Thrifty Pages

Free music while you work, anyone?

The lads down at PowerFM asked me to tell all the Thrifty Pages readers about their internet broadcasts.

If you are a bit worn down with all the doom and gloom on the news and you don't want to lose your mind listening to Simon Cowell sponsored crap on commercial radio, head on over to PowerFM.org and have a listen.

The service is free and has something for everyone, from ambient to jungle, deep house, disco, and soul.

Tell Brian and Anthony you heard about it hear on Thrifty :)

Free computer training webinars with New Horizons

New Horizons has just released complimentary Webinars for October to December in SharePoint, Outlook, Word and Office 2007. Join in from the comfort of your own home or office… on the Web.  Webinar events are quick and convenient.

The webinars are free and you can enrol in all Webinars at: www.newhorizons.com/webinars

Extreme money saving – go Freegan

Willful waste makes woeful want – Scottish Proverb

Only for the most determined money savers, Freeganism, according to Wikipedia, is

an anti-consumerist lifestyle whereby people employ alternative living strategies based on "limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources".

Freegans "embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed."

The lifestyle involves salvaging discarded, unspoiled food from supermarket dumpsters, known as dumpster diving.

Freegans salvage the food for political reasons, rather than out of need.

Watch the video below called Anti Consumerism: A Freegan Story.

It may not be a lifestyle for everybody (and that is probably the understatement of the year!) but as with any extreme lifestyle, it does make one think about ones own responsibilities and how much food we actually waste...

 

Newsletter for Free Events in Greater Dublin

If you are looking for a something amusing to do for a few hours at the weekend or some evening then you could do worse than visiting http://www.dublineventguide.com/ where you can sign up for the newsletter.

The e-mail newsletter written by Joerg Steegmueller on a weekly basis contains lots of interesting things to do and is worth a look! This weeks newsletter is a typical example of the eclectic mix with music, motor racing and DVD reviews on Twitter (!!).

Joerg tells me you can subscribe to it by e-mail by sending a mail to dublineventguide@gmail.com also as the main distribution mechanism is by e-mail - the website is not quite ready for "public consumption" yet :)

We don't mind if the paint is not dry on the walls yet, Joerg  - keep up the great work!

A cash-less society? Bartering community launched at barter-it.ie

Thrifty Pages was recently contacted by Finnella Naughton who has set up a new, 100% Irish website Barter-it which aims to be Ireland's No 1 Bartering Community.

Inspiration for the site came about when Finnella and a fellow business owner joined forces to negotiate a better magazine-advertising deal. Everyone gained. So now Barter-it has a free community section where people can post and ask for offers on what they have. They are also free to start discussions on whatever they like to discuss. And they can contact like-minded people through Barter-it.

The website also has a Members Lounge where Irish businesses can register and offer goods and services to one another, away from the public gaze. its a valuable place to be for anyone in business looking to source goods without cash.

There are no bank or credit card charges too. Sounds like a great idea when you see what state the Irish banks are in.

Now if I could only barter some fruit and vegetables for a new house, I will be happy :)

Link: http://www.barter-it.ie/

Swap your skills and save money

The Irish Times ran an article earlier this year about skill swapping.

Perfect for recessionary times, and for building new communities, the fashion for bartering has now extended from 'stuff' to skills.

This is similar to an old Irish tradition called Meitheal - which according to Wikipedia is when "a group of neighbours to come together to help each other in tasks such as preparing the hay, or gathering the harvest. Each person would help their neighbour who would in turn reciprocate". I have heard my Dad talking about this in his own childhood in Cavan back in the 50s when the threshing machine was used communally.

Thanks to the internet, you can now join communities where this mutual skill swap is available. If you can teach piano, somebody else might fix your sink. No money changes hands :)

Here are some of the websites worth checking out:

• http://www.gumtree.ie/ - Gumtree often runs swapping ads.
• http://www.justfortheloveofit.org/ - The Freeconomy Community has many Irish members
• http://www.u-exchange.com/ - Quite a few Irish members swapping skills and services

U-Exchange also offer a great guide to bartering and if that is not enough, Mother Earth News has a story about a New Mexican family who barter for nearly everything.

Free (and legal!) music on the Internet

If you fancy some music while you work, there are plenty of legal ways to enjoy any and all musical tastes. The great thing is that you don't necessarily need an iPod or even an mp3 player. There are a few options for just getting the music 'streamed' to your computer. Streaming media is defined by Wikipedia as 'distributed over telecommunications networks'. That means it is just audio from the 'net. You will need broadband for this :)

Here are some options;

• LastFM - http://www.last.fm/

Last.fm is a music service that learns what you love...

I am listening to this as I write. You download a simple player (or a plugin for an existing player) and you put in some music artists names. It then streams a radio station with music you will like. Excellent and all free. You need to login and set up an account, but well worth it.

• SomaFM - http://somafm.com/

SomaFM is independent, commercial-free internet radio, with 14 unique channels featuring underground electronica, chillout, ambient, downtempo, lounge, space music, indie rock and alt.country/americana.

One of my favourites! You need to download a media player such as Winamp (free download).  You can use Winamp to open one of the 14 playlists (a .pls file) that they publish on the website, each one is a 'radio station' with different types of music. My favourite one is Groove Salad :)

No login needed.

• SHOUTcast - http://www.shoutcast.com/

SHOUTcast Radio is a free-of-charge audio homesteading solution. It permits anyone on the internet to broadcast audio from their PC to listeners across the Internet or any other IP-based network (Office LANs, college campuses, etc.).

This one is the Big Daddy of internet radio lists. You can be your own DJ or listen to other peoples 'radio stations' . There is some wonderful stuff here - alterative, jazz, pop and classical. Again, you will need Winamp to listen to this by clicking on the 'Tune In' button and opening the playlist file in Winamp.

See the Shoutcast help pages for more information.

Three Irish websites where you can find free stuff

The following websites are used by Irish people to trade unwanted goods, presents and other interesting stuff.

 

• Jumble Town - "JumbleTown is a virtual Market Place for anyone looking to give away and/or acquire literally thousands of useful items. JumbleTown simply brings ‘Givers’ and ‘Takers’ together. It also promotes the practice of ‘life-cycling’, which is all about ensuring that the life-cycle or usefulness of an item is completed before it is recycled or discarded."

http://www.jumbletown.ie 

 

• Dublin Waste Free Trade Section  - "Reusing your unwanted goods is better than simply throwing things away and helps protect the environment. Dublin’s Online FREE Trade service allows you to pass on or pick-up unwanted goods in Dublin FREE of charge. Browse the online database for items or set up an account and start listing your unwanted goods today."

http://www.dublinwaste.ie/free_trade.php 

 

• Buy and Sell Freebies section

http://www.buyandsell.ie/search/quick_search?category[id]=226-Freebies