As much as I don’t like shilling for my own benefit, I must say that I really do honestly love Swagbucks.

I’m not the type to do most of their ‘social media’ type earning and I don’t bother to search out their swag codes so I tend to earn fairly slowly, but I still make about $15 in Amazon.com gift cards every two months just using their search engine like I would Google or any other engine.  For really specific or obscure searches I may find myself needing to switch over to the big G, but the Swagbucks engine is pretty good for the most part.

You don’t have to choose Amazon cards as payment, but I find them pretty utilitarian when it comes to getting what I want and you earn them faster than, say, cash. You can also get actual goods, but like those prizes you tried to earn by selling the most magazines/wrapping paper/whatever as a kid, anything worth getting would usually take forever to earn.

In any case, Swagbucks is on my mind because I’m about to hit $35 and combined with my Amazon referral earnings, I’ll have enough to buy myself a new game (hurray for free SuperSaver shipping).  I’m thinking Final Fantasy XIII because the last two games Mr. bought were Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time and Assassins Creed II, which are both Action/Adventure type games and he’s already got God of War III on pre-order thanks to my Grandfather. Then again, we don’t have Wii Sports Resort yet and I know my family will play that when they come down to see the baby. (My parents have their own Wii, which even my grandmother will play if you set it up and leave the room.)

Decisions, decisions.

*Yup, you guessed it, they’re referral links.

Popularity: 14% [?]

If you’re reading this, you have joined us at the new domain: afamilyofgeeks.com

While the old frugalurbanite.com domain will forward you to the new site, the registration runs out in March, at which point the forwarding will stop.

Please update your bookmarks, links, etc.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Come, February 11th, there will be a ‘new’ car in our household, thanks to my parents. A 1997 Rav4 in excellent condition, to be exact.

Our first thought was a long the lines of “SWEET!”, but  now that we’ve been really thinking about, we’re not even sure whether we’re going to put it on the road right away. Some people may think we’re crazy since we’re currently a one car family, but having a second car isn’t necessarily a good option for everyone.

Sure, there aren’t payments on it (technically I’ll be paying my parents a token amount so it’s not a ‘gift’, but they’ll give us the money back later) but there’s a lot of other expenses that go along with car ownership. There’s the taxes on it, title and registration fees, insurance, inspections, not to mention the more regular costs of maintenance and gas. Altogether, it looks like we’d be paying between $50-75 a month to keep this girl on the road.

Now, $50 hardly seems like much for a second vehicle, but again, there’s more to consider. After some careful planning, both Mr. and I work from home, which means neither  of us needs a vehicle for commuting, except for 2 days every bi-week (any 2 days) when Mr. has to go in for an hour. This leaves the car available the other 330 hours a bi-week for errands or whatever else I need to do.

There’s also the matter of safety. While the older Rav4′s are hardly death traps, they do have a tendency to roll and less of the modern safety features that the Matrix has. If I were going to drive with mini-me, I would be taking the Matrix. Unfortunately, that would leave Mr. with the Rav4.  I don’t know if you’ve ever been in the passenger compartment of one of the early Rav4′s, but they are tiny and Mr, well, isn’t. He absolutely hates driving it because he ends up with massive leg cramps.

Basically, the only time the Rav4 will be truly useful for us is those 6 hours of commuting and work every bi-week.

I think we’re going to end up registering the Rav4 anyway, just for a few months to see if it’s really worth it to us. Having the second car would allow me to get a part-time job once mini-me is partially weaned and I start pumping, but that won’t happen for at least 6 months or so. It would also allow me to take the Matrix for my conventions and not leave Mr. stranded, but, again, that won’t be happening for at least 6 months.

I thought having a second car would be awesome, but now I’m definitely not so sure.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Thanks to all the extra expenses that came up this month: car repair, travel, refinancing costs, baby stuff, we’re in budget crackdown mode for the next few weeks. It’s nowhere near emergency status (that’s what the emergency fund is for) but there’s no sense in spending more money when we don’t have to, especially with mini-me due to make an appearance in 7 weeks.

Unfortunately, this means chopping down our discretionary spending, which I hate to do. Well, no one likes to cut down the little luxuries in their life, but when you’re pregnant and feeling like ass, sometimes that milkshake at 6 am is what keeps you going.

So what are the first things that hit the chopping block when you need to pull those purse strings tight?

For us it’s:

• Eating Out – We really only go out to eat 2 times  a month, but we almost always go to a sit down restaurant (I can’t stand fast food) so we end up taking a $30-40 hit each time after taxes and a tip. That’s $80 shaved off the monthly budget right there.
• Grocery Treats – I’ve developed a hell of a sweet tooth since I got pregnant. When we’re in crackdown mode, I try to satisfy it with things like fruit or small hard candies, which can save about $20 a month.
• Furniture – This sounds like an odd one, but anyone who has moved from a small apartment to a big house can attest that it seems like you are forever buying furniture. We still have 4 empty rooms (kitchen, dining room and two bedrooms) and we like to build up our household items piece by piece. We were supposed to get a kitchen table before mini-me arrived, but it looks like we’ll be waiting on that. $100-400 saved.

I’d say something about dropping a car, or cable, or phone line, but we already do that.  Now that we’re no longer living in Arlington, it’s just not feasible to have no car, we’re already down to our most basic phone plans, and we haven’t had cable in over a year. We could cancel our Netflix and Gamefly, but considering that’s Mr’s only source of entertainment for the moment, that would just be cruel.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Being an idiot on facebook can cost you. “Can cost me what?” you ask? Well, it can cost you your job, your credit and a lot of time spent recovering from identity theft.

If you’re wondering how facebook could cost you your job, obviously you haven’t been paying much attention to tech news lately. Aside from wasting company time (attending to personal business on company time) or posting status updates about your job (spreading proprietary info), just posting the more ribald details of your personal life can get you fired.

As for costing you your credit score, identity theft is easy when you put all your information up on the internet. If you’re allowing others to view your name, e-mail, your city, your birthdate, who your friends (and family) are, and other info about you, you’re making it very easy for people to appropriate your identity. A particular danger is allowing them to possibly answer common security questions designed to protect your password (common questions are about your birth city, mother’s maiden name, pet’s name, etc.)

So what do you do to protect  yourself and your info (otherwise known as how not to be an idiot?)

• Don’t post all your personal info. If you DO choose to post your info, make extra sure that you have your privacy settings up to at least Friends of Friends if not Only Friends.Choose ‘privacy settings’ from the drop down menu
• Avoid friending co-workers, family members, and acquaintances. If you do want to friend these people, consider setting up a seperate ‘clean’ account.
• Don’t put anything on facebook that you don’t want the whole world to know. All it takes is one slip up to accidentally show your mother or your boss pictures of you drunkenly taking body shots off a hot stranger at a bar or for everyone to read that status update of you laughing that you took a sick day but you’re really going out. Furthermore, even if you have your privacy settings set to the max, it’s remarkably easy for 3rd-party programs to access info and images, despite what facebook claims.
• Assume anything you put on the internet will ALWAYS be on the internet. Even if you delete your account, someone else may have saved your info/photos.
• Watch for scam messages. If your ‘cousin’ messages you, crying that they’re stuck in another country and their wallet was stolen and could you please wire some money, make sure you verify all that info before you go running off to Western Union. Also, talk to less tech savvy relatives about this, since they’re more likely to fall for these types of scams.
• Avoid playing facebook ‘games’. Most are fairly legitimate wastes of time, but some are just poor excuses to get access to your profile information for marketing or more nefarious purposes. If you absolutely must be a mafia don, then avoid doing any surveys/offers for extra in game cash, as most of the them are scammy.

So, does anyone have any juicy stories about people getting fired or otherwise screwed over by the crap they posted on facebook?

Popularity: 22% [?]

Found this in my e-mail this morning.

Purchase ANYTHING from Snapfish and get 100 free 4×6 prints (not including S&H)

We purchased an enlarged print from our wedding for my MIL (which we’ve been planning to do but I kept forgetting) and got the prints.

Code: PRINTSNEW

Also, if you don’t need any prints but want to get a photogift, there’s free shipping on orders over $20.

Code: MYVAL20

Popularity: 11% [?]

I’m sitting here, enjoying a delicious fried egg on wheat toast with my tea. It would be more delicious if it had a runny yolk, but alas, I can’t have my sunny-side up eggs anymore until I evict the kiddo.

Eggs are an important part of keeping our food costs low. They’re extremely versatile, fast cooking and tasty.  If I’m not in the mood to really cook, I can whip up something tasty in about 10-15 minutes. It’s probably not a great idea to eat them every day for every meal if you’re worried about fat in your diet, but an egg or two a couple of times  a week won’t kill you.

Quick Uses For Eggs:

• Breakfast Burritos
• Scrambled eggs
• Fried Eggs
• Fried Egg on Ramen
• Poached Eggs
• Eggs Benedict
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Egg Salad
• Deviled Eggs
• Omelettes (great for using up leftovers)
• French Toast
• Frittata (great for using up leftovers
• Quiche (great for using up leftovers)
• Fried Rice (great for using up leftovers)
• Spaghetti Carbonara

Popularity: 14% [?]

I was going back through some old entries and realized that I promised to write this post last year, but never did. My bad.

Since this is the coffee post, you will obviously need a coffee machine for some and an espresso machine for others.  If you really like fancy-pants drinks, an espresso machine is a great investment. If you only drink 3 or 4 a year, go ahead and hit up Starbucks, it will be cheaper in the end.

On another note, most of these are the more classic recipes. If you’re used the SB’s coffee, you may need to make them sweeter.

Making Your Favorite Hot Drinks at Home Part One

Basic Simple Syrup Recipe (you can add flavorings for vanilla, mint, etc. to make flavored syrups.)

Cafe au Lait

• 1 part coffee
• 1 part milk

Irish Coffee

• 6-8 oz. hot coffee
• 1 jigger whiskey
• sugar, to taste
• 2-3 Tbsp heavy cream

Pour coffee into glass, sweeten. Add whiskey. Pour cream over back of spoon so it floats on top of coffee. (May take a little practice. Have the spoon almost, but not quite touching the top of the coffee.)

Americano

• 1 shot espresso
• 6 oz hot water

Cappuccino

• 1 shot espresso
• 6 oz frothed, steamed milk

Pour in espresso. Half fill cup with milk, finish filling with foam.

Latte

• 1 shot espresso
• 6 oz of frothed, steamed milk

Pour in espresso. Fill most of cup with milk, finish filling with foam.

Cafe Mocha

• 1 shot espresso
• 6 oz steamed milk
• ~ 2 teaspoons chocolate syrup

Pour chocolate syrup in bottom of cup. Add espresso and steamed milk.

Starbucks Style Macchiato

• 1 shot espresso
• 6 oz frothed, steamed milk
• ~ 2 tsp vanilla syrup (vanilla flavored simple syrup)
• ~ 2 tsp caramel sauce

Put vanilla syrup in bottom of cup. Fill cup most of the way with milk, finish with foam. Pour espresso over milk. Pour caramel sauce over top.

–

If you’re serving these drinks to guests, you may want to finish them with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon/cocoa powder or some homemade marshmallows.

For a fun tasting party, make a couple pots of coffee and get the espresso machine ready to go, set out a couple of bottles of flavored syrups and let people mix their own concoctions.

Popularity: 15% [?]

I was so busy ranting about my carpets I forgot to post this.

This is such an easy recipe and it is soooo good. It requires a long baking time (about an hour) but the prep work is fast and easy. I figure one squash will serve 2-4, depending on what else you’re serving.

Ingredients (per acorn squash)

• 1 1-2lb acorn squash
• 3-4 Tbsp softened butter (half a stick)
• 2-3 Tbsp brown sugar – The amount of sugar used depends on your sweet tooth. A properly cooked acorn squash is naturally quite sweet.
• pinch of salt
• couple shakes pepper
• 1-2 Tbsp maple syrup (optional) – Real maple syrup, not pancake syrup. I wouldn’t buy it for this recipe, but if you happen to have it, go for it.

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds*. Cut each half into fourths. Put squash in 11×7 pan, skin side down.
• Cream together butter, sugar and rest of ingredients. Spread on squash.
• Bake for roughly 1 hour. Occasionally baste squash with butter mixture from bottom of pan. Squash skin will be blackened and flesh will be fork tender when fully cooked.

*you can bake the seeds like you would pumpkin seeds and eat them.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Add Home Depot to the list of places we won’t be getting installation from (the other offender is Lowes).

Now, in Home Depot’s defense, they did order the right carpet and pad and rectified the issue with the installation company immediately once we notified them, but a) we shouldn’t have had to deal with it in the first place and b) they’re the ones that hired the crappy installation company in the first place. Contractors ARE responsible for their sub-contractors.

Also, first, the discount story. When we went in the first time, there were two employees working with one couple. I guess this couple must have been spending major $$$, because instead of one of them breaking off to either help us or take down our order, they sent over the lady from the blinds department. She took 20 minutes to write down 10 lines of info and screwed up on both our installation (we needed carpet and pad removal and she only marked down pad removal) and on what carpet we wanted.

The next day, the employee in charge of the carpet department (who’s only in 9-5) called us up and basically informed us that we were getting a very basic carpet for a non-sale price and would we like to come in and look at the carpets on sale. Well we did, and got a very nice carpet for cheaper than what the basic carpet was. It would have been nice if we got this kind of customer service the day before, but I can’t fault this woman for not staying late.

Blah, blah, blah, carpet guys come to install. (Did I mention they called that morning to give us an installation window. At 7:30am they told us they were coming at 8am. Fortunately I had nothing to do that day.) They get here and point out that the carpet and pad were still in the room. Well, no duh, we asked for removal and haul away. Were they expecting my pregnant butt to do it? Of course this isn’t on their work order thanks to the Home Depot foul up and they have to wait for their boss to call Home Depot and get the okay.

They finish the install and ask me where I want the carpet. I wasn’t aware that Mr. had asked for haul away so I just told them to put in the garage. When I call Mr. to tell him that they were done and to watch out for the mess in the garage, he has to figure out what’s in there because they were supposed to take it all away. A call to Home Depot (the manager here was actually pleasant and helpful) and 4 hours later, they come get the carpet.

After dinner, Mr. happens to look up at the ceiling over our stairs and realizes that the installation guys have scraped a sizeable chunk or plaster off of the ceiling. What happened is instead of bringing up the carpet with two people, one idiot dragged it up doubled over and whacked the ceiling. Thanks, jerks. We wouldn’t have really even minded if the guys had been honest about it, because we’ve put in several dents along that hallway ourselves dragging things up and down the stairs.

So yeah, no more installation companies that we don’t contract with ourselves. Between the Lowes hired guy that wanted over $1,000 just to remove and replace a laminate counter (took Mr. and friend maybe 2 hours to do and that’s because they’d never done it before) and this company, we’re lost all faith in the companies around here.

Popularity: unranked [?]