Category Archives: Amazon Reviews

The One Percent Effect – Sell Your Home Fast – Item of the Day

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Modern Survival| Leave a comment

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the book “The One Percent Effect – Sell Your Home, Fast, At Asking.  Any Market.” by Dustin Dreifuerst and Jack Spirko.  And yea that is me, this Jack Spirko.

I was approached by Dustin over a year ago about this project and we hashed out a way to get it done.  This book is about selling your house and doing so at a profit and quickly no matter what is going on in the world.

I am not a real estate agent, so you may wonder what makes me qualified to co author a book like this.  Simply my record, here are the houses we have owned, what we paid for them, the date we sold them and how much we sold them for.

  • Purchased 1999 3 Bed,  2 Bath in Mansfield Texas – Purchase Price 87,250.  Sold in 2001.  Selling price 109,900.  Time on market 9 days.  Offer was for full asking price.
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  • Purchased 2001, 3 Bed, 2 Bath in Northampton Pennsylvania.  Purchase Price, 137,500.  Sold in 2004 for 199,900, time on market 2 days.  Sold at full price and seller waived inspection to prevent additional offers.
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  • Purchased 2004, 4 bed, two and a half bath in Mansfield, Texas – Purchase Price 119,900.  Sold in 2011 for 149,900, full price offer with property on market for 7 days.
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  • Purchased 2006 as a BOL.  3 Bed, 2 Bath mobile home on five acres in Hot Springs, Arkansas for 69,900.  Sold in 2013, asking price 89,500.  Sold at full price, time on market 13 days.

A few things to keep in mind, the fist house was bought in the dot com run up and sold in the aftermath of the dot come bubble bursting!  The third house was sold before the real estate recovery, when lending was still very tight and my own listeners were asking me, “how do you expect to sell your house in the current market.  The house sold in 2013 was a mobile home we sold for almost 20,000 than we paid for it.  Real estate agents didn’t even want to try to sell a mobile home in that market.

So what is the secret?  It is, The One Percent Effect.  In the end all buyers are settlers, that is the key.  Every single buyer no matter if they are buying a 150,000 dollar starter home or a multi million dollar estate is a settler.

What I mean by this is they have a budget, then they have what they want.  Inventively their wants exceed their budgets, this is a constant, again being a wealthy buyer won’t change this short of the celebrities buying place for say 25 million and up.

So what people do is set a budget, set an area to search for homes in and look at anything and everything that seems like it might work for them in those parameters.

Not a single home will be perfect, even if the emotional couple convinces themselves that it is, in the end they always settle for what they can afford in the area they wish to live.  And most buyers define a quite small area to look in.  So what you do is simply make your home 1% better than anything else on the market.

Is it really that simple?

In a word, yes it is.  The key though is the execution of that objective.  In other words how do you determine exactly how to do that?  What do you give priority to?  How do you form a concise plan to stand out as 1% better than anything else in your neighborhood and price range?

Well, I developed a system to do that and as you know from my track record it works.  I take real estate seriously, there is to much on the line not to.  A house can go from your biggest asset to your largest liability in one quarterly down turn of the economy.  Yet there are always people who want to buy a home that can get funding, always.  The key is making them pick your home even in tough markets.

What about during a boom you say?  Now it is even more important to know the way to get that 1% effect, sure houses sell fast for most people but right now we have the biggest boom in our market in the last 25 years and there are still good homes on the market for over 120-180 days.  Why?  Little things that stubborn sellers won’t fix, so not only don’t they have the 1% effect, they have what I call the “Dreaded 10% Effect”, in that their houses are at least 10% worse then the average home for sale.

These are actually great homes to buy, they are homes I always look for, but buyers like me are few and far between.  In this book Dustin took my system and developed it into a step by step guide that anyone can follow and succeed with.

The cost?  Oh this is the best part, if you just want to buy it for Kindle it is 9.99.  Consider that your real estate agent will get 3-6% of the sale price of your home and most agents don’t have a clue about the things in this book.  Honestly if we sold it for 99.99 with a money back guarantee to anyone that used the techniques and didn’t sell at the top of the market for their level of home, we would never give a refund, I am confident of that.

But it gets even better!  If you have Kindle Unlimited, the cost to you is nothing, nadda, zip, zero.  So do yourself a favor and get a copy of this book, it will make your a more savvy person in the world of real estate.  If you simply work the formula in reverse it will also make you a more astute buyer of real estate as well.  So check out “The One Percent Effect – Sell Your Home, Fast, At Asking.  Any Market.” by Dustin Dreifuerst and Jack Spirko today.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop on Amazon you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

P.S. – If you buy this book or get it on Kindle Unlimited please do Dustin and I a favor and leave a review of this book.  Our hope is to get it well known beyond the TSP community and your review is a great way to help make that happen.  So please leave us a review.

 

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Tweezerman Professional Stainless Steel Toenail Clippers – Item of the Day

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Modern Survival| Leave a comment

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Tweezerman Professional Stainless Steel Toenail Clippers.  This may seem like an odd item but well, it is something we all need and something that serves multiple functions.

There is the obvious function, cutting nails and I use these for both toe and fingers nails.  I have always found most toe nail clippers to be for well, I guess children and women.  I have had them come apart and even one time break, I mean the metal cracked.

Next if you don’t keep a set or two of clippers in your fishing gear you either don’t have fishing gear or you are missing out.  I keep a set of these in each of my tackle boxes, so no matter which one I grab I always have them.  Sure you can cut fishing line just fine with a knife but no tool on the planet is better for trimming up rigging then clippers.

Lastly I don’t know what it is but there are three things I lose more than anything else.  They are in order sharpie markers, tape measures and nail clippers.  I just don’t get it, I am talking not leaving a room or a garage, having just had it in my hand and fing GONE LIKE A FART IN THE WIND.  Sometimes they show up, a day, week or month later, sometimes they are gone forever.

I tend not to believe in the super natural but if their are gnomes or some such shit that steals things, they must adore pens, tape measures and nail clippers.   So I want a quality clipper but I also want one that when, not if I lose it, I am not going to be too upset about it.  At $6.68 a piece when I need more I usually buy 2-6 at a time.

Right now I am down to the ones in my tackle boxes and one pair in my medicine cabinet.   Perhaps I should put a rat trap next to it and see if those little gnomes really exist?  In any event for your nail care and your tackle box at this price the Tweezerman Professional Stainless Steel Toenail Clippers just can’t be beat.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

 

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Monoprice Releasable Cable Ties – Item of the Day

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Modern Survival| 7 Comments

cabeltiesEvery day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is something I feel no one should be without.  They just do too much, for too little cost to not have some.  They are Monoprice Releasable Cable Ties and at only seven bucks and some change for 100 pieces they are a steal.

Get a few bags and do the following.  Make up bundles of about 20-30 a bundle.  Just use one tie to hold the rest together.  Put a bundle in your BOBs, put one in every glove box of your vehicles, put some in your garage where you can see them and just grab them, etc.  Heck I keep half a dozen as part of my EDC, you don’t even notice them in a cargo pocket until you need them.

The key is the releasable part!  We even use these for keeping gates closed on our low fences for our ducks.  I keep a few tied on top of various fences all over the property, so if you need one there is always one close by.   They are very strong and stay flexible a long time.  They tend to last about 1.5-2 years if in direct sun before becoming brittle.  Otherwise they seem to last forever.

I use them for many other things as well.  I use them to tie up new seedling trees for say a month until they stiffen up.  Since you can remove and reuse them it is cheaper than plant tape.  I use them to tie 4 large hog panels into a square and make an on the fly animal pen.  There is no limit to how useful these things are.

Sure they are kind of small at 6 inches, but you want 18 inches?  Put three together and when you don’t need that any more take them apart.

So just how versatile are cable ties in general, okay I am going to tell you a story, I am NOT SUGGESTING THAT you do it, it is just what happened.  Many years ago when I was in the Army I had two friends, Brad and Dean.  Dean was the one that owned a truck and he was a “character” to say the least.

Dean would just toss Brad or I the keys anytime we needed his truck.  One day we wanted to run to the PX, so Dean tosses Brad the keys.  In we jump and to the PX and back we go, beer run of course.  Brad is a typical guy from Southern Louisiana so he bends speed limits till they break.  We get back an Dean says, “oh yea, I should of told y’all to take it easy until the new tie rod gets here”.

Brad and I get down and look and see that fricken Dean had used 4 tie wraps to hold a broken tie rod together.  As in it had broken in two and he tie wrapped it back together.   For those that don’t know, the tie rod holds the front searing brackets to the frame so you can turn.   Kind of an important function!  So Brad almost kills Dean but later we laughed about it, because when you are 20 you are stupid!

That has always stuck with me and while I would not replicate it as a “temporary repair”, I would replicate it with great care and driving very slowly to get a vehicle to safety in a similar situation.   Trust me and if you don’t keep cable ties in your preps, start doing so and the best ones for flexibility and usefulness are Monoprice Releasable Cable Ties.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop on Amazon you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

P.S. – I have brought this item back a many times, the reason is simple, if I made a list of the top 5 most useful things on my homestead, I am sure it would change over time, but these would never fail to make the list.

 

 

 

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DaVoice Cell Phone Tripod Adapter & Bluetooth Remote – Item of the Day

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Modern Survival| 6 Comments

cellphone

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is a very simple and affordable DaVoice Cell Phone Tripod Adapter with Bluetooth Remote Control.  I love this little gadget.  It works with most iPhone and Samsung Galexy phones.  See the description on the Amazon Page for this Item for full compatibility.

The control is pretty much a on and off camera button, but it also does take stills.  I use this a lot in my videos in the kitchen when I am cooking, making mead etc.  I also use this on my desk top to do Youtube segments of just me talking.

So many people want to get into doing youtube videos, well your smart phone, something like this and a tripod you can buy for less than 20 bucks, is a simple way to get started.  For great audio just get an inexpensive lav mic and run it across the floor using an extension cord and clip it to something on your table or work surface.

With that simple set up, using the phone you likely already have for under 50 bucks you can start making great quality youtube videos.  Here are some additional pro tips.

  • Pro Tip One – If you want to make a videos over 10 minutes long.  Just shoot segments about 7 minutes each, upload them all as “private” videos.  Then go to Youtube.com/editor an splice them together.  This way you can make videos and never even use software, just directly upload and piece them together.  The youtube editor isn’t great but for splicing segments together and adding transitions it works fine and is VERY intuitive.
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  • Pro Tip Two – You likely already have a good behind the camera mic.  What I mean if if you are doing show and tell videos from behind the camera, like I do with The Duck Chronicles, just plug in your ear piece you use on phone calls as your mic.
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  • Pro Tip Three – If you are shooting behind the camera, MOVE SLOWLY, avoid panning side to side and up and down, move to an object of attention slowly then talk and keep the camera relatively still.  Modern Smart Phones have cameras that rival 1000 dollar video cameras if you do this, but they don’t have the frame rate to handle a lot of motion without making your viewers kind of well, sea sick.

I still struggle with number three myself.  Anyway if you are looking for a low cost way to shoot great quality videos that are mostly Vlog, or show and tell type things, like say Meads of the Week, this is the easiest and most affordable way I know to go about it.  It also prevents the dreaded illness called VVS!

So check out this affordable Cell Phone Tripod Adapter with Bluetooth Remote Control, I can’t think of anything that can do as much for the content producer out there for under 12 bucks.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop on Amazon you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

P.S. – Warning Cat Attractant Remote Control Unit – Just a funny thing, likely will not effect you.  I have repeatedly had to go without my little remote due to our cat Alice.  For some reason she is very obsessed with the remote and will attack it if she sees it unguarded.  I made a habit of leaving it on our bar in the kitchen and she will eventually knock it to the ground, bat it around until it inevitably ends up under the refrigerator.  Requiring me to drag it out to retrieve it.

Alice is a cat that you would nicely call “special” so your cat likely won’t have this issue, that said you have been warned.  Keeping everything in the little bag and attaching your bag to your tripod both solves this issue and makes sure you can always find your gear.

P.S.S. – Sadly our special little cat Alice has passed on since this was first posted.  She was a good little girl who we cared for over about 14 years.

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Matiz Gallego Sardines – Item of the Day

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Modern Survival| 14 Comments

sardines

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Matiz Gallego Sardines and you can get them in  a 5 count pack.  Oh dear friends the reasons these items are being featured are many, let us take a look at a few.

First I try to feature items not just of good quality but stuff I use, and I eat these a few times a week.  Due to the fact that I like them and that they are a good source of Omega 3 fats, which the average person is largely deficient in.  I eat them strait from the can, wrapped in lettuce with yogurt cheese, on Flax Crackers or as part of a lunch time salad.

Secondly lets talk about those Omega 3s.  Sardines and herring are about the best source of them on the planet.  Because these small fish are very low in the food chain.  So while fish like mackerel, tuna and salmon are great for Omega 3, they also carry a fair load of mercury and other toxins.   Not enough to never eat, you body can deal with some exposure to toxins, it it couldn’t’ we would all be dead.  But you need to eat something like this about 3-4 times a week for a good omega 3 vs 6 balance and you should not rely on large ocean predator fish that often.

Third is quality.  I am a sardine connoisseur, I love the little guys!  So I scoured the net for others reviewing sardines and one name constantly was at the top of most lists, Matiz.  When I tried them I found out why.  These are not your cheapo sardines that would be better as cat food.  There are only 3 to a can, because they are beautiful plump little guys!  Yes gutted and deheaded but skin and bones on as good sardines have.  Mild smelling compared to other sardines, caught in the waters off northern Spain and Portugal, where the best of the best come from.

Fourth, no junk!  No extra preservatives, no garbage, Here is the entire list of ingredients, sardines, olive oil, sea salt.  Fantastic.  Never and I mean never buy sardines with mustard sauce, soy bean oil, etc.  Packed in their own oils and olive oil is best, just like these guys.

Fifth this is a perfect prepper storage product!  Think about where preppers struggle to keep a good storage up.  That would be high quality fats and meats, with nutrient dense caloric yield.  Well the ones that just came in have an expiration date of 2022!  You know I say eat what you store and store what you eat, well with this even if you only eat them a few times a month, that is no problem.  In each can you get 228 calories, 130 in high quality fats and 98 from one of the best sources of protein on the planet.

So why not give Matiz Gallego Sardines a shot and pick up a 5 count pack today.  Do let me caution, these are the best sardines I have ever eaten but they are still canned sardines.  They are not magical, they don’t taste like chicken, they taste like small ocean fish.  So if you in general do not like sardines, you likely will not like these either.  However if you “sort of like them”, this may change your entire sardine world.  Far less fishy tasting, more clean smelling, nice firm flesh and man they go good with a bit of avocado.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop on Amazon you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

 

 

 

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Litom 8 LED Solar Wireless Security Light – Item of the Day

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Modern Survival| 13 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Litom 8 LED Solar Wireless Security Lights.   I previously reviewed the 20 LED version and promised a follow up of its little brother.  Well here it is, these are excellent and very much a half sized version of the larger light, with one big difference.

The key difference is where as the 20 LED version is powered by a single 18650 Lithium Ion Battery the 8 LED version is powered by a single 14500 Lithium Ion Battery which has a capacity of 800mAh 3.7V.  Clearly running less light requires less battery so this makes sense.  In any even with the super efficiency of LEDs this is plenty of light.

Fully charged I got 8 hours out of them in steady on high mode.  They got though the night fully on low power mode and frankly I use them on motion sensor mode only, and that is the main thing I want out of them anyway and it makes the most sense to me.

As previously mentioned I ordered 4 of them and put them around my duck pen on the fence on the western side where we had most issues with predators approaching.  The entire east side is covered by the 20 LED version for our benefit during evening and night visits.

I have now had them working for about two weeks and no issues.  They will definitely deter predators as none like light suddenly on them.  They also paid off a few days ago when my young farm hand screwed up one of his tasks (yet again) and grounded out our electric fence wires.  The lights made the fault easy to find and even easier to correct.

Since the first time I reviewed these lights I have installed 4 more of them around my garden pond, I have them set to full power mode and always on once darkness comes.  They do a fantastic job of setting a great mood at the pond and attract bugs for the fish to eat.  I have been outside as late as 4am and noticed they were still on.  So far with 12 deployed only one has had its battery go bad, which is impressive for no name batteries.

The other difference is the price, as they are smaller they cost less.  Where as the 20 LED ones are 34.99 for a two pack the smaller 8 LED model is 46.99 for a four pack, just a bit over half the price.  They are also available in units of one if you only need one or two.

They both work exactly the same with three modes…

  1.  Steady On Dim – The lights come on at dark at about half power (200ish lumens), they will last 6-8 hours of steady on before draining the batteries.  Of course as a solar light that will be based on how well they charge the day before.  In this setting they are plenty bright to see where you are going.  They also switch to bight mode when they sense motion.
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  2. Steady On Bright – The lights come on at dark at full power (440 lumens), they will last 4-6 hours of steady on before draining the batteries.  Of course once again as a solar light that will be based on how well they charge the day before.  In this setting they are very bright for a solar powered light.
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  3. Motion Sensor Mode – The lights will charge during the day and come on at night when they detect motion.  The manufacturer says they will detect motion up to 26 feet away.  My testing confirms this, of course how high you mount them, what is in the way, etc. will effect this distance.  This is my preferred mode and with the power the batteries hold you will never have a dead light unless the batteries have given up the ghost and need replacing.

So which is right for your needs.  Well the little ones are damn bright but the light only carries so far.  They are best for areas where you just need to see what is going on, or for use as security and predator protection devices.

The 20 LED models are as you would expect twice as bright, so I have one at our front gate to the property, and one at the front of the house.  And two by the pool to light that area and the area at the main gate to the duck pen.  The 8 LEDs would be fine in the second area but for our gate and where we unload our vehicles I would stick to the 20s.

Litom also makes a huge 54 LED Model that I am sure is very bright and based on their other products I am sure it works well, it just seems a bit of an eyesore in the day time to me?  But if you need a lot of light check it out.

Otherwise if you just want to light up some areas with motion lights and want maximum bang for your buck with out sacrificing quality check out the Litom 8 LED Solar Wireless Security Lights today.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop on Amazon you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

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Microplane Classic Zester/Grater – Item of the Day

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Modern Survival| 3 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Microplane Classic Zester/Grater.  I love this tool and use it often in my cooking.  The way I ended up with this is a friend who has helped with some of our workshops brought one to us as a gift.

My response was, I have always just used a small grater for zesting, her response was simply try this and you won’t use anything else.

Well she was dead on!  The three primary things I use this for are grating hard cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano, zesting rinds of citrus like limes, lemons and oranges and finely grating large spices like nutmeg.

These are all almost like cheat codes in the kitchen.  Here are two examples…

  • Slice up some peppers, zucchini, mushrooms and carrots and slice a big handful of green onion on the bias (that just means slanted) now add olive oil to a pan, season your veg with salt and pepper.  Saute the carrots for a minute or two, then add peppers and mushrooms and saute for about 3 more minutes, then toss in zucchini for about one minute.  Then shut off heat and add most of the green onions and stir in and serve.  Most would be happy, here comes the cheat codes!
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    When you start out also grate up finely some ginger and garlic and lime zest.  Add these when you add the peppers and mush rooms.  Then when you serve the dish, top with the reserved green onion and grate a small amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.  The first dish is good, the second is great and it only takes about 2 minutes of extra time to make it happen.
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  • Next one, take a whole chicken and cut the back bone out of it with something like these shears.  While you are at it cut the wing tips off and reserve those.  Flatten the chicken out and rub with oil, then season both sides with salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary.  Par boil some potatoes, build a bed in a roasting pan with the potatoes, an onion chopped coarse, some carrots and celery.  Place bird on veggies and roast in oven at 425 till chicken is done.
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    While roasting boil chicken back, wing tips, neck, heart and liver with salt, pepper, celery and carrots to make a stock.  Do this in about 4 cups of water and add about 1-2 tsp of Better than Bullion Chicken base to it.  Strain stock and make it into a gravy with a flour and butter roux.  Serve chicken and veggies with gravy and enjoy a great meal!
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    Cheat codes, use zester when you are getting the chicken ready, and zest 2 lemons and 4 cloves of garlic, rough chop some fresh basil and parsley, mix thyme and rosemary with basil, parsley garlic and lemon to make a paste.  Gently separate the skin and stuff this paste in between the skin and meat under the breast and thy skin use about 75% of the paste this way.  Oil and season chicken as before, but rub remaining past on it along with the oil.  Place on veggie bed and squeeze lemons on top of chicken and veg.  With a little fresh herbs, garlic, lemon and proper use of this tool, you have gone from good meal to gourmet dinner.

There are so many ways to use this tool, just adding lime zest to your stir fry in addition to the customary ginger, garlic and chili is big boost in flavor for instance.  Zest a bunch of lemons, put in jar with vodka and allow to soak for bout a week, then strain out the zest and mix with 50% of the volume of simple syrup (equal amounts of sugar and water), you have high proof Limoncello at a fraction of the cost at a store.

Heck take some dark chocolate and zest it over that desert you are so proud of and take it to another level in appearance alone, not to mention taste.

One big thing is how well this tool shines at zesting citrus.  The key with citrus zest is you want all color and no white pith.  The colored part is teaming with flavor and amazing oils, the white pith is bitter.  This tool does an amazing job of taking off the part you want and leaving the rest behind.  So check out the the Microplane Classic Zester/Grater and for under 9 bucks you can take your cooking to another level!  For more ideas on using this tool, tune in to today’s show.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

 

 

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Shakespeare Ugly Stik GX2 Spincast Youth Combo – Item of the Day

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Modern Survival| 4 Comments

rodEvery day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Shakespeare Ugly Stik GX2 Spincast Youth Combo.  Recently I answered a question about taking kids fishing on the podcast, three different listeners told me about this combo.  Got to say I am impressed.

This is what you have, a GREAT rod and and okay reel.  Let me expand on that.  Keeping in mind this is a combo for a kiddo!  The cost of this combo is about 40 dollars and that is about the value of the rod itself.  The reel is worth about 12-16 dollars, in time it is going to wear out.  And that is okay!

Because as your kiddo gets older and that reel wears out but their skill and willingness to care for things goes up, you just get a better reel for them and keep that great quality rod.  I just ordered one for my grandson, it is a rod that will grow with him.  And to be blunt if you ever break an uglystick, you have done something very bad wrong.

So if you have a young one you want to get started fishing consider the Shakespeare Ugly Stik GX2 Spincast Youth Combo as a great place to start.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop on Amazon you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

 

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Lanshion 8 Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip with 4 USB Ports Desktop USB Charging Station – Item of the Day

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Modern Survival| 2 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Lanshion 8 Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip with 4 USB Ports Desktop USB Charging Station.  What I love about this product is how much it does with such a small foot print.  It is designed for desk top use, IE not crawling under your desk every time you need to plug something in.

From an AC standpoint it gives you a total capacity of 1875 watts and of course provides surge protection for all devices plugged into it.  It also give you 4 USB charging ports with a total of 4.5Amps of charging power between them.  This means very rapid charging of one USB device or solid charging speed of up to four at one time.  Again clearly this object is designed for desk top use.  However I see some other great uses for it.

One would be a simple charging station for phones and what have you that also gives you plenty of power outlets.  Set up on a entry table this would be a great way to provide USB charging for guests and still have plenty of power outlets for any needs.

Another would be a kitchen counter top.  Talk about a place where power can be at a premium.  Since it is compact and frankly looks good it can go back in a corner and out of the way yet be there for anything you need to plug in.  Likely you would never use all 8 ports that way but what ever you needed you’d have.

Then there is the best use I can think of, and why I ordered one!  A central distribution point for a Steven Harris Battery Bank or a emergency Generator.  Set this baby on a kitchen table and power it up.  Now you can charge your mobile devices, your enLoop Batteries and run your AC powered items from a central and most importantly a compact point, all with surge protection.

The last one and this seems like a really great use as well is a work bench out in a shop building.  The ability to plug in power tools, chargers, etc to a single compact space seems awesome, and the USB ports make it easy to charge your mobile device while listening to tunes and you complete your projects.

I of course checked FakeSpot and this item gets a solid B grade with over 300 reviews and 4.5 total stars.  Frankly in looking for an item like this I had to wade though a ton of them with F’s, yes F’s on fake review grading.  Sometimes I wish Amazon would cut a deal with Fakespot and do an API based link to them.  It would end fake reviews and end them fast.

In any event the Lanshion 8 Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip with 4 USB Ports Desktop USB Charging Station is a solid performer with a great reputation and might be the perfect fit for your needs in one of many areas.  So check it out today.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

 

 

 

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GS Plant Foods Liquid Kelp Fertilizer – Item of the Day

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Modern Survival| 4 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is GS Plant Foods Liquid Kelp Fertilizer.  I have tried a variety of liquid kelp fertilizers and this one has become my go to for quality and value.  First this stuff is highly concentrated, for instance a 16 ounce bottle will make between 16-32 gallons depending on how you dilute.  I generally go with 1 ounce per gallon myself for a soil drench and 1/2 ounce per gallon as a foliar feed.

Since I use a lot of it I buy it by the gallon, that comes to about 39 dollar with shipping but it still beats the price of 16.95 for a pint with free shipping, yet again a little goes a long way and many of you will be better off with the smaller size.

So what is the big deal with liquid kelp, at first the NPK ratio may seem like well, not so big of a deal.  As it is Nitrogen 2% Phosphorus .23% and Potassium 5%.  The key is all of that is 100% bio-available to your plants at application.  Again a little goes a long way.

The real key though is the minerals, Liquid Kelp gives your plants access to over 70 different minerals and they are all easily absorbed.    Here are some of the well established benefits of liquid kelp.

  • Improves seed germination and increases root development.
  • Increases bloom set and size of flowers and fruit.
  • Increases and stabilizes chlorophyll in plants, which results in darker green leaves and increased sugar content in plants.
  • Relieves stress in plants caused by extreme weather conditions.
    Increases plant vigor, and thus imparts a greater resistance to disease, insect attack, drought, and frost.
  • Increases microorganisms in the soil that can fix nitrogen from the air.
  • Increases mineral uptake from the soil and into the plant.
  • Increases the storage life of fruits and vegetables by retarding the loss of protein, chlorophyll, and RNA.
  • Retards the aging process in plants (senescence), thereby lengthening the production season.

The key with this stuff is how you use it.  In general about three times a season, early, middle and late I apply a soil drench of this stuff at 2 ounces to the gallon to my plants.  And about once every two weeks, I use it in a foliar spray directly on the plants at 1/2 ounce per gallon, I also use Garrett Juice at the recommend rate in this spray.  I combine this spray with Howard Garrett’s “Garlic Pepper Tea” every other application to control pests.  You just mix that up yourself, here are the instructions for that.

Let me tell you if you take two plants and do this with one and not the other for a single season you will be a big time believer really fast!  In fact I bet you won’t make it though the season without starting to use it on your control plant as in a month you will have all the evidence you need.

So check out GS Plant Foods Liquid Kelp Fertilizer today, along with Garrett Juice Plus and Dr. Earth 4-4-4 All Purpose Fertilizer it forms the core of my go to for plant fertility.

Remember you can always find all TSPAZ Items of the day by just going to TspAz.com along with a link to Amazon’s top deals of the day.

P.S. – If you need a sprayer for your garden and trees, this one by Chapin is likely the best bang for your buck on the market.  If you need a large Back Pack Sprayer I own and love the Solo 475-B.  Since I bought mine Solo has released the Solo 475-B Deluxe Model.  It has more comfortable straps, a pressure regulator and brass nozzles.  It is likely worth the 50 dollar premium but the standard model at 90 bucks has served me well for a number of years.

 

 

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