Useful Websites

So, after reading recently about my sister-in-law discovering allrecipes.com, which I have used for years, I figured it would be good to share convenient/important Web sites I use. I'll list a few that I use regularly, and I ask that if you have any favorites you post them in the comments.

Of course, as mentioned, www.allrecipes.com is a favorite for any and every recipe. Not only can you get the recipes you like, but you can look through the comments to see if there are tweaks that make the recipe even better. You can search by ingredient (like, how am I going to use all this zucchini?) or just put in key words. You can also put in your own recipes, which not only gives you the nutritional value of them, but it also makes your recipes available to you wherever you are. My hubby keeps telling me I need to do this so I can have my recipes handy when I'm at my mom's house. Maybe one day ...

Another one I couldn't live without is www.screenit.com. They try to get you to join, but you can access the info without a membership (just not the week of a new release). It tells you about any movie that has been in theaters for like the last five years, and even some from before that. Before seeing any PG-13 movie, I check it out. Each movie's page has a table at the top that tells you how much violence, profanity, drugs/alcohol, nudity, etc. there is in the movie. It says none, mild, moderate, heavy or extreme for each category. Then it goes through the movie and its themes, and tells you specifics on what swear words are said and how many times; how drugs and alcohol are used; what kind if imitative behavior there is and how bad the attitudes are. It's awesome. Actually it's very good, because it has saved me from seeing some movies that I really shouldn't be seeing. I'll never let my kids watch anything PG-13 (and I check out some PG as well) without checking it out first. Of course, that is after they're 13 anyway ...

I love the debt paydown calculator at http://www.bankrate.com/brm/Calsystem2/Calculators/DebtPayDown/Default.aspx. It helps you know which debts to pay off first. For example, when I entered all of my debts, it told me to pay off the car before the second mortgage. The second mortgage has a higher interest rate, so I would think that should be paid first, but the second mortgage is a tax deduction where the car loan isn't. Cool! We had it planned with this debt paydown calculator to have our mortgage paid off in only about 17 years ... but that was before we decided to add on. However, paying an extra $50/month for our car for the past 6 months has shaved off an entire year of payments. Crazy how it can do that, so check it out!

A few other sites I enjoy checking out once in a while:

• zillow.com (to get approximate house values of any neighborhood)
• utahrealestate.com (to check for new houses or to see what the neighbor's is selling for ... but obviously only applicable in Utah :)
• criminalsearches.com (to see anyone's criminal history)
• dmarie.com/timecap (to create a time capsule for anyone that includes info from the day they were born -- president/vp, price of milk, headlines, popular toys and TV shows, etc.)
• coolest-birthday-cakes.com (gives some great homemade cake ideas, although some are so much work I just laugh at the thought ...)
• I have bookmarked two games in popcap games that are very addictive: bejeweled and zuma. If you haven't tried them, maybe you shouldn't. :)
  

So, there are more than a few sites I recommend ... now clue me in on the ones you love! :)