How to Budget Using Mint

If you do not want to pay for a budgeting tool and are not using Mint then you are making a big mistake.  Mint allows you to create a zero based budget, track and categorize your transactions, and create and track goals for your finances.  This article will concentrate on how I use Mint to create a zero based budget.

The first item when creating your budgets is deciding what you need to budget for and creating a budget for them on the budget page on Mint's homepage.  When creating a budget you need to know what your allocation for that expense is going to be.  Another selection you have is selecting if you want the budget to roll over to the next month.  While this is an awesome feature I do not use it since I create a new budget for each month.

How to Save Money On Your Wedding: Save the Dates

When I started researching and implementing items to save money on my wedding we tried to save money on our save the dates.  My fiance and I decided to create our own save the date magnets.  This was not a perfect process for us but hopefully with these tips it can be for you.

We followed the steps at DIY: Turn Your Fridge into a Gallery Wall, Make Photo Magnet Mosaics! to create our magnets.  We created the magnets using this websites steps with a little variation.  We did not use the dimensional magic glaze.  This is because it was very difficult to put the glaze on our save the dates without any bubbles and keeping it evenly distributed.  Also the glaze was rather expensive for the 100 save the dates that we created.  But, these save the date magnets turned out really well.  These magnets cost us $100 for 75 magnets.

How to Create Text Images For Free

How to Create Text Images Using Typo Effects

When looking for websites that created images from your text the best one I could find was Typo Effects.  Type Effects allows you to customize several things with your text images including the size of the words, the length of the text, how the text is presented, and how the text integrates into the picture.  There are several steps before using Typo Effects to create a great looking image and they are outlined here.

Step 1 - Go to Photo Joiner and upload your picture twice.  The reason for this is Typo Effects will put a watermark at the bottom of your picture so you will need to crop out the bottom.  You want to select that option where it puts your pictures on top of one another.  Save the created image somewhere where you can find it.  

How to Automate Your Phone's Battery Life Using AutomateIt

As I have previously mentioned in many posts is the powerful ability of AutomateIt to automate your phone in a variety of different ways.  Today's post is about using the app to manage your battery life.  I ask my phone to work very hard all of the time so when it is low on battery I just want my phone to be able to do the basics (text and call).  Using these rules allows my phone to last for approximately 2.5 more hours.

Battery Low Turn Off GPS 

The trigger for this AutomateIt rule is battery level below 15%. The action is turn off GPS. The battery rules enable me to save my battery when it is low. I turn off all of the stuff that drains my battery that is not essential (or I view as not essential) till my battery recharges and then it turns all of the items back on.

Battery Low Turn Off 3G 

The trigger for this AutomateIt rule is battery level below 15%. The action is turn off 3G.

Battery Low Turn Off Wireless 

The trigger for this AutomateIt rule is battery level below 15%. The action is turn off wireless.

How to Automate Your Phone at Work Using AutomateIt

AutomateIt is the best phone automation app out there so how do you use it at work.  The items I want automated at work include sound, Wifi connection, and data use.  I have many rules written for AutomateIt which can be found here, so the key is making sure the new work rules are compatible with those.

• Sound Work - Trigger is location is work.  The sampling rate is 5 min (anytime after 30 seconds will work since work enable time is 30 seconds).  Action is turn phone on vibrate.  I do this because I want AutomateIt to turn off my phone's sounds one time while I am at work.  I use this rule along with enable sound work and disable sound work to only allow my phone to turn my phone on vibrate once because I might want to have sound on and I don't want it to keep turning my phone volume off all day.

• Work Disable - This rule turns on your work sound rule. Work Disable works together with the rule Work Enable to check your location only once. I use the next three AutomateIt rules with my headphone jack but it could also be used with a time. The trigger for this rule is headset is unplugged. The action for this rule is enable rule Sound Work.

• Work Enable - The trigger for this rule is headset is unplugged. The action for this rule is disable rule Work Sound. The key to this AutomateIt rule is the delayed execution. I have mine for 30 seconds which allows Work Sound to check the location and then turns Work Sound off before it checks your location again.

Warmups and Their Effect on Comprehension Conclusion

In this section I am going to discuss the findings of my action research on the effects of different types of warm-ups on students in the classroom. This finding will help and determine the usefulness of warm-ups in a mathematics classroom.

Surveys were completed after each unit to gather information on what the students thought about each warm-up before they received their test grades so that they were not influenced by their grade. I expected the students to have increased motivation for the games and puzzle units while having increased comprehension in reviewing the previous lessons material. I hoped that reviewing previous mathematical concepts would aid in their comprehension, but I did not know what to expect. In each unit the question, what are your observations about the beginning of each class (what happens?, what do you do while homework is getting checked?) was asked. The students' comments were categorized into four categories. They were not relating, doing something other than mathematics, working on the warm-up, and working on mathematics not dealing with the warm-up. Interesting trends I found when looking at the data are the more and more warm-ups the students saw the more participation I received. 

3 Reasons Why You Should Make Your Fiance Go to a Bridal Show

Bridal shows many times are only attended by the bride and her family.  Many of us are missing out on all of the opportunities a bridal show presents to the bride and her fiance.  It can be a time for them to come together as a couple and as a family.  I am not going to tell you it was the most fun I had ever had but it was a great experience for the two of us.

To Spend Time Together

Wedding plans take so much time and if just one of you is in charge in making them then you will spend less time together.  If you are willing to do it together then you get to spend all of that time together.  A bridal show is for the bride but that does not mean the groom is not welcome or not wanted.  When I went to the Pink Bride there were things for me to do as well as help my fiance through the decisions she has to make.  Let’s face it weddings are stressful so what better way to help then lower the stress of your fiance.

To Learn

Before I went to the Pink Bride I had a vague idea on what planning a wedding with my fiance would entail but there I learned the facts.  I learned my responsibilities in our wedding as well as the people we would have to hire and how much the costs of a wedding really was.  Now when my fiance and I talk about wedding plans I have a baseline of what we need and what the cost of those needs are.  Before i would have dwelled on the expense of whatever she told me and now we can have an informed discussion about what we both want.

4 Reasons Why I Bought My Girlfriend’s Engagement Ring at Kay Jewelers

Reasons to Buy Your Girlfriends Engagement Ring at Kay Jewelers

In this article I am not going to tell you to buy your girlfriend’s engagement ring from Kay Jewelers I am just going to tell you why I did.  I shopped around really hard to find the right engagement ring for my now fiancé and ended up at Kay’s and there were several reasons this was the case.  I was really torn between two places an online one, Blue Nile, and Kay’s but decided Kay’s would be better because I could see the ring and the ring never had to be in the mail to and from me. 

You Can Physically See Their Rings

When I first started looking for engagement rings for my then girlfriend I read several places that you can find the best price online.  I believe this is the case but I could not see those rings in person or see what they look like on my then girlfriends hand before I bought them.  I did see them on others hands and they looked really nice but my fiancé fingers are really small so I was worried what they looked like on someone else’s hands wasn’t what they would look like on her hand. 

How to Win in Big Win Sports

Building a Dominate Team in Big Win Sports

So you have downloaded one of the Big Win Sports apps and now want to know how to build a successful team.  These tips and tricks hold true for all of the games including: Big Win Basketball, Big Win Football, Big Win Baseball, Big Win Soccer, and Big Win Hockey.

Have Patience

Patience is the most important item when trying to build a successful team.  You must play with an average 40-42 team in the beginning to build up your cards and cash bucks.  This will be explained below.  You must not start playing games until you have built up gold impact cards.  This is important because it is not important how many games you win but how many games out of ten you can win.  Do not enroll in a rookie tournament unless you have enough gold impact cards for the 10 game rookie tournaments.  You get these free every day when you sign in so sign in everyday for a couple of days before you play games.  The last thing to have patience with is make sure you are only buying gold packs, bronze packs, or player packs.  It does you no good to have some good players.  You either need great players or horrible players.

3 Reasons You Should Be Using Socrative as a Teacher

How to Use Socrative Teacher

Socrative is a powerful apple and android app in which teachers can encourage students to participate in the classroom in a variety of different ways. Socrative can be used as a clicker system in the classroom as well as being used to grade student's short answer and multiple choice quizzes. It has many benefits which are outlined in the article below.

Can Be Used as a Clicker

The first use of Socrative is you can use it as a clicker system in your classroom. Students when entering your room can sign in to your room on Socrative. This allows them and only them to follow along with you while using their phones. There are two main types of questions you can ask when using Socrative as a clicker system. The first one is you can ask your students to vote on yes and no on opinion questions. The second, which is my favorite, is asking students to post what answer they achieved on a certain question. In that way you are getting instant feedback on what your students are capable of at that particular time.

How to Automate Your Phone at Night Using AutomateIt

AutomateIt is such a powerful tool for your phone but the question is how to best utilize it. In this article are a list of the rules I have created to maximize the potential of this great app. This article is part 2 of the series. Part 1 can be found here.  All of these rules deal with AutomateIt's ability to automate your phone at night.

____ Nights Start 
Since I have my phone automatically go into silent mode at 10 or 11 at night I wanted to create a rule that allowed certain people to call me during this period. The trigger for this AutomateIt rule is incoming call from ____. The action is set device sound to normal.

____ Nights End 

This rule works along with ____ Nights Start. It turn your phone back to silent after the incoming call was completed. The trigger for this AutomateIt rule is ending phone call from _____. Action is set device's sound to silent.

Enable Nights Start
This rule allows ____ Night Start to only occur during the night. You need to set the time for this one for the same time as your rule for Silent Nights. The trigger for this AutomateIt rule is 11 pm. The action is enable ___ Nights Start.

4 Filling Meals to Eat on a Budget

How to Eat Cheap and Get Full

So you have decided to save money on your food while hoping to be just as full and be somewhat healthy. There are many good recipes out there but included are recipes for spaghetti, tacos, chicken Alfredo, and chicken and potatoes. Included in these recipes are items from Kroger but if you shop at another grocery then alternatives can easily be found. 

Spaghetti 

• Ingredients - 1 lb ground turkey (ground beef also works), 1 can petite diced tomatoes, 1 huge sweet onion, 1 medium of your favorite pepper, 1 jalapeno sliced. 2 value cans of garlic and herb sauce, your favorite noodles (I use the cheapest healthiest ones I can
  

4 Pool Ideas for Your Dream Pool

What Features to Add to Your Dream Pool

So you have decided you want a pool but now need to start thinking about what you want your pool to include. There are several different things to think about when creating your dream pool besides the actual pool itself. Included are accessories we added to our pool.

1. A Diving Rock - Your insurance increase dramatically if you add a diving board to your pool but adding a diving rock to your pool does not have that same effect. A diving rock is just a sizable rock on the pool's edge that people can use to jump in the water.Another benefit to a diving rock is I believe it makes your pool look nicer. A diving rock is part of the decoration of your pool. Also if you pick the right kind of rock (hopefully they can use a rock they find in your yard when they dig)

7 Programs to Run Your Computer Completely Free

Best Free Software for Your Computer

So you have bought a new computer or inherited an old one from a friend and do not want to pay for the software to make it run. That is a decision based on many things but once it is made there are several good programs out there for you to use. 

Word Processor

• LibreOffice - The free word processor I use is called LibreOffice. It is very similar to Microsoft Word. It allows you to do all of the same important basic things as Microsoft Word.

How to Run a Successful Fireworks Stand

How to Make Money Running a Fireworks Tent

So you have started in the fireworks business or are a seasoned professional who is looking for ways to maximize the money they are going to make. Included are some of the ways we have found to maximize our money while minimizing our time and effort. 

Be Organized

Organization is key for any business but it is especially easy to be disorganized running a fireworks tent because the tent not permanent. Be organized with the amount of money you are taking in. Know where it is, where it needs to go, and what day you made the money. This is key because tracking what days people are buying fireworks is important for staffing reasons. Be organized with the fireworks. We use bins with the set up of our fireworks because it allows

How to Become a Better Post Player

When trying to become a better post player there are several things you need to concentrate on and try to do. Here are some of them.

1. Creating space/thinking about where you are posting 

   When posting the most physical player usual wins. A good post player knows how to create space to get open on the block and create space to create passing angles for the pass. Creating space is done with your butt and your arms up and no fending off with your arms. Once you understand how to create space then worrying about where you catch the ball becomes important. Good post players score with no move needed. You should try and catch the ball as close to the basket as possible. 

2. Running the floor 

   Running the floor along with rebounding are the easiest ways for a post player to get free points. Running the floor is all effort and you do not need to be fast to be great at running the floor. 

How to Buy Fireworks on a Budget

How to Buy Fireworks Cheap

So the 4th of July is approaching and you want to buy some fireworks but don't want to spend much money. Here are some tips on how to do this. 

Create a budget.   

Before ever going to a fireworks tent or warehouse determine how much money you are willing to spend and decide to stick to that amount no matter what. Let's face it the job of the sells people is to explain what firework does what and to sell to you. If you have a money amount already determined then their only job to you becomes to inform you. When first walking into the tent let the salesperson know your budget so they can steer you in the right direction. 

Shop around.  

Fireworks tents seem to follow a philosophy. The better location the higher the prices and the worse the location the lower the prices. If there is one tent where you are there are bound to be more in the area so visit them all to see which has the best prices. When looking find an item in every section and compare at the other tents. Avoids the bottle rockets comparison except if you plan to by many bottle rockets.

The 10 Best Apps To Get You Started on Your Android Phone

If you just received your android phone or have gotten a new android phone here are ten apps you must have along with the apps preloaded on your android phone.  As you can see when looking at the apps I really enjoy the customizable features of the android phone and its apps.

• AutomateIt - Allows your phone to read your mind.  You can load actions for the phone to automatically take when something happens.  Really useful in the car.  I have mine automatically turn my volume on when I get home, start Pandora when I plug in headphones, set my media volume to 70% when Pandora opens, etc.  The combinations are limitless.  I have the free version but there is a paid version with more features.
• Dolphin Browser - Simply the easiest fastest browser to use.
• ESPN Scorecenter - Customizable alerts on your favorite teams makes this a must have for any sports fan. 
• Handcent - A better messaging option than the stock messenger.  Allows for tons of customization from the viewer to notifications to sending and receiving messages.

2 Easy Ways to Make Money as a College Student

Blogger

Moral and Easy Ways to Make Money for College Students

As a college student or an ordinary person looking to make a little cash without extending much energy two easy ways are donating plasma and submitting writing to the internet.

Plasma – Plasma is a life giving and wallet extending experience. You can give plasma up to two times a week usually earning 50-60 dollars a week. The key is finding a plasma center which efficiently gets patients

in and out. When I was giving plasma while in college I earned $55 a week and it took me about 3 hours to donate (1.5 hours a visit). The key is to drink a ton of water before and after going to remain hydrated because plasma is mostly water. I have never experienced any side effects from it and have done extensive research on the process and it is safe. It does leave you with a nice looking scar though.

Writing – Everyone in college has to write papers for one class or another. Since you already have to write them why not make a little money off them. creating your own blog. It is fairly easy to set up and once that is done the only thing you have to do is copy and paste your papers to submit them.

Playing with Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles Lesson 5

Children's Books

Using Children's Books to Understand Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles

The beginning of this unit plan can be found here.

Lesson 5

Today's lesson is going to take everything we have learned in the previous lessons and combine them. Hopefully the other lessons have introduced combining the mathematics but today this will be driven home. I really want today to be more like a work day and not a teaching day. I want to read A Very Improbable Story and for them to do the rest of the project with almost no instruction from me. I plan on walking around while they are working on their projects but hopefully in their groups they will be able to answer each other's questions without any of my help. This is how the differentiation will be done in this lesson. Also I will spend more time with groups which I feel might struggle more.

Playing with Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles Lesson 4

Children's Books

Using Children's Books to Understand Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles

The beginning of this unit plan can be found here.

Lesson 4

In today's lesson we are going to be using what we learned about percents and turning them into a visual display of data. Today's lesson is going to be fun because we are going to be creating charts so therefore the students are going to get to use markers and their artistic ability. Where in the other lessons in this book were used to introduce and give the students problems to solve, todays book in mostly going to be used for a background and reasoning for why we are going to calculate the central angle theorem. Today's lesson background information is a proof on the central angle. I do not expect my students to be able to comprehend the proof but do want to point out two things. The first being what a professional mathematical proof looks like because many have never seen one. Also the radius and diameter are used in the proof so therefore what they learned in previously math classes is not unimportant.

Playing with Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles Lesson 3

Using Children's Books to Understand Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles

The beginning of this unit plan can be found here.

Lesson 3

Today's lesson can be approached in two different ways and I want to do it both ways. I want my students to be able to understand a percent as a ratio and also a proportion as a ratio. In the book Pythagoras and the Ratios: A Math Adventure ratios are presented using only two but since in this unit we are working with probability problems which can deal with more than one I need to introduce this also. Today's lesson has a moment where the students can show me their transfer ability and critical thinking skills. In today's lesson I am going to ask the students to answer a question which we have not covered yet but they have all of the tools to solve. I think it is important to ask these questions periodically because in the real world examples students are shown almost always are similar but not the same as the problems they will be asked to solve. Again this lessons activating strategy is also the exit ticket because I am using the activating strategy is the goal we are working towards. The lesson will be differentiated in two ways. The first being when I walk around I will spend more time with the students who usually struggle. Also the students are encouraged to ask someone else in the class for help if they are struggling. This allows for more than one teacher in the room.

Playing with Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles Lesson 2

Using Children's Books to Understand Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles

The beginning of this unit plan can be found here.

Lesson 2

In this lesson we are going to do an activity with Twizzlers in which the students will be given Twizzlers and expected to work with them in showing percentages. We are going to work through the book,Twizzlers Percentages Book , with our won Twizzlers. Each student will be given 15 Twizzlers of an assortment of black and red so therefore we cannot do every problem in the book but should be able to work several of them. I am going to walk around the classroom while reading the book to help support students with their work. I also plan on putting up a PowerPoint which shows most of the problems and thoughts from the book just so the students can see them better because I will not have the ability to get each student in the classroom their own book. Also because the problems from the book will be written in the PowerPoint it will allow students more time to think about what is happening and what we are doing. I plan on highlighting page two. This will be most of my instruction for the day. After that we will work examples because this is not a complex subject but it is an important one so repetition will help.

Playing with Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles

Using Children's Books to Understand Probability, Percent, Ratios, and Circles

This unit plan is going to encompass four main topics and then relating them back together. The first day we are going to go over probability with word problems presented in the book Probably Pistachio . This will be a great opportunity for the students to be introduced to basic probability and the pulling out of information from word problems. The second day we are going to talk about Percent using the book Twizzlers Percentages Book and an activity using Twizzlers. This will allow them to be comfortable to taking multiple items and turning them into proportions of the whole. The third day we are going to talk about ratios using the book Pythagoras and the Ratios: A Math Adventure. This will allow them to become comfortable doing two things. They are pulling information out and turning it into ratios and turning a percent into a ratio. The fourth day we are going to use the 

How to Use Your Smartphone More Efficiently

6 Ways to Increase Your Productivity with Your Smartphone

There are many ways to increase the efficiency and productivity of your smartphone. This article discusses some apps which can be helpful along with using items already in your smartphone to accomplish this task. 

Use Automation software

I personally use AutomateIt to automate my Android phone. Automation software allows your smartphone to complete tasks based on programmed rules created by the user. Some examples of what I use AutomateIt for include opening Pandora and silencing my phone during the night. The reason it allows you to use your smartphone more efficiently is your phone completes actions that you would normally have to do yourself.

Use Speech to Text

The main time I use speech to text is in my car when I am driving. What I mean by speech to text is talking into your smartphone and your phone turning that information into text you can then use. I personally use Google's built in speech to text but there are many good programs out there. The reason it allows you to use your smartphone more efficiently is you can talk much faster than you can text and this is especially true when you are driving.

Mathematical Manipulatives Uses in a Classroom

Uses and Possible Problems with Math Manipulatives

Mathematics manipulatives I discovered are very useful and important in a mathematics classroom at any level. When I started my Mathematics Education 530 at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, I knew what a mathematics manipulative was but had no idea there were so many different ones or how to use any of them. So when selecting my articles, I selected two articles which showed how to use certain manipulatives in the classroom and I also chose one article which discusses the possible problems with using manipulative in the classroom. The articles that showed how to use manipulatives in the classroom used technology manipulatives such as a calculator and Microsoft Word. I selected these because most of the schools I know of have calculators for every student in each class and rentable computers for each student of each class. 

22 Rules to Maximize AutomateIt

Rule Creation for AutomateIt

AutomateIt is such a powerful tool for your phone but the question is how to best utilize it. In this article are a list of the rules I have created to maximize the potential of this great app. The key idea to remember is to create rules that interact with other rules. These rules are all done with the free version.

App Opening/Closing Rules

• Alarm to Pandora - Anytime my alarm goes off my Pandora is opened and starts playing with a delay of 2 minutes. The delay allows you to cancel it if you wish.
• Alarm Sound - This AutomateIt rule is anytime my Alarm goes off it turns up my media volume to 100%.
• GPS Sound - Anytime Google Maps is opened it turns up my media volume to 100%.
• Pandora Sound - Anytime Pandora is opened it turns up my media volume to 80%.
  
  
  

APY Common Core Project for High School

Students will be required to combine the APY formula with the Present Value for Compound Interest Formula to determine the final value of their investment and how much interest that would end of being. This project has been completed in Algebra 2 as well as Finite Mathematics but would fit well in Statistics. Your parents give you $10,000 to invest during college. You will receive the interest of whatever the money makes during you college career (4 years). You can invest in Ally Bank, Bank of America, Regions, EverBank, and Capital One Savings account. Which one would you pick and why?

APY = (1+r/n)^(n)-1

Present Value for Compound Interest A=P(1+r/n)^(nt)

Steps:

1. Find the APY of a saving account for each of these Banks. (Google it)
2. Plug it in the APY formula from the formula sheet and add 1 to solve for (1+rn)^(n).
3. Take and raise it to the number of years you are in college (look at the present value for compound interest formula).
4. Multiply that by your Principle (look at the present value for compound interest formula)
5. Find the interest for each of these investments.
6. Type a paragraph about why you picked the bank you did. Describe what you notice about the APY value and the amount of interest you earn.
7. For homework create a pamphlet, flier, or poster board advertising the bank you decided to bank with.
8. Prepare to present (Show your project to the rest of the class).

Points:

• 25 points for in class work (Want to see work for solution and paragraph)

• 25 points for pamphlet, flier, or poster board

• 5 points for presentation

Warm-up Problems and Their Effect on Comprehension and Motivation in Math

Introduction

The beginning of my teaching was an exciting and educational time for me. I learned and discovered many things, but one of the biggest struggles I saw with myself and with other teachers was the start of every class. I struggled to completely engage the students while doing all of the administrative tasks that were assigned to me as well as making sure the students had completed their homework. Even if I completed the tasks quickly and could start class at a reasonable time I still wasted some time. With only a few wasted minutes it was still difficult for me to turn the students from what they had been doing previously into what I wanted them to be doing. To combat this problem, I started giving students problems or thought provoking questions on the board to start the period. I soon realized that these questions helped keep students engaged with mathematics while I completed these tasks, and it turned them from what they were doing into the world of mathematics. As I started to implement these questions on a daily basis, I began to wonder what type of questions were the most beneficial. Also, how other teachers were effectively using the beginning of their class periods. This led to my desire to research and study warm-ups. Included in that would be researching different types of warm-ups and there overall effects on students motivation and understanding in the mathematics classroom.