7 Ways to Easily Lower Your Electricity Bill

No one likes to get a huge electricity bill at the end of the month. With that in mind, here are seven easy ways to increase your energy efficiency and slash your electricity bill at the same time.

• Shop for a new provider — In many states, consumers now have a choice when it comes to their electricity provider. Check out WhiteFence to see if you have a choice in providers. If you do have a choice, you can compare plans from different providers and order your new service right on the site.

• Hunt down your energy vampires — We’ve blogged about this one before, but it bears repeating, many things draw power even when turned off. To combat this, unplug things like cell phone chargers or hair dryers when you aren’t using them, and consider purchasing some of the new smart power strips that allow you to turn multiple devices off at once.

• Use fans when you can — Fans use much less power than your AC system, especially when you take into account that your AC system has to cool the entire house, while a fan just has to cool you. They won’t do you any good if you’re not sitting in front of them though, so turn your fan off when you leave the room.

• Have your AC system inspected — There are many points along your cooling system where electricity can be wasted. Have a professional come out and look for issues, and you might just save 20 percent on your cooling costs.

• Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs — While everyone has heard about compact fluorescent bulbs by now, many people haven’t taken the plunge, even though they can cut your lighting bill by up to 75 percent! Sure, CFLs cost more up front, but they easily pay for themselves in energy savings over their life.

• Get a programmable thermostat — Instead of keeping your house at one temperature all day, invest in a programmable thermostat and cut down on all of the electricity wasted cooling an empty home. By programming your AC system to turn off while you’re at work, you could save up to 10 percent on your cooling costs.

• Turn off lights when you leave a room — It might be a dinosaur of a tip, but it’s one that makes a lot of sense. Teach your kids this one early to help encourage a mindset of reducing waste.

An Easy New Way to Recycle Your Old Phone

While cell phone recycling is certainly nothing new, a company named EcoATM is rolling out a device that’s making it simpler than ever, and in many cases even pays people for their old phones. An electronic kiosk similar to the machines that turn coins into cash, you can expect to see the EcoATM showing up in retailers near you in the coming months.

Here’s how the eco-friendly system works. You tell the machine what sort of phone you have and drop it in. The EcoATM then photographs the phone to assess its condition, and comes up with a value. If you like the price, you receive the value in store credit for the store where the kiosk is located. Phones with no monetary value can be recycled in exchange for a waterproof cell phone case. As a bonus, the company even plants a tree for every phone recycled.

It’s not all about phones though, as the company expects to the kiosks to be able to accept other gadgets like cameras and MP3 players soon.

How to Get Behind Financially

We hear lots of tips on how to stay on top of our finances and how to save money. It seems like everyone's got a way to cut costs and be more efficient in our spending these days. However, have you ever thought of the bad habits that we have and how they hurt us when it comes to our financial futures?

The Simple Dollar, a great money-savings blog, put up a list of the little ways that people often fail with their money. These choices, when added up day-to-day, turn into a lifetime of poor saving decisions. The article, titled Eleven Things You can do Today to Fall Behind Financially, makes some good points about things that I don't often think about, such as shopping without a list or putting off tasks for later.

There's easily some good advice on what to avoid when managing money. To view the full list, visit The Simple Dollar.

Getting the Most out of the Fridge and Freezer

Even though we are kind enough to provide food and shelter for our household appliances, sometimes they can be greedy and unappreciative, draining precious energy as quickly as taking money out of our wallets. While there are several appliances that act as energy hogs, it's no secret that the refrigerator and freezer are two of the bigger offenders.

The Simple Dollar recently posted an article that gives 7 Ways to Maximize the Value of Your Refrigerator and Freezer. Apparently, there are a few really easy things that everyone can do to start saving money and energy almost immediately. For instance, did you know that moving the fridge away from the wall by just a couple of inches can make it up to 40% more efficient? Likewise, filling your freezer with jugs of frozen water reduces the amount of time that it has to run.

Following some of these steps can lead to some quick savings. To read more about maximizing the value of the fridge and freezer, visit The Simple Dollar.

Back-to-School Shopping Tips

It’s that time of year again, when children everywhere start counting down their last days of freedom and parents get ready to outfit them for another year of school. Here are some quick tips to save money this year:

• Bring a list – It may sound obvious, but make sure you bring along a list of all of the required school supplies and all of the clothing your kids need.
• Stick to the list – Back-to-school-shopping is already expensive enough, don’t make it more painful with impulse items.
• Leave the kids at home – What your children don’t know they’re missing won’t hurt them.
• Shop tax-free – Check to see if your state has a tax-free weekend, if it does you can save a bundle on supplies, clothes and expensive items like laptops.
• Don’t skimp on the important things – Going cheap on bigger-ticket items may be tempting, but there’s no point in buying a inexpensive backpack that you’re going to have to replace in a month.
• Don’t shop at just one store – It may be handy to get everything on your list from calculators to clothing under one roof, but you might be missing out on some great deals, so shop around.
• Check what you already have – You may be surprised at how many things are lurking in your kid’s desks and old backpacks.
• Shop late – Stores mark down lots of school supplies as soon as school starts, so see if you can wait it out or just stop in after your regular shopping to get enough refills for the year at a deep discount.

How to Slay Your Energy Vampire

Is your home infested with energy vampires? You know, those pesky plugged in appliances that suck energy even though they are turned off. Well if your answer is yes, then I've got a solution that will banish those energy draining vampires for good and lower your energy usage.

It's as easy as unplugging unused appliances and getting some up-to-date power strips. Doing those two simple things can save you money on your monthly electric bill.

Now I know some of you already use power strips, and that's great, but do you have the fancy new smart power strips that are out on the market? Some of these new power strips will automatically cut power to everything you have plugged into it when you turn off one designated item. Another power strip has a motion sensor that will turn itself on when you walk by.

Sure these new power strips will cost a little more but in the long run they will cut your energy usage and lower your energy bill. To read more about how you can slay your energy vampire, visit EnergyCircle.

Summer Freebies

Free stuff for summer! I just want to shout that from the rooftops today.

So a friend of mine sends me a link this morning to a site that tells you where you can get all kinds of free items. This is great news. You can get free chocolate from Mars, free business cards, free lunch and so much more.

In this economy when saving money is key to survival summer freebies are a welcome budget saver. Check out the article 11 Fantastic Freebies.

Google can Help You Save Money on Your Electric Bill

Would you like to lower your electric bill? I mean who wouldn't, and it looks like Google has just the tool we could all use.It's their PowerMeter and they've begun their initial roll out partnering with electricity companies nationwide.

The Google PowerMeter is a tool that consumers can use to gauge how much energy they are using at any given day. The PowerMeter can let you know how much electricity each of your appliances use. How great is this? What if your fridge was sucking money right out of your pocket and you didn't realize it. You could then make an educated decision to buy a new more energy efficient fridge that would save you money in the long run. 

Some of the electric companies partnering with Google are TXU Energy in Texas, JEA in Florida and Glasgow EPB in Kentucky.

To read more about the Google PowerMeter and how it can help you, hop on over to the PowerMeter article on Google.

Comcast Offers Free VOD Hours

Attention all you movie lovers, Comcast is offering 24 hours of free video-on-demand to its’ subscribers. This applies to select new releases such as Gran Torino, The Cell 2, Friday the 13th and Inkheart all coming out this month.

Other VOD titles that are eligible include My Bloody Valentine, Razortooth, New in Town, Octane, Kaidan, 12 Rounds and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. All titles are available in high-definition for a clearer, more enjoyable viewing experience.

For those of you looking for ways to save money, this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of free VOD this month. Relax, kick back and enjoy the show! For more information, visit the Home Media Magazine.

Where to Feed Kids for Free

No matter how you slice it, people are generally looking to save money. There are so many options available out there everyday for people to add to their savings, it's best to take advantage of them whenever we can.

One cost that can add up relatively quickly in the typical household is feeding those little hungry mouths we call children. Just like regular-sized people, they need to eat. However, unlike regular sized people, there are a myriad of restaurants where kids can eat free. If you're looking for a fun family dinner on any night of the week, and want to save a little money while you do it, Frugal Living has posted an excellent resource in the form of a list of places where kids eat free.

Not only does the list have dozens of restaurants, it breaks them down by night for your convenience. Definitely worth referencing the next time you're taking the young ones out for dinner, though you might want to contact the restaurant to be sure that the deal is being offered. To browse the list, be sure to visit Frugal Living.