I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

DIY Projects that Will Save You Money in Winter

Winter is upon us and for many that means bundling up and dealing with high heating bills. While many find paying the utility bill a bit troublesome in the summer due to high AC costs, a bitter winter can lead to even higher bills. However, there are a few quick projects you can do around your home to keep that heating bill low during those cold winter months:

Weatherstripping

If you have an older home, there is a good chance that your home has settled over the last couple of years leaving slight cracks between your doors and windows and their frames. These slight gaps between your windows and doors and their frames can cause major cold air drafts to enter your home, forcing your heater to work even harder. To prevent these drafts, place weatherstripping around your doors and windows.

Uncover All Vents

Due to the placement of many vents, several households may block a couple of their household vents for the better placement of furniture or area rugs. Before firing up that heater, be sure to uncover all the vents in your household – even if it requires some rearranging – so that you can allow your heater to be more efficient.

Insulating Curtains

Surprisingly enough, your windows themselves allow for the passing of a lot of cold air, unless they are multi-paned newer windows. To keep the cold air outside, consider hanging some thicker, insulated curtains during the winter. They will also prevent light from coming in, but the savings they will add to your utility bill is definitely worth it. If you don’t want to sacrifice natural light, however, you can also choose to purchase insulating film – a clear, plastic wrap looking film that adheres to your windows via a hair dryer.

Avoid the Fireplace

Unless you have a fireplace insert, using it to supplement your heater this winter may actually cost you more. Fires actually suck heat out of a room so a fire in a traditional fireplace won’t provide much for your home besides ambiance. If you want to keep the heat in your home, keep the fire out and the fireplace damper closed as heat rises and will escape from the chimney if it is not closed.

Even with colder temps and numerous holidays, winter doesn’t need to be synonymous with high spending. In fact, by keeping a little more vigilant about your home, and of that thermostat, you can easily keep your spending reasonable, and keep a few extra dollars in your pocket this winter.

Keeping Track Of Finances The Old Fashioned Way

A good way to save money is to keep track of the money you do spend. This seems fairly obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people do not tabulate their daily, weekly, or monthly expenses. Before you know it, you can’t pay your rent and you’re taking out a loan in order to pay for your groceries. This could have been avoided by simply being aware of the money that’s in your bank account.

Whats interesting is that money mismanagement actually seems to affect working people more than the unemployed, as unemployed people tend to be more aware of the money in their account, down to the last dollar. Working people tend to think that with their bi-weekly influx of money, they no longer have to worry about their spending habits. Yet, it’s pretty well established that many Americans live at the edge of their income and often fall into debt in spite of a high income. Why? Excessive spending? Well, yes. But more to blame is a failure to track finances.

There are a number of software programs and mobile apps that can help you add up and archive your expenses but sometimes the best way to do it is the old fashioned way. Get a big dry erase board calendar or make your own (your first savings of the day). Start by tabulating how much money you make everyday. Go ahead and deduct taxes. This gives you a truer picture of your take-home income. Next, on a day to day basis, keep the receipts of every dollar you spend. At the end of each day add them up and write how much money you spent. To the right of that number write how much money you earned that day. Hopefully, the number on the left is considerably smaller. If on a consistent basis it’s not, you’re probably in debt.

Assuming the number on the left is smaller, you must next add up the costs of your monthly bills—including cell phones, car insurance, credit card, groceries, utilities, rent etc—and then divide by thirty. This will help you determine how much money per day you must spend on the cost of living. Once you have this number, add it to the number on the left. This is how much money you actually spent that day. It’s probably not so much less than the number on the right now. This will give you an illustration of how much money you actually save each day. From there you can begin to tweak your discretionary spending.

Finally, especially now during tax season, you might want to take some time to confirm that you did your taxes properly. Take a quick peek at the 2011 tax brackets and your withholding to see if you’re paying the right amount. If not, start saving now as part of your budget so you don’t get a shock in April.

Finances, whether it’s the old fashioned way or not, is about planning and preparation.

Why You Shouldn’t Open a Store Card

We’ve all had it happen. You walk into your favorite department or retail store and are quickly greeted by an employee asking you if you want to sign up for an in-store card. If they don’t catch you there, the store clerk will put you on the spot at the register and ask you if you’d like to sign up to receive 15 percent off today’s purchase. While in-store cards may seem harmless and like a good way to build up credit, they can actually do more harm than good.

You’ll Spend More

Retail stores offer in-store cards because they know they will make money off the interest and because they know you will spend more. Because you have an in-store card in hand that promises 5 percent off every purchase you make in-store with it, you will be more likely to return to that store and be more likely to spend more to increase your “savings.” The concept is much like couponing. Sure, you didn’t need 10 cans of Manwich, but you bought them all because you had a coupon to get 10 for $10 when you really only needed one for a $1.40.

The Benefits Are Terrible

Most credit cards offer cash back rewards, frequent flyer miles, or even college savings programs. In-store cards only give you benefits to be used in-store such as 10 percent discounts or $5 off your next purchase. Not only are the benefits bad, but you can only earn them by shopping in store – yet another way the card gets you to spend more money than you intended.

You Can’t Use it Anywhere Else

Another drawback of an in-store card is that you can’t use it anywhere but the store in which it came from. While this may seem like a perk, if you are actually interested in a credit card for credit building purposes, this is actually a detriment. Instead of getting a card that can be used only in one place, get one that can be used for an occasional gas purchase or dinner out – and that will give you points for those types of purchases.

The only time you should ever consider applying for a store based credit card is when a Visa or Mastercard logo is attached. Usually stores that offer cards backed by major credit card companies have better rewards programs, better interest rates, and can be used on outside purchases. Otherwise, stay away from the in-store credit card, and clip the Sunday coupon to get that 20 percent off your purchase that clerk keeps offering you.

Considering Your Cost of Living Expenses When Buying a New Home

When looking to buy a new home, most people are acutely aware of the budget they can afford to spend. They consequently look closely at home prices, consider valuation, and take tax rates into account before making any decision. They often further factor in other considerations, such as the cost of local private schools. Otherwise, however, people generally assume that their regular expenses and spending habits will remain the same. They assume that – save for changes perhaps in educational and mortgage costs – their cost of living will be little different upon moving to a new home.

Sometimes this assumption turns out to be correct. But sometimes it is not – and the home buyer is left wondering why his peripheral expenses have risen in his new settings. To avoid getting disappointed and surprised, then, it’s important to not make assumptions and to fully consider how your cost of living expenses will be altered in a new home. Specifically, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Transportation

The place where you live has a substantial bearing on your transportation costs. On the most basic level, the further you live from your workplace the higher your gas expenses stand to be. But there are also other factors to take into account here. For example, how far is the house from groceries and other necessitates? Do you have public transit options nearby? How bad is the rush hour traffic?

Food Options

Since people spend so much of their non-housing budget on food, the quality and cost of restaurants and grocery options can certainly impact your cost of living expenses. Before settling on a home, make sure that you have accessible, satisfactory, and reasonably priced grocery choices in the vicinity.

Regular Home Costs

Many people take maintenance costs into consideration when buying a home, especially if the house is older and clearly will need some work. But there are other, more regular house expenses that rarely factor into a pre-purchase budget. For example, utilities costs can range widely from home to home. Yardwork fees can, too.

Local Amenities

Moving into a new community entails more than simply living in a home and paying taxes to the local municipality. It also means that you are giving yourself a new set of entertainment, dining, and cultural options. If you are somebody who lives to go out often, the commercial pricy-ness of your new area should definitely come into play.

While none of these considerations may seem daunting on its own, the aggregate effect over time can tip your budget away from its old norm – either favorably or unfavorably. For this reason, it can be incredibly helpful to conduct this research and make a draft budget before moving. You’ll likely be glad that you did.

Decreasing Debt Demands Daily Due Diligence

Short of a once-in-a-lifetime windfall or brilliant business idea, nothing is likely to alleviate the average American debt burden besides on-time repayment. It’s a daunting task, but not impossible. All it requires is dedication to debt elimination. With that said, it must become a part of your daily routine. Far too much spending happens on a day-to-day basis for anyone to safely assign their personal finances to weekly and monthly projections. In order to position yourself for true debt elimination, you ought to commit to the following daily actions and decisions:

You ought to consider every cent of spending – past, present, and future: Spending your lunch break calling up several companies on your cell phone to fetch free insurance quotes may seem like a money saver, but not when you wasted 50 of your precious daytime minutes to not take advantage of a deal. Always calculate the true cost of any action before deciding to follow through.

You ought to predict high pressure purchases: When your brakes are over two years old, the air conditioner starts to act weird the last week of summer, or any other obvious future expenses are expected, it’s absolutely foolish to kick the can down the road. Such action usually results in credit being used to make the purchase, which will only add more time to your debt elimination clock.

You ought to come clean: If you’re getting letters in the mail or phone calls on a daily basis asking for you to settle past debt, then you need to stop ignoring these communications and figure out a way to pay the bill off with the least amount of damage done to your credit as possible. It never pays to put off these past mistakes.

You ought to set an example: You can’t expect your significant other or other loved ones to commit to sound personal finance policies if you aren’t able to set an example on a daily basis. While avoiding becoming a nuisance to your own family, never waste an opportunity to display financial responsibility in front of those living under your roof.

You ought to finish every day in the black: Keep a tallied breakdown of how much you earn everyday, and how much is spent. Expenditures should even include daily utility usage. Make sure that, at the end of every day, you always manage to spend less than you make. If you commit to this, then there is absolutely no way you won’t ultimately pay off your debt.

Any and all possible ways to eliminate debt ought to always be considered. But until the day comes when you come up with a genius way to make millions, a self-imposed daily determination to stay on top of debt is your best bet. By adhering to such self-discipline when it comes to debt elimination, it’s impossible not to succeed in your efforts.