http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/don-drapers-guide/

Energy bars are great for munching on between classes, but they usually run upwards of $1 each. That can be a serious blow to any student’s budget so here are some recipes to make your own:

Classic Energy Bars

Materials:

• 3 cups wheat cereal
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or other)
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates or raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup agave nectar (found at health food stores; can use honey instead, but not as good)
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• a little extra margarine for pan

Procedure:
Spread margarine in a 9 inch by 9 inch glass pan using a piece of kitchen paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix cereal, walnuts, dates, cherries in a bowl.

Mix peanut butter, agave nectar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to boil. Stir constantly afterwards for about 1 minute.

Put peanut butter mixture over cereal mixture in bowl, and stir. Put in baking pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Once done, let the mixture cool, cut into squares, and either eat or store in a zip-lock bag at room temperature for later enjoyment.

[Nutrition Facts: serving size: one bar | 180 Calories | 4 gr. Protein | 8 gr. fat | 22 gr. Carbohydrate]

Granola Bars

Materials:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup agave nectar (found at health food stores; can use honey instead, but not as good)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 ounce unsalted margarine (get the healthy kind, it is worth it)
• a little extra margarine for pan
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit (apricots, cherries, blueberries, or a mixture)

Procedure:
Spread margarine in a 9 inch by 9 inch glass pan using a piece of kitchen paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ in a half-sheet pan. Put in oven for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mix agave nectar, brown sugar, margarine, vanilla and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the sugar has dissolved.

When the oats are done, reduce the oven to 300 degrees F and add the oats to your saucepan. Add fruit. Spread this mixture into the margarine-ized pan. Bake for 25 minutes.

Once done, let the mixture cool, cut into squares, and either eat or store in a zip-lock bag at room temperature for later enjoyment.

Protein Bars

Materials:

• 1 cup soy protein powder
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1 package soft tofu
• 1/2 cup unfiltered apple juice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup applesauce (can also use 2 smashed bananas)
• 2/3 cup natural peanut butter
• a little oil for pan (Canola oil will work fine)
• parchment paper

Procedure:
Put parchment paper on the bottom of a 13 inch by 9 inch pan and coat with a small but of oil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine protein powder, bran, flour, wheat germ, and salt in a mixing bowl.

Chop all the fruits (minus the bananas which if you are using them should be smashed) and set aside.

Whisk the tofu until it is smooth in another mixing bowl. Add the following one at a time while whisking: apple juice, brown sugar, applesauce (or smashed bananas), and peanut butter. Add this mixture to the protein mixture in the first bowl, mix. Add the fruits (you will need to fold them into the mixture). Bake for 35 minutes.

Once done, let the mixture cool, cut into squares, and either eat or store in a zip-lock bag at room temperature for later enjoyment.

Fig Bars

Materials:

• 2 dozen dried figs
• 1/3 cup agave nectar (found at health food stores; can use honey instead, but not as good)
• 4 tablespoon orange juice
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon oil (Canola oil will work fine)
• 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/2 cup applesauce (can also use 2 smashed bananas)
• 1 cup oat bran

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix figs, agave nectar, orange juice, and lemon juice in a food processor or blender.

In separate container, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, oil, corn syrup, and applesauce.

Combine both mixtures, roll into about 20 balls, and coat with bran. Place in glass pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Once done, let the mixture cool, cut into squares, and either eat or store in a zip-lock bag in refrigerator for later enjoyment.

[Nutrition Facts: serving size: one bar | 150 Calories | 4 gr. Protein | 1 gr. fat | 36 gr. Carbohydrate]

[Recipes modified from Good Eats and About.com. Photography by vigilant20]

The Old Fashioned Way

That’s right, bust out that pencil, paper, and calculator. Write down everything you can remember that you spend money on and try to estimate how much you really need each month. A more effective way to do this is to calculate how much you estimate you are going to spend each year on each category and divide by 12. This is better because it takes into account holidays, birthdays, and other events that do not necessarily occur every month. Think about it for a bit and try to think of everything. Looking at recent credit card statements may help you tremendously so start there if you are having some problems. You can always come back and rebudget if you miss something.

Excel Your Budget

Excel (or if you’re poor: OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet) is one of my favorite tools. I use it for just about everything — from tallying how much running I do each day to organizing my recipes. It is also a great tool to use for budgeting. I just organize all my expenses and list things as categories, amount spent, location/store, etc. It is a great way to organize what you are spending money on especially if you have multiple credit cards or use a lot of cash (just remember to keep receipts or you will forget what you have been spending money on). Once you have organized you expenses take advantage of the nice graphing functions so you can visually see how much money you are spending on each category.

Free Online Tools

Just a few days ago Intuit released their online Quicken version for free. I have not had the chance to test it out yet, but there are many other options that I think are great. Both Mint and Wesabe are also great online money managers. They link to you bank accounts and take the information from all your accounts and display them all in one place. They both use high-level encryption and do not allow transferring money or similar actions so you are pretty much solid on the security front. Mint is what I personally use and I love it due to the great support from the staff and how much they actually listen to the users. I highly recommend them! (And they are not even paying me to say that…)

Saving Money

A great thing you can do is to have a special saving money category in your budget. I generally like to save at least 20% of my post-income and I split that into short term goals (e.g., “I really want a new pair of jeans!”) and long term (i.e., for retirement or emergencies). You can also include a miscellaneous category as a kind of buffer in case you go over somewhere else in your budget.

Stick to It

No matter how much of a hard time you are having with your budget you should stick to it. If you see you forgot about something important when creating you budget, go back and redo that part, but don’t discard you budget completely. That is like giving up.

Conclusion

I hope this helps some of you with your addictive spending habits. I always need to get better, but without blocking Amazon, Newegg, and other stores, I will need some of your suggestions to help me manage my money. Let me hear them in the comments below.

Photo credit: Low Budget by ADVerteaser | No Money by Jeff Keen

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Last Chance to Register and Vote!

In most states (including MA) today (Monday) is the last opportunity to register and vote.

If you are from a key swing state in the upcoming presidential election, you are in a privileged position to affect the outcome (assuming you are a US citizen age 18 or over). Please consider using your special status to vote in your home state, where it will count most. If you have already registered in Massachusetts (or elsewhere) that is OK, you can still register and vote absentee in your home state, so long as it is still your permanent residence (e.g., your parents live there). Of course you must only vote in one or the other.

Here is all you need to do to vote absentee in another state: Just download the voter registration and absentee ballot request forms by going to this page http://votebackhome.com/swingstates/ and clicking on your state. Then fill out the two forms (voter registration and absentee ballot request), and mail them together, enclosing a copy of your drivers license or non-drivers state ID (with your home address on it). On the forms, use your residence address in your homestate that corresponds to your state ID. Give your BU address only as a mailing address on the absentee ballot request. Remove the cover page and send the two forms and a copy of your ID to the clerk’s address for your county. If you don’t know your county, look it up at http://quickfacts.census.gov/cgi-bin/qfd/lookup If you are already registered, just send in the absentee ballot request, which does not need a copy of ID. If you have any special situation, find complete information at http://longdistancevoter.org

Hurry: this material must be postmarked by Monday October 6.

Do it now! It really is simple.

Note from the editor: Not all registration dates and absentee ballot application dates are October 6th, but many states are not far off so get off your ass and send that one-page piece of paper!

Due to the controversy of my 7 Ways to Get Kicked Out of Class, I decided to just write a similar story in the hopes of pissing off some more humorless people.

Here is the best ways I could think of to try to get rid of your roommate either to get a new one or not have a roommate at all. I have only tried a couple of these so am not entirely sure they will all work.

1. Stay awake until your roommate is sleeping and then secretly take pictures of him or her. Show all your friends and laugh about the different sleeping positions your roommate has. An alternative to this is to film him or her, especially if he or she snores.

2. When you have some free time, find your roommate and watch him or her. Correct whatever it is he or she is doing and help them do it the “right” way. Fun things include typing on the computer, brushing his or her teeth, doing his or her homework, sleeping in a certain position, chewing, shaving, and pretty much anything else.

3. Become needy of your roommate. Always ask where he or she is going when your roommate leaves the room, even if it is to go to the bathroom. You can also try calling continuously and asking him or her, “Well, where are you now?” or “Are you almost home?”

4. If you and your roommate do not know each other very well, try the following: always refer to your roommate as “your best buddy,” ask to hold hands when you are out in public, or try cuddling with him or her when watching TV.

5. Have “nightmares” every night and scream loudly, remembering to sometimes throw your roommate’s name into the mix. You can even try getting out of bed to do some “sleep walking.” Never acknowledge this if your roommate asks about it.

6. Put all your dirty dishes in your roommate’s side of the room (or in your roommate’s room) until he or she cleans them. Always deny having done so. After your roommate cleans the dishes, you can take them all back until another cleaning is needed. Not only is this a good way to get rid of your roommate but this actually makes him or her useful for the time he or she is there.

7. If you and your roommate actually share a room, tell him or her that you must sleep with the lights on. Possible excuses include night terrors, the buggy-man, acne, you used to live in Alaska, you hate the environment, you sleep with your eyes open, etc.

Good luck!

[Picture credit: Javier Zubiri (titochavi) | Orignially Published August 28, 2007]

You’ve been in school for several weeks now, and chances are you’ve had at least a couple of quizzes and maybe even a major paper or test in most of your classes. It’s been an adjustment, getting back in the groove of things, but you’ve got it. Time to relax, right? Think again.

This is a notion that gets many a student in trouble right around this time each semester. Keep up the good work, it will pay off! If you haven’t been doing so well here at the beginning of the semester, there’s still time to rectify the situation. Here are five tips to help keep you on track for the rest of the semester.

Plan Ahead

It’s not too late to start planning ahead for future tests or major assignments. If you have been doing this so far, good for you—keep it up! If you haven’t, work on getting your affairs in order so that you won’t be stressed out when it comes down to crunch time, which leads to the next point.

Use Your Time Wisely

Budgeting your time and making good use of your time is essential to success in college. Use time before and/or after class to review information so that it has time to sink in. Plan out each day, considering your class schedule and down time. Many times, we spend far more time thinking about what has to be done rather than just doing it, so make a schedule and stick to it.

Know Your Professor

It is very important that you establish a rapport with your professor or instructor. It’s never too late to stay after class for clarification on the finer details of a lecture or to ask a question about an upcoming paper. It shows that you care and helps your professor to know who you are and remember you later when you just might need it.

Get a Study Buddy

This is another essential thing you need to do. Perhaps you won’t study one-on-one with this person, but it is important to have the name, phone number, and email of at least two people in each class. If you have to miss class for any reason, they can keep you abreast of any changes to the syllabus or upcoming quizzes; they may have notes to share with you as well. If you haven’t done this, introduce yourself to someone at your next class and get the ball rolling. You may be able to help them out and make a new friend in the process.

Have Fun Within Reason

College is about education, but a social life is important too. You need time to unwind and decompress, so have fun—but be responsible. It is one thing to enjoy yourself; it’s a whole different issue if you go out and get wrecked the night before a major exam. Take steps to ensure that your social life doesn’t overcome your academic life and you’ll thank yourself later.