Little stone that could ... clean up your trip

  On a recent shopping trip not food related, we picked up a little gizmo that we saw in the store in the last minute before going to the checkout. I have somewhat known about these but for a different purpose. The little item we got was lint removing sweater stone.
  When I first saw it, out loud I was asking if we should get it and if it will be useful. Though to myself, almost subconsciously, I thought this might be a savior for a couple of my most favorite apparel items that from a glance look like they have had better days. I have a zip up sweater that I like a lot since it is comfortable, easily goes with most of the things I wear so great to take a long on a trip, and it has a double zipper. As with most things that you like, you tend to wear these quite a bit. I wore this sweater just about any chance I had. After awhile and a few washes, it started to look that way with a bunch of rolls and such on the front of it. The other article is my winter black wool jacket. It was a great find. It fits me well and also easy to go with and looks cool. It is warm in the winter with layers underneath and great in the fall and in beginning of spring. So as you can imagine, I was also wearing quite a bit. It came to a point where my wife was telling I need to get a new winter jacket as this just looks worn out. I didn't like the idea. However, I did indulge the request by trying on several jackets in several stores, but none of them fit as well or looked as good.

  And this is where the story goes back to the little rectangular stone with ruff surface. I first used in on the sweater and it removed a lot of the lint relatively easy. After, I decided to use it on my jacket to see if I can save it as well. It worked great. Areas that looked gray and worn out because of the lint and fuss build up on the top, started to clear up and look black again. My wife took a look at the progress I was making on small areas of the jacket and decided to help me clean the entire thing. Once finished, it looked a whole lot better and prolonged the life of the jacket for maybe another couple of years.
  The lint removing stoneis light and is easily packed into a plastic sleeve. It is also very inexpensive. It is a great tool to have on winter trips when you take along sweaters or jackets, or pants for that matter, to quickly clean them up.

Why good to have on a trip:
- light
- compact
- easily removes lint
- can be uses for other purposes: file, sharpen, stain clean, remove pet hair ...

Did You Know?:
How to Remove Lint Balls From Sweaters

Travel essentials for easy travel by frequent flyers

6 essential items to ease your travel experience

article by By William Bailey from Budget Travel

The folks on this list have quite an extensive travel itineraries and a whole lot of miles under their belts. In the article the provide some of the essential travel items that they always take a long on their journey. I found this post very interesting as it included some of our favorite items to take a long as well.

Matthew Kleinosky, one of the travelers on the list, always has a water filter with him while traveling as well as a water bottle.

From another frequent traveler: "My first aid kit and my Swiss Army knife (in checked bags): I've used the knife to open items, to eat, and for other useful functions..."

Another one takes along earplugs to tune out "loud, unhappy children." While that is great, I like to not only tune out but also tune into some enjoyable relaxing music. And that is where noise-canceling headphone come in handy as they do both and work great to get you through the flight, train ride, or just the wait for both.

Did You Know?:
Be a Packing Genius: Step-by-Step Photos

Keep your travels neat during and after

Update: There is an app for it, and its free. I came across the article below about an app that lets you record and snap photos of receipts to create monthly/annual reports. This app is available for multiple smartphone operating systems, quick to input and import receipts and such into accounting software. And its free.

App of the Week: Track Your Expenses – For Free

This week's cool gadget is Portable Scanner.

This gadget I have come across on several occasions. Mostly in really good advertisements that got my attention. Ok, maybe they were not that great, but I did notice them as someone who is into gadgets and read through and then read up a bit more about it on the site.
The first one of this type I came across was NeatReceipts. I really like what it promised. All of the receipts that I have all over the desk and then "neatly" put a way in a filing case would instead be scanned onto my computer and then I can organize them whatever way I want in digital format. Moreover, since these are now digitized they can be inputted into accounting software or simple data sheet. That is awesome, as that would make it much easier to see what we have spent on and create tracking for the various little purchases. You can also scan business cards and such to keep digital copy of and create pdf files and contact lists.
NeatReceipts is USB-powered, slick at only 14 inches width x 4 inches height and weighs 1.6 pounds, comparable with both PC and Mac, which makes it great for traveling since it fits easily into laptop bag or a backpack.
That is all great, though the thing that kept me away from this gadget is the price. NeatReceipts goes for around 200 dollars. While its a nice tool to have to organize receipts and such, my current filing system works and it cost me about $5, the price of the plastic filing folder.
The other portable scanner I came across was CopyCat Portable Scanner. By dragging your hand across a piece of paper you able to digitize a document into picture file on the Micro SD card in the scanner. It can scan photos, magazines, typed documents, and more. Text processing software also enables you to edit any words scanned. This one is a bit less, but still a pricey gadget.

What do you think? Would this be a good travel gadget purchase or should be left in the office?

Why good to have on a trip:
- easily scan receipts, instead of having a pile somewhere in the bag
- able to create data sheets, reports, and other documents
- easy tracking of small and large purchases
- light and compact
- easily connects to any computer

Did You Know?: IRS accepts digital versions of receipts, bills or other tax deduction documents.
Publication 552 - "Electronic records. All requirements that apply to hard copy books and records also apply to electronic storage systems that maintain tax books and records. When you replace hard copy books and records, you must maintain the electronic storage systems for as long as they are material to the administration of tax law."

Follow up...Rechargeable batteries charger plus cool camera plus pics

Update to "Rechargeable batteries charger - saves money saves planet" ...

This weekend, we took a 4 day trip to Maryland. It was great, we went to Baltimore Inner Harbor, got on top of the World Trade Center to see all of Baltimore laid out in-front of us in 360 degree view. We also went down to Annapolis and visited the Naval Academy as well as the town, even though it was pouring all day. And relaxed across the bridge in Tilghman Island and Kent County. All in all it was a great road trip. And you know it was scenic as my wife took 510 photos in three and a half days. That is around 146 shots per day. I thought it was quite a bit.
We had the Canon Powershot camera I mentioned in the last post with us. And we took along our "new" rechargeable battery charger set including the 4 batteries that it came with. I would like to report that it was an awesome gadget purchase and it was great to have on the trip.
We only had to switch the batteries twice while actually walking around. Which is in itself a wonder as the camera usually goes through a lot more changes. On the third day of the trip my wife even said that she was surprised and impressed how long these batteries lasted as compared to regular batteries. We put not yet used batteries into the camera and charged the other 2 in the evening and were set to go. Moreover, as we do a lot walking we like to travel light, so having only 2 batteries on stand by in my pocket was great.

Why good to have on a trip:
- less batteries to drag around
- surprisingly longer life span
- cheaper than regular batteries
- for us, they work

I do not usually recommend any products. In my posts I am looking to describe the coolness and usefulness of  gadgets on a trip. However, I am partial to the camera that we have in terms of the quality of pictures that it takes, the ease of taking them, and the awesome resolution of those pictures when printed or on computer screen. The latest version of the digital camera we have is Canon PowerShot SX130IS 12.1 which comes with 12x optical zoom compared to our 10x which was the only option at the time. This camera is not the smallest, slimmest, or cutest, but it is one of the better point-and-shoots I have seen.

Laptopmag.com review: "Big zoo, small price. This 10X optical zoom camera is perfect for soccer moms (or dads) who want to get that perfect shot from afar. The SX120 IS also has a large 3-inch screen for framing and reviewing your 10-mp photos, optical image stabilization (IS), and motion detection for blur-free pics. If your friend isn't tech-savvy, have no fear, the Canon has Smart Auto mode and Easy mode, so that anyone can get the best shot without having to tweak the settings."

Some pics from the trip: Maryland trip