LET’S GET RID OF THE PHONE BILL | save money

We talked a lot about never receiving another electricity bill.  Now how about never receiving another phone bill?

In these difficult times we are constantly on the lookout for ways to save and ways to earn.  And demolishing your phone bill is definitely a great way to save.

Sounds good doesn’t it?  Well a lot of people are now familiar with the MAGIC JACK as it has had a lot of TV promotion.  However,  I have been surprised by the many that have never heard about it.

It is a great little gizmo that costs very little.

You plug the JACK into your  computer’s USB   port and then plug any phone into the JACK.

Voila!  You have a perfectly working clear as a bell phone with free voice mail, free or practically free long distance.  It works on most computers equipped with broad band.

I honestly did not believe that it would really work but it does.  The reception is lucid  and comfortable.  You can use it with a lap top.

The actual cost is ridiculously low although it seems to vary from location to location.

In Canada I think it is around $40 per year.

In the U.S. it will set you back around $10 a year.

Compare this to the amount it now costs for one year in phone bills.

Magic Jack comes with your own phone number.

The only inconvenience I can think of is that if the power is out, your stand up computer won’t work and neither will your phone, (unless of course you have solar power)

To find out more you can go to www.magicjack.com

The purpose of this blog is to improve our finances by keeping abreast of ways to save and ways to earn.  And terminating your monthly phone bill is definitely a great way to save.

TO SEE DO-IT YOURSELF SOLAR PLANS REVIEWED CLICK HERE

GREEN WILL CREATE NEW JOBS | alternate energy

We are all aware that Green is clean. . That Green will rejuvenate the environment.  That Green will improve our health. That Green will save us money.

And don’t forget that solar panels on our roof will improve the value of our homes.

BUT WILL GOING GREEN ACTUALLY CREATE JOBS?

Our  crippled, limping economy could certainly use a boost.  But can going Green provide it?

Green has been described as God’s Own favourite colour.

The Irish have always known this.

That is why their leprechauns would never    wear anything but Green.

WOULD YOU FIND AN ORANGE CLAD LEPRECHAUN  CONVINCING? 

I thought not.  Neither would I.

SO HOW WILL GOING GREEN STIMULATE THE ECONOMY AND PROVIDE JOBS?

Mankind is like a caterpillar voraciously devouring the leaf that supports it.

Our stubborn dependence upon  non renewable resources has left us few options.   We have no choice but to switch our  strategy or perish.

Oh, fossil based fuels created jobs all right, but at what expense?  Mining for instance provided jobs by forcing men to go down into the bowels of the earth where no human should ever have to go. It is common knowledge that a career in the mines  destroys  respiratory systems and shortens lives.

And now that these kinds of jobs are disappearing how will going green replace them?

Well, with solar panels appearing on multiple rooftops, and windmills sprouting all over the countryside,  jobs will inevitably materialize.

Somewhere at the top of the tree will be the engineers.  You know, the brainy guys who will produce the plans and the mathematics.

Municipalities will devote departments and personnel to the issue of alternate power.

Springing up everywhere  will be manufacturing and packaging plants. Next will come distribution, stores and sales people.  There will probably be importing.  I expect the Chinese can produce solar cells more cheaply  and in great quantities.  So there will be busy trucks, ships, planes and trains engaged in transportation.

There will be a need for mechanics

There will be competition between brands which will generate advertising, TV, magazine, and newspaper promotions.

Then inevitably will  follow all kinds of spin off occupations.

We are great believers in     DO IT YOURSELF  PROJECTS    but not everyone will be able.  Elderly people for instance will need help.  Very busy career people will be glad to pay others to attend to  installations and cleaning chores.

What chores?  Well, someone has to get up on the roof for routine maintenance.    I dare say that disrespectful birds will tend to foul those panels.

We might have a guy with a ladder come regularly to clean just as now we depend on a man with a ladder to periodically shine our windows.

Another thought.  Since everyone will have more money there could be room for more bank tellers.

And so on and so on and so on.

TO SEE DO-IT YOURSELF SOLAR PLANS REVIEWED CLICK HERE

FREE POWER- IT IS NO FAIRY TALE | solar panels

One day the Sun looked down and saw that Mr. And Mrs. Brown were looking at a piece of paper and crying.

The Sun asked the wind, “Why is the Brown family crying?”

“I don’t know,” said the wind, “but I will find out.”

Suddenly a draft of air swept in through the open window and lifted the paper right out of Mr. Brown’s hands and swept it far up into the atmosphere and away.

“Let me have it!” said the Sun excitedly.

“No,” said the Wind, “your hot breath will cause it to burn.  I will read it to you.”

“It is a letter from the YOU GOT NO MONEY- WE GOT NO POWER COMPANY,“ said the Wind, “it says,

“Dear Mr. and Mrs Brown. Unless you pay your outstanding overdue bill your electricity will be cut off at the end the week.”

“That is terrible,” said the Sun, “people should not be dependent upon unnatural means to warm their homes and provide them with lighting!”

“I know,” responded the Wind, “I have been whistling through their back yards  for a very long time, drying their clothes for them and propelling their sail boats across the waters and they think that is all I am good for.  Why, I can provide them with power of their own.”

“Ha,” said the Sun, “so can I.  I keep telling them but they don’t seem to get the message.”

Then the Sun in a loud voice called out to all mankind and said,

“Why have you waited until the supply of fossil fuels is nearly depleted?"

Mrs. Brown stopped crying and asked her husband,

“Did you hear something?  It sounded like a voice from far away.”

“No,” he replied,” it was just some thunder in the distance.”

Frustrated, the Sun bellowed,

“Why do you not listen to me?  I have been calling to you all down through the ages.  I am here,...  ready to ripen your crops ...cook your food and warm your milk for the baby and give you light.   And you have ignored me.”

At that moment a boy on a bicycle dropped a flyer through the Brown’s mailbox.

As Mr. Brown moved to automatically toss it in the waste basket the headline caught his attention.     It read:

ARE YOU TIRED OF PAYING ELECTRICITY BILLS?

“Listen to this,” he said excitedly to Mrs. Brown, “it says here that we can make our own power!”

“Really?” she replied, “how?”

“It seems by making our own solar panels.” said Mr. Brown reading from the flyer.

“But that would cost an arm and a leg!”

“Well, it used to apparently.  But now a person can make a solar panel for around $200,”

“it says here that you can buy the plans from a company called Green Power Easy.”

“Wow! ....but there must be other costs?”

“Yes, you also have to buy batteries for storage.  But once the system is up and running there are no more expenses.  We would receive no more electricity bills. Just imagine that!   It even says that if you produce surplus power the electricity company will buy it from you.”

“That sounds way too good to be true,” she said, “if it is that easy why isn’t everybody doing it?”

“Because it used to be too expensive. But now it is within the reach of everyone.”

”That is just fantastic!” said the ecstatic Mrs. Brown. “Let’s send for the details.”

She reached for the phone.

“Who are you calling?”  He asked.

“The NO MONEY NO POWER COMPANY,” she said, “ I ‘m going to tell them that we got no money and we don’t need their power.  They can keep it!”

Way up on high the Sun wiped his brow and sighed in relief,

“Well, thank goodness my message got through this time.”

“Congratulations!” said the Wind.

TO SEE DO-IT YOURSELF SOLAR PLANS REVIEWED CLICK HERE

——- GREENING THE SCENE——– | getting off the grid

“I tell you,” said Kermit, “it ain’t easy being green!”

Nowadays many people would not agree with this point of view.

These days we are painfully aware of rising energy costs  and the  inevitable dwindling of fossil fuel supplies.

And,  adding  to our guilt trips, we are constantly reminded that the environment is deteriorating all around us  as well.

Now as we look for alternatives, we discover,  WHAT JOY!

SOLAR POWER!

Well.... we didn’t  actually discover it.  It was there all the time but the significance of it has escaped most of us.

George Bernard Shaw wrote:

‘THE REASONABLE MAN ADAPTS  HIMSELF TO THE WORLD.  THE UNREASONABLE ONE PERSISTS IN TRYING TO ADAPT THE WORLD TO HIMSELF.'

Since we are reasonable people, we of course recognize that the sun is there, abundantly available.  Its friendly rays are, unlike conventional energy sources,  inexhaustible.

Have we been taking the sun for granted?

SHOULD WE NOT FOLLOW MR. SHAW'S  SUGGESTION AND ADAPT ?

Solar panels have been  available for a good many years but they have been  in limited use due to the enormous installation expense.

But now it is possible for us to make our own solar power system.

Simple instructions are now available on how to construct 

DO IT YOURSELF SOLAR PANELS  FOR AS LITTLE AS $200.

When choosing to take on a  DO IT YOURSELF conversion project the first question most people ask is, “ Will one large solar panel be enough?”

Who knows?  There are too many factors involved here for ready answers.

However, whilst budgeting  for the future installation of  solar panels, we can  start saving ourselves money by improving the energy efficiency in our homes  right now.

Here are some suggestions for reducing our energy needs.

The average home uses inefficient lighting, as well as power hungry appliances.

Very often  there are poor heating and cooling systems too.

Consider this:

1. How about replacing  old incandescent bulbs with fluorescent or led bulbs to cut  power consumption from lighting  in half?  That is quite a saving there!

2. And what  if we replace  old, inefficient, appliances.?   We could  reduce our energy bills by as much as 30%.!  That is a sizable  saving in money!

Look  also at current heating/cooling solutions. For example an electric hot water heater could potentially be replaced by   a  solar water heater. Maybe that inefficient air conditioner can be replaced with a more efficient heat exchanger.

If  we  need help choosing more efficient appliances, an excellent resource for this is put out by the Canadian government: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/EnerGuide/home.cfm.  It’s called Energuide, and it covers all home appliances.  We have often seen the label on new appliances.

Let us look through that guide and calculate how much we can reduce our power consumption in different areas of our   homes.

By simply taking a look at everything that consumes energy,  ways can be found to reduce  energy needs.

No need necessarily to go all out and spend $10,000 replacing everything – but things as simple as changing  lighting will make a significant difference in energy consumption which translates into saving money too.

SORRY KERMIT,

We think that being green can be easy.  It is rapidly becoming evident that green is essential for our health and the health of our pocket books and indeed for the well being of our very environment.

YES,  GREEN IS DEFINITELY THE WAY TO GO

TO SEE DO-IT YOURSELF SOLAR PLANS REVIEWED CLICK HERE

A GIFT FROM THE SUN | free electricity

Thirty years ago, friends of mine bought a farm in Ontario.   It was a rustic property right in the middle of Mennonite country.  The nearest municipality which was a few miles away did not seem to be aware of the existence of this rural area.

Everyone knows that Mennonite energy consists of mainly elbow grease and horse power.  Consequently, there were no electric lights in the house and no power outlets.  There was a wood stove for cooking and some oil lamps for light.   Oil lamps have their place, but they are not much to read by late at night.

Well, my friends being used to modern conveniences applied to have the power lines brought in to the property.  New hydro poles, expensive but necessary were ordered.

Unfortunately, the Hydro Company refused to accommodate them saying that its jurisdiction ended just east of their property.  And so they approached the municipality to the west of the property to find that its jurisdiction ended just to the west of them.

There they were in the middle of nowhere,  - ISOLATED!

What a quandary!  Faced with this adapt or die situation they looked desperately around for alternatives,  and they found a MIRACLE!

They found solar power and it was wonderful!  It was extremely expensive to install at that time   However, so was the cost of having ugly hydro poles planted.

Well, the benefits of solar energy which is after all, a free gift from the sun to all of us, supplied them with unlimited power to operate all their modern appliances.  When I first witnessed this I was just amazed!

Ontario has some wicked winter storms and widespread power cuts.  Sometimes the general population has to survive with sleeping bags and candles for several days. Fresh water is scarce because most rural homes need electricity to pump from their wells.

I remember calling my friends during one such storm to see how they were making out.

Well....!   They were making out just fine!   They were bathed in electric light and they were cooking, using their computers,  and watching television etc.  They had fully functioning refrigerators, and laundry facilities, while the rest of us were freezing in the dark.

I had to see this phenomenon for myself and I was amazed at how neat and compact a system it was.

Inside  a little lean- to shed at the back of the house tucked away under a shelf was a row of batteries  each about the size of  a car battery.   I can’t remember how many but I think about six, maybe more.

Apparently, this is where the energy was stored.   Outside in the garden there was a small shed, the roof of which was comprised of solar panels.  On the side of the shed there was some sort of  gauge and that was it!

The whole contraption was far less unsightly than hydro poles and much less of an eyesore than monstrous

hydro towers strung across the countryside.

The benefits were immense.   The solar panels collected the energy and the batteries stored it. Once the system was  purchased the power was free!

The icing on the cake was this.

A METER WAS INSTALLED  AND SURPLUS ENERGY WAS  SOLD TO THE ELECTRICITY COMPANY!

Of course  with the ever increasing  speed with which  modern technology advances, thirty years ago could be considered the dark ages.

I am sure that nowadays, the process has been refined and made more affordable .

BUT.

JUST IMAGINE!  PLENTIFUL POWER AND NO ELECTRICITY BILLS! !

TO SEE DO-IT YOURSELF SOLAR PLANS REVIEWED CLICK HERE

DAYS BEFORE INTERNET MARKETING

I never cease to be amazed at the resiliency of human beings.  It seems we have the ability to rise above most adverse situations.   Times of economic difficulties are not new in our history.

I believe it was Norman Vincent Peale who said, ‘IF LIFE HANDS YOU A LEMON- MAKE LEMONADE.”

Life was handing out lots of lemons in the early part of the twentieth century, During the great depression men would walk for miles in search of a job, any job, frequently returning  home in despair, empty handed. .

Money was short and consequently so were the necessities of life.  But somehow our hardy enterprising forebears survived.

The army’s favourite saying used to be, “IMPROVISE” which meant in essence, “Don’t bellyache about shortages, find alternatives.”

Jobs were practically non existent during the depression, but men  nevertheless wielded  hammers, handsaws and paint brushes to create  homey  family surroundings, constructing utility furniture from orange crates

Women became adept at making do with less, sometimes producing tangible goods from seemingly nothing at all.

Neat little jackets and pants were fashioned out of flour bags, which were dyed and then cut ready to sew so that children could go to school looking respectable.

Amazing intricate quilts were created from little scraps of  left over fabric.

Women ingeniously produced nourishing meals with soup bones and cods heads.
They baked bread, carefully preserving any left over slices and crusts to turn into
a popular desert called bread pudding.

History has been known to repeat itself and a replay of the dirty thirties is a gloomy prospect indeed.  However, I don’t doubt that, if it happened humans would once again rise to the challenge and survive.

But all that was pre internet marketing days.

In these present times of economic uncertainty we again look to ‘IMPROVISE.’

Thrift stores selling donated goods cheaply are highly popular.  Some enterprising
souls zealously search garbage bins, gathering and returning bottles and cans for
re-cycling for the sake of a few dollars.   I admire those folks. The spirit of enterprise is definitely not dead.

However, thankfully, this is a different world.   We are indeed a global village.  Family travel is no longer confined to a few streets within walking distance. Vehicles have changed all that. and telephones have greatly improved earshot.  Planes, trains and ships have enabled global hopping and shopping.  Computers now provide instant commerce and business transactions.

But what has really expanded our realm of opportunity is, of course, the INTERNET.

We no longer limit our searches to the immediate back yard.  Suddenly there is a ravenous  market spread right around the world for goods and services of every kind.

Any rare thing we need is out there accessible and obtainable.  Just ask Google.

Redundancy is not the spectre  it once was.

These days enterprising people turn to internet marketing to supplement or even replace incomes.

It makes sense because suddenly we have access to literally millions of people.  They have what we want and we have what they want.

I deeply believe that mother earth has enough bounty for every living soul once we solve the problems of communication and distribution.

AND INTERNET MARKETING IS THE WAY TO DO IT.

TO SEE DO-IT YOURSELF SOLAR PLANS REVIEWED CLICK HERE