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Complex cognitive processes11/30/2023 ![]() Studies have confirmed that two brain regions, Broca's area and Wernicke's area, are involved in language comprehension and speech production, and scientists are interested in revealing the mechanism behind developmental disorders leading to language deficits. It is interesting how we acquire the skill of understanding what we hear, and how we learn to talk, without any formal training. In particular, cognitive experiments test working memory, which involves functions like storing information for a short-term, for example a person's phone number, and then processing of this transient information to accomplish a task, like contacting that person.Īnother cognitive function that scientists are interested in studying is language comprehension and expression. More often, in your daily life your attention is divided: think driving in a car while talking on the phone.įocused attention can result in improved storage and a greater ability to recall perceived information. This ability to be "selectively" aware of certain stimuli while tuning out others is known as selective attention. While your brain is constantly receiving perceptual information, attention is the cognitive phenomenon that allows for focusing of our perceptional resources. On the other hand, optical illusions demonstrate how the brain's processing of sensory information doesn't always reflect reality. Beyond mere sensory input, our brains are able to perceive complex traits, such as objects, patterns, or faces. Perception is the cognitive process of brain receiving, understanding, and making sense of sensory information. To improve reasoning, a very useful task involves matching common everyday concepts to the category to which they belong.įor the rehabilitation of planning, one of the most commonly used activities by our users is “Ordering the steps of a task”, which has both picture-only and a text-only version.To begin, let's look at some of the individual aspects of the complex cognition phenomenon currently being studied by behavioral scientists. To enhance working memory, one of the activities we have consists of ordering a sequence of moving numbers, which becomes more difficult as more numbers are added. ![]() NeuronUP activities for the rehabilitation of executive functioning Executive functions are necessary when we have to modify plans on the go due to unforeseen events, or in case some new task we were not expecting needs performing. For example, executive functions are crucial to planning the day when we wake up in the morning: we think about what has to be done, in which order, how long it will take us, etc. In our daily life we need executive functioning to navigate our environment and to achieve our goals. Branching (Multitasking): the ability to organize and effectively perform multiple concurrent tasks by combining them, while keeping in mind the goal of each task.Dual-task: the ability to perform two different-modality tasks simultaneously while directing constant attention to both.Time estimation: the ability to estimate the passage of time and duration of a task or event.Decision making: the ability to select between possible alternatives, after weighing the outcomes and consequences of all available options.Inhibition: the ability to ignore impulses or irrelevant information–both internal and external–when performing a task.Flexibility: the ability to adjust behavior to changing environmental circumstances.Reasoning: the ability to consciously solve problems of all kinds by establishing causal relationships between them.Planning: the ability to set goals, develop action plans to achieve those goals, and to choose the most appropriate actions based on the anticipation of consequences.It is a workspace in which specific information is available for its manipulation and transformation during a limited period of time. Working memory: a limited capacity system that allows the temporary storage and processing of information.Executive functioning involves abilities and processes vital for daily life such as:
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Climax usher album name11/30/2023 People didn’t want to hear that from Usher. In the years after that album, Usher married his former stylist Tameka Foster, and Here I Stand was his attempt to present himself as a grown, mature R&B artist. Confessions was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment, and Usher never could’ve equaled its impact. In 2008, Usher finally released Here I Stand, his follow-up to the insanely successful Confessions. Usher needed a hit, and nobody was making bigger hits than will.i.am. But on his biggest post-peak track, Usher turned to the dark side. ![]() ![]() In the moment of peak EDM, Usher found himself adrift. The single is a textbook example of a fading star chasing another hit by aping the hot sounds of the time. His whole “OMG” experience must’ve been so humiliating. If I’d recorded “OMG,” I’d be looking to blame someone else, too.Īs far as I know, T-Pain did not hold a gun to Usher’s head and force him to record “OMG.” I would instead venture a guess that Usher was speaking from a place of bruised ego on that plane. In 2013, Usher was three years removed from “OMG,” his last #1 hit. Instead, Usher had to keep himself relevant by making garbage-ass dance-pop. It’s that Usher suddenly found himself in a world where the music that made him a megastar, the smooth rap-flavored R&B of his blockbuster Confessions, was no longer commercially dominant. It’s not that T-Pain’s brazen use of Auto-Tune really bothered Usher. Usher is the clear asshole in this story, but when I look at it from his perspective, I understand. T-Pain told the tale on the Netflix show This Is Pop in 2021, and I got into it in the column on T-Pain’s “ Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’).” To briefly summarize: In 2013, Usher and T-Pain were both on a flight to Los Angeles for the BET Awards, and Usher cornered T-Pain to tell him that he had “really fucked up music for real singers.” T-Pain was flabbergasted, and the conversation sent him into a depressive tailspin. You probably already know the story about Usher and T-Pain. ![]() Book Bonus Beat: The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present.
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Boxer lifespan with enlarged heart11/30/2023 ![]() Sports were also analyzed according to physiological demand and occurrence and kind of contact (intentional, unintentional). In boxing, we analyzed the number of disputed bouts/rounds and career records. We examined a sample of male athletes born between 18 selected from the international "hall of fame" inductees in baseball (n = 154), ice hockey (n = 130), tennis (n = 83), football (n = 81), boxing (n = 81), track and field (n = 59), basketball (n = 58), swimming (n = 37) and wrestling (n = 32). Boxing is characterized by intentional and repetitive head blows, sometimes causing brain injury, possibly reducing LE. Carnitine is essential for the fully functioning body, since it stimulates fatty-acid oxidation.Moderate exercise and intense physical training are associated with increased life expectancy (LE). But, even these dogs seem to show improvement on l-carnitine, a supplement that is used to bring carnitine levels up. Dogs that have systolic dysfunction – a condition where the heart contracts and blood is forced into areas where it can cause harm – do not do as well. Dogs with this disease are always at risk of sudden death, but even so, many dogs can be maintained for years on an antiarrhythmic medication. Wearing the monitor for a period of time once a year is recommended, as well as having an ECG to check the heart's activity. This will determine whether the medication is working or whether a switch to another one is in order. Your veterinarian may want to place a cardiac monitor on your dog again after starting therapy to evaluate the response to treatment. There appears to be some variability as to how dogs respond, so if one option does not seem to be working, it would be reasonable to switch to another. Your veterinarian may prescribe some medications for treating the arrhythmia. You will need to follow your veterinarian’s advice and use your own judgment. However, there may be no relationship between an unfavorable outcome and exercise. For that reason, it might be wise to avoid strenuous exercise with your dog. Living and Managementįainting and heart attack seem to be more frequent with stress and excitement. It will be up to your veterinarian to determine whether antiarrhythmic drugs are indicated. Treatment is complicated when there are no obvious symptoms, and the medication usually prescribed to treat the condition brings on cardiac arrhythmias instead of reducing them. Avoiding the sudden death that often occurs with these cases will be the top concern. The first thing your doctor will try to achieve is normalization of the heartbeat and treatment of the symptoms. This will also give a baseline for comparison once treatment is started. If your veterinarian suspects cardiac disease, a heart monitor may be placed on your dog to determine the severity and complexity of the arrhythmia. A thoracic radiograph (chest x-ray) might help to determine whether there is enlargement of the heart, or any other evidence of heart failure. ![]() An electrocardiogram ECG and an ultrasound of the heart and/or abdomen may be used in the screening process.īlood tests will be ordered, but not a urinalysis in this case because it would not reveal relevant information. Your veterinarian will want to rule out the following possible causes of the symptoms before determining a congenital cause of this condition. You will need to provide a thorough history of your pet's health leading up to the onset of symptoms, including any information you have on your dog's familial background. Veterinarian may notice an irregular heartbeat in a routine examīelieved to be inherited, but a genetic defect has not been identified.At the same time, some patients don’t demonstrate symptoms until they are older than ten years. It tends to occur in dogs that are at least two years old, although symptoms in dogs as young as six months have been reported. Cardiomyopathy is specific to the boxer however, similar symptoms have also been seen in English bulldogs. Fainting or even sudden heart failure can occur, and some patients can develop congestive heart failure. Cardiomyopathy is most commonly characterized by an irregular heartbeat.
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Arched finger prints11/30/2023 So, the researchers used computer models to simulate a Turing pattern spreading from the three previously known ridge initiation sites on the fingertip: the center of the finger pad, under the nail and at the joint’s crease nearest the fingertip.īy altering the relative timing, location and angle of these starting points, the team could create each of the three most common fingerprint patterns - arches, loops and whorls - and even rarer ones. Mouse digits, however, are too tiny to give rise to the elaborate shapes seen in human fingerprints. Though, when tested, it explains only some patterns ( SN: 1/21/14). This mathematical theory, proposed in the 1950s by British mathematician Alan Turing, describes how chemicals interact and spread to create patterns seen in nature ( SN: 7/2/10). That switch between stripes and spots is a signature change seen in systems governed by Turing reaction-diffusion, Headon says. The opposite occurred with BMP, since it hinders EDAR production. Increasing EDAR resulted in thicker, more spaced-out ridges, while decreasing it led to spots rather than stripes. “We turn a dial - or molecule - up and down, and we see the way the pattern changes,” says developmental biologist Denis Headon of the University of Edinburgh. Mice don’t have fingerprints, but their toes have striped ridges in the skin comparable to human prints. To examine how these signaling molecules might interact to form patterns, the team adjusted the molecules’ levels in mice. Further experiments revealed that WNT tells cells to multiply, forming ridges in the skin, and to produce EDAR, which in turn further boosts WNT activity. The team found that both sites share some types of signaling molecules - messengers that transfer information between cells - including three known as WNT, EDAR and BMP. ![]() Since budding fingerprint ridges and developing hair follicles have similar downward structures, researchers in the new study compared cells from the two locations. Over the few weeks that follow, the quickly multiplying cells in the trenches start growing upward, resulting in thickened bands of skin. Scientists knew that the ridges that characterize fingerprints begin to form as downward growths into the skin, like trenches. ![]() Several theories have been put forth to explain how fingerprints form, including spontaneous skin folding, molecular signaling and the idea that ridge pattern may follow blood vessel arrangements. ![]() They’ve been used to identify individuals since the 1800s. Fingerprints are unique and last for a lifetime.
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Abacus plumbing reviews11/30/2023 ![]() If you choose to do business with this business, please let the business know that you contacted BBB for a BBB Business Profile.Īs a matter of policy, BBB does not endorse any product, service or business. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.īBB Business Profiles generally cover a three-year reporting period. However, BBB does not verify the accuracy of information provided by third parties, and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information in Business Profiles. BBB asks third parties who publish complaints, reviews and/or responses on this website to affirm that the information provided is accurate. Read MoreīBB Business Profiles may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.īBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment. 14 reviews of Abacus Plumbing Heating and Gas Fitting 'Peter did work on our house in West Newton. I am only seeking what I was promised, which is $198 for two years worth of service contract payments where payments were taken, but nobody ever did any work at my home. I would like a formal complaint lodged for their fraudulent behavior. I am done with calling and being given the runaround. It's now August 8th, and there is still no refund. ![]() Received email from ******************************* in customer relations on August 2nd, confirming contract was cancelled, and that refund would be available in 3-5 business days. ******* noted that colleague she needed to work with was out of office, but would fix it on the 2nd. Called again on August 1st, and spoke with *******. ![]() Email did not arrive and neither did the refund. I also requested an emailed confirmation that the contract was terminated and no other attempts would be made to charge the card. Was assured a refund would be processed on the 24th. Called again on July 24th and spoke with ******, and said that I needed to cancel our contract and was looking for the previously paid monies to be refunded, since this basically constituted fraud, as money was being taken for services not provided. Called them on July 13th to straighten things out and was told the matter would need to be handled by the scheduling team and was assured a call back the following week. Basically, I had been paying for a service that I was not receiving from Abacus. Looked back over transactions and found a similar charge of $99 last June as well. Somewhat forgot about the contract until July of this year, when I noticed a $99 charge on credit card from June. Contract was $99 per year and enabled two tune *** for air and heat. Price could have been less, but honestly for the amount of work that was done, the attention to detail, and the timeframe, I can’t really see how the job would have cost any less on any other day.Engaged with Abacus in June of ********************************************** our home. I’m ultimately very happy with my decision to do so. I didn’t have time to really consider my options and figured I’d call and look up reviews later. I literally ******* “Emergency plumbing Boston” and this was the first result that populated. When you’re a first time homeowner like myself and this is your first major homeowner hiccup, I am ultimately relieved to have had taken the chance of calling up Abacus. He was nice, responsive, professional, and courteous. I frantically called Abacus at 6:40 AM and **** called me back within minutes, and was here 1h45m later (impressive considering the amount of snow that was coming down). Snow storm + poorly plowed roads + burst pipe + shot water heater = a really great day in the making (NOT).
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Breath of life ministries international11/30/2023 ![]() We have learned over time how the sympathetic nervous system creates the “fight or flight” process. This experience led me to reflect on my own interest in the process of trauma and healing. A man who had experienced war, abuse, homelessness and mental illness desperately reached for any mindfulness practice to help distract and heal the wounds of his past. Over six months, each time we stopped to breathe John opened his wounds to help me see why he was in the current condition. ![]() I would stand with him in the middle of his room and say, “John, how about we do some breath work together.” He would respond, “Yes, yes, I think that’s what I need.” So, we would pause and breathe slowly, becoming aware of our presence in the moment. His breath was rapid, and his responses panicked. John would talk to me to interrupt the controlling voices within him, and when they became too much he would stop and note that he was feeling triggered. He also asked if I could help with the tidying. He simply told me that he needed me to distract the voices by listening to his breathing while he decluttered his room. The day I met John, I asked him how I could best assist him. He suffered from voices that distracted most of his daily tasks, including keeping his space tidy. When I met John, it was like meeting a new age Gandalf - a tall, thin man with long grey beard and hair. An effort six-months prior assisted John with the cleanliness of his space in order to remain living in the complex. The 8’x10’ room was filled with plastic tubs containing his belongings, an odor of decomposing food and a host of roaches. ![]() John, in his early 70s, lived in an SRO unit for seniors. When I was invited to accompany a man who struggled with PTSD, schizophrenia and hoarding, I was not sure what I would encounter. Accompanying these reflections are line drawings by Sister Mary Clare Agnew, a contemporary of our founder Catherine McAuley, which illustrate the Sisters of Mercy in ministry in 1830s Ireland.ĭuring my apostolic year, I ministered in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco, tending to people’s lives in their single room occupancy (SRO) units. In this year’s Lenten reflection series, seven sisters offer their personal stories and insights on each of the Spiritual Works of Mercy and how acts of mercy can have a profound impact on the lives of our sisters and brothers.
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Hunger games catching fire pdf11/30/2023 ![]() Katniss' mother is a healer who takes care of the ill and injured of District 12. Though Katniss later grows to sympathize with her, Effie is a characterized as annoyingly upbeat and naive. Effie is concerned with order and keeping up appearances. Effie Trinketĭistrict 12's representative from the Capitol. This act reveals Cinna's true intentions, and he is beaten and arrested before the Quarter Quell begins. On camera, the dress burns away and Katniss is left looking like a mockingjay - the symbol of the rebellion. He continues to mold Katniss into the "girl on fire," including creating a show-stopping look out of the wedding dress President Snow makes her wear for her interview. Unlike his team, Cinna is stoic, channeling his emotions into his work. Katniss's stylist and ally from the Capitol. After the rebels hijack the Games, it is revealed that Haymitch has been working with the resistance throughout the novel, orchestrating the alliances and Katniss' rescue. Faced with the prospect of reentering the Games during the Quarter Quell, Haymitch trains with Peeta and Katniss though Peeta ultimately volunteers in his stead. While his financial life improved with his victory 25 years ago, he has since become a drunk. He has been a mentor to Katniss and Peeta since their selection as tributes. Haymitch Abernathy is the only other Hunger Games victor from District 12 besides Peeta and Katniss. Gale's sense of duty to the rebellion is greater than his personal happiness. He rejects Katniss's plan to run away when he learns of the progress being made by the rebel forces in other Districts. Gale is crafty and angry at the Capitol's abuse of the Districts. Now 19, he works in the coal mine like his father before him in order to support his mother and younger siblings. He has also harbored a secret crush on Katniss for most of their lives. Gale Hawthorne is Katniss's closest friend and hunting partner in District 12. ![]() However, when the rebels are able to rescue the victors from the Games, Peeta falls into the Capitol's hands. During the Quarter Quell, he vows to keep Katniss safe and they grow closer. In the Capitol, he concocts a story of their secret marriage and child to garner sympathy from the audience and expose the barbarism of the Games. Peeta is honorable and devoted to Katniss, and he is also a good liar. Though he knows Katniss does not love him in the same way he loves her, he agrees to put on a show of affection for the Capitol's Victory Tour. Peeta Mellark is Katniss's friend and co-victor of the Hunger Games. At the end of the novel, Katniss realizes that she has been a pawn in the rebels' plan to bring down the Capitol and she is angry that she once again has little power over her own life. These connections, plus her brains and fortitude, are what keep her alive. As Katniss is thrust into the Games once more during the Quarter Quell, she reluctantly decides her best chance of survival is to make alliances with those she feels are trustworthy. However, it is hard for her to remain stoic as the authorities abuse their power in the Districts. Though she unwittingly becomes the face of the people's uprising, she tries not to provoke the Capitol. Though the quality of her life has improved after winning The Hunger Games, she finds it hard to adjust and she grows increasingly angry at the extravagance and corruption of the Capitol. Resilient and headstrong, her primary objective is to keep her loved ones safe. ![]() Then comes the cruellest twist: the contestants for the next Hunger Games are announced, and Katniss and Peeta are forced into the arena once more.Katniss Everdeen is the 17-year-old protagonist and narrator of Catching Fire. Unless they can convince the world that they are still lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol's Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. and the Capitol has decided that someone must pay. But their victory has caused rebellion to break out. After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta return to their district, hoping for a peaceful future. The second book in the ground-breaking HUNGER GAMES trilogy.
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Amnesia strain amsterdam11/29/2023 ![]() Our feminized seed strains are easy to grow and take care of, you will have the best time ever taking care of your cannabis plants at home, in your garden, on your balcony, and in your greenhouse. Our strains have been bred taking into consideration the different weather limitations from the northern hemisphere or the great and consistent conditions in the equator or southern hemisphere.Īlthough if you choose to grow indoors under artificial lighting or in a greenhouse, we also have feminized seed strains that thrive in those conditions to give you the best possible potency, flavour, and yield. With Amsterdam's legendary feminized seeds you will be able to have classic strains like Blue Cheese, Cookies Kush or Vanilla Kush with a great success rate and stable strains that are classics within the cannabis breeding scene in Europe. However extra care should be taken outdoors as this is a sensitive plant, so problems with weather, bugs or irrigation. The strain offers a sense of euphoria like no other. She can produce big outside, with full sun, reaching as much as 700g per plant. Amsterdam Amnesia strain is your pick-me-up if you feel like you’re in the dumps. Choose Amsterdam's Legendary Feminized Seeds Amnesia Haze is one of our best yielding cannabis strains, producing 70-80 g per plant with up to 650+- g per metre squared under a 600w light. Things have come a long way over the years and now can offer over thirty fantastic feminized seeds and counting with excellent flavor and potency. ![]() High-quality feminized seed strains are difficult to produce and take years of research to stabilize just one variety! Expert growers prefer using Regular seeds when it comes to their breeding so that they can play with the genetics to achieve better strains and make crosses of their own, none of which is necessary if you are a hobby grower or would like to start with growing your own cannabis.īreeders have been working with feminizing cannabis seeds for over a decade and are true masters of it now. This herby goodness provides a pleasing basecoat or the original Amnesia for the masterpiece that is to follow. Feminized marijuana seeds have a tremendous advantage over artificial lighting, outdoors or in the greenhouse and the convenience of only having female seeds translates to dank sinsemilla buds. The Amsterdam Amnesia dominant terpene profile is like an ode to old-school strains, starting with the most common cannabis terpene, myrcene, which is the cause of that earthy scent we all know and love so very dearly.
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Slicer dicer blokker11/29/2023 ![]() You can use this feature to export your scene to a file in any of several standard formats thatĪre used in the 3D modeling industry. You will have much more control over the scale and rotational orientation ofĪddition to its interactive viewing capabilities, 3VO can also export 3D modelĭata to a file. ![]() The portrayal here will be more realistic, and Window to add/delete/move display objects ("slicing and You will still use the standard Slicer Dicer Scene in this window is drawn with polygon rendering algorithms supported by With 3VO installed, youĬan open a second document window with enhanced interactive 3D viewing. That you can't interactively rotate or zoom the scene. Is well-suited for interactive data exploration, but this view is static, in The standard Slicer Dicer document window provides a viewing environment that It provides an enhanced 3D viewer for scenes created in Slicer Dicer. The color scale in 3VO would be assigned (incorrectly) to 100 - 1000.Īn accessory application installed with Slicer Dicer, starting with this If the user selected a range of 100 - 2000 (minimum - maximum), For example, suppose the actual data range Slicer Dicer would be correctly assigned to the selected range, but in 3VO theĬolors would be assigned to the range defined by the intersection of the two In Slicer Dicer would extend beyond the actual data range. Range (minimum - maximum) specified by the user in the File Parameters dialog Specifically, this would happen when the data Previous versions would, in a certain circumstance, Particular control has been inserted, which appears to fix it for the problem Would not expand correctly when clicked.) Although most installations appear toīe unaffected by this problem, new code supporting the operation of this "Transparency" popup control in the Transparency dialog. ![]() Japanese users reported a problem with the operation of the the Under Vista, previous versions would occasionally crash due toĪ peculiarity in the way Vista frees memory Seeker's online help has also been converted to htmlhelp. Windows Vista, since Vista does not support winhelp. This achieves two benefits: 1) the more modernįunctionality of htmlhelp, and 2) compatibility with The online help system from winhelp to htmlhelp. These problems have been fixed in this version. Or maximum of the assigned range were incorrect. That is, the 3V0 isosurface would be computedįor an opacity threshold one less than that in Slicer Dicer.ģV0 window the colors assigned to any data corresponding to either the minimum Were "off-by-one" relative to their rendering in the Slicer Dicer This happened, there would be a large gap between the edges of these isosurfaces and data rendered on planar (non- isosurface) objects. Some isosurfaces were not being rendered correctly in 3V0. Initialization processing and the application window would appear with a blackĪrea and display the busy cursor indefinitely. Memory deallocation problems (memory leaks) have beenĬircumstances, 3V0 would fail to open properly. I.e., it would be the mirror image of the portrayal in the Slicer Dicer window. ![]() Situations in which the 3VO view would have incorrect "handedness", In the case of arbitrary scales, negative valuesĪre permitted, having the effect of reversing the axis. VERSION: 5.2 (Slicer Dicer) and 1.0.4 (3VO) V5.2 Slicer Dicer
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Expo marker coupon11/29/2023 ![]() Sign up using my referral code, and you’ll get an extra $10 rebate on your first purchase:Īlso, my credit card (Chase Ink Business Plus) earns me 5x points on purchases from office supplies stores. Maximizing credit card points is a whole different blog post, but just know that I value those 5x points at about 10% back or 2 cents per point that I’m going to later use to take a free trip somewhere cool.įinally I got one last bit of extra value at Office Depot by simply being part of their free rewards program, which gives 2% store credit back. Wait for my rebate check to come in the mail.Search and click on Office Depot to track the shopping trip.My father introduced me to over a year ago, and I have physically cashed the rebate checks to verify it’s legitimate. Ebates had a special with Office Depot that gave me 6% cash back on my total purchase. Save another 20% or more with shopping portals, credit cards, and memberships. I saved almost another 20% ($80 on this go around) by shopping through a cash-back portal, collecting my credit card points, and just signing into my free Office Depot rewards account. Also, before you purchase anything anywhere, always do a quick Google search for, “store xyz coupon.” I keep my 25-year-old AOL e-mail account just to collect my coupons (but unsubscribe from those unscrupulous retailers that don’t send out coupons). Don’t be afraid to sign up for e-mail lists to get coupons. This is America everything is always “on sale.” If you didn’t get it at least 40% off, you probably paid too much (shoot for 70% off at GAP). ![]() Usually I don’t mind buying off-brand for consumables, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the store brand wasn’t always the cheapest (like those Expo markers again)! So don’t automatically make the assumption that off-brand means cheaper or better value. With all of the items on my list, I usually found at least three or four different options ranging from the big brand like “Expo” to the store brand like Amazon Basics. After you figure out your baseline cost and place that first order, use your store’s reorder tool so that you don’t have to start all over every time just make sure that the reorder price is similar to what you originally paid.ĭon’t assume off-brand is the best value. I didn’t know what the bottom dollar price was on these items before I did this analysis. Use shopping portals, credit cards, and memberships to save even more.Compare your options between brand and off-brand.Use the re-order tools on your favorite store website.Know what something should cost per unit (use this analysis as a starter).It’s easy to pay double what you could (should) be paying for something, especially on big ticket consumables like dry erase markers, but here are my tips for saving enough to buy a new iPad for yourself or a few nights at a beach house: Costco comes up (un) surprisingly weak for school supplies.Wal-Mart has some finds but you can generally do better.Amazon has the biggest selection and almost always the lowest every day prices.Office Depot is surprisingly price competitive – on sale and coupon items.Shopping around can easily save you between 30% and 75%.I nearly evenly split my $450 back-to-school supplies purchases between Office Depot and Amazon: While I spent hours doing this analysis, you’ll be able to save hundreds in just a few minutes and clicks after this quick read. So for my and your benefit, I finally sat down and compared prices in a good old-fashioned spreadsheet on July 27, 2018. I’m always looking at websites like, , or , but these types of websites rarely cover such mundane purchases as pens and pencils. I hate buying something knowing that somebody else paid less. I’m one of those people who loves a good deal. It’s tempting to just walk into Office Depot and pick from their fairly large in-store selection, but we all know that’s not a very financially prudent decision. And every time I go to purchase these supplies, I get overwhelmed with the variety of brands and vendors. We go through a lot of basic school supplies at General Academic, a tutoring and test prep company in Houston. How to Save Between 30% and 70% on Everyday Purchases |