Aldi Bacon Rocks!

We've been shopping at Aldi a lot lately.  It's been saving us money.  But, we've also been pleased to discover some great products.  They have excellent chocolate from Germany and Pasta from Italy.  But, lately, we've been impressed by their Grandessa-brand Centercut Bacon.  It microwaves up really well!

By User:Sysop www.trierwiki.eu [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What to Buy on Black Friday when You are Flat Broke

If you are flat broke and have been really struggling this year, you may want some advice on what to buy during all the fantastic black friday sales today. You'll want to know the must have and what to buy things to get today right? Are you ready. Here is my official advice for Black Friday. If you are flat broke, here is what you should buy today:

NOTHING!

 

 

It kind of sucks, but it worked for me.  Just make sure you sleep in, enjoy a totally relaxing day, and catch any news stories about people rioting and pillaging at Walmarts. 

 

 

Great Deals on Household Cleaners!

 Does your toilet care what cleaner you use to scrub the bowl?  Do you drive around the neighborhood proudly advertising the product that you use to clean your kitchen counters?  Do you get any social capital from using a certain brand of window cleaner?  If the answer is no, you might as well get your household cleaners as cheaply as possible.  We've been finding that Dollar Tree is a great place to buy cleaning supplies.  To find out what deals we found, read my article -

The Best Place to Buy Household Cleaning Supplies:  Dollar Tree

By Xnatedawgx (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

How to Celebrate the Holidays When You Are Flat Broke

The holidays are almost upon us again.  Thanksgiving.  Christmas.  They should be a season of joy, excitement, and anticipation.  But, they can be tough when you are flat broke.  There are lots of gift giving, family gatherings, and social obligations that can leave you even more broke for the coming year.  Here are some tips on how to celebrate the holiday season when you are flat broke.  With a little luck, you can have a holiday that is more meaningful and more focused on the things that really matter despite financial woes.

How to Celebrate the Holidays When You Are Flat Broke

Free Powerpoint Training Friday!

If you are interested in learning Microsoft Powerpoint, there are lots of free resources online.  One that caught my interest were these Powerpoint Tutorial on Youtube from 10minutetrain.

Powerpoint 2007 Tutorial 1:  Intro to Powerpoint

Powerpoint 2007 Tutorial 2:  Create a Basic Powerpoint from a Template

Powepoint 2007 Tutorial 3:  Create a Basic Powerpoint

While these should get you started, 10minutetrain actually has a series of training videos  on Powerpoint 2007.  You can access them all here -

 14 short training videos on Powerpoint 2007. 

Now, if you can get access to a machine with MS Powerpoint, go out and make a slideshow!

Make Thursday Microsoft Office Training Day!

Despite the popularity of the iPad and Smart Phones, most business is conducted using Microsoft Office.  It's important to know some of the most common MS Office Programs - Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access.  Fortunately, there are a number of free training resources to help you master Microsoft Office.  While Office 2010 is now being sold, many businesses are still using Microsoft 2007.  So, that might be a good package to work with to get the basics.  Here are some free training pages:

Official Getting Up To Speed with Microsoft Office 2007

Up to Speed with the 2007 Office System

Official Microsoft Office Training Page

Training - Office.com

Wilkes University Microsoft 2007 Video Tutorials

 MS Office Video Tutorials

By Althepal (Original work) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Soon, I'll publish some more focused training specific to one package.  First up, Microsoft Powerpoint!

Saving Money on Personal Computers & Software

Computers can really be a drain on the household budget.  It's tough to keep up with the latest and greatest.  Peripherals.  Software.  Security.  They all add up.  If you are flat broke, Apple products have been out of the picture for a long time. Now, Microsoft is offering new tablet computers and a new operating system called Windows 8.  These are all great.  But, if you are broke, there is a lower cost alternative.  The open source software movement offers completely free software developed by a worldwide community of programmers.  Their operating system is called Linux.  It is more secure than Windows and is growing easier to use with every new release.  If you'd like to learn more, check out my newest blog:

N00b2linux

Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS By FSOG (Screenshot) [GPL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons