For the last year, I’ve concentrated on riding my bike to work when the weather is nice.  Gas may not be as expensive as it was when I first bought the bike, but biking to work still saves me money and I learned I enjoy riding my bike and the great exercise.  I realize that my 1 1/2-mile commute is somewhat unusual when the nation’s average commute is around 30 miles, but I’m sure there are many people with commutes that are acceptable for bicycles.

If you want to try riding to work, here’s what you’re going to need.

Equipment

• Bike – Obviously if you’re going to bike to work, you need a bike. Just about any bike will do, but it will make the ride easier if you have a road or hybrid bike – a mountain bike will have a much heftier frame.  The heavier the bike, the more weight you have to pedal down the road.  Ensure that the brakes are in good condition, the tires are aired up and holding their pressure, and the chains and gears are properly greased.  If you’re not sure how to maintain your bike, take it to a bike shop before your first ride.
• Lock – I prefer a thick, sturdy cable lock to secure my bike.  A lock isn’t going to deter someone dead-set on stealing your bike, but a properly-installed cable lock can prevent “casual” theft of your bike’s equipment.  Many bikes today have a “quick release” for the tires to allow for easy tire changes.  These quick release levers also allow for easy stealing of tires.  Threading the cable lock through your tires and frame and then around a permanently-installed bike rack will help protect your investment.
• Helmet – A helmet isn’t just a suggestion, it’s a necessity.  I hate “helmet hair” as much as the next person, but that minor inconvenience is nothing compared to injury or death from a biking accident.  A helmet won’t save you from all harm, but it could make the difference between seeing your family again and being a young organ donor.
• Clothes – Don’t ride to work in your work clothes unless your office is extremely casual.  You want to be cool and comfortable during your commute and you don’t want to ruin your work clothes with sweat or mud splashes.  You don’t need to spend for a fancy biking outfit – shorts and a t-shirt should be sufficient.  Take your work clothes with you (or even better – have clothes at work waiting for you) and change when you get to the office.
• Shoes – Good shoes are important for safe biking.  Many dressier shoes have a slick sole that won’t grip your pedals and could cause you to get into an accident.  Tennis shoes are a much better alternative and your feet will be more comfortable on your commute.  Like your clothes, either take your work shoes with you or leave a pair at the office.
• Backpack – I purchased a decent backpack for $10 before I started riding to work so I could carry my lunch and clothes with me.  If I ever have to take work home or bring supplies to the office, I just put it all in the backpack.  Be sure not to overload your backpack since that weight could throw off your center of balance and every pound in your bag is another pound slowing you down.
• Saddlebags – Saddlebags are great for the work commuter.  Instead of carrying a heavy backpack, you can split the weight into two bags hanging beside your back wheel.  They’re a little more expensive than a backpack, but they make riding easier since the weight is lower and not pulling on your shoulders.

Your Route

Before you make your first ride, you need to plan your route for the places you can legally and safely ride your bike.  Not all towns are bicycle-friendly, so you’ll have to know your local laws and regulations about where you’re allowed to ride.  Many places prohibit biking on sidewalks and biking on many highways and interstates is illegal (not to mention dangerous).

My commute

To map out my ride, I installed Google Earth and zoomed in to my town.  As I examined the route I drove from home to work, I noticed a few low-volume side roads and subdivisions I could cut through that wouldn’t add much time or distance to my commute, but would provide a safer ride than taking the main thoroughfares.  Using the path tool in Google Earth, I was able to map out and measure the distance of my commute and I used it to prove to my wife that it would be safe enough for me to ride.

Get Pedaling!

Biking is great exercise and it saves you from the wasting your gas money stuck in the rush hour traffic jams.  Just be safe and smart about it and it’ll pay off for you in the long run!

Photo by: Amsterdamize

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

It feels a little funny writing about toilet paper, but I’ve discovered something that I just have to share:  You can actually save money by switching from store-brand toilet paper to a quality name brand – even without coupons.

For months, we used the Target brand toilet paper because it was cheaper.  After some quick calculations, it was about $0.076 cheaper per 100 sheets or about $5.47 cheaper than a package of Charmin Ultra Strong that would have the same number of sheets.

But after being frustrated by torn sheets while wiping and paper particles “left behind”, I decided to give the better paper a chance.

Immediately I noticed that I needed less paper per bathroom visit.  Where I used to take 4 sheets at a time, I only needed 2 sheets with the Charmin Ultra Strong.  That drove me to run a few calculations on the actual cost of toilet paper:

While I originally purchased the store brand to save money, it actually did the opposite.  The Charmin was more per sheet, but by using half as many sheets at each use, I actually saved $0.002 over the Target brand each time I pulled from the roll.

Calculating unit cost is a great way to determine your savings, but it doesn’t always tell you the full story.  While I thought I was saving, I was actually wiping away my hard-earned cash.  It’s a little hard to do up-front, but make sure to calculate your actual cost-per-use to find where the real savings lie.

Photo by: TheGiantVermin

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

I have been frugal as long as I can remember, but there are times that I catch myself taking it too far. Yesterday as I was standing in the pharmacy aisle of my local Target meticulously comparing generic pain killers and weighing the better cost per unit of the large bottle against the likelihood of wasting part of that same bottle due to expiration, I was struck by the absurdity of the situation. I wasted more time doing estimates and projections against my chances of wasting some medicine rather than it was worth instead of just purchasing it and getting on with my life.

From my earliest memories, I’ve always tried to get the best bang for my buck. I was that kid who stood in the toy aisle feeling the money in his pocket and sizing up the best toy I could get for what I’d saved. I often left the store with nothing but that pocket full of money because I decided to wait and save up for an even better toy. I’ve even been known (even in my adult years) to choose a junk food snack based on cost per ounce. (In case you’re wondering, Snickers is one of the best values and gets bonus points for being chocolate.)

My tendency toward extreme frugality and my desire to utilize each dollar as wisely as possible can lead to struggles I term “pre-buyer’s remorse” where I struggle with the mere idea of making a large purchase but it has also saved us a great deal of money. By taking the time to research every possible factor affecting performance, maintenance, and life span of home appliances, I believe I’ve saved us hundreds of dollars in electricity use, repairs, and replacements. For example, by not simply buying the cheapest blender on the shelf but actually researching which ones last longest, I avoided buying a known “stinker” that probably would have worn out or broken within a year. And by researching and buying one of the better washing machines on the market at the time, we are actively saving money now on water, electricity, and detergent usage.

Regardless of the struggles I occasionally face, I enjoy being frugal. I really don’t care if I look ridiculous standing in the aisle of the store comparing and calculating unit prices, because spending my money wisely is important to me. I’m frugal because I hate wasting money and want whatever I purchase to be the best option I could buy. I’m frugal because I know the value of money and how hard I worked to earn it. I’m frugal because I want to pass the same sensibility to my children.

Why are you frugal? Share with us in the comments!

Photo by: winterofdiscontent

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

This past weekend when I went shopping for diapers for my new daughter, I came upon a wall of packs of diapers of varying quantities and brands and prices. It was an overwhelming sight.

Our diaper brand of choice is Pampers, so I focused on those packs. The three sizes were appropriately priced:

But after considering the $1 off coupon I held, the pricing balance changed just a bit:

Suddenly, after applying the $1 coupon, the largest pack was no longer the best option.

While you’re generally not able to use coupons at warehouse stores — where unit prices are generally lower than retail stores — coupons can really change the game at a retail store.

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

This has been a rough third quarter here with us tapping our savings to pay for finishing our basement and to pay down debt, so our cash flow has been decidedly negative for some time. Couple that with preparing for the new baby and setting up my daughter’s new bedroom, we’re nearly out of cash altogether. With that in mind, one thing has become very clear: Christmas is going to have to be much leaner this year.

After analyzing our assets and income projection, we decided we can allot no more than $250 to gifts this Christmas – and my income from blogging is going to have to pay for it all. In order to force us to keep that budget, we’ve instituted a cash-only Christmas. We will only pay cash when buying gifts this Christmas.

Why Cash?

By pulling out the cash ahead of time and slowly emptying the envelope, it will help us keep our spending reigned in and will give us a good visual benchmark of how much we’ve spent and how much we have left. When paying for gifts with a credit card, it’s easy to ignore the numbers as they add up and quickly out-spend your budget. But with cash, when it’s gone, there’s no more spending!

And by setting a budget, pulling out the cash early, and spending it wisely, you’re forced to get more creative to create or purchase gifts with far more meaning. According to JLP at AllFinancialMatters, 12 million Americans are still paying off last Christmas. I wonder how much of that money was spent on meaningless and thoughtless purchases of junk.

Gifts always have much more impact on the recipient when it’s an important gesture to them. In all cases, quality is way more important than quantity. I would rather receive one moderately-priced gift that fits my needs and likes exactly than a room full of presents that were purchased “just because.” (And I’m speaking from experience, here…)

What About the Internet?

I hate having to deal with the holiday shopping crowds and internet shopping provides a great opportunity to avoid those crowds. But, obviously, internet shops can’t accept cash for your purchases. So what are you to do?

What we do is to have the envelope sitting nearby when shopping online. By keeping it close, it’s easy to check your remaining budget. As you add things to your shopping cart, you pull out the equivalent amount of money from the envelope and set it aside so it can’t be “re-spent”.

We have a second envelope set up specifically to cover our credit card-driven internet purchases. That money will remain in the envelope until our credit card bill arrives. Only then will we deposit that money back into our checking account and pay the bill.

Half the Dollars; Double the Fun!

Ok, maybe “double” is a bit of an exaggeration, but we’re definitely not going to have any less fun this Christmas! Both my wife and I are having fun getting creative with each other’s gifts and looking for less-traditional sources for presents. I’ve been faithfully shopping Goodwill (and Goodwill’s online stores), Amazon’s used-product sellers, and other thrifty places.

My wife has gotten ambitious with her knitting and is making presents for both sets of parents as a way to reduce her cost. So far, she’s fashioned a potholder for each of the mothers and now she’s working hard on an afghan. Hand-crafted gifts are usually inexpensive and hold great meaning for the recipient since it shows they are worth the time and effort needed to create a personalized gift.

Enjoy It, No Matter What

A budget-crunched Christmas doesn’t have to be a let-down. In fact, it really gives you the opportunity to take Christmas back to its roots as a family-centered (and Christ-centered) holiday instead of the mass-merchandiser’s boon they’ve conditioned us to expect.

How has the economy and your life’s events changed Christmas for you this year? What does your Christmas budget look like and how do you plan to keep faithful to it? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments!

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

This weekend on our monthly trip to Sam’s Club to stock up our pantry, we went in with our usual shopping list of diapers, cereal, cleaning supplies, frozen foods, and ground meat. We nonchalantly strolled through our “open while under renovation” club warehouse as we have every month for the last few years – completely unaware of what horrors lie ahead on our trip.

We finally came upon the butchers area to find it completely shut off and empty. Apparently, they’ve decided to start their renovation work in the most man-friendly section in the store. In front of what used to be the butcher’s shop was a line of almost-bare open refrigerators housing what little meat they felt like stocking for us hungry cavemen. But since ground beef was on the shopping list, I had to endure the heartache and scrounge and forage through this embarrassment of a so-called “meat section.”

When I finally weaved through the other emasculated hunters (we’re a sad lot, really), I beheld a horrific sight: There were only two packs of ground beef remaining! I picked one up as fast as I could, but was immediately shocked at how light it felt. No, this wasn’t a product of my upper body workouts, this meat pack really was lighter. I checked the price tag and my fears were confirmed… The pack that once held six pounds now held just five and at a surprising $2.89/lb.

Discouraged, I nearly resigned myself to a leaner chili season this winter. That is, until I glanced to my left and beheld a glorious sight: The meat log!

The Price Sticker

I had seen these rolls of ground beef stacked neatly next to the meat packs many times before, but I always dismissed them as some obscenely-shaped sausage product. This time, I warily set down my 5lb pittance of ground beef and examined this hefty log of meat. After a little poking and prodding, I noticed the price tag and discovered that this was, in fact, the exact same ground meat I was about to buy in a meat pack – only much cheaper. I do believe I embarrassed my wife with the exuberant “whoop!” that snuck out upon my discovery…

All these years, I believed I was being frugal and getting a great deal by buying a meat pack and freezing its contents in one-pound packs for later consumption as I passed up on a much better deal sitting mere inches to the left. It just goes to show you that you that there might be a better price available if you simply glance around.

How did I keep missing this deal?

I’ve been buying ground beef in meat packs for at least four years. Considering the $0.35/lb savings for this tube of meat versus a meat pack, I’m sure I’ve spent over $100 more than I had to – if only I had known about this 10lb ground beef log. But don’t worry; I’m not too torn up over it. I’m just glad I found out about it now. Now I can look forward to lugging home my very own meat log every month or two, and that makes me feel like a successful hunter caveman!

Featured in the Festival of Frugality 11/4 Election Day Edition at Bargain Briana.

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Everyone has some sort of skill. Regardless of if you are a doctor, a lawyer, a bricklayer, or if you can just lift boxes, there is someone out there who needs access to your skills. In the corporate world, you trade access to these skills by the hour for a set amount of money. You then trade that money for goods and services from others. But if you take the money “middle man” out of the equation, you get down to a more pure transfer of services – bartering.

Bartering is a great way to get the services you need without having to spend much money. All it takes is an agreement between the two parties to exchange your goods or services for those of the other. While all skills are valuable, I’ve noticed that some – particularly related to computers – carry considerable more demand and value.

I have been doing some computer work on the side for friends, neighbors, and people from church for a while. Recently, I was called to do work on my pastor’s computer as I have been many times before. After completing the job, he asked if there was anything he or his wife could do to repay me. Since we are currently finishing our basement, we’re going to have to pick out colors soon and knowing that his wife is an interior decorator, I asked that she give us a color consultation so we get a nice color scheme down there and throughout our house. She agreed and we’ll have her over in the next month to go through our house and suggest a colors for the rooms we haven’t completed.

Ordinarily, a consultation for a whole house might cost a couple hundred dollars, but by agreeing to trade our services, we both got what we needed for free. That’s the beauty of bartering: Both parties get what they need without having to lay out any cash. True, there are some tax implications of bartering when you begin to implement it on a larger scale, but it’s a perfectly reasonable system of trade in a small, friendly environment.

If you ever need some home repair work done or maybe an an oil change, don’t be afraid to ask a professional if there is something you could do for them to offset some or all of your cost. You may have just the skill they’ve been looking for and both of you will walk away happy.

Have you ever bartered your skills for someone else’s or have any tips for a would-be barterer? Share your story in the comments!

Photo by: omnia_mutantur

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Photo credit: Celeste

Last week, as I enjoyed a nice, relaxing at-home vacation, I realized I couldn’t get any writing done with the distractions in my home. Between the TV, my daughter, the construction going on in my basement, and various chores waiting to be done at home, I couldn’t gather my thoughts long enough to get anything from my brain to the keyboard. I craved a quiet place where I could write in peace and really get some work done.

After trying to settle in at a local coffee shop and then a Panera Bread Co. restaurant, I realized that easy access to coffee and Wi-Fi didn’t necessarily guarantee a good work area. Then it dawned on me: the library! Nowhere could be quieter and I would have a ton of reference material at my disposal. It may lack the coffee, but I’m over-caffeinated anyway.

While I sat there enjoying my productive time at the library, I noticed a lot of things that I didn’t expect to see and some that I did, but exceeded my expectations.

Books

Of course, when mentioning the library, the first thing people think about is books. Obviously, a library has many books, but a modern library offers so much more than just old, discarded books. In fact, that they have recent and up-to-date books is one of the least advertised benefits in the library.

While searching for books on Amazon to purchase, I always look to my local library to “test drive” the books I’m interested in before sealing the deal. Often I will read enough from the checked out book to decide if it’s worth a purchase. Now, not all of the latest, brand-new books are on the shelves, but there’s usually enough to cover some of my wish list.

Online, Regional Catalog

Not only does my library have a catalog that tells you the status of all the books it carries, it also connects to a regional network and finds you the book you’re looking for anywhere within the network. Since the catalog is online, I can sit at home and reserve a copy of a book from a library in the next county and it will be ready for me to pick up at my home library in a day or two. The usefulness and availability of such a network is directly affected by the region you’re in, but it’s great to have access to so much more than your small local library.

CDs, DVDs and Books On Tape

I would have thought you crazy if you had told me you could drop your Blockbuster membership and replace it with the library – that is, until recently. Our library has a rack of CDs that rivals the offerings at the local Wal-Mart, a wall full of almost-new-release DVDs (seems to be only a year behind or so), and a whole section devoted to books on tape and CD. The library is so much more than a book warehouse; it’s now more like a mixed-media collection.

Computer Access and Laptop-Friendly Work Areas

My library isn’t that large, but they still found room to include four nearly-private desks for computers with internet access and six tables that can comfortably seat four people and power their laptop computers with on-table plugs. While I never leave home without a full battery charge on my laptop, any work session lasting more than 3 hours would leave me strapped for juice. Having power available at desk level reduces accidental unpluggings by someone walking by and prevents the unsightly view caused by carelessly bending over next to another keyboard jockey.

Free Wi-Fi

Free Wi-Fi is almost a cliché anymore, but I still find it a novelty. Offering free Wi-Fi in a coffee shop is good for business since you encourage people to sit and drink more coffee, but offering free Wi-Fi at a free, public library is purely a public service decision. Even though the connection certainly wasn’t as fast as some coffee shops’ offerings, the mere fact that they made it available to anyone who wanted was a huge plus in my book. Couple that with the laptop-friendly work areas and I could almost be convinced to make that my second office. (I’d just have to find some place to plug in my coffee maker!)

Local Artist Displays

I’ve never been a struggling artist, but it I do appreciate the hardships. Having one’s work displayed and appreciated goes a long way toward keeping up the motivation to work, especially when the same works can also be purchased on the spot. In the entrance to the library and scattered throughout were a variety of sculptures, paintings, and photos to decorate the facility. Each one was crafted by a local artist and many sported a small price tag in the corner. By purchasing a piece of art, you were helping fund the library and feed the artist – two worthy birds with one stone.

Story Time For Kids

Regardless of the extra services they choose to carry, libraries will always maintain the core mission of fostering and encouraging a love of reading. I was used to perusing the children’s book area for new stories to read with my daughter, but this week was the first time that I saw parents bringing in young children to be read to by a seasoned storyteller. If you’ve not heard a true storyteller carefully craft visions through intonation, pacing, and rhythm, you are missing out on a real classic treat.

Libraries Aren’t Just Buildings Full of Books Anymore

It’s disappointing to know our hard-earned tax dollars funding these under-utilized community resources. The dank old library with the shuffling octogenarian librarian are a thing of the past (mostly). Libraries are so much more than they used to be and are surprisingly far more accessible, too. Forget card catalogs, out-of-date encyclopedias, and limited selections; the modern library is a valuable resource waiting for you to discover its variety of offerings.

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

This past weekend as our family’s vacation to Branson, MO, wound to an end, we took our “traditional” trip to a handful of the various outlet malls in the area. Honestly, this is more of a futile attempt to stretch out our vacation than an opportunity to shop. But when walking among the assorted discount stores, it’s easy to get sucked in the doors by the appearance of an opportunity to find “deals.” (Notice my qualification of these so-called deals.)

On this particular trip, my father and I discovered a store hawking the epitome of “man toys”: Power tools. Wall-to-wall, discounted, clearanced, close out, factory reconditioned, and factory overrun implements of mass budget destruction. It was a wondrous spread with offerings to meet nearly every home improvement need.

But then the battle began…

Beholding all these tools, all I could see was the opportunities they would provide and the projects they would allow me to tackle. The scroll saw would give me the chance to build and furnish the doll house I’m sure my daughter would like; the power saw would help me cut boards so I could build her princess bed; the power drill would let me put everything together. But power tools combined with ideas and good intentions only build larger credit card bills and abandoned power tools collecting dust instead of creating it.

Within moments of entering the store, my arms were filled with boxes of powered promises and my hand was reaching for my wallet. Then frustrated salvation arrived – my wife came searching for me in the store. My initial reaction was to go on the offensive. “Can’t you just imagine the great things I could do with this [insert random unnecessary tool here],” I wanted to say. I wanted to justify my supposed need for these implements. But I had to be honest with my wife and with myself: I had no need for those tools that day. With all the other varied projects I have stacked up awaiting completion, the tools that were weighing down my arms were also weighing on my budget and my conscience.

While I like to pride myself on my frugality, I am far from infallible. More often than I’d like to admit, I have to fight with myself to keep from spending stupidly. That’s the way it’s been my whole life; months of frugality are dashed in one day by some money burning a hole in my pocket. Fortunately, my wife is a great stabilizing force and can keep me in check when I’m about to make a poor purchasing decision.

So don’t be discouraged if you find that living frugally is difficult. Frugality is a battle against yourself and the influence “stuff” has on you. It’s a hard fight that must be fought every day. Everyone has a weakness and there is always something out there looking to take advantage of it. The best thing you can do is to be strong and have someone keep you accountable for when you’re not quite as strong. Having an accountability partner, such as my wife is for me, gives you someone to lean on and defend you in a moment of weakness and gives you the opportunity to do the same. In the end, you’ll finding yourself winning more and more often as you conquer your spending demons.

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Now that Autumn has arrived, it’s time to start preparing your home for winter. The news has been noting since summer that this winter’s heating bills are going to be anywhere from 10% to 50% higher than last year’s due to changes in the price of oil, natural gas, and electricity. Outside factors such as these can’t be controlled, but how you respond to them can. By preparing your home for winter now, you’ll enjoy lower heating bills as a reward for your efforts.

1. Install a Door Sweep

Any gap in your home that allows the cold winter air to filter in is going to cost you money, but the space under your door is often overlooked when preparing for winter. If you haven’t gotten down on the floor lately to check for a gap, it’s likely that there’s on there. A door sweep attaches to the bottom of the door and fills the space under it to stop the energy loss. For an added bonus, throw a door cozy down by your outside doors that don’t get opened very often – more insulation never hurts.

2. Install Electric Outlet Sealers

Last winter as I walked around the house, I was amazed at the cold air pouring in through the electrical outlets on the exterior walls. Perusing through the latest Lowe’s ad lists a 6-pack of outlet sealers for $1.98. If you have any outlets on exterior walls, it would be a good idea to add a bit of weather protection and install outlet sealers. For 30 minutes worth of work and less than $20 worth of materials, you can gain some significant savings.

3. Caulk Around Doors, Windows, and Baseboards

Just because you don’t see a leak, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. You can test for leaks around your house using the “candle method” – turn on all your exhaust fans to decrease the air pressure within your house, then carefully move a lit candle around the edges of all your windows, doors, and exterior floor boards. If the flame on the candle flickers, it signals there’s an air leak costing you money. For less than $10 worth of caulk, you can seal the interior leaks that are costing you dearly.

4. Fill Cracks and Holes With Spray Foam

Even though your house looks like a solid block, there are numerous holes cut in your exterior walls to allow for your utilities to enter your home. Many of these holes were simply cut through the wall and manually filled with a little packing material and insulation. Since then, this poor seal may have come loose and has left an open gap in your exterior. A $5 can of spray foam can patch up all these holes and give you some bonus insulation.

5. Install Weather Stripping

Not only do the outside of your windows leak, but the inner frame can as well. For just a few dollars, you can buy and install weather stripping on all your windows and start saving money right away. By sealing gaps, filling cracks and holes, and installing weather stripping, you can save up to 20% on heating and cooling costs.

6. Change Your Furnace Filter

It can’t be emphasized enough – a dirty furnace filter is stealing your money. By blocking air flow, an old, dirty furnace filter forces the blower to work that much harder to pull air to move the heat throughout your home. A fresh, clean furnace filter, on the other hand, allows the air to move through freely. You should check your filter at least once a month and change it at least once every 90 days. If you hold it up to the light and can’t see much light passing through, it’s well past its effective lifespan.

7. Have Your Furnace Serviced

Every year, you should have your furnace serviced before you turn it on to ensure there it is in top operating condition. Not only will having it serviced keep it operating, regular service can also take care of efficiency and safety problems before they get out of hand. Corrosion and dust buildup can weaken your furnace’s heating power and improper installation and ventilation can allow carbon monoxide to build up in your home and silently suffocate you.

8. Install a Programmable Thermostat

A programmable thermostat can save you money year-round. Program it to keep your home in a comfortable temperature range while you’re at home and awake and set it to drop the temperature by a few degrees while you’re out of the house or asleep. The more aggressively you reduce your set temperature, the larger savings you’ll realize.

9. Insulate Your Water Heater

If your water heater is more than 10 years old, it likely doesn’t have enough insulation. By wrapping it in a $20 water heater insulating blanket, it will lose less heat and not have to work as hard to keep your water hot. A small investment in a blanket can pay for itself in energy savings in a few short months.

Featured in the 173 edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com