If you live in Hampton Roads, The Virginia Beach Homeless Advocacy and Resource Partnership will be holding their annual Project Connect Day of Services and Point in Time count of the homeless on Thursday, January 27, 2011.

They are  looking for individuals or organizations to “Stuff a Backpack” with items to donate to a homeless individual or to volunteer their time at the event.

• Needed items include: Mouthwash (small), Toothpaste (small sizes for individuals, full size tubes for families), Baby/body powder, Tissues, Lotion, Shampoo, Toilet Paper, Bath Soap (includes body wash), Toothbrushes, Q-Tips, 1 Gallon Ziploc bags, Combs/Picks/Brushes, Multi-Functional Wet Wipes, Deodorant, Tampons/Pads, Razors, Shaving Cream, Conditioner, Socks, Gloves, Powder Laundry Soap, TShirts, Hats, Blankets, Heat Packs, Hand Warmers, Disposable Rain Gear, Small Flashlights/batteries, Bags, Sewing Kits, Manual Can Opener, Pull Top cans of canned meat, canned soup, or Nabs.
• For more information about donating money or items and drop-off locations, contact Sharon Prescott at 757-385-5803 or [email protected]

If you are interested in volunteering:

Thanks, Wood Elves! 

You’ve decided to tackle a home renovation project.  Now what?

The first thing you need to do before starting any home renovation is to set a budget.  You must determine how much you have to spend on the renovation prior to hammering the first nail.  Let this number serve as a guide as you make a plan.  What is it you want to renovate?  What about the room or rooms do you not like?  How do you plan to change the room to achieve your vision?

Once you’ve set a budget and determined what you would like to change, it’s time to go shopping.  But Wait! This is window shopping.  Take a notebook and spend days (or more) browsing the aisles of all relevant stores in your area.  You need to price check your local stores, compare prices online & determine the cost of each item you want to change.  If you are renovating a bedroom, you may be looking at:

• What is the cost of primer & paint – include brushes, rollers, painters tapes, drop-cloth, etc.
• Do you need to paint the ceiling?  This requires additional paint, a longer roller handle, & more labor
• What type of flooring to you want?  Carpet or Wood? Include removal & replacement plus specifics such a quality and type (be armed with detailed measurements of the space!)
• Do you need to replace fixtures such as ceiling fans?
• Do you need to replace doors, hinges or knobs?
• Will you be replacing bedding and related accessories?
• What about window treatments?

Try to think of the details and tools you may have to purchase or rent to complete each project.  Every penny adds up, quickly!

Once you’ve done your research and made a reasonable price list, compare that to your original budget.  Do you have enough money saved to achieve your goals with a bit of wiggle room?  If so, you’re good to move on & start transforming your space.

If not. You need to consider the possibilities:

a) Eliminate some of the renovation
b) Downgrade your finishes (maybe that Brazilian Cherry for $6 per sq ft isn’t possible right now)
c) Hold off on the renovation until you can save more money
d) Get out the credit card

To be continued…

This post is linked to Madame Deals, My Coupon Teacher & Life as Mom

Thoughts?

Welcome to the NEW Tuesday’s Trips Blog Hop hosted by The Coupon Challenge and Mom on Dealz! Instead of a shopping trip linky we’ve decided to change over to a traditional blog hop.

Each week we will be visiting a new social network. Make sure you check back each week to see where we’ll be!

• Follow your hostesses in the #1 and #2 spots
• Leave a comment, so we can follow you back
• Only link up to the network we are visiting for the week
• It’s always appreciated that if someone follows you, you follow them back (we all love to find new friends!)

A few good freebies in my mailbox this week:

Forbes Magazine
Travel Magazine (not shown)
Coupon for FREE Excedrin
Advil Coupon
Icky Bands (like silly bandz)
Purina One Dog Food Sample
Ritz Crackerful Sample
Seattle’s Best Coffee Sample
Lawry’s Seasoning Sample

1. Follow the hostesses in the first four spots (We will follow you back! Just please leave a comment letting us know that you are following us!)
2. Please only link up the network that is being hopped that specific week.
3. No spam please. These will be removed. 
4. It would be wonderful if you are linking up this week if you could add our button to your sidebar or in a post to help spread the word! 🙂 The more people that join, the more fun it will be! (Plus if you add our button to your sidebar you can grab 5 extra entries into any ONE giveaway!)
5. If someone follows you please feel free to follow them back! If you follow me and leave a comment you are guaranteed a follow back!

Did you know every time you upload a photo from your smartphone online you could be giving others the coordinates to your location?  I’m sure most of you already know that your cell phone has GPS.  All cell phones made after January 2006 are required by law to be GPS enabled.  While this is great for 911 operators to pinpoint your location in an emergency, it is not wise for publishing photos online.  

Geotags are GPS coordinates that can be added to digital files such as photos.  Many GPS enabled smartphones automatically embed geotags into photos.    The problem?  When you upload these photos on the web to sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Craigslist;  you are unknowingly providing the location of your home or favorite coffee shop to strangers. 

Suppose you snap a photo of your  kids playing their new Wii & post it on Twitter.  Later you update about heading out to dinner.  A computer savvy burglar (or worse) is now aware of your location & when you won’t be home! 

The geotags in the photo provided the latitude and longitude of where the photo was taken.  They simply plug the coordinates into google maps & determine the photo location.   According to Gerald Friedland, a researcher at the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, “any 16 year-old with basic programming skills can do this.” 

Disturbed yet?  There’s more, a Department of Justice report found that a quarter of stalking cases involved cyber stalking!

How to protect yourself: 

1. Be mindful of uploading pictures from your phone online.  Facebook strips geotags upon upload, Flickr makes you opt in; however, Twitter leaves it all intact.
2. Turn of Geotags on your Smartphone (my Verizon Driod was disabled by factory settings)
                  Go to your camera
                  Go to Menu
                  Go to Settings
                  Find geotag options
                  Disable geotags (turn off)

Protect your privacy! Although cases of geotag crimes are still rare, we should all strive to protect our digital  information.

Photo credit: Future of Real Estate Marketing
References: Women’s Health Magazine, December 2010 & NY Times, August 2010

It’s Mega Swagbucks Day! You could win up to 1000 swagbucks every Friday!

My favorite prize is a $5 Amazon Gift Card! Start searching the web and putting your swagbucks towards something special.  I was recently able to get 6 bottles of organic honey for only $1.18 OOP using my Amazon gift cards earned through swagbucks!

What is swagbucks.com? Earn points or “Swag Bucks” just for searching the web. It’s like searching Google or other search engines, but these searches can really pay off! Hurry over and register if you’re not already and start earning today.

*Don’t forget to download the toolbar to make searching easier and to earn extra swagbucks.