I went over to my friend’s house and his apartment was covered with plastic films around the windows. I asked him what they were and he said the films block out cold air seeping in through little cracks around the edges of the windows. I thought that was a great idea and asked him if he could really feel the difference. Without hesitation, he said he noticed a huge difference. I was sold after that.

A couple of weeks later, I finally went over to Home Depot and bought myself one pack of 3M Window Insulator Kit and proceeded to install them throughout my home. The installation process is pretty simple. Just tape the edges around the window frame with the provided double sided tape. Then take the plastic film and attach it onto the tape. The final step is to use a blower dryer and run it all over the film. As heat is applied, the film actually shrinks and makes it air tight.

I’m not quite sure how much savings I will actually have during this winter season, but if you go to 3M website, they actually have an energy savings calculator. Just input your location, type of window, and thermostat settings, and you’ll know in a split second how much you’ll save.

After inputting my information, it says I will save just over $200 during this winter. I bought a pack of 9 films at Home Depot for about $14.  I have 3 windows equipped with the film and I plan on finishing the project over by this weekend. If it only costs me $30 or so and I can save $200, then that’s a good investment. Since it’s already January and in the middle of heating season, I probably won’t save $200. Even at $100, it could still be worth it. The only problem is that I have no way of knowing whether the films are actually saving me money since I have no baseline to compare to. However, as an engineer, I know that the air gap between the window and the film does prove to be a good insulator by increasing the R-value of the windows.

Do you have experience using these films to reduce energy costs?

When my roommate moved out, he was considering two options: rent an apartment or buy a house. At that time, his desire was to buy a house. With the economy not doing very well and housing market seemingly bottoming out, he figured it was a good time to get in on the housing investment. But the big concern was getting approved for the loan he could afford without having to make the full 20% down payment. He understood the ramifications of not having enough down payment and being forced to take on a private mortgage insurance. It meant an extra $150-200 per month just on the PMI.

Although I am an avid supporter of paying a minimum of 20% for down payment when buying a house, one big advantage that could outweigh all disadvantages is home ownership.

You will be able to take advantage of home ownership. Nowadays, with rental market going increasing, it sometimes becomes more affordable to buy than to rent an apartment of comparable size. In my neighborhood, a 3-bedroom apartment goes for about $1800 per month. My current mortgage on my house is only $1770. Not only that, I can claim interest and property tax on my year end tax deductions. That will shade another $400+ off my monthly cost of home ownership.

However, please do your own due diligence as PMI is not for everyone. It did work out for my roommate and as soon as he can build up his equity to over 20%, he can forgo on the PMI and pocket the change. The housing market may or may not have bottomed out yet, but it seems like things are starting to turn around. According to the mortgage trends, average age of first time home buyers is around 30 years old. So, if you need to purchase a PMI to own a house of your dreams, and all of the numbers make sense to you, then now may be a good time to become a home owner.

Note: This post was inspired by Genworth Financial

My wife was very excited to purchase and decorate our first Christmas tree together as husband and wife. She was so excited that she bought the tree in mid-November. We opted to buy an artificial tree over the eco-friendlier real tree or even using a rent-a-tree service, purely for cost reasons. She also wanted to put up more lights inside AND outside of our house, but we haven’t gotten to it yet because I’ve been too busy (err lazy). But hopefully, we’ll have more lights up soon. Have you put your Christmas lights yet?

There is this one house in our neighborhood that goes way beyond crazy with their decorations and lights during this time of the year. With so many light bulbs used, I always wondered how much it costs them leave their lights on throughout the night every night. But for our house, we currently have about 200 mini lights around our tree and additional 100 lights that wrap around our staircase. According to the box the light bulbs came in, each set of 100 lights consumes about 2o watt of energy. We leave the light on for about 7 hours every day from 5pm to 12am. At around 9 cents per kWh in the Baltimore area currently, it’s easy to calculate the energy consumption of my lights.

watt x time x electricity rate = total cost

(20w x 3) x (7 hours) x ($0.09/1000 watt hr) =  $0.0378 per day

That’s less than 4 cents per day! Even if we add 10 times more lights outside of our house, that’ll still only cost us less than 40 cents a day. But for that house in my neighborhood, I won’t be surprised if it costs them 100 times more than  the 40 cents. we just calculated That means I’m assuming they pay $40 per day or $1,200 a month to have their lights up. That is some serious money!

What kind of lights do you have up?

Don’t forget to winterize your home by closing your home’s hose bib shutoff valve off. If you leave it on, the water sitting inside the pipe between the shutoff valve inside your home and the hose bib outside your home will freeze and refreeze during the winter season. When the water freezes over and over again inside the pipe, the integrity of the pipe construction weakens and eventually fails. This will result in a flooded basement.

In March of my very first year of home ownership, I came home to a flooded basement. As soon as I opened my door, I heard water dripping noises in the basement. I was shocked to see my basement in two inches of water. I had gone away for the weekend so I’m not sure exactly how long it was leaking, but my basement was ruined. The water was coming through the light bulb sockets in the ceiling. I closed the water valve in the basement, called the plumber and was told that the hose bib in the back side of the house burst open. Total damages came out to be around $7,000. My homeowner insurance covered $6,000 due to my $1,000 deductible. It was quite an expensive lesson learned. Since then, I make sure that both my hose bib valves are closed during the winter months.

In order to winterize your hose bibs, first identify how many hose bibs you have. Walk around the perimeter of your home and locate all hose bibs. Then find the corresponding shut off valve inside your home for each of the hose bibs. Close the valve inside first, then turn your hose bib valve to a fully open position to let all remaining water in the pipe out. Also make sure to remove your hoses from the connection.

Don’t make the same mistake I made a few years back. Winterize your home now before it’s too late.

The following tips are not just for winter or for those struggling with higher energy costs. In fact, every home can benefit by these simple tips and save money and energy throughout the year.

1. Don’t place heat-generating appliances such as televisions or computers near thermostats. The thermostat is tricked in to thinking the home is warmer than it actually is throughout the rest of the home. This might not seem like a big deal and you might be thinking there isn’t a problem but the rest of the house will just be a little cooler. The problem is not as much of a concern in winter when the extra heat fools the thermostat, thereby reducing the heating cycle. However, many homeowners turn the thermostat up to increase heating in the balance of the home and fail to reduce it once the heat generating appliance is turned off, therefore heating at the increased level remains throughout the sleeping hours of the family. Conversely, cooling systems will be tricked into responding to the increased heat by over cooling the balance of the home. The homeowner will often not realize the heat generated by a computer or television is affecting their heating bill. There is a simple no-cost answer and that is to move the heat source to another location, which is a minimum of 15 feet from the thermostat. This tip, combined with the cheapest gas and electricity you can find will save you money.

2. Rinse all laundry in cold water. The temperature of the rinse water does not influence the cleanliness of the laundry. Wash only those clothes that absolutely require hot or warm water for cleaning. Hot water washing should be reserved for diapers, towels, sheets and occasionally socks. One family simply disconnected the hot water tap to the washer to eliminate all hot water washing. After one year the savings from this one act alone totaled in excess of $475 based on an average of two hot water loads per week. Brightness of whites was not affected and the cost of the bleach already in use did not affect the whiteness of socks or cloth diapers.

3. Use a humidifier during the winter months. Higher humidity levels make you feel warmer. It’s not the heat but the humidity. Residents and visitors in dryer climates such as Arizona claim that 100 degrees in the shade isn’t that bad, but ask a resident of Florida or Maryland about 100 degrees in the shade and they will tell you, 100 degrees is too hot for human tolerance. The higher the humidity level remains in the home the warmer the home feels. Whole house humidifiers are not cheap, but can pay for themselves in less than one heating season. If possible, purchase a combination unit that will put moisture back into the air in winter and remove it in the summer, thereby reducing cooling costs.

4. Install thermal window coverings. One afternoon of time and approximately $20 per average sized window can save as much as $30 per month on an average 1,500 square foot, three-bedroom home. Over the course of a year the new window coverings will pay for themselves as much as four times. Thermal window coverings not only reduce heat loss in winter, but also reduce heat intrusion in the hot summer months.

5. Install ceiling fans. For houses equipped with radiant heat sources such as wood stoves, baseboard or old style radiators, ceiling fans are invaluable. Turning ceiling fans on in reverse to force warm air down toward the floor will make rooms feel warmer. Heat rises, therefore the ceilings are always warmer. Moving the warm air down will force circulation. The reduced heating costs are outweighed by the limited energy consumed by ceiling fans.

Note: This article was submitted by a representative of uswitch.com

As soon as you think you are ready to purchase a home, it is time to start working on some homework. From trying out a mortgage calculator to getting together the proper documentation, there is plenty to do. Remember that the more you do in advance, the easier it will be to figure out what you can afford and what your payment will be. If you really want to enjoy the home buying process, begin with some idea of what type of home you can afford. Before the Realtor even makes a suggestion you will know whether or not you want to look at the home based on the price range. You see all of the homes around you for sale, but the figure of what the home is selling for isn’t always that helpful. You aren’t going to have that much money lying around so that you can pay cash. You are going to make a payment every month. Because of this, you need to know exactly what the payment will be. You also have to consider the costs of owning and maintaining your home as well. There are several different things that will make a difference.

Down Payment
Most people set up a down payment. This is the money that will be given to the seller upfront. This amount will decrease the amount of money you will need to finance. Figure out how much money you have as a down payment and how much you will be able to save in the meantime.

Interest Rate
An interest rate is a key part of figuring out how much of a payment you can afford. The lower the interest rate, the lower your payment is going to be. This is a figure that is constantly changing, so it is important to keep a close eye on it.

Mortgage Insurance
If you don’t put down enough of a down payment, you will need to pay mortgage insurance. This will affect your mortgage payment even though it may not be that much. Remember that a mortgage calculator may or may not take this into consideration when it gives you a final figure.

Mortgage Calculator
Take all of the above numbers and plug them into a mortgage calculator, such as the one on the right sidebar of this page. You can find several different varieties online. You can take the cost of the home and enter in all of the fields. It will give you an approximate amount of money that you will pay each month for that home.  The best part of a mortgage calculator is that you can change the fields. Add a little more to the down payment to see how that changes the payment. Add in the cost of a few upgrades to a new home and see how the payment is changed. You can also increase and decrease the interest rate to see if either one makes a large impact.

Your Financial Situation

When it comes to purchasing a home and calculating a house payment, your information needs to be taken into consideration. Sure you think that you can afford that house payment, but will a lender agree? A mortgage lender needs to know that you are going to come through and be able to make that payment month after month. Most lenders agree that the house payment (including all of the things above – interest, principal, mortgage insurance and homeowner’s insurance) should be not be more than 28 percent of your gross monthly income. You can work backwards and find out what 28 percent of your monthly gross income is and then try to find a house payment to fit. Or you can just start with different price ranges and see what it takes to get the payment down to an affordable price.

Note: This article was submitted by moneysupermarket.com representative.

There are many ways to add value to your property, most of which include making home improvements to your home. Sometimes taking out a small personal loan with low interest to complete improvements can add ten times the value of the loan onto your home.

Here are some of the ways that you can make improvements and add value to your home:

Increase Living Space
By extending into the loft of your home you could potentially increase the value of your property by 20 percent. This is the most cost-effective way to gain extra living space, in turn making the property more attractive to potential buyers. You should be able to carry out the work if your home was built before 1975 or if your loft area has headroom of 2.3m or over. Creating a double bedroom with en suite is the most popular option. Adding a conservatory can also raise your house’s value and is a relatively simple way to increase the amount of space in your home. Again you should check with your local planning department to see if you need permission to build.

Increase Square Footage
Adding a single-story extension can increase your property’s value by up to 12 percent. When considering an extension you should always consult your local planning authority. You should also remember that the balance between the size of your garden and the size of your house is important as potential buyers can be put off by a large house with no garden.

Remodel Kitchen
A new kitchen will make your property more appealing to buyers and can add as much as 4% to its value. But try to balance the property with the amount you spend on the kitchen, a bespoke kitchen will have little impact on a terrace house’s value.

Add a Bathroom
A new en suite or second bathroom can add 5% to your home’s value, but try to keep the larger bedrooms as they attract potential buyers. Simply renewing a bathroom suite will also make your home more appealing.

Go Green
Several companies believe that in the future eco-friendly homes will sell for more than standard ones. Many of these eco improvements, like adding insulation and fitting solar-panel heating, will also save you money on your energy bills.

Note: This guest post was submitted by HSBC representative.

Making green improvements to your home is a smart way save money on energy costs and add value to your home at the same time. Even if you do not plan to sell your home in the next few years, the initial outlay involved in making green improvements and/or smart home remodelling will be recouped in the savings to be made. So if you want to invest in environmentally friendly improvements, you may be eligible for a government grant, or you may want to borrow on your property. A mortgage repayment calculator will help you work out if it is wise financial decision to increase your mortgage in order to carry out these value increasing improvements.

Great savings and value increasing potential can be found with the installation of wall insulation and double glazing. Up to half of the heat lost from your home can be through the walls and loft. Cavity wall insulation alone can save you about $150 a year on your energy bills and you will have recouped your costs in around two to three years. Internal or external solid wall insulation can save you around $500 a year on your bills. Up to a quarter of heat can be lost through the roof, but by insulating to the recommended depth of, for example, 10-12″ for mineral wool insulation, you could save around $200 per year and recoup the installation costs in two years.

These are great ways to save money and add value to your home. These improvements can also reduce carbon dioxide emissions and certainly are worth investigating the installation costs. Further value can be added to your home with floor insulation which can save you up to $75 a year.  Draught proofing can save you up to $25 a year.

Don’t forget your windows. By installing double glazed windows, you can save a further $200 a year, reduce outside noise and condensation.  They also pose as an attractive feature for potential buyers. Another popular choice for green home improvements is the installation of solar panels. They significantly reduce your energy bills and you can earn some money from unused portion of the electricity produced by selling back to the grid. The installation of solar panels is an attractive feature for many potential buyers and could increase the value of your home by as much as $15,000. The system should have paid for itself within five to ten years of installation.

If you have an old boiler, you should look into getting it replaced with a newer, energy efficient model and save yourself a potential $300 a year.  If you are going to invest in these green home improvements, it pays to do a little research to ensure you are aware of any available grants and you use a reputable company who will install approved materials. In some cases, you may even be able to do it yourself, for example with loft insulation, draught proofing and pipe and tank insulation, saving yourself even more money.

Note: This post was submitted by moneysupermarket.com

In these difficult economic times, it is beneficial to consider how to save money on everyday items. However, many people overlook the many ways to save money within their home. Home appliances can drain your finances yet because they are so necessary, we don’t consider how to make them more efficient. In the midst of busy lives, we simply plug them in and forget about them. Saving energy, however, can help you save money. There are other ways of saving money too and to help in your research for better options for credit cards or loans click here. There are numerous ways of cutting your energy bills and once implemented, they are kind to both your wallet and the environment. It is a win-win situation!

Published research suggests that refrigerators are responsible for around twenty percent of all household electricity use. Ensure you have the energy saving switch turned on. Check the seal around the doors and the interior drainage valve to guarantee the refrigerator is working at an optimum level. Fill any empty space within the fridge or freezer with bottles of water, as this will help to save electricity. Always run the dishwasher when it is full to capacity and not for half-loads, as these waste energy and therefore money. Use the energy saving mode if possible. Allow the dishes to dry naturally rather than as part of a cycle, as this will save you in the region of a fifth of the normal energy usage. Do not use the pre-wash or hot setting on your washing machine unless your clothes are heavily soiled. The warm or cool setting will wash clothes from normal everyday wear satisfactorily.

When washing yourself, use a low-flow shower head to save electricity! These devices still provide you with a good shower but can reduce your bills considerably, especially in a family home. If you need more incentive to try this, just consider that every time you, or other family member, has a shower, the water that is going down the drain is actually your money! Invest in insulation for your water heater and loft to prevent valuable hot air escaping, which obviously then needs to be replaced and so increases your heating bills. The price of the insulation will easily be repaid by long-term lower heating bills.

In a similar way, buy energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs to reduce electricity for lighting. The initial cost outlay is minimal compared to the great savings you will make. There are many small actions you can take that will benefit you financially and benefit the environment too. Always leave lids on boiling pans of water to reduce energy by around thirty percent. When purchasing a new appliance, look for its energy rating. The Energy Star is a Government-backed initiative that illustrates when appliances have a good energy rating. The Energy Star is available on a whole range of appliances, from dishwashers to dehumidifiers, refrigerators to air conditioning units. Always spend time researching the options when selecting a new appliance.

Note: This article was submitted by Moneysupermarket.com

Nowadays, it is common for consumers to shop around and choose which companies they are going to deal with on a ‘green basis’. It is easy to find out what the companies to be found on moneysupermarket.com adopt as their green policy; for example using emailing instead of sending through the mail. There are things that we personally can do in everyday life this summer that can make us greener and cleaner. Decisions that we make from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed can reduce costs and make us more conscious of green issues.

One of the best things about trying to be greener is the fact that it can save a lot of money. The spiraling cost of gas is big news and one of the best ways to save money is to walk or cycle to work instead of driving. This will not only decrease traffic and fumes, it will save the money being spent on fuel and help get commuters fit and healthy without having to pay to go to the gym. Email is now an everyday part of life both at work and at home and using it saves paper and delivery ‘miles’. It is also quick and convenient. Making a conscious decision to only print out vital emails can save on paper, ink costs and time.

Back at home, there are many ways of saving money and the planet by making small changes to the way technology is handled. Just unplugging phone chargers and devices left on standby can save a small fortune in utility bills. One of the easiest ways to save money in the long run is to change light bulbs from standard to energy efficient wherever possible. Trying to get the children into the regime of switching lights off as soon as they leave a room will always help. As the summer months wear on, try some outdoor pursuits of an evening instead of watching the television. This will stimulate the brain as well as saving electricity.

Another top way to save money in the home is to get out your winter clothes if the weather is a little chilly, rather than putting on the heating. If you must put the heating on, turn the thermostat down one or two degrees. This will hardly be noticeable and can save a small fortune. Another way to save money is to save water. Inviting a hippo into the bathroom may sound strange, but a hippo device fitted in the cistern can significantly reduce the amount of water used when flushing. Saving water in hot months makes sense and an easy way to slash the amount being used is to shower instead of running a bath. Simple things such as turning the tap off while cleaning your teeth can also make a huge difference. Washing clothes uses huge amounts of electricity and water. Washing at a lower temperature and hanging clothes outside to dry instead of using a tumble dryer can have a dramatic impact.

Who would not want to improve their garden for free? Wonderful, rich, nutrition packed compost can be yours for free if you build a composter and put in all your garden and kitchen waste. Another way to save water and improve your garden is to invest in rain butts to collect rainwater. This can then be used to water the garden liberally without pouring money down the drain in water bills. Instead of holidaying abroad, consider taking a ‘staycation’ instead. Not only will this be much greener in terms of travel costs and mode of transport, but you might discover things you never knew about your local area. There are hundreds of ways in which we can make small changes in our lives to help keep the planet greener. The fact that we can save a small fortune in the process is an added bonus.

Note: This article was submitted by Moneysupermarket.com