Most people are being money conscious these days. It may surprise you to discover that you are doing a few things through out your home that is about the same as burning that money that you may be working so hard to save.
Ways to Waste Money
1. Too much sunshine. Windows that are not covered with shades or curtains let sunshine in that heats the home. Not too good in the summer months when your goal is to cool the home.
2. Clogged filters. Letting your filters get to dirty forces your air conditioning and heating unit to work harder (eating up more energy and more of your dollars).
3. Covering vents keeps the air from flowing through the house and makes the unit work harder to heat and cool some areas.
4. Exposing yourself – or at least your pipes – means that the hot water heater will have to work harder to heat the water. Keep things insulated.
5. Leaving the lint in your dryer not only makes the unit work harder but can become a fire hazard.
6. Open door policy is good for counselors but not for your garage. Your garage is one more defense between your home and the elements so use it wisely.
7. A bare freezer is not just bad news for someone looking to cook dinner but it actually means that the freezer will have to use more energy to keep things frozen. A full freezer works best and also loses less cold air when you open the door.
Watch the little things because they often add up to more than you can afford!
I never know what to do with books I’m done with. I hate throwing them out and have had too many disappointing trips to the used bookstore, which only seems to want to buy current hot sellers in tip-top condition. Thus, I have a collection that I’ve hauled around from home to home over the years, with few of them ever getting opened again.
I finally went through them today and managed to cull about 2/3 of them out, sorting them into three piles: Keep, Donate and Sell.
Everything that wasn’t a definite Keeper went into a big pile. Then I went to Amazon and typed in the ISBN number of each book into the search box. (The ISBN number is the unique identifier of each book, and it’s usually conveniently printed on the back cover.) Amazon doesn’t just sell new books, but allows anyone to sell used ones as well. For each book, you immediately see the current lowest price for both used and new editions. It only takes about 30 seconds to go through each book.
Most of my books have a current market value of penny, so they went straight to the Donate or Trash piles. However, about a dozen were still worth something. Since Amazon takes a pretty good commission out on each sale, I decided to just sell those where the lowest price was over $10, which left me with seven that were worth listing. It just took a few clicks and they were listed for sale. Once someone buys them, Amazon emails you a packing slip and deposits the money into your bank account (minus commissions but plus postage) within a few days. All you need to do is drop the book into the mail to its new owner. It’s one of the easiest ways I’ve found to sell things online, though obviously with thinly sold titles it could take a while before your book finds a buyer.
My biggest surprise? It was the oldest and dustiest books that had the highest value. Some of my religious and text books that were well out of print are still selling for nice prices, and in a few cases, substantially more than I paid. See, I knew it was worth holding onto them for ten or twenty years! Plus, nothing beats getting paid to do chores you’ve been putting off forever too.
There is a good chance that your energy expenses will be going up in the near future. Even if they don’t go up because of the changes that the President desires they probably will go up because of the season. Starting to cut expenses today will help you save in the long run.
Tips To Save You Money
1. Shoot for 78 and 68. Homes that set the cool air at 78 degrees and the hot air at 68 degrees save the most money. For every cool degree down you will pay 5% more on your bill and for every hot degree up you will pay around 3% more.
2. Go automatic. Programmable thermostats make it easier to adjust the temperature when you are away (and at night) and still have it comfortable when you arrive home (or get up in the morning).
3. Turn out the lights. According to some reports, one 60 watt bulb can get as hot as 240 degrees. A dozen of those tiny heaters will push your air conditioner to its limits.
4. Install (or replace) weather stripping around your windows and doors to help keep the air inside instead of letting it slip out between the cracks.
5. Get the right unit for your area and for the size of your home. Know the different temperatures that the unit will be able to function in and what will likely happen to your energy bill during the extreme weather.
The more you cut today then the more you will be prepared when energy costs begin to rise.
There are a large number of home owners that are struggling to make payments because of the change in the economy, a lost job or a rise in their interest rates. The craziness of it all is that the company that brings about the foreclosure may not (and usually isn’t) the company where the loan originated. Home loans are often sold, then re-sold, then re-sold sometimes more times than any one can keep count.
This could be good news for the home owner. There is a little known requirement that forces companies to produce the lien before getting any money. In the old days, the note was actually cut in half in a zig zag fashion and the homeowner would keep one half while the lender kept the other half. Any person coming to the homeowner to demand payment had to produce the other half of the note and the two halves had to match up exactly.
Talk to your court house before the foreclosure hearing and see if you need to fill out a form or can just be informal about your request. But using the “produce the note” could be the time saving tactic that a homeowner needs to get things back on track.
Working as a freelance writer is an amazing life. I get to work when I want to work and I get to work as much (or as little as I want to work). I am my own boss – mostly. Getting paid is still a primary need and sometimes the paychecks to not come on a regular basis. It is important for me to learn some tricks that let me budget my income no matter how unusual that income may be.
1. Budget for last month or two months ago. You need to be working from what you do have and not from what you expect to get.
2. Set aside 1/3 of all income that you make. This will pay for taxes and other year end expenses.
3. Save what you don’t spend. Ever dollar that isn’t budgeted and even those budgeted dollars that are spent should go into savings.
4. Horde the unexpected payments. Any bonuses, gifts and other unexpected payments should go into a special account until you are around six months ahead with your savings.
The freelance life is something most people are interested in but few actually want to live. It can be unnerving not knowing where the next check will come from. Having a solid budget and following that budget helps make the freelance life much more peaceful.
Rachel Ray had a guest on yesterday that has found a way to eat for just $1 per day – and she’s eating healthy. I was just talking yesterday about how cutting my grocery budget could save me around $3000 a year. Cutting that spending back to just $150 a month (that would be $1 per family member) almost seems beyond the realm of possibilities.
Tips for Eating on $1 per Day
• Shop at more than one store – this is a great tip for people living in an area where there are a large variety of shopping opportunities. Scan the sales papers (and even do research online because not all sales are published in the papers). You can find great deals on all the items that you need. For those of us with only one or two stores you have to learn to wait for the sale and then stock up.
• Buy frozen instead of fresh – frozen veggies last longer and are less expensive than their fresh cousins.
• Shop for items that are in-season. The development of better transportation methods has greatly increased the amount of produce that is available year round. It is still cheaper to buy food that is grown locally and is in season that food that has been shipped around the globe.
• Only buy what you plan to buy. Impulse shopping is the number one way to increase you spending without really getting anything that you need.
I’m still not completely sold that I’m going to be able to do this $1 a day eating, but I am determined to give it a try.
Yesterday I was invited to appear on the Knowing the Truth radio show with host, Pastor Kevin Boling. KTT is a live, call-in radio program providing Doctrinal Dialog, Cultural Commentary and Insightful Interviews with some of today’s foremost Christian authors and leaders. I met Kevin a couple of weeks ago at a local coffee shop here in Greenville, South Carolina. He read some of my articles on Out of Debt Christian and Do More With Your Money. His interview focused on an article I wrote for Out of Debt Christian about Six Crazy Things I Do To Save Money. It is a topic I love talking about so I was happy to do it. You can now listen to the interview online. Enjoy!
Mat. 6:21 Wherever your treasure is your heart follows. If you want to know where my heart is, look at my check register, my Visa statement, Quicken. Don’t look in my Bible at the verses that are highlighted. God says if you want to know where my heart is look at where your money goes.
* Try not to purchase something you wouldn’t loan out. If you wouldn’t loan it out you have the potential of loving that more than people.
* God doesn’t want your stuff. He wants your heart.
Luke 16:13 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and be devoted to the other or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
* In other words, you can’t have it both ways. God has invited us into a relationship where we make our love of stuff below our love for Him.
* Jesus never asked for money. One time he needed a coin for an illustration, but he doesn’t want to get your money. He wants to make sure your money doesn’t get you.
* If you’re in a relationship where you argue about money, one or both of you may be serving money.
* It’s not your money. You’re managing God’s investment so you better know where it goes.
Watch the first sermon in this series below or watch the rest of them here.
This morning I was thinking about things I have purchased for one occasion or for occasions that may only occur a couple of times a year. For instance, I have four crock pots (although one is actually a crock-ette so I don’t count it). Last fall is when I bought my fourth one. I use them for parties and get togethers (and sometimes to make meal time easier on me during ball season).
The truth is staring at me right now – I didn’t NEED that extra crock pot. I could have (and probably should have) borrowed one from my mother or a friend the last time I needed more than I had. It would have saved me a few dollars and it would have allowed someone else to be a blessing in my life.
Sharing is more than offering to let someone use an item that you have. Sharing is about blessings. If I spend all of my time, energy and money doing for myself then I steal the blessing of those who would have shared.
Now I’m faced with the dilemma of what to do with these crock pots and other items that I rarely use. It would likely save me money in the long run (and it would definitely help to free up some space) if I release the extras and then rely on friends and families on the rare occasions where a need might arise.
I recently visited the website of one of my favorite restaurants and discovered their blog hadn’t been updated in over three months. Quickly, I began thinking of possible blog posts I could write in exchange for free food at this great restaurant. I approached the owner and received positive feedback, so that got me thinking: what else could I trade for my writing skills?
This economic climate seems ideal for trading. Cash doesn’t seem to be flowing as quickly as in years past, but that doesn’t mean businesses and home owners and consumers aren’t in need of products and services. Here are some questions to consider when trading your services.
Who will you trade with? What do you need? Landscaping help? New insulation? A meal at a nice restaurant? There are lots of things you could try trading for, but remember, the IRS requires you to declare anything bartered as income as well.
How do you know if a company is willing to trade? Some companies are open with their willingness to trade. Others may not be. So why not just ask?
Do you have time to barter? If your business is booming, bartering may not be for you. But if you have some downtime and are willing to work for goods and services rather than money, it may be a good option.
Will the deal be fair? Be honest in your negotiations. What would you normally charge for your service or goods? You should expect similar compensation in return even when it’s translated into a product.
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Yesterday I was invited to appear on the 
