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Free sample of Aquaphor by Eucerin

Free sample of Snuggle Blue Sparkle fabric softener

Free Juicy Juice Sippy Cup

Free sample of Purex detergent

What it costs to fill up our tank.

Picture on Picasa

Are you brave enough to take a picture of the pump after you fuel up? I’d like to see it. If you do, leave your link here for me.

I know most people are sharing in the misery of paying for high-priced gasoline. The dent it makes in our budget is becoming more and more… tangible. We have a BIG van for our BIG family. Our van has a 30-gallon tank. Whenever I fill that sucker up, I feel the attendant’s eyes burning into my back, waiting for me to speed off without paying. I hear that’s been happening more and more.

Our little car has a 10-gallon tank and the price just to fill that little bugger up is nearly as much as the 30-gallon was (in what seems like) not that long ago.

So of coarse, the question is - What do YOU do to cut down on the impact of high fuel prices?

Some ideas to ease the blow?

1. Take less trips; plan more when we do. A gallon of milk costs $7 if I have to run out late at night to get it instead of planning ahead, or doing without until I can combine a trip.
2. Ride-sharing. Especially when it comes to the kids and practices (mainly the older ones). Think of it as “free” gas (gas you would normally be using, but found out a way not to). That helps me remember how important being creative about saving a bit on the gas bill is.
3. Combining errands (similar to the first tip, but if I’m simply driving somewhere, school, practice, etc. Think about where am I going, what (other stores) will I be driving by and do I really need to take this trip? If I know I have to drive D out to practice (which isn’t close, mind you), there’s a grocery store on the way. If I have my act together I can shop while he’s at practice. It is like getting “free” gas.
4. Figuring out the cost to certain destinations. Weigh the cost against the benefit of going. This helps me put it into perspective. I figured it costs me about the same amount of money to drive to work as it would to take the bus. I was contemplating taking the bus, but since there’s no real savings (on money), and there is on time, I opted for driving.
5. Teach your older kids to to be savvy bus riders. We are fortunate enough to have very good public transportation. Our kids can use their semester bus pass to board the buses, even when they aren’t going to school. We take advantage of that when we can. The bus that goes by our house goes right by my parent’s house as well. If Beaner’s visiting gramma, she can often take the bus. Again, it’s like free gas!!

Wordless Wednesday

Free is great. Cheap is good, too.

Another edition… Lists of 5 — sites with FREE Wordpress themes

1. bgthemes.com
2. freewordpressthemes.com
3. themes.wordpress.net
4. skinpress.com
5. wpthemes.info

Wordless Wednesday

80’s Meme, found on Rainy Day in May.

1.How old were you in 198O? 13

2. How old were you in 1989? 9 years older than I was in ‘80… duh

3. Were you a Toys R’ US Kid? Nope. I lived in a small town and there wasn’t one

4. Did you watch Transformers? No, but I had a few Transformer watches

5. Did you see E.T. on the big screen? Yup. Over and over.

6. Did you own a Lite Bright? I did — loved it

7. Who is your Favorite Golden Girl? Oh gosh, that’s hard to say… liked them all, they were all great. Take one away and the show wouldn’t have been the same.

8. When someone says ” Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday.

Something about this, seems entirely wrong to me. Gmail now allows you to change the “Sent” time of your emails (up to 10 per year), all the way back to 2004. Why only 10?

How come I only get ten?

Our researchers have concluded that allowing each person more than ten pre-dated emails per year would cause people to lose faith in the accuracy of time, thus rendering the feature useless.

Hmmm, “…cause people to lose faith in the accuracy of time rendering the feature useless?” OK. I don’t think it is the accuracy of time itself it might cause people to lose faith in, but moreover the integrity of the sender, and email period. If you think for a few minutes on it, there are a lot of ways this feature could be used maliciously (contests, business, personal…etc.).

Gmail developers, in my opinion, could have spent time creating much more useful features. Like maybe a “Future Send” that saves a draft and sends the email at a future date, if they are concentrating on date-based developments. Or streamlining the way mail is handled, like a Forward button as an option (not date-based, but still useful).

I love my Gmail, but Custom Time? People don’t like being tricked; Custom Time could be damaging to those who use Gmail. If I send an email late, I send an email late. I don’t want people to be fooled into questioning themselves because I can’t send a timely mail.

(April Fool’s Joke? :))

Wordless Wednesday

(It is Wednesday, right?)