Save money by making your home energy efficient

With the increase in energy prices, it's important to know that there are ways to lower your energy bill, maintain the overall comfort of your home and be energy efficient. There is another big plus to being energy efficient: You help the environment. Using less energy means less air pollution from power plants that burn oil, coal or natural gas. Pollution from these sources can cause respiratory disease, smog and acid rain and contribute to global climate change. Consumer Federation of America offers these tips on how to be environmentally friendly and save energy in your home. * Clean or replace the air filters in your home's heating and cooling system regularly. A dirty air filter can increase your energy costs and lead to equipment failure. It's also good to have your systems checked once a year by a licensed professional. Regular maintenance can detect problems early. * Use light bulbs and fixtures that have earned the Energy Star label - the government's symbol for energy efficiency. Such lighting uses two-thirds less energy and can last up to 10 times longer. * Install a programmable thermostat. It will automatically adjust the temperature to meet your comfort needs efficiently during different times of the day or week. A programmable thermostat can save you up to $100 a year when properly programmed and used. * Seal air leaks in your home. Add new weather-stripping and caulking around windows and doors. Caulk and weatherproof all exterior openings for plumbing and electrical service, and look for other openings that need to be sealed, such as attic vents and ducts. Effective air sealing, combined with the right amount of insulation, can save up to 10 percent on energy bills. And if you're in the market for new windows, look for energy-efficient ones to help keep your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. * When replacing older, inefficient appliances in your home, look for new ones that have earned the Energy Star label. They meet strict energy-efficiency criteria set by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and U. S. Department of Energy; use less energy; help prevent air pollution; and reduce energy costs in your home.

10 Quick tips to save money

Money, according to a classical definition, is what money does. And truth, as they say, is like a rubber band. Stretch it and it can do wonders. So if we can really make money in order to do whatever we want, there is nothing like that. To provide 10 quick tips to save money is almost like a first-aid approach to a very intricate problem perhaps faced by almost each of us. It is important to know how to manage money efficiently to ensure bulky savings. Whether to save some part of what we have to spend or whether to spend at all on a service or commodity should be the first question to be answered. Firstly in case of large investments, the first step for a prospective buyer is to identify and correlate the valuable item or service with need or desire. It is better to test its utility first, for example, by borrowing it for a fixed time period. If you are satisfied and convinced about its necessity and think that you really need that, you may buy it. But to save money, you as a wise consumer must find the best seller in terms of comparative pricing, quality & market reputation. For lower priced items, one has to shop for the lowest prices, also keeping an eye on the quality aspect. For example, if you take the instance of buying clothes, the best purchase is off-season discount sale, wherein you can get good clothes at cheap rates. For financial investments, like the stock market, follow the golden rule of buying volatile stocks when the price of an item is down & sell it when it is at a high. The profit thus earned can be invested in the equity market for steady items. Today's Internet has provided the best opportunities to shop vigorously for the best price before you actually drop the money. Especially for insurance, loan facilities and financial management, one is spoilt for choices. Proper analysis of rates and amortization goes a long way in saving even hundreds of dollars in a year. Change of plan in case of services like telephone, insurance, etc. can save you costly dollars provided you simply have the knowledge about the best existing plan. Making a monthly budget for buying the essential items and regulating the number of luxury items can yield considerable savings. Expensive weekends and extravagant outings should be replaced by reasonable excursion for wholesale entertainment. Proper food planning and food habits result in better living, both financially and mentally. Stay healthy and you can save on medical bills. Having a proper food plan also prevents food from being wasted. Paying the bills within due dates provides invaluable savings, because, in this case, as you have to pay, it is better to pay in time to avoid penalty. If you are an employer, you should encourage flexible job responsibilities for your task force, making each one compatible with the work within a department. This will help in cutting down employees cost and help complete a task within time, even if someone is absent. There are obviously several other ways to save money and lead a frugal life without tension. It is always told that money saved is money earned. Just keep it in mind and stay happy.

Keeping up with the family finances

Staying on top of the family finances does not have to be difficult. With a little planning, your finances can be kept up to date with ease. Believe me, having a handle on your family finances goes a long way in creating family harmony. The first step is to set up a bookkeeping system. We’ve used Quicken software for years. It has helped to keep track of our expenses, and we have been very happy with the program. It takes a little bit of time to set up initially. The second part of your bookkeeping system involves setting up a place to save your receipts. We use a small cardboard divider file with a special slot devoted to “receipts that need to be posted”. The key idea here is to have a place where you store all receipts from expenses (including ATM withdrawals) so that they are readily available when you go to enter them into your bookkeeping software. Once you have the system set up, then you simply enter your receipts, whether income or expenses. As you enter each item, you select a category for it to go into. Reconciling your account is done online. One of the greatest advantages in using an automated system like this is the ability to see your expenses by category. With the click of a button, you can find out what you spent on groceries, entertainment or any other category for any time period, like last week, last month, or the last quarter. Many other reports are available such as a cash flow report and an itemized categories report. Using this system has streamlined our ability to keep our account updated. Bills are easily paid on time. Once you’ve established your bookkeeping system, then you must set aside time on a regular basis to update it. For our family, we’ve found that a weekly update works well. My husband and I alternate weekly turns on posting receipts and then reconciling our account. It never takes us more than 30 minutes at a time and our account is always balanced. If you are behind in your finances, start by doing just 15 minutes at a time. You’ll catch up eventually. Then, be sure to make time on a regular basis to keep up with your account. Having your finances in order is a real stress reliever and can be attained by anyone!

Fraud facts and tips to help you

You can save yourself time, trouble and money if you know how to recognize-and avoid-some of the more common scams. Here's a look at one that could happen to you. The Scam You place an ad for your collectible, motorcycle or electronic equipment on a specialty Web site. КYou're contacted by a buyer. Everything appears legitimate. You even receive a cashier's check overnight. The only problem is the check is written for $5,000 over the sale price. The buyer says it was an error and asks you to deposit the check and refund the overpayment using a money transfer service. A week later, your bank informs you the check was fraudulent. No funds have been deposited into your account. Unfortunately, the item has already been sent, along with $5,000 in cash. When the payment is found to be a fraud, the funds are withdrawn from your account. In this type of scam, you could lose both the amount of the overpayment and the item you were selling. Because some banks allow funds to be drawn before an item has cleared, you might not learn of the fraud until it is too late. The Solution Before sending a money transfer transaction, consider these suggestions: 1. Don't use a money transfer service to send funds to someone you don't know. 2. Be wary of a buyer who is anxious to complete a transaction immediately. Most genuine buyers spend time asking questions and negotiating the price. 3. Check with your bank to find out how long it will take the check to clear. Just because the bank has given you access to the funds, that doesn't mean the check has fully cleared. 4. Wait until the check has cleared before sending the amount of the overpayment. 5. Remember the old adage: If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Money transfer companies such as Western Union want to create a greater awareness of the various types of consumer fraud. If you feel you've been the victim of fraud, contact the Attorney General, other local law enforcement officials and your bank.

A money saving exercise

There is a simple money saving exercise that everyone should do at least once in their lives. It is ultimately one of the best ways to save money, because it is not about pinching pennies, but about discovering what you really want and getting it. It is so simple you may hesitate to try it. Just try it. Here it is: List everything that you have spent money on, are currently spending money on, or might spend money on. Don't just read this and think of a few things. Take the time to actually write it all down. Review your bank statements if you have to, in order to remember and include everything. Now go through the list, and carefully consider each item. Take the most time on the big items - past, present and future possibilities. If your timeshare on the beach is worth half what you paid, costs $1,000 per year in expenses, and is rarely used, you need to learn from that - not to punish yourself, but to have a richer life. If you think honestly about the number of times you will use that Recreational Vehicle, and the cost, it may be $250 for each day of use. That's okay if that is worth it to you, but maybe you really would enjoy $100 hotels more. Or maybe you can rent an RV for less overall cost, thus freeing up money for other important goals. You see, saving money isn't about sacrifice. We all are aware of the scrooges in life that pinch their pennies, bank the savings, and then do nothing with it. The point should be to save money in one area of life so you can use it in ways that make your whole life richer. Suppose you notice you're spending $8 per month on subscriptions to magazine you don't read, or on insurance for a motorcycle you almost never ride? Cancel the subscriptions or sell the motorcycle, and what have you lost? Is it a big deal? What will that $8 get you instead? - Bank it for ten years, and use the $1200 to take a second honeymoon. - Use it to pay for a day off work once a year, to spend with the kids. - Invest it, to have an extra $50 per month during your retirement years. - Buy six good books a year, to learn something new. - Make banana splits for the family once a month. - Give $100 per year to a worthy cause. $8 per month can do a lot if used wisely. Imagine what you could do if you stopped wasting $200 per month. That's why it is so important to discover what you really want - and what you don't want. This is one of the most intelligent ways to save money.