April 28, 2024

Posts Comments

Save a Fortune on Food

November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The most flexible area of any household budget is in the area of food purchasing. Saving money on grocery costs will free up a significant amount of money and is the quickest way to balancing the budget, or beginning to fund a savings account.

The easiest way to save money is to eliminate the luxury of eating out. Period. If that’s not possible, then treat yourself to a dinner out once a month. Make it a special occasion for your family. Everyone will appreciate a meal in a restaurant much more when it’s not taken for granted. Treat it as a “quality time out”. Don’t forget to search for coupons for local restaurants in order to get the best deal possible.

At home, work to minimize the use of high cost convenience foods. – Make it from scratch yourself for a fraction of the cost. We get so used to convenience foods that we forget how much better it tastes when we make it from scratch. There are substitute recipes available on the internet for everything from baking mixes to shake and bake and salad dressing. It just takes a little extra time. Go ahead and pay yourself for doing the cooking – you’ll still come out ahead.

Take time to search the newspapers and do research for coupons on the internet. Plan menus around the weekly sales flyers from grocery stores. Taking a little extra time in planning menus will help you save more, eat better and reduce the food budget!

Try to include meatless meals once or twice each week. Beans and rice are a nutritious, low-cost example. Egg dishes are a nice change in routine for dinner. Another idea to incorporate might be a vegetable stir-fry or vegetarian casserole.

Avoid pre-packaged mixes for cakes, breads, muffins, pastry, pizza dough, pancake, and waffles. Bake these from scratch for not much more effort and a lot less money!

Coupons are widely available in your newspaper, magazines and local flyers, and with a little time each week you can begin to accumulate a coupon file that will save a significant amount on your grocery bill over time.
.

Filed Under: Cooking, Finances Tagged With: , , , ,

The History Of The Harley Davidson Motorcycle

November 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Harley Davidson officially began in 1903 when it manufactured its first motorcycle. Two years prior in 1901 William S. Harley drew up plans for a small engine that had 4-inch flywheels. He was twenty one years old when he designed this engine to be used on a regular bike frame.

William Harley had a boyhood friend named Arthur Davidson, and the two of them, along with Arthur’s brother Walter borrowed the machine shop of their friend Henry Melk to produce a prototype of an engine-powered bike.  However, the engine was not quite powerful enough to successfully propel the motored-bike up Milwaukee’s small hills without the rider resorting to using the pedals.

Another Davidson brother named William helped them to complete the first “real” Harley Davidson Motorcycle.  A larger engine of 24.74 cubic inches was paired with 9-3/4 inch flywheels that weighed 28 pounds. The new bike made its first appearance in a Milwaukee motorcycle race in September 1904.

Harley Davidson manufactured three motorcycles in 1903, and then three more in 1904. In 1905, their production rose to 8 motorcycles, and Walt Davidson was able to quit his job with the railroad. He became the company’s first full-time employee. His aunt, Janice Davidson, contributed her artistic gifts to letter and pinstripe the motorcycles, which were painted black and had gold trim.

In the year 1906, the first Harley Davidson Motor Company factory was built on Chestnut Street. It measured only 40 by 60 feet, and was a single story wooden building. Chestnut Street was later renamed Juneau Avenue, and though the original factory was replaced, the Motor Company’s corporate headquarters remains on this location. Harley Davidson built a total of 50 motorcycles in 1906.

The following year, 1907 brought about a lot of change for the young company. William S. Harley graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in mechanical engineering. The partners enlarged the factory the company was officially incorporated. Production increased to 150 motorcycles in 1907.

Another huge change that occurred that year was the completion of a prototype of a 45-degree V-Twin engine. It displaced 53.68 cubic inches and had approximately 7 horsepower, just about doubling the hill-climbing power of the first singles. Harley Davidson continued to increase production, with 450 motorcycles in 1908 followed by 1,149 in 1909.

They enjoyed more success in the following years. Their original factory structure was torn down and replaced by a larger five story building made of reinforced concrete and red brick. It eventually took up two blocks along Juneau Avenue and around the corner on 38th Street. During this time, motorcycles produced by Harley Davidson began to take over the motorcycle racing arena and their production increased to 16,284 bikes in 1914.

The First World War brought about a demand for motorcycles in the military. The Harley Davidson company provided over 20,000 motorcycles to military forces during World War I. Improvements and expanded production continued when the war was over. The Harley Davidson Motor Company was in fact one of only two American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression. Harley Davidson continued to produce motorcycles for the military throughout World War II and the Korean War. The Jeep then replaced it in popularity. However, the Harley Davidson Motor Company is still going strong today. Look for it on the Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol HOG.

Filed Under: Motorcycles, Sports Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Protecting Your Home and Family – A Frugal Approach

November 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

It is not necessary to spend a large amount of money to keep your family and home safe. Several much less expensive options exist to help make your home a safer place without having to spend excessively for the installation of a complete home security system.

Consider performing a self-installation of a home alarm.

You might purchase a small door-installed alarms for a cost of under $25. These are powered by cell batteries. Upon activation, the alarm will alert a homeowner to the door being opened with a loud warning signal. These are inexpensive, fairly unobtrusive, and they do the job!

Check and update the bolts and locks on your doors and windows.

Perform a complete inspection of the door and window locks on your home. For a relatively small cost, you can install additional bolts and locks to reinforce what is already in place. As long as the bolt is solid and the hinges are properly screwed in place, you will be well protected. If you have a sliding patio door without an anti-lift device, you may want to consider installing one. If your door or window has a hook lock, install two door locks – one on top and another at the bottom – to reinforce it.

For pennies a day, keeping the light on provides increased protection.

Always illuminate your porch, outside doors and garage. If you’re willing to spend a little extra money, a good investment is dusk-to-dawn lighting powered by photoelectric cells. These are energy savers and will be cheaper in the long run than electric-powered lights. Even less expensive is a solar-powered spotlight that collects the sun during daylight hours and provides light and protection during the night.

Thorny plants make it harder for an intruder to gain access to your property.

If your home and property is not enclosed by a fence or wall, plant some thorny plants and shrubs in the yard. Plants like roses, holly and hawthorn have spiny leaves and thorny stems are they provide a natural deterrent to unwanted intruder entry, because they can produce punctures and tear at the skin. They not only provide you with security, they are attractive and will add curb appeal to your yard.

Filed Under: Finances, Home Tagged With: , , ,

Climate Change Defined

November 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The term “climate modification” is not a term commonly used by scientists any longer. This is because it is now generally understood that changes to the environment will effectively increase the temperature in many places on earth, at the same time causes the temperature in other locations to cool. Therefore, what has in the past been referred to as climate modification is now known generally as global climate change. And many scientists believe that the global climate is warming.

Let us offer a simple definition for climate change as it relates to the global warming. The clearest and most accurate definition of  climate change involves the description of the effect that greenhouse gases have on the climate of our world. Greenhouse gases are partly made up of carbon dioxide and methane.

We must first understand that climate change is both a naturally occurring state, and it is also man-made. In other words, greenhouse gases are a natural part of the biosphere and they would exist even if there was no human habitation on the planet. They are actually a critical and necessary part of life on earth. If they didn’t exist, the temperature on our world would actually average around zero degrees! It is naturally occurring gases that the temperature at a much more temperate average of 59 degrees.

So, if we determine that climate change occurs naturally, why is there so much fuss about global warming? The problem is not the existence of greenhouse gases, but their volume in the atmosphere. These gases act much like thermal blankets for the atmosphere. As the volume of gas increases, the thicker the blanket and the less heat escapes. Over the last century, humankind has been pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. At the same time, massive deforestation has occurred — and with it, the primary source to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This is what is causing overall world temperatures to rise.

So, what can we expect as our planet heats up? Well, for one, the glaciers are beginning to shrink. Glacier National Park may well have to be renamed since it has seen a sixty-five percent reduction of all of its glaciers! While we may not yet be able to determine the exact end results of these changes to our world’s environment, it’s reasonable to expect something major to be evident in the century ahead.

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: , , , ,

Computers and Your Child

November 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Beginning kindergarten in this millenium is very different from what it was even twenty years ago.  Children today are much more aware of the adult world around them, they are much more sophisticated and certainly they are more aware of technology and the internet than was imaginable even a few years ago when they were born.  It becomes essential to take these changes into consideration as a child approaches the first day of school, because there is really no part of his or her life that will be unaffected by computers and technology.

You can begin by visiting the school and talk to the child’s teacher. Understand that it’s not a matter of a school forcing students to learn about cyberspace.  Schools are simply utilizing the internet to teach children, since students begin school already acquainted with computers and the world wide web.  In most any kindergarten class, there are dozens of computers, giving students access to the internet and allowing them to use the internet for anything from research to communications to playing games — even exploring the galaxies.

Much is written today about the dangers of the internet. These concerns are certainly real, and many times accurate reflect a particular situation. But the internet also offers tremendous resources to educators, and a savvy teacher will take advantage of what the internet offers, taking students to wonderful new places using safe and carefully prepared web sites that enhance education.

It’s important to be aware of what your child already knows about computers and the internet. If you allow your child access to a computer at home, and permission to wander around the internet, she may have been exposed to much more than you ever planned.  Initiating a conversation with your child or by sitting at the computer and exploring some basic web sites together, you can gauge her level of skill and knowledge.  In this context, there may be times you as the parent will be teaching her as the child and then roles may reverse and she will be the teacher and you the student learning things that even very young children already know about the online world.

Be sure when you begin to allow your child access to the internet that you have also put protections in place.  Create a protected, specific account on your computer just for your child and make sure that it is heavily restricted. There are excellent tools available (“net nannies”) that protect children from accidentally going to sites they should not see. You can even set up a set list of restricted web sites to protect them further.

Helping your child build savvy internet search skills will jump start him or her into the modern world of school.  Other computer skills will also assist in developing higher efficiency, even in this very basic level of schooling at kindergarten.  If you open the world of email and IMing to your child — on kid safe web sites where conversations are with other children only, a five year old will actually learn typing skills through these online conversations with other kids.

Another tool to consider is an office suite; an important tool set to begin teaching your student, even in elementary school. Learning to use the powerful resources of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint will give your child ways to complete school assignments. And because they are on the computer they will think it’s more fun — and it’s so much more efficient than the old pencil and notebook method.

By thinking like a twenty-first century parent, you can begin as early as their kindergarten year to see your child’s school experience as one that will be greatly influenced by proficient computer skills and the internet.  By effectively equipping your child to be ready to use those tools from day one at kindergarten, your child will begin school farther ahead and be better equipped to achieve greater success throughout the education process.

Filed Under: Children, Computers and Technology, Parenting Tagged With: , , , ,