Tips to Save Money on Your Utilities

The cost of gas and electricity lately has gone through the roof and it’s not expected to decline anytime soon. While many homeowners are resigned to the fact that utilities bills are beginning to rival the cost of groceries every month, there are a few small changes you can make to cut costs on necessary item such as heating, lighting and water.

Smart Tips to Save Money on Power

Compare vendors. Even if you’ve been with the same company for half a decade, it doesn’t mean you’re necessarily getting the best deal. Gas and electricity vendors buy power in bulk and often in advance, meaning they’re looking to secure the highest number of customers. Compare costs at MoneySupermarket.com to learn more about switching suppliers.

Take a look at your thermostat. If you have a timing device on your heater, place it on a rotating schedule so that the heating is off at midday when the family is away at work and school. It will turn on again when the temperature drops in the mornings and evenings, and you’ll save money on the time in-between. While you’re there, consider reducing the temperature; even a reduction of one degree can save you money.

Maximize your appliances. Fill up the washing machine, tumble dryer and dish washer by all means, but never turn them on when they’re half-full. One full load will use less energy than two half-loads. Turn down the water temperature for washing clothes, opt for showers rather than baths, and on sunny days, make use of the sun’s natural energy to dry clothes.

Be energy aware. By making small changes in your home you can collect savings that add up in the long run. For starters, switch high wattage incandescent light bulbs for energy savers and remember to turn off lights when you leave every room. Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need, and fix dripping taps – particularly hot taps. Check for draughts around windows and doors, and add insulation to keep that precious heat inside.

Utilities are a necessary expense, but it’s not necessary to waste resources such as light, heat and water. Get into the saving mode and save money every month without making much effort at all.

Home Cleaning Wizardry

Every homeowner has a task or two that they dread residing in the back of their mind - never tackled but always nagging away. It may be cleaning the carpet, refinishing the back porch, or removing the grime on the cooker, or it may be tackling any other really hard to clean part of the house. It is right to dread these monstrous cleaning tasks, yet there is hope since there are a few incredible home cleaning tools that can rush to the rescue and can make the job easier to tackle – items for example, like carpet cleaners that can really save the day.

Carpets accumulate seemingly unbelievable amounts of grime over the years, and though you may vacuum them innumerable times, you are unlikely to get out the engrained dirt. If you really need to keep your carpets sparkling clean, you have three options: don’t wear shoes inside, get new carpets, or crack out the big guns and bring out a carpet cleaner. Not wearing shoes inside may not solve an existing problem, although it can help prevent future dirt. Getting new carpets is usually not feasible, nor is it necessary. Carpet cleaners, on the other hand, can be rented easily and they will comprehensively clean your carpets, leaving them looking as good as new. They do this by shampooing the fibers, which can remove years of dirt and dust.

In addition to the inside dirt that nags at you to be cleaned, dirt is a natural outdoors. While you may think that dirt belongs outside, there are many places where you don’t want or need to live with a build up of dirt. For example, dirt naturally has a tendency to build up outside on pipes, porches and window frames. This can be incredibly hard and laborious to get out. As you can imagine, scrubbing your entire house will take countless days and will require an inordinate amount of elbow grease. Pressure cleaners are the solution here, as they shoot powerful jets of water that can lift up even the most engrained dirt. Using a pressure washer can leave the outside of your house looking sparkling fresh and new.

These two cleaning tools can help you conquer some your greatest cleaning fears, as they are easy to use and have the power to tackle some truly intense dirt. You can easily pick them up at a rental depot, or you can buy an affordable used version if you don’t want to splurge on a new model. Either way, it is well worth the effort to either rent or buy power cleaning tools such as these so you are not left scrubbing the interior or exterior of your house for hours on end.

Home Improvement Blog Carnival

Welcome to the current edition of the Home Improvement Blog Carnival!  There’s some great info included in this week’s carnival related to the home that can also help you save time, money, and effort, while keeping your home looking its best.  Whether you are looking to enhance your indoor or outdoor space, you are sure to find some useful tips to keep things organized and looking good without breaking the bank.  So, if you have made it a new year’s resolution to find ways to improve the beauty and functionality of your home without having to spend a fortune, then the tips included below can help you get started.  Happy reading…

To begin, you can get some great advice about front yard landscape design at Landscape Design Ideas.  You will find that although you may use your front yard less often than your backyard, it is important to design the landscape well so that your home has nice curb appeal.  This will help enhance the resale value when it is time to sell.  Simplicity is the key to effective design for front yards to keep things looking clean and easily accessible and you don’t need to spend a fortune to keep your front yard looking good.

Turning to the backyard, most people would love to have a pool of their own but many can’t afford one.  One solution is to choose from a variety of inflatable swimming pools that provide the luxury of having a pool in your own backyard without the hefty price tag.  Blue Ice Pool discusses the benefits of these types of pools and the enjoyment they can offer.

While we’re enjoying our backyards, let’s consider an affordable and unique way of lighting the outdoor space when the sun goes down.  Patio Lights Guide details some exciting and affordable options for patio umbrella lights that can keep the fun going even after dark.  There are numerous styles of lighting options to choose from and most are relatively inexpensive.

If you are looking to keep things organized inside your home, and specifically in your closet, then you may want to find out more about buying shoe storage boxes online at Bedroom Décor Tips.  This article provides information about the best types of storage to use and where the best places to buy them are.  Shoe storage boxes can be used for more than just storing shoes and are a great way to stay organized!

Keeping with the home organization theme (one of my favorite topics!), one of the best ways to stay organized is with large plastic storage boxes if you have a lot of items to store or have larger items that take up a good deal of space.  You can find many uses for these versatile boxes at Plastic Storage Boxes Info and will find that there are a number of different types of storage boxes to choose from. 

Whether you are looking to improve the exterior or interior of your home, are interested in keeping things organized, or are looking to save money, I hope that these tips have given you some good ideas!

More Quick Cleaning Tips

So if you’ve read my previous article about one minute cleaning tips, you’ve already seen how easy it is to take a few spare minutes when they arise and tackle a bunch of overlooked cleaning jobs. Here are even more quick cleaning tips to help you make good use of your spare time and to free up dedicated cleaning time for the harder stuff. It’s amazing what you can get done in just a few minutes when you put your mind to it!

Here are 10 more quick cleaning tips to keep you working efficiently and effortlessly…

1. Put a new box of baking soda in the fridge or freezer. With just a few seconds of effort you’ll have everything smelling better in no time! Have a few extra seconds while you’re looking in the fridge? Toss out any food that looks like it has seen better days!
2. Toss junk mail and catalogs. Better yet, keep a shredder in a convenient location and run anything with personal info right through the shredder. It only takes a minute to reduce your pile of mail – and avoid identity theft, too!
3. Test your smoke alarms. This is often a neglected task and is important to make sure that your smoke detectors are in good working order.
4. Fluff pillows on a couch, chair or 2 seater sofa. It’s a 60 second way to give a room a just freshened up look.
5. Treat a laundry stain. Pre-treating stains when you know they occur makes it a lot easier to remove them when it’s laundry time.
6. Sprinkle baking soda in the bottom of a garbage can. Again, a few seconds of effort keeps your house smelling fresh!
7. Clean one drawer. Or at least get rid of obvious junk so it will make the drawer easier to rearrange when you have a few more minutes to spare.
8. Go through today’s mail so it doesn’t pile up and become a larger task a few days from now.
9. Focus on just one small space and throw something out or put something away where it belongs.
10. Have an extra minute while you’re in the car? Clean out cupholders! They seem to collect lots of junk and take just a minute to clean out to keep your car looking as clean and organized as your house.

I hope that these additional quick cleaning tips help you make good use of the spare minutes you find throughout your day and make keeping your house and life in order a little bit of an easier task!

Save Money When Eating Out - 7 Money Saving Tips

It’s no big secret that we all need to sacrifice a little these days in order to make ends meet.  But that doesn’t mean we have to be totally deprived and not do anything fun!  Going out to eat provides us with not only a source of nourishment, but entertainment as well.  We may need to cut back on the number of times we eat out, but there are also ways to save money when eating out.  This way we can still enjoy the occasional respite from the kitchen or a celebration well-deserved, while still saving some dough.

Here are 7 ways you can save money when eating out:

1. Order an appetizer for dinner.  Portions have gotten so big lately that this is usually enough anyway. Or share an entrée with your dining partner, if you both feel like eating the same thing and the portions are substantial.   You can even ask the server to pack up half of your meal before you begin eating, so you’ll have two meals for the price of one.  You’ll save yourself some calories in the process, too!   
2. If you’re headed to a pricey restaurant, consider enjoying a late lunch instead of dinner.  Very often these restaurants have separate lunch menus with portions that are a little smaller and are substantially less expensive.
3. If you’re dining with the kids, sign them up for the birthday club so they’ll get a free meal or dessert on their birthday.  Ask if there are certain days that kids eat free with a paying adult, because sometimes this benefit is not widely advertised.  Some restaurants may also offer a birthday club for adults, too.  
4. For restaurants that you frequent often, inquire about whether they offer a frequent diner program that offers discounts or free meals after you’ve eaten there a certain number of times or spent a specific amount of money.
5. Try to limit beverages when you dine out.  The cost of soft drinks at restaurants has become astronomical!  Most restaurants charge between $2 and $3 just for a soda!  You can get a 2 liter bottle at home for about half that amount.  So stick to drinking water when you’re out and you’ll keep your bill in check.  A slice or two of lemon is a nice added touch.  If you’re enjoying a special celebration and would like a cocktail, don’t get too carried away because the cost of alcoholic drinks can add up very quickly.  Better yet, see if there are any BYOB (bring-your-own-bottle) restaurants in the area and you’ll save a huge chunk of change. 
6. Watch out for desserts – sometimes they cost as much as a meal!  If you must end the meal on a sweet note, consider sharing a dessert among friends.  Not only will your wallet thank you, but your waist will, too!
7. Some chain restaurants also offer coupons, promotions and specials if you sign up directly at their website.  It’s worth checking them out to see if you can save a few bucks!  There are many other places to find restaurant coupons, too.

By following some of these simple ways to save money when eating out, you can still enjoy an occasional indulgence, night off from kitchen-duty, or celebration without breaking the bank.  We hate to penny-pinch all the time, but these money saving tips will help you keep more money in your wallet while still enjoying a night out at your favorite restaurant without much sacrifice.

5 Green Living Tips to Save You Money

Green living is not only good for our planet, it can be good for our wallets as well! By following a few eco-friendly green living tips, you can keep a little green for yourself.

Here are 5 eco-friendly green living tips that will also save you some green…

1. Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs (cfls). If you change just five of the most used light bulbs in your home, you can save about $80 in energy costs in a year. Although the cfls are more expensive to purchase up front, the added cost is more than offset by the energy savings and they also last much longer than standard bulbs. And if everyone changed just one bulb to a cfl, it would be like taking 1.2 mil cars off road for a year!
2. Bring your own bag to the grocery store. Some stores will give you between 5 and 25 cents off per bag. Most plastic bags are not recycled.
3. Bring your own cup. Some coffee houses will give you credit if you bring your own cup (like Starbucks).
4. Switch from bottled water to water out of the faucet. It will save you a load of money over the long term and will save tons of plastic bottles from winding up in landfills. Even if the bottles are recycled, a great deal of energy is used in transporting and recycling, so better not to use them in the first place. And nothing tastes better than icy cold water out of a real glass!
5. Consider organizing a book swap with friends or others in the community. Rather than purchasing new books, you can give old books new life by exchanging them with others. And you can save a bundle by not having to run out to purchase new books! Another option, of course, is to use the public library. But, for those who dislike reading books that have been handled by so many people, a book swap is a great alternative, because you can set the rules about the condition that books must be in before they can be considered for exchange.

By adopting even just a few eco-friendly green living tips into your everyday life, you will begin to notice that you can keep some extra money in your pocket, while feeling good that you are doing your small part to help the planet.

10 Laundry Stain Removal Tips

Stains on clothes are just a fact of life.  Some laundry stains are easy to remove with just a simple washing in the right temperature water with regular laundry detergent.  But some laundry stains require a little ingenuity in order to get rid of them.  By following some of these laundry stain removal tips, you can preserve the life of your clothes, without tearing your hair out!

Below are 10 laundry stain removal tips to keep your clothes looking their best.  Always spot test fabric before using chemicals to make sure that fabric is not damaged or color is not ruined.  Also be sure to check washing instructions on label.  Only try these suggestions on washable fabrics.  These laundry stain removal tips are not guaranteed to remove all stains, but should be a helpful step in the right direction. [Read more]

Easy Walking Tips To Add More Steps To Your Day

Did you make a new year’s resolution to live healthier, get fit or lose weight? Each year, many of us start the new year off determined to meet these goals, yet for some of us that prospect seems overwhelming at times. So if you’re not ready to dive into a structured routine, then at least consider starting the year off on the right foot by following a few of these easy walking tips to add more steps to your day.

[Read more]

Filed Under Health & Wellness · Leave a Comment  

Save Electricity - 12 Tips to Lower Your Usage

January 7, 2009

Cutting down on electricity usage in your home doesn’t just save money, but also helps to save the planet as well. Every time we plug an electronic device into an outlet or turn on a household appliance we are adding our share of pollution into the atmosphere. So the more we can learn about saving electricity, the more we can help our planet. An added benefit to using these tips to save electricity is that we will also wind up with more money in our pockets that we can use to enjoy the planet we help to save!

There are a number of fairly easy ways we can adapt our daily lives in order to save electricity. None of these electricity saving tips involve a big up-front outlay of money or a drastic change to our lifestyles. Just a few small modifications to the way we approach our use of electricity, and we’ll be saving kilowatt hours in no time! Now I do believe that it’s so ingrained in our way of life to use electricity without thinking about how much we use or the ramifications of our usage, but if we are to do something about helping our planet then we need to be more cognizant of the outcome of our actions and what we can do to lessen the carbon footprint we leave on this earth. [Read more]

Filed Under Eco-friendly · Leave a Comment  

Snowy or Rainy Day Activities for Tweens and Teens

December 19, 2008

Picture this. It’s a blustery, rainy day with nothing to do, or a snowy winter one where the kids are home from school (and you’re home, too!). You’re trying to think of some interesting snowy or rainy day activities geared to your tween or teen so that you can spend an enjoyable day together. Meanwhile, your tween or teen may be thrilled because to them it means a day of lazily hanging out on the couch, mindlessly watching tv or a movie while munching chips, or the opportunity to spend the day online or texting with friends incessantly. If you have other plans for them and would like to take advantage of this togetherness to spend some quality time with your tween or teen, then you need to come up with some interesting snowy or rainy day activities that they think will be fun and that won’t make them want to roll their eyes at you. Although they may love the opportunity to “plug-in” on a lazy day like this, you can connect with them if you offer up some fun activities that will engage your tween or teen and will get them to want to hang out with you instead. Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll even get in a decent conversation or two in the process! [Read more]

Filed Under School & Activities · Leave a Comment  

Next Page »