Beat the Heat with a Box Fan

The summer heat can be relentless.  But, when money is tight, you need to turn the thermostat up a bit.  However, you don't have to collapse in a puddle of sweat.  You can use a fan to circulate the air, help your sweat evaporate more quickly, and feel a lot cooler.  We rely on a pretty cheap box fan.  It's a Lasko Model 3733 20-inch Box Fan.  It doesn't look like much, it's a little noisy, but it runs like a champ.

Things to Do When You're Broke

Broke?  No money except for some very basic essentials?  Eating Ramen Noodles and waiting until your next paycheck rolls in?  Gotcha!  Been there.  Done that.  It's kind of boring, too.  Here are a some things to do when you're broke:

Eight Things to Do When You're Broke

If only we'd saved all our extra coins . . .

Simplicity is free - Simple Recreation!

In our modern world, it seems like every recreation and every pastime and every outing has an associated price tag.  There is pressure to go out and do cool stuff.  However, sometimes simple things are less expensive, less demanding, and more relaxing.  If you are feeling financial pressure, relax with simple pastimes like chess, checkers, cards, and old board game favorites.  While there may be an initial cost to purchase a board game, you can play each game many, many, times.

When you get recreational value through essentially free activities like walking, hiking, playing basic board games, or attending a free concert, you win.  There's an old Southpark episode where Cartman says everything fun costs at least $8.  That's not true.  There are plenty of free things to do.  You just need to find them!

How to Go Sailing for Free

The wind is free, but sailboats and boat maintenance can be expensive. Fortunately, there are some free ways to go sailing without incurring the expense of a boat.

Photo by Ankalole [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

The wind is free, but sailboats and boat maintenance can be expensive. However, there is an inescapable reality that makes it easy to go sailing for free. It takes people to safely run a sailboat. Typically, a sailboat needs at least one crew member to handle the front sails on the boat (jib and spinnaker), and to help during docking. If you know how to sail and are willing to volunteer as a crew member, all you have to do is find a boat and skipper in need. 

Of course, before you can sail for free, you need to acquire at least some basic sailing and seamanship skills. Sailing classes are offered by a variety of organizations. A couple of weekend classes from a local recreation department or sailing club should be sufficient for sailing in confined waters of a lake, river, or bay. For open-ocean sailing, more advanced coursework and experience should be acquired. You'll also want to take a basic seamanship class from the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary or U.S. Power Squadron to understand the basics of safety, seamanship, marlinspike skills, navigation, and communications. These classes will equip you to contribute aboard a boat and can also be valuable places to make connections with boat owners.


Once you have the rudimentary skills, you'll need some basic sailing gear and attire. First, you'll want to have some boat shoes from a reputable company. While some department store shoes may look like boat shoes, you'll want the grip of genuine boat shoes like Sperry Topsiders. Conventional sneakers can leave marks on boat decks and will also mark you as a beginner. You'll also want suntan lotion, a good hat, a water bottle, and sunglasses. If you always bring your own bottle of water, you'll be prepared if your skipper offers drinks that you don't like. You should also get foul weather gear and some safety equipment as your sailing career progresses.


After you've learned to sail and gotten a minimum of appropriate gear, you'll need to scout out sailing opportunities. You can use the internet to find sailing clubs and sailing marinas in your area. You can also find many websites dedicated to matching skippers with crew. A simple search on "sailing + skippers + crew" will yeild a treasure trove of crew matching opportunities.

To pursue the sailing club option, if you find a sailing club, find out what kinds of activities they sponsor. Many clubs sponsor sail boat races in the evenings or on weekends. You may be able to join one of these racing-oriented sailing clubs as a crew member. They'll make your name and number available to skippers needing crew. Alternatively, you may also be able to help the club out on a race committee boat. These opportunities will help you make the connections needed to secure a crew position. More casual recreational sailing clubs may sponsor group sails, cookouts, and even own boats that they will loan out to qualified members.

If you find a marina with sail boats, but without clubs, you may still be able to secure a crew position by visiting the marina and looking for bulletin boards. Many marinas and boating supply stores maintain bulletin boards where people can look for crew or offer to be crew. You could post some contact information and see if you can find a skipper through a bulletin board. If you are visiting the marina, you can strike up conversations with various boat owners that you meet and scope out the sailing community in the area. They may be able to point you towards clubs that are poorly publicized or towards skippers who need some help. Sailing is a community. To go sailing, you simply need to become a part of it.

It takes a little time, but once you have the skills and the connections, it is easy to go sailing for free.

(This article is a republication of an article that I originally posted on Yahoo Contributors Network.)

Earning Extra Money - Leverage Your Hobbies

In a world where layoffs are common, it's important to bring extra money into your household whenever you can.  Of course, it's hard to commit to an extra job when you've already got one.  One thing that can make it easier is to earn extra money in ways that are related to your hobbies.  It's an old adage:  If you can do work related to your greatest passions, it will hardly seem like work at all.  Here are some ways to make extra money from your favorite pastimes:

How to Make Extra Money from Hobbies

Of course, my main source of extra money right now is earned through writing.

Be a Late Adopter!

You don't actually need the latest, greatest, version of a computer game or video game console.  The art of video game design is to make a game that is wonderfully playable and compelling on the platform where it is played.  For instance, I loved Chuck Yeager's Air Combat when I had a 486 computer in the early 90s.  Unfortunately, I haven't found a combat flight sim that I've liked as much since then.  The game had a wonderful balance of realism and playability that worked.

It's the same with console games.  If you find a video game console that you like and games, then you should be happy.  I enjoy retro gaming.  That is video gaming on absolete consoles like the Playstation, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Atari.  It's just plain fun.  If you agree, check out Retro Gaming Revolution Forum.  You'll find it full of interesting discussions of vintage video game and computing platforms.

If you adapt yesterdays technology, you can save a lot of money over the prices of modern game systems.

Living the Retro Lifestyle

When you are stuck in an economy that doesn't seem to be moving forward, sometimes the thing to do is embrace the decline.  If you can't go forward, go backwards and adopt the retro lifestyle!  You'll find the coolest things in thrift stores, online on ebay, and by the curb on Craiglist.  Plus, if you shop thrift stores, you'll be helping charity.  If you find new uses for old items, you'll be recycling.  It's all good!

Saving Money by Living a Retro Lifestyle