The Save Money Blog

Archive for the ‘Home Improvement Tips’ Category

I have never had a decent home theatre in my house and I am a big sports fan and love watching my weekly tv shows and movies. I decided to put together a home theatre. Not that I was overly surprised but I  was taken back a bit by the price of the home audio equipment after visiting a few of my local electronics stores. I just don't have the money to be sinking into state of the art speakers, receiver and assorted hardware.

I realized that I already have most of the system right in my house. I have a couple of decent older floor speakers that I was going to throw away but decided to keep. I have a surround sound receiver that I thought was old and out dated but will do the trick. I just have to pick up a couple of extra speakers and a decent tv stand.

I was all over Ebay and Kijiji tonight and have already contacted a gentlemen that is selling off his home theatre that he is upgrading. We talked about a few prices and I basically going to save a ton if his equipment checks out.

I am glad I just didn't fly of the handle and drop a ton of money at a big box store. I think I am going to have a nice home theatre of matching pieces together for a great price. It's just going to take a little while to get it all together but for the price it's worth it.

I broke out the old lawnmower today and have to give the back lawn a cut. Pretty early for April but who can complain with the weather we have been having. The one thing I noticed is that I already have a good crop of weeds coming in. Especially in the gravel around the pool fence. We aren't allowed to use commercial pesticides any longer which means we have to rely on environmentally friendly alternatives.

Last year I purchased some eco friendly weed killer from the hardware store and was suprised when I looked at the ingredients. They are all household items that you can pull out from under the kitchen sink and make yourself. The three things that everyone has in their house that will kill weeds are vinegar, salt and liquid dish detergeant. I am not a fan of using salt because it will do damage to the surrounding soil. Whipping up a concuction of vinegar and liquid dish soap will do the trick. Just make sure you spray this on the weeds only as it will kill grass and other plants in your backyard. Also make sure you spray when it isn't windy and there is no sign of rain for at least two days.

The most common Homemade Weed Killer Recipe that I could find online is : 1 quart household vinegar and 2 teaspoons liquid dish detergent. Just make sure that you use a detergent that contains no bleach. Mix these two items together and spray on weeds. Volia, you have a cheap homemade and environmentally friends weed killer.

I was at a wedding not too long ago and the bride gave an interesting speach about her new husband. He fancied himself a real DIY type fix it guy but she told a different story. She explained how it usually ended up costing her more paying a real contractor to fix everything that he usually screwed up.

I am a big fan of trying to fix things on my own but sometimes you have to give in to the fact that you are in over your head and hire a professional to do things right. I know nothing about spring plungers so why would I play around with them? I wouldn't. On the same token if I know nothing about plumbing or fixing a dryer then I shouldn't be messing around with them either. There are lots of instructions on how to do things on the internet but you have to ask yoruself if you are in over your head. Don't mess with things you know nothing about, it will end up costing you more in the long run.

I had two friends and their families just go away on vacation over the past couple of weeks. Before they left I asked them if they had shopped around for their medical travel insurance. There are lots of options out there and different packages you can buy. Both of them didn't really put much thought into it and just bought what they were buying. It's an expense right? Why not shop around and see what kind of packages are available and try to get the best price possible. I think it's one thing peope take for granted, and you shouldn't.

I am on a mission to get a few things fixed up around the house and I will blog later this week about what I am doing to save energy. I needed a thick piece of plywood 2.5 X 2.5 for a small project but they only sell sheets 4 x 4 for over $16. Kind of a waste because I have no other use for the extra wood. A shame to pay that much when I didn't really need it all.

When we were walking to the saw to get my piece cut I noticed one of those carts they have filled with all sorts of pieces of left over wood. I went and had a look and found the exact same size piece I was buying with a big red line spray painted on it. I asked the guy if I could but that. He said sure it was only $2 because it was damaged or something. It was perfect for what I need it for.

It felt good to save a bit of money on the weekend. Next time you have a small job on the go and find yourself at Home Depot look around and see if they have leftovers.

If you live in Canada time is ticking for your take advantage of your home renocation tax credit. If you did any renovations to your hosue between Feb. 27 of this year and before Feb. 1, 2010 of next year you can apply for a credit on your tax return. The stipulation is that your renovations must be over a thousand dollars in total and you can't go over ten thousand dollars. At the max you could be eligible for $1,350 back on your taxes just for doing home renovations.

We didn't know that this was coming and did our bathroom just before the deadline so it kind of sucks for us but we are expecting to do some flooring, some doors and trim on another room. While we aren't sure if we are going to do porcelain tile or something a little cheaper if it comes over one thousand dollars we are going to be eligible. The other bonus is that you can add multiple renovations together. We also have to frame and insulate the basement so we are thinking we will have enought to qualify.

If you are doing some renos and live in Canada it's something to think about.

I wasn't aware of this until recently but your hot water bill can account at least 15% of your home heating bill. This of course can different depending on what type of hot water heater you have, how old it is and what type of heating you have. Electric hot water heaters being the most costly. It's hard to say because of those factors how much you can save by adding a hot water blanket but obviously for a minimal investment it will save you money.

We have an electric hot water heater so in to save a bit of money I picked up and installed a hot water blanket this weekend. It's cost about $20 from my local hardware store and took less than 15 minutes to install. Here is a picture I took with my cell phone after it was all wrapped up.

If you hot water heater is warm to the touch then you can benefit from adding a hot water blanket. Another great tip is to also add foam insulation around the hot water pipes leading away from your tank. You can pick these up from your local hardware store as well. Just make sure that when you are putting your blanket on that cut away from the blanket where your electricl source comes in. I found this guide on Installing an Insulation Blanket on an Electric Storage Water Heater.

I would never be one to say that you should become a complete backyard mechanic and do all of your car fixing yourself. That would be crazy and probably end up costing your more money that it would save you.  But on the other hand there are lots of things that you can do yourself to save a little money. I am talkng about more of the small things, maitenance type items that we all pay a lot for out of convenience.

Things like changing spark plugs, oil and air filters and oil changes for example are pretty easily done and don't take a lot of resources to do. If you have a small garage then all the better. There are so many how to guides on the internet that it's worth it to check them out and see if you are up to the task. Watch the person doing some of these jobs the next time you go in and see for yourself how easy it is. You can find the tools you need like automotive lifts or wrenches from any automotive store.

If you have the time, place and a little know how saving money of car maintenance could add up and put a little more money in your pocket each month.

I know all too well the pitfalls of credit card debt. You have two or three major cards and a few gas cards and you are living off of paying back the interest each month and that's about it. It's an awful hole to get stuck in but you can help yourself get out of it through debt consolidation.

What is Credit card debt consolidation? This is where you consolidate a number of cards into a lesser amount of cards. In the end you only want to have one or two cards at best. Basically you are doing a balance transfer where you transfer your balance on one credit card to another credit card. You will be getting a new Credit Card with a lower interest rate and using it to pay off the other cards with their much hight rate. You can also do this by getting a loan from your bank and pay off the cards at once and then work on paying your bank loan off. The interest rate from them has to be lower. I did this one once myself.

Find a 0% interest card offer and sign up for it. You then pay off your other higher interest rate card with the credit from the 0% card. Easy enough. Not really, you have to read all of the fine print and make sure you understand the terms, make the min payments and any other stipulations of the card. If you can do this you can get that bad debt paid off in no time.

So tomorrow the plumber shows up to start my bathroom renovation. He gave me quote awhile back but I decided to start the gutting process myself. I broke the tile wall and took the plaster out over two Saturdays and took them to the dump. When we spoke last week he said he would do the quote over because I had one a fair bit of the work myself.

You would be suprised how much money you can save by doing your own prep work before paying a tradesperson to do it for you. It cost us less than $30 to dispose of it at the dump and about 10 hours to get it down to the studs. I am pretty sure the plumber would have been charging me more than that. I will keep everyone updated how it goes and how the final bill compares with the original when they were doing it all.

It's Sunday and in our household it means two things. Laundry day and grocery day. Since starting this blog every resource I have read suggests writing up a shopping list and stick to it in order to save money. You can't go into a grocery store with no list or plan and expect to come out of there with saving money. You have to know what you want to buy ahead of time so you can maybe look for coupons or look through the ads in the paper to find your best deal and prices.

We keep a pad of paper in the same spot all week and when we run out of something we write it down. That way we see it all week and keep our eyes peeled to see what is on sale or where. Do we need to go to Costco or can we get in elsewhere? It's all about getting the best deal.

If it's not on the list then it's not getting bought. So when I am complaining about having no junk food I am reminded that it wasn't on the list.