Need to save some money? With the rising costs all around us most of us are looking for ways to save some extra cash. Here are a few things you can do this summer to reduce your electric bill.

1. Set your air conditioner to 78° while you are at home.
2. Run a portable fan which will make the room about 4° cooler.
3. Only run your dishwasher when it is full.
4. Stop your dishwasher before the dry cycle and let the dishes air dry.
5. Wash your clothes in warm or cold water (not hot) and use cold water for your rinse cycle.
6. Hang your clothes outside to dry instead of using the dryer. (Unless you have allergies, like me, then you do not want to do that.)
7. If you use your dryer- make sure you run it full, use the moisture sensing setting so that it doesn’t run longer than necessary and clean your lint filter.
8. Turn off or unplug your electronic items when you are not using them. If you can’t turn your computer off, at least turn the monitor off when not in use.
9. Replace your old incandescent light bulbs.
10. Keep your refrigerator or freezer full.

And one thing we like to do is eat outside on our electric grill. It sure beats turning on the stove, which costs us more than we ever thought. By using our grill our electric bill went down. I’m going to be cooking out more even during the winter.

If you own a home then you know you need to have insurance on your home.  You have to protect your home as well as your valuables that are inside your home.  But with all of the choices out there how can you possibly know the best home insurance you could have?  One tip they offer is to make sure you are getting all of the possible discounts there are- for example your insurance company probably offers a discount if you have a security system.  Be sure to check out information available on the internet to find more great tips like that one as well as ways to get your home covered quickly, accurately and easily.  Not only that, but make sure you get a life insurance plan as well to make sure you’re getting the best coverage there too.

Did you know that Christmas will be here in less than 6 months?  And it’s almost fall, and once fall arrives things just seem to fly by.  It’ll be Halloween, and all those crazy Halloween costumes .  Then we’ll all be rushing to get things done for Christmas.

This year, rather than waiting until the last minute why not get started now?  One thing that is really easy to do ahead of time is to order some Christmas cards.  I love the idea of using cards with a personal photo on them, rather than just your standard card that will probably get thrown away after the Christmas season is over. Anyway, let’s get through summer first, then move on to the Holidays.

Online shopping can save you a lot of money.  I always compare prices and look for coupons online before I do any shopping.  I love shoes, so I’m always looking for new shoebuy coupons online. And when I find good coupons I book mark them, never know when you’ll need them again. Many times if I find a store doing free shipping then I will make my purchases online too.  Be sure to shop around online before you go shopping to save yourself time and money.

We recently redid our deck in our back yard.  My husband and my dad ripped out our old deck and built an all new much improved deck.  It really changed how our back yard looks.  We have had several of our neighbors comment about how much better it looks.  After the deck was finished my husband did some work on our patio as well as adding some new patio cushions to really improve how things look.  I love the new look and can’t wait to do some entertaining!

So you love to shop, right?  And you also love to save money, right?  I know that’s how it is for me.  I want the good products but I don’t want to spend anymore money than I have to.  That’s why I like to check out as many web sites as I can, to price comparison. Just the other day I was looking for something new for doors in my house when I came across discount door hardware . Not what I was looking for, but more ideas that I can use down the road. I simply add any site that looks like I may use someday to my fav’s. I recommend that you do the same thing, could save you money later on.

Are you thinking about buying a new home?  If you are, then you can go the old route- serach for hours upon hours with your real estate agent trying to find a house the fits your needs and has all of the extra features you want too.  Or you can check out the Outer banks foreclosures . But then again you can build your own home and know that you’ll be able to get exactly what you want in your home. Me personally I would consider having my built for me, if I had the money. Foreclosures could turn out to be a huge mess mostly because people are destory them before they leave them. So I quess I’m taking the agent out with me, seems like the best way at this point. If you had your choice, what would you do?

I remember when laptop computers first started coming out.  I thought I would always love my desktop and want to stick with that.  It took me a long time to be convinced otherwise.  Now that I have a notebook computer I can’t imagine going back to a desktop.  We have a desktop but it never gets used.  It’s so much easier to use the laptop.

Here are some tips and tricks you can use during your regular day to day activities:

1. To keep your plastic containers from getting stained from tomato based foods, rub the inside with vegetable oil or spray with a little Pam before placing the food in the container.
2. To clean your coffee maker: Pour vinegar into it like when you make coffee but with no filter. Turn the coffee maker on and let it run. Repeat this with a new batch of vinegar until it runs clear of calcium deposits.  Run water through for a few cycles before making your next pot of coffee.
3. For removing ink stains: Ball point pen stains can be removed by using hair spray – let the hair spray dry and wash the item.
4. Use newspaper when you clean your windows instead of paper towels.  You won’t get the usual streaks. 

I know it was a week ago but I’ve been too busy to blog about Easter yet.  We had a great Easter.  We started out in the morning with our daughter searching for her Easter basket.  This was the first year she really understood- so it was a lot of fun.  She loves chocolate so she was thrilled with the contents of her basket.  Later on we went to church and had an amazing service.  After church my daughter took her nap and then we ate some dinner.  It was a perfect day.  The weather was a bit chilly but that didn’t make any difference- we had a wonderful Easter.