Broke Again!

Looks like I will be broke again next month!

Remember the G8 that B got me as a gift? Well, my mom really loved mine when she saw it so I got her a white one for Mother's Day. Last week was my Dad's birthday and after much pondering and worrying, I came up with the perfect gift for him - a new wallet stuffed with cash, which was a big hit! And now, it's my brother's birthday next week so I have to fork out another big amount for his gift, which by the way I have absolutely no idea what to get as of yet!

So once again, I need some suggestions on what to get for my brother for his 28th birthday this 4th of June! Someone suggested I check out this awesome site called PickleBid, which offers brand new products at incredible discounts. Apparently I can save up to 90% on popular electronics and gadgets.

How it works is by bidding on discount Gift Cards. By the way, PickleBid.com is a penny auction site and should not be confused with eBay in any way. Once you're registered as a member, you can start to buy your bids. With each bid placed on any given item, the price of the auction item increases by a penny or ten cents, depending on the auction. The bids will cost you $0.60 a piece and you receive 3 free bids for registering.

I'm always a little confused with all these auction sites but Pickle Bid is the first easy one to understand. I just explained how it works to B and the more I think about it, the more enticed I am to give it a shot! But first things first and so far, these are what I have in mind to get my bro for his birthday - a watch, a cologne or something for his Mazda RX8. Any other ideas while I break open my piggy bank?

-FC Scoreboard points for my first THREE commenters-

LADY JAVA
SHEMAH
BLUEDREAMER

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Counting Cash

One dollar, two dollars, three dollars ... instead of happily sleeping with Phoebe, I am sadly counting my money right now!

You see, I just only transferred some funds from my PayPal into my bank account and in my haste to get my hard-earned cash, I totally forgot that I have to renew my domain name for Meow Diaries soon! So now I have less than 7 bucks in my PayPal, which is insufficient to renew my domain name.

Usually I'd ensure enough funds in my PayPal account to finance my monthly blogging needs like advertising on Adgitize or paying for the service of a new widget. But lately I have been so distracted by the seemingly endless blog issues affecting my other two blogs that it totally slipped my mind to leave some money in my PayPal account for my domain name renewal.

The good news however is that I am not using paid or dedicated hosting for my blog so I don't have to allocate funds for that purpose. I am still depending on Blogger to host my blog for free so all I need to do every year is renew my domain name. Speaking of domain renewal and web hosting, are you looking for a new web hosting service? If you would like to explore other options than what you're currently subscribed to, do check out Web Hosting Geeks. Here you can find the most comprehensive independent reviews of the best web hosting providers available in the market today.

All web hosting and domain hosting plans include at least one free domain name registration and 30 day money back guarantee. Browse through the many cheap professional web site hosting services (less than $10 a month), make your comparisons and most importantly, count your money properly before making that final purchase. Do not be hasty and take your time to decide before paying. Otherwise you might just end up like me with a few bucks short for your other blogging needs!

-FC Scoreboard points for my first THREE commenters-

GAGAY
SHEMAH
MONICA

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Save Energy, Save Money

This year, one of my New Year resolutions is to save money by conserving energy. I came across a really cool and informative blog called Engin, which basically talks about everything energy-related. For instance, did you know that recycling one glass container saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours? Were you also aware that recycled paper saves 60 percent energy versus virgin paper? Worry not if you were unaware of these simple fun facts for I too was totally clueless until today!

Energy conservation is beneficial in a number of ways. Aside from increasing financial capital, environmental value, national and personal security as well as human comfort; conserving energy will also help you SAVE! By the way, our electricity bill last month amounted to almost RM500, which almost gave me a heart attack!

The high amount really threw me off course; scaring me into immediate panic mode so energy conservation is currently top priority on my resolution list. Anyway, it's about time B and I did more to save energy. We tend to have unnecessary lights on even though nobody is inside the room. And sometimes, we'd have the TV blaring outside in the living-room but both of us would be inside my home-office. I'd be working on my stuff and B happily surfing on his MacBook.

I guess it's just out of habit and sheer forgetfulness that we sometimes overlook these small things. But they do add up and it's a waste of our hard-earned money so it has to stop! I did a little online research and came up with several easy ways to help us conserve energy and hopefully save every month. I hope they come in handy for you as well!

1. Ensure your appliances are switched off or unplugged after using.

2. Reduce the amount of waste you produce. Buy minimally packaged goods, choose reusable products over disposable ones, and most importantly - RECYCLE.

3. Use less hot water by installing low-flow shower heads.

4. Clean or replace air filters when needed. Energy is lost when air conditioners have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters.

5. Buy energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, which may cost more but will definitely save money in the long run by using less energy whilst lasting 8-12 times longer.

-FC Scoreboard points for my first THREE commenters-

DAVID
LADY JAVA
ANGEL

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