Gosh I wish I’d known about this site, Discount AC Parts, back when my ’97 SL1’s air conditioning broke a couple years ago.  Of course mine broke just as it was starting to warm up in the spring, and where live, spring is practically summer for everywhere else, so we start running our air conditioning fairly early.

I took it to a mechanic, and was told that my a/c compressor was shot. It was going to cost $1500 to fix it!! The blue book on my car was barely $1200, so there was no way I was going to fork over more than the car was worth just to fix the air conditioning, nor was I going to drive in 115 degree summer heat without an air conditioner (so I got a new car).

However, if I’d known about Discount AC Parts, I found that the ac compressor for my car, brand new, only costs about $400! Granted I still would have needed to find someone to install it for me, but I’m sure someone could probably have done it and kept the entire cost under $1k, and probably could have continued to drive my old car for a few thousand more miles. I really miss that car actually – it got great gas mileage – 35-40 mpg on a good week.

Based on what I found that I could have saved on my own car, I would say it’s worth checking them out if you’re in need of a new a/c compressor for your own car.  My in-law’s drive Toyotas, so if they’re ever in need of a Toyota AC Compressor, I would have to say I’d send them to that site to compare prices.

There is an online class being held by Christi Friesen, on how to create the Steampunk look with polymer clay in the style she is famous for.  I came across it several weeks ago and have been hemming and hawing over it, whether to sign up or not (it costs $40 and runs for six weeks).  It starts January 9, so there is still time for me to sign up for it, but I’d be a little behind while waiting for some of the supplies.

I really like her style, it seems so easy yet looks so complicated, but I don’t know how often I’d use the Steampunk style if at all.  I don’t know, it may be fun to join just to learn how to do it and if I like it I can run with it…

Anyway, below are some of her books if you want to take a peek at some of what she does, and below that is the link to her website for even closer views of her work.

Christi Friesen’s website.

(NOT a sponsored post!)

Edited 3/6/2017 to fix bad links.

Yeah I know – Spring is still a couple months away, and most of the country is still in the midst of Jack Frost’s wrath, but what better way to wile away the time spent hunkered down indoors than to plan out your Spring Cleaning schedule?

I have seen these Space Bags advertised on televsion and have seen them at the local super store, and have considered picking up a couple of them to try out, particularly for the loads of clothes I have currently stashed in those big plastic totes, waiting to either be given away or set up at a yard sale.  But it looks like there is a better deal if you order these Space Bags  online – 7 bags for $19.95 plus shipping & handling.  That’s a pretty good deal, considering I have seen them selling only two or three of the medium or large bags in the stores for the same price!

They are a good way to store all your winter clothes until they’re needed again next season, especially the bulky sweaters, blankets and coats that would ordinarily stuff your closets.  So if you’re looking for something to help save you some closet space – or even to be able to shove them under your bed to make cozy with the dust bunnies – go check out the Space Bags at that site to get seven of them for $19.95 + S & H.

My senior year of high school, I received a scholorship that I could use at any of the local community colleges.  It was for $1000 per semester, and I really can’t remember whehter it covered books in addition to the classes or not.  Regardless, I do remember how expensive books were even then, and I often tried to get used books from the campus bookstore if at all possible to save money.

My daughter is only three years old right now, and I hope that one day she will be able to go to college.  But I can’t even imagine what it is going to cost us by the time she is old enough to attend.  It’s already a whole lot more expensive now than it was 15 years ago… Fast forward another 15 years? Heck we’ll probably have to be millionaires to be able to send her anywhere decent unless she gets a full ride scholarship!

Fortunately at this point in time, and hopefully in the distant future as well, there will be other options to find the cheapest college text books around so that we can save money.  Goodness knows that tuition is going to be hard enough to cover, so any way we can save money on the books is going to be a godsend.

Every year Amazon has this neat program where they list three different products that, if it receives enough votes, will be available for certain selected buyers to purchase at a GREAT discount price (sometimes like 50% off).  This year they have 18 different products to vote on in six rounds.  If you vote, you get entered into a drawing to get a chance to buy the product that wins the vote in its round.

We participated a couple years ago when the Wii was especially hard to find, and we won the opportunity to buy it, and got it for my husband’s brother as a Christmas gift.

This year they have a choice of three PS3 bundles – each with a PS3, a game and a movie, ranging in price from $199 to $229 (the $229 version actually has 2 movies, I think, both of them James Bond movies).  So whichever one wins the vote will be available to 500 people to buy (I think the purchase limit is one per winner in these deals).  The other “rounds” have other different products, round 3 has a 46″ Samsung HDTV for $699 (should it win, of course)!

Not every one will win of course, but hey it’s worth a shot if you’re eyeing one of the products as a gift to someone, or even to yourself, and that product wins the vote and you get drawn to be able to buy it if you want… so go visit Amazon to participate in the voting… You never know, you may win the chance to buy a great product at a super low price! But hurry, the first rounds end soon – as of tomorrow!

My husband and I have wanted a hybrid for a while now, but it just hasn’t been in the cars, I mean cards. We are only making payments on one of our two cars, but it is almost $300 a month, and there is still at least three years left on it I think.  We’ve kind of been eying the ones that would get us the most MPG due to how far we have to commute one way each day.  Anyway, it will probably be a while before we can afford buy one.

But if you own one already, or know someone who does and can’t think of anything to get them for Christmas, there is a site I found that sells loads of accessories geared toward hybrid cars of all makes – Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Dodge, Saturn, etc., etc.. It’s called Juiced Hybrid, and they even have a special right now where you can receive free shipping on purchases over $99!  Considering how some things like rubber all-weather floor mats and cargo liners can be pretty heavy, this is a great bonus!

Browsing around their site it appears a lot of Juiced Hybrid’s products are geared towards the Prius Hybrid, which happens to be one of the cars my husband and I have considered looking into buying at some point.  But they carry items for other hybrids, like the Saturn Green Line VUE and AURA, the Honda Civic & Insight Hybrids, and even the Porsche Cayenne Hybrid, and loads more!

Some of the items at Juiced Hybrid also appear to be compatible with non-hybrid cars, so if you’re looking for car related gifts, don’t discount this site just because it is specialized for hybrid owners.  Floor mats are pretty universal within model types, so what works in a Hybrid model will probably work in it’s non-hybrid sibling model, so if your dealer is out of stock and you’re in need of new mats, it’s worth a look!