Personal Finance Advice

It’s that time of year again when the weather starts to get to a hotter and you need to find ways to stay cool. Here’s a question from a reader that is looking for inexpensive ways to beat the summer heat:
We live in the Southwest which gets very hot during the summer and [...]

There is nothing like a good debate between friends to get to the bottom of some of those questions that everybody wonders about. I received one of those questions by e-mail the other day and thought I would give it to all of you to come up with the best answer.
A co-worker and [...]

So you want to help the environment, but you don’t think that you have enough time? Here are 10 simple things that you can do in under a minute that will help the environment and save you money at the same time:
1. Use Half The Amount (time: none): Try using half the amount of [...]

As home energy costs rise, so does awareness. Even those who have never before paid attention to their electrical usage are taking note as their monthly bills climb higher and higher. For those that would like to more closely monitor the power being used in their home, Blue Line Innovations of Canada offers an small [...]

It’s been a long, cold, rough winter in many parts of the U.S., but due to a new federal law, spring will be coming early this year. As part of the The Energy Policy Act of 2005, the U.S. will switch to Daylight Saving Time (DST) on the second Sunday in March (3/11/2007). This means [...]

It was only a matter of time before the cable companies caught onto the trick of people asking for the introduction rate every time their cable rates were jacked up to the regular prices. While calling and threatening to switch companies had worked brilliantly before (1 & 2), this time I was met with the [...]

I have mentioned previously that there are times when it makes sense to buy certain items to save money. Along these lines. PECO has announced they are selling a $25 (plus $2.87 shipping/handling) energy saving kit that should save you between $125 to $250 a year in energy costs. The kit includes the following:
Earth Massage [...]

Looking to spruce up your house with a little paint? Why not insulate the walls at the same time with the same brush stroke. I happened to be looking for paint and insulation for a home improvement project when I stumbled upon insulating paints. It’s a less expensive alternative to placing standard insulation materials in [...]

With winter upon us, the thought of a warm, crackling fire in the fireplace is probably a quite appealing image to a lot of you. What you probably don’t realize is that your fire will cost you a lot more than the price of a couple of logs.
Your fireplace is one of the most inefficient [...]

Running your computer is pretty darn cheap when viewed at an hourly rate – approximately $0.02 an hour. This figure was obtained with the following assumptions: The typical desktop computer uses around 200 watts of energy per hour (with a 50% / 50% split of energy consumed between the computer and the display screen). We [...]

My mom had a light burn out in the bathroom and she asked me to replace it if I had time today. When I went to do so, I found that the light took four 100w light bulbs which I thought was a bit of an overkill for the bathroom that isn’t that big. Instead [...]

When it comes to saving money, most people immediately think that they must reduce their spending in order to save. While this is one way to save money, it isn’t an exclusive way to save. Many people have the impression that in order to save money you shouldn’t spend any money, but there are a [...]

It seems the media is taking shots at Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana for having $90,000 in his freezer and claiming there is a rational explanation:
It takes a particular kind of nerve to be filmed taking $100,000 in alleged bribe money out of an FBI informant’s car, have the FBI later find the same cold, [...]

Dryers are quite convenient, but they are also an expensive convenience. In fact, most electric clothes dryers use roughly 5 kw of energy which is more than most central air conditioners. If you dry an average of a load of laundry a day, you are paying about $150 a year to dry your clothes.
The [...]

Air leaks around windows and doors cost you money. It makes perfect sense. If air is escaping, then your air conditioner / heater has to work that much harder to keep the inside of your house at your desired temperature.
The problem is that these air leaks aren’t always readily apparent. The best way to check [...]

If you are reading this, then you have likely have a computer and this will apply to you. If your computer is at home, it uses more energy than all of the other office equipment you have nearby combined. The problem is that turning off your computer every time you leave for a few minutes [...]

Sometimes it takes no more than a turn of a knob to save you money. The cost of heating water is the third largest energy expense in the average home (after heating and cooling) and it typically accounts for about 14% of your overall utility bill.
A simple way to save money with your water [...]

We’ll round out this week with another financial challenge to get your house prepared for the summer heat. If you have ceiling fans in your house, we’re going to make sure that all your ceiling fans are set and blowing the correct direction.
Using fans in conjunction with your air conditioner can save you a tremendous [...]

Yesterday we had you walk through he house to close off any air conditioner vents in rooms you don’t use to reduce the amount of work that your air conditioner will need to use this summer. Today we’ll continue with that theme to make sure that your air conditioner filter is clean.
To keep your air [...]

While it’s still Spring, summer is right around the corner and a good time to start preparing your house for those hot summer days so that you don’t spend more than you need to. The main area to concentrate on is taking actions that help reduce the cost of cooling your house since this can [...]