yarn, plus you may learn a compelling new skill.
18. Take some digital photographs. Take your digital camera out with you and take pictures of anything you find interesting. Take lots of them, then go home later and see if you’ve taken anything beautiful and compelling. Great images can make for the basics of homemade greeting cards (yep, keep going downwards for more on this), nice desktop wallpaper, screensavers, or many other interesting uses.
19. Share those digital photographs with others. Sign up for a free Flickr account, then upload some of your most interesting pictures to share with others. Spend the time to title them appropriately, add interesting captions, and allow them to be used under a Creative Commons Attribution license so your images can be enjoyed by as many people as possible.
20. Start a blog on a topic that interests you. You can get a free blog at Wordpress or Blogger. Join the service and start a blog on a topic that interests you. Not only can it be a ton of fun, it also helps you improve your communication skills, reach out to others, and perhaps earn a bit of income as well.
21. Organize a potluck block party. Get permission from the city to do this before you try it - ask if you can block off a street for a block party on a certain date. Then throw yourself into organizing it. Go door to door, telling people about the block party, and inviting them to bring something. Ask if they have tables and/or chairs that can be used for it. Then, on the day of the party, set out the tables and chairs you borrowed and dig in. Since you’re the host, just contribute one of the “cupboard potluck” dishes you made from idea #11.
Flusspferd - Albert im Kölner Zoo by marfis75 on Flickr!22. Visit a free museum or a zoo (or find out when you might be able to get in for free). Many cities have free educational attractions, such as zoos or museums. Make an effort to enjoy these free attractions. If your community doesn’t have free zoos or museums, call them and ask about opportunities for “free to the public” exhibits or “free days” or even free passes upon request. Quite often, you’ll find that there are many opportunities to enjoy museums, zoos, science centers, and the like without any cost at all.
23. Learn the basics of a new topic. Just go to MIT’s OpenCourseWare, find a topic you’re interested in, download a bunch of mp3s of lectures on the topic, and listen to them while you’re doing household chores. Some great suggested starting points: microeconomics, macroeconomics, basics of philosophy, western philosophy, and introductory physics. Another great option: fire up iTunes, then click on the “iTunes U” option on the left hand side. You’ll find tons of material there to teach you the basics of countless topics.
24. Cook some meals in advance. If you already have a bunch of basic food staples on hand, spend some time cooking some meals in advance to store in the freezer. It’s easy to prepare casseroles, soups, pasta meals, and many other items all at once, then store them in portion-sized containers in the freezer for eating later. Not only is this way cheaper than eating out or buying convenience foods, it’s also healthier and also far more social. Missing some ingredients but have an abundance of others? Team up with friends and make it a social event - share ingredients so that you can all take some casseroles or other dishes home for the freezer.
25. Build a basic net worth calculator for yourself. One great way to ensure that you’re consistently making financial progress is to build your own net worth calculator. Once you have it set up, updating it is easy, and it can provide a great snapshot of your financial situation as well as show off your progress. Here’s a detailed guide to making one with any basic spreadsheet program.
26. Have a quilting bee. All you need is a bunch of spare cloth (old shirts will even work, as will old curtains, old sheets, and so forth), some needles (in a lot of closets), some thread, some scissors, and some friends. Just get together, cut out squares of interesting cloth, and start sewing. You can stuff the inside with soft excess cloth, like tee shirts and such, instead of buying batting, and you’ll create a warm and interesting quilt over time.
27. Try out some great open source and free software. Ever wanted Microsoft Office but didn’t want to foot the bill? Spend some time downloading and setting up OpenOffice. Want a good scheduling program? Try out Sunbird (a program I really like). Want to design a nifty newsletter or lay out some pages? Try out Scribus (which I’m actually currently using for a future Simple Dollar-related project). Your computer can do so much more - and it’s free!
28. Practice origami. All you need is some scrap paper and a bit of time. The simple things, like cranes and frogs, then you can try harder stuff like an origami iris. A well-made origami piece constructed from interesting paper can be a beautiful decoration.
29. Make a how-to video for YouTube. Share your knowledge! All you need is a digital camera that captures video and (optionally) some video editing software. Just create a video to demonstrate how to accomplish something interesting and useful. Start off by making a script to follow, then turn on the camera and follow it. When you’re done, upload it to YouTube and let others enjoy it. If it’s useful and entertaining, people will come.
30. Do a “bill reduction.” Spend a few hours trimming your monthly bills. Find ways to reduce your regular bills. Ask for credit card rate reductions. Think about what monthly bills you can completely eliminate, then do the footwork to get rid of them. This might be a boring task now, but if you can trim $50 from your monthly bills for free, your future self will be very happy.
31. Play football / soccer. All you need is a ball, some open space, and some friends. Designate whatever is available as goals, then kick the ball around. Don’t worry about being terrible at the game - as long as everyone’s just having fun, it really doesn’t matter how bad you are. Trust me - I’ve played football with Europeans who spent their entire life playing while I’d played perhaps an hour of serious football in my life, yet I had a lot of fun (albeit with a lot of falling down and jumping out of the way).
32. Scan your old pictures. If you have a digital scanner laying around somewhere, bust it out and scan in the piles of old prints you have laying around. If you have a screensaver of pictures, scanning in old prints and adding them to the rotation will make your screensaver all the more amazing. Plus, it becomes easy to just attach them to emails and send them to friends and family.
33. Have a film festival. Invite some friends over and have them each bring one of their favorite DVDs. Then just settle in with some snacks (whatever you have on hand) and burn a lazy afternoon and evening just watching movies together. It’s a ton of fun and it doesn’t cost anything at all.
34. Seduce your partner. Really, is there any way to really have more fun than that for free? It’s fun, romantic, great exercise, and can really help heal any relationship problems you might be having. An afternoon in your partner’s arms will make both of you feel better, and it won’t cost a penny.
35. Do some networking. Spend an afternoon writing emails to professional contacts, just to see what they’re up to and letting them know what you’re up to, setting them up to send en masse on Monday morning. While it might be boring for some, it can open countless doors for your career if you do it consistently, help you build new relationships and friendships, and all it takes is a little bit of spare time.
36. Practice yoga - or try it for the first time. All you need is some floor space and a blanket to do most yoga poses. Try out a basic yoga session to see if you like it. It increases flexibility, improves concentration, and holding some of those positions for long periods can be a powerful workout.
37. Cut your own hair. I have a pair of hair clippers in the bathroom and every once in a while, I take them out and just whack away at my hair. Not only is it a free way to get your long hair cut, it can also make you look a lot more presentable, plus the act of cutting your own hair is a really powerful experience.
38. Do a neighborhood cleanup. No need to organize a formal activity. Just walk through the shared spaces in your neighborhood (parks, sidewalks, etc.) with a trash bag and pick up the trash. Not only is it a pleasant way to get your blood rushing, it also beautifies the area around you, not just for your enjoyment, but for the enjoyment of everyone. If you want to really get into it, invite people that live near you to get involved as well and make it an event.
39. Build some paper airplanes. Design and build a bunch of different paper airplanes, then have a competition in the back yard to see which one flies the best. This is a great way to use up some scrap paper, particularly old newspapers. You can easily turn it into a contest - the winner gets to pick what activity to engage in next, or gets to choose what you’re having for supper.
40. Rearrange the furniture in a room. It’s amazing how much a room can be refreshed just by moving the furniture around to a new position. Try moving the couch to a different wall, then moving the entertainment center elsewhere. Take your bed and turn it ninety degrees, then moving the dressers to match the new configuration. It’ll refresh the look of the room and give you a good workout to boot.
41. Read an entertaining book. Look around your house for a fun book to read, perhaps something loaned to you by a friend or something you received as a gift, and curl up and let yourself be sucked into the story. I’m a sucker for Stephen King novels - I can just pick up any one and quickly be sucked straight into the plot for a fun afternoon’s read.
42. Build a giant blanket fort. If you have kids, there are few things more fun than an afternoon spent building and playing in a gigantic fort in the living room. Use chairs, blankets, and tables to make an enormous hidden structure, then hide in there and play games and read books. If they’re a bit older, build two forts (on opposite sides of the room) and have “fort wars” - toss small beanbags and pillows back and forth. No cost, but an afternoon that’s a ton of fun.
43. Call a family member or a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while. Not only does it provide you a chance to catch up and firm up a relationship with another person who is important to you, it can also be a very entertaining and enjoyable way to spend an hour or two.
44. Start a natural collection or an observation notebook. In other words, spend some time in nature collecting items of interest (like particular rocks) or observations of things. Perhaps you’ll want to look for birds, or maybe your passion is rocks or feathers. Whatever it is, get your hiking boots on, get out there, and see what you can find. Here’s some advice on how to get started.
45. Start a compost bin. All you need is a barrel or a large bucket (or, if you live in the country, some open space). In that bucket, just keep vegetable waste, coffee grounds, and eggshells. On occasion, scoop in a bit of dirt from the ground. Move the contents around regularly and keep it a bit moist. Over time, the compost will turn almost black. At that point, you can let it dry out and have perfectly natural fertilizer for your lawn or garden.
46. Have a yard sale. A yard sale is a very lucrative way to spend a money-free weekend. Not only does it provide you an excuse for cleaning out unwanted stuff from your home, it can also bring in a nice little wad of money as well, plus give you a weekend’s worth of entertainment and activity. This is really a great way to spend a money-free weekend.
47. Learn a foreign language. Doubt this can be free? There are a lot of ways to learn a foreign language online, from podcasts that teach language skills to YouTube videos and many other free language learning opportunities. Search around for resources for any language that you might want to learn - you’ll find tons of materials to help you.
48. Deep-clean the room in your house you spend the most time in. One great afternoon project that will provide aesthetic value for years is deep cleaning a single room in your house, ideally the room you’re in most often. Getting that room pristine will subtly add to your enjoyment of that room for quite a while. This means going the full nine yards - moving everything out, scrubbing the walls, thoroughly cleaning the floor, cleaning all of the items in it, and so forth. When you’re done, the room will feel fresh and new in a very subtle way.
49. Make some homemade greeting/birthday/Christmas cards. All you really need for this is some card stock or some cheap blank cards from your local dollar store, plus some photographs (or a desktop printer). You might also want to have some other creative printed materials on hand - I like to keep old New Yorker covers for purposes like these. Just use pictures and other elements to create unique greeting and holiday cards, then save them for the appropriate occasion. Here are some tips on what to write on the inside.
50. Take a nap. Seriously. Most people do not get adequate sleep during the week. Why not just kick back and take a snooze for an hour or two. It’s the ultimate free energy refreshing technique.
51. Get things done. Almost everyone has a long list of things to do “when they have time.” Use the fact that you’re intentionally spending a money-free weekend to in fact get some of those things done. Clean up the house. Dust the front room. Fix that old toaster. Go through the stuff on the garage loft. At the end of the weekend, you’ll have accomplished something useful, plus your wallet will be fully intact.
52. Dig up your family tree. Take a peek at genealogy.com and see what you can find out about your ancestors. Try to assemble a family tree, and see if you can link to any distant cousins or long-lost family members. Doing this can give you a much clearer picture of your heritage and help you get in touch with your family roots.
53. Sit down with your partner for an afternoon and talk about your goals. Spending some time with your partner discussing goals can go a long way towards getting you both on the same page in your relationship. Find out what your partner wants out of life and what you can do to support it, then share your own desires. Find areas where you’re working in concert towards something bigger. Doing this can only lead to more clarity in your relationship. Here are some tips for getting started.
54. Play Calvinball. You need a ball (or a few balls) and some number of children and some open space. Just kick the ball around (or throw it) and make up rules as you go along. With three or more kids, a game of Calvinball can go on for a good hour with everyone having a good time.
55. Do some puzzles. I enjoy doing both sudoku puzzles and crossword puzzles. You can find a huge number of these puzzles online for free. They’re a great way to stretch your mind a bit at the kitchen table for a half an hour or so, solving a problem with just your intellect.
56. Volunteer your time. There are countless volunteer projects out there that need nothing more than your time. A Saturday spent working for a volunteer cause is a Saturday well spent - it gives you a full day spent making a positive contribution to society, working your body and your mind for the benefit of others, and leaving you at the end of the day knowing you used your gifts to provide for others.
57. Turn on the water sprinkler. This is another great one for family fun with kids. Just run out a hose in the backyard, attach a sprinkler to the end, and turn it on, jetting the water up in the air. Then run around in the water. Lots of fun for the kids - and it can be a ton of fun for the parents, too, if they run through the sprinklers.
Meditation by HaPe_Gera on Flickr!58. Try a basic meditation technique. Meditation is a spectacular way to push stress out of your life and calm yourself. Knowing how to meditate effectively and doing it regularly can be a major part of your stress management, and it costs nothing. Here’s a wonderful basic meditation technique to get you started - there are countless others out there. Try a few and see which ones work well for you.
59. Get involved in an open source programming project. If you’re a computer programmer, there are few more intellectually stimulating ways to get involved in your passion than to be involved in an open source programming project. One role that almost every project can use is a person that is willing to fix mundane and boring bugs - finding that one line of code that’s causing a minor issue and fixing it. Look for a project that’s compelling for you and dig in.
60. Teach yourself a card trick. There are many card tricks out there that rely on knowing a specific pattern, some basic sleight of hand, or some combination of the two. Learning a clever one and mastering how it’s done can be a great way to spend an afternoon, especially since the skill can be used again and again as a party trick. Here’s a great one to learn - it’s really clever and can utterly baffle people.
61. Attend a religious service. Even if you’re not a believer, attending a religious service can be a worthwhile educational experience. I really enjoy attending services of different faiths, as the varieties of religious experience are quite fascinating and incredibly insightful. Plus, most religious services - if you pay careful attention - offer a ton of intellectual food for thought no matter what your beliefs are. A religious service is always a worthwhile experience.
62. Start a workout routine. Most basic exercises - push-ups, sit-ups, jogging, and so forth - require no extra equipment at all. Spend some time doing research into fitness and figuring out a basic workout routine that will work for you, then do the basic “stress tests” you’ll need to do to figure out where you’re at. For example, the one hundred pushups routine is very useful, but you need to couple it with other exercises, such as leg lifts, prone lifts, and jogging. You can also try out the lifetime fitness ladder for a more diverse workout routine.
63. Read a “great” book. By this, I mean a book that genuinely challenges both your beliefs and ideas as well as your language skills. Reading a great book is always a good mental workout. I recommend trying out any of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels or any essential work of philosophy to get started. Try hitting the library and checking out A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer, Sophie’s Choice by William Styron, or Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - all of which deeply challenged and moved me. These books are deep, challenging reading - read them slowly and you’ll grow as a person.
64. Go swimming. Almost every town has a community swimming pool or some sort of area where the public can swim - lacking that, go to a state park with a public swimming area. Swimming is wonderfully invigorating and often makes me feel very peaceful - best of all, it’s something you can do for free.
65. Get involved with public access television. If you’ve ever wondered what goes into the process of producing a television show, most communities offer the resources for you to do just that. Stop by your local public access station and see what opportunities are available there. You can usually get involved for free in an ongoing program as an extra hand and learn a great deal about the whole process.
66. Blow bubbles. Just mix one part liquid dish detergent with 15 parts water - one quick way to do this is to just mix 1/4 cup detergent with 3 3/4 cups of water. Use filtered and fairly soft water if you can. Then, take a wire coat hanger, bend and twist it into a small loop or two, and you’re ready to go. Another idea - take tin cans or coffee cans, remove the top and bottom, and hammer down any sharp metal edges, then dip the end in the solution and wave it in the air. Blowing bubbles works even better if you have small children who love to chase them or are just learning to blow them.
67. Start a journal. A journal can be a powerful way to recall the events that happened in your life previously. Getting in the habit of writing the events of the day down at the end of each day is a great way to remember the specifics, plus writing entries on what you’re thinking about now can be the basis of powerful memories and reflections in the future. Plus, it can often be a release from the tensions of the day. All of that for just a pen and an old notebook - a great free way to spend some time.
68. Write a letter to your future children or grandchildren. All of us have some advice or some stories inside of us that we want to someday share with our children, grandchildren, or other loved ones. Take some time to write these things down with the intent of giving them to that person some day. In the event that you pass on, you can be sure that they’ll still receive the things you want to tell them. This can be a very powerful way to consider your feelings and memories as you format them in a way that they can be shared with the ones you care about the most.
69. Make Christmas gifts in advance. If you know already that some people will be on your Christmas list, why not spend some time now making them interesting gifts and saving yourself some money over the long haul? Make them some homemade soap, some homemade hot chocolate mix, and maybe a bottle of homemade beer as a gift. Prepare all of these items, then go ahead and box and wrap them, since they’ll stay good for months. Not only is the gift less expensive than what you’d spend at your local department store, it’s also more thoughtful, and it’ll save you time during the harried Christmas season.
70. Go “coupon scavenging.” If you get the Sunday paper, scavenge the coupons out of it, see if there are any for products you normally buy, and chuck the rest. If you find several coupons, then it might be worthwhile to scavenge. Stop by any friends or neighbors who also get the paper and ask if you can have their flyers when they’re done with them, then clean out the coupons in those, too. For example, if you buy V8 Fusion as the default fruit juice for your kids (it’s far healthier than almost anything else like it you could give them) and you spy a $1 off coupon for a bottle, every coupon you scavenge is like finding a dollar bill, and it costs you nothing.
71. Pick up a musical instrument and learn it. Yes, you can find an instrument for free and learn how to play it for free as well. Just hit Craigslist and Freecycle looking for freebies, then utilize YouTube and other resources for tutorials. Here’s a detailed guide to learning an instrument for free. With a bit of diligence and effort, you can go from nothing at all to being able to play an interesting song on your own instrument for no cost.
72. Plan next year’s summer vacation. Figure out what you want to do in general, then use the internet to find specifics on the area. Do some detailed comparison shopping for travel and even set up alerts for cheap tickets. Gather up all of this research, then have a family meeting about the trip. Not only will this save you a ton of money, it can actually be a lot of fun researching a potential trip and thinking of the enjoyment you might get from it.
73. Hone all of your kitchen knives. I actually consider this to be a lot of fun, so I do it on a very regular basis. If you don’t, it’s an even better idea because your knife blades are likely in very bad shape. All you need is a honing steel - a long piece of somewhat rough steel in the shape of a rod with a handle on the end that probably came with your knife set. Just draw your knife blades along this a few times as shown in this YouTube video. Before you know it, you’ll have much more useful knives for your next kitchen experiment.
74. Pick up (and read) a copy of the town’s free newspaper. Many cities have a free newspaper that you can snag at the grocery store - some cities have quite a few of them. I love them - they’re free reading that keeps me informed about the local area and also lets me know about free upcoming events. Around here, we have several free newspaper options - Toons and Cityview are both well worth reading. Try looking in the front lobby of your local library for your free newspaper, or in the front of your local grocery store.
75. Play with a pet - even one not your own. An hour spent scratching a dog’s belly and playing fetch or frisbee with it is an hour well spent, as can be some time spent curled up petting a cat. Spend some quality time with your pet or with the pet of a neighbor or a friend - every pet loves attention and a bit of exercise and interaction.
76. Go on a wandering walk. Just head out your front door and go in whichever direction looks the most interesting. As long as you have some basic navigational skills, you won’t get lost, and you can turn around or backtrack whenever you get bored or hit a dead end. Along the way, who knows what kind of interesting stuff you might find?
77. Hold a baby. To me, there are few things more enjoyable than holding a very young baby. They smell wonderful, are usually warm and soft, and often drift right off to sleep in your arms. I don’t even mind the crying ones, as some whispering in their ear can usually calm them down. There’s nothing better than sitting all relaxed in a chair with a soft, sweet-smelling newborn in your arms.
78. Exchange massages with your partner. A great massage is incredibly relaxing and enjoyable, but they can also be really expensive. Instead of shelling out the cash, just stay at home and exchange massages for free with your partner. Agree to spend fifteen minutes or a half an hour massaging each other deeply and you’ll find that you’re both quite relaxed and happy - and perhaps ready to try other free and fun activities.
79. Help out an elderly or disabled friend or neighbor. There’s always a person or two in your life that could use a helping hand, but often are too proud to ask. One great way to bridge this gap is to just stop in and visit and pay attention - if they need something, you’ll usually find out. Then just volunteer to do it and get started on the task. Quite often, you’ll find that it’s the simple things that really help - reaching something on a high shelf or managing a simple household task. And that little effort can make all the difference. Few things can make you feel more fulfilled than helping someone you care about in their moment of need.
80. Start a book club - or find one to join. If you like reading and know other friends that enjoy it, too, consider starting a book club with them where you all read the same book for a week then meet to talk about it. It can transform reading from a solitary activity into a more socially oriented one, and with a library at your disposal, it can be a free activity as well.
81. Play a card game. A deck of cards and a few friends is all you need for a fun afternoon. Games like bridge, canasta, pinochle, pitch, euchre, hearts, spades, and 500 are not only intellectually challenging, but are intensely social activities as well, drawing you out to interact with others around you. This is a perfect activity for an afternoon with friends and relatives and it costs basically nothing at all.
82. Have an “entertainment swap” with a friend. This one’s pretty easy. Just have a friend bring over a pile of their own DVDs, CDs, books, video games, etc. that they own that they think you’d like. When they get there, have a big temporary swap - swap them an item for an item. This not only will refresh your media collection for a while, but can provide a great opportunity for you to talk about your interests with a friend.
83. Take a child to a playground - and actually play with the child. Take your own child, or a child of a family member or a friend, to the local park, but instead of just watching the child play, dive in and participate, too. Go down the slide. Swing in the swings. Climb across the monkey bars. Not only will the child adore you for it, you’ll find that playing like that is simply exhilirating - a little taste of childhood all over again.
84. Explore a blog you like. If you’re reading this, you’re probably at least a casual reader of at least one blog. What you might have forgotten, though, is that most worthwhile blogs have tons of useful and entertaining stuff in their archives. Dig deep in the archives of one of your favorite blogs. You can start with The Simple Dollar by visiting the chronology - a listing of all of the articles ever posted here in chronological order - and clicking through to the ones you find interesting. Most popular blogs have a similar feature.
Campaign sign for Margaret Barrett by lordsutch on Flickr!85. Work for a political campaign. Really involved in politics? There are a lot of ways you can work for a campaign from your own home whenever you have the spare time (like during a money free weekend). One great way to do it is to get involved with a phone bank - basically, you call up people to provide information about your candidate of choice. You can do this using the free weekend minutes on your cell phone or by using software provided by the campaign. Just contact the campaign you’re interested in helping.
86. Clean out a closet. We’ve all got spaces in our living areas that accumulate junk, and it’s often a small psychological burden - we dread going in there and digging for something we need. Well, get rid of that burden - clean out a closet in your home. Find out all the stuff that’s in there and get rid of the unimportant items. Not only might you find some interesting things, you’ll feel a lot better about your organization when you’re done.
87. Play Frisbee at the park. Just get a friend (or a pet) and dig that old frisbee out of your closet, then head out to an open field and toss it around. It’s a lot of fun, a great excuse to run around and stretch and jump, and it doesn’t cost a dime.
88. Take a long, soaking bath. Just fill up a tub with warm water, strip down, get in, and relax. I like to do this with a bottle of wine, and I’ve even read a book while doing it. Just stretch out and soak for a while and your stress will melt away - it feels fantastic!
89. Play Desktop Tower Defense … or some other great free online game. There are tons of deeply engrossing and completely free games to play online - Desktop Tower Defense just happens to be one of my favorites. Try Peggle for a very simple action puzzle game, or any of the mountains of free games available at Yahoo! Games, Kongregate, and PopCap.
90. Visit a magazine room. Most libraries have a “magazine room” where you can read all of the latest issues of many popular newspapers and magazines for free. Just grab a few, settle in a comfy chair, and read. Don’t like the library environment? You can usually do the same thing at most bookstores.
91. Attend a dress rehearsal. Many performance groups have dress rehearsals that are open to the public if you call in advance, particularly if you have young children. Give the theater a ring and ask if there are open dress rehearsals for a particular show and then enjoy the show for free! It’s a great way to give your kids a taste of theater without any cost.
92. Attend a free community class. Many institutions and stores offer free classes on the weekends on all sorts of topics. Stop by a local food store and catch a free cooking class, or a hardware store to learn about a home repair topic. Got kids? Try something like the Home Depot Kids Workshop, where they offer free how-to clinics for kids ages five to twelve - these can be a lot of fun (I’ve seen them ongoing when stopping by a Home Depot on a Saturday morning).
93. Donate some unwanted things to charity. If you’ve gone through your stuff but don’t want to have a yard sale, consider giving the stuff to charity. Not only will you have a clean house, you’ll have the good feeling of knowing your items are going to be used by someone who actually needs them, plus you’ll have a pile of receipts to use for tax deductions next April.
94. Discover new music that you like. Download last.fm. It’s a program that allows you to enter the name of your favorite musical artist and generates a radio station for you that plays songs similar to that artist. The songs are selected based on the enormous last.fm database, which collects information on what people listen to in iTunes and sorts it in different ways, finding songs by other artists that are popular among fans of a particular group. Give it a whirl - you’ll be surprised at the good music you’ll find for free.
95. Build a cardboard castle. This is a great one if you have kids. Stop by an appliance store and ask if they have any extra appliance boxes you can get, then flatten them and load up your vehicle. Get home, then use them as pieces in building a giant cardboard castle in your living room or in your back yard. Cut out doors and windows, and attach them together to make rooms. This can be a great afternoon of fun for free!
96. Dig an old video game console out of the closet and play some of your favorites. A lot of families have old video game consoles in the closet - an ancient PlayStation or Super Nintendo, long forgotten about, with a controller and a few games. Dig out that old console and hook it up to a television, then relive some of the memories of the games you used to play for hours. I did this not too long ago and found myself replaying a good chunk of Final Fantasy IX.
97. Do some amateur stargazing. Go outside on a clear evening, preferably away from city lights, and look up at the sky. Use some handy star maps to know what you’re looking at. Spread out some blankets on the ground, lay flat on your back, stare upwards, and realize how magnificent the universe is around you.
98. Go on a hike or a long walk. Go to the local hiking or walking trails and just take off. Let yourself get absorbed into nature and simply enjoy the journey. Go at your own speed - this is for your own personal enjoyment, after all.
99. Take a stab at writing poetry (or other forms of creative writing). The basics of poetry are easier than you might think - just try writing down what’s on your mind. Whatever you’re thinking about, just write it down. That can provide the basics of any poem. Then, just read through the stuff you’ve written down, choose the words that seem beautiful to you, and assemble them until the whole work means something. This can be a deeply enlightening and personal experience, actually, and one that really stirs the creative juices.
100. Go on a bike ride. If you’ve got a bicycle and a helmet in your garage or closet, you already have everything you need for some good exercise and some good fun. Head outside and bike away. Almost every town and every state park around here has an extensive array of bike trails, so you can almost always find somewhere new and interesting to ride, plus it’ll help get you into shape really quick.
Hopefully, this list will provide for a ton of fun money-free weekends. Want some more tips? Here are 100 additional tips for saving money.
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http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/13-things-your-grocer-wont-tell-you/article118923.html
13 Things Your Grocer Won’t Tell You
Get smarter about grocery shopping. These tips could change your family eating habits.
By Adam Bluestein and Lauren Gniazdowski
From Reader’s Digest
Also in this article:
* 18 More Tips From Your Grocer
1. If you hate crowds and lines, shop at dinnertime (5 to 9 p.m.) or even later. Only 4 percent of shoppers hit the aisles between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. Least-crowded day of the week? Wednesday.
2. Go ahead and reach way back for the fresh milk. Everybody does.
3. Coupons with a bar code are easy to scan. The other ones take an eternity. But if you’re willing to wait …
4. That star fruit has been here a lot longer than the broccoli. Familiar produce turns over more quickly than exotic things.
5. “The more products you see, the more you are likely to buy,” says Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat. “That’s why the aisles are so long and the milk is usually in the far corner.”
6. Like employees with a good attitude? Shop at chains that are employee-owned, suggest customer-satisfaction surveys. When employees have a stake in the profits, it shows in their attitude.
7. The “grazers” order food at the deli, eat it as they’re shopping, and get rid of the wrappers before they check out. We also call that stealing.
8. I’m not just selling groceries, I’m selling real estate. Look high and low-literally-for good values from smaller manufacturers who can’t afford to stock their products in the eye-level sweet spot.
9. We’re marketing to your kids too. That’s why we put the rainbow-colored cereals and other kiddie catnip at their eye level.
10. Be wary of “specials.” When people see signs with numbers-”8 for $10!” “Limit: 5 per customer”—they buy 30 to 100 percent more than they otherwise might have.
11. The baby formula is locked up because thieves resell it on the black market. Ditto for the cough and cold medications, smoking-cessation products, razor blades, and batteries.
12. Driving your Ferrari to the Piggly Wiggly and want to avoid shopping-cart dents? Park far, far away.
13. You’ll end up tossing 12 percent of what you buy.
Sources: Maurice Nizzardo, former supermarket executive in Connecticut; David J. Livingston, an industry consultant; Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating; and others. Interviews by Adam Bluestein and Lauren J. Gniazdowski.
Comments :
By saffireph, 02/11/2009, 8:55 AM EST
You obviously know nothing about the grocery industry. Try working with a good grocery chain like Whole Foods or Harris Teeter to come up with a better list than this garbage.
By jnw2009, 02/10/2009, 3:26 AM EST
Awesome advice, I do it every time.
By jnw2009, 02/10/2009, 3:25 AM EST
When grabbing a shopping cart, always ripe down obvious places like the handle, but remember, to wipe where the kid with the diaper has been sitting lid up and down, because the purse or delicate food item may go there next, and you don’t want to bring home some kids invisible mess!
http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/18-more-tips-from-your-grocer/article119347.html
18 More Tips From Your Grocer
Get smarter at the supermarket with these tips from grocers.
From Reader’s Digest
Also in this article:
* 13 Things Your Grocer Won’t Tell You
1. “Don’t buy anything with more than five ingredients (too processed), with ingredients you can’t pronounce (too processed), with anything artificial (tastes bad), with a cartoon on it (direct marketing to children), or with a health claim (misleading),” says Nestle.
2. Check sizes. “Stores are constantly trying to repackage things to make them sound like better deal,” says David Livingston, a supermarket industry consultant. “The new Jiffy peanut butter container looks the same, but it actually has less peanut butter inside. Ninety-five percent of customers don’t watch this kind of stuff.”
3. Paper? Plastic? We don’t really care. But asking us to double-bag…that’s just wasteful.
4. Dig and reach for the freshest produce. Older merchandise gets pushed to the front of the bin and spread across the top to encourage customers to take it first.
5. This isn’t a social service agency. “The purpose of grocery stores is to get you to buy more food, not less,” says Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat (North Point Press). Only 14% of consumers overall stick to just the items on their shopping list.
6. Very few people really like the “loyalty card” program, and it’s expensive for us to run.
7. The kid at the cash register or the cart collector in the parking lot is making minimum wage at best. The buyers for the store and department managers earn bigger paychecks.
8. Attention, shoppers: Don’t start your shopping just as we’re closing. We just want to leave. It’s been a long day.
9. Watch out for gimmicks. They are intended to get you into a store more frequently and to keep you away from competitors.
10. The person who supervises it all has a tough job; they’re just a big babysitter.
11. Thanksgiving is our least favorite holiday.
12. Bring back your recyclable cans and bottles, but wash them out first. Don’t bring them in with soda still inside—it’s not sanitary, and it’s disgusting.
13. Dealing with perishables, such as seafood and produce, is tricky business. “I always say we have to have everything that the customer wants, but maybe they don’t want it today. Maybe they don’t want it tomorrow. But we still have to have it here,” says Nizzardo. “Perishable items are where supermarkets loose the biggest amount of money.”
14. Signs of a store in trouble: Stocking fewer perishable items, storing non-perishables in refrigerated cases to make them look full, and “dummying up” shelves with empty boxes. If we were offering the best prices and highest quality, wouldn’t there be more people shopping here?
15. I’m not getting rich here. After-tax net profit for the grocery industry is less than 2 percent, and by the end of 2013, the Food Marketing Institute, an industry group, predicts annual average wages will be just $18,000.
16. If you get in the 10 items or less line with 25 items, don’t be surprised if you are asked to leave. If you have 12 items, not many people will care.
17. Watch those shopping-cart handles. They’re covered in bacteria, says food-safety consultant Jeff Nelken. Use a sanitary wipe if the store provides them. Finicky shoppers can even patronize supermarkets that send their carts through a cart wash.
18. Skip the center aisles. That’s where you’ll find the junk food, like sodas and snack foods.
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