Frugal Holiday Ideas - entertainment, gifts and greeting

The bells are jingling, the candles are burning, and the budgets are straining.

You can have a great holiday without breaking the budget. Check out two recent articles I wrote for Bargain Babe.

• Gifts that keep giving - The best gifts are ones that last all year long. In this post, I give some ideas and links to gift ideas such as Theater Extra subscriptions for practically free theater tickets and Paperback Swap accounts.
  

• Entertaining out of town guests - Here are ideas to help you to entertain your out of town guests, especially if those guests include kids.

What are your gift ideas?

How to buy an air conditioner

It’s HOT and you blew it by ignoring my advice to buy an air conditioner during the winter. Before you make an impulse buy, do a bit of mathematics for best results.

The first thing you need to do is measure the space that you want to cool. You need to know the square footage, which is easy to figure out. Just measure the floor. Measure in one direction and then measure in the other direction. Then multiply the two numbers. Ta-da! Square footage.

Now take your square footage and multiply that by 35. That will give you a general idea of what SIZE air conditioner to buy. That doesn’t mean how big in inches. It means how big in BTUs – British Thermal Units.

Every window air conditioner has a cooling capacity number that ranges from about 5,000 to 18,000 BTUs. (Larger systems are usually rated in tons of cooling with a ton being equal to 12,000 BTUs.) The higher the BTU value, the stronger the air conditioner is. BTUs determine how much cooling the unit can deliver in an hour. Too little BTUs and you won’t get cooled off. Too many BTUs and you will waste energy and MONEY – yikes!

For those of you living in high humidity areas here is a bit more insight: Many people buy an air conditioner that is too large, thinking it will provider better cooling. However, an over-sized air conditioner is actually less effective — and wastes energy at the same time. Air conditioners remove both heat and humidity from the air. If the unit is too large, it will cool the room quickly, but only remove some of the humidity. This leaves the room with a damp, clammy feeling. A properly sized unit will remove humidity effectively as it cools.

Once you determine your BTU need (square footage multiplied by 35), make sure that you make adjustments for room location and heat load:

* If the room is shaded, reduce the BTUs by 10%
* If the room is very sunny, increase the BTUs by 10%
* If the air conditioner is in the kitchen, add 4,000 BTUs
* If the room is going to be occupied by more than 2 people most of the time, add 600 BTUs per person

Another thing to consider is EER, which stands for Energy Efficiency Ratio.” Air conditioners’ EERs usually range from 8.2 to 10.5. The higher the number, the more efficient the machine and the more expensive to buy, but cheaper to operate. It’s a numbers game.

OK, so now that you know what size air conditioner you need, look on Craigslist. If you can’t find what you are looking for there, check out one of the big box warehouse stores like Sam’s Club, Costco, or BJ’s. They have competitive prices and their return policies are fabulous. Don’t buy an air conditioner online because the shipping cost will be enormous.

When installing your window air conditioner, use a window that is in the shade. Ensure that there is space around the inside and outside for air flow. In other words, don’t put the air condition up against the back of your couch or right up against a bush outside. Insulate where the window and air conditioner meet to make sure there is no air leakage around the unit and the window. Make sure that you clean the filters on a regular basis as this will increase the efficiency and life of your air conditioner.

OK, those are my tips. Good luck and stay cool.

How to get discount theater tickets

I love The Theater and I go as often as I can. I’m not sitting in the high priced seats, but I’ve learned to get great tickets at equally great discounts. I like to sit in the front row of the cheapest seats. If I can’t get the front row, then I get the back row because I can stand up or sit on something if there is a head in my way. I’ve found that the cheapest seats (especially in a small venue) are almost as good as the most expensive seats. I always make sure that everyone in my party has their own pair of binoculars so you can really see up close.

Here are some other ways to see fabulous theater at bargainista prices:

• Wait until the last minute and then use discount ticket sites such as tkts for New York and Goldstar for Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, DC Metro, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, Orange County, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle.
• Volunteer or work at the theater. I’ve always thought working as an usher at a very good theater was just the coolest job. The pay isn’t great, but you get to see some of the best actors in action.
• Group ticket sales. For some theaters, a group is as few as 10 people. Groups get excellent discounts and sometimes the person who organizes it gets a free ticket.
• See theater that is less well known. TheaterExtras is a seat-filling audience development organization that gives complimentary tickets in New York and Los Angeles to its members. For the price of a Broadway ticket, you can get practically free tickets all year. There are also special savings for members of a theatrical union, student or senior citizen. Indicate that I referred you (bobbisbargains) and I’ll get a little credit as well.
• Check to see if your city is part of the Artsopolis Network, which provides listings of free local events and discount tickets. Some of the cities that are included are Boston, Phoenix, Nashville, Flint, Grand Forks and Philadelphia. Sorry New York and Los Angeles – no site for you, but you have plenty of other cool sites.

No matter how you do it, go to the theater and support the arts. Do you know of other ways to get great deals on theater and entertainment venues?

Free full length movies on YouTube

Looking for a movie on a site that you know won't give you a virus along with entertainment?

YouTube has added a movie component. Now you can watch movies on YouTube. Some are free and some are rentals. The selection isn't the greatest right now, but there are a few that interest me: My Date with Drew, The Best of the Three Stooges, and Undiscovered.

I am sure that YouTube Movies is going to grow into something we can't recall how we lived without.

Where to do you watch movies online? Share in the comments section.

25 uses for coffee filters

I received the following list of 25 uses for coffee filters as an email with no known author. This list is just too good not to pass on. So,if you are the author, please let me know and I'll credit you. Meanwhile, check out this list of uses for something most of us have in our cupboard. (My favorite is #10 - what a great idea!)

Coffee filters .... Who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing even the large ones.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome.... Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters..

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease..

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.

17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews..

18. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.

19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.

20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.

21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.

23. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book...

25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.

Oh yes, you can also use them to make coffee.

Do you have an everyday item that you repurpose?

Great book talks about Bobbi's Bargains

Several months ago I had the pleasure of getting interviewed by the lovely Evelyn Sacks. She was doing research on a book about "How to get even more out of your child's day for less."

I had a great time talking with her and sharing some of my bargain viewpoints and tips. (see pages 13, 14 & 94)

Today I received my copy of the book in the mail. It's SUCH a cool book and three whole pages talk about Bobbi's Bargains and my ideas and tips.

I'll be reading the book this weekend while I am at the California Homeschool Network Family Expo where I will be talking about Budgets and Bargains. I'll write more about the book later, but I just wanted to do a little "whoopee" and let you know about the book.

How the little things add up

Budget Planner - Mint.com

Nifty little gadget to see how your spending adds up. Click on one of the side tabs and enter the amount of times per week/month you spend on this item. Watch it add up.

If the above picture is too small for you to see, then go here.

Even if you don't spend on these EXACT items, well... you'll get the idea.