1. How much are you spending
on long distance every month? Probably
too much compared to the savings you can
get from prepaid telephone calls where
the time is bought in large bulk
quanties. Prepaid telephone cards from
Wal-Mart can reduce your long distance to
4 to 5 cents per minute. You can buy a
$10, $20, $40 or higher card and always
know what you've spent on long distance
at any given time. You can budget one $10
card per month and stay within your
monthly long distance budget more easily.
In fact, you should be able to save $10
to $50 per month with this method. They
also have no restriction on when and
where you can use them so you can take
them with you. Call up your telephone
company and request a long disance block
but specificy that you want toll free
access that allows you to dial 1 800
numbers. You'll need this to dial the
access number on the back of the card.
You can also buy very cheap international
phone cards off the internet which allow
you talk for hours for only $20 per card.
Website noblecom.com offers just such
cards and you can comparison shop other
cards using your favorite search engine.
2. Do you really need a
cellphone? Think about it. Ten to 15
years ago, nobody had a cell phone. Now,
they are a must have according to the
general public, but is that really true?
Do you really need people to get in touch
with you ALL THE TIME? Can't they wait to
call you until you get home? Cutting off
your cell phone might be considered a
drastic move, but if you are deeply in
debt and strugglying to make monthly
payments on your credit cards or other
bills, you might want to consider
cancelling this so called
"necessity." It could easily
save you $50 to $150 per month which is
another $600 to $1,800 a year you can use
toward your credit cards which are
gouging you at 21 percent a year. Chances
are, if you get rid of your cellphone,
you won't miss it that much and might
actually enjoy not being bothered all the
time.
3. Contrary to popular
belief, you don't need a dryer to dry
your clothes. Hang them up where they can
drip dry on a line. If you live in an
apartment complex and can't hang your
clothes up outside, no problem. Nearly
everyone in Eastern Europe who lives in
an apartment dry their clothes on lines
or wires strung across above their
bathtub (up high near the ceiling) or on
lines near the window. They also use
drying racks made especially for the
purpose. Your clothes dryer can be
costing you about $10 to $20 a month in
electricty which is $120 to $240 per year
you could be saving or applying towards
those high interest credit cards. Hooks
and string from your local hardware store
are a lot cheaper.
4. You can also save
money buy washing your clothes in cold
water instead of hot. Using hot water
involves your hot water heater which must
run electricty or gas to heat new water
to replace the hot water you used on your
clothes. Cold water will get your clothes
just as clean and will help them last
longer.
Speaking of hot water
heaters, they are giant money sucking
machines on your electric or gas bill.
Here a number of tips that can save you a
lot of money.
5. Turn down the
temperature on your hot water heater by 5
to 10 degrees. If you can live with your
hot water a little less hot, turn it down
some more.
6. Wrap your hot water
heater with a specially made coat. This
will prevent your hot water heater from
losing heat and kicking on and off all
the time.
7. Turn off your hot
water heat while you are on vacation or
away from home for more then 2 days. You
don't need it working and wasting money
while you are gone do you?
8. Insulate your hot
water pipes. A lot of heat is lost on
those pipes as they snake all around your
house.
9. The most important
method for saving money on your hot water
heat, probably around $10 per month, is
to install a timer on it. Your hot water
heater stands ready to give hot water -
all the time. Why? You don't need it in
the middle of the day when you're at
work, nor at night when your're asleep? A
timer control will let you have hot water
when you need it, and automatically turn
off when you don't. Look for big savings
on your bill when you install a timer.
10. Buy low watt light
bulbs. A 40 watt or 60 will do just as
good as a 75 or 100 and burn less
electricity.
11. Turn off the lights
when you leave a room. Sounds simple, but
it can often be forgotten. If you have
trouble remembering, post a small 3x5
cards by each light switch with the
words: Turn Off When Not in Use -
12. Telephone and
electric surge protectors won't save you
money on a daily basis, but they will
prevent a disasterous surge to your
telephone, computer, television and other
expensive electronics.
13. Water your lawn at
night instead of during the blistering
heat of the day where most of that water
will be lost to evaporation.
14. Use fans instead of
air conditioning on the not so hot days
and put up darker shades to block out the
bright sun which can needlessly warm a
room by a couple of degrees.
15. If you are in the
market for a new electric appliance, shop
for products that are labelled energy
efficient with the Energy Star label.
Energy Star produts must meet strict
federal guidelines for energy efficiency.
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