Saving Money on Bills

May 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

saving-moneyTired of living paycheck to paycheck? Does it feel like you have no money? If you are sick and tired of debt and having too many bills to pay, it is time to look at your finances and make some significant changes! You can do a lot of things to save money each month on your bills. Here are a few tips to consider if you want to save money and have some set aside in a savings account.

Tip # 1 – Refinance Your Home

A great way to save money is to go in for a home refinance. You can take your debts and roll them into the finance so you can have extra money each month. The interest rates are much lower on a refinance than other loans, which is a great way to save a lot of money each month. If you are a Veteran you may qualify for a VA loan. Look into www.lowvarates.com for more information about refinance loans. You will be able to reduce the monthly payment amount as well, which is always a welcome thing! Getting your mortgage payment reduced can help to relieve some of the paycheck to paycheck living.

Tip # 2 – Cut the unnecessary expenses

How much money are you paying for entertainment costs? Do you eat out a lot? How about going to movies? You should limit how much spending you do on things that can cause you to earn debt in a hurry and take away a lot of spending money. Unnecessary spending is easy to cut as long as you are disciplined and you stick to it.

Tip # 3 – Reduce your payments

If you pay out a lot of money toward your Cable TV and other bills, it’s time to reduce them! Can you afford to cancel the Cable? How about looking at other things that you can reduce like your cell phone bill? There are many things that you can reduce from your monthly expenses if you will be willing to give up a few luxury items.

Tip # 4 – Reduce your energy costs

One of the ways to keep your monthly bills lower you can reduce your energy bills. This is a great way to reduce your bills you can change your lights to the new energy efficient ones. Another way to reduce your energy costs is by changing out your utilities. Changing to the new energy-efficient appliances will help to keep the costs lower by using less power. You can also help out by shutting off the lights in your room when you aren’t using it. You can also help out by unplugging the appliances and things that you are not using. This will help to keep the costs lower so you aren’t paying energy to things that are not in use.

Filed Under: Random Thoughts

Before Summer Ends

May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Hit the library more often with your kids this summer.

This is a version of a bucket list, I suppose. There are so many things that I want to do with my kids before they grow too old and do not want to do any of these things anymore. We are going to try to keep our “screen time” (time spent on the computer or watching TV, movies, etc.) to a minimum. Maybe you can take some inspiration from a small list that I’ve compiled of things that we, as a family, want to do this summer.

Visit the library more. There are so many good books to get at the library that can spur the kids’ interest in learning about the world around them. Those books can become jumping off points for other activities to do during the summer. For example, picking up a photography book and having your kids learn about taking good pictures can lead to activities involving the use of a camera. They can learn how to play instruments, garden, along with a myriad of other things. Reading fiction and non-fiction also helps to increase their creativity and imagination. I was a reader and I am hoping that my kids have that love as well. There are also classes at the library, all you have to do is ask the front desk for a schedule. Some are educational and some are merely for a “story-time” session.

Get cooking. There are so many things that the kids enjoy eating, and they do not realize how easy it is to make. Although they are not old enough to be in the kitchen alone, it is never too early to begin teaching them that cooking can be fun and that recipes are usually easier than they seem. What I want to do is ask them what some of their favorite foods are, other than macaroni and cheese, and then make that dish with them. My mom used to do that with us, and that is how I learned to make pies and other yummy treats. They can even start their own recipe books so that they can keep the recipes as they grow up and begin cooking on their own.

Discover the artist within. Something that I have always wanted to do is kindle a love of art in my kids. I am wanting to take them to the art gallery and have them pick a painting that they want to try to recreate. The painting can be anything from Monet to Warhol, but they have to pick it themselves. Then we can try to recreate it at home using paints or just around the house items. Another project, along these lines, is making a melted crayon drawing where the sun is what softens the crayons and makes them run.

There are more ideas, but this is just a starting point. The summer offers so many different activities that it is important to remember that there is always next summer. Just make sure that you make the most out of this one.

Filed Under: Mom Stuff, Random Thoughts

DIY: Summer Soaking

May 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Here is an example of something you can do with a tarp and a hose.

Some of the best memories that I have of summer is playing with my family in our front and back yards. My favorite ones all have the same theme, they were when the watering hose came out. My mom was a genius when it came to things to do with the hose. Here are just some of the ideas that she came up with. I use these with my family and I hope that they love it as much as I did and do so that the tradition will continue.

 

  1. The boys’ favorite: The Super Soaker. You will need around twenty inches of schedule 40 1/2 PVC piping, one cross slip connector, one “tee” slip connector, four and a half slip caps, and one garden hose PVC connector. You’ll also need a sprayer that connects to the hose and has a threaded end, a hack saw so that you can cut the piping, and a drill with an eighth bit. First, you need to drill four holes in the caps, in a square pattern. Then lay out the pieces, an example of how to do this is found here. Then you put them all together and screw it onto the sprayer gun. The website linked to already will give you the best details about it.
  2. Everyone needs a good “Slip ‘n’ Slide”. Ours was made out of a huge tarp, “y” shaped stick, and a hose. All you have to do is take a trip to your local hardware store and pick up one of their giant tarps. Trust me, you’ll be able to find one. Then you stake it down in your backyard. Find a “y” shaped stick and place it near the top of the tarp in the ground so that you can lay your hose through the top so you have a constant stream of water going across it. If it is not slippery enough, add a little bit of dish soap. If you do not want to add just soap, you can go to a local outdoor equipment store and they should have biodegradable, environmentally friendly soap that will not do anything to the chemical balance of the soil.
  3. PVC comes back in the form of a shower/sprinkler. You’ll need three end caps, one piece of PVC that connects the hose to your pipes, two “l” connectors, two “tee” connectors, and seven pieces of pipe (three longer than the other four). Drill holes in one piece of the piping so that the water can go out and once you hook it all up, it should look like the picture above. This was extra fun because we could run through the “sprinklers” without worrying about tripping over anything or falling on the ground because of that.

 

Mom also got us to water her plants while we were outside running around. We had one weekend where we decorated our own watering cans and made them waterproof by using a waterproof decoupage. We would add pictures we had drawn, pictures of us, pictures of things that we liked, stickers, and more. Then we just coated it in this decoupage and let it dry. By the next week we each had our own cans and were ready for whatever gardening need that Mom saw fit to throw at us!

Filed Under: Fitness

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