How Your Freezer Can Save You Money

For some, the home freezer is a frozen wasteland of TV dinners, freezer-burned leftovers and chunks of ice stuck in the ice maker. If you're like me, there is an unnecessary amount of food each month that ends up getting spoiled in the refrigerator or the pantry, only to be needless tossed in the waste basket. However, the freezer can help. We use it to chill our desserts and get ice to make our drinks cold, but did you know that your freezer can save you money on food, as well as reduce waste?

The New York Times has a great article up about how the normal home freezer can extend the life of your food. Rather than throw food away, you can store it and squeeze the most out of the items that you buy at the grocery store. There are several tips that range for all kinds of food, including strips of chicken, grain, egg whites and more, and how you can use leftovers to make new meals.

To read more about using the freezer to save money on food, be sure to visit the New York Times.

Save Money by Improving Your Credit Score

The beginning of the month is usually when we all take a deep breath and pay our dreaded bills. It’s an unpleasant yet necessary ritual that without we would get swamped by collection agencies. So, as we sit with pen and paper, or computer and keyboard, this month, I thought we could all re-evaluate our payment plans and be reminded of methods to improve our credit scores.

The biggest culprit in bad credit is out-of-control credit card debt with the average American carrying around approximately $8,000 worth of it. First things first, stop using plastic! Then, starting with the highest interest rate card, pay off monthly as much as you can while you continue to pay the minimum payments on the rest. When determining your FICO credit score, debt balances in comparison to credit lines are heavily factored, so strive towards maintaining low balances. An obvious, yet easily overlooked tip is to always pay your bills on time. Just one slip and it can detrimentally affect your credit score.

As you’re taking steps to improve your credit, remember that it’s like losing weight – it won’t happen overnight. Keep in mind the long-term benefits to maintain motivation. Those with higher credit scores are offered the best rates on all major types of loans which will save you money. For more credit-improving tips, visit CNNMoney and check out this interactive online debt planner if you want to visualize your monthly payments and goals.

A Greener Way to Print

We all know that to be more environmentally friendly we need to cut down on printing, but what about when it is necessary to print out a document?

Most printers use petroleum-based toner which isn't the most eco-friendly way to print, but hey, that's the only option we have - at least for now. It looks like a soy-base toner is now in development.

As with any new product on the market there are those that say it's just as good as the petroleum-based toner and of course those that are opposed. I think it's a good option to at least try out. I hear the soy-based toner is cheaper too and who doesn't like that.

Read the article, Black and White and Green All Over: Soy-Based Printer Toner, to learn more about how to print green.

Tip 6: A Paperless Lifestyle

With Earth Day right around the corner, it's a perfect time to try out a paperless lifestyle. Not only will you stop the senseless slaughtering of defenseless trees but you'll save money too.

Try some of the tips below to reduce paper usage in your daily life. The environment will thank you.

• Paper Bills - Opt to get as many of your household bills like credit cards, electricity, phone, Internet, etc., e-mailed to you. This will also minimize the time and energy you spend sitting in front of the shredder.
• Printing - Whether you're at home or work, stop and think twice before you hit the print button. You'll save yourself and the company you work for some money.
• Paper Cups - Don't add to landfill waste by using paper cups at home or at work. Instead use your own mug or drinking glass that you can wash and reuse.
• Paper Towels - Instead of using paper towels, be more Eco-friendly and use dish towel that can be washed and used again.
• Catalog Shopping - Cancel those catalogs that you get in the mail and do more shopping online. I can hear the trees thanking you already.
• Shopping Bags - Invest in reusable grocery bags instead of coming home with an arm full of paper bags. Just think of all the space you'll have because you won't be folding and storing bags.

For more green tips stop by The Green Guide.

Tip 7: Green Appliances

There are several ways to make your home and life more green and energy efficient. This ranges from the kinds of materials you use for house cleaning to the items you throw away or recycle. However, the biggest sources of energy consumption in our day-to-day routines comes from the appliances we use around the house. Here are a few tips about electrical appliances, whether you're on the market for new ones or looking to make your current items more energy efficient.

Water Heaters

Water heaters account for about 1/5 of your total monthly energy consumption, so anyway that you can lower the amount of energy it uses is helpful. Less hot water is the key. A few ways you can do this are by simply conserving the amount of hot water you use by doing things like taking shorter showers, or you can install new shower heads that limit the amount of water that comes through. Another useful home remedy is to turn down the thermostat on your hot water heater down to 120-130 degrees, lowering the overall temperature.

Refrigerator/Freezer

Your refrigeration and freezer units are two big culprits in the energy consumption game. Why is that? Well, mostly because they're always on. After the AC and the water heater, the refrigerator is the largest energy hog in your house.

With that in mind, make sure to get an ENERGY STAR product, to know that what you have ranks well for energy efficiency. In addition, a top-and-bottom refrigerator/freezer combo is much more tame with energy use than a side-by-side unit. On average, side-by-side units consume a good bit more electricity.

Washer and Dryer

Once again, an ENERGY STAR washer is definitely the way to go. Beyond that, though, front loading washers and dryers can cut your energy use for those machines by as much as half. Washing with cold water can further cut down on what it takes to clean your clothes.

When it comes to drying, however, finding a machine with moisture sensors can really cut down on your unnecessary drying time, as the machine will shut off when it senses that the clothes are already dry. In the end, though, the most energy efficient way to dry your clothes is a good old fashioned clothesline in the backyard.

Air Conditioning

This is the number one energy consumer in the household. The best way to conserve energy when dealing with an air conditioner is to use ceiling fans regularly, as well as regularly replacing air filters.

Many times, it's the amount of off/on usage that the air conditioner unit has that drives up the dollars. Turning the AC off when you're not at home can do wonders on the monthly bill. In addition, during the winter, switching ceiling fans to reverse so they pull up cold air can save some money. 

Hopefully these tips can help any of you out there looking for new appliances for your household, or just looking to shave some cash off of each bill. For more detailed information about home appliances and their energy consumption, be sure to check out Green Living Ideas and Mother Earth News.

Tip 10: Jump on that Green Bandwagon

For those of us who have not gotten on the green bandwagon and are wanting to cut expenses in light of the economic downturn, now’s the perfect time. Here are some ways to kick start an environmentally friendly lifestyle while saving money.

• Decrease paper towel use. Yes, I know this sounds difficult to the liberal paper towel users out there, including myself. The trick is to keep a clean rag in easy-to-reach places at all times and remove those paper towels from sight. The best part is you don’t have to buy new rags, just make some by cutting old t-shirts into squares.
• Print only when necessary. We’re all guilty of pushing the print button repeatedly without much thought. Take 10 seconds to evaluate if what you’re about to print absolutely needs to be on paper. You’ll save money and trees for every page that’s spared.
• Reuse plastic bags. There are many second uses for plastic bags. My favorite is to reuse them as trash bags, which my parents are infamous for amongst friends and relatives. I don’t remember them ever dolling out money for trash bags!
• Carpool to work. Chances are that you have at least one co-worker who lives in your area. By taking turns driving to work, you’ll lower your carbon footprint and cut your monthly gas expense by half.

For more information on the green ways of life, visit Green Energy Choice Green Guide and Treehugger.

Saving 101: Shopping for Used Cars Like a Pro

So it goes without saying that the prospect of car buying is a daunting task under the current economic conditions. It bares repeating: buying a car is equally exciting and frightening. For those of us in the market for a used vehicle, it's a process that involves some heavy lifting in the research realm. Problem is there's tons of resources out there to price used vehicles and trade-ins, but very little information on which resources to trust and which information is most important when buying a car. Frankly, the large majority of car shoppers are not car experts.

I stumbled upon a great article detailing 24 sites devoted to helping used car buyers find all the information that affects their bottom line, a.k.a your pocket book, when shopping for a used auto. Don't just take my word for it though, take a gander at Find the right used car for you: 24 sites from Webware and CNET.

Saving 101: Cutting Out the Non-Essentials

The key to a healthy monthly budget is cutting out the relatively inane and nonessential items that claw away at your bank account. Now of course defining nonessential may mean something quite different to you, your wife, your friends, your weird neighbors and so on, but suffice to say it's determining similar trends in your spending habits that fall under the category of luxuries or wants versus needs. So here's a little experiment you can undertake to see how much you're truly spending on a day-to-day basis, and how much is actually spent on necessity.

• Take a notepad and pen with you for two weeks. For every purchase you make, jot it down on the notepad.
• Keep all receipts as a backup.
• Don't pick and choose what you track, literally write down every purchase, even if it's a stop at the vending machine to grab a late afternoon snack.
• Crunch the numbers at the end of the two weeks and compare to your monthly budget for bills.

Now, If you're like me, you'll probably throw up in your mouth a little bit when you realize that you're blowing more than $100 each month on eating out in addition to the grocery bill. Food for thought?

Living on Less

Economy got you pinching your pennies? Well you're not alone. I'm the first one to admit that I never paid attention to prices. I use to get my daily 3 pm non-fat cafe mocha pick me up, until one day I sat down and added up my coffee trips for a month. I was spending over $50 a month on coffee. I didn't even dare add up how much I was spending on eating out for lunch. I'm sure that figure would have made me cry. Since then, I have been evaluating my spending habits and coming up with ways to cut costs yet still have fun.

I've listed a few of my ideas below. I hope they help you too!

• Cut Out the Coffee - Try brewing your own and bringing it to work. Otherwise cut down on your trips to the coffee house to at least two times a week. You'll be amaze at how much you save.
• Brown Bag It - Bring your lunch from home as often as you can. Those $5-$10 lunches can sure add up.
• Eat In - Make dinner instead of going out or ordering in. This is also a chance to bring the family closer as each person can help prepare the meal.
• Nix the Movie Theaters - Your couch is way more comfortable than a theater seat and homemade snack and a rented video is much cheaper.
• Family Game Night - Bust out the boardgames or play charades. That's a cheap way to entertain the kiddos.
• Homemade Crafts - Puppet theater is a good way to keeps the children entertain at home. Make inexpensive puppets out of brown paper lunch bags, old shirts and socks and felt.

Every little bit you do goes a long way. Leave me a comment if you have more suggestions on how to save money.

Saving 101: Gas Prices

How does local, real-time gas prices sound to you? GasBuddy.com offers a conglomerate/network of more than 181 gas information sites dedicated to finding you lower prices. The key component of GasBuddy is capturing the volatile oil market in the palm of your hands, which translated, means taking advantage of the difference in prices at various gas stations across the area you live in.

Essentially you can target the lowest price in your area and shave a few cents off every gallon you pump. I've examined the site myself and have noticed a few features I think are worth mentioning:

• 10 lowest prices by city and state. For example, currently GasBuddy lists Utah and Salt Lake City as the lowest at $1.713 and $1.690 respectively, with the price trend down. Believe it or not, here in Houston we're sitting at #9 with $1.754 per gallon.
• Just in case you're fond of our neighbors to the north, or are part Canuck, you'll find comfort in the 10 lowest prices by province and city.
• Weekly gas prize giveaway—This week is $250... ah snap!
• There is giant map of the U.S. that allows you to dig down and search for prices by county and city.

Here's where GasBuddy really catches my eye. I'm looking at Houston gas prices that were updated yesterday at 6:44 a.m., with the lowest sitting at $1.69. It even details the street (6155 South Loop E & S Wayside Dr), station and the area of town it resides in. So if you live in Houston Central, you have 15 gas stations with prices under $1.80 per gallon.

Don't take my humble word for it, check out GasBuddy.com and take advantage of a pretty kick gas service... oh wow. Sorry, couldn't help myself.