The Save Money Blog

Archive for November, 2008

A few friends of mine are off on a four day golf trip down south, all inclusive and three rounds of golf for under a thousand. How did they find a steal of a trip like that? They went online and sniffed around some last minute vacation websites and since it didn't matter when they leave they were on their way to great savings. It doesn't matter if you are heading out to a down south resort all inclusive vacation or if you are booking las vegas hotel reservations. If you can leave on the drop of a hat then you can totally save money by check out last minute deals or sell off vacation websites.

I was leafing through the endless pages of my insurance policy the other day and was wondering when mine is up for renewal. It's a few months away. I am absent minded sometimes and forgot that I had renewed this year. I went to the companies website and you can sign up for a feature where they mail you a reminder prior to the insurance coming due. The best part of this is that you can look over your existing policy if you are happy or give yourself a bit of time to look at getting other insurance quotes. Either way you will have peace of mind that you are getting the best price for your insurance. If your company doesn't have that feature maybe add a notification to your planner software a month ahead of time to give yourself enough time.

So my wife used to get sucked into those shopping parties at work or from friends of hers that were organizing them. She would come into work and there would be a little bag on her desk full of goodies and a nice little bill sitting beside it. Or should be bring home a bag of perfume or clothing orders and a receipt. And it was never one, the same person had perfurme parties, candle parties, food parties, sweets parties… You name it.

I started looking at the prices she was paying and asked her why should pay double the cost for items that she could get elsewhere. She was paying a premiums for candles when you can buy candles at another store or online for half the price. You can find nice candles or even Votive candle holders over the internet at a fraction of the price.

I am here to tell you that it is okay to say no. Why give your money to a co-worker or friend that is not saving you any money? It must be a good profit. We haven't bought anything from one person in three years and she phones our house once a month looking for an order. Keep your money and save a little by shopping for a better price.

The cold weather is right around the corner and in some cases already here. I have been busy bagging some windows and in two cases have new windows ordered to replace old worn out ones. Here are some other tips on how to save some money on your heating bill this winter.

Install a thermostat that you can program. Where you can turn the heat down during the day and have it come on when you are at home and then go down while you are asleep. You won't believe how much you can save on your bill from doing this. You can pick one for under $50 from any hardware store and they are really easy to install.

Getting an enery audit and government subsidies are getting easier all the time. Check with your local green up or city hall to see if there are programs in your area. They will come in tell you where you have problems and offer solutions to fix them up. In most cases if you fix your problems then you can get rebates and incentives.

Seal up draughty windows with plastic so that your heat doesn't escape all winter long. You can get kits from hardware stores pretty cheap or use plastic sheets or bags that you might have around the house.

Take a look at the rubber weather stripping around your doors and the rubber blocker at the bottom of the door. If a breeze is getting through then replace them. They are inexpensive to replace and the money you will save on your heating bill will be more than enough to cover it.

Finally, turn the heat down a little and wear an extra shirt, sweat shirt and put a blanket over yourself. You don't have to have it so hot that your house is tropical. 

With Christmas approaching fast I noticed that the onslaught of advertising and comercials are in full force for this years hot items. I was looking through websites for my niece and noticed a realm outside of the brand name products and expensive commercialized gifts. There is a whole world out there in personalized gifts. There is a whole array of gifts that you can get for the children including books, dvd, prints and toys in general. My favourite were the NFL prints, what kid wouldn't love that.

Save yourself some money this Christmas by looking into the more less expensive personalized toys and presents for the children. It's easy to empty the wallet out by going crazy and buying all of the commercial brand name toys.

If you are going to registering any domains this month the namecheap coupons have changed. From what I am reading you can still use OCTNEWS and INDIANSUMMER. Any of the others are no longer valid. Those code will help you save a little bit of money on any new domains you are buying from Namecheap.

My bathroom is hideous. I can't find another word to describe it. Hideous and it should have been renovated years ago. I am on my second quote in getting a new tub and facets, window, tiling and drywall.

Here's a couple of tips for any of you thinking of getting work done. One, look at the prices of the material  you are buying online and compare that to what you are being charged. We were thinking about Kohler faucets so I got a quote from him and next I go online and compare price. I compare price with anything I buy.

Next, a plumber is not a dry waller. The drywalling potion of my quote was insane. I called a friend that does drywall and he said I was being overcharged by an insane amount. That's because they don't want to do it and it's a pain to them so they overcharge. How many people do you think pay too much for things like this and don't shop around?

I am basically going to have a person do my window and drywall and a plumber do the plumbing. A bit of pain to me to shop out multiple contractors but I am going to save at least a few hundred for my work.