AOL Buying Yet Another News Provider

The New York Times and other media sources are reporting to AOL is purchasing the liberal political news provider Huffington Post.

SAN FRANCISCO — AOL is trying to remake itself, yet again.
The new strategy in many ways resembles the old strategy: make acquisitions to attract traffic and reverse a continuing decline in advertising and revenue from its dial-up Internet service. In the latest iteration of its do-over, it is paying $315 million to buy the liberal news commentary site The Huffington Post, not long after paying $25 million to buy TechCrunch, the Silicon Valley technology news blog.
- The New York Times

What are they doing? Why are they doing this? Those are the questions everyone seems to be asking. I mean they bought a technology news blog recently, as the excerpt above says. Reports are the this latest acquisition will bring news content to AOL pages. Still one has to wonder why? Will AOL become a content provider? Attempting to go against Google? If so, will they get out of the access business altogether?
Finally, who will be bought next?



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My name is Kevin, and that's what I think. What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

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Frugal Tip: Walk or Bicycle instead of Driving

Earlier this year, 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 #21 walk or bicycle to church or work.

When I lived in Topeka, I walked the 3 blocks to church rather then driving (I usually had to park 2 blocks away anyway). I often did the same thing or bicycle to neighborhood meetings. Now that I am in Austin (and in a city the is suppose to much more bicycle friendly) I live 6 miles from church, So this is now impracticable (Only a highway to get to church, even the access road cuts off and then restarts when it comes to another highway). Although, I am close enough that I could bicycle to work. I am going to have to get my tires aired up, and figure out where I can lock my bike at work, so it will be safe.

The Frugal Cyclist says:

Ditch Your Car and Save Money: Do you realize how much it costs every year to own a car? Did you know more and more people are getting by without a car? When factoring in other costs, such as car payments, maintenance, and gas, AAA found that the average annual cost to own and operate a sedan is $8,487 . That comes out to $707 a month.
- Frugal Cyclist

According to the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), more than half of the U.S. population lives within 5 miles of work. Considering how difficult it is for us to resist that piece of desert, we should be all over that. Even if we haven’t ridden a bicycle since we were a little tyke, "you never forget how to do it." So why don't we all get out the bike, air up the tires and ride to work? I think I am going to figure out where I can lock my bike up at work, so that I can do this very thing. That and figure out where to ride my bike in the area where the bike lane and sidewalk ends.
No, I am not making excuses, just thinking out loud. Figuring out how it can be done, so that others reading this might not make the same excuse. For one, I can go through the shopping centers parking lots when I reach those areas. That only leaves about 25 feet to figure a way. In those areas, I can surely use the access road to make my way to where I need to go.


Reminder: May is National Bike Month, May 16-20 is Bike to Work Week, and May 20 is Bike to Work Day.

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Frugal Tip: Temper Your Desires

Earlier this year, 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 #20 Train myself that my house is not a museum. I don't need to own everything cool that I discover. I can just admire it in the store. (I dream, may even blog about the desire and then work to save for some of these dream items.) It's basic common sense. I don't need every gadget or whatever that I desire. They are wants and we did without them before they were invented or became the new hot item. So we can realistically get by without them now.

If we do decide to get something new, be patient. Save up and pay cash for it.


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Super Bowl XLV

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Come 5 pm central, my wife and I will be camped out in front of the television like millions of other Americans. One of our favorite things is the ads. We love watching all the new ads. Today we will be watching for the KIA commercial so that we can have a chance to win a brand new KIA Optima. However, today's game is bigger then that. I am a long time fan of the Steelers, who are going for their 7th Super Bowl win today.
Whether you are a Packards or a Steelers fan here's hoping you enjoy the big game.



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Freebies Saturday 2/5/11

Good Morning. It is time once again for this weeks Freebie Saturday. This makes the 11th 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 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.

Free Sample of Sore No More Natural Pain Relieving Gel.

Sign up now and you'll get your FREE ice cream email five days before your birthday. You'll also receive a discount on a birthday cake.

Vote for a cheese flavor on Facebook and get a free sample of Cheez-It.

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Frugal Tip: Stock Up

Earlier this year, 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 #19 Stock up on non-perishable sale items.

If you have the room, stock up on sale goods for nonperishable purchases on items you normally buy. It is hard to beat the rate of return you can get on some of the sales the grocery stores have to entice you to do your shopping with them. This suggestion is for both nonperishable food and non-food items.


If there was ever a long-term emergency, like unemployment or inflation, what are some things you would need to buy through out the year? If you had these stocked up in advance, it could lessen the burden on you and your family.

These are just some non-food suggestions of some things we use everyday.

toilet paper

feminine hygiene

light bulbs

batteries (flashlights, smoke alarms, clocks)

filters (air, water)

razors

soap

shampoo, conditioner

lotion, chap-stick

toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes

deodorant

hair products

cleaning supplies

bleach

vacuum bags and belts

dish detergent, sponges

clothes detergent, fabric softener, stain sticks, etc.

bug spray, insecticide

pens, paper, pencils, glue, school notebooks

painkillers, itch creams, topical creams, antihistamine

facial tissue

plastic wrap, tin foil, baggies, wax paper

motor oil, spark plugs, washer fluid, transmission fluid, etc.

ice melt

garbage bags

sunscreen

cotton swabs and cottonballs
As for Food these items can be stockpiled

Canned Foods

Freeze-dried food/boxed dinners

Dehydrated Fruit

Dry Foods (Rice, flour, beans, etc)

Only stock up for stuff you are going to use. Keep it with in reason. You don't want anything going bad on you. Also I highly recommend that you pick the items up while they are on sale and when you have the cash to buy them. A good start to acquiring all this is, whenever something is on sale, buy 2 and put one away. You'll have a stockpile in no time.


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Frugal Tip 18: Dryer Sheets

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 #18 use only 1/2 of a dryer sheet per load.
If you are going to use dryer sheets, instead of the other methods to reduce static then cut the dryer sheets in half. This will double the length of time it takes to get through a box of dryer sheets. I understand that some people like the smell and that's why they don't want to use the dryer ball to get rid of static in their clothes. So the next best frugal thing is to cut those sheets in half. So why not consider that when trying to stretch your dollars?

Cut dryer sheets in thirds or halves, use one strip per dryer load.
- Tip Nut

Tip Nut also makes this suggestion:

Pour liquid fabric softener and hot water in a spray bottle (50/50 mix) and lightly mist wet laundry before starting the dryer. Two or three good shots should do it. You could also just spritz a clean washcloth and toss that in the dryer.
- Tip Nut

Or how about:

In a pail mix 1 gallon of water and 1 cup concentrated liquid fabric softener. Dip a sponge or washcloth in the liquid, squeeze out excess and toss in the dryer with your laundry. Seal pail when not in use.
- Tip Nut

Another Dyer sheet idea comes from "The Homemade Laundry Room":

Take an old wash cloth and soak it in liquid fabric softener. Let it dry thoroughly. Once it’s dry, just add it to your dryer load as you would a regular dryer sheet. You will get many loads out of one “soaking.” I’ve gotten as many as twenty-five loads out of the cloth before I’ve needed to re-soak it. If the cloth gets gunky, just throw it in the wash. With this method, one bottle of liquid fabric softener will generally last well over a year, possibly two. No more overpriced one use dryer sheets filling the landfill, either. Dryer sheets here cost about $7.00 for 120 sheets or so (or $.06 per load). My method works out to be generally $.01 – $.02 per load. (If you must use dryer sheets, try cutting them into quarters. You’ll find that you get the same results as with a whole sheet and you’ll pay a lot less per load.)
- The Homemade Laundry Room

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