Make a Dent in Your Utility Bills

In an effort lower my electric bill, I recently replaced EVERY regular incandescent light bulb in my home with new energy efficient Compact Flourescent Lights. (CFLs) The price of CFLs has come down considerably and the quality of the light output has remarkably improved. The first rooms I targeted were the ones that were likely to be left on by kids, which included the bedroom lamps, ceiling fan bulbs and the bathroom vanity. Since the curly CFLs would look rather awkward over the vanity, (ugly but effective) I found some Globe style CFL's that would replace the clear globes that were in the vanity and they look great. Two of the bathrooms had four globes each, while the master bath vanity had a whopping EIGHT bulbs to replace! 16 bulbs x 40 watts = 640 watts being used by incandescent lighting. The same fixtures with CFL replacements uses only 144 watts! (16 x 9 watts = 144) That's a 75% savings in energy usage for just the bathroom lighting. I also replaced all of the dining room bulbs, (60w x 3) closet bulbs, (60w x 2) hallway lights,(75w x 2) over the sink lights, (60w x 2) basement ceiling lights, (100w x3) garage door opener bulbs (75w x 3)with CFLs of the equivalent brightness. I figure this will add up to an approximate savings of $300-400 per year on the electric portion of the utility bill. I found a great article on Danny Lipford's site about CFLs and Going green. Great article and good information Next on the list: Energy Efficient Christmas Lights!

I also signed up with the Utility Company to allow them to curtail the usage of my air conditioning unit in the summer time. They installed a wireless programmable controller that allows them to adjust my thermostat in the summer months to reduce power consumption on hot summer days by preventing my AC from running as much. It is set to 78 degrees in the summer months. During high usage periods, the utility company might raise the setting anywhere from 2-4 degrees to 80-82 degrees but it can be overridden if it becomes too uncomfortable in the house. In the winter months, I use the programmable timer to "set back" the thermostat to 65 degrees after bedtime, and during times the house is likely to be unoccupied. Otherwise it stays at a comfortable 68 degrees. Another cool feature of the device is that the thermostat can be accessed and controlled via the internet!

To help curb the cost of overly long showers I invested in low-flow shower heads and installed restricted faucet aerators so we're not wasting as much water. Am looking at installing a tankless water heater to reduce the use of the gas water heater and provide "endless hot water". In the meantime I installed a hot water heater blanket and put split foam tube pipe insulation on the visible hot water pipes in our unfinished basement. This helps the pipes retain the heat of the water so it doesn't take as long for the water to get hot at the faucets. I have also considered installing water-efficient toilets, but that's lower on my priority list. We are also considering purchasing a more energy efficient washer and dryer. Thanks to a recent GE diswasher recall, we were ended up getting a much nicer, quiet and more energy efficient dishwasher as well.

For more tips on saving money on your Utility Bill, check out this article by Jeremy Zonker.

Another obvious power hungry appliance is your personal computer. Although the latest processors and power supplies are more energy efficient, leaving a computer running constantly can add up. Utilize the power saving settings so the computer hibernates or sleeps during periods of inactivity.

If you are really curious how much power a specific appliance or device uses, invest in a "kill-a-watt", which allows you to plug in a device and see how much energy it consumes when it is plugged in. (even if it's not turned on!). You can then make an active choice to uplug the device (if you can) when it is not in use.

Click here to purchase a CFLs, a Kill A Watt device or other cool items from Amazon.com

Clip those coupons

It's Sunday morning and that means today's newspaper will be fat with retailer ads and coupons. Now before you run out and buy that new HDTV that we both know is going to be on sale today, take a minute and sort out the grocery coupons from the fray. Pull out your trusty scissors and start clipping coupons for the items that you will actually use. Cut them out, put them in an envelope and use the envelope for your shopping list! That way, the coupons are handy and ready to go when you're in the grocery store.

Speaking coupons we've all read or heard stories of folks who get a ridiculous amount of groceries for little or nothing. While I'd love to be able to do that, I don't think I have the patience required to go to multiple grocery stores to take advantage of those that double store coupons. I mean it's bad enough to stand in the 20 items or less line behind someone who thoughtlessly brought 30 because the line was shorter. However, if you want to become a coupon master, there are numerous sites that let you get a grasp on your grocery budget and stretch every last penny. A few worth mentioning are: smartsource.com, coupon.com, couponmom.com, grocerysavingstips.com, couponing.about.com. I'll compile a list and publish it later. Now get clipping!

There’s gold in them thar hills!

Okay, so maybe it’s not gold --and there’s probably no hills either… But it’s money-- and it’s not just the spare change in the sofa either. It’s in your garage, your closet, your storage space or wherever you might you keep your unused stuff. Rather than let it sit there and take up space or lose value over time, sell it or donate it! Either way it’s extra money in your pocket. Have a garage sale, sell it on ebay – if you don’t want to be bothered or don’t know how, take it to an ebay dropoff or consignment store… or sell it on craigslist.org or amazon.com. Good rule of thumb is that if it’s taking up valuable space and you haven’t worn it or used it in the last six months or so then you should sell it!

If you’re really too lazy to do any of those things to get some money out of your unused items, then do this: Go out to itsdeductible.com, figure out what the item(s) is/are worth as charitable contributions, document the value of all of the items and donate them all to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. (And be sure to get a tax receipt and file it away for next year’s tax season!) You’d be surprised how much a couple of bags of old clothes and other items can add up to as tax deductible contributions! So go on… Reclaim the space in your home and clean out the closet, garage, spare room, storage unit, etc and get some extra money in the process… it might not be a fortune, but its essentially free money that you already had just laying around. What are you waiting for? Cash in!

However, if money is not your object, but you still hate seeing the items go to waste, consider putting it up for grabs for free on your local FREECYCLE site. Visit www.freecycle.org to locate a freecycle site near your community that you can participate in. It’s FREE to join and typically your items will disappear quickly. Freecycle is also a good place to look for free items that you might otherwise have to purchase. Folks are constantly giving away perfectly good items on a daily basis so that they may be enjoyed by someone else. Items are given a second life in order to keep them out of landfills. Who says nobody gives out anything good for free anymore? They obviously haven’t checked out freecycle!

My momma told me: "You better shop around..."

There’s nothing you can’t buy online at a discount. Clothing, Shoes, Electronics, Cars, Mortgages, Retirement Plans, Hotels, Airline Tickets, Rental Cars… In fact, there are so many travel related sites out there now, that’s it’s become a chore visit each one individually to price out a trip to find out which ones are giving you the best deal. I recently shopped for airline tickets to Las Vegas using all of the well-known major discount travel sites to compare prices, and found that all of them either returned the exact same fare, or they were within a couple of dollars of each other. Where’s the savings in that? Depending on destinations the price difference is negligible because the airlines have given the same discount to all of their travel affiliates, giving no real advantage. (although if you belong to a points program, some of them can give you extra perks – more on that in a moment) But there are sites out there that have started to make the search process a lot easier. Cfares.com is a site I recently came across that seems to do a great job of price shopping the airlines without having to be bombarded with special vacation offers that don’t interest you. If all you need are cheap airline tickets, Cfares is definitely worth a look. Prices are competitive and the interface is easy to use, so I highly recommend you give them a try.

If you belong to the “Thank-you” rewards program (which Citi cards participates in) not only do you earn points for using your credit card, sites like Expedia awards “Thank-you” members additional points for the purchase of your itinerary. Basically you get to double-dip and increase your point balance, because you get points for using your credit card and also for the trip purchased. However, you should weigh the value of the points against any price difference between Expedia and other travel sites. Another excellent site for price comparing between various travel sites is Kayak.com. You enter in your trip info and Kayak will pull the results from the major travel sites to help you find the best deal. Another thing to consider is to try going directly to an airline (or hotel) website and seeing what their direct-to-consumer prices are. Sometimes you will find that they offer better specials or deals than what you may find through their travel partners. It pays to shop around.

Do we need A 12-Step Program?

Okay, say it with me now… “My name is _________ and I’m an Internet Shop-aholic.” After all, who can resist a good bargain? For some of us, it’s not easy. Bargain shopping sites like dealnews.com, fatwallet.com and gottadeal.com all report and feature some of the best internet shopping bargains around. I’ve saved hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars by being a smart and savvy online shopper and checking out all the deals, reviews, sales and discounts that are available to Joe Consumer when I need something. I NEVER pay retail for anything. Need more hard drive space or a deal on an upgrade component? They’ve got you covered. Looking for a deal on a laptop or new HDTV? Got you covered there too.

I even built a new computer buying components as they went on sale. It reminded me of the old Johnny Cash song, “One Piece at a Time”. Over time I scoured dozens of online bargain sites, and I was able to build a new fully loaded quad core desktop pc for under $400. The computer case was free after rebate, as was the power supply. The motherboard, cpu and memory were all on sale at various times over a four-to-six-month period, and coupled with promotions, coupon codes and mail in rebates on those items, I paid half of what most folks would fork over for a comparable system. Yes, it took me a while to acquire all the parts on sale and I had to assemble them myself, but who cares? I saved a bundle on a new computer. It’s all a matter of being disciplined in hunting down what you want and finding the best possible prices. It is mindboggling to see how much stuff is out there and how price-competitive retailers have become to earn your business, and we as the consumers are coming out as the winners.

Want to save on your next online shopping spree? Look for online shopping codes at sites like: dealcoupon.com, currentcodes.com, fatwallet.com and a host of others that offer discount codes for your online shopping pleasure! For the steal of a century, check out sites like woot.com where they feature an item in limited quality at a bargain basement price. I couldn’t resist a recent offer for a refurbished 2GB MP3 player for under 20bucks… I added a 2GB Micro SD card (which I found via price shopping sites like pricegrabber.com and got a promocode via dealcoupon.com!) and I ended up with a pretty nice mp3 player for a third of what a new one would cost. It can be really quite addicting (not to mention expensive) to “save” all this money by buying stuff just because it's a bargain, but when online retailers “make an offer you can’t refuse”, can we really afford not to? Heck you can always turn around and put the item you bought on sale up for grabs on ebay and pocket the difference! More on that later...

Is there really such a thing as "free money"?

Lately I have been taking a serious look at my investment portfolio along with some other creative ways of increasing the bottom line. One such method is through taking advantage of bank and credit card incentives. This where where banks and credit card companies essentially offer you "free money" to do business with them.Chase Bank recently sent me an offer that was too good to pass up. They paid me a $200 incentive for opening up a new checking account with direct deposit. There was no required minimum for regular deposits, so I did not have to rearrange my financial life. So I went to my local branch and learned more about the offer. There was a min. $100 initial deposit required, but no required min. for direct deposit. The bonus would be deposited in approximately six weeks, but the account had to remain open for at least six months or they would deduct the bonus. I set up the account as an invisible savings account, figuring that if I didn't see the money, I wouldn't miss it, and thus not be tempted to spend it. The interest rate isn't the best, but the way I see things, I got my money up front.

Another "free money" idea that I'm considering is the increasingly popular Credit Card Balance Transfer Arbitrage. How this essentially works, is that you take advantage of a zero percent, no fee balance transfer offer, (on a card that carries no active balance) and invest the money into a high-yield savings or checking account for the duration of the offer. Until the fed dropped interest rates, we were seeing online yields of around 4.5-5%. On a $10,0000 transfer at 4.5% APY, that's $450 on a 12 month offer. The catch is that you must keep tabs on any monthly payments due, and pay very close attention to the expiration of the offer to ensure you pay off the balance before the terms/conditions expire. Google "credit card arbitrage" to learn more. Sites like "freemoneyfinance.com" and "mymoneyblog" and a handful of others offer some really good tips/advice on how to successfully execute an arbitrage plan. PLEASE NOTE! You should also be aware that borrowing large sums or maxing out cards CAN negatively impact your FICO Credit Scores. Please do your own research before engaging in the Arbitrage Game and READ ALL OF THE FINE PRINT BEFORE YOU TRANSFER A SINGLE DIME! This is a not a good practice for folks already in debt.

I also took advantage of a Credit Card Sign Up Incentive Offer. The Citi Professional card, their version of a business credit card, is offering 10,000 "Thank-you" points for signing up and using the card upon receipt. The points could then theoretically be redeemed for a $100 gift card through the rewards program. Since I already belong to the "Thank-you" program, I figured an extra 10K points couldn't hurt since the Thank-you program allows you to consolidate all of your points into a single account. Now that I received the bonus points, I've acquired enough (20000 pts as of this post) to redeem them for a free round-trip airline ticket! Not a bad deal at all!The last idea that I'm considering is seeing if I can really make money on the internet. Not a LOT of money, mind you... Just enough to create a revenue stream of some sort to make it worthwhile. I recently saw a book entitled, Moonlighting on the Internet by Yanik Silver, (See link in sidebar) which appears to have gotten decent reviews on various bookseller sites. It should be arriving later today, so I look forward to reading it to see if I can put the concepts to work. I'll report back on that later...

Debt: We're not alone

Almost all of us are in some level of debt, and we're working to pay bills. The trick is to keep up with them so we're not buried over our heads in bills. If we're going to owe money to people, the best thing we can do to help ourselves is negotiate the lowest possible interest rates. Ideally, we want to pay ZERO interest whenever possible. Smart consumers will take advantage of every opportunity that offers "free money" or zero percent interest, and be responsible and heed the terms and conditions to maximize their cash flow and let their money and good credit work for them.

I've been working hard to pay down as much debt as possible and lower the amount of interest that I pay on my credit card balances, personal loans, etc. I periodically call my credit card companies and ask them if the rate I currently have is the best they can do. When they're unwilling to budge, I start to shop around for more competitive offers and am not shy about telling my card issuers that they'll be losing my business. I take advantage of low interest or zero percent balance transfer offers if the period is greater than 9 months. I've used a couple of the "for life of the balance" options that were offered to pay off most of my debt. I now use a single card for all smaller purchases and I pay the bill every month rather than carrying a balance. Large ticket items get charged to a rewards card that has a low interest rate and it too is paid off as soon as possible. To save additional money, I utilize online price comparison sites like nextag and pricegrabber to find the lowest price, then search for online coupons and special promotional codes on sites like fatwallet.com and dealcoupon.com to lower the price even more.Next step is to research the grocery guru sites to learn how to get the most for my food dollars.