It’s easy to spend a lot of money in Las Vegas, unless of course you’re a cheapskate like me!  Here are some of the ways I saved money during my recent conference in Vegas, listed in order of the biggest to smallest savings.

Get a Free Flight
I signed up for an American Express Business Gold rewards credit card and got a free flight to Vegas!  They’re not offering a free trip any longer but you can still earn rewards towards a trip with cards like Miles by Discover or Blue Sky from American Express.

Sleep In the Airport
My flight home left at 6 AM. I checked out of the hotel the morning before and stored my bags with the bell hop for the day.  I spent all day at the conference, all night enjoying my last evening in Vegas, then caught a cab to the airport at 2 AM.  Slept in the airport lobby and then all the way home.

Book Early
The reason I slept in the airport the last night was that I messed up my reservation, ending it a night too soon when I called months ago to book the room.  When I tried to extend one more night, every room in the hotel was booked.  My cab driver to the airport said when the supply of rooms is tight around town the price just keeps going up.  Book early to lock in your rates, plus check for conference discounts.  You can also stay at the hotels downtown Las Vegas for much less than those on the strip.

Bring Your Wireless Card
Internet service in the room was $10 a day! That sure adds up over 4–5 days, instead plug in your wireless card and hunt around the lobby or around the conference rooms in your hotel and you’ll likely find free wireless service. 

Crash Private Parties
One of the companies at the conference rented out a suite one night overlooking Vegas in the Palms hotel for a private party. I didn’t have an invite but I didn’t let that stop me! I told the lady at the door I’d left it in the cab and she let me in.  Free food and drinks for the evening, in Vegas that’s worth something!

Share a Cab
All of the big hotels I saw on the strip make you stand in a taxi line to catch a cab.  Ask people around you in line where they’re headed, if it’s the same place you can split the fare. Plus you never know who you’ll meet in line. One night we shared a cab with a guy from Experian, he found out we had finance sites, gave us his card, and paid for our cab!

Hang Out With High Rollers
A friend of mine showed me the ropes since I’d never been in Las Vegas before. He’s not a gambler but he runs a successful internet business and a potential business partner took him out the night before the private party I mentioned. I tagged along and helped him enjoy his success.

Pack PB & J
I tend to get hungry easily so rather than drop $10 on a burger for lunch or snack at the hotel I feasted on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. Don’t make the sandwiches ahead of time they would get squishy quickly. Instead I packed a small jar of peanut butter & jelly and brought along a loaf of bread. I kept the plastic jars in a big ziplock bag to avoid mess if they leaked and put the bread in a small cardboard box to prevent if from getting crushed. Don’t forget a knife, the first night there I used the handle of my tooth brush : )

Don’t Gamble!
Pretty self explanatory.  I was there for a conference about making money, not throwing it down the drain, so it was a pretty simple choice for me.  The odds are against you there so just enjoy yourself and let everyone else throw their money away!

This week I’m featuring Energy Saving tips, save some money by conserving energy!

Water heating is the third largest energy expense in your home. It typically accounts for about 16% of your utility bill. There are four ways to cut your water heating bills: use less hot water, turn down the thermostat on your water heater, insulate your water heater, or buy a new, more efficient water heater.

A family of four, each showering for 5 minutes a day, uses 700 gallons of water a week; this is enough for a 3-year supply of drinking water for one person. You can cut that amount in half simply by using low-flow aerating showerheads and faucets.

Water Heating Tips

• Install aerating, low-flow faucets and showerheads.

• Repair leaky faucets promptly; a leaky faucet wastes gallons of water in a short period of time.

• Lower the thermostat on your water heater; water heaters sometimes come from the factory with high temperature settings, but a setting of 120°F provides comfortable hot water for most uses.

• Take more showers than baths. Bathing uses the most hot water in the average household. You use 15–25 gallons of hot water for a bath, but less than 10 gallons during a 5-minute shower.

• Insulate your electric hot-water storage tank, but be careful not to cover the thermostat. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.

• Insulate your natural gas or oil hotwater storage tank, but be careful not to cover the water heater’s top, bottom, thermostat, or burner compartment. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations; when in doubt, get professional help.

• Insulate the first 6 feet of the hot and cold water pipes connected to the water heater.

• If you are in the market for a new dishwasher or clothes washer, consider buying an efficient, water-saving model to reduce hot water use.

• Install heat traps on the hot and cold pipes at the water heater to prevent heat loss. Some new water heaters have built-in heat traps.

• Drain a quart of water from your water tank every 3 months to remove sediment that impedes heat transfer and lowers the efficiency of your heater. The type of water tank you have determines the steps to take, so follow the manufacturer’s advice.

• Although most water heaters last 10– 15 years, it’s best to start shopping for a new one if yours is more than 7 yearsold. Doing some research before your heater fails will enable you to select one that most appropriately meets your needs.

Long-Term Savings Tips

• Buy a new energy-efficient water heater. While it may cost more initially than a standard water heater, the energy savings will continue during the lifetime of the appliance. If your current water heater is electric, consider switching to a natural gas water heater if gas is available.

• Consider installing a drain water waste heat recovery system. A recent DOE study showed energy savings of 25% to about 30% for water heating using such a system.

• Consider demand or tankless water heaters. Researchers have found savings can be as much as 34% compared with a standard electric storage tank water heater.

Solar Heating
If you heat water with electricity, have high electric rates, and have an unshaded, south-facing location (such as a roof) on your property, consider installing a solar water heater. The solar units are environmentally friendly and can now be installed on your roof to blend with the architecture of your house.

Solar water heating systems are also good for the environment since they avoid the harmful greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity production. During a 20 year period, one solar water heater can avoid over 50 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. When shopping for a solar water heater, look for systems certified by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation or the Florida Solar Energy Center.

This week I’m featuring Energy Saving tips, save some money by conserving energy!

Windows can be one of your home’s most attractive features. Windows provide views, daylighting, ventilation, and solar heating in the winter.

Unfortunately, they can also account for 10% to 25% of your heating bill. During the summer, sunny windows make your air conditioner work two to three times harder. If you live in the Sun Belt, look into new solar control spectrally selective windows, which can cut the cooling load by more than half.

If your home has single-pane windows, as almost half of U.S. homes do, consider replacing them. New doublepane windows with high-performance glass (e.g., low-e or spectrally selective) are available on the market. In colder climates, select windows that are gas filled with low emissivity (low-e) coatings on the glass to reduce heat loss. In warmer climates, select windows with spectrally selective coatings to reduce heat gain. If you are building a new home, you can offset some of the cost of installing more efficient windows because doing so allows you to buy smaller, less expensive heating and cooling equipment.

If you decide not to replace your windows, the simpler, less costly measures listed below can improve their performance.

Cold-Climate Window Tips

• You can use a heavy-duty, clear plastic sheet on a frame or tape clear plastic film to the inside of your window frames during the cold winter months. Remember, the plastic must be sealed tightly to the frame to help reduce infiltration.

• Install tight-fitting, insulating window shades on windows that feel drafty after weatherizing.

• Close your curtains and shades at night; open them during the day.

• Keep windows on the south side of your house clean to let in the winter sun.

• Install exterior or interior storm windows; storm windows can reduce heat loss through the windows by 25% to 50%. Storm windows should have weatherstripping at all moveable joints; be made of strong, durable materials; and have interlocking or overlapping joints. Low-e storm windows save even more energy.

• Repair and weatherize your current storm windows, if necessary.

Warm-Climate Window Tips

• Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house.
• Close curtains on south- and westfacing windows during the day.

• Install awnings on south- and westfacing windows.

• Apply sun-control or other reflective films on south-facing windows to reduce solar gain.

Long-Term Savings Tip

• Installing new, high-performance windows will improve your home’s energy performance. While it may take many years for new windows to pay off in energy savings, the benefits of added comfort and improved aesthetics and functionality may make the investment worth it to you.

Today, many new window technologies are available that are worth considering. Glazing materials (the glass part of the window) now come with a variety of selective coatings and other features; frames are available in aluminum, wood, vinyl, fiber glass, or combinations of these materials. Each type of glazing material and frame has advantages and disadvantages.

This week I’m featuring Energy Saving tips, save some money by conserving energy!

Yesterday I covered some heating and cooling tips for your home, today we’ll look at a few more.

Fireplaces
When you cozy up next to a crackling fire on a cold winter day, you probably don’t realize that your fireplace is one of the most inefficient heat sources you can possibly use. It literally sends your energy dollars right up the chimney along with volumes of warm air. A roaring fire can exhaust as much as 24,000 cubic feet of air per hour to the outside, which must be replaced by cold air coming into the house from the outside. Your heating system must warm up this air, which is then exhausted through your chimney. If you use your
conventional fireplace while your central heating system is on, these tips can help reduce energy losses.

Fireplace Tips
• If you never use your fireplace, plug and seal the chimney flue.

• Keep your fireplace damper closed unless a fire is going. Keeping the damper open is like keeping a window wide open during the winter; it allows warm air to go right up the chimney.

• When you use the fireplace, reduce heat loss by opening dampers in the bottom of the firebox (if provided) or open the nearest window slightly— approximately 1 inch—and close doors leading into the room. Lower the thermostat setting to between 50° and 55°F.

• Install tempered glass doors and a heat-air exchange system that blows warmed air back into the room.

• Check the seal on the flue damper and make it as snug as possible.

• Add caulking around the fireplace hearth.

• Use grates made of C-shaped metal tubes to draw cool room air into the fireplace and circulate warm air back into the room.

Natural Gas & Oil Heating Systems
If you plan to buy a new heating system, ask your local utility or state energy office for information about the latest technologies available to consumers. They can advise you about more efficient systems on the market today. For example, many newer models incorporate designs for burners and heat exchangers that result in higher efficiencies during operation and reduce heat loss when the equipment is off. Consider a sealed combustion furnace; they are both safer and more efficient. <

Programmable Thermostats
You can save as much as 10% a year on your heating and cooling bills by simply turning your thermostat back 10% to 15% for 8 hours. You can do this automatically without sacrificing comfort by installing an automatic setback or programmable thermostat.

Using a programmable thermostat, you can adjust the times you turn on the heating or air-conditioning according to a pre-set schedule. As a result, the equipment doesn’t operate as much when you are asleep or when the house or part of the house is not occupied. Programmable thermostats can store and repeat multiple daily settings (six or more temperature settings a day) that you can manually override without affecting the rest of the daily or weekly program.

Landscaping
Landscaping is a natural and beautiful way to keep your home cool in summer and reduce your energy bills. In addition to adding aesthetic value and environmental quality to your home, a well-placed tree, shrub, or vine can deliver effective shade, act as a windbreak, and reduce overall energy bills.

Carefully positioned trees can save up to 25% of a typical household’s energy used for heating and cooling. Computer models from DOE predict that just three trees, properly placed around the house, can save an average household between $100 and $250 in heating and cooling energy costs annually.

Studies conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found summer daytime air temperatures to be 3° to 6°F cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods than in treeless areas.

The energy-conserving landscape strategies you should use for your home depend on the type of climate in which you live.

This week I’m featuring Energy Saving tips, save some money by conserving energy!

Heating and cooling your home uses more energy and drains more energy dollars than any other system in your home. Typically, 61% of your utility bill goes for heating and cooling. What’s more, heating and cooling systems in the United States together emit over a half billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, adding to global warming. They also generate about 24% of the nation’s sulfur dioxide and 12% of the nitrogen oxides, the chief ingredients in acid rain.

No matter what kind of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system you have in your house, you can save money and increase your comfort by properly maintaining and upgrading your equipment. But remember, an energy-efficient furnace alone will not have as great an impact on your energy bills as using the whole-house approach.

By combining proper equipment maintenance and upgrades with appropriate insulation, air sealing, and thermostat settings, you can cut your energy bills and your pollution output in half.

Heating and Cooling Tips
• Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter and as high as is comfortable in the summer.

• Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed.

• Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make sure they’re not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.

• Bleed trapped air from hot-water radiators once or twice a season; if in doubt about how to perform this task, call a professional.

• Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and the radiators.

• Turn off kitchen, bath, and other exhaust fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing; when replacing exhaust fans, consider installing high-efficiency, low-noise models.

• During the heating season, keep the draperies and shades on your southfacing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.

• During the cooling season, keep the window coverings closed during the day to prevent solar gain.

Heating & Cooling Ducts
One of the most important systems in your home, though it’s hidden beneath your feet and over your head, may be wasting a lot of your energy dollars.

Your home’s duct system, a branching network of tubes in the walls, floors, and ceilings, carries the air from your home’s furnace and central air conditioner to each room. Ducts are made of sheet metal, fiber glass, or other materials. Unfortunately, many duct systems are poorly insulated or not insulated properly. Ducts that leak heated air into unheated spaces can add hundreds of dollars a year to your heating and cooling bills. Insulating ducts that are in unconditioned spaces is usually very cost effective. If you are buying a new duct system, consider one that comes with insulation already installed.

Sealing your ducts to prevent leaks is even more important if the ducts are located in an unconditioned area such as an attic or vented crawl space. If the supply ducts are leaking, heated or cooled air can be forced out unsealed joints and lost. In addition, unconditioned air can be drawn into return ducts through unsealed joints.

In the summer, hot attic air can be drawn in, increasing the load on the air conditioner. In the winter, your furnace will have to work longer to keep your house comfortable. Either way, your energy losses cost you money. Minor duct repairs are easy to do, Here are a few simple tips to help with minor duct repairs.

Energy Tips for Ducts
• Check your ducts for air leaks. First, look for sections that should be joined but have separated and then look for obvious holes.

• If you use tape to seal your ducts, avoid cloth-backed, rubber adhesive duct tape, which tends to fail quickly. Researchers recommend other products to seal ducts: mastic, butyl tape, foil tape, or other heat approved tapes. Look for tape with the Underwriters Laboratories logo.

• Remember that insulating ducts in the basement will make the basement colder. If both the ducts and the basement walls are uninsulated, consider insulating both.*

* Note: Water pipes and drains in unconditioned spaces could freeze and burst in the space if the heat ducts are fully insulated, because there would be no heat source to prevent the space from freezing in cold weather. However, using an electric heating tape wrap on the pipes can prevent this.

• If your basement has been converted to a living area, install both supply and return registers in the basement rooms.

• Be sure a well-sealed vapor barrier exists on the outside of the insulation on cooling ducts to prevent moisture buildup.

• For new construction, consider placing ducts in conditioned space—space that is heated and cooled—instead of running ducts through unconditioned areas like the crawl space or attic, which is less efficient.

This week I’m featuring Energy Saving tips, save some money by conserving energy!

Checking your home’s insulation is one of the fastest and most cost efficient ways to use a whole house approach to reduce energy waste and make the most of your energy dollars. A good insulating system includes a combination of products and construction techniques that protect a home from outside temperatures—hot and cold, protect it against air leaks, and control moisture. You can increase the comfort of your home while reducing your heating and cooling needs by up to 30% by investing just a few hundred dollars in proper insulation and sealing air leaks.

Insulation
First, check the insulation in your attic, ceilings, exterior and basement walls, floors, and crawl spaces to see if it meets the levels recommended for your area. Insulation is measured in R-values—the higher the R-value, the better your walls and roof will resist the transfer of heat. DOE recommends ranges of R-values based on local heating and cooling costs and climate conditions in different areas of the nation.  State and local codes in some parts of the country may require lower R-values than the DOE recommendations,

Where to Insulate
Adding insulation in the areas shown below may be the best way to improve your home’s energy efficiency.

-Crawl space
-Basement
-Attic
-Walls
-Floors

Types of Insulation
For customized insulation recommendations check out the Zip Code Insulation Calculator, which lists the most economic insulation levels for your new or existing home based on your zip code and other basic information about your home. Although insulation can be made from a variety of materials, it usually comes in four types; each type has different characteristics.

Rolls and batts – or blankets – are flexible products made from mineral fibers, such as fiberglass and rock wool. They are available in widths suited to standard spacings of wall studs and attic or floor joists. 2×4 walls can hold R-13 or R-15 batts; 2×6 walls can have R-19or R-21 products.

Loose-fill insulation – usually made of fiberglass, rock wool, or cellulose comes in shreds, granules, or nodules. These small particles should be blown into spaces using special pneumatic equipment. The blown-in material conforms readily to building cavities and attics. Therefore, loose-fill insulation is well suited for places where it is difficult to install other types of insulation.

Rigid foam insulation – foam insulation typically is more expensive than fiber insulation. But it’s very effective in buildings with space limitations and where higher R-values are needed. Foam insulation R-values range from R-4 to R-6.5 per inch of thickness (2.54 cm), which is up to 2 times greater than most other insulating materials of the same thickness.

Foam-in-place insulation – can be blown into walls and reduces air leakage.

Insulation Tips
• Consider factors such as your climate, building design, and budget when selecting insulation R-values for your home.

• Use higher density insulation, such as rigid foam boards, in cathedral eilings and on exterior walls.

• Ventilation plays a large role in providing moisture control and reducing summer cooling bills. Attic vents can be installed along the entire ceiling cavity to help ensure proper airflow from the soffit to the attic to make a home more comfortable and energy efficient.

• Recessed light fixtures can be a major source of heat loss, but you need to be careful how close you place insulation next to a fixture unless it is marked IC—designed for direct insulation contact. Check your local building codes for recommendations.

This week I’m featuring Energy Saving tips, save some money by conserving energy!

The first step to taking a whole house energy efficiency approach is to find out which parts of your house use the most energy. A home energy audit will pinpoint those areas and suggest the most effective measures for cutting your energy costs. You can conduct a simple home energy audit yourself, you can contact your local utility, or you can call an independent energy auditor for a more comprehensive examination. For more information about home energy audits, check out these free tools and calculators.

Energy Auditing Tips
• Check the insulation levels in your attic, exterior and basement walls, ceilings, floors, and crawl spaces. Visit www.energysavers.gov for instructions on checking your insulation levels.

• Check for holes or cracks around your walls, ceilings, windows, doors, light and plumbing fixtures, switches, and electrical outlets that can leak air into or out of your home.

• Check for open fireplace dampers.

• Make sure your appliances and heating and cooling systems are properly maintained. Check your owner’s manuals for the recommended maintenance.

• Study your family’s lighting needs and use patterns, paying special attention to high-use areas such as the living room, kitchen, and outside lighting. Look for ways to use lighting controls—like occupancy sensors, dimmers, or timers—to reduce lighting energy use, and replace standard (also called incandescent) light bulbs and fixtures with compact or standard fluorescent lamps.

Formulating Your Plan
After you have identified where your home is losing energy, assign priorities by asking yourself a few important questions:

• How much money do you spend on energy?

• Where are your greatest energy losses?

• How long will it take for an investment in energy efficiency to pay for itself in energy cost savings?

• Do the energy saving measures provide additional benefits that are important to you (for example, increased comfort from installing double-paned, efficient windows)?

• How long do you plan to own your current home?

• Can you do the job yourself or will you need to hire a contractor?

• What is your budget and how much time do you have to spend on maintenance and repair?

How We Use Energy in Our Homes
Heating accounts for the biggest chunk of a typical utility bill. Once you assign priorities to your energy needs, you can form a whole house efficiency plan. Your plan will provide you with a strategy for making smart purchases and home improvements that maximize energy efficiency and save the most money.

Another option is to get the advice of a professional. Many utilities conduct energy audits for free or for a small charge. For a fee, a professional contractor will analyze how well your home’s energy systems work together and compare the analysis to your utility bills. He or she will use a variety of equipment such as blower doors, infrared cameras, and surface thermometers to find leaks and drafts.

After gathering information about your home, the contractor or auditor will give you a list of recommendations for cost effective energy improvements and enhanced comfort and safety. A good contractor will also calculate the return on your investment in high efficiency
equipment compared with standard equipment.

Tips for Finding a Contractor
• Ask neighbors and friends for recommendations

• Look in the Yellow Pages

• Focus on local companies

• Look for licensed, insured contractors

• Get three bids with details in writing

• Ask about previous experience

• Check references

• Check with the Better Business Bureau

As energy costs continue to rise the monetary payback for time, effort, & money spent on energy conservation goes up as well.  This was brought to my attention as I looked over our latest heating bill and realized that the only place energy costs have to go is up.  I started doing some research and decided to run a series on energy conservation for the home while I’m away at a conference for a few days.  Below are the topics that I’ll cover:

• Home Energy Usage
• Home Insulation
• Heating & Cooling Your Home
• Energy Efficient Windows
• Conserving with Your Water Heater

Here are a few quick energy saving tips to get you started! Stay tuned for the rest of the series and help reduce your energy costs.

• Set your thermostat comfortably low in the winter and comfortably high in the summer. Install a programmable thermostat that is compatible with your heating system.

• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.

• Air dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher’s drying cycle.

• Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.

• Plug home electronics, such as TVs and DVD players, into power strips; turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use (TVs and DVDs in standby mode still use several watts of power).

• Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120° F.

• Take short showers instead of baths.

• Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes.

• Look for the ENERGY STAR® label on home appliances and products. ENERGY STAR products meet strict efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.

You may have heard in the news about eBay’s latest fee changes which have led to quite a bit of unrest with eBay sellers, some are even looking for alternative selling platforms.  Some sellers are sticking around but are boycotting eBay this week, not listing their inventory in protest of the changes. With fewer items being listed this week, there may be less competition out there so if you have stuff to sell, take advantage of it and list today!

One of the changes is that sellers with good detailed seller ratings (DSRs) will get an advantage in Best Match search results. Below are my current ratings:

• Item as described – 4.7
• Communication – 4.9
• Shipping time – 4.6
• Shipping & handling charges – 4.6

I’d like to get all my scores above 4.6 so that I can take advantage of the new search results. I do know why my shipping time ratings are at 4.6.  I say items will ship within 3 business days of purchase, I could cut that down to 1 or 2 days and bump up that score.

I’m not really sure why my shipping & handling charges rating isn’t higher, my rates usually seem to be some of the lowest.  I charge whatever the USPS or UPS fee is plus $1–2 to cover shipping materials, labels, ink, gas.  I’m puzzled as well why the Item as Described isn’t higher, 99% of the things I sell are brand new and they have a picture and model number in the listing.  Can’t get much more specific than that.

ebay Advertising
As an eBay seller I get their periodic newsletter and the most recent one announced that the spring eBay catalog is going out the first week in March to more than 2 million eBay buyers. Even though many people are complaining about the fees eBay charges, I think this newsletter is an example of the value they provide for their fees.  How else could a small business owner reach 2 million people with a catalog?  They’ll advetise a variety of items across several different categories.

• Sports
• Motors
• Home
• Fashion
• Techology
• Art, Antiques, Collectibles

ebay Partnership
I got another check this month from my eBay partner, it wasn’t as big as last months but I’m not going to complain about a $450 check : )  He’s been busy expanding his business, finding more product sources. He’s listed and selling the first pallet of items and has already had another pallet delivered. It will be interesting to see what kind of ROI he gets from the stuff at Liquidation.com.

My cheap friend at work thinks I’m crazy to pay a monthly fee for an online bill pay service.  I’m pretty tight with money so when I call him cheap that’s really saying something.

He’s thinks it’s even crazier still that I pay $20 annually to have them mail me a CD that contains all of my bills for the year.  He has a whole system of bill filling, paying, and spreadsheet tracking that he uses instead of paying for a service like mine.  Of course, he and his wife just had their first kid, we’ll see how long it is before he switches to my easy system : )

Our bill pay service puts all of our bills online.  They scan them in, then shred all of the paper documents so I don’t have to mess with opening and filing the bills. 

These documents, in addition to the ones that are delivered and paid online, are all available through our user account.  Once a year, they’ll send you a CD containing 12 months worth of bills if you’re willing to pay $20 for it.

The benefits are totally worth the amount spent in my opinion.  I just setup payment rules so every bill is automatically paid as long as it’s not over an amount I specified for that payee when I setup the account. 

What I love about the service is that I don’t have to spend any time on it. The service takes care of making the payments for me and I don’t have to do any kind of tracking or data entry, it’s all available via the web interface or annual CD.

Of course, I have to make sure there are funds in our bank account to cover the bills but that’s what direct deposit is for right?  I log into the site once every 2–3 weeks for a few minutes to make sure everything looks good and that’s it.

I can easily access spending summaries by category or payee or pull up bill detail in just a minute or two.  The best part is, I don’t actually have to do any work to make all this information available.  It automates and tracks our bills so I can spend my time enjoying friends or family or pursuing my goals. 

This automation of is one step towards achieving my version of a Four Hour Work Week.