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Free Audio Books - October 31, 2008

I love to read in my free-time and listen to audio books on my way too and from work. Unfortunately, throwing a book in the cart (or audio-book in the iTunes cart) every trip to the store isn’t in the budget.

That’s why I was super excited to stumble across some free audio books. They play on any iPod, download in minutes, and their library includes lots of books that are on my to-read list! Including biographies on all the Presidental and VP candidates!

It’s a super find, and I highly recommend you visit.

Utilities Savings - October 30, 2008

If you look back through Daily Dollars, you’ll see that our NIPSCO bill has been running around $200 a month. I’m good about shutting off lights and only running the washer and dryer when full, but $200 a month was getting a little hard to swallow.

This month’s bill just came and I held my breath while opening it for no reason, because we’re down to $75! Pretty amazing how much we saved just by being able to turn off the air conditioning for two weeks.

That’s another $125 in savings that we can put towards a credit card! Between gas and utility prices being down, we’ll be debt-free in no time!

Black Friday Bargains - October 30, 2008

Last year, I ventured out on Black Friday for the very first time and it was quite the experience. I didn’t think I’d like all the pushing, shoving, and waiting in line, but the sales really made it worth the hassle. The Best Buy deals were by far the best, and I was able to snag lots of TV on DVD for 50% off!

This year, I’m going to be in New York City visiting my family the week of Thanksgiving, which means I won’t be fighting the crowds on Black Friday, but I will be keeping my eye on the cyber monday ads so that I can take advantage of the sales from the comfort of my living room.

If you are venturing out on Black Friday, you’ll need a shopping strategy, so keep an eye on the Black Friday ads and sign up for email alerts at iBlackFriday.com, so that you can plan your bargain hunting in advance. Their website lists all the latest Black Friday steals and deals and the email alerts let you know about new sale items as soon as they are announced.

iBlackFriday.com couldn’t be easier to navigate; just click on your favorite store’s logo and browse the list of sales items, making note of any deals you need to scoop up!

Happy bargain hunting!

gas under $2 - October 30, 2008

I thought I was getting a deal when I filled up my gas tank at $2.44/gal this morning, but gas is $1.80 in Indianapolis!

Even though the Chicagoland-area isn’t at Indianapolis prices, it’s still a far cry from where we were at just a few months ago. A tank of gas went from costing me $55 down to $30, and since I fill up 2-3 times per week, that’s a big savings at the end of the month.

We can’t complain, though. Compared to a lot of people, our mileage is limited and so far our budget has been able to absorb the fluctuations, but it is nice to be $300 ahead at the end of the month!

Type 150 WPM with Dragon NaturallySpeaking - October 30, 2008

What if I told you that you could Type 150 Words per minute for $99!? I know that money is tight for everyone, but if a mere $99 could help you complete your work more quickly and accurately, would it be worth the investment.

Absolutely! Just look at how easy it was for blogger SuperZ to get started with Dragon NaturallySpeaking and start typing over 150 words per minute.

The video above was created by a blogger that goes by the name, SuperZ.

I couldn’t write that name before using Dragon NaturallySpeaking until I trained Dragon NaturallySpeaking to recognize the name SuperZ. I mention that because I’m using Dragon NaturallySpeaking right now to write this article (notice Dragon knew when I said the words right now that I meant the word right and not the word to write).

I’ve been writing articles and reviews about Dragon NaturallySpeaking for close to two years. I’ve had a lot of experience with the software, and I wanted to reach out to other bloggers and see what they thought of the software.

SuperZ tried out the software and as you can see from his own video, the results that he’s getting after having used the software for just a week are pretty amazing. His computer is keeping up with just about every word that he says, and typing those words out for him in text.

Well frankly that’s exactly what Dragon NaturallySpeaking is supposed to do these days and it lives up to its claim of achieving 99% accuracy and I’ve clocked it typing faster than its claims of 150 words per minute.

That’s right you can type 150 words a minute with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. You do have to spend a little time editing from time to time, but you type so fast that editing doesn’t take that long. You get the typing done faster and the editing is a breeze because you only have to look at the way that you phrased words. Dragon NaturallySpeaking almost never makes a spelling mistake. It types out the entire word based on the vocabulary that has stored in the machine. So it really can’t misspell a word it’s pulling the word straight out of a dictionary.

The only exception might be the case when you run into a name like SuperZ, which is not in your dictionary yet. When you run across a name like that, all you have to do is add it into your dictionary and train the software to recognize that new word or name. It just takes a second and after that you’ll be able to say SuperZ all you like and Dragon NaturallySpeaking will know exactly what you are talking about. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard

Sincerely,
Brett Bumeter
Softduit Media
www.softduit.com

PS this article includes about 381 words that I wrote with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10. It took me about 4 minutes to write and 4 minutes to edit this article. The writing time included the short amount of time it took to train dragon to recognize the name SuperZ. Editing took 4 minutes because I’ve been working all night and I’m not reading too fast!

October 29 thru 30 - October 30, 2008
  • $0

Another two days with no holes burned in our pockets! If we can keep this up until next payday, we’ll have enough money left over from last payday to make a double credit card payment! I recently closed credit card accounts and my credit score took a hit, so I’m looking forward to increasing my available credit so that my score goes back up.

Shopping Confessions Contests - October 28, 2008

columns-contestI may have called off Christmas between the adults of the family to help trim the budget and relieve some holiday stress, but you can still do some major holiday shopping by entering a fun contest!

eBillme, which allows users to shop online with cash (because it should be everyone’s goal to make it through the holiday season without a pile of credit card bills), is giving away $33,000 worth of prizes for your shopping confession. Let them know your dirty little shopping secret with a video, a short essay, or pictures and you might be in for a very merry Christmas!

Stop by www.ShopandConfess.com, take a look at the official rules, and impress (or repulse) the celebrity judges with tales of shopping in the nude, being a compulsive shopping, or wearing and returning a fancy dress for your chance to win!

Let them know www.brokeasaspoke.com sent you when they asked for a referring URL!!

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