It's always interesting how some people will shop around for days or even weeks before buying a lawnmower or a set of golf clubs but are happy paying the same insurance rates year after year. I was in the same boat, with the same company for year, paying the same rates that were going up every year. I woke up when I couldn't get my agent to call me back for a car insurance quote. I started calling around and found that I wasn't getting the best rate to begin with. Lesson? You are never too busy to take time out of one day a year to call around to different places and see how their rates stack up with yours. If you have like me you might just end up saving some money.

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My wife pointed out an interesting little gadget the other day that got me to thinking just home much electricity we are using over the summer. It going out through our pool filter and pump which is running 24-7. A pool timer will save your money on not only electricity but also in the amount of money you spend on chemicals. From some of the models I looked at, most estimate that you will save enough in electricity in the first month to pay for the timer and the rest is gravy. Except for during times of heavy use, most pools only need to filter for 12 hours per day. Why then run it for 24 hours when you don't have to. Have a look around your local pool store or hardware store.

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Yesterday an interesting conversation came up on the Labrador Retriever Chat Board regarding the energy use of video game consoles. After doing some digging in google I found some interesting results. Basically, all of the consoles out there are guilty of energy leakage when in standby mode. The worst of them all being the Xbox 360. It drains the most out of all of them when in standby mode, sitting at the dashboard or when playing a game and uses far more electricity to watch a movie then your standard DVD player. The bottom line, unplug if you aren't using and plug your console back in when using it. That little bit you can save is worth having the wrong date and time which is the only drawback of unplugging your video game console. Read the entire 7 page article at the Source.

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There was a great article of interest today on CNN's website. It dealt with how family's are coping with soaring food and grocery prices and showed how one family is dealing with inflation.

One mother interviewed decided to save money by making her own laundry detergent. " Pond, 26, a stay-at-home mom with an almost 8-month old daughter, does four loads of laundry every other day. "Detergent is very expensive, so I make my own," she said. She grates natural soap, boils it, adds Borax, baking soda and essential oils, and lets it cool overnight."

They also suggested some methods previously mentioned in articles on this blog such as growing your own vegetables, cooking at home and hoarding sales items. All which can add up to big time grocery savings.

Read the rest of the article at the Source for more innovative ways to cut down on your food bill. 

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With the price of just about everything going up this year it's more important than ever to stretch your vacation dollar as far as you can. Rising gas costs are reason enough to try and search out the best deal. Well there might be some help. This summer everything from large hotel chains to small bed and breakfasts are offering up gas incentives to get your travel dollar. This is good news for us.

"Oddly enough, the pain at the pump may help some summer travelers actually save on their getaways. From big-name hotels to tiny bed & breakfasts, the lodging industry has started rolling out incentives that help guests offset some of the costs of hitting the road. While some properties are offering prepaid gas cards (ranging from $10 to $50), others are extending cash bonuses or reduced room rates to guests who drive a hybrid vehicle, or take a train or bus to their destination."

As the article warns be careful and check out your travel destination carefully. Just because you get a $25 gas card at one place may not save you money if you have to pay for parking.

You can read the rest of the article at the Source as well as see some of the the gas incentives they have already scouted out for you. 

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The number one way to get anywhere, I would highly suggest, I know it’s not sexy but is the number one method: saving money fast. In other words all great investors are great at saving money fast. If you are not saving money fast now then you are never going to become wealthy until you start.

When I was first starting off, I was trying to convince my millionaire mentor to give me some coaching on how to become wealthy and one of the first questions I remember him asking me was how much money I was saving. I said, “Well actually nothing to be honest”. He quickly responded, “Then don’t waste my time. I thought you told me you were committed to becoming wealthy and now you are telling me you are not saving any money, so why are you wasting my time? You are either committed or you’re not”, he said.

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You would be amazed how many people are unaware of the built in power saving features of their computers. Using the power management settings on your personal computer will help in saving you money on your energy bill. Okay, not a boat load of money but if you have been following this blog you will know that every cent helps.

By enabling your screen saver and leaving your computer on you are not saving energy. You are simply saving the images on your computer from burning onto your screen. You must enable the power management features to actually turn off your monitor and to power down your hard drive. You will find these in XP under the Control Panel in Performance and Maintenance. Simply go into the Power Settings and set up your hard drive and monitor to power down after a set time.

Put the setting to 15 minutes, if you are away from the computer for more than this time your monitor will shut down and you hard drive will power down using way less energy thus saving you money. It may be a small step but remember, everything counts.

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I promised to discuss a number of ways not only to help you save money but to also show you how to make extra money by blogging on the internet. My last post went over a couple of services that offer free blog web hosting. Now you have a place to host your blog you will need to find a way to make some extra money blogging.

I recently came across a great service called Pay Per Post. I found it on a webmaster board that seasoned bloggers use to discuss blog development. Pay Per Post gives bloggers the opportunity to make extra cash from their blog posts. Their service has a number for great benefits to bloggers. First, you can get paid to review items and services that you want to blog about. You give your honest opinion or review and you will get paid for writing. Next, you can also generate income when other bloggers choose to write about your posts and finally you can gain valuable page links back to your blog.

It is a great program for bloggers looking to expand their money making opportunities so please check out their program. It was easy to sign up for and my blog was approved quickly. Now is your chance to get paid to blog. 

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If you are a senior looking to raise finance to help in retirement, you may have heard the term reverse mortgage. There is still a lot of confusion and misconceptions surrounding this financial product. Here we answer the question "What is a reverse mortgage?" After reading this you should be able to decide whether this is an option that is worth pursuing.

A reverse mortgage allows you to turn the equity in your home into cash. It is only available to people aged 62 or over, so it tends to be used by retirees as a way of supplementing their income.

You can receive payment by way of a cash lump sum, a line of credit or a monthly income. The attractive thing for many customers is that there are no monthly payments to make, unlike a normal mortgage. The money that is drawn down is tax-free.

There are many baby boomers coming up to retirement that are realizing that the amount of income that they are going to receive during their retirement is not going to be sufficient to live on. This has led to there being a big increase in interest in reverse mortgages.

The money raised can be used for any purpose. This includes supplementing existing retirement provisions, paying for medical care or carrying out modifications to the house such as installing a ramp or downstairs shower. You could even use the money to go on a holiday of a lifetime or buy a new car.

While this sounds very attractive, are there any downsides to a reverse mortgage? The main one is the amount of equity in the property will be reduced when you come to sell it. This maybe important to you if you were planning on having your children inherit your house.

There are plenty of helpful resources available to you to further learn about reverse mortgages. You can choose to speak to housing counselor or find resources online.

Get the latest on reverse mortgages at http://www.reverse-mortgage-choice.com. You can also discover how to avoid reverse mortgage pitfalls.

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Have you ever thought of saving money on your mortgage? There are several ways to save money on your mortgage. If you wish to save money on your mortgage then read on. Here are some simple tips which could help you save considerable amount of money on your mortgage.

According to financial experts, one of the easy ways to save money on your mortgage is to go for the largest down imbursement you can. By doing so, you can ensure that the original money you are borrowing from your money lender will be much lower and the interest rate you need to pay much lesser than if you had borrowed a huge amount instead. One can also consider down payment from any of his/her family members. Most of the financial firms are not so keen on this practice, but if you can find someone in your family who can afford to loan your money without interest then you can save some money on your mortgage.

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