Posted: Wednesday, December 9, 2009
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The average family spends $2,200 per year in electric bills and the average home is responsible for twice the amount of greenhouse gases than the average automobile. Whether you want to save money or save the environment, this 5-minute piece from the NBC Today Show is for you. In it, you'll learn that just by being aware of your energy consumption, you can reduce it by up to 15 percent. The piece centers on a device called a Power Monitor which retails from $30 to $100, depending on the model. It measures the actual cost of using an appliance, or using a light, or charging a laptop, or any other household energy use. Among the cost findings: - A plugged-in phone charger no phone attached costs $0.10 per hour
- Cooking with a microwave costs $0.88 per hour
- Big screen TVs cost $0.06 per hour to operate
Obviously, turning off lights when rooms aren't in use saves money, too. By making small changes -- most of which aren't inconvenient -- the average family can drop its energy bill by hundreds of dollars each year.
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Posted: Thursday, December 3, 2009
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 ‘Tis the season to do shopping — and get bombarded with offers to open credit cards.
The deals are tempting, too. ”Open a charge card today” and save up to 20% on your purchase. Considering that the average Black Friday ticket was $343, that’s $68 saved per store. For big-ticket items like televisions, the savings are even bigger. But for people in the market for a new home — or looking to refinance — taking advantage of in-store savings could be a long-term money loser. Every time you apply for a credit card, your credit score drops. According to myFICO.com, “new credit” accounts for 85 out of 850 possible credit scoring points. New credit is defined by such traits as: - Number of recently opened accounts
- Number of recent credit inquiries
- Time since credit inquiry(s)
- Proportion of accounts that are recently opened to all open accounts
Shoppers with few open credit cards are more likely to see their scores drop that shoppers with many cards. Regardless, a credit score is worth protecting because of how mortgage rates are made. A conventional mortgage applicant with 20% equity whose FICO is 720-739 will be offered rates 0.125% higher than a comparable applicant at 740. - For 700-719, the rate increases by 0.375%
- For 680-699, the rate increases by 0.750%
- For 660-679, the rate increases by 1.250%
Having a low credit score can be expensive. It is okay to take advantage of in-store savings during the holiday shopping season, but it’s also important to be aware of how your credit score may be affected. If you’re not applying for a mortgage in the next six months, you’ll likely be alright. But, on the other hand, if you know you’ll need your FICO soon, consider whether saving 15 percent on a $343 ticket is worth the long-term cost of a higher mortgage rate.
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Posted: Thursday, September 3, 2009
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There are two ways to boost your personal cash flow — increase your income or reduce your spending. The former can be a challenge but the latter doesn’t have to be. The headline of the video below — “Cut Your Spending By $500 Per Month” — is somewhat sensational but the advice given during the video is spot-on. From NBC’s The Today Show, the 5-minute piece offers a half-dozen ways to reduce your cash outflows each month, including: - How to negotiate a lower credit card interest rate
- Why it’s important to go grocery shopping with “a list”
- How to “time” certain purchases like tires, linens, and clothing
It also covers saving money on a family pet. It’s often easier to save money than to make money. This video shows how easy it can be.
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Posted: Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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 Filing an official Change of Address form with the United States Postal Service is one of the most important steps in the moving process.
It’s how bills, letters and catalogs find you after your change of residence. Strangely, though, a lot of people wait until the last-minute-before-moving before telling the post office that a Change of Address in needed. As a result, mail gets lost-in-transit as “undeliverable”. It doesn’t have to be like that. In addition to the USPS’ own online forms, there are third-party companies that combine secure online address changes with money-saving coupons for sure-to-be-needed utilities including cable, phone and electric. If you’re moving or relocating, think about updatingyour USPS mailing address as soon as you have a move date. This will give the postal service enough lead time to process your order and, if the move doesn’t go through as planned, you can always cancel out. They key is to make sure your mail delivery stays uninterrupted — from one home to the next.
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Posted: Tuesday, August 4, 2009
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 Where does the money go?
If you’re like most U.S. consumers, more than half of it goes to housing and transportation costs. According to the government’s most recent Consumer Expenditure Survey, spending patterns are little changed from years prior. More money is spent on entertainment and less money is spent on dining out. Beyond that, the figures are somewhat static. Meanwhile, using on the survey’s industry-by-industry breakdown, we can see how monthly housing payments and daily commuting costs impact a household’s budget. For the budget-conscious, going out less often and bargain-shopping can help pad the bottom line, but not as much as living in a less expensive home or moving closer to work. Even a refinance into lower rates can make a difference.
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Posted: Friday, June 5, 2009
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Suze Orman recently appeared on The Today Show and gave 5 minutes of practical money management advice. Not everyone’s a fan of Ms. Orman, but this is an interview worth watching. The segment’s theme is “What should you do first?“, pitting real-life financial scenarios against each other, including: - Pay off credit card debt, or save for an emergency?
- Pay off student loan debt, or pay off credit card debt?
- Save for retirement, or save for a child’s college tuition?
The advice is practical and relevant to most homeowners’ lives and, although financial tips are never one-size-fits-all, there’s some real gems in the segment. Watch the entire interview at The NBC Today Show website.
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Posted: Thursday, June 4, 2009
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 In choosing its 2009 lineup of Top 100 Places To Live In America, Relocate America focused on areas with stable local economies and in which the housing market has avoided precipitous price drops.
It’s not a bad formula and topping the list of Top 100 Places To Live In America is Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city in which unemployment rates are 3 percent below the national average and the housing stock is, in general, considered affordable. This was a common theme among the cities included, the Top 10 of which are: - Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Dallas/Ft Worth, Texas
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina
- Huntsville, Alabama
- Houston, Texas
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Lexington, Kentucky
- Little Rock, Arkansas
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Relocate America notes that the cities on its 2009 list are poised to make a faster comeback from the economic recession than other U.S. cities, and few experienced the effects of the housing boom earlier this decade. View the complete Top 100 Places To Live In America 2009 list at the Relocate America website.
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Posted: Monday, May 4, 2009
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With the start of May comes warmer temperates. But just because the mercury's rising doesn't mean your energy bills have to. This quick Weather Channel video shows how a ceiling fan can cool a 78-degree room by up to 6 degrees and reduce the costs of running an HVAC unit. The key is to have the fan's blades rotating in the right direction. - When the heating system is on, blades should rotate clockwise
- When the air conditioning is on, blades should rotate counter-clockwise
By changing a ceiling fan's blade rotation, a homeowner can push heat back into circulation to warm a room, or create a downward draft to make a room feel cooler.
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