Consumers looking to reduce household expenses can find savings by reviewing their monthly bills and seeing which ones can be bundled together. In times past phone, cable, and cellular bills were billed separately, but these days companies are bundling various plans together and passing these savings back to their customers.

It isn’t just utility bills which can be bundled as insurance companies also offer similar savings when you do business with them. Let’s explore how you can save money, perhaps as much as $100 (or more) each month by bundling your expenses together.

Major Media — If you have a cell phone, land line, cable connection and internet, some companies offer all four services to you at one low price. In my area, Time Warner Cable offers such a plan (minus the cell phone) and charges an initial rate of $29.95 per month for each service for twelve months. After that, the offer expires, but we’re saving about $100 each month by bundling digital phone, cable, and internet connection together. Yes, our plan includes long distance including to Canada, giving us one flat bill every month. AT&T and Verizon are two providers which will allow you to bundle all four services together.

Insurance — If you have car insurance and homeowners insurance, having one insurance company provide this service to you will generally result in savings of 5-15% off of your premium. However, make sure that the coverage you have is adequate when allowing one insurer to cover you and compare plans to see if insuring elsewhere, but through separate companies offers the best savings.

Heating, Cooling and Electricity — In some parts of the country, consumers have choice when it comes to home energy providers. On company provides gas for heating and cooling while another one may provide electricity. If one company can adequately provide both services and offer to you a discount on their plan, why not consider giving them your business?

Food Shopping — Who hasn’t been shocked this year when they discovered just how fast food prices were rising? Like gasoline, food prices are shooting up thanks to the cost of transporting goods which are usually delivered by trucks. Guess what? Truckers are getting slammed by diesel fuel costs and need to recoup their costs too. Now is the time to consider consolidating your shopping to one store such as a warehouse club that carries food, household items, clothing, even discounts on fuel and tires. You’ll have to pay a membership fee to join, but you’ll get that money back within the first two times you shop.

Lowering your bills can be done by bundling accounts, a move that can bring about quick savings without instituting additional cutbacks. Take the money you save by bundling costs and put it into savings or use these funds to balance your budget and tackle whatever outstanding debt that you may have.

Tags: bundle costs, cable, car insurance, cell phone, cooling, electricity, food, gas, groceries, heating, homeowner's insurance, phone bill, satellite tv, warehouse clubs

You Can Gain Control Over Your Electrical Bill

Consumers are reeling from the sudden shoot up in fuel prices at the pump, paying $4 or more per gallon for regular gasoline. Unfortunately, home energy prices are also going up, stinging homeowners with increases of !0-50% over the past year.

While you may be able to cut back on driving, you may not be able to do so with cooling your home, especially if you live in an area where high temperatures and stifling humidity reigns supreme all summer long.

There are ways you can reduce your energy consumption without being very uncomfortable this summer. Less energy burned means more money that will stay in your wallet, a good thing because you’ll need those extra funds to pay for gas!

The following tips can help you gain control over your electrical usage this summer:

Replace your thermostat — If you still have a manually operated thermostat, consider replacing it with an electronic one. By automatically setting the inside temperatures to go up and go down at strategic times of the day (like just before you come home from work), you’ll be able to cool down the house without wasting electricity. Consider also getting your HVAC system tuned up for the hottest months of the year.

Close your blinds — If any part of your home gets direct sunlight at certain times of the day, make sure your blinds are closed and your curtains drawn during those hours. Your air-conditioner won’t need to kick on as quickly when the inside of your home remains cooler longer.

Run the dishwasher and clean clothes at night — Many utility companies structure their rates to charge you more for using their services during peak hours. Hold off washing the dishes and running the dishwasher until the evening and you’ll save a nice amount of money. Check with your electrical company to find out when the lowest rates apply.

Take control of your lighting — Turn lights off when not needed and consider replacing bulbs with lower watt bulbs wherever possible. Also, incandescent lighting uses less energy than fluorescent lighting.

Take control of your water heater – Especially in the summer months, you can lower the temperature of your water heater and still have it hot enough to sanitize dishes and get you clean. Wrap the unit in insulation and it won’t have to work as hard to warm up your water.

Consider air drying your clothes — Clothing dryers are a wonderful convenience, but if you can air dry at least some of your clothes, then you can use your dryer less and save electricity.

Microwave is the better way — People who own a microwave and an electric oven can save money by choosing the microwave for cooking. If you can cook it in either oven, then put it in the microwave for quicker cooking and less strain on your electrical system.

Finally, if you are planning to buy new appliances this year, choose those with an Energy Star rating at the top end of the scale to reduce your energy consumption even further.

Tags: electricity, ENERGY STAR, Home Improvement, Home Tips

One of the scariest experiences I went through growing up was a household fire. It was just one week before Christmas, a howling wind was blowing, and suddenly a neighbor’s teenager came crashing through our front door to tell us that our home was ablaze. Within minutes everyone was out of the house, the fire department on the scene, but it took more than two hours to get the blaze under control. Heavy smoke and water damage rendered the home inhabitable for six months; we were forced to rent another home until the renovation could be completed.

Our story is not too different from what thousands of homeowners experience each month — a house catches on fire, but could it have been prevented? In our case, sparks from a neighbor’s chimney were to blame as they shot up and landed on our roof and wooden gutters. Flamed by the wind, the fire quickly spread and gutted the third story of our frame house.

Though we could not personally have prevented our fire from happening, a lot of home fires are preventable. Carelessness can lead to injury, even death, at the very least lead to a damaged home and destroyed possessions.

Fires are caused or could be prevented by doing the following:

A supplemental heating source — kerosene heaters, electric space heaters, and the like contribute to about one-quarter of all household fires. Left on high and left unattended, these units can quickly catch on fire and spread to nearby curtains, bedding, or other flammable material. Always turn your supplemental heater off when not in the home and keep it away from anything that could catch fire.

Check your home’s wiring — rodents and other pests love to take shelter in homes to avoid nature’s wrath as well as to propagate. They also will chew on insulation, wood, and wiring. Have a professional inspect your wiring to ensure that it isn’t frayed or broken.

Inspect your breaker box — circuit breakers, fuse boxes, or electrical panels which have overloaded can be a problem. Inspect the breakers or fuses to see if any of the connections are “piggy-backed” on them. Although these types of connections are rated for single circuit protection, they can be outdated or used in panel boxes which are too small. Sometimes, homeowners will use 2 or more wires in the terminal of a single breaker or fuse, a fire hazard that can be avoided.

Check your heating system — inspect your home’s heating system (natural gas, oil, LP, etc.) Check for fittings which are loose, valves that may be leaking, pilot lights which could be faulty, and remove any build up of flammable debris in the vicinity of your heating system. Consider similar maintenance precautions with your central air-conditioning unit and major appliances.

Maintain your fireplace – check the hearth for cracks, replace damaged sheet metal inserts, and always use glass fire doors or a wire mesh spark screen to hot embers from popping out of the fireplace. Have your chimney inspected and cleaned annually; avoid burning cedar as this type of wood pops considerably.

Miscellany — there are many other ways you can prevent a fire including: keeping flammable sources away from open flames; get rid of your Christmas tree once it has dried up; take care when using candles, open flame decorations, or oil lamps; make sure that all lamp and other connecting chords are not frayed; and keep the batteries in your smoke alarm fresh. Consider a carbon monoxide unit too — in some jurisdictions they are required by law.

You can prevent most household fires, reducing the chances that someone will be injured or killed as a result. If you have young children in your home, develop an exit plan and never encourage youngsters to light matches, play with candles, or perform any task involving an ignitable source without adult supervision.

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Tags: appliances, carbon monoxide detector, electricity, fire alarm, fire prevention, furnace, heater, house fires, household fires, oven, smoke detector