Keeping Your Home Cool in Summer Without Breaking the Bank
Canada may be thought of as a cold country, but Canadians know that the summer months most certainly can pack some heat. During these hot times, many of us struggle to keep the inside of our homes cool. A recent Natural Resources Canada survey discovered that 52 percent of Canadian homes now have air conditioners, up by 33 percent over the past ten years.
With rising energy costs, an additional appliance can make a big difference in our summer bills. There are a few simple things you can do to help ensure your home stays cool while keeping money in your wallet this summer. The first thing to consider is your insulation. If you house has been wet from a flood or any type of leak damage, there is a good chance your insulation will need to be replaced to keep cool in and heat out. Also, check your home for drafts. Not only are winter drafts a drain on the electric bill, trying to cool a home with exterior air circulating in will also add an more to your electricity bill. If you find any holes, it’s a simple solution to plug them with insulation. This can easily save 20 to 60 percent of your energy year-round.
Another way to ensure a cool interior is to keep the windows closed. It’s also important to close the drapes and blinds. This will easily deflect the sun’s heat and keep those rays outside. Having your windows tinted will also add up to a large amount of sun deflection.
Using a fan during the day is much cheaper than using the air conditioner all the time. It may be best to save that cool air for bedtime if your house is still warm inside. Before you plug in your air conditioner unit for the summer, take a few minutes to give it a clean. Check the coolant coils. If they’re covered in dirt and grime, this will cause your unit to work harder, increasing your electric bill. Cleaning this grime can easily save up to 5 percent on your summer cooling costs. . Replacing the air conditioner filter will also make a difference in performance and efficiency.
Planting a tree is not only a beautiful way to enhance your home it’s also a natural way to keep it cool. Planting a tree or two on the south side of your house will add much needed shade for the summer months. If you chose a deciduous tree, they will naturally shed their leaves in the fall, allowing for more light through your house in the winter, not to mention trees add a positive impact to the environment by improving air quality and the value of your landscaping.
Increasing your air conditioner by a degree or two warmer will also shed a few dollars from the energy cost each month. Any of these ideas can keep your bills down and money in your pocket.
The Temptation of Crazy Heart
At least one take-away from the movie “Crazy Heart” has got to be that you can turn things around at any age and under the worst of circumstances. Even though the main character is a 57-year old, drop down drunk stumbling downhill, a dramatic incident makes “Bad Blake” realize that he’s got to change his ways. And he does. Sure, “Bad” has to pay for his mistakes, but he’s back on the straightaway and heading down success highway at the end of the movie. And we can pull off the same Phoenix trick when it comes to rising out of our own financial ruins.
Even if you have had a long and tough financial past, you can recover from poor credit, bankruptcy, and general money mismanagement. There’s really no secret to it. It’s a matter of “wanting to stop” as “Bad” does, and do things differently.
So what do you do if your spending is way out of control, and you’re spinning headlong into the money ditch? Put on the brakes, just like Bad. Then, clean house, again just like Bad does, and get what’s sent you down that highway out of your financial house.
For financial mis-managers, that can mean a few different strategies. The best one for compulsive spenders might be to remove the ability to spend. So, eliminate all non-cash sources of money, like credit cards. You can even shut down your line of credit, if you ask your banker to close the line to general use, and only allow it to be paid down. Then, use only cash, and don’t even allow yourself to carry a debit card. Make it difficult to get at your money.
Now, budget every single cost, and only go to the bank to get the money you need to live. Besides groceries, most people really can live without access to cash. Even budget your gas use, and fill-up at regular intervals, using cash you’ve taken out specifically for that purchase. If you always go into the bank, and only take out the money you need for specific purchases, you’ll find you spend a lot less than when you were carrying credit and debit cards.
Taking away the ability to spend without thinking-using credit and debit cards-making your cash hard to get at, and living by a budget where you always pay cash are three top tactics to get your financial house in order. These changes can feel like a cold turkey approach to getting your finances straightened out, but just as “Bad” discovered, life is better when the debts are paid.
Five Financial Oversights that Cost You Money
If you think you have your finances pretty much in hand, that’s great. But once you get the basics down, there may be some fine-tuning that can help you save even more. Here are five financial oversights that might be costing you needless money every month.
Check your bank statements, and while you’re at it, your credit card statements, too. Look these over every month-at least. Review them every two weeks, if you tend to have a lot of money moving in and out of your accounts. Banks make mistakes, and so do credit card companies.
Always pay yourself every month. It’s a good idea to do this automatically so you have no choice about saving. Even if it’s the smallest amount of money–$20, $30 or even less-setting some money aside gets you in the habit of saving. When you begin to make more money, you can set aside more. Shoot for 10% of your gross, 1% at a time.
Create some kind of home-based system to track all your accounts. Consider a file where you keep all your financial statements-RRSPs, banking statements, credit cards, lines of credit, mortgages, other investments, and savings. File by type-savings, credit lines, and ongoing bills. For monthly bills, like utilities, phones, rentals, number it by the day. It can be as simple as writing the day the bill is due (say the 15th) in large print in the upper left or right hand corner of the bill, and then filing all your bills by due day. Now you’ll be able to quickly scan through your bills and know when every payment is due-and never be late again.
If you’re electronically minded, you can have an electronic notice sent to you-to the minute-reminding you to pay that upcoming bill. But, even though your billing may come electronically, consider printing out at least one copy of a bill to put into a paper-based system. Research shows that when you physically handle material, you’re more likely to remember it.
Now that you’re saving so much money every month, consider getting a chequing account with a small floating balance. Often it’s about a $1000 minimum. These kinds of accounts carry zero cost for most transactions if you maintain the minimum balance. Instead of thinking about the float as money you cannot access, think about it as making you money-chequing accounts can cost $15 and more each month. So if you’re not paying that $15/month, it means your float is making you at least $180/year return on your investment. That’s an astounding 18 percent annual return (when’s the last time your RRSPs did that?)!
Keep reviewing your how you spend your money and where until every dollar you spend is accounted for, and working for you.
Advice to Stay Out of Debt
Well, the best advice to stay out of debt, hands down, is, don’t go into debt in the first place. But with Canadian debt levels at all time highs that little bit of terrific advice isn’t going to do a lot of people much good right now. And many of us grew up with debt as a kind of standard of living we saw in our parents’ lives, and now have carried forward into our own. Who doesn’t owe on their student loans? Who doesn’t carry a monthly balance on their credit cards or line of credit?
Although many Canadians, even most, might be in debt, the people we want to emulate are those who have no debt. What’s their secret? Well, odds are, they know a thing or two that we can learn and copy.
First, recognize there’s good debt and bad debt. If you’re a recent grad carrying $25,000 in student loans, you’ll be happy to hear that’s a good debt. It’s considered a good debt because the return on that whopper of an investment should far exceed the money you had to borrow to make it. On the other hand, if it’s a $10,000 debt on spring break trips to southern climes and lovely Margaritas, well, try and get your money’s worth for those wild weekends, and you’ll see what we’re talking about. That’s a bad debt.
Here’s another difference between good and bad debt. A good debt expands what you’re worth, by either making you personally more valuable (because you’ve got an education and know stuff, for example) or adding tangible goods to your portfolio that are valuable (like investments, a home, or business). You’ll know you’ve got it made with good debts when you go into the bank and are immediately ushered to the second floor where the suits hang out.
A big key is to balance your good debts and eliminate your bad ones. That means paying off your credit cards as much as possible, not buying what you cannot afford (like a 42-inch high definition, blu ray television), and being sure to keep up on payments on your good debt. So pay that mortgage every month, and don’t default on your student loans. But that doesn’t mean you have to keep paying those high interest rates on your student loan.
This is another way to manage your debt. For debts like student loans, which can sometimes have really high interest rates, see if you can negotiate it down or buy it out with a line of credit. That can save you significant dollars if you’re carrying a large debt.
Debt isn’t always a bad thing. Owning a home, or capitalizing on a good education, can have terrific returns. Just be sure you know the difference between a good debt and a bad one.
When a Good Debt Isn’t
Good debt and bad debt seem like pretty clear categories with easy-to-distinguish differences. Simply put, a good debt should bring you a return that exceeds the investment; a bad debt won’t. Some experts, though, argue that there is no such thing as a good debt. Owing money is owing money, and there is just no two ways about it. That might be true, maybe it’s even really terrific advice, but for most of us, it’s just too hard not to borrow money for school, or to buy a house, car, or other big ticket items. But what can we take from the idea of bad debt to help us with our so-called good debt problems?
First, be careful how much you borrow. The two or three big-ticket items most people hope for include an education of some kind, a home, and a car. Generally, most of us are not going to buy those things without a loan of some kind. It certainly isn’t impossible to get an education by working full-time during the day and going to school part-time at night for 11 years, or buying only as much car as your bank account will allow-say, a 1984 Honda Civic. Most of us, though, aspire to faster degrees, and cars! But everyone has a limit. Know yours.
Tip one: Don’t start school until you know when you’re going. Too many people waste two years’ worth of loans before they know what they want to do-and that’s a lot more expensive than six months’ hitch hiking through Europe while you work out what your future career path.
Tip two: Don’t over buy on your first car. Do you really need an audio or BMW? Wouldn’t a pretty nice, nearly new Golf hatchback do?
Tip three: House buying is a complicated process, but the research still says that people buy on impulse. Before you start looking for a home, put together a checklist that includes a list of the features that might be important to you. For example, do you want to walk to your work place or downtown? Do you spend a lot of time in the backyard, and have a dog or kids that need a fence? Most important, go to the bank before you go house shopping, and see just how much home you can buy. Never reveal that number to an agent, if you’re using one. And don’t be afraid to look at houses being sold privately; it can save you thousands.
In every case, house buying, car purchases, and educational choices, have a budget on what you can realistically handle. Then you’ll never have a good debt go bad on you.
Mass Marketing Fraud and You
If you are one of the thousands of people who receive e-mails that claim you have won money or have someone claiming to pay you for your help to transfer money you need to read this. Every year, these mass marketing scams are costing Canadians more than $10 billion and this number has been growing steadily since 2007.
Many of the offers that come streaming through your e-mail box will appear very legitimate, which is the key to getting unsuspecting people to open them. They are sophisticated schemes that offer things such as lotteries where they require money upfront in order to complete the transaction to send you the winnings. There are also many fake bank schemes asking for your personal information to update their system or other money schemes that single out people with bad credit then attempt to offer them loans (that never arrive) for an up-front fee.
There are also schemes that offer prizes from contests, but to claim any such prize, you must call a special 1-900 number, which ends up costing the consumer much more than the value of their winnings. There is also the Nigerian millionaire who needs your help getting money out of the African nation and offers a huge payment in lieu of your help.
The more recent of bad Canadian schemes is discounted auto insurance being offered in Ontario. People are sent fake insurance slips and convinced they are insured when actually, they are not. The RCMP says that most fraud in Canada is not reported. In 2009 alone, The Canada Anti-Fraud Centre received more than 25,000 consumer complaints about these schemes. That averages more than 430 calls a day, but that is anticipated to be a mere fraction of the real number as the RCMP believe between one and fiver per cent of Canadian victims actually come forward. The reason, they believe, is because fraud victims do not want to admit they’ve been had. The stereotype that fraud victims are stupid prevents many from reporting but it’s important to note that fraud victims include experienced business people, doctors, police officers and lawyers. It includes anyone and everyone.
Canada is officially a member of the International Mass-marketing Fraud Working Group that involves police agencies from the U.K., the Netherlands, Nigeria, Australia and the United States. Since 2008, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has discovered and shut down more than 45,000 scammer e-mail accounts along with over 10,000 phone numbers. It has also been responsible for working with credit card companies in closing 150 merchant accounts that were posing threats to consumers by scammers.
These organized crimes are operating from one country but stealing from people all over the world. This has made it incredibly difficult to prosecute any of the scammers so the best that can be done now is to break the link between the scammers and their victims. A good rule-of-thumb to go by is to use common sense. If you have not entered a contest or a lottery or have shared with email address with someone you know, any outside contact is probably a scam.
Wise Uses for Credit
Credit cards, lines of credit, buying over time, and other delay-pay mechanisms are earning a pretty bad rep these days. But credit, by itself, isn’t a bad idea at all. Credit is what allows most of us to buy our homes, our cars, take better vacations, and purchase other big-ticket items we’d rather not do without until we have enough cash in the bank to pay for them. And most of us are okay with paying a bit more for our purchases in order to have the convenience of owning them when we need them.
Building good credit and a strong credit history can reduce other costs. When your credit score is high, you can use it to bargain for better mortgage rates with your lending institution. And that alone can save you many thousands of dollars. You can do the same thing with your credit card lender. If you have great credit, call them up and ask for a lower rate-if they won’t give it to you, there are plenty of other credit vendors who will.
Good credit can also allow you to take advantage of long term no-interest loans that allow you to purchase appliances and other large household items without paying a cent-sometimes for up to 18 months. Good credit can get you 0% interest over 5 years on a car loan-a huge savings. So a good credit reputation can give you lots of leverage when it comes to making costly purchases, and potentially save you a fortune on home or car mortgages or big appliance buys.
So if you’re good at using credit to your advantage, you can save all kinds of money by being able to take advantage of sales, long term no-interest offers and leveraging your good credit for lower interest rates.
The trouble with credit starts when it is used as a permanent income-extender for daily living, like buying groceries or paying the utility bills, and forgetting about ever paying off the balance. That’s when you can bet your credit use is out of control. A quick control check can reveal your own dependency. Leave your credit cards-and all other plastic-at home for 24 hours. Can you do it? If you discover that you’re reaching for plastic several times a day, chances are you’ve developed a bit of a credit card habit.
Break the habit by learning to leave the cards at home. It can be tough at first-addictions are hard to set aside. Start slowly, and, as they say-one day at a time. But, as they also say-just do it. Gradually, you’ll become accustomed to not carrying money or cards with you-and you’ll learn to live within your real means, without debt.
Popular Low-Stress Careers
If you’re in the market for a new career and are seeking something less stressful that still allows you to comfortably make ends meet, there are options. Many jobs offer low stress days with reasonable pay.
One of the most in-demand careers at the moment are Computer Software Engineers. These tech-savvy folks enjoy a relatively low-pressure career while earning a decent salary. Their focus is designing and testing different software programs; anything from operating systems and business applications to computer games…and many do it all from home. Depending on variables, of course, a computer software engineer can expect an annual income of $54,000 to $130,000.
According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, Civil Engineers are also in high demand. It’s expected that the demand for their expertise will increase by about 24% over the next ten years, making it an above-average occupation. Although they design and build the nation’s infrastructure, they generally do so within teams. As well, they have a few years to design and complete their projects before construction even begins, which alleviates a lot of personal pressure. They also earn a comfortable $50,000 to $115,000 a year.
If you’re looking for something a little more hands-on, perhaps you should be considering physical therapy. Physical Therapists are well respected in the medical field, have flexible hours and are usually self-employed. It’s expected they will be in higher demand over the next few years as the Baby Boomers hit their golden years and encounter physical challenges. With an annual earning of $50,00 to $105,000, you can see there is rarely a dry spell in this field.
Technical writers are also a high-tech, new age group that are in constant demand. These individuals are paid an easy $47,000 to $98,000 a year to write about newly released gadgets, programs and toys. As companies release technical products, technical writers are required to review and transform the language into a simple consumer language. They may face tight deadlines, but technical writers usually enjoy flexible days and a quiet work environment with a 20-second commute to their computer. This is another job that sees most people working from home.
If something even more relaxed, and possibly even part-time is what you seek, how about a massage therapist? These are generally extremely low-pressure jobs that ensure self-employment and even working part-time. Due to many factors in this field, an annual salary can be whatever you like. On average, a massage therapist will charge around $30 an hour. If you chose to take on many clients, you could easily earn $45,000 or more a year.
B.P.s First of Many Bills due July 1
British Petroleum has been given until July 1 to pay the recent $69 million bill, the first of many expected to be handed over to them for the massive oil spill that has to date, leaked approximately 50 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This bill is strictly for the initial costs incurred by the government for their response to the spill.
In a recent interview, Obama told CNN’s Larry King, “I am furious at this entire situation because this is an example where somebody didn’t think through the consequences of their actions. This is imperiling an entire way of life and an entire region for potentially years.”
New permits for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico have been stopped by the Minerals Management Service. Michael J. Saucier, regional supervisor of field operations for the MMS Gulf of Mexico region, sent an e-mail stating that “until further notice” there will not be any new drilling allowed in the Gulf of Mexico regardless if it is deep or shallow water.
This statement stirred some controversy, as it was a complete contradiction to an earlier statement released by Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for the Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar who said, “There is no moratorium on shallow water drilling. Shallow-water drilling may continue as long as oil and gas operations satisfy the environmental and safety requirements and have exploration plans that meet those requirements.”
The Mineral Management Service released their e-mail a day after granting approval for a drilling permit to Bandon Oil and Gas. They applied for the right to drill 115 feet below the surface, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Several environmental groups accused the administration of misleading the public by granting drilling rights in water up to 500 feet, while still maintaining a freeze on any deepwater drilling.
Acting director of the Minerals Management Service, Bob Abbey, says that all operators will be required to submit additional risk and safety information before drilling considerations will be accepted. These rules are even being implemented on already existing plans that have been approved. It is hoped that this new information will tighten the safety standards and lessen the risk of environmental catastrophes in drilling plans.
On the flipside, a group of local lawmakers expressed concern that any drilling bans could have a massive negative impact on the state’s economy, which is already struggling with business closures and job losses that have been directly related to the oil spill.
Ways to Save on Groceries
If we only didn’t have to eat at all, we could put a big chunk of change in the bank, and save ourselves a lot of time, too. But until we can get by without food at all, we can sure cut back on our expenses with a few money saving tips and a bit of frugal spending.
First, what’s in your fridge already? Knowing what’s there can help you save money by not buying duplicates and building meals around what you’ve already got at home. It’s often the strangest things in the cupboard that don’t get eaten-so go online and google pears-in-light-syrup and almonds and see what dinner items you might come up with. Then buy the complimentary ingredients and poof!-stewed pears in white wine. Serve it with sautéed asparagus with toasted almonds and a bit of tenderloin. Yum.
Put a price cap on your groceries. Don’t allow yourself to spend whatever you want. Determine a reasonable amount for your groceries-some estimates suggest about $40 per week per person. That will vary depending on where you live, of course, but it’s a good starting point. If you limit the money you spend, and track your spending as you shop, you can make cheaper choices so you don’t exceed what you allocate.
Price shop. Local corner stores compete with the big boys with at least one item that’s cheaper every week. Go in and get it-bananas at five cents a pound? You bet. Just don’t get sucked into buying anything else there-hit the big superstores where the cheapest prices and best selections can generally be found.
Look for no-name brands, and look down. It’s a war for aisle space in the supermarkets, and the losers get stuck on the lower shelves. That’s a win for you, of course, because now you know where to look for the cheapest prices and best bargains. So keep your eyes on your toes, and your nose to the floor.
Eat before you hit the supermarket. This might be a golden rule of food shopping. Never go to the grocery store hungry. Not only will you eat your way through the store, you’re much more likely to veer off your shopping list, overbuy on everything, and splurge on items your starving tummy is crying out for. So be sure to eat your Wheaties before you shop.
Use a shopping list. This will not only save you money at the store, but it will also save you money because you’ll know what you’re eating every day of the week. This helps avoid last minute impulse buys and pre-made dinners like pizza on your way home after work. It may even help your waistline because fast foods or instant foods are almost always higher calories than what you prepare from scratch at home.
Leave the kids at home. Taking kids to a shopping mart is the quintessential recipe for disaster-and overspending. And supermarkets know it. Every isle is filled with teaser items that just scream for little hands to reach out and touch, play, or eat, especially at the checkout counter. Leave the kids at home.
Only a few changes to your grocery-buying habits can result in huge savings at the supermarket that can add more mileage to your budget.