The Save Money Blog

Archive for the ‘Home Improvement Tips’ Category

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.

Just how ugly is that window? I don't know if you can see it or not but there is an aluminum storm window on the other side of that ugly wooden frame.

I have read that up to 35% of your heat loss can be through your old draughty windows. This old window was draughty for sure. My wife used to have a cold nose when she was sitting on the couch watching tv. Can you imagine how much heat I was wasting and how much money I was spending? I think I would cry if I really knew the exact number over the past few years.

I should have done this years ago but I finally got around to replacing this window with a new vynil picture window. It was a bit of an expense but think about the savings. I already can see that it is warmer in the house. By a lot. The furnace is not running as much and it really is warmer, especially in the living room. By investing in a new window I am saving a ton in my heating bill. It will be interesting to see what it is compared to last year.

The added bonus, it also adds curb appeal to the house. It is like night and day when you pull up to the house now. By adding a window I have really increased the value of the home. That is if I ever decide to sell it.

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.

I was just thinking the other day about the time when I moved a friend from his apartment to his house and how awful it was. It was a terrible experience because he had no plan and no organization. Can you save money planning a move? More than likely. A lot of people will favor doing it themselves over a moving company but this might not always be the most economical. Factor in your time, the cost of your gas, a rental truck, food and beverages for those helping, time off from work vs getting a moving company to do it all at once for you.

Get several quotes from as many moving companies you can. Cheap isn't always the best, compare the price to what you are getting and always find out if there are extras involved that are going to cost you.

If planning to do it yourself make sure you are prepared by having a proper vehicle and plenty of moving boxes and supplies on hand. Formulate a plan so as to the least amount of trips as possible.

In the end, calculate the cost of a moving company between everything you have to do to get the job done yourself and go for the most economical.

A quick scan around some of the majors news sites on the web today I saw a few articles talking about proposed electricity rates coming this summer. Not only are you paying more at the pumps for gas but the high cost of fuel is also going to mean higher electricity rates. "Dominion Virginia Power announced yesterday that it would seek permission to raise electricity rates 18 percent this summer to make customers pay for part of the increased cost of coal and other fuels." The message should be clear to us. Now more than ever we have to change our habits to cut down on our hydro bills. It's scary to think just how much of our pay check will be going to gas for our cars and our utility bills. There are a number of tips on how to save on your utility bills and car costs within this blog. Please have a read over them and feel free to suggest other tips that you may come across.

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Organization is the key to a balanced life! Organization saves you time, energy, frustration, and confusion. To be organized means to be efficient in the way separate elements are arranged into a consistent structure. In other words, everything has its place, find the place, and when you're done put it back. In all my years of counseling people in the area of personal finances, one of the biggest issues that cause money woes is the lack of organization.

When you are not organized life feels chaotic, excruciating, and out of control. You can actually feel your sanity slipping away. But like everything else in life – you need to admit that you have organization issues, and that want to change. Next, you need to make a commitment to get organized, and get your life in order. Then come up with a plan. If you're too overwhelmed to get started, have a friend or a professional help you get organized. Your life and financial future depends on it.

Organize your time – Use a calendar, palm pilot, or organizer to manage your time. Think of your time as money. When you waste your time you are throwing away money, so plan and schedule your time.

Organize your files – Start a paper filing system. Get manila folders to organize statements, bills, letters, and other important papers. If it's important it should have a place to go.

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