but only if you are in Victoria, Australia.

I was pretty excited when I first saw this offer, but then bummed out after seeing that it is only available for people in Victoria. The free water saving kit includes:

• 4 Minute Shower Timer
• Water Saving Books
• Water Saving Tips
• Information on How to Receive a Free Water Saving Showerhead

We have actually been looking for a while for a good shower timer, and the other three things would prove useful as well I’m sure (although we are about to sell a spare water saving showerhead in a garage sale in a few weeks).

If you are interested in the free water saving kit, and you live in Victoria, then check it out here.

Source: Australian Freebies

Alright, I’ll admit it, I’m a nerd and a fan of Star Wars…

This week I found a free Star Wars audio book that I have been listening to while painting the ceilings under our house. I’ve actually found it to be really good to listen to an audio book while painting.

You can download the free audio book here. It’s “Star Wars – Legacy of the Force – Betrayal“, which is supposed to take place after “Return of the Jedi”. You can get Star Wars – Legacy of the Force – Betrayal for free, but then if you want any of the follow up books you need to purchase the written or the audio versions of them

Although I am a fan of Star Wars I have yet to see the second or third of the new movies. My wife can’t stand sci-fi, so I haven’t seen them yet, don’t know when I will.

What do you do when painting? Do you have a favourite thing to listen to (music, podcasts, audio books, etc.) while painting?

Let us know below…

A few weekends ago I decided that we needed to add some extra storage in our garage. There are some fancy and expensive options available at Bunnings or places like Howards Storage World for storage and shelving solutions for the garage. Since I was after a simple shelf I figured that I should be able to do it for cheaper than what was on offer there.

In the end I built a 3.6m long shelf that is 44.5cm deep for only about $120.00. Other than the shopping time it only took about 2-hours to put it up, which was nice.

The shelves consist of 2 x 1.8 metre long x 44.5cm wide x 14mm (I think…) melamine shelves and 6 x 40cm x 50cm galvanized brackets. Each bracket is anchored to a wall stud with 3 x screws, and then attached to the shelf with 4 x short screws.

The two 1.8m sections are also attached to each other using a 10cm x 40cm piece of timber screwed to each section at the bottom of the shelf to give it a bit more strength at the join. This should give it a bit more strength at what is probably the weakest point of the shelf.

I should be able to store about 30kg per metre, based on what I’ve read about the melamine and the brackets.

This shelving model is pretty easy to add to in 1.8m sections, and it can be very easily modified based on the size of wall being used and the depth of shelf needed.

Although the melamine already has  an edge on the front of it, I’m going to finish it off with a piece of 19mm x 38mm timber that was left over from the builders. I’m going to put that on the open side and along the front of the shelf. It should make it a bit more resistant to chipping than the melamine is, although I will have to paint or varnish the timber edge to give it a finished look.

There is a great discussion going on right now at Get Rich Slowly about how to handle a door-to-door salesman.

Here are my favourite 7 suggestions of how to handle a door-to-door salesman:

• Don’t Answer the Door and Definitely Don’t let them Inside
• No Soliciting and No Trespassing Signs
• Just tell them “No, not interested” and close the door
• Tell them you are renting (if it’s a house product)
• Remember, door-to-door salesmen are not guests, and don’t need to be treated as such
• Get a kid to yell “What the hell do YOU want?”, while sitting in a tree
• Get a Big Dog / or at least a Loud Dog

There are currently 80 comments on the original article, so why not pop over and read some of the comments and other suggestions that the author has. Also feel free to add to the conversion over at Get Rich Slowly, it’s great blog about personal finance:

• How to Handle a Door-to-Door Salesman – Get Rich Slowly

Update:

Here is a link to a great sign to keep salesmen and solicitors away:

• Pentimento: This Sign Keeps Salesmen Away!

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