Give a new life to your old clothes — Green Dreams

We all find ourselves with clothes that have gone out of style, no longer fit, or look like they’ve seen better days. But think twice before throwing your old clothes away. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that textiles make up approximately 5% of landfills. However, as much as 95% of clothes thrown away could […]

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What I have tried for Passive Income: Thrift Store Flipping

Great idea from Ken’s Passive Income Journey

Sell4Bids: Sell and Buy used Stuff — Sell4bids

Sell4Bids is the best Marketplace to sell and buy used stuff locally. Dinner cool online Auction and bidding system to list your items. You can offer your items in a moment or two, I am utilizing this most recent application to sell used stuff and I am getting the best reaction. Inside no time I […]

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12 Easy Ways to Save Money

See a penny, pick it up – all the day, you’ll have good luck.  A penny won’t buy much, but hundreds or thousands of pennies will.  For example, two hundred and fifty pennies will buy a share of Pacific Coast Oil Trust.  ROYT is a perpetual oil and natural gas trust for reserves in California.  ROYT pays a dividend every month of between $0.02 and $0.03 per share.  Lots of shares add up.

This post is about saving money.  Many ways to save, every day.

(1.) Plan a weekly menu and cook in bulk. This is a good idea for full-time workers that are busy with careers and commute. Planning meals helps control portions and avoids excess calories, too.  Dinners, even at fast food places, will cost $10 to $20 for one or two people.  Save $50 to $100 per week.  When shopping for food, eat before going and have a list.  Shop the list.  Take coupons, too.  Here is a link to 12 coupon websites.

(2.) Limit or cut out soda, junk food, and fast food. Pack healthy lunches and snacks to avoid buying junk food and fast food.  Each hamburger or sandwich lunch costs between $5 and $10 with chips, fries or soda.  Bringing food saves $25 to $50 each week.

(3.) Save money on clothes.  Build a wardrobe with key pieces. Be willing to pay more for a pair of trousers or slacks, button-down polos, and a jacket or blazer if they can be used for a year or more.  Shop at outlet stores and buy name brands for business and casual clothes.  Look good for less!  Polo is Polo, no matter where bought.

(4.) Pay for quality footwear.  Buy two to three pairs of shoes that are pricier and  durable instead of several cheaper pairs that last for months. Choose neutral colors like black, navy, brown or tan and they will fit most wardrobe combinations.

(5.) Save loose change. Use empty jars or containers of almost anything.  Save change from purchases and found coins.  When full, take the containers to a local bank and convert to a couple hundred dollars. Some coins in circulation may have value.  Rare coins in circulation!  And this article from Mashable.

6.) Reuse, repurpose, recycle. Make a habit of saving aluminum cans or anything made of brass or copper.  Local recyclers will pay you cash.  Convert shipping boxes into storage bins and plastic fruit cups for storing screws and pins.  Donate clothes, books, videos, and other unwanted stuff to Goodwill.  Save money, reduce clutter, and create tax deductions.

(7.) Give up expensive entertainment. If you still feel like going to the movies, do it less often. Host potluck dinners or poker and game nights at home instead of drinking at bars. Spending money is inevitable when going out.  Choose indoor activities that you can do alone or with family and friends.  Cook for a date and spend the night watching a good movie or see a play at a local community theater.  Local high schools and colleges usually have good arts programs.  Groupon often has great deals on local events.

(8.) Limit media and social media consumption.  Instead of watching television or surfing the ‘Net for hours, set limits to avoid seeing ads that will entice you to spend money.  Clean up, work on a story or write that eBook you’ve planned.

(9.) Skip expensive gym memberships and exercise classes. Find ways to incorporate exercise into a daily routine. Park the car farther from the office building and walk.  Use the stairs instead of taking the elevator, spend 15-20 minutes every morning doing stretches, steps, or lunges while listening to a fav morning radio show or go for brisk walks after dinner.  Buy used exercise equipment if necessary.  A simple platform for a step routine is cheap.  Pushups and pull-up bars instead of weights.

(10.) Limit gift giving. Make a list of recipients that must receive gifts for holidays and birthdays.  Craft goods, either DIY or bought at local art and craft shows are a much less expensive than department or specialty store prices.  Parents usually have everything they need.  Give them special ‘time’ coupons for errands, car washes or home repairs.  Little kids don’t care and like simple, colorful things.

(11.) Email birthday greetings to relatives and friends. This saves card and postage costs and there are many free websites for downloading and customizing cards.  Ecards, Hallmark, and others are free ecard websites.

(12.) Energy savings.  LED or CFL bulbs in every lamp, no exception.  When the old incandescent bulb burns out, replace with either LED or CFL ones.  The newer bulbs last longer and use less electricity.  The bulb comparison grid below is from The Simple Dollar.  My house has a hundred bulbs, inside and out.  In the long-run, I’ll save hundreds to thousands of dollars.

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/

$aving$ count!

And the usual disclaimer – I own a position in ROYT and get dividends.  This is not a recommendation to buy ROYT or any other stock, ETF or other investment.

Dion

Dion Shaw is founder and owner of Homepreneurs.  All articles written are copyright to Dion Shaw and Homepreneurs.  No reproduction is permitted without express written consent and violators will be prosecuted.  Neither Dion Shaw nor Homepreneurs is paid or otherwise compensated for suggestions in these posts.  No responsibility is assumed by either Homepreneurs or Dion Shaw.

©Homepreneurs 2010-2018

Turn a Blog into a Book

Are you a writer?  With a blog?  Interested in creating a book or eBook with content?  I did some research and testing, and found a site that converts blogs into Word or PDF format.  PDF and Word files are easily converted into ePub or MOBI format for SmashWords, Amazon or Google.  The formatting isn’t perfect and images are low resolution in free mode, but from the pages of this WordPress blog, I created a full PDF document with a few clicks.  Below is a screen shot with part of the table of contents:

My PDF document is 74 pages long after conversion.  PDFs are easily converted to ePub or MOBI format for eBook or eReader use.  Kindle eReaders prefer MOBI, something to consider when preparing an eBook for sale at Amazon.  SmashWords prefers ePub but accepts versions of Word, RTF, PDF and more.  PDF is generally safe for all self-publishing efforts.

This post doesn’t cover details for eBook formatting, but less complex text documents are better for publishing.  Word has many hidden formatting features that may cause issues when publishing eBooks.

Blog to Book with BlogBooker

Some plugins for WordPress claim to convert blogs to eBook formats, but don’t always work as advertised.  I found and tested BlogBooker and the ToC results are above.  The website has a very simple and free process.  The home page is below.  Clicking on the blue “Make your BlogBook” starts the program.

Bloggers can choose content from WordPress, Blogger, Medium, Twitter, Tumblr, TypePad and LiveJournal.  Simply select the desired platform, register with an email address, and follow the simple instructions.  Choose from Microsoft Word or PDF for the final format, choose convert, and in minutes, receive a full PDF or Word document that may be converted into an eBook.

BlogBooker Limits

BlogBooker isn’t perfect, but it is a good tool.  Below is a clip from one of the pages I converted.  Note that each of the bullet points converted into numbers.  Each was a hyperlink in the blog post, but not in the PDF.  Be sure to carefully proofread the converted product.  BlogBooker can also be used to see what a completed conversion looks like and writers can adjust accordingly.

BlogBooker only allows a few conversions for free.   BlogBooker has paid plans that allow higher resolution pictures and unlimited conversions. Prices range from $19.00 (basic) to $79.00 for premier.  Payment in U.S. dollars, British Pounds or € Euros.

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Homepreneurs has instructions for step-by-step publishing on Smashwords and on Kindle/Amazon.  Google instructions will be a future post.

Creating an eBook-ready document is simple with BookBlogger.  Self-publishing is easy on the major publishing websites.  All instructions are written on Homepreneurs.  Everything is free.

And the best part?  When the eBook sells, you get paid.  Month after month after month.  Do very little work and earn passive income via royalties for years.

Please leave any questions or feedback in the comments.  I’m happy to answer questions.

Dion

 

Dion Shaw is founder and owner of Homepreneurs.  All articles written are copyright to Dion Shaw and Homepreneurs.  No reproduction is permitted without express written consent and violators will be prosecuted.  Neither Dion Shaw nor Homepreneurs is paid or otherwise compensated for suggestions in these posts.  No responsibility is assumed by either Homepreneurs or Dion Shaw.