Best Free Apps!

The following is a guest post from my good friend Stephanie, who blogs (just starting out!) at Backbends and Bookends.  Since I'm still in the land of the dumb phone users, I couldn't do the Blogathon Theme Day #1, so Steph took it on for me!

Just a few of my favorite FREE apps....

Before I start, I have to make note that I don’t play a lot of games on my phone and I delete an app that has just sat on my phone unused for a month.  I don’t like clutter - even the app kind.  Here are a few that have survived the ax:  

Overdrive

I can always have an ebook and audiobook on my phone.  Sweet.  I have become increasingly happy with Overdrive, especially after having issues with playaways randomly stopping on me and the tediousness of putting every disc of an audiobook on the computer to put on my phone (c’mon, everyone does it....).  It’s quick, easy and I never get caught bookless.

Zinio

Recent add to my phone after hubby’s library acquired Zinio.  With Zinio, you peruse through various magazines, add them to your account and get them added to your phone with every new issue.  Then you download them and enjoy.  It can be a little tricky reading an article on the phone, but Zinio has a handy “text-only” button that simply puts the article into text so you don’t have to worry about zoom in and sliding all over the place to read it.  You can purchase magazines as well, but I’ve been very happy with the selections the library has.  If your library doesn’t offer this service I would strongly encourage you to suggest it!

Duolingo

For years I have been wanting to brush up on my Spanish skills.  I stumbled across Duolingo and have enjoyed working through the levels and skill sets.   You get a variety of exercise types - listening, speaking, vocabulary, spelling and translating.  The vocabulary and activities is appropriate and the graphics are cute.

American Red Cross

I was taking my CPR/First Aid Certification class earlier this week, and the instructor suggested checking out their apps.  I downloaded the First Aid app and was surprised about how much information was in it.  It has basically every lesson as well as information on preparing for countless disasters and finding shelters and more.  They also have a separate earthquake, tornado, hurricane and shelter app and said they are working on more.  

Untapped
This is actually my husbands favorite app and is a lot of fun if you and your friends enjoy beer.  You get a status symbol based upon how many unique beers you drink and compete with friends to see who can drink more unique label beers.  He and his friends are very competitive and enjoy discovering new unique IPA’s and the like.  

Work Perks

Almost every job comes with some kind of non-monetary incentive.  This may be something that the employer uses to woo and keep employees like free or discounted coffee at Starbucks (if you work there), an on-site gym, partnership deals with local businesses that get you a discount, etc.  Over the course of my work life, I've gotten some pretty sweet perks--even when the job was lousy.

When I worked in television--a job with the one-two punch of both lousy pay AND terrible hours, the station I worked for established an ad trade with a local women's-only gym so all employees who wanted it, could have a 1/2 price membership (there was another gym for the guys).  The took the money right out of our paychecks, and we didn't even have to think about it.

The university where I still work occasionally has tons of perks.  There's a faculty/staff dining hall that is swanky, has awesome food and is incredibly cheap.  All employees who want can have free tickets to concerts and theatre events on campus--I got eight free tickets to Carolina Chocolate Drops a few years back, tickets that retailed at $20 each.  All employees has access to the incredibly nice gym on campus, if you don't mind working out next to super fit 18-year-olds.

I worked at a coffee shop for years where we got all the free coffee and beverages we could consume.

My current job at the library means that I get first crack at some of the hot new items, I don't have to pay late fines and I can totally ignore the usual 25 hold limit (it's pretty sweet).

I have to say, possibly my favorite work perk of all time is the lost and found.

Since I've been in libraries for a long time, I've become numbed to all of the valuable things that people just lose and then never bother to look for.  Things like glasses, car keys (how do you get home!?!?), flashdrives, a single mitten--this stuff is not particularly exciting, but every now and then you strike gold.

Recently, I've had a bit of luck with the lost and found at work.  Someone dropped a Sephora gift card and then never claimed it.  We obviously hang onto things for quite a while, but after a reasonable amount of time has passed, you know no one is coming back for it.  I took the gift card, worth $27, and sold it to a friend for $20.  Recently people have been leaving a lot of bracelets.  There's a Rhode Island company called Alex + Ani, and they make bangle charm bracelets that people go nuts for.  Personally, I don't get the appeal, but people pay almost $30 for a single bangle, and then proceed to fill up their arms.  Perhaps it is because their arms are so full that people keep losing them in the library because I've gotten four so far.  One had a co-worker's initial on it, so she took it, the other three I sold on craigslist for $15 each.

A while back, a friend went through her work's lost and found and uncovered a pile of Dave and Buster's Power Cards.  We took them, and had a lovely afternoon playing skee ball.

So perhaps the Lost & Found isn't a traditional work perk, but  I have had some seriously good luck over the years.  I've also thrown away a lot of crap too, don't get me wrong, but every now and then you find something good.  The thrill of the hunt!

So What Did I Save?

Articles always tell you that you can save something like $500 a year by doing things like making coffee at home instead of buying it, but who really tracks that?  I mean, money saved isn't really income, so unless you take that amount and consciously do something with it, you don't really notice.  For the month of May, I decided to take a look at where and how much I saved, and it's kind of an interesting list.  I'm not going to do anything with this info, besides feel a little bit smug, but it's a nice reminder of all those little tweaks that net real savings.

Yoga:
The yoga studio I go to is rather expensive and I would never be able to afford it normally.  The best priced package is $100/month, and since I often only go once a week, that would just not be worth it.  I used to buy a 20 class card for $250, which is a lot of cash to pony up at once, even if it is the best value.  What they also do, however, is a scholarship program for those who love the yoga but can't quite afford it, and a work trade program.  I'm a part of the work trade program, which means that after my 10am Monday class, I stay late and clean the studio.  For the cost of 30 minutes spent vacuuming, washing towels and swiffering, I get unlimited free yoga.
Savings: $100

Eating from the Pantry:
Since we're moving, we have barely bought groceries for the month of May.  Instead, I've been concentrating on only eating food we already have because that's less to move.  Yes, I've had some strange meals this month-- frozen pizza with baked beans comes to mind, but I don't really care.  It's all food I like, after all, or I wouldn't have bought it.  I've uncovered foods tucked away in the deep freeze that I forgot I ever bought, and I'm rather proud of my ingenuity.  This is something that I try to do (or at least think about trying to do) a couple times a year, but I always kind of stall out at the beginning of the project and don't make much headway.  This time, I kept telling myself that it made no sense to buy more stuff just to move it twice.  As a result, the only bread we've had in the house for the past two weeks has been pita bread or English muffins, and I've learned that you can just put EVERYTHING on an English muffin and life goes on just fine.

Savings: $200

Pizza Groupon
In addition to eating from the pantry, I have been subbing in the occasional takeout pizza because, let's face it, sometimes a bag of frozen veg with a side of baked beans and  Trader Joe's frozen dumplings just doesn't sound appealing.  What's better than takeout pizza?  Abundant takeout pizza subsidized by a groupon.  I bought two groupons for $15 each that redeem for $30.  The place I bought them from makes huge pizzas, so we got two days of leftovers out of it.

Savings $30

Dinner Coupon 
Similarly, the other night we wanted to get out of the house and eat somewhere moderately fancy.I dug into my coupon caddy and came up with a gift certificate for $50 that I only paid $25 for.  We were able to have a nice dinner for far less than we normally would have paid.

Savings $25

Biking
the weather lately has been perfect for biking.  It's been a bit cold for actually doing stuff outdoors, but I prefer it chilly when I'm pedaling, so I biked a lot this month.  It got to the point, after a while, where I was actually resentful of the days I needed to drive.  I love my bike.

Savings: ~$10

Can Redemption
Massachusetts gives you back $.05 for cans and bottles.  We had a ton of cans in the basement because we're lazy about cashing them in, but since we need to get rid of them anyway, I sucked it up and made the trip.  Four bags of cans equals $18 toward the purchase of delicious beer that I would have bought anyway.
Savings $18

Car Insurance
I always pay my car insurance in six-month chunks, which saves me $51 off the price of the policy.  I also reduced my premium amount owed by $53 by using that Big Brother device that monitored my driving habits, and I dropped my coverage to liability only since my car is pretty old and not worth much anymore.  I still think the amount I pay is too high, but at least I'm saving $106 every time I renew, and it's about time I started shopping around for a new provider.
Savings $106

Total Savings $489

Not bad!  Of course, I have to turn around and give that money right to the government in the form of  student loan payment, but better than blowing it all on hats!  What other areas of savings have people found?  I'm sure there's something I'm overlooking, but it never, ever hurts to ask.

May Bonus Money

May was an expensive month, and, unfortunately June will be too.  In May, I had to put down the security deposit on my new apartment, and in June I have to pay rent on two places *fist shake*.

However, somehow the universe managed to align itself in such a way that I actually almost broke even on my extra expenses for May.  I don't normally track bonus money like some other bloggers do, because I really don't make that much, but for an expensive month, it's nice to take a look at all the little extras that (thankfully) added up.

Bonus one: Selling Stuff

Since I'm cleaning out my closet and packing things, I'm also doing a lot of purging.  In the month of May, I managed to sell my rowing machine, treadmill, a purse, several bracelets and a gift card netting me a cool $250.  Unfortunately, in the case of the treadmill, rower and purse, I sold them for what I paid for them, so it was really a breakeven, but I'm still looking at it as a positive!  Especially since the purse was barely used, and I had been planning to just drop it off at the thrift store.  Now my friend Danie is carrying it around and posted this update on my fb page: "I have my whole day (extra shoes and file folders) in this bag. And it's not bursting at the seams. It's perfect for me. That is all."

I am bumming hard about my beloved treadmill though, but at least I know that my friend's mom is using and enjoying it.

Bonus two: Blog Income
I barely make any money on this blog, which is fine because I don't do it for money, I do it for love!  However, it is nice to make a little extra every now and then because that's the money I put in my travel fund.  For the month of May, I made a cool $40, which is a happy little treat for me.

Bonus three: Extra Shifts
At one of my jobs, one of the regular staff quit and someone went on vacation, so I was able to pick up three extra shifts for the month.  Two of them were Sunday shifts, which were time-and-a-half, and one was a Tuesday where I took a vacation day from my regular job (I had more days than would carry over at the end of the fiscal year), so I got double paid! It kind of sucks, because this money is all going toward car insurance and not something fun, but at least I don't have to worry about where I'm going to get the car insurance money.  Extra shifts means about en extra $300.

Bonus four: Extra Paycheck
May and November are three paycheck months.  Obviously this isn't really bonus money, since it's just a paycheck at the end of a two-week period, but it actually is extra awesome because when we get three paychecks, they take less out of the third one!  My health and dental insurance come out of my first paycheck of the month, my 401k and union dues come out of the second.  Since those are already taken out, we get more take-home pay in the magical third check something to the tune of an extra $100.

All totaled for the month of May, my bonus money was $690, which is not quite enough to cover the security deposit, but quite a lovely chunk of change nonetheless.  Huzzah for bonus money!

Schedule of Events!

It's day one of the blogathon, and as you read this, I'm likely moving boxes into my new apartment and cursing stairs.  So, unfortunately, this entry is a bit of a cop-out, but also a chance to tell you, gentle reader, what to expect in the next month.  During the month of the blogathon, there are theme days every now and then, some of them are fun, others are a bit ridiculous (remember my personal finance haiku?)  There are a lot of things going on over the month, and you can see the full list here, but I mostly focus on the theme days.

June 5 - Theme Day #1. Participants are encouraged to write on the same theme: My 5 favorite apps. The post could be about apps you use for writing — or keeping yourself away from distractions while writing — smartphone apps, or plugins or widgets that you use to run your blog. Don’t use apps? Find out about some that you’d be interested in trying and write about them, or ask friends for their recommendations.  Theme days don’t fit into everyone’s blogs, so it’s up to you whether or not you play along.

---I will not be participating in this theme day because I do not have a smart phone or iPad and am app-less!  If someone wants to contribute a guest post on this theme, that would rock!

June 17 - Theme Post Day #2. We’re trying something new for the second theme day — asking everyone to record and post a video. More and more video content is being posted on YouTube, websites and blogs — why get left behind? Don’t worry if you haven’t ever done a video blog post before. I’ll be sharing tips in a post on June 6 so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare. And remember, you don’t have to participate in theme days if it doesn’t fit your blog or comfort level.

--Hmm, another one I will not participating in.  Since I work with the public, and have had far too many creepy men express an inappropriate level of interest in me over the years, I do not put my face on the internet.  Also, I hate to be photographed, always have.

June 24 - Haiku Day. A day devoted to writing a three-line poem — who knew this simple throwback to grade-school English class could be so popular? Yet in the two years since we added it, it’s become one of the highlights of the month. Pick the topic of your choice and write about it in this Japanese poem form. Find out more about it on this how to write haiku page and read these haiku examples from a previous blogathon.

--I'm actually looking forward to this one!  Strangely, my  haiku post from two years ago was my most-read post up until I wrote about How to Do a Juice Fast Without Spending $150 on a Juicer.

June 30 – Word Cloud Day. Use Wordle or another word cloud tool to turn your words into a picture. If you’re not sure what a word cloud is or how to create one, read these instructions. Then go relax, your blogging work for the day — and month — is done. Participants who posted all 30 days will be able to collect an “I did it!” badge to display on their blogs. Watch for details on the WordCount Facebook page.

--Always a fun time.  Man, I can spend hours playing with wordle--it's nice to have an excuse!

What are you most looking forward to for the blogathon?

It May Help

I feel like for the last year or so, I've signed a petition every day.  Maybe I'm geting cranky in my old age, but when it comes to stuff that matters to me and there's a petition, I like to add my name to it.  So even if it makes a small difference, I encourage everyone to sign the petition asking the Senate to support Elizabeth Warren's Student Loan Fairness Act.  This is obviously very personal for me, and I know it is for many of my readers as well.  I don't want a handout-- these loans are my responsibility, but I just want to be able to actually pay them back!

Currently, three of my biggest loans have an interest rate of 6.5%, which means that even paying far more than the minimum every month, they barely reduce in amount.  My savings account has an interest rate of .75%.  It's a hamster wheel!!

Anyway, the petitition is here, and it explains more about what the bill would do, but here's the crux of it:

The underlying message of Senator Warren's legislation is powerful and to the point. We bailed out the big banks. Why then deny students who weren't responsible for wrecking our economy the same deal we give the banks? Students shouldn't be forced to pay interest rates almost nine times higher than the biggest banks get at the discount window at the Federal Reserve.³

Since 1999, the average student loan debt has increased by 511%.⁴ That's a five-fold increase in just 13 years! Student loans have now become "the 21st century version of indentured servitude."⁵ With unemployment still unacceptably high and millions of recent college graduates out of work or underemployed, the last thing we should be doing is making matters worse by letting their interest rate double, adding further financial stress on students and their families.

Blogathon Round Three!

I just got an email the other day telling me that June is Blogathon month!  Ack!  But that's actually a bit awesome as well.  June will be my first month in the "Year of Living Singly", which is also the year that I finally want to knuckle down and do a lot of writing.  Yes, it sounds cliche, but it's time to finish that novel!  Maybe this will even be the year that I finally do NANOWRIMO, so the best way to kick it off is clearly by doing the blogathon again.

Last year, I didn't quite make it, I missed it by like two days, but in 2011 I was successful!  We shall see what happens this year.

Anyone else who would like to participate can register here: http://michellerafter.com/the-wordcount-blogathon/

Which Costs More!?

My rent is increasing.

Of course it is, I'm living alone for the first time in four years.  Thankfully, I now have a grownup job, which means that I can afford to pay a little more.  I'm also not as picky about climate control, I eat cheaper, and I plan to take this year of living singly as a great way to get back on track with my writing, which is the cheapest hobby there is.

To take a bit of the sting and sticker shock out of knowing that I'm paying a whole apartment's worth of rent myself, I've devised a game called: Which costs more!?  I will use this as a tool to remind myself, that really, honestly and truly, I'm not going to wake up broke in six months.

Rent:
Yes, my rent will cost more because it will be paid for entirely by me rather than split by the two of us, that's a given.  But, rent for my new apartment is cheaper than the place we're currently in, cheaper than lots of places I looked at, cheaper than cheap property in Turkey and cheaper than buying a house.

Internet:
Internet will cost me more because currently BF pays for it.  I'm hoping that my new downstairs neighbors and I might be able to share wireless, but I have to meet them first.

Heating/Cooling:
My new place has gas heat and new, well-sealed windows, and I am not getting an air conditioner (which I may regret).  I don't mind being a little cool in the winter and a little warm in the summer, so hopefully I can keep the climate control costs down.  Plus, I'm on the third floor, which should mean I get a piece of the heat action from the floors below me, and when the summer becomes unbearable, I'll go to the movies and/or take a cold bath for hours and hours.

Food:
I eat significantly less than BF, and I eat a lot cheaper (lentils are awesome!).  I'm keeping the deep freeze, so I can continue to do batch cooking and hopefully keep food costs down.  Presently, we're spending almost $400/month on groceries; I want to get that down to $200 or lower, and do more 'shop the pantry' months.

Alcohol:
I need to cut back on drinking anyway, and we tend to drink more when we're together.  Plus, I have low standards when it comes to quality, and low standards are cheap!

Household Misc:
This should be a bit cheaper for me as well.  I'm out of the house already 40 hours a week or more, and I'll just do what I always do: Use up every last little bit of everything, use more rags vs paper towels, occasionally take the ends of the toilet paper at work.  It's a lot easier to be crazy fastidious when you live alone, because it seems less crazy.

One thing I am looking forward to is an experiment in minimalism.  The plan is to just not have any more than I need, and to not spend on a bunch of new things to fill my space.  I may need to acquire some small furniture pieces, or a rug, but for the most part, I have everything I need, and that's a nice, solid feeling.

I Hate Moving

I moved around a lot when I was a kid.  If I'm remembering correctly, We moved when I was 1, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13--and then when I moved out to go to college, I hopped around a couple more times eventually moving to Rhode Island and moving twice within Providence.  Now I'm fixing to move into Providence apartment number three, and all I can do is think that I hate everything I own and can't bear the thought of packing and carrying it--even though I've had tons of offers of help from friends!

As much as I like to say I'm a minimalist (or have minimalist leanings), I have to accept the fact that I just have a lot of stuff and I don't even know where to begin.  I've done the thing where I boxed up all of my books and felt a tremendous feeling of satisfaction--for about a day, and now I don't know what else to do.

I've been going through my things, giving away DVDs, selling things, piling stuff in my trunk for dropoff at the thrift store, but my apartment is still mostly unpacked.  I reserved a truck for the large furniture items (http://www.anyvan.com/), I changed over my gas and electric, I'm eating up the food in the house, and freecycling things that are useful but that I don't use. But how do I actually pack the things that I use frequently?

I'm still living in my current place until the end of the month, and the moving day for the big items is the 2nd--though hopefully I can start bringing over carloads on the 1st.

Is anyone out there a super packer/mover who can give me some tips?  I have a tendency to just shut down mentally when faced with such an overwhelming and arduous task.  I just stare at the mess and tell myself that I'll deal with it later, then I complain to a co-worker who moved recently and she says "I started packing six months before I moved."  Cue the panic.

A More Zen Approach

I'm a pretty mellow person, at least, that's how I present myself to other people.  While I don't get caught up in a lot of time and energy consuming nonsense or personal drama, I do tend to get fixated on certain things--especially money things.  I've worked since I was 15, and I've worried about money since I was, I don't know, 8?  I think the first time I touched money I became acutely aware of the fact that all I could really do with it was spend it and then have none.

Since starting the job that I've now been at for about a year and a half, I've been lucky enough (after figuring out my budget) to sock away a decent amount of money--at least I've rebuilt my emergency fund from when I was unemployed.  I've also been able to pay a decent amount on my student loans and make a little bit of progress.  Certainly it's not as much progress as I'd like, but that's where my new zen approach comes in.

I've been obsessing--about money, work, everything to the point where it was really starting to make everything shitty.  I've had a lot of work drama in the last few months, none of it my fault, but despite my best efforts, I really let it get to me.  Add to that the regular stress of money, and the fact that money seemed like something more under my control, and I became quite unpleasant.

The problem is, even though you have a plan on paper, real life doesn't always work out exactly as you plan, and then that adds yet another layer of stress because failing to meet a goal is stressful.

So I've decided I'm all done with that.

I will no longer:

• Mentally take my work home with me, because they don't pay me enough to do that, and I'm not important enough to have that level of stress.
• Take responsibility for things that are not my responsibility.
• Try to pay as much as possible on my student loans and obsessively check my balance five times a day.  I'm paying a set amount each month, and no more.
• Say no to fun things because I need to max out my Roth IRA.
• Obsessively schedule workouts so I'm too tired to do anything but run and recover.

I will continue to:

• Pick up extra work shifts
• Use coupons occasionally
• Seek out free things
•  Put money into savings and IRA and watch my balances grow, but not freak out when it happens gradually
• Ride my bike to work, the store and the farmer's market

I will finally:

• Spend more time writing
• Hem that stupid dress that's been sitting on my desk for months
• Keep a neat and organized house
• Stop accumulating STUFF

It's actually pretty relaxing to just stop trying to control everything.  I wasn't being successful at it anyway, so really, just saying hands off is kind of nice.  I'm much happier when I'm not making myself miserable, which I really should have figured out a while ago.  It seems so simple.