On a budget? Of course, everybody is hoarding their money like greedy squirrels collecting nuts for the winter.

But that doesn't mean we can't spend a little? Splurge just once in a while? Decorate the house a bit? Give a gift without breaking a sweat?

How about gifts under $10. That's $10 AUD, not USD, which means its even cheaper due to the exchange rate. Let's celebrate these gorgeous gifts and leave the recession blues behind!!

Magnetic Memo Board Calendar - $9.95*

I love this. It's so simple, yet so practical. Large enough to display your favourite photos and important notes to remember...

Like "Exercise Today - No excuses!"

Soft Family Training Set - $9.95*

I don't quite know why this is called a "Soft Family Training Set". Perhaps it's for soft families...

I would definitely be using the hand weights for my 1-2km walks. I do like the idea of a skipping rope for extra cardio...

Saturday Night Live DVD Box Set $9.95*

If I watch another news bulletin about recession/depression/house prices/banks etc I will throw the damn telly out the window.

I don't know about you but I need more than ever to laugh right now...

Although the way things are going it might be a maniacal cackle rather than a demure giggle...

Buddha Figurine Outdoor Indoor - $7.95*

What do you do when the stock market has gone southwards, the news reports disaster after disaster, and people are starting to fray at the edges? You could go postal but...

Perhaps what we really need is to turn off our fraught brains and reflect...

Turn off the TV, cancel your newspaper subscription, stop watching the stock market on the internet and sit quietly in the garden. How would Buddha approach the current economic crisis? This can be the contemplation for the day...

technorati tags: frugal shopping gifts under $10 special deals


You might also be interested in this offer, it seems that the guys at SurveyDollar are now paying people to take surveys. They are offering two special free bonuses including a copy of "Project Payday" and if you sign up now you can get instant unlimited access to a list of paid survey companies.

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K...

There are some changes going on at Entrecard, least of which is the "above the fold" rule.

The rule was proposed that if your Entrecard widget does not appear above the fold (that is, without needing to scroll down at all), your account would then be in violation.

Thankfully, the rule has been amended to the "one page scroll" rule.  This means that you are in compliance if your Entrecard widget appears after one page scroll.  I'm not sure what effect the "above the fold" line would have created had they not amended it to a more sensible criterion.

I have a feeling some will be leaving after the recent changes are implemented.  I'm not sure that I am absolutely comfortable with a "dob in a fellow blogger" Gestapo-type system of reward. Get someone reported and get credits!  Get someone deleted and get thousands of credits!!  It's not good mojo, good karma or good Feng Shui for that matter, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The system will be converting to a real cash economy - I will be interested to see how this turns out.  You basically exchange your credits for cash and begin to sell ads on your widget. As I understand it, Entrecard will then pay you to buy your credits back.  You can also sell credits through your dashboard.  Hmm.  Clear as mud.   I would like to learn more and see how this will actually work.

It will be interesting to find out what others think about these changes at Entrecard.

technorati tags: entrecard rules change TOS blogging

I've always found that stainless steel is a great medium for utensils and save hours of washing time. It makes sense that stainless steel would apply itself to other regions of the house other than the kitchen.

The garden is the perfect place to install stainless steel objects as they will not rust. Some people like the rust effect in a garden. I am not one of those people. Rust-free, low maintenance and attractive, the silver matching well with the green of the garden.

On the indoor front (did I just mix metaphors there?), you can incorporate stainless steel objects to offer an artistic and whimsical touch to your home furnishings.

Such as these dramatic candle holders and wine rack:

I've also found a great way to mess with people's heads while decorating your house:

Put this stainless steel sign in your kitchen or living room...

And this beautiful stainless steel ashtray underneath it!

Silly? Yes? Hours of fun? Probably!

...or is that just me? Hmmm...

But sensibly, there are some significant savings to be had on the site at present (up to 15%), so it is worth checking out for a bit of a browse!

technorati tags: stainless steel decoration utensils

I am so impressed with myself...

You know it's weird. I can run a blog, make a reasonable amount of cash, etc. etc. yet I can't seem to successfully sell an item on Ebay.

I bought this Philips mp3 player for around $60 a few months ago. After buying a newer and better Creative MuVo mp3 player, I decided to sell the Philips player on Ebay.

The item has now sold, and the tally is as follows:

Purchase Price: $60.00

Sell Price on Ebay: $2.99

Total Profit: -$57.01

Wow...Donald Trump, look out!!

Perhaps I should have just donated it to charity.

technorati tags: ebay selling entrepreneur donald trump

A lot of bloggers are moving their blogs from the main blog providers to become self-hosted. Sometimes a self-hosted blog with its own domain can rank higher in the search engines and open up a lot of opportunities for bloggers. I have not made the move yet, I am still deciding which web hosting service can offer me the best deal. It is a decision for the individual blogger, and there are factors to consider such as:
1. Page Rank - you will initially lose your page rank, and it will build up again over time. For many it is worth it. For my PR4 blog, I am hesitant at this stage. For others it will be an easy decision to make.
2. Alexa will need to be recalculated from scratch.
3. When you move the blog to your self-hosted domain, it will be 100% yours. Nobody can delete it for violation of terms of service and you are basically the owner with no drawbacks.
4. You will need to resubmit to Technorati - your authority will begin again. If your blog is relatively new, it is a good idea to make the move early to avoid having to build up these stats again.
5. You will need to forward all your traffic to your new address. Some people will keep their old blog running and direct all traffic to a new blog that begins where the old one left off. This has been an acceptable method of moving for some bloggers.
If you are wanting to move your current blog, continue an older blog on a new hosting service, or start a new blog altogether, you can compare the cheapest web hosting rates and features at webhostinggeeks, which has been running reviews and comparisons of webhosts since 2004.

Many of the current web hosting services are relatively cheap (ie. many are offering webhosting for around $5 or under per month) and some include unlimited lifetime domain names, which is very handy if you have the perfect domain name and don't want to ever give it up or renew after 2 years. For those who do not have a lot of site building experience, many of these companies offer email and phone support to help with set up and site maintenance. The site currently features the 2008 winner for blog hosting - Bluehost - offering $4.95 per month and free setup, domain hosting and unlimited storage. For those who have next to no web programming experience, there is a drag-and-drop site builder and 24/7 support.
The webhosts are rated by a five star system:

You can submit your own ratings of your current web host and share your experiences and information to let people know which are the most reputable and which are the webhosts to avoid. By reading others' reviews you will get a more complete picture of each webhost and the services experienced from the customer's viewpoint.

technorati tags: webhosting domain name blog self-hosting