Fun Energy Bar Recipes

Energy bars are great for munching on between classes, but they usually run upwards of $1 each. That can be a serious blow to any student’s budget so here are some recipes to make your own:

Classic Energy Bars

Materials:

  • 3 cups wheat cereal
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or other)
  • 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates or raisins
  • 1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
  • 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup agave nectar (found at health food stores; can use honey instead, but not as good)
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup
  • a little extra margarine for pan

Procedure:
Spread margarine in a 9 inch by 9 inch glass pan using a piece of kitchen paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix cereal, walnuts, dates, cherries in a bowl.

Mix peanut butter, agave nectar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to boil. Stir constantly afterwards for about 1 minute.

Put peanut butter mixture over cereal mixture in bowl, and stir. Put in baking pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Once done, let the mixture cool, cut into squares, and either eat or store in a zip-lock bag at room temperature for later enjoyment.

[Nutrition Facts: serving size: one bar | 180 Calories | 4 gr. Protein | 8 gr. fat | 22 gr. Carbohydrate]


Granola Bars

Materials:

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
  • 1 cup sliced almonds
  • 1/2 cup wheat germ
  • 1/2 cup agave nectar (found at health food stores; can use honey instead, but not as good)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 ounce unsalted margarine (get the healthy kind, it is worth it)
  • a little extra margarine for pan
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit (apricots, cherries, blueberries, or a mixture)

Procedure:
Spread margarine in a 9 inch by 9 inch glass pan using a piece of kitchen paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Click to continue reading…

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Stay on Budget During the Tough Economy

I hate budgets. As easy as it is to shop online nowadays, one of the toughest things to do is to stay on budget. It seems however that at times budgets are a necessary tool to help us from spending too much money. Here are some ways you can budget that I have had success with:

The Old Fashioned Way

That’s right, bust out that pencil, paper, and calculator. Write down everything you can remember that you spend money on and try to estimate how much you really need each month. A more effective way to do this is to calculate how much you estimate you are going to spend each year on each category and divide by 12. This is better because it takes into account holidays, birthdays, and other events that do not necessarily occur every month. Think about it for a bit and try to think of everything. Looking at recent credit card statements may help you tremendously so start there if you are having some problems. You can always come back and rebudget if you miss something.

Excel Your Budget

Excel (or if you’re poor: OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet) is one of my favorite tools. I use it for just about everything — from tallying how much running I do each day to organizing my recipes. It is also a great tool to use for budgeting. I just organize all my expenses and list things as categories, amount spent, location/store, etc. It is a great way to organize what you are spending money on especially if you have multiple credit cards or use a lot of cash (just remember to keep receipts or you will forget what you have been spending money on). Once you have organized you expenses take advantage of the nice graphing functions so you can visually see how much money you are spending on each category.

Free Online Tools

Just a few days ago Intuit released their online Quicken version for free. Click to continue reading…

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Friday Funnies: College Dropout

Proof That College Dropouts End Up Working at 7 Eleven: Here is an example of a fun way to show people what you learned in college middle school. Don’t drop out (Then again, Bill Gates is a college dropout…).

all pump

[source]

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Firefox Shortcuts to Use to Save Time During Boring Lectures

Here are some smart shortcuts to use in your Firefox to save you some time. Some of them take a little getting used to, but it will seriously make you twice as productive at being unproductive by browsing the web. I have bolded the shortcuts I find most useful.

ctrl+t : new tab

middle mouse button : new tab if mouse is over a link

ctrl+w : close tab

ctrl+tab : next tab

ctrl+page down : next tab

ctrl+page up : previous tab

alt+num (1, 2, 3, …) : go to tab

ctrl+shift+t : open recently closed tabs

ctrl+r : refresh tab content

ctrl+shift+r : force-refresh tab content

ctrl+u : view tab source

alt+left arrow : back

alt+right arrow : forward

alt+home : home

ctrl+l : select address bar

F6 : select address bar

ctrl+k : select search bar

ctrl+k+down arrow : toggle search engine down

ctrl+k+up arrow : toggle search engine up

Also, if you are extra handy with that mouse, you can try the Mouse Gestures Redox plugin.

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5 Scholarship Websites Every College Applicant Should Be Aware Of

What is the most vital part of the process of applying for college? Some applicants would say it is passing all exams or making sure that your high-school transcript looks good. Others may state that the most important part is preparing all the needed documents and selecting the institution. 

Each of these answers is true. However, there is one more thing that you might be missing out. Let’s discuss scholarships.

With tuition costs going up by leaps and bounds, an awarded scholarship can become a lucky ticket for many high-school graduates. College scholarships and grants can give you a good kick-start into adult life and help cope with a variety of financial issues.

Unfortunately, many young people are ignoring this opportunity, thinking that obtaining a scholarship is extremely hard or even impossible for them. 

This judgment is not always true. Of course, it may be hard to find the right opportunity and prepare all the documents. Presenting a top-notch essay isn’t easy as well unless you turn to a professional write my essay online service. However, all it takes is a bit of dedication and work. 

Besides, if you know exactly where to search for such opportunities, it is already halfway to success! In this article, we have prepared a list of top five scholarship websites that will help you get the financial help you need. Let’s dive in!

College Applicant’s Toolkit: Best Scholarship Sites to Keep at Hand

Despite a common belief, finding scholarships can be easy as A, B, C! Just a few decades ago, this process used to be much more complicated and time-consuming. Times have changed, and now, students can do the same quickly and easily.

The easiest way to discover available opportunities is to use specialized websites that have a database of various grants and scholarships. As a rule, applicants can search through a base with the help of multiple filters such as gender, country of origin, academic level, special interests, etc. 

How to pick the right website? It could be hard if you’d have to do it on your own, but we’ve got you covered! Below, we have collected some of the best sites to help you fund your education.

1. Fastweb

Even if you haven’t heard of it yet, trust us, Fastweb is one of those must-have tools for all college applicants! This resource features a convenient tool for finding funding.

Also, here, you can discover tons of internships and jobs. Finally, at Fastweb, students can research different colleges and find up to date information about each institution with ease. Therefore, if you still haven’t used this platform, be sure to give it a try!

2. FinAid

Our next top pick is a widely known online resource for university applicants. Here you can find comprehensive information about different types of funding, including grants, financial aid, scholarships, and more.

One of the most significant benefits of FinAid is that it makes finding opportunities simple and helps you determine which ones are the right options!

3. CollegeBoard

For those of you who have never heard of it before, the College Board is one of the oldest educational organizations in the world. Thus, it is fair to say that the resources offered by this community are reliable and helpful.

The same applies to their extensive database of funding opportunities called CollegeBoard, where students from all across the globe can discover a variety of options.

4. Chegg Scholarships

This platform’s database contains over 25,000 options, so the chances that everyone will find something suitable are pretty high! The reason why we like this platform a lot is that Chegg Scholarships features an extremely intuitive and convenient searching tool. At the same time, it provides quite accurate matches based on the details you type in.

5. Peterson’s

The last but not least handy option on this list is Peterson’s. It is a smart online platform created to help young people find funding for their education quickly and easily. 

The searching tool used at this service has pretty high filtering capabilities, allowing you to find a perfect match based on your needs!

Final Words

If you are starting off to university, be prepared to face a handful of various challenges daily. In most cases, life in a campus becomes a transition point from a teenager into an adult. 

Clearly, this transition can’t pass unnoticed. You can’t avoid some hardships in the studying process. However, one thing you can do right now is to make sure that financial issues won’t be among those issues you may face!

Although obtaining high-quality education is much more available today, it is still expensive. And the cost keeps growing with each year. Applying for grants and scholarships, you can ease the financial burden and get more of your campus years.

Hopefully, this article will help future students find just the right opportunities for them. Using any of the websites mentioned above, you can save plenty of time and discover the most exciting scholarships available out there. 

Now, all that’s left to do is to believe in yourself and do your best to get the funding you need!

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