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DIY Maintenance: 2009 Kia Grand Carnival

Our journey, and what’s been learned to keep it on the road.

With our guide, you can easily learn how to keep your 2009 Kia Grand Carnival running smoothly with our easy DIY maintenance tips and repair guides. Save money and keep your vehicle in top shape!

POST LAST UPDATED: 24th November 2024

Whats New?

  • Post completed with up-to date information (original post)
Our 2009 Kia Grand Carnival 3.8L Petrol vehicle

Types of Repairs/Maintenance/Upgrades:

Repair/Maintenance/UpgradesDateResolved?
Check Engine LightNov 2024NO
Oils and Other FluidsNov 2024NO
FiltersMar 2024YES
Tyres and BrakesNov 2024YES
Door LocksNov 2024NO
Dash Cam – RedTiger F7NFeb 2024YES
Regular blown P/Train fuse and Main RelayNov 2024YES
CV shafts, Steering rubber bootsNov 2024YES
Front Wheel BearingsAug 2024YES
Suspension ComponentsAug 2024NO
Aftermarket StereoDec 2022YES
Air ConditioningSept 2024YES
BatteryMay 2024YES
AlternatorNov 2024YES
Miscellaneous2024YES
*Bonus* Service and Repair Manual – Diesel and Petrol vehicles– –– –

When we purchased our second hand 2009 Kia Grand Carnival, we knew it was more than just a car—it was going to be our trusty companion for family adventures and daily commutes for our family of 6.
It was going to need to stay reliable.
Over the years of owning this vehicle, I’ve learned that taking care of it myself isn’t just cost-effective but also deeply rewarding. Especially now is true, as it has well over 200000 k’s on the clock, and they are only going to climb further.

We did purchase this vehicle with a small number of issues, some of which were unknown at the time. But with acknowledgement that things crop up from time to time, and also as a learning tool for the Jays, we are slowly making this car great again.

We have decided to create this post to keep track of our maintenance jobs, when they were performed, and how we completed it. Hopefully it will help someone out there facing similar, if not the same issues.

Whilst we do still get our car professionally serviced on occasion, it does pay off in our favour to do some of this stuff ourselves—all it takes is the required parts, some tools, and a little bit of a ‘I wanna get dirty’ attitude.

Why DIY Maintenance?

We have chosen the path of DIY maintenance for many a number of reasons, including, but not limited to:

  • Cost Savings – especially important with a family of 6, where every penny/cent/dollar saving counts!
  • Control over quality and process – We like to see what has been done and also that it has been done
  • Skills building – We are trying to teach our children what maintenance is, and why it is essential

As we mentioned, it is very important to save money wherever we are able to, and it is helpful that we teach these different skills to our children so that they can become more aware, confident, and independent with all of these types of maintenance and repairs.

Comprehensive Listing of Maintenance/Repairs Performed

Check Engine Light:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

This has been a gremlin from the beginning. It did not show when we first test drove and purchased the car, but in honesty, the car was already warmed up on both occasions. We can reset the error codes with our OBDII tool, but every single time, from the first morning startup, within 5 or so minutes, the check engine light will show.
We have had the car looked at by mechanics, auto electricians, asked on forums, read through manuals, asked mates and family, and almost everything else, but it wasn’t until we spoke to Paul at Velmec Automotive here in Gympie, that we finally got an answer that actually made sense.
This was even after we had replaced all four oxygen sensors, checked all the associated wiring harnesses and connectors, and run a tank of fuel with added injector and fuel system cleaner in it.
Turns out, because the ECU is mounted in the engine bay (absolute stupidity) it is subject to very hot temperatures from the engine, and this in turn degrades the ECU, which starts causing failures in the circuitry.
The circuitry involved is related to heating the O2 sensors for cold vehicle starts.

The result is a Check Engine light that never goes away, and a marginal increase in fuel consumption.
We regularly scan our Carnival with our OBDII tool just to make sure no other errors appear except the codes related to the sensors. These are codes: P0420, P0160, P2273, P0158, P0056, P0057.
Over the last six months, the codes have stayed stable at: P0037, P0057 and P0160, as both current and pending DTC’s.

Oils and Other Fluids:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

At our last vehicle service, we were informed of a small oil weep that was observed from one of the rocker cover gaskets. They used a stop leak additive to the oil when they replaced the oil at the service, but it will soon be time to actually replace the gaskets themselves as the weep has returned once again.
This is likely a sooner rather than later thing, as the weep works it’s way down to the alternator and other components in that area, serpentine belt included.

We were also informed that it will be time to do a brake fluid flush at some point.

Our radiator is starting to show signs of age too. It is one of those plastic tank varieties, so as they get older they have a possibility of becoming brittle and cracking. That is bad news in any case, so another sooner rather than later thing to do.

Filters:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

All of the filters in the car were replaced at our last service, with the exception of the transmission fluid filter. This is another thing that we will be doing ourselves at some near future point.

Tyres and Brakes:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

We put a new set of brake pads and rotors on the car when we first got it, and they are generally still in really good health. Possibly within the next 12 months we will consider installing a new set of pads all round, depending on their condition.

We are only on our second set of tyres, which is actually quite good we feel, considering the differrent types of surfaces we drive on. We get all terrain tyres, they are a little bit more chunky, but they also start making a little bit of noise when they are getting low in condition.

Door Locks:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

There is a small number of occasions where the middle sliding doors do not seem to lock correctly. The internal lock mechanisms also become very stiff and hard to move. As it is a vehicle with central locking, my guess is that it is either the lock motor itself, or a bent or damaged component of the locking mechanism.
This will be inspected and remedied in the near future.

Dash Cam:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

We made a solid decision to install a dash camera. This is a hardwired kit, and has independent front and rear cameras recording onto an sd card. To retrieve files, we simply connect to the camera via an app on our phones and we can save the recordings to the phones.

Regular blown P/Train fuse and Main Relay:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

This issue had me personally stumped for quite some time. I do not want to remember how many times we were driving along, all of a sudden for the car to cut out and not start again. Every time it happened, we had to replace the P/Train fuse in the engine bay, and it also fried the Main Relay in the same engine compartment fuse box.
The P/Train fuse is numbered #19 in the engine bay fuse box.
There were a few tow truck calls, and once a good samaritan even towed the six of us home behind his vehicle once because the car had chosen to cut out on a roundabout that controlled the traffic of two major highways.
Not to mention, the massive money pit of fuses and relays we purchased..

Anyway, after it got to the point of multiple daily blown fuses and a breakdown on the main. street of Gympie, I decided that this was now an urgent issue to tackle. We could not afford to get it towed to an auto electrician, nor to pay for the service, so I decided to dig into the problem myself.

I spent an hour or so looking over everything from the back of the engine bay fuse box, right through all of the wiring loom in the engine bay, and then I found it. A small section of the harness had been rubbing against the engine and had cut through two wires. These wires were a pink and a blue wire.
Turns out after much testing with a multimeter from that point back to the fuse box, that the pink wire in question is actually a very important wire. It is linked to about two thirds of the connection points in the fuse box!

My repair of this issue consisted of stripping back the loom tape, fixing the two individual wires and reinsulating them, rewrapping the loom tape, putting some black flexible wiring conduit over the area and securing it to the loom, and also securing a length of rubber hose to the area to reduce any possibility of rubbing, vibration, or wear.
The initial problem seems to have been created when one of the loom mounting clips broke, allowing that part of the loom the freedom to move.

The repair job I completed is still holding up nicely, about three weeks after I did it.

CV shafts, Steering rubber boots:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

We have had the passenger side CV shaft replaced at a service due to the poor condition it was in.
That was a little over two years ago now.

When I was last under the vehicle, I did notice that a rubber boot on the steering rack has quite a few cracks in it, so this will be replaced in the very near future to prevent water and other environmental ingress from occuring. Both sides will be done at the same time, this is just moreso to reduce the number of times I need to get under the vehicle.

Front Wheel Bearings:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

There was a time not too long back, where steering around corners to the right would emit a low rumbly type noise from the area of the front wheel. This is usually a good indication of a bearing beginning to fail, so we purchased a set of complete front wheel bearing and hub components.

Installation of the parts was surprisingly easy, and the car was back on the road with the new parts within the day of receiving them.

Looking over the old ones, simply put, they were stuffed. The seal bits were almost fully deteriorated, and the bearings were actually grabbing on rotation.

Suspension Components:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

The suspension on the vehicle, as a whole, still feels quite stable.
A few months ago now, I did notice that the rear sway bar rubbers were looking a bit sad and old. New parts have been purchased, and now I am just waiting for a good couple of days where the vehicle isn’t being used so I can get in and replace them. It should be a fairly simple process, but I do like to allow plenty of freedom when doing anything with the vehicle, otherwise I need to ensure my 80 series Landcruiser is empty of tools and stuff, just incase we need to throw the car seats in for J3 and J4 in a hurry.

Aftermarket Stereo:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

I think this particular component was purchased in early December 2022, as something of a gift for the vehicle. The original stereo was not that great, and there were regular occasions of turning the volume down only for it to suddenly get extremely loud. It was also a tape player unit, and had no bluetooth connectivity or anything like that.

So I installed this new unit, complete with reverse cam, and it has raised the comfort level of car trips considerably.

The only thing I wish I would have done, was install button controls on the steering wheel. There is a place for that sort of thing, but the stereo didn’t come with anything like that except a connector plug that allows it, and the available space on the steering wheel is just a blank plate sort of thing.

Maybe a future upgrade is a likely thing.

Air Conditioning:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

The air conditioning had always operated fantastically, until slowly, it didn’t anymore..
And when it deteriorated, it seemed like a chain reaction of events that has only been resolved recently.

When the air conditioner started blowing warm air from the passenger face vent, and only slightly cooler air everywhere else, we knew something wasn’t right with it.

We took it to an airconditioning specialist, and after they were done with it, they were almost wanting to condemn the unit on the spot, citing a number of leaks that they were not able to completely locate with their sniffer.

There was talk of a leaking condenser, and also the possibility of the evap core being leaky too.

We took the vehicle home, choosing to use no air conditioning until we could work it out ourselves.

We first ordered a new condenser plus receiver drier unit and installed the part. I will admit, that was a small mission, having to remove quite a bit from around it to access the old unit properly just to yank it out. Yes, there were signs of leakage from a pipe on the old unit, so we were in for a win.
After the new part was installed, I took it to the local air con regas service, and we were all good again.
… for about three months or so.. And the same original symptom occurred once again.

There was no visible leak that I could find, so we suffered for a while once more with no air con until we couldn’t tolerate it anymore.
It was regassed, and again, it worked perfectly on the way home from the local regas place.
Same day, a few hours later, we drove in to town to do our school pickup. It was working fantastically. Super cold as it should be, and everyone was happy.
We picked up the two older boys, and went to our local Coles for some things and we were just sitting at a set of lights waiting to get onto the highway to head for home.

Initially, I thought it was the diesel ute in front of us being a bit smokey. But then I realised it was actually coming out from under our bonnet, and wow it was stinky! Before the A/C could go back to blowing warm air from the passenger vent, I quickly switched it off and opened the windows a little so we could breathe again.

The drive home was one of shameful silence, except for the music playing.
I still had not solved the problem.

I tried to find a leak by switching on the air con when we got home about ten minutes later, but all the gas was already gone. This was going to be hard.

I jumped on ebay and proceeded to purchase a pack of UV torches – the gas has a reactive dye in it after all! By the way, as a side note, these torches are fantastic for seeing scorpions in the dark, but that is another story..

The torches arrived a few days later, and I got to work. This was back in May 2024 sometime.
I looked over everything in the engine bay right up to the firewall.
I pulled out the entire dash to get to the evap core.
I did not find anything of significance, except for a small amount of flourescent colour from around a refill port inside the engine bay.
Okay, a leaky valve must be the problem. So I replaced them both with known good ones, and the next day I went back to our trusty recharge station. It worked for two days, and then crapped out again.

I am so over this damn aircon I remember myself thinking. I was almost ready to burn the car.

There was something I hadn’t replaced yet, so I bit the bullet and dropped another thousand dollars on a new air conditioner compressor. It also came with the compressor lines up to the strut tower on the driver side.
I replaced it all, and a few days later D2 took the car up to our trusty local once again for a recharge. He was very good about it, and even gave us a small discount.

This was back in mid September 2024, and the A/C hasn’t missed a beat since!

I would think that a seal, gasket, or something close to the compressor has given out.
In any case, especially coming into summer and stuff here when it gets real hot, I am certain D2 and all of the children will someday appreciate the sometimes mindless effort I put in to making them comfortable. When alone in the car, I just have the windows down, and the stereo up.

Battery:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

We replaced the battery in the vehicle after a few flat battery problems. This was done in May 2024.
The Carnival seems to be a bit of a power hungry vehicle, so we opted to purchase a reputable brand battery that also included a decent warranty.

Alternator:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

This is a bit of a head scratcher. A little while earlier to our battery replacement, we purchased a new alternator.

Come November 2024, and we have to do it again. Our car, on warm and hot days, does not charge the battery as it should. We know this, as we have a voltage meter plugged into our power port inside the vehicle.

8.8volts gives us limp mode, this was recently experienced in a hail storm, where we literally idled to the oldest sons school to pick him up in the afternoon. I could hold the pedal to the floor, and we only crept along. Just prior to limping along, the automatic gear changes were almost violent.

Fortunately, we have been carrying a spare battery and a set of heavy duty jumper cables with us, so when the hail stopped, and everyone was in the car, I jumped out and changed the batteries over so we could get home.

It has been rainy and cloudy all days since then, and the alternator is working flawlessly. I do not see the car drop below 13.8 volts, and it easily gets to 14.4 volts when we are driving. Thats with lights on, air con running, and stereo on.
Once it drops below 11.4 volts, we start turning all of that stuff off.

November 21st, and our new alternator arrived in the mail today. As we had quite alot of things to do in town today, it is just going to have to wait until tomorrow. A fresh day always gives plenty of time to sort out any problems that may arise.

November 22nd, and I have installed the new alternator into the car. It was probably not the best day to do it as it was all rainy, but I managed to complete it between showers, and also managed to keep everything nice and dry, including the tools!

I took some photos of the changeover, and I am also putting in a basic guide. Who knows—it may even help someone complete the exact the same task one day!

PARTS REQUIRED:

  • Alternator. We sourced ours new on ebay, for a little over $300AUD. There are two different types of alternator available for this vehicle. There is a two pin type alternator, and there is also a four pin type. They are not interchangeable, so you need to ensure you get the correct one! A quick glange at the plugs will help identify what type you have, if it is oval shaped, it is a two pin, if it is square, it is the four pin. A torch is quite handy here, as there is not much space to see with all the other parts of the vehicle in the way.

TOOLS REQUIRED:

  • Spanner to remove positive side (+) of battery. This is usually a 10mm spanner.
  • 12mm spanner for B post nut on alternator.
  • 10mm socket and ratchet for radiator fan, top radiator mount, and underneath support bolt.
  • 14mm socket and ratchet for alternator bolts.
  • 19mm socket and long breaker bar for belt tensioner.
  • Small prybar for the alternator if it is not easy to remove.
  • Phillips screwdriver for top shroud. If these plastic clips are old, a pair of needlenose pliers and a flat screwdriver work great.
  • Container of some sort to put all the clips, bolts, and other stuff into.

METHOD:

  • Disconnect the positive side of the battery. Ensure that you keep the terminal connector away from the battery terminal post. A zip tie usually does the job.
  • Remove the shroud that covers the top of the radiator by taking out all of the plastic clips and lifting the cover out. If all of the clips are still installed, there will be 13 of them.
  • Remove the top radiator mount. There are 4 bolts, which are all 10mm. Note that there is also a bolt underneath the vehicle, in about the centre, which also needs to be removed. It is unnecessary to remove the bolts that hold the horns in place, but you will need to disconnect them. Gently lift the mount out—it is shaped like a ‘T’. There are a couple of clips that hold the radiator overflow tube on, longnose (needlenose) pliers will do the job, and also possibly the bonnet latch cable. Also remove the cable termination from the latch itself—remove the grommet piece, and then wiggle the ball and cable out of the latch. Now you can fully remove the entire mount.
  • Disconnect the connector for the alternator side radiator fan. Also take the cable from the section that holds it snug. Undo the 2 bolts that hold the fan in place, these are 10mm. Lift out the fan and shroud and put aside.
  • Now there is plenty of space available to get to the alternator. First, use the 19mm socket with the long breaker bar, and push the bar back to the direction of the firewall. You onl;y really need to move it an inch or so, enough to pop the serpentine belt off the alternator pulley. The highly visible 17mm bolt is NOT the one you need to do this process with!
  • Using the 12mm spanner, crack the B post nut on the alternator. Finish undoing it by hand, as it is easier and quicker to do so. Also disconnect the other connector from the alternator. This will be either oval or square. Pressing the tab on it whilst giving it a short firm wiggle usually removes it easily.
  • Undo the 2 bolts that hold the alternator in place. It is usually sufficient to just loosen the bottom one a reasonable amount, and fully remove the top bolt. If it is tight against the brackets, use the prybar to wiggle it loose enough from the top side, off the mount so that it can easily be lifted out. The bottom bolt sits inside a channel in the bracket. Be careful when removing the alternator so that you do not damage and wires or the radiator.
  • When the alternator is out, remove the bottom bolt and put it into the new alternator. Hand tight is sufficient.

Installation is the exact opposite of removal. Do all of your nuts and bolts up to a nice firm tightness, and if required, you can use the service manual we have provided for torque specifications.

NOTES:

  • Installation of components like this usually require that a mechanic perform the actions. Do this sort of thing at your own risk. Honestly though, if you take the proper precautions, namely removing battery connections, not damaging components, correctly wiring parts back, there is never usually an issue. Be sensible about your methods.
  • If you have something left over from your work, it means you haven’t done something correctly. Check your work.
  • We originally purchased the workshop manual, but we are supplying it at no charge. Please do not abuse this system, and if you like, you can always donate. Anything is accepted. Donation methods are available on our Download page.

Miscellaneous:

Section Last Updated: 20th November 2024

These are the little fixes and upgrades that don’t necessarily fall into major categories but have made a big difference to our overall experience with the vehicle. From replacing broken interior trim clips to adding reflective window shades for better cooling in the summer, it’s these small tweaks that show how much we care for our Carnival.

Headlights:

We recently put in a new set of headlights – the parkers and also the lowbeam and highbeam. We find this process easiest when we fully remove the entire light module from the vehicle and swap out the globes. That way, you have all the room you need to work on it. 10mm bolts hold the light module in.

Tailgate Struts:

We installed a new pair of these back in August 2023. The original ones were no longer holding the tailgate up when it was open, causing a few literal headaches.
Whilst the installation of them is quite simple, the tailgate does need to be supported properly when removing and installing the struts, as it is quite a heavy part of the vehicle.

Final Thoughts on this topic:

Owning and maintaining our 2009 Kia Grand Carnival has been a journey of challenges, learning, and satisfaction. It’s not just about keeping a car on the road but also about passing down life skills to our kids and enjoying the process of problem-solving together.

With a little under 300,000 km on the clock, this vehicle is a testament to what a little TLC and elbow grease can achieve. We hope our experiences can inspire others to tackle their own DIY maintenance projects and keep their trusty vehicles running strong for years to come.

Let us know in the comments if you have any tips, tricks, or similar experiences—sharing knowledge is how we all learn and grow!

Check out Our other Posts! – Jaysndees Blog
Earn some free crypto from Our LTC Faucet! – LTC Faucet
You could always check Our Shop for new items – Jaysndees Shop

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Super Delicious Mediterranean Pasta Salad

jaysndees Pasta salad dish with burger.

A perfect refreshing side dish or simple main meal!

Over the last couple of months, the day and night temperatures have gotten quite warm. Almost too warm to be slaving over a hotplate or BBQ, or anything else that requires significant amounts of heat. A super delicious Mediterranean Pasta Salad recipe was surely on the agenda.

So we blended up quite a superb dish that is sure to ignite your taste buds!
It is vibrant, refreshing, and a little bit tangy, and a perfect pasta salad to make for picnics, a light lunch, BBQ occasions, or as a general side-kick side dish.

Here is Our recipe for jaysndees Super Delicious Mediterranean Pasta Salad.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Salad you will need:

  • 300g Durum Wheat Macaroni Pasta (fusilli, penne, or farfalle work well also)
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 Continental cucumber, diced
  • 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and halved (optional)
  • 1/2 cup Danish feta cheese, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup semi sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup roasted/dry fried red capsicum, chopped (optional)

For the Dressing you will need:

  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Cook the pasta: Boil the pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Drain the pasta and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Stand aside and let it cool.
  • If you are using a fresh red capsicum, now is a great time to prepare it as desired. We dry fry ours, which is simply heating a flat pan to a medium high heat, dropping the chopped capsicum into it when at temperature, and giving it a good sizzling for 5 or so minutes, stirring it around the pan regularly. You will know when it is done by the change in look of the produce, and also by the change in smell as it is sizzling away. When done, remove from heat and set aside to cool down.
  • Prepare the vegetables: While the pasta cools, chop the cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and roasted red peppers. Set aside in seperate containers for the moment.
  • Prepare the dressing: In a small bowl or cup, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper until well combined. Put it aside for a moment.
  • Build your salad: In a large bowl, combine the cooled pasta with the chopped veggies, crumbled feta cheese, and fresh basil. Give it a good mixing as you combine them all together.
  • Dress the salad: Pour the dressing over the pasta salad and toss everything until it is all well coated.
  • Chill and serve: Let the salad chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavours to meld together. Garnish with extra basil or feta if desired.
jaysndees Pasta salad prepared in a mixing bowl ready to be served.

EXTRA NOTES:

  • Our 4 Jays and also D2 do not like olives. So we leave these out, and if I (D1) feel like adding them, I do so at the end when it gets served up.
  • Fresh sliced chilli adds an interesting dimension to the dish. Be careful not to add too much though, as you do not want to overwhelm all of the other delicious flavours!
  • As we grow garlic, at harvest time we end up with an amount of unformed garlic bulbs. We call them ‘Onyaks’ (pronounced ‘ung-yaks’). These make a great all purpose punchy flavour, especially when sliced very thinly and dry fried. Toss them through the salad before adding the dressing to add another interesting flavour.
  • We use the 97% fat free semi sun-dried tomatoes that we get from the Deli at our local Coles.
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Idle Cryptocurrency and what we do with it

Welcome to our post on our idle cryptocurrency and what we do with it.

It is no secret to us. We have sat there watching our crypto numbers. They have gone up. We see them go down. There is lots of red and green too. We trade. Some we win and some we lose. We give some away via our free cryptocurrency faucets. We claim from crypto faucets.

But essentially, like many people, we do not yet use crypto to its’ fullest possible potential.
As a result of this, we have idle cryptocurrency.

So we thought about it for a while, and sourced ways where we can earn something on the crypto we had laying around in our wallets.

Our Game Plan Forms for Our Idle Cryptocurrency

It all started with our BTC. A little while ago now, we put pretty much all that we had left of our BTC reserves into the Free Bitcoin website. This has been slowly earning interest for us on a daily basis, along with the free btc we can claim from the various types of free spins we can do, hourly, and also via email links. We have also obtained a little over 18600 fun tokens there, which at the time of writing, is worth about 0.00094BTC. Our base account has around 0.0021BTC in it at this same time.

jaysndees free bitcoin affiliate idle cryptocurrency idea

Recently, it was decided that we would put the majority of our crypto into protocols that allowed for earnings whilst it was just sitting around. Undoubtedly, there are quite a large number of such protocols out there in the cryptosphere, but we want to keep it fairly simple not only for ourselves, but also for the Jays and how we teach them about it.

We tracked down all of our available cryptos and set to work. Admittedly, this was not a hard task, as we do have pretty much everything tucked into our SCWallet (Self Custody Wallet) Exodus.

From Mining to Trying

Firstly, we got our VTC from mining exchanged into BTC. We were able to accomplish this via the No-KYC exchange known as FreiExchange. They offer no trading and deposit fees, and low fees for withdrawals, as well as a great range of available trading pairs.
Although a valid email address is required for your notifications and confirmations, it is a fairly simple process to set up private email addresses if you want to keep it all separate from your mainstream stuff. For such choices we recommend Proton Mail. This is why we are calling it No-KYC.
It is worth mentioning here that withdrawals from FreiExchange does require that you have 2FA for account security.

Exchanging

Once our VTC/BTC exchange completed, we then created a BTC/LTC exchange. When this was finalised we sent the LTC to our SCWallet. We use LTC as our shuttle due to the cheap costs of sending transactions.

We were then able to go and create exchanges for our desired yield earning cryptocurrencies.
After some research and deliberation, we settled on Cosmos (ATOM) and Algorand (ALGO).

Cosmos self describes as “The Internet of Blockchains”. We will not go into details of their ecosystems here, but if you are interested in further reading, go and check out their website.

Converting

We used the No-KYC StealthEx to provide us with extremely competitive exchange rates to convert our LTC to ATOM. From start to finish, the actual exchange took about 12 minutes by the time we had the new funds in our SCWallet.
This is a pretty good speed for what goes on behind the scenes.
If you like, you can test out their exchanges by using the widget we have conveniently provided below.
*SMALL NOTE*
By using the widget, we receive a small commission from the exchange which does not affect your final result.

Our final amount is a little over 9ATOM with an APY of 14.75%.

As mentioned earlier, we also got some ALGO. If you are interested in further reading, go and check out their website.
For this exchange, we used some of our free BTC, once again calling upon StealthEx as our chosen platform.
All up, the conversion took a minute or so under an hour, and the majority of that time was waiting for BTC block confirmations after the first one appeared. The actual exchange was fairly quick.
The staking process was simple via our SCWallet, and as such, we have a bit over 86ALGO with an APY of 8.18% currently, and we are in Governance Period 12.

Onwards the future

We would like to get into this solution to idle cryptocurrency in many more different ecosystems, but we do have our constraints and limitations, namely, not investing fiat into it, as that in itself is one of our current “Work in Progress” situations.

By earning our crypto from crypto, we believe that we are satisfactorily achieving it the correct way.

This is why we operate crypto faucets, use crypto faucets, and just try to participate in crypto in any way we can.

Faucets and Active Ventures

Disclaimer

We are not financial advisers or experts, and as such, make no claims or warranties for any of the information we provide. Please, as with anything regarding major financial decisions it is important to Do Your Own Research and also talk to your significant other.

This blog post does contain affiliate links. We may earn a small commission from links you use through this page. Please consider the support.

Links

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Teaching the children about money in 2024

A learning experience for the Jays and the Dees

We have decided that is is surely the proper time to start formally teaching the children about money in 2024.
Crypto is popping up more often these days- online shopping, crypto atms, local coffee shops, and more.
Fiat currencies are already readily available for everything in our daily lives.

So it sort of makes sense to teach the younger generation a thing or two about these ways of money – new and old. After all, we were taught about the value of money, and how to earn it, and also how it could be lost, throughout our youth and our experiences growing up.
The added bonus that makes it easier though, is the fact that the majority of the current youth, are already digitally enhanced. They have mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and various other devices, that they use pretty much every other day. Bankcards, licences, identifications, documents, qr codes, the list is almost endless.
This is akin to a ‘GenE-D’ – Generation Everything Digital.

“The Path We Take”

This is Jays n Dees story, of how we are going to be teaching our children about these financial systems- both fiat currency, and the possibilities of cryptocurrency. Earning, spending, saving, and interest gains will all be included. Interactions with them as a customer and also as a seller will be taught as circumstances arise.
Our 4 children range in age from preteen, right back through to almost 3 years old. this year, they are J1-13yo, J2-9yo, and J3 and J4 twins-3yo.
This last month or so, both myself (D1) and D2, have been busy working out how we will encourage our children to be more proactive with their –chores– i mean responsibilities.
Because thats what they are. Responsibilities. They each have a responsibility to be an active contributing member of our household. Just as we both do each and every day.
This is the basis for teaching the children about money in 2024.

As a starting point, we have created a master plan of everything we hope to achieve. This plan is very fluid, and can adapt and evolve as necessary.
We have created a Behaviour Board, where each week we add to a list, a single entry that we as the parents feel each child needs to work on to become a better person. Even both of Us (D1 and D2) have a new entry each week.
Alongside of that, we all have a consequence that we must do if we do wrong against our proper behaviour. More into that, if we get 3 strikes, then we have an immediate media blackout for a 24 hour period.
Here is an image of our Media Usage Rules:

jaysndees teaching the children about money in 2024 media usage rules image

The media blackout is inclusive of phones, tablet devices, laptops, computers, gaming systems, television, and the ability to have a say in the evening movie with dinner.
These actions and consequences accumulate over the lifetime of our system, and the hope is that we can remember each of them and automatically perform any of the set consequences whenever our action is broken.
Here are a couple of our weekly examples:

jaysndees teaching the children about money in 2024 family behaviour board image

Back to the main topic, we have decided to pay out the allowances for our children in either fiat, crypto, or a combination. This decision is left as entirely their own, from which the basis of their decision is from whatever we can teach them, in a way that they can understand.
We all know about the principle, or their given weekly allowance, We have sat down with them and discussed their set weekly amounts, and the responsibilities that is expected of them consistently, as well as the extra stuff on the behaviour board.
We have also explained the basics of how the ‘we pay for’ versus ‘they pay for’. This is essentially that we pay for their education, food, sports/extracurricular activities, uniforms, safety, excursions, medical, hygiene, birthdays, and all the main important ‘child growing up’ things, but if they want that new shirt, toy, treat, game, or anything like that, then that is something they need to pay for out of their allowance.
To keep track of their allowance, we have a dedicated diary that has the inputs and outputs for each child on their own pages. On the same note, in a dedicated safe, we have a 1:1 equivalent of their allowance accumulated total in fiat currency.
This is the Bank of Mum and Dad.
All it needs, is a formal set of transaction id’s, and it would be its own blockchain!

Introducing The Bank of Mum and Dad

jaysndees teaching the children about money in 2024 parent bank bank of mum and dad image

Anyway, to wrap into all of this, is that the Bank of Mum and Dad gives interest. 5% for every $100 banked. This has its own set of rules to prevent cheating – can only earn the interest for each preset milestone once, minimum hold periods, no overdraws, no loans, fiat and crypto are seperate entities, no BofM&D interest on crypto, BofM&D cash out when the child gets a job, and many others.
This compares to a select number of cryptocurrency blockchains for our specific educational goals.

Now for the crypto part of it. They each have a protected wallet on their devices. We have physical backups of all the keys for each wallet in multiple locations. We even went so far as to generate each of them with their own personalised specific crypto address for the purposes of the BofM&D. All the private stuff is held by us, in multiple safe locations.
Eventually, after some teaching, they will have the option of keeping the provided wallet, or setting off with their gained wisdom to work out some of the finer details themselves.
We are serious in making this work out right for them. Such is the value of protection.
This is another part of teaching the children about money in 2024. Security of funds, and the keys/passwords/pincodes that protect it all.

Would you like to donate to each of the Jays? Or maybe to the Dees? Or even jaysndees itself?
A million “Thanks from All of Us” if you choose to. Know that it is appreciated beyond words.
We will post the basic wallet addresses here on this page for Litecoin (LTC), and we have numerous other different crypto addresses which are all available from Our Crypto Addresses page.

CRYPTO ADDRESSES (LTC)

We do have a common BTC wallet Address where donations will be split between the four Jays and ourselves. This wallet address is:
Jays n Dees BTC Wallet Address
– bc1q6cenfz55g348xmlyxlws0efk85pglqpqpqkf0l –
– bc1pzgw3cdqvlvzullkru9h7qru4852swjhyz3yecn9asp2fzquctylsvskmyt – (Taproot)
– 1Cw2K1WYZHy1QFU1zQojGiGVB1CJZSMMs1 – (Legacy)

We have also set up a provided cryptocurrency converter for all of the necessary actions. As it becomes necessary, we will show them how to use it correctly.
Here is where we will begin our teachings about fees, including our accumulated knowledge gained through our time of dealing with cryptocurrencies. For no matter if you want to convert fiat or crypto, send or receive fiat or crypto, or if you are dealing with BofM&D, banks or decentralisation, there is always going to be fees charged to the actioning party – aka the sender. Fees are there for the txid on the chain. Some are fair, some are extreme.
This is right through to the fees that we get charged to send crypto to them initially, and the nigglies that get exposed when it comes to tax time with gains and losses, and the like.

Alongside of this, we are also starting to explain interest and staking as ways they can earn more on idle funds, where it is possible and worthwhile. This comes back to the BofM&D 5% per $100 and crypto staking options.

There will be numerous discussions about important crypto events and how they may affect the crypto they hold. In saying that, we will not bombard them with every single happening or such other items, except where we may see a problem. We will however, expose them to news relating to the financial sector as a whole, both fiat and crypto.

As a compliment to all of this, we are trying to guide them on the path to good bookkeeping. We are open with the BofM&D bookwork with them. They get to see each of the inputs and outputs that occur when they spend and receive.
This is where the true teaching is. Always be aware of your inputs and outputs, no matter the circumstance.

I personally have a strong belief in the future of cryptocurrency. When you really think about it, a lot of us are doing it anyway when we do online banking. We are sending out from our account or wallet where we are storing our funds for access. The resulting send gets recorded with a transaction id. At this point, the funds settle with the receiver.
We do it at retailers where we use a card or the physical currency to obtain goods or services. We then get a receipt with a transaction id.
The only thing different, is that one uses tangible items – cash, card, receipt, central authority. The other is digital and decentralised.
A number is still a number, value is still value, and buying and selling remain unchanged.

* Not intended as financial advice. DYOR *
* This article is for educational purposes only. No warranty is intended or implied *

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THE BREAD THING recipe and instructions

Recipe Ideas from Jays n Dees – The Bread Thing

The Bread Thing recipe and instructions. We at jaysndees absolutely love food. So much, that occasionally we will come up with a new idea or improvement on an existing one to satisfy the needs and hungers that occur with Our Family of 6 people – 4 of whom, are growing people. When we find almost perfection to something we have cooked up, it will be shared here.
So read on to find out how to make a super yummy The Bread Thing!

jaysndees The Bread Thing recipe Main Image

Basic Information:

History/inspiration. This particular dish that is known as The Bread Thing in our family was randomly thought up not too many months ago now, drawing inspiration from consecutive cold wet nights, a few too many drinks, and also some fond memories of when my (D1) deceased dad used to talk of some of the foods he ate growing up- one of those being a whole loaf of bread, ripping the guts out of it, and stuffing it with chips and gravy.
Basic dish information. Although there is not a vast amount of veggies to be found in this dish, it does go well when complimented with a side of nice fresh veg.
There is not much to the dish, but there is a decent amount of preparation work that goes into it.
Cooking style – Pot/Pan, frypan, bbq, slowcooker, etc. BBQ or oven; we only use a bbq for it though, except the mac and cheese, veg, and bacon. We use a pot for these on a gas cooker.
Preparation Time. First time with the dish, expect and allow for about half an hour.
Cooking Time. We allow about 45 minutes for this part. Remember that this includes the initial preheat of the loaf too.
Serves. Serves 2 adults and 4 children, aged between 12 and 2, with enough left over for a lunch or major snack the next day.

INGREDIENTS:

jaysndees The Bread Thing recipe Ingredients
  • 1 x 800g loaf white toasty bread; unsliced. Preparation required.
  • 1 x fresh roasted bbq chicken. Preparation required.
  • 250g bacon pieces. Preparation required. (not shown in image)
  • 1 – 1 1/2 cups grated/shredded cheese.
  • 2 slices of fake cheese (cheese slices).
  • 1 x sachet mac and cheese.
  • 1 x 250mL sachet traditional gravy microwaveable (or make your own equivalent).
  • 1/2 cup frozen veg (winter veg or peas,corn,carrot). Preparation required.
  • 1 heaped tablespoon of crushed/minced/paste garlic.
  • 1 teaspoon crushed ginger.
  • Garlic and Herb seasoning (shaker type).
  • “Everything” seasoning (shaker type).
  • Salt and Pepper. We use pink Himalayan salt, and whole black peppercorns, both in grinders.
  • 1 teaspoon Sugar (we use raw sugar).
  • BBQ sauce. Try smoky bbq sauce for an interesting variation!
  • Sweet Chilli Sauce.
  • Approx 75g Butter/Margarine. We use salted butter.

UTENSILS:

  • 1 or 2 tupperware type containers
  • Cutting knife, fork, spoon
  • Measuring implements – cup, tablespoon, teaspoon
  • Stirring spoon or similar
  • Small pot
  • Shallow tray with suitable space for the loaf and the top to sit comfortably
  • Piece of baking paper to line tray
  • Microwave safe container/cup
  • Microwave
  • BBQ (or oven)
  • Cooktop for pots/pans

PREPARATION:

– All initial tasks – measuring, weighing, scooping, guestimating, cutting, chopping, grinding, maiming, etc.
– Other initial food preparations – preheats, pre cooks, etc

  • Preheat BBQ/oven to between 150-180 degrees celsius. We use a 4 burner BBQ, and only ignite the two outermost burners on high.
  • Fully shred bbq chook. We usually remove all of the skin first and set it aside in a corner of a tupperware container. Then we take off the legs and wings, putting them aside on a plate. After that we will strip off all of the major flesh components- breast meat, back meat, etc, until we have reclaimed all of the usable meat. Put all of it on the plate with the legs and wings. Finally we will harvest any stuffing (seasoning) from inside the chook, and put it in the container with the skin. Now to shred the meat – piece by piece off the plate, we use a fork to shred the flesh, placing it in the container as we go. Remove any gristle, bone, and other undesirable parts during this process.
    Once it has been shredded, we add our sauces over the top and give it a quick hand mix.
  • Prepare the bread loaf. Cut about 2cm off the bread top, the whole length of the loaf. Remove all inners, leaving around 1.5cm on the walls and 1cm on the floor. Press the top, walls and floor firm, WITHOUT BREAKING the loaf!
    Once preheat is complete, it is safe to put loaf in, use baking paper on a shallow tray, put the loaf and top on the tray, and place it in the centre of the BBQ for 10-15 minutes, or until the internals are starting to get a feel of toast.
  • Melt butter in microwave on high for 1 minute in a microwave safe cup. When done, mix in the garlic, ginger, and herbs, and stir very well until everything is blended in consistently. Set aside until ready to use.
  • Cook Mac and Cheese with the frozen veg + sugar on a stovetop. Follow the directions on the mac and cheese packet for cooking. Set aside until ready to use.
  • Heat bacon pieces in a shallow pan on stovetop. Stir regularly on a medium/high heat for 3-5 minutes, until it smells like nicely cooking bacon. Set aside until ready to use.
  • Make or heat the gravy, follow packet instructions if using microwave gravy. This is usually high heat for 1 minute. Set aside until ready to use.
  • Prepare cheeses as necessary. Break sliced cheese into 5 strips per slice. Set aside until ready to use.

METHOD:

The how to do step-by-steps
This section assumes that the bread loaf frame has just finished the initial warm up and is fresh out of the BBQ.

  • Take the main loaf and place it on a firm surface. Proceed to spread your garlic butter over each of the walls of the loaf- rotating the loaf as you do so. We prefer to use a spoon for this rather than a butter knife, as it is easier to grab a spoonful to spread and deposit the mixture to where it is needed. Apply liberally so that it looks nice and moist on all of the walls. Once complete, proceed to rub more of the mixture over the floor of the bread loaf.
    Remember to keep your current working section on a firm surface to prevent breakage of the walls of the loaf.
    By the end of the main part of the loaf, you should have only about a quarter of the garlic butter mixture left. Coat the inside toasted part of the top piece with the remaining butter mixture.
  • Now it is the time to assemble The Bread Thing.
    Make sure to gently spread and pack each layer as you go.

Once it is done cooking, remove from the heat and stand to cool for about 5 minutes. This also helps the external shell to finish hardening to make for easier cutting.


– Floor: Mac and Cheese + veg layer. Cover the entire floor.
– Chicken layer. Make sure this layer is a decent thickness, but do not pack it to a smooth layer.
– Bacon layer. Fill up all of the random depression areas you created on the previous layer.
– Cheese layer. Provide a nice thick layer of the grated/shredded cheese, up to 5-6mm thick. Gently press.

– Gravy layer. Use a generous amount to mostly cover the cheese.

– Stuffing/Seasoning layer (optional). Break apart the stuffing and sprinkle the entire amount across the cheese and gravy layering.

– Bacon layer. A nice quick sprinkle layer with a minor firming press.
– Chicken layer. Add a slim layer over the top of the mac and cheese.
– Mac and Cheese + veg layer. This layer will use the rest of your mac and cheese and veg. Spread even and firm.

– Sliced cheese layer. Add on this layer as an angled crosshatch vision.

– Chicken layer. Add all the remaining shredded chicken across this layer. Do not pack down this layer.
– Gravy layer. Pour out all remaining gravy. Ensure to top up any low spots in the chicken with the mix.
– Shredded cheese and bacon layer. Mix together and spread out over the previous layer. Gently firm down evenly.
– Final layer: Chicken skin over the entire top. Add a crack of salt and pepper over the top.

– ADD THE LID ON THE TOP NOW.

Put the final construction back into the BBQ, and heat for between 20-25 minutes, or until the shredded cheese is melty looking. Yes, this will require you to lift the lid of the loaf, but no big deal. Also, remember to turn the tray at least once whilst it is cooking.

When ready to serve, slice the loaf without the top on so that you can properly support the sidewalls as the knife is drawn through. Slice the top also to make extra garlic bread.

EXTRA INFORMATION:

..extraPara/closing statements, etc
The J2 Plate:
Our J2 does not like gravy. I know, what a weirdo, right? Anyway, we make up a special deconstructed version of the bread thing dish just for him. It is literally everything except the gravy, separated. Also, he gets bones, as we give him a drumstick and wing that was pulled off the chook at the beginning. We do not remove the skin or anything beforehand.
At least he is still happy to enjoy the dinner with the rest of us!
For his garlic bread, we simply cut a couple of slices off the inners we removed, and load them up with some of the garlic butter concoction. Easy, crustless garlic bread!

DISCLAIMER

Whilst all due care is taken with writing out this recipe, we cannot accomodate for any food allergies or intolerances. You as the reader are however, more than welcome, to provide a comment of such as to how you overcome and/or substitute ingredients, methods, or otherwise, to provide YOUR PERFECT VARIATION OF THIS PARTICULAR DISH!
We welcome any and all feedbacks, comments, criticisms, or suggestions.
All images are copyright and the property of jaysndees.

Additional Information:

VARIATIONS:
  • Use fresh crushed garlic for a little extra blast of flavour in the dish.
  • Add chilli if you really want to – we recommend fresh sliced jalapenos. Just make sure to add a bit more milk to the mac and cheese to balance out the heat. If you are not concerned about heat, then by all means, use some carolina reaper sauce over the chicken in place of the sweet chilli sauce! Warning though – IT WILL BE VERY HOT! (Not suitable for children AT ALL!)
  • Add more variety of veg – some salad, a bean mix, capsicums, etc. This gives a nice colour too when done properly.
    The next time I (D1) make The Bread Thing, I will add these veggie variations and update this post with the photo.
  • Pepperoni/salami/kabana always works great as an extra, as does ground beef (mince). Just remember to prepare these before adding into the final construction method (cook, peel, etc)
Posted on by

Cloud Mining Experiment in 2024

Cloud Mining Experiments in 2024 to weed out the scams

LAST UPDATED: Friday 14th May 2024

TESTED CLOUD MINING WEBSITECURRENT STATUS
MiningBun.com
BlockHunter.eu
AutoHashMining.com
TrxDeepMiner.com
LegitDogeMining.com
LitecoinPool.io
MineThrive.com
TronFreeMining.com
TetherFreeMining.com
miner.DogeFreeMining.com
BtcFreeMining.com
EthFreeMining.com		SCAM
SCAM
Ongoing
Ongoing
Ongoing
SCAM
SCAM
SCAM
SCAM
SCAM
SCAM
SCAM
summary of tested cloudmining websites

We are going to perform a cloud mining experiment in 2024. In 2023 we got scammed by cloud mining. We lost close to 0.02 BTC, which at the time was worth $600 USD. We did have a mostly complete draft post with all of the details. It was never actually posted live for some reason. It was we feel, invaluable information into what to look for in a scam.
In 2024, we will be continuing our cloud mining adventures, albeit with serious restrictions. This is namely the *free* way. There should be no reason to pay to have the ability to withdraw.
On a similar note, those that can successfully show good faith with the free mining contract, must surely be worthy of consideration for an upgraded plan after the free mining expiry and valid payout.

Our true intention of this experiment, is to find any potential gems whilst using different chains, and earn a little bit of cryptocurrency too.

Example 1: MiningBun.com

First up, is an interesting little mining operation that gives BNB as the reward.

We have provided the cloud mining system with an address that is not actively used, and in fact, generated only for this specific purpose.
The website is called, “miningbun.com“.
There is no referral link at this point, as this is in a testing and experimental stage. We will be testing the system until withdraw possibility, and then judging it accordingly.

experiment example 1 image 3 showing signup incentive.

We were supposed to receive $10 of BNB, but are yet to receive this. At this time, we are unsure if this is an automatic event, or one that we have to manually initiate from somewhere.

cloud mining experiment example 1 image 1 showing basic dashboard.

So we put our address in, it would only accept a BSC (Binance Smart Chain) network address, and not a proper BNB address. I (D1) personally found a little bit strange, however, I am optimistic, and still learning about contracts, and consider this an actual proper contract to be fulfilled and executed on the Binance Coin (BNB) once the contract has been fulfilled i.e. when I withdraw after the minimum of the contract (0.005 BNB, but then also include the fee of 0.00007 BNB) equal to 0.00507 BNB.
On the day this post was made, 1 BNB is equal to $322.89 USD. 0.005 BNB is around $1.61 USD.

In theory, I should be able to withdraw at around 50 days of starting, so we will see how it goes. This post will be updated as progress is made.

experiment example 1 image 2 showing withdrawal dashboard.

This was initially posted on 11 Feb.

Example 2: Block Hunter

Our next cloud mining experiment in 2024 to mention is one that does payouts in BTC.
The name of this service is known as Block Hunter. The website address is “blockhunter.eu“.

experiment example 2 image 1 showing the homepage.

As a signup bonus, new users are given a free 900 GH/s hashing power.

cloud mining experiment example 2 image 2 showing main user dashboard.

There is a minimum required of 0.0001 BTC for the payout, with additional withdrawal fees of 0.00015 BTC.

experiment example 2 image 4 showing withdrawal dashboard.

According to the overview on the dashboard, it may take only a month until we can see if we are able to perform our withdrawal from this platform.

experiment example 2 image 3 showing live overview dashboard.

This was initially posted on 12 Feb.

Example 3: AutoHashMining

Another experiment we will look into is AutoHashMining. The website is “autohashmining.com“.

experiment example 3 image 1 showing main website.

This platform allows mining and withdrawal in multiple different currencies, including Bitcoin BTC, Litecoin LTC, Ethereum ETH, Dash, Ripple, and more.
There are minimum withdrawal limits as stated on their FAQ. We are choosing this platform for LTC, the minimum will be $1.10 USD. Interestingly, there are no fees according to the same FAQ.

cloud mining experiment example 3 image 2 showing main user dashboard.

When signing up as a new user, we got 200 GH/s free mining which expires in 199 days, and we also got $0.02, which is available as an LTC equivalent in withdrawal.

experiment example 3 image 3 showing free mining plan.

It is important to note that although it states an amount of $2.00 as a purchased mining contract, we have not actually paid anything for this particular plan.

This was initially posted on 12 Feb.

Example 4: TrxDeepMiner

For this example, we are testing out TrxDeepMiner. The website is “TrxDeepMiner“.

experiment example 4 image 1 showing main website.

Although they accept deposits and withdrawals in a number of cryptocurrencies, they only allow mining in Tron TRX.
We are testing this platform with Litecoin LTC.

cloud mining experiment example 4 image 2 showing main user dashboard.

When signing up as a new user we got 100 GH/s on the free mining plan which will expire in 199 days, and we were also credited with $0.01 in our account balance, which will be available as part of our Litecoin withdrawal.

experiment example 4 image 3 showing free mining plan.

It should be noted here that it has an amount of $1.00 spent. We have not input anything into this platform.

This was initially posted on 12 Feb.

Example 5: LegitDogeMining

For this next example of our cloud mining experiment in 2024 we will be sampling LegitDogeMining. The website is “LegitDogeMining“.

experiment example 5 image 1 showing main website.

This platform mines Dogecoin, and pays out in a variety of cryptocurrencies. We will be utilising Doge payouts when they become available.

cloud mining experiment example 5 image 4 showing main user dashboard.

When signing up as a new user we got 100 DH/s on the free mining plan which will expire in 200 days, and we were also credited with $0.05 in our account balance, which will be available as part of our Dogecoin withdrawal.

experiment example 5 image 2 showing free mining plan.

It is important to note that although it states an amount of $1.00 as a purchased mining contract, we have not actually paid anything for this particular plan.

This platform claims no fees for deposits or withdrawals. There are minimum amounts associated with withdrawal starting at $2.00 for Dogecoin and Litecoin payments.

This was initially posted on 17 Feb.

Example 6: LitecoinPool

At the time of posting this particular cloudmining service, we had been signed up for a bit over 1.5 days. This is another free service that was found, and so we thought to give it a try. This testing platform is LitecoinPool. Their website is found at “LitecoinPool“.

experiment example 6 image 1 showing main page.

With no direct ‘sign up’ button, we were a little confused on how to begin, but with a quick check of all the info, we found that all we needed to do to activate an account was to use our email or LTC wallet address and create a password after clicking on the ‘Start Mining’ button.

According to the FAQ, there is a minimum 0.1LTC withdrawal amount, but no information as to whether or not there are fees associated with the withdrawal too.
Another item of interest noted in the FAQ, is that all the investment plans run for 365 days. For the moment we will assume this also includes the free plans.

experiment example 6 image 4 showing frequently asked questions.

At the current free plan of 0.0008LTC per day, this is going to take 125 days of operational cloud miner.
0.1 / 0.0008 = 125.

cloud mining experiment example 6 image 2 showing main user dashboard.

This was initially posted on 17 March.

Example 7: MineThrive

We recently saw this one, and had to give the Free tier a try to see what it was all about. The website is “MineThrive“.

experiment example 7 image 1 showing main page.

At the time of writing, they did have some promotional activities running. The limited offer, and the free bonus.

experiment example 7 image 2 showing promos.

Our free power is already waiting, and we can invite more people to this to “higher your Bitcoin Mining Rate.”. **CRINGE**

Whilst we are not going to go into much detail with this one, there is still some screenshots to look at and remember.

cloud mining experiment example 7 image 3 showing main user dashboard.

Sadly, it looks like our initial perceptions are deemed true. For this particular free cloudmining experiment, according to the FAQ, “free” is not actually free.. In fact, it will cost at minimum 0.0004BTC at time of writing. That doesn’t include any of the poor souls you refer to this one.. Check out the first section, and then peruse over the other parts.

experiment example 7 image 4 showing faq.

There will be no more updates to this particular experiment. We are calling it a SCAM.

This was initially posted on 24 March.

March 2024 Update:

As it has rolled into a fresh month, we thought about posting an update to each of the sites mentioned above..
We will do it in the same order as they were posted.

Example 1: MiningBun.com

Firstly, we will mention that we still haven’t received the $10BNB reward. Not off to a positive start for this one at all.
Next item worth mentioning, is the message that appeared at the top of our dashboard. It stated that “You have 1 free TH/s until the end of 2024-03-02”. As it is now towards the end of the day of the 2nd March, we logged in to the platform.

As we were logging in, we noticed an interesting item in the Latest Transactions – an apparent withdrawal of 0.00184BNB performed. The minimum is supposed to be 0.005BNB.

Sure enough, our free mining operation has come to a halt. 0.002BNB. Still, as there was that previous mentioned amount in the transactions list, we thought we would try anyway to withdraw..
..Nope..

As we never received the $10BNB, and the expired free miner, and the bogus transaction that was listed, we are considering MiningBun.com a SCAM.

Example 2: Block Hunter

We gave the blockhunter.eu site numerous chances to come back online, but it appears to be a SCAM.

Example 3: AutoHashMining

Not much to report on this one, except that the free miner still appears to be operational at this point.

Example 4: TrxDeepMiner

There is not much to report on TrxDeepMiner at this point, except that the free mining process is seemingly still operational.

Example 5: LegitDogeMining

This free mining platform appears to be properly functioning from what we can observe.

May 2024 Update:

As the month of May rolls on, we thought it would be a good time to visit each of the cloud mining websites to check in on progress.
We will not post on examples considered scams any further from that point.

Example 3: AutoHashMining

This mining platform is still operating, and according to the Miners section, we still have around 112 days remaining.

Example 4: TrxdeepMiner

Still going strongly, this particular platform has around 111 days remaining on the free mining contract.

Example 5: LegitDogeMining

This particular platform is still functional, with around 114 days of operation remaining on the free mining contract.

Example 6: Litecoin Pool

We attempted to access this website a few times over the week prior to this post. It looks like a SCAM.

14th May 2024 Update

We came across these three sites that were linked to FaucetPay. They sounded good, but we are marking them as a SCAM. It is not actually free mining. Any others of this format we will also mark as scam.
It’s worth noting that reinvesting does not count as a deposit either.

So far there is tronfreemining, tetherfreemining, dogefreemining, btcfreemining and ethfreemining.
Ethfreemining is untested, as was btcfreemining. Our ISP flagged btcfreemining as suspicious/malicious too.

As can be seen from the following images, a deposit needs to be made before withdrawals will work.

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jaysndees Our Year of 2024

…and what is in store for Us.

G’dmorning. G’day. G’devening..
Wherever you are reading this from, we would like to welcome you with Us, and more specifically, what is in store for us, and jaysndees our year of 2024.

We are Jays n Dees. Still completely functionally dysfunctional, and still a happily complete Party of 6 consisting of myself (D1), my Gorgeous wife (D2), and our adorably bonkers children, J1, J2, J3 and J4.
It may be a little obvious as to why we are jaysndees, but just incase, it is because we are a bunch of jays and dees. And ultimately, there will be a little of all of Us throughout this blog, and in fact, the website as a whole.

Progressively, as time permits, we would like to improve on our online presence, from building the blog up into a wholesome family oriented blog, to filling up our e-store with all sorts of our ideas.

Throughout the course of jaysndees our year of 2024, we will be sharing some aspects of our life with you. As always, we will simply be known as D1, D2, J1, J2, J3, J4, or jaysndees.
These details will primarily revolve around family projects, family happenings, crypto, and well, just life. We will build and share coupons for our e-store, create from our ideas, and take on all feedback.

We do have a number of major projects for undertaking throughout the year, and without giving too much away I will briefly mention just just a few:

  • 80 Series Landcruiser projects – engine, body, extras
  • quad bike revive – been through floods, untouched for many years prior
  • Our produce gardens
  • go-kart project with J1 and J2
  • Cryptocurrency and online earning
  • * a list of ambition more than a kilometre long *

Stay Tuned!

So cheers to the year that is ahead of two-four.
Hope you like and enjoy all that we have here in store for you!

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Let’s make some money in 2024!

Introduction

Last year, we introduced to you a legitimate way to earn fiat currency (USD), each and every month, guaranteed, for a potential extra couple of hundred dollars per year, just by performing some simple clicks.
This is still a real deal, so join us to earn money in 2024 guaranteed!

To date, we have been paid every month, including this October of 2024. We will provide our current snapshot of earnings, inclusive of the entire 2023 earnings, to get you back up to speed with how we are progressing.

Setting Up

There are really 2 important things to consider when being paid. First, you must have a PayPal account. If you do not have one, it is free and easy to set one up. Go to the PayPal website to begin.
The 2nd thing, is to have a minimum of $5.00 in your earnings at the end of the month to be paid. Whilst $5.00 is the minimum, there is also no maximum for the month. You are paid every cent of your earnings.

If you need assistance with setting up your account, tips and tricks, or anything like that, feel free to contact us using our form, or ask the question here as a comment.

Now for the important bits – where do we earn these regular payments from?
The answer is quite simple. The banner shown below contains our referral link, so please consider using it. The link opens in a new window so you are free to keep reading here too.

Affiliate banner

It is important to understand that this is NOT ad-clicking! You are performing activities for SERP. Search Engine Results Page. This is all about simple organic traffic for particular websites.

We got a bit slack

As we lost a lot of focus with our blog in 2023 towards the end of the year, some of those earnings didn’t get posted to the 2023 version of this blog post. However, all of the earnings that we have accumulated to date will be posted here as a summary. Once we receive more payments, they will be added to this blog post as an update.
Payments for the month of earnings are punctually paid on either the 1st or the 2nd of the new month.
So our October 2024 earnings were recently paid, on the 1st November 2024. November earnings will be paid out in early December, etc.

jaysndees serp account payments to october 2024 earn money in 2024 guaranteed

That is USD$480.43. At the time of writing on 1st November 2024, 1USD is equavalent to 1.52AUD. So this would be approximately AUD$732.11. Yes, we have been paid every cent. Here is the list of payments to our paypal account also.

jaysndees serp paypal payments to october 2024

As you can see, this makes a great addition for earning a supplementary income.
Hopefully you can use this as initiative to earn money in 2024 guaranteed!

Currency Converter:

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Cryptocurrency Exchange:

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Watch Out For Your Teen Behaviour

A Teen Behaviour Post that all parents should read.

We would like to share a story of knowledge and education, especially for us (D1(myself) and D2) as first time parents for those teenage years, and more specifically, the transition into the first year and beyond of secondary schooling, for our child, J1. This is intended to share knowledge and insight, so that someone else may be able to Watch Out For Your Teen Behaviour.

A Brief Introduction.

For us here in Queensland, Australia, the move into year 7 last year involved handing over an M1 Macbook Air (or a laptop reaching similar abilities), to our child for the purposes of their education. We could have been supplied one by the school at a nominal fee, we however chose to go the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) route instead.
Also for the purposes of their independence, and to allow communication between J1 and Us, and also the friends, we supplied a Samsung mobile phone. This was politely given to us for this purpose from a close relative with a heart of gold.
This was on top of the access to his own ipad which he has been able to use since before he was 2.

We have other rules also for the ipads, etc, such as not during school weeks, only a certain amount of time maximum per day, completed chores, and things like that.

Setting up the Contract and Boundaries.

D2 and myself created up a contract for J1, in relation to the technology. We went through every single line of it with him, and sat there to explain everything, as simply as possible, and to a level understood by J1. We know it was absorbed cleanly, as this kid is a superhero with reading stuff, and being able to spit it back in your face 10 years later, word for word. He can tell you about books that haven’t been touched by him for ages and about conversations had years prior, and this is becoming very apparent as we see his interactions with the twins, J3 and J4.

Back to the unfolding story..
This contract (linked HERE), which I will also post in this story for any future ideas from other parents (without any personally identifiable information of course!), was very clear, with all the added verbal explanations, from Our point of view. We had it on lockdown – or so we thought..

Anyway, J1 had commenced the first year of high school and all was seemingly going great. He had make plenty of new friends, grown stronger with some of his old mates from that awkward year 6 time, and just generally been great at adapting. His grades were good and consistent, and his teachers spoke highly of him at the couple of parent/teacher interviews we attended.

Noticing Change and the checks We started.

We are not certain when it started, but somewhere in the early 2nd half of the year, there was more attention paid to the grumpy morning boy who seemingly couldn’t ever get enough sleep.
On top of that, the devices never seemingly needed to be charged as often. (As a rule, and as part of the contract, they were to be charged in the parents main area, as also applies to the ipads for all of our J clan)

We felt that maybe it was time that we had a look into the matter. After all, we did put it into his contract regarding our ability to do checks of this nature.
So the searches began..
Uncovered during this time, was lots of attempts at downloading Windows based installers for games, vast amounts of late night Youtube videos of bug wars, a large amount of online game histories, and lots of anime porn.
On top of this, were the hidden games disguised (renamed by J1) to resemble innocent sounding files – “School”, and “Stuff”, among others.
Also was the deleted items. Files of various natures simply disposed of into the Trash.

Effectively, nearly all of the contract rules were broken.

..denial – Part 1.

So he was shown what we had found. Initially, there was complete denial. The excuses like, “I don’t know how that got there”, and, “I don’t even know what that is” flooded at us. Finally, after much explanation that searches for specific items yield specific results, and the browser and computer logs showing it had indeed been done whilst the device was in his possession, we were able to obtain the actual truth.

For all of this, we then commenced active blocking of games sites, and anything else we could think of via the modem. I will supply this list in this post (linked HERE). We also put into effect more strict rules. The laptop and phone was to be handed back to us at the end of each school day, and we started to properly implement the services of the Family Link apps.

Now we were back on course.
With a head full of knowledge on how that sort of stuff, including the blatant lying, can affect the lives of not just him, but also us, as parents, and as a family, we settled back into the proper routines of school and home life.

Ears pricked to alertness.

It was around September I think, when we received a call from the deputy principal of the school..
We were informed that our child quite possibly had video footage of a fight that had occurred on the school grounds. A meeting was set up with Us, J1, and the deputy principal present.
It was then, that we were informed, of a much more serious situation that our child had become entangled in.
It seems that him and his girlfriend had been exchanging nudie pix, and her grandma had seen them and called the school. With the texts that we were shown, it was most certainly a two sided event, even though it was only the multiple sentence responses that we were shown. All of the girls texts had been deleted out of the conversation, presumably by herself or her grandmother, presumably to proclaim innocence. She was a grade above J1, but they are both under the age of consent in the eyes of the law, so those pictures exchanged were indeed child porn. With the phone account in D2’s name, needless to say, we were very highly concerned about the matter.

So we confiscated the phone. And we went through it. Sure enough, our boy had sort of saved himself a little by saving a couple of the pictures he was sent. So it wasn’t just him sending explicit images, it was both of them. But at the same time, he had also used his own shovel to dig his own grave by deleting all of the conversations with the girlfriend. And the ones between his mates, most of them were trashed too.

Massive Information Loading.

When he got home from school that day, there was a very big talk about this entire situation, from the initial video recording of the fight (which in reality was just a hug and scuffle between 2 of his mates), right up to the reason for the meeting with the deputy principal. For starters, he had broken our contract again.
Then there was the fact that both of them had been distributing child porn, because essentially, in the eyes of the law, that is what it is.
He was made very aware that there was still a very real possibility of the police coming to talk to him about the matter, and also it would likely affect D2, as she is the owner of the account of the phone. For an adult, these things usually lead to jail time, even if it isn’t physically in the adults possession, it is still in the possession of an account that the adult is responsible for. Then there was the talks of the Sex Offender Registry, where it would likely be that we would each end up on there for something as simple as this. The full consequences of what this would mean for him as he approached young adulthood and beyond was also explained.

Drastic Measures

Then came the punishment. We didn’t want anything like this, so that phone was deleted, scrubbed, deleted, and scrubbed again, and then it was set up as a “dumb phone”. No camera, no access to google searches or anything like that, no ability to save or view images or videos, you name it, we removed it. All it can do, even to this day, is make phone calls. Oh, and the calculator still works. And if necessary, at any moment, we can lock the phone completely via the Family Link app. If he comes to us asking for permission for a specific image or file we are able to approve or deny it with relative ease.
During the remainder of the school term, J1 did not have a phone. Nor for most of the end of year holidays. For such a serious breach of our trust, again, there had to be very firm consequences. In a way, it was his jail time.

As for the outcome, thankfully, neither the grandmother, the police, nor the school took any further action. It was all dealt with in a sensible manner, because as with everything, there is always two sides to the story.

That is the main lesson to learn I guess. Once you get through all the initial lies and explanations, the truth does come out. And it is important that they learn to trust what you as parents do with the truth. Be firm, but be fair. This is especially true for households that contain multiple children.

Preparing For The Future

Going into a new school year, we have had numerous more conversations about things like this, and have also had our sex talk with him. The one that involves respecting people and their bodies, especially your own. We also made it extremely clear, that although we have supplied an entire box of them for him, there really is no need to go out and rush into anything where he will need them, but we have made it known to him that he has a box of condoms available for him. They have a super long expiry date, so like we said, no rush.

Putting our trust in him, is also him putting his trust in Us.

..Watch Out For Your Teen Behaviour..

Uh Oh!

As an update after the first school week, the unimaginable happened..
I was initiating some updates for the macbook on sunday evening after all of the Jays had been put to bed and noticed that there was a game installer (Minecraft Education) still mounted on the device. I know it wasn’t there prior to this, as the previous weekend i had also been performing updates to get it ready for the new school year.
Anyway, J1 was queried as to why it was there, and sure enough, I had left it in the downloads last year. He had just tried installing it, even regardless of the “No Games” policy.
I opened the Safari History in his account, and all these sites were visible in the account. Multiple games sites, numerous ‘Chat with..” AI chatbot pages, and also, you guessed it, porn of varying natures. Oh, and there was also the new email accounts he had created..
This kid was immediately woken up and kicked out of bed, and asked to explain his actions.
He didn’t have access to the laptop on the days in question, as they were the weekend days. He was however, able to use his ipad during these times. And that was what he had been doing.. hiding out in his room looking up all of this garbage.
Fortunately his devices are on the same account, and sync. And he does not have account privileges to delete any of the information from any of the devices.

Small Truths

When asked as to what he was doing, he did admit to doing the wrong thing. When asked why, especially due to all the recent happenings and talks we had just recently had, his answer was that he didn’t know why, but he was disgusted with it. We queried him if that was the case on every occasion, and yes, he apparently was. When asked why he kept on doing it then, his response was that he didn’t know.
So we started asking him about his awareness of the dangers of (ab)using devices and technology as a whole. About how it can endanger our entire family, and things like that.
His demonstrations of his awareness was… unsettling for want of a better word..
Whilst he does know about things that could happen, there seemed to be a little bit of an “I don’t care” or “immunity” response about it. Take for example, Us pointing out that all of his younger siblings are in almost the same area as him when he was doing all of this stuff. His response was that they were not in the same room as him at the time.

More Groundwork and Punishments

Once we were almost done with our conversation with him, the talk was steered towards punishment.
So now he gets to commence, for the foreseeable future, his punishments.
This includes the phone, macbook, and ipad.
He has been completely banned from using ipads for a long time. And when he is finally allowed to use them again, it will only ever be under direct supervision. No more hiding out in his room with it. That will be a permanent thing..
Also, will be only very limited internet access. We understand that it is needed for the purposes of school and hobby research, and that is all that will be allowed. There will be no video sites accessible without permissions being granted, no access to those AI chatbots, and there will be daily checks, whenever it is used.
The phone will need to be handed back to us again at the end of each school day, and of a weekend, it will not be in his possession. He will be allowed to check it and respond a few times a day, but that is all.
The macbook is only for school, and it too will be handed back to us each and every day. It can get packed for school, along with the phone, of a morning as we are walking out the door to take them there.
Also off the table are things like sleepovers with mates and all of that stuff.
And there will be lots more outside time, both during the day and also the evening, each and every single day moving forward.

Parental Guidance Thoughts

D2 and myself had a bit of a chat about it after we sent him back off to bed.
More so, what we could try to get him back on the right track again. We have established some ideas of erotic novels, and maybe even some super softcore adult oriented magazines.
He will even need to read any and all articles we find that involve discussions regarding pornography addictions.
It is completely normal to have desires, and in fact, it is encouraged. When it is of a clean and acceptable nature.
However, when it crosses a line to endanger and potentially expose the younger ones to it, well before their time, something drastic has to be done.
And there is no need at all for a soon to be teenager seeking out porn online of any nature, nor for them to enter into any adult oriented chats or activities.

Its a long way back to the top..
..Watch Out For Your Teen Behaviour..

As a sidenote, here is the extra information we are providing.

THE CONTRACT:

First Mobile Device Contract

I, _(insert child name)_, understand that using these mobile devices (phone, ipad, laptop) is a privilege, not a right. In order to be permitted to enjoy this privilege, I agree to the following:

I Understand..

[_] The devices belong to my parents, they are not mine. And they may take it away or look at it at anytime.
[_] My parents are trusting me to be responsible and look after the devices to the best of my abilities, trying my best not to lose or break any of them.
[_] There are restrictions in place on the devices and lock out times are between 9pm and 6am on school nights.
[_] There may be adjustments made to this agreement as needed, while we all learn and adjust to child device usage.
These will be noted down as new information points under the appropriate section, and all parties will be informed.

I will..

[_] Keep the devices charged.
[_] Share my chosen passwords with my parents.
[_] Use the devices in a responsible manner.
[_] Answer when my parents call or text. If I miss their call, I will call them back as soon as I discover they have tried to contact me.
[_] Ask before downloading apps or games.
[_] Notify my parents IMMEDIATELY if I receive or discover anything inappropriate.

I will not..

[_] Delete, or attempt to delete, anything on the devices.
[_] Use devices during family meals.
[_] Participate in bullying or rude behaviour, or use unkind language. If I wouldn’t say it in person I will not send it.
[_] Use any of the devices to take inappropriate photos or videos of myself or others. This includes anything you’d be embarrassed to show your parents, grandparents, or teachers.
[_] Use the phone during school, unless needing to contact a parent. The phone is to remain in the schoolbag on silent or vibrate mode only.
[_] Complain if my parents ask to see the phone.
[_] Adjust any settings without permission.
[_] Share my number with strangers.
[_] Answer or respond to texts or calls from unknown numbers. And I will let my parents know if any unknown numbers do attempt to contact me.
[_] Bug my parents to put games on the devices.


_______________________________________________
Child’s signature


_______________________________________________
Mum’s signature


_______________________________________________
Dad’s signature


______________________________
Date

Blocked Websites:

Games related sites (more will be added as we research them):

  • addictinggames.com
  • agame.com
  • aiwigame.com
  • arkadium.com
  • asia.wargaming.net
  • craftnite.io
  • crazygames.com
  • fog.com
  • freegames.org
  • freeonlinegames.com
  • gamaverse.com
  • gamearter.com
  • games.aarp.org
  • gamesgames.com
  • kirka.io
  • kizi.com
  • klook.com
  • lagged.com
  • new.gg
  • parade.com
  • playbelline.com
  • poki.com
  • shellshock.io
  • shellshockerss.co
  • twoplayergames.org
  • ufreegames.com
  • wargamer.com
  • warthunder.com
  • wellgames.com
  • worldofwarplanes.com
  • worldofwarships.asia
  • yad.com
  • yandex.com

Other blocked sites (more will be added as we research them):

  • youtube.com (direct supervision only)
  • talkie-ai.com