As much as i love winters, i hate the energy bills they produce. Here are some tips to bring down your Bills this winter.

• Use a hot water bottle for your bed when it gets really cold
• Open the window blinds on the side which is sunny
• Drink Warm liquids and try lowering the heating temperature
• Cook at home in the oven and share warm cheap meals than going out in the cold.
• Install energy efficient windows

This in conjunction with the Part I series of energy  saving tactics for winter could just do the magic.

We have just two days left to complete the money managing rituals. I sincerely hope all of you would have without fail followed the steps. On the sixth day we are going to turn our attention towards emergency fund.

It is quite important to have an emergency fund set up, as you never know what emergency situation might encounter you. When we face such situations, it is not only embarrassing to seek favours from various sources, but it is also quite dangerous not to cat quickly due to lack of money.

Hence by all means once should try and save for those rainy days. Make sure you allot at least 10% of your take home pay towards emergency fund. You cannot compromise on this one. If you could add more to the fund, the better. But if you have more debt piling up, try to clear that off first by paying more debt payments and allotting only a small portion towards emergency fund. Once the debt comes down considerably, you could put more money to the emergency fund.

If you have been doing this much so far without any interruptions, then i assure you that your financial success is guaranteed if you follow the same path throughout.

As a part of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009, the tax credit for non business energy property credit has been increased as a result you would be able to save a lot on tax if you take steps to save energy in your home.

1. In the new law the credit rate has been raised to 30% of total cost of the improvements that qualify.
2. Maximum limit of credit that could be claimed for years 2009 and 2010 is $1500.
3. The improvements that are qualified would be something like insulation installation, heating and air conditioning systems that are energy efficient and exterior windows that are energy efficient.
4. The products used for saving energy should be of a higher standard than specified in 2007 tax credit.
5. The improvement claimed must be a part of tax payer’s principal residence that is located in United States.
6. A certificate from the manufacturer to the tax payer assuring the standards met is necessary.

So now do you realize the importance of creating an energy efficient atmosphere that i usually advice? Act now and save most next year!!!

The possibility of acquiring a decently paid job is quite difficult these days, given the scenario of the recession hit world and whats more difficult is being in a high paid job and maintaining it.

But does your high paying job make you pay more price in terms of losing your quality time with family, leading a stressful life, and inability to do something of your choice in a leisure time?

Then why don’t you consider shifting your job? Do i sound Insane? Well i might but i have my own point to be put across. When you reduce the expenses by adopting to a less expensive life style, you wouldn’t be threatened by the fact that you might have to lose your high paid job. This way your options for a decently paid job would be more, you could turn your hobby into income by investing sometime in a side business and spend your weekend with your family.

Get the picture now? Well give it a thought and share with me  your experiences and decisions.

On day 5 of our attempt to fix our finances in a week, we are going to concentrate on retirement savings. Yes retirement savings is an essential part of financial planning.

There are many tools available online like a retirement savings calculator. Make use of such tools and start saving from today. Even if you are just 25, it better to start saving for your retirement right away. The earlier you start , the saver you would be as far as retirement is considered.

Choose your own method of saving. You might want to opt for a retirement saving plan or just put aside some money in a savings account every month. whatever may be the method, just make sure you save enough for your later years.

On our day 5 thats all we are going to do. With just two days left i am sure if you had followed all the 5 day’s agenda properly, you must be already feeling relieved.

Hi everyone!!! I hope that all of you must have done your 3 day ritual regularly and i am sure you are sensing some improvement already from within. Today , the fourth day we are going to concentrate on Credit Cards

Analyze the payments you are making for all your credit cards every month. Ask yourself if you really need the number of credit cards that you own. If not surrender some and have as less as necessary.

Also make the monthly bills on time to keep a clean record of your credit score. Make use of offers given by the credit card companies. Do not fall victim for marketing gimmicks and buy a credit card on an offer as the APY might be a lot higher compared to the traditional ones without offer.

Determine how much credit card debt you owe to the company and start allotting a considerable amount every month.

Thats it!!! We are done for the day. This will not take more than an hour to analyze. So you can go to sleep with a satisfaction that you have completed more than 50% in your attempt to fix your finance.

Winter is here and the heating bills would keep getting higher and higher as the snow keeps falling hard. Here are few tips to keep your energy bill from mounting.

• Keep a Check on your Insulation
• Seal all the Air Leaks
• In unused rooms, seal the ventilation
• Spend on Thick Socks
• Be close to one another sharing the blanket and lot of love.

We cannot save enough to build a castle by following these steps, but this saved amount although little could keep adding to your emergency fund.

Auctions are always a chance to get certain items of our taste at a cheaper rate. Yard sales and Auctions have earned our favor for a long time. When these auctions happen online it is even more exciting as it saves the troubling of traveling to the site of auction.

Rackup.com is a site that offers chances for consumers to win cash bonus offers and gift certificates to be redeemed at the retailer’s or online stores. You could also place bids on your favorite auction item online.It is an ideal site for bth consumers as well as vendors to gain profit.  Without any risk involved, here is a chance to double your money. Make most of this Auctioning website and get the joy out of shopping.

Here is the second part on saving on groceries.

1) Choose the right shop. For instance, in the place I live certain items are cheaper in certain shops, hence i try to find shops for each purpose. However make sure you don’t travel around much hopping from shop to shop and waste money on commuting.

2) Make online purchase of groceries to avoid impulsive buying. This way you can ensure you just buy the items that are necessary

3) Cook in bulk. Spend some more time and cook a lot. Freeze the food and use it again. This way you save time, money as well as energy.

4) As meat is quite expensive, try to plan vegetarian meals for a few times in a week. This could save money as well as boost your health condition in more than one way.

5) Keep yourself updated with the offers on the stores and make use of them, although do not fall victims of marketing tactics and spend more.

The key to saving on grocery lies in one mantra ‘Buy what you need, and just Buy what you need’.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend like me. Coming back to work, lets begin our third day ritual on fixing the finance. On the third day, we are going to look into the number of bank accounts we have and how to set up the necessary number of bank accounts.

Take time to analyze if the account you hold in a bank solves your purpose. If you have just a checking account, set up a Savings account and start putting some cash each month into it. An online high yielding savings account is the best option to earn some extra cash.

Make it compulsory to have just 2-3 bank accounts to solve your purpose and not more in order to make your finance simple.

Make use of setting up automatic payment options to pay your bills and debt installments on time. Ask the bank for their time to time offers and make use of them to your benefit.

Isn’t it simple? Yes thats all you need to do for today.