Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/562511
Whodoesn'tlovelearn- ing about a money-sav- ing tactic or investment that results in a net sav- ings of thou- sands of dol- lars a year? I sure do! And I can count on maybe two fingers how many of those I've managed to deploy in my home in the past decade. It's easy to think that the tiny things we can do to save money just aren't worth the time and trou- ble. But they are because of the cumulative effect. Small things repeated of- ten bring huge results. I call them little ways to save big. Your house or apart- ment is full of free heat- ing and cooling devices. They're called windows. Using your windows for more than letting in light is a great way to save some serious scratch. If you live where it's cool at night and warm during the day open your windows at night to let the cool air in and close them in the morning to keep the warm air out. Use your curtains and blinds to block out the sun and keep daytime cooling costs down. Of course, if you live in a colder climate, throwing your curtains and blinds open when the sun is shining can easily raise the interior temper- ature of your house a few degrees. Time it, sensor it, put it to sleep and smart-power- strip it. One way or an- other, drive a stake into the heart of phantom power drains. You could enjoy a decent dinner and movie for you and some- one special once a year (in- cluding a generous tip) with money saved by un- plugging unused devices. Smart power strips come in three types: timer, motion sensitive and cur- rent sensing. Think about which option is best for your situation. You'll re- coup the money you invest in these kinds of devices, many times over. Treat yourself to some- thing special like dinner and a movie or that new power tool you've been eyeing and do it for 10-, 20- or even 30-percent off. Or get tricky with getting the supplies you need for a home repair or clothes you'll need in the coming months for a lot less. Go to GiftCardGranny. com to purchase gift cards at discounted prices. (This is a site that aggregates available gift cards from many sites on the Inter- net that trade, buy and sell gift cards on the secondary market.) Now, combine your al- ready discounted gift card with sales to double or even triple your savings. Note: Discounted gift cards are available in abundance at this time of year because many peo- ple received gift cards for Christmas that they could not use. Rather than get nothing, they sell them at a big discount to get some- thing they can use (like cash)! Or they trade them for gift cards they can use. The result is that many gift cards become available for sale at a significantly- lower-than-face-value price — legally and legitimately. Who buys an air con- ditioner in January or a snow blower in May? Savvy shoppers looking for steep discounts, that's who! It costs retailers more to keep seasonal merchan- dise in a warehouse un- til next year than it does to sell it at seriously dis- counted prices. The reason is that not only does ware- house space cost money, but it also takes time, fuel and labor to move goods from stores to warehouses and back again. Not to mention that when an item is in storage until next season, so is that store's money. Whenever possible, plan your purchases for the end of seasons to save. Clogged filters and vents on appliances, HVAC (heating ventilation air conditioning) and cars cause them to operate less efficiently, requiring more energy to operate. Unfor- tunately, they are incred- ibly easy to forget about, so put them on a rota- tion. Schedule these sim- ple tasks on your kitchen calendar or smartphone on a regularly recurring ba- sis. Make a day of it every three or six months. Call it Filter Friday and use that day to check, clean or re- place each of your house- hold, garden and automo- tive filters and vents. MaryHuntisthefounder of www.DebtProofLiving. com, a personal finance member website. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE Overlooked (and free) heating and cooling devices Mary Hunt The Sacramento River Discovery Center had a busy and successful sum- mer season thanks to the assistance of the members of the community. The cen- ter was visited by many long term local residents who did not realize that there was a Mendocino Na- tional Forest's Red Bluff Recreation Area, at the end of Sale Lane, for use by all community members. More than 750 people visited the center during the summer hours of operation. The Summer Camps pro- gram provided environmen- tal education to the largest number of students ever. The six weeks of camps for 6- to 12-year-olds, provided the students a variety of ex- periences thanks to the fi- nancial support of orga- nizations such as Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Rolling Hills Casino and the Wul- kan Foundation. Dona- tions from Exchange Club, Kiwanis, Soroptimist Inter- national of Red Bluff and in- dividuals provided student scholarship support. St. Elizabeth Community Hos- pital-Dignity Health helped to provide healthy snacks for campers. Raley's and Aaron's provided bottled water for all activities and there were numerous volun- teers who provided physical and moral support to Zach Whitten, camp director, and aides Amanda Myers and Rocky Rodriquez. The camp themes and hands on activities pro- vided a fun learning ex- perience for 215 students. Thanks to Furniture De- pot for large pieces of card- board that built an eight- foot green sturgeon this year. Camp photos are posted on www.sacramen- toriverdiscoverycenter.com and the center's Facebook page. The gardens of the Dis- covery Center are looking good thanks to the Bureau of Reclamation and US For- est Service deepening of the agricultural water well that has allowed watering of the turf area, the campground and for the garden areas. The center continues to im- prove the two acre Discov- ery Garden with a mulch- ing program to help con- serve water by reducing soil evaporation. Large pieces of cardboard cover the ground and then 3" to 6" of wood chips are placed on top of the cardboard. The wood chips continue to be pro- vided by Davey Tree Service and cardboard has been do- nated by Furniture Depot. The center continues to need volunteers to help complete several projects. Projects needing assistance are the sorting and packag- ing of wildflower seeds to be either planted or sold at the plant sale; propaga- tion of plants to be planted in the area west of the Dis- covery Garden; creation of one or more water fea- tures for use by birds and wildlife; working on creat- ing a new Plants of the Dis- covery Garden publication; creating a brochure listing the 120 species of birds that live in or visit the Red Bluff Recreation Area and weld- ing some additional bed frame greenhouse tables. Volunteers have been re- sponsible for many of the improvements. About half of the garden's trails are now paved with decom- posed granite making a much smoother surface for those with walkers and wheelchairs. Logan War- necke's Eagle Scout project added four new picnic ta- bles and some of them are closer to the ground for use by young people. Volunteers also planted a food gar- den that is providing fresh fruits and vegetables for the Vineyard noon feeding pro- gram. Mark your calendar for The Fall Fest Plant Sale 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 7. The center is now licensed to sell nursery stock and should have a good stock of plants ready to take advan- tage of the rain predicted this year. The center will be offering seed packets of wildflowers that have been grown in and around the garden. The garden will con- tinue to introduce people to native, drought tolerant plants that have previously been found in this part of California. The garden is being planted with plants to attract butterflies, pol- linators and animals back to this area and volunteers are working at reducing the number of invasive plant species. Environmental educa- tion programming is avail- able, by appointment, for all ages. To learn more about the variety of programs available or to become a vol- unteer to help teach others, contact the center. Propaga- tion classes will be offered in late Fall. The center's Thurs- day Evening program se- ries will resume at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Farm Bu- reau building, 275 Sale Lane. Lucas Ross-Merz, ex- ecutive director of the Sac- ramento River Preserva- tion Trust, will be sharing insights gained while con- ducting river cleanups or traveling on the river over the last several years. You can help the center by using Amazon Smile to make purchases. Using the following website for order- ing will not cost you any- thing and Amazon donates a small percentage of each purchase to non-profit orga- nizations: http://smile.ama- zon.com/ch/68-0374064. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival returns 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 at the State Theatre. The evening will feature a series of films, a silent auction and prizes. Watch for information in the Daily News and on the center's website or Face- book page. Visit the cetner 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 1000 Sale Lane, call 527-1196, e- mail bhughessrdc@gmail. com or visit www.sacra- mentoriverdiscoverycen- ter.com. DISCOVERY CENTER End of summer report COURTESYPHOTO Sacramento River Discovery Center summer campers had fun learning to eat with no hands. The Single Best Advertising Tool....! TheGoldExchangehasbeenapartofthe TVWeek advertising package for over 4 years. This has proven to be the single best advertising tool for print that I have found in my 21 years of retail advertising. I get a free ad in the Daily News every week in addition to my ad in the TV magazine. By changing my ad every week I can target specific customers for what is going on in my business, such as sales, or just to thank the community for their support. 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