beingfrugal.net

Review: Energizer 15 Minute Battery Charger

Lynnae — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:10:09 +0000

A couple of months ago, I was approached by Colleen at Classy Mommy about reviewing the Energizer 15 minute battery charger. Since I’m a huge fan of rechargeable batteries, I took her up on her offer. Here’s what I found.

I love, love, LOVE this product! I’ve been using a regular Energizer battery charger for the last couple of years, and I’ve found that Energizer batteries tend to hold their charge pretty well.

That said, I was skeptical as to whether a battery charger could actually completely charge batteries in 15 minutes. But the Energizer battery charger did just that.

The Energizer 15 minute battery charger can charge from 1-4 batteries at once, and it charges any combination of AA or AAA batteries. It’s not super quiet like a regular battery charger. While it works, you can hear the fan going. But I didn’t really care, since my batteries were ready to go in only 15 minutes.

Another bonus is that my battery charger came with a car adapter! I thought that was SUPER cool, as I often remember that I need batteries for my camera, as I’m headed out the door. Now it’s not a problem. I can just charge my batteries on the way to my destination!

There aren’t too many products that I highly, highly recommend, but this is one of them. I love rechargeable batteries, because I don’t have to continue to buy batteries and throw dead batteries away. But the one downside of rechargeable batteries is that if you forget to recharge them, you’re out of luck when you need batteries.

The Energizer 15 minute charger takes away the downside. If you forget to charge your batteries, a fully recharged battery is just 15 minutes away!

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Perhaps the Government Needs to be Educated in the Value of an Emergency Fund

Lynnae — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:00:27 +0000

I was surfing the ‘net last night, searching for a good topic for today’s post, when I came across this gem of a video. It’s not long, but if you don’t have time to watch right now, it basically outlines the budget problems various states are facing, due to the economic crisis.

Particularly interesting to me is that California is considering issuing IOUs, instead of paying their bills. Now, I could be wrong, but if I owed the state money at tax time, I don’t think they’d look too kindly on my sending an IOU in the mail.

It seems that the government could take a lesson from those of us who are diligent to budget our money day in and day out, especially those of us who regularly budget for irregular income.

Most people with irregular incomes have good months and bad months, good years and bad years. During the good years, a wise person puts money aside for bad years. And during the bad years, he has money available to cover the difference between his income and his essential outflow.

The same should be true for the government. Over the course of history our economy moves in cycles. Some years are good…very good. But other years are horribly bad. The problem, as I see it, is that the government tends to use the extra income in the good years for pet projects. Politicians on both sides of the fence dangle promises in front of the citizens, hoping that they will win favor and get re-elected.

It’s not popular to say, “We don’t have enough money to fund this project.” But it is necessary. It’s even necessary when the thing being funded seems essential. Just ask a single mother, who has had to make the choice of whether to put food on the table for her children or to see a doctor about persistent headaches. Both are essential, yet sometimes only one can be chosen. If there isn’t enough money, then there just isn’t enough money. It isn’t fair and it isn’t good, but racking up debt month after month will only make the problem worse.

Fortunately there are probably a lot of non-essential (but unpopular) cuts that can be made in any government, state or federal. Unfortunately, I don’t think our politicians are willing to make that step.

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do know it frustrates me when I see governments, funded to serve us by hard earned taxpayer money, not able to control their budgets. My answer would have been to sock away money during our high flying years, but unfortunately that time has passed.

What do you think? Is there a solution? Have the state and federal governments been responsible in their stewardship of taxpayer money?

Photo by Clinton Steeds.

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The Disneyland Report

Lynnae — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:41 +0000

We’re finally back from Disneyland! We’ve unpacked, done the laundry, and I finally have time to tell you all about our trip. It was a blast, and I’m glad we waited until our kids are as old as they are (11 and 6) to take them.

I was amazed at how brave our daughter is. There wasn’t a ride she wouldn’t try, and all of the scary ones were “awesome” in her book. My son, not to be outdone, tried all the scary rides, too. He was afraid of Space Mountain, but loved California Screamin’. Go figure.

We tried to do Disneyland as frugally as possible, but there’s no way around the fact that a trip to Disney is expensive. Still, there were a few things we learned along the way.

Where to Stay

We originally booked a room at the La Quinta, because they were inexpensive, were within (long) walking distance to the parks, and offered free breakfast. However, I kept my eyes open, and we ended up booking a room at the Portofino Inn through Get Away Today. They had a deal going where you booked 3 nights and got two free.

The upside is the Portofino was a bit closer to the parks. The downside is there was no free breakfast. After talking with friends, though, I decided we didn’t need the free breakfast. I heard that often the lines for breakfast are long in the morning, with people in a hurry to get to the parks.

Our room had a refrigerator and microwave, so we stocked up on breakfast and lunch foods. We ate breakfast in our room and tried to return to the hotel to eat one additional meal in our room every day. Since we were so close to the park, it wasn’t hard to do. And since we could walk to Disneyland, we didn’t have to pay for transportation or parking.

How to Plan the Day

We had 5 day Park Hopper Tickets (buy 3 day tickets & get 2 days free), where we could hop between Disneyland and California Adventure. We did Disneyland in the afternoon (Sunday), morning and evening, with a mid-day break (Monday), in the afternoon (Tuesday), California Adventure until dinner (Wednesday), and the marathon 14 hour day, hopping between both parks (Thursday). So we really tried it all.

I really think the best way to visit, especially during the hot days of summer, is to get there as soon as the gates open, tour until lunchtime, and go back to the hotel for lunch and a break. Then go back to the parks in the evening. We missed the hottest and busiest part of the day that day. The worst day was when we arrived in the late morning. It was already hot and crowded, and we didn’t see a lot that day.

There are a couple of things I highly recommend, though. If you have a “Magic Morning” included on your ticket, use it! That is when you are allowed into the park one hour before it’s open to the public. I our case, we got in at 7:00, which was really early, but we rode a TON of rides before 9, when the park started to get busy.

Also, take a look at the book The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland (they come out with a new edition every year, and they also have an edition for Disneyworld). I looked for the book at my library, but they didn’t have an up to date edition, so I ended up buying it. The information is well worth the money spent. I also spent $15 on RideMax software, which is great, if you hate to stand in line. You tell the software what rides you want to do, and RideMax tells you what order to ride the rides to minimize the wait. And it worked!

Where to Eat

Going into our Disneyland Adventure, I planned to never eat at the park, because I knew it would be expensive. That plan didn’t last too long. There came a point when time was more important than money, and we didn’t want to walk back to the hotel. And we didn’t want to lug a huge backpack around either. Still, we were pretty frugal with our choices…as frugal as you can be at Disneyland.

We found the most frugal options at California Adventure, where we ate at Taste Pilot’s Grill (burgers), and Pizza Oom Mow Mow (pizza & pasta). We also ate at the Hungry Bear Restaurant (more burgers) at Disneyland. On my birthday we splurged and ate at Naples Ristorante y Pizzaria in Downtown Disney. It was semi-spendy, but the meal was good.

The main thing to remember, when you eat at the parks or Downtown Disney is to avoid the main lunch and dinner hours. Our first night we went to Downtown Disney, hoping to get away from the crowds for dinner. That was a mistake. It was more crowded there than at Disnleyland!

The hidden gem we found, if you want to get away from the crowds, is the new GardenWalk. It’s within walking distance of Disneyland, and it was empty. We ate at Johnny Rockets (we had to…it’s my son’s nickname), and had a great dinner out on the patio, where it was nice and quiet.

Bits & Pieces

We learned that it’s important to take water and snacks into the park. A friend let me borrow her Bagellini, and it was PERFECT for packing around the parks. It was lightweight, and because it’s carried messenger bag style, I didn’t have to take it off on most of the rides. I just rotated it around, so the bag was in front. And despite it’s small size, it carried a lot!

We bought our souvenirs at Disneyland, though I wouldn’t recommend it. For us it worked though, since I got a Disney Fun Card for going to Disneyland on my birthday. Usually you get free admission into the park, but since I already had a ticket, I got a gift card in the amount of a ticket. It wasn’t good at restaurants, so we decided to buy Mickey ears and other souvenirs for the kids. If I hadn’t have had the card, I would have gone to Walmart or Target, though.

Also, the FastPass system is WONDERFUL! If you’ve never used FastPass, here’s what it is: On certain popular rides, you can visit the FastPass kiosk, scan your tickets, and receive FastPasses that are good later in the day. After the set time on the FastPass, you can return to the ride and use the FastPass line, which is much shorter than the regular line. It saved us a ton of time. I would start collecting FastPasses in the morning, and at times I would be holding passes to 4 rides at once. Then we’d go back later in the day and hit all the popular rides. It sure beats an hour long wait!

3-D movies can scare young children. We went to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, and my son was scared out of his mind. At one point he was screaming, and I told him we could leave, but he was too scared to stand up and walk out of the theater, because “the things were going to get him.” I hated to see him that scared.

Toy Story Mania at California Adventure is worth the wait. There is no FastPass for this ride, so we sucked it up and waited in line. We’re glad we did. It was one of our favorite rides! It’s a 3-D interactive, shooting ride, and the kids had such a great time that my 6 year old didn’t even notice the 3-D!

I enjoy roller coasters much more when I’m not in the front row. I talked my daughter into riding California Screamin’ with me, and then my son decided he needed to ride, too. So we all did. I thought for sure after freaking out on Space Mountain that my son would hate the ride. He and I got stuck in the front row. He loved it. I hated it. But the family talked me into riding twice more, this time from the back, and I enjoyed myself much more. I just hate being suspended for those few seconds before a big drop! If I can’t see the drop, I’m fine.

Soarin’ Over California was my favorite ride! If you’re ever at Disneyland/California Adventure, you can’t miss this one! It’s at California Adventure, and the line is usually very long for a reason (but there’s FastPass available!). It’s a ride that simulates hang gliding over California, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Don’t miss it!

If you’d like to see photos of our trip, I posted them on a Facebook album. You can still see them by clicking the link, even if you’re not a member of Facebook.

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Tightwad Tuesday: A Frugal 4th

Lynnae — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:00:42 +0000

The 4th of July is Saturday, and it’s time for a frugal celebration! My day will be spent going to a parade, barbequing burgers, and watching the city’s fireworks show. Independence Day is always a lot of fun, and the best part is, it doesn’t have to be expensive. There are lots of great things to do without spending tons of money.

Parades. Lots of cities have parades to celebrate the 4th, and parades are free! To make sure you don’t spend tons of excess money, pack some snacks and drinks along. July is a hot time of year, and if you don’t bring your drinks, you’ll be paying a premium for them at the parade.

Fireworks. What’s the 4th of July without fireworks? My family always stakes out a place where we can see the city fireworks display without being right in the midst of the crowds, so we can get home without fighting traffic. We need to find a new place this year, since we moved to the other end of town.

We’ve never bought fireworks for our own use, and I was surprised to find there are ways to save money on them, even if you’re buying before July 4th. But my daughter’s good friend, and up and coming blogger after my own frugal heart, has written a great article on how to do just that!

Food. The 4th of July is a great time to get together with friends for a barbeque. A simple meal of burgers and hot dogs keeps costs down, and it’s a kid friendly meal. Round out the side dishes by having everyone bring a dish. The frugal possibilities are endless…macaroni or potato salad, watermelon, chips with dip, green salad.

Standard barbeque fare also tends to go on sale right before July 4th, so you can score good deals on all the fixin’s. You might even be able to find a great deal on popsicles for the kids! Or make your own popsicles! That will save you even more money!

Whatever you do on Saturday, have a great time! I know I’ll be enjoying myself, despite the hot weather we’re supposed to have!

So what ARE you doing on the 4th? Any big plans?

If you have a frugal idea, write a post, linking back to Being Frugal.net. Then sign Mister Linky, so others can find your post.

Photo by **Maurice**.

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“Ask the Frugal Chicks” & a Chance to Win a Flip!

Lynnae — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:45:03 +0000

Tonight on Frugal Coast2Coast, Jenn and I will be answering all of your burning frugal questions! The “Ask the Frugal Chicks” shows are always my favorites, because there’s a lot of interaction with our listeners. So make sure you stop by Blog Talk Radio at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST.

Also, we have a chance for you to win a Flip video camera! Jenn has a camera to give away, and you have a chance to win by helping us with our show tonight. You can enter by leaving an original question on Jenn’s post at Frugal Upstate, tweeting about our show, or calling in with a question! Make sure you head over to Jenn’s blog to read the exact rules and to get the url you need, if you want to enter by tweeting our show!

We hope to hear from you tonight!

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Looking Back

Lynnae — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:00:01 +0000

We arrived back home from our Disneyland vacation this afternoon (Sunday), and I spent a lot of time in the car just thinking. You see, besides going to Disneyland, I went to my high school reunion and managed to squeeze in visits with old friends from my grade school and college years.

It’s been 20 years since I had seen most of my high school buddies. And it’s been 25 years since I last saw my best friend from grade school. I hadn’t seen my college friend since my wedding day, 14 years ago. A lot of time has passed, and a lot of things have changed.

Revisiting old friends and old memories reminded me of how content I am with my life today. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed high school. I was fortunate to side-step a lot of pitfalls, such as drinking and drugs, that threaten kids on high school campuses these days. I was a responsible kid. And even though I’m still responsible, I’m a different person today.

I’m a lot more confident, which I suppose comes from having more life experience. And I think that confidence is what allows me to live my frugal life. Sometimes there’s a lot of pressure, trying to be a one income family in a two income world. It’s not necessarily direct pressure. I certainly don’t feel judged by our two income household friends.

But it takes conviction to say no to a night at the movies, because it’s not in the budget. It takes conviction to say no to buying a house for years, while the world tells you buying is the right move to make. And it takes conviction to drive the wheels off your paid for car, instead of upgrading to a newer model. It takes conviction to explain to your children why we spend our money the way we do, rather than running up credit card bills, so they can have everything they want. And it’s a conviction I didn’t have 20 years ago.

Yes, it was fun to look back. It was fun to remember goofing off in the back of calculus class. It was fun to remember sneaking into the movie theater on Friday nights. I had a good laugh, when I was reminded of my high school nickname.

But despite all the good memories, I have no desire to relive my high school days. Then I had no idea who I was, where I was going, or what I stood for. Now that I know what’s important in life…God and my family being at the top of the list…I’m content. And you couldn’t pay me enough to give that up.

So, would you be willing to go back and relive your high school days? Or have you changed as much as I have?

And for those of you looking for the details on my Disneyland trip, I’ll be posting about that later this week…probably Wednesday. I just need a couple of days to recover, before I lay it all out for you.

Photo by The Pink Princess.

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You Tell Me: Favorite Frugal Wedding Gift

Lynnae — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Do you hear wedding bells? Well, it’s June and prime wedding season. I should know. My husband and I got married 14 years ago June 17. I think we attended around 8 other weddings that summer, too.

Attending weddings means bringing a wedding gift. Now, I love buying wedding gifts, because I remember appreciating everything that was given to my husband and I when we got married. It really helped us to set up our first home, a lovely pink townhouse in student housing.

Since I love shopping for wedding gifts so much, I don’t really have a go-to gift that I buy for every couple. The wedding gifts I buy tend to be a combination of my mood and what I find a great deal on. Here are some of my favorite things to get a newly married couple, though.

A nice picture frame…perfect for wedding pictures
Casserole dishes. I don’t know why these always appeal to me, other than the fact that I had NONE when my husband and I tied the knot. That and they last forever. I’m still using the casseroles that we received at our wedding.
A picnic basket, full of yummy goodies. We received a couple of them at our wedding, and they made for some good times early in our marriage.

So what gifts do you typically buy when you attend a wedding? Do you have a go-to gift, or do you vary what you buy?

Photo by *spudballoo*.

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Protect Your House While You’re on Vacation

Lynnae — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Since it’s vacation season, I thought I’d touch on some ways to keep your house safe while you’re away. After all, you work hard to afford your house and the things inside. It only makes sense that you’d want to protect your things while you’re away.

Things to Do Before You Leave

Consider a House Sitter - This is true, especially if you have pets. Rather than packing your dog off to a kennel, why not hire someone to stay at your house while you’re away? Your dog will be comfortable, and you will have someone in your house, making it looked lived in, which will be a deterrent to would-be thieves.

Put your Lights on Timers – If you can’t line up a house sitter, make sure your lights are on timers. Timers are not that expensive, and setting the lights to go on and off will make your home look lived in.

Set up a Motion Detector Light – Making sure the outside of your home is well lit can also discourage thieves. It’s much more difficult to break into a well-lit house than it is to sneak into the window of a dark house. A motion detector light will not waste electricity, but it will light up the outside of your home, if anything or anyone approaches.

Make Plans for Your Mail and Newspaper – Nothing screams “vacant house” more than a mailbox full of mail and a pile of papers in the driveway. It’s best if you can find a trusted neighbor to pick up your mail and paper. If that’s not an option, you can always call the newspaper office to cancel delivery while you’re gone. You can also fill out a form to have the post office hold your mail.

Double Check Your Locks Before You Leave – The morning we leave on vacation, I always do a sweep through the house, making sure all windows and doors are closed and locked up. While I’m at it, I also make sure all appliances are turned off. I wouldn’t want to come home to find my house had burned down.

Have a Neighbor Keep an Eye on Your Home – Let your neighbor know that you’ll be gone for vacation. They can keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. And if you come home to find out that your home has been broken into, they might be able to remember anything odd.

Leave Your Cell Phone Number With Someone – Hopefully, you’ve taken enough precautions that nothing happens while you’re away. But if there is an emergency with your home, make sure someone knows where to get in touch with you.

Did I miss anything? What else do you do before you leave on vacation?

Photo by NatalieMaynor.

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When to Stop Tithing

Lynnae — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:00:00 +0000

This is a guest post from Kevin, who writes about how to get out of debt, stay out of debt, and build wealth at No Debt Plan.

You’ve saved diligently and always spent less than you earn. You’ve lived your life on a budget and have a healthy emergency fund.

Then the economic troubles we are all facing start to catch up to you and your family. One person in the two-income situation loses a job. You slowly start to dig into your emergency fund.

Yet you have committed to giving 10% of your income every month, and you support two missionary families currently deployed overseas at $50 per month. These items are keeping you on the brink of financial crisis — some months you can pay all of your bills, others you have to dip into the emergency fund.

You can’t keep this up forever.

Should You Stop Tithing?

This is a controversial topic. (One in which I am not exactly an expert by any means.)
Tithing is a personal decision that you (or you and your spouse) must make on your own. Personally we tithe 10% of everything we earn. So if our earnings were to go down through a spouse being laid off, then our tithing would go down as well.

But what if the loss of income is so great that even the reduction in tithing isn’t able to offset all of the financial stress being placed on your family? Is it okay to stop then?

I would argue that unless you are in the most dire of situations, no. Your tithe is an offering to God of what you have reaped financially. If you are bringing in income then 10% should come off the top immediately and be given to Him. Remember the widow and two coins from Luke 21.

Things get cloudy if you have cut all possible expenses and you’re still in financial trouble. You aren’t hanging on to internet, cable, or cell phone bills. You’ve dropped all of those and are still under water financially.

In this case I would look for guidance from one of our pastors. Obviously praying should guide your decision as well.

Is It Okay to Drop Missionary Support Temporarily?

From what I understand missionaries, unfortunately, have to deal with a decent amount of turnover in their supporters. Tough times at home mean really tough times out in the field for missionaries. I get the feeling that missions may be one of the first things to go simply because you don’t see your missionaries every Sunday at church. There is less guilt involved because you don’t have to look them in the eye as you cut back on your contributions.

I would do everything possible to keep our missionary obligations paid even at the expense of our church tithe. That may seem backwards, but we go to a large, financially healthy church. Our contributions are a small number as a percentage compared to our contributions to missionaries we support.

If we had cut everything to the bone to reduce our expenses and were still in financial trouble I’m not sure what we would do. There would be a lot of praying and talking with our pastors before making a decision. We would e-mail our missionaries as well since calling internationally really isn’t an option.

Again, I’m not a biblical scholar. I’m a human being that makes mistakes. What would you do in this situation?

Photo by Fr Antunes.

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Friday Linkfest: Off to Disneyland Edition

Lynnae — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:00:23 +0000

Hey all! I cannot believe how busy this week has been. If I ever decide to go out of town the weekend before a weeklong vacation again, talk me out of it. Between catching up on things I missed last weekend and preparing for my week away, I haven’t gotten much more than unpacking, laundry, and packing done. That said, I’m looking forward to Disneyland!

News of Note

Next week my posting schedule will be very light. I plan on having a post up on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That means there will be no Tightwad Tuesday next week. I’m sorry about that, but I’ve had a few problems with Mister Linky not playing nicely with my site, and I don’t want to take a chance that I’ll have more technical difficulties next week. Tightwad Tuesday will be back the following week, when I’m around to monitor my site.

Speaking of technical difficulties, I know Being Frugal.net has experienced a lot of them this week. But I think we’re finally back up and running as normal again. If you notice any problems, leave a comment or contact me, and I’ll try to get the issues resolved.

Jim from Bargaineering, Steve from Brip Blap, and I were all recently featured again on Marketplace Money with Tess Vigeland! Have a listen, and if you like the show, make sure to leave a comment, telling the Marketplace Money people. I’m sure they love feedback!

The Roundup

Here are a few articles that I really appreciated this week.

Tempted to Spend? Remove the Source of the Temptation – Bible Money Matters
Would You be Willing to Work for Free? – Cash Money Life
Is the Recession a Financial Flood – Gather Little by Little
Using Evernote to Declutter My Life – My Two Dollars
7 Ways to Find Motivation at Home – Simple Mom
107 Things That Make Good Financial Cents – Good Financial Cents
The Path to Contentment – Frugal Dad

Have a great week next week! I know I will! If you know me on Facebook, look for the pictures throughout the week!

Photo by Joe Shiabotnik.

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