Saving money

I have been a keen advocate of the idea that saving money is actually one of the quickest ways to make money - it takes a split second to save money, but a lot longer to create revenue.
I was keen to see a TV program this week that was supposed to be full of money-saving tips, but it turned out to be very disappointing. Anyone that knows anything about frugal living, does not need to be told that a good way to save money is to buy 2 for 1 pizza! If you are buying take-out pizza, then you are not living frugally in the first place. Buying your way out of debt sound more like a political solution rather than an actual practical one...

I have, however, discovered a way to save myself a large chunk of money in the long-term. We have had one of those electricity 'meters' that your energy providers send out - it shows you how many Watts you are using at any given moment in the house. I used it to discover that my two PCs left on all night were costing about 5 pence per hour. Even if switched off for six hours every night for six hours, that's a saving of 30 pence per day - at least £2 per week, over £100 a year...
Admittedly, I am sure a lot of people routinely switch their PC's off - but if you don't you are probably losing about £50 a year for each one left on overnight.

To be fair the TV program did have one good tip - this concerned using a thermos flask to keep tea warm for hours at a time - we actually do store up 'spare' hot water in a flask every time we boil the kettle, so I didn't learn anything - but at least they did offer one thing that was practical and actually could save money.

Acsonix

Another acne treatment is on the market, you can read the acsonix reviews and make up your mind whether this medication would suit you. There are a host of medications all claiming outstanding results, reading reviews and getting the benefits of other people's experience could help you to make up your mind. As always though, please get qualified medical advice before starting a course of medication that could potentially have adverse effects on your health.

Getting a bargain

I have had many, many bargains since I started buying online. Most of these are the result of online auctions where new and used goods can be picked up very cheaply, but there are also many traders who offer good discounts for online shoppers.

However another advantage of online shopping is being able to find the precise item or component you need. I remember finding a seller of motorola batteries when my wife's phone failed - it was an old model and there was little chance of getting a cheap replacement battery on the high street. However, a quick search turned up the precise battery, and not only that - it was at a real bargain price too.

Google Panda update

You may have heard something of the fuss surrounding the latest Google ranking update, you may have even seen it's effects (especially if you write on one of those sites that pay you to write 'articles').
Google have seen fit to say quite a lot about the criteria they have used for changing the rankings of some sites, although as usual they will not be specific. To save you from having to sift through all the quotes an comments - it all boils down to one thing:

It's all about CONTENT.

Google is 'de-ranking' what it considers low quality or 'shallow' content, content that adds nothing new, or even repeats content found elsewhere - it's just not going to tell you how it evaluates a site.
In short, if you are writing useful, insightful original content you have nothing to be worried about. Nevertheless, this updates threatens the 'paid to' world as it is targeting sites that have thousands of individual writers adding their own content on a daily basis.

adapexin-p

If you have a weight problem, you will no doubt be interested in the likes of adapexin-p, and other drugs that are supposed to aid weight-loss. However, it pays to find out as much as you can about these products before embarking on a course of medication that has not bee prescribed by a doctor.
Despite all the claims and counter-claims that you may have read, you should seek some genuinely independent advice before taking medication of any description, and who better than your local GP?

Online IT degree

If like me, you bypassed university and went straight into the world of work, you may feel that your working experience may be enhanced by having a suitable qualification to go along with it. Of course, being a worker, it is not easy to just take time out to study because the bills still need to be paid... Online learning could be the answer, and getting something like an online it degree may not be too much of a disruption to your existing work and family life.
Now is a good time to consolidate your position in the workplace by adding the extra edge of a bit of education to your existing work experience.

Earnings April 2011

Turnover of £70 this month, which is nothing special, but after a bumper month in March, a slight slump was expected. I spent £15 on a CD player from eBay - this counts as equipment for cassette to CD conversions, so goes in the spreadsheet.
I have just made another Adsense payout total, so can look forward to that in the next month or so. April income was about average on the blogging side, not so busy for cassette conversions though. I have also just noticed that my regular passive income seems to have finally dried up - I had been reticent to make significant changes to one of my sites in case of disrupting this income, I guess if it doesn't return, I am free to make the changes I want (including removing some of the 'fixed' ads, and defunct pages that still had 'contracts' for fixed ads).
I have not really pursued 'fixed' ads very hard since this type of income began to wane a few years back, so now might be a good time to see if there are any new ways of getting regular fixed sponsorship payments for web pages.