Couch Makeover
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Monthly Archives: December 2008
How Much Will I Save By Replacing Incandescent With CFL Light Bulbs?
It’s a hot topic of the day, should I go ahead and replace all my house lights with CFLs? How much money will I have to spend upfront? How much energy will I save a month?
Basically, is it worth doing?
Baby Food Recipe – Chicken and Mashed Potatoes
Today I experimented with a new dish for my toddler – chicken and mashed potatoes. Came out pretty yummy. In fact it’s so good, I could eat the whole thing myself!
I used couple of ounces of boiled chicken breast, two mid-size baked potatoes, half cup of whole milk and about quarter of a table spoon of butter. I skinned the baked potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. I cut the chicken into smaller pieces as well. Then I threw everything into the food processor and let it puree. It came out a little on the thick side, but it will probably be okay. If not, I can dilute it more with milk or water later.
Homemade baby food is actually more eco-friendly than the store bought one. Why? Because it doesn’t involve a glass jar or a plastic container that baby food normally comes in. These usually end up in the garbage right? So by avoiding store-bought, you create less garbage!
Mommy’s Exercise Helper
My neighbor sold me this neat running stroller. I couldn’t refuse, he was only asking $30 for it. I tell you what, even if I had to buy it brand new at the store, I would have! The brand new ones go for $110-$130. It is a neat way to couple my exercise and my toddler’s outside time! She enjoys taking rides in it and I am happy that I can get a decent work out close to home.
Save Money On Laundry
Average clothes washer uses 40 gallons of water per cycle. Its energy use will depend on the cycle’s water temperature. The hotter the temperature, the more energy it will use. The mechanical operation of washer itself does not consume a lot of energy.
You can find out how much power your washer uses by checking out Find Energy Use by Appliance. So here are some tips:
- Choose a cycle with cold rinse, rather than warm or hot rinse. It is not the “washing” part that takes a lot of water, it is the “rinsing” part. So washing in hot or warm water won’t consume nearly as much energy as rinsing in hot or warm water.
- Choose a cycle with automatic temperature sensor. This way the washer will use appropriate amount of cold water to accommodate for the required temperature setting, potentially saving energy on hot water use.
- Try to maximize clothes load every time you use a laundry machine.
Save Energy Use By Dishwasher
Many people have a misconception that running a dishwasher is more energy consuming than doing the dishes by hand. I will explain the two scenarios as I go over the energy saving tips for washing dishes. So you can decide on your own:
Flip Mino Versus Flip Mino HD Review
I did this review using both camcorders, the Mino and the Mino HD. If you are not at all familiar with Flip camcorders, you can visit theflip.com for specifications.
Untitled from Malika Risley on Vimeo.
Save Money By Making Your Own Personalized Greeting Cards
This year we decided to make personalized greeting cards for our family and friends. We weren’t going to use the photo studio since they are more expensive than we were willing to spend. So we made our own cards. It is an easy and practical way to put a personal touch on your season’s greetings.
Here is what you need to make your own greeting cards this season:
Tampa Bay Bloggers Meetup
Last Saturday my husband and I went to check out Tampa Bloggers Meetup. The meet up was happening at the Bunker. It’s a neat little cafe/bar in Ybor City. I met (in person!) a lot of interesting people, virtual nerds as you’d say. I had a blast!
Since I am just starting out with my own blog, I had a lot of questions about what other people do with their blogs, whether they are doing it full time, part time or if it’s just a hobby. Got to talk with people from lots of different walks of life. Social media is great, but nothing beats the personal interaction. Took lots of pictures.
We even had our own live rapper Steve who put together some songs specifically for our meet up. It was hilarious, he made us raize our i-phones, singing ‘put the phones in the air…”
You can join Tampa Bloggers at meetup.com or follow them on Twitter @TampaBloggers.
I will definitely try to get out for the next one!
Confession Of The Gift Wrapping Cheapskate
By Malika Risley
I love giving gifts! I feel good when I see the excitement on the recipients’ faces as they are about to find out what they got.
Mystery is an important part of gift giving. We conceal the gifts before we give them away. It’s the feeling of surprise and anticipation that gets everyone so excited about getting a gift. Wrapping a gift is not a matter of practicality, it’s a matter of delivering emotion.
But paying for something that is going to get torn apart and thrown away just doesn’t seem right to me. At the same time I don’t want to look like a total cheapskate when my present is being unwrapped. So I still wrap my gifts and make them presentable. I just improvise on the materials. Here is what I do to save money on gift wrapping: