Growing Pains

DebtFree4ever is growing. Looking at the stats on sitemeter.com this month is already the second best month in the past year. October thus far has come in first with 7,554 unique visitors. November came in third with 3,570. Thus far on this 15th day of January (as you can see in the image here) we have received 4,324 unique visitors. If these numbers hold up January 2011 will see more visitors then October. Already there has been more visitors then last January (2,289) and February (1,696) combined (a total of 3,985).




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Freebies Saturday - 1/15/11

It is time once again for this weeks Freebie Saturday. This makes the 10th weekly edition of this feature. I make every effort to make sure that the freebies I list are real free offers. If you have to answer a survey and then go to through 50 pages of ads to get the so called free item, I consider that spam. That is why I make every effort to make sure that those websites are never included in my list.

Fill out the form under this link to receive a free sample of Crest 3D Whitestrips.

Try Amazon Video On Demand With a Free Hit Movie. This offer expire March 31, 2011.

You can get your free sample of Cream of Wheat Cinnabon by clicking the link in the bottom right corner that says Want to Get a Free Sample of Cream of Wheat Cinnabon? Fill out the freebie form and click Submit to request your free sample.
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Thank You

I want to give a great big Thank You to how to make $1,000/month taking surveys ebook for becoming a sponsor on this blog through my fiverr gig.







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JMC Ministries Newsletter

JMC Ministries Christian/Gospel / Christian / Instrumental Members: Jeremy and Miranda Caverley  > PLAY SONGS      > SHARE SONGS     Share  Dear Friends, It is the end of the week and we have survived....barely.  Yesterday while I was visiting my Grandparents jeremy calls me and tells me he had an accident.  First thing I'm thinking is, oh Lord he has been in a car accident!  But thankfully no. what happened was Jeremy was leaviing one of the buildings at the college and when he went to walk down a set of steps he slipped on a patch of ice and fell down the steps.  He bruised his tailbone and lower back and also scraped up his right arm pretty bad.  The thing that upset me the most was that the people walking past him never offered to help him while he was lying on the ground in pain!  But after a few minutes he managed to get himself up and to the car and drive himself the 5 minutes to our home.  I immediately came home to find him laid up on the couch hardly able to walk.  So I got him some ice to put on his back and he gave some pain medicine. This morning he has no bruising on his tailbone or back and is able to get around easier than last night.  I am hoping that he won't make this an everyday thing of scaring me out of my wits and hurting himself. This week has also been a tough one due to the fact that it was 2 years this week that my Papaw (my mom's dad) passed away unexpectedly even though it has been 2 years the pain is still there when the 10th of January comes around for the entire family.  My Papaw was a great Christian Man and one of the reason to why I am doing this ministry with Jeremy today.  to really explain just what my Papaw was like you have to watch this video by Janet Paschal "Another Soldiers Coming Home" This song was played at his funeral and there was no other song that fit Papaw here is the link www.youtube.com/watch may it bless you and comfort you like it does me and I know my Papaw is in heaven and I'll see him again. Jeremy and I have been busy working on our Editorial Eternal Flame News With so much happening in our world today, it has kept us busy sharing news from all around the world check out some of our recent posts at www.eternalflamenews.blogspot.com On our JMC LIVE Show site at www.livestream.com/jmc_ministries we have reached over 61,000 Views in less than 2 years and we thank all of you who have supported and continue to support the JMC LIVE Show.  Last Friday we shared about thousands of birds and fish that have died across the world and how it ties in with End time Prophecy in Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew and Revelation.  In the second half of the show we talked about how one part time bar tender/seminary student has started having church in a Bar where people can drink while the preacher preaches and there is supposedly nothing wrong with that. To listen to last weeks show visit our podcast at www.jmclive.podomatic.com  Jeremy and I are also in the works to do an online concert to feature my original music I have written and try to give a little more focus on our music which seems many times to take a back seat to all the other aspects of our Ministry.  We will keep you posted as to when we will be doing the live online broadcast concert.  We don't get the opportunity to go and share our music ministry at churches and other venues as much as we would like, and we hope this will be a way to share with you and others just what JMC is able to do for Jesus Christ. And before we end this weeks newsletter I want to let you know we have a new Diversity Puppets Video up on our youtube site.  It is a Christmas skit entitle "Witty Bitty Baby Boy" you can watch it at www.youtube.com/diversitypuppets hope you and your children enjoy it.  Hope all of you are doing well and remember if you should have a prayer need please feel free to write us and we will be more than happy to pray for you and also have our prayer team pray for you.  God Bless JMC Ministries Jeremy and MIranda Caverley UPCOMING SHOWS JMC LIVE Chillicothe, OH Fri Jan 14 11 08:00 PM   JMC LIVE Chillicothe, OH Fri Jan 21 11 08:00 PM   JMC LIVE Chillicothe, OH Fri Jan 28 11 08:00 PM   > See More / Details  ReverbNation       Myspace       Facebook       Artist Website       Other

Turn off all lights when not in a room

Recently I started posting a more in depth look at each of the frugal tips. Over the next few weeks I will publish the frugal tips that I have collected. Please note that not every tip will work for everyone. Chose as many of the tips that will work with you and your family and start implementing them. Today we will proceed with Tip #6 Turn off all lights when not in a room.

This one we all have heard for years. There was even a time when people would claim it would cost more to turn the light off and turn it back on if they were gone only a couple of minutes. But today we are going to look at the facts. What is true and what isn't?

First, the cost effectiveness of when to turn off lights depends on the type of lights.

Incandescent Lighting

Incandescent lights (or bulbs) should be turned off whenever they are not needed. Nearly all types of incandescent light bulbs are fairly inexpensive to produce and are relatively inefficient. Only about 10%–15% of the electricity that incandescent lights consume results in light—the rest is turned into heat. Turning the light(s) off will keep a room cooler, an extra benefit in the summer. Therefore, the value of the energy saved by not having the lights on will be far greater than the cost of having to replace the bulb.
- EnergySavers.gov

It absolutely doesn't affect the lamp life of an incandescent bulb very much at all. So it makes sense to always turn them off when you a leave room, even if it's only for a few minutes.

Fluorescent Lighting

The cost effectiveness of turning fluorescent lights off to conserve energy is a bit more complicated. For most areas of the United States, a general rule-of-thumb for when to turn off a fluorescent light is if you leave a room for more than 15 minutes, it is probably more cost effective to turn the light off. Or in other words, if you leave the room for only up to 15 minutes, it will generally be more cost effective to leave the light(s) on. In areas where electric rates are high and/or during peak demand periods, this period may be as low as 5 minutes.

Fluorescent lights are more expensive to buy, and their operating life is more affected by the number of times they are switched on and off, relative to incandescent lights. Therefore, it is a cost trade-off between saving energy and money by turning a light off "frequently" and having to replace the bulbs "more" frequently. This is because the reduction in usable lamp life due to frequent on/off switching will probably be greater than the benefit of extending the useful life of the bulb from reduced use. By frequent we mean turning the light off and on many times during the day.

It is a popularly held belief that fluorescent lights use a "lot" of energy to get started, and thus it is better not to turn them off for "short" periods. There is an increase in power demand when a light is switched on, and the exact amount of this increase depends on the type of ballast and lamp. The ballast provides an initial high voltage for starting the lamp and regulates the lamp current during operation. There are three basic types of ballasts: magnetic (of which there are energy-efficient and not so energy-efficient types), cathode-disconnect, and electronic. All types can operate two or more lamps simultaneously. There are three main methods that are used in a lamp's ballast to start the lamp: preheat, rapid-start, and instant-start.

In any case, the relatively higher "inrush" current required lasts for half a cycle, or 1/120th of a second. The amount of electricity consumed to supply the inrush current is equal to a few seconds or less of normal light operation. Turning off fluorescent lights for more than 5 seconds will save more energy than will be consumed in turning them back on again. Therefore, the real issue is the value of the electricity saved by turning the light off relative to the cost of relamping a fixture. This in turn determines the shortest cost-effective period for turning off a fluorescent light.
- EnergySavers.gov

Yahoo Green helps explain it this way,

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, on the other hand, are a somewhat different story. Flicking them on and off repeatedly will affect how long they last, although, Rubinstein points out that the impact is minimal for most households.

How much flicking on and off is too much? The general consensus is that it's best to turn off CFLs when you are leaving for 15 minutes or longer. In fact, Energy Star recommends installing fluorescent bulbs in fixtures that are used for at least 15 minutes at time. So it doesn't make sense to use them in places where you'd need to switch them on and off constantly.

The rule of thumb is a little different when you're at the office, according to Rubinstein. Turn out fluorescent lighting when you're leaving for at least 5 minutes. The reason? Full-size fluorescent systems aren't as sensitive to frequent cycling as CFLs and won't impact the life of the bulb as much.
- Yahoo! Green

LED Lighting

I searched and searched but could not find anything on the web that talked about how this strategy affected LED bulbs. Perhaps because they are still to new. Still I would like to find a definitive answer for these types of bulbs as well.

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Frugal Tip: Reuse Food Containers

Recently I started posting a more in depth look at each of the frugal tips. Over the next few weeks I will publish the frugal tips that I have collected. Please note that not every tip will work for everyone. Chose as many of the tips that will work with you and your family and start implementing them. Today we will proceed with Tip #5 Reusing plastic food containers.

Reuse the plastic margarine, cottage cheese, etc, etc bowls to store leftover food in.


This is something I learned from my mom. It is a great way to save money. In stead of purchasing the plastic containers to store food in from the department store reuse the ones you empty of it's original contents. My mom was doing this before microwaves even came onto the scene.

Recently though there has been some warnings about using such containers in the microwave.

When food is wrapped in plastic or placed in a plastic container and microwaved, substances used in manufacturing the plastic (plasticizers) may leak into the food. In particular, fatty foods such as meats and cheeses cause a chemical called diethylhexyl adipate to leach out of the plastic. This certainly sounds scary, so it’s little wonder that a warning is making its way across the Web.
- Family Health Guide

That doesn't mean you can't use the containers for storage. It just means you can't use some of these containers for heating your food. Which a lot of people will dish their food onto their plates and then heat their plate of food. However, if you are one that would heat your food in the microwave using the same storage container, here are some important things to know.

If the container originally contained cold food or beverages that was not intended to be heated (margarine, butter, cream cheese, cottage cheese, water, etc) it is not safe to heat with.

Microwavable takeout dinner trays are formulated for one-time use only and will say so on the package.

Don’t microwave plastic storage bags or plastic bags from the grocery store.

Before microwaving food, be sure to vent the container: Leave the lid ajar, or lift the edge of the cover.

Don’t allow plastic wrap to touch food during microwaving because it may melt. Wax paper, kitchen parchment paper, or white paper towels are alternatives.

If you’re concerned about plastic wraps or containers in the microwave, transfer food to glass or ceramic containers labeled for microwave oven use.
- Family Health Guide

It is important to remember,

Plastic food containers are lightweight, durable, often transparent and cheap. Although the Food and Drug Administration assures us that it carefully approves only materials that are "safe for their intended use," there are serious concerns among consumers about using some approved plastics in your kitchen.
- E-how

Some plastics are fine for reusing. The best way to know for sure is to look on the bottom. That little (recycling) triangle has a number in it. If it is a #2 (HDPE or "high density polyethylene"), used for milk jugs, is considered safe. Likewise so is #4 (LDPE or "low density polyethylene"), used in some plastic wraps and sandwich bags, is likewise considered safe finally the same is true for #5 (PP or "polypropylene"), which yogurt tubs are made of, is considered safe for reuse.

However, Soda and water bottles are often #1, which is (PET or "polyethylene terephthalate"). Its safety is still being debated, and you should probably not reuse these bottles.
Vegetable oil bottles and plastic wrap are likely #3, which is (PVC or "polyvinyl chloride") should be avoided, as it contains phthalates. Phthalates may cause reproductive and development problems.

I hope this clears up the myths and facts around reusing plastic food containers.
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2011 - The Future and Career

Good morning. Hope everyone is doing well this morning. Last night, while I was at church I had a thought about this post. When I got home and briefly checked my messages before retiring for the night I found someone had asked me a question about this very topic. In fact it was about the same time I was thinking about it at church.

What's going on with the career search? Any new leads, interviews, etc. or will fast-food part-time work be "it?" You certainly were brave to jump ship in the middle of a recession without a large safety net in place.....
- Robert

It is a very good question. I came to Austin because I felt the Lord my God was guiding me here. I knew when I left and gave up a $30,000/year job that there was some risk. I knew also that I would have to start over. That is all part of serving the Lord. Especially those that are in the ministry. While I am not in full-time ministry I am still in His service and am more involved in ministry then I have since I left full-time ministry (in Chicago) back in 1996. I am keeping my options open actively looking for other opportunities. I have not had an more interviews in the past month. However, I am getting a few more hours at work. This week I am working 24 hours which is more then the 15 hours I received the previous few weeks. It is still not enough to get insurance which needs to be at least 30 hours.

At the same time though, they are Christian owned and operated and understand the help I do around the church. They are willing to work around the church activities which is huge plus. The best thing is that the corporate policy of their chain (from coast to coast) is that they are closed on Sundays. Which is a huge advantage for those of us that want to be able to attend services and spend time with our families.

I truly do believe God lead us here and the ministry and blog can become the primary source of our resources. It may not happen overnight. It may mean I become supported more missionary style. I don't know what God has planned. I do know I need to finish getting my finances and Bible series written so that each message is ready to deliver at church. Not to mention so that I can get it published and spread that message through other churches. Not to mention the other books I need to work on, finish and get published.

I expect great things for 2011 and am eager to see what God has in store for me and my family.



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