To save time and money on home renovations, consider these two ideas.
Here are two ways to save some money on your electric bill during this winter season.
1. Heat on the rooms of the house that you are using. By using space heaters and ceiling fans instead of your whole-house, forced air system, you can dramatically reduce your ongoing heating bill.
2. Insulate well. Use weather stripping around doors and windows and put plastic sheeting over the windows. Don’t forget, you can get a tax credit for making some energy saving home modifications. Check out http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index for more details.
We live in such a complex world today. Each day brings more legislation to add to the complexity. How does the average person cope? Having counseled multitudes of people over the years, I find it fascinating that so much money is wasted by even the brightest people. We live under the belief that an accountant, a financial planner, a business executive, a banker, an insurance advisor, a lawyer, a physician, a mortgage broker, and a financial aid officer will provide our needed knowledge. I have counseled all of these types of advisors and found significant money they had thrown away because of their lack of knowledge. Are we all bright enough or have we as a people entered into such a specialized world that no one is taking time to address the bigger picture? There is money to be saved for everyone.
Proverbs 19:2 says, “It is not good to have zeal before knowledge.” We live in a society that has zeal and limited knowledge so we miss out on the hidden manna that is available to everyone. (more…)
Here are a few ideas to prepare your house for winter and possibly save a few dollars in the process.
1. If it has been a few years since you last had your fireplace chimney cleaned, have it done by a professional chimney sweep.
2. Turn off the water to your outside faucets and drain any remaining water from the pipes. The outside pipes and faucets are the most prone to freezing, which can eventually cause cracks and leaks.
3. Install weatherstripping around any doors or windows that may be letting in cold air.
Increasingly we are seeing more families facing a financial crisis because of their inability to make mortgage payments. The reasons vary from unemployment to too much credit card debt, reductions in salary caused by overseas competition or significant changes in cost of living. Many people are struggling in today’s economy. The question of course is, “What are the options for the family?”
The first option is to sell the home so as to have a more affordable housing expense. Many times homeowners are reluctant because the home would sell below what the family originally paid. This would obviously result in the seller losing money and leave the mortgage company with an unsecured loan for the remainder of the debt. We would call this type of sale a short sale. For such a sale to take place, the mortgage company would have to agree. The homeowner would then have to pay off the unsecured portion of the debt. The advantage would be to protect the family’s credit rating and avoid bankruptcy. (more…)
Here are two ways to save money on home energy costs.
1. Do an energy audit. If your utility company offers it, get a free check for energy leaks in and around your home. You can also go to energystar.gov for a guide to do it yourself.
2. Lower your thermostat in the winter. You can cut your heating bill by 1-2% for each degree you lower the temperature. If you get a little chilly in the evening, put on a comfy sweater or sweatshirt or cuddle up with your significant other under a blanket.
Utilities and Energy
Under the proposed measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by our current Congress, called cap and trade agreements, everyone should expect utilities and gasoline expenses to increase. This increase will primarily impact the low to middle income families as we expect substantial increases in utility bills. In addition, this will impact heavy users of electricity, primarily in manufacturing, resulting in either the costs to comply with the regulations being passed on to consumers or the transfer of these operations to countries where the cap and trade rules do not apply. This of course will cause more job losses in this country.
It is obvious the goal is not to reduce emissions. The United States has had more reduction of emissions without these agreements than have European countries, which already put these agreements in place. So what is the point? The real goal is to introduce a socialist agenda and to create another profit center for energy producing companies. Ken Lay, former CEO of the now defunct Enron, was a strong proponent of this plan because of the business opportunities and the profits it creates at the consumer’s expense. (more…)
Replace your old refridgerator. One made before 1993 could be costing $130 a year in electricity, using Ohio rates. Even refridgerators built between 1993 and 2001 cost about $85 a year to run.
A new Energy Star-rated model runs on about $40 worth of electricity. A new $600 refridgerator will last for decades and could pay for itself in less than seven years.
To see how much you can save by replacing your old refridgerator, click here.
There are a number of ways to reduce the amount of water you use on a daily basis. One quick fix is to install a low-flow showerhead. Most low-flow showerheads cut water use in half. If you take a 6 minute shower using this type of showerhead, you would save enough water in a year to fill a 15-foot aboveground pool. Plus, you save the energy that would have gone into heating the shower water!
As the productivity in this nation continues to turn down and resources become more scarce, housing costs will become an ever increasing problem for many families. As we have mentioned in previous articles, the government has created a massive Ponzi scheme with the underfunded Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs which will result in significant inflation. With significant inflation and tighter controls on credit, finding affordable housing or rentals is expected to be more difficult in the future. This will increase the number of homeless on our streets. Interest rates will soar. The number of people who can make the high mortgage payments will decrease bringing values down, but not prices.
Large square footage homes in the suburbs will be a risk primarily because many will find themselves facing reduced incomes precipitated by a decline in productivity. The productivity decline is caused by the large tax burden (direct and indirect) placed on the goods and services produced by this nation. If too many people move out of a community, the tax revenue will not be able to provide essential, emergency services. This would cause more people to move away because they would no longer feel safe or protected. (more…)
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