Save Money on Heating and Cooling Costs with the Right Window Treatments

Programmable thermostats were the topic of the first energy saving question I had for the experts at the Home Depot.  The next question I asked has to do with a “dispute” I have with my wife.  We have curtains across a big sliding glass door in the back of the house and I’m always closing them to keep the sun out in the summer.  She’s always opening them back up to make it seem lighter in the house, so I thought I’d get an experts opion.

I know closing the curtains and blinds during the day helps to keep the sun out and can reduce the amount your air conditioner has to run. I try to keep them closed to save on energy costs but my wife likes to keep them open since the sunlight brightens up the house. How much of a difference does this really make? How much money can you save by keeping out the sun?

Closed or open? Well, it depends.

During the summer, keeping window coverings closed during the day and open at night can help you stay cool and cut down on your utility bill. Also remember that draperies will actually keep your house cooler than blinds because their pleats and folds lose heat through convection. Another thought to consider is that you can beat the heat without hindering your view by installing heat control window film. We offer Gila Titanium Heat Control Film exclusively at The Home Depot.

During winter months, think about taking advantage of the sun’s heat by keeping your window coverings open during sunny days (especially windows facing south and west); but don’t forget to close them at night! See, you and your wife can both be happy.

Beyond all of this, look into using thermal shades and draperies for home comfort and energy efficiency. Energy efficient window treatments can block up to 62 percent of heat transfer through window panes – so they’re great to use even if you have efficient double or triple pane windows.

The energy efficiency of window treatments is measured in R values. Cellular (R value of 3) and solar shades are best for energy efficiency. The Home Depot also offers thermal lined draperies.

The Home Depot recommends the Hampton Bay® Cellular Shades. Exclusive to The Home Depot, The Hampton Bay Cellular Shades come in a variety of vibrant, color-saturated fabrics. Specialty options, including motorization and cordless blinds shades are available, and the Hampton Bay Cellular Shades are backed with a limited lifetime guarantee. (Price starting at $57 for Pembrooke 3/8″ Single Cell, SKU: 862-744).

You didn’t bring this up, but hopefully your windows are also energy efficient. Energy Star® qualified windows can help reduce energy costs by up to 15 percent.

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Marriage and Careers in a Bad Economy – September in Review

September started off kind of slow but ended up a crazy month!  Let’s hope we don’t see many more months like it in the future.  Here’s a recap of the roller coaster ride of September here at Money Smart Life.

Money and Marriage

As the summer came to end we included some of the lessons learned from summer weddings in our marriage and money series.  Connie took a look at ways to save money on wedding dress, wedding pictures, and wedding receptions.  Erik covered paying down debt in marriage, buying life insurance for married couples, joint checking accounts for couples, and budgeting for newlyweds.

Career Tips

I was pretty busy looking for a better job, choosing the best job for me despite a lower salary, working hard during my last two weeks to get everything done, and learning from my co-workers.

Taking a new job is a major life change that involves a lot of financial decisions so we took a look at career finances.  We started off by covering relocation expenses and also included other job change expenses.  One of the major concerns when working for a new employer are the benefits that they offer so Erik talked about disability insurance, employer health insurance coverage, and health insurance plans.

We also covered rolling over your 401k and a question about company stock.  Another thing that comes to mind when starting a new job or career is how stable the work is so we answered some frequently asked questions about federal unemployment assistance.  One option people have if they lose their job is to work for themselves, Connie wrote about working from home and home based businesses for busy parents.

Troubled Economy

Of course the big news last month was the horrible performance of the financial markets and the credit crunch that captured the attention of the country and hi-jacked the presidentail election. I didn’t want to dwell on the crazy financial tornado because I’m sure you’re probably tired of being bombarded with it’s news on TV and radio the events are so monumental they can’t be ignored.

I started off by addressing the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and Merril Lynch buyout which we all hoped was enough financial failure for one month.  As the cycle of bank failures continued I took a look at consumer’s reaction to the AIG bailout and stock market drop.  As the financial mood worsened I shared my thoughts on the Wall Street bailout and what I was doing about it in my personal life.

As banks failed left and right I did a survey of the online saving accounts that are FDIC insured and ran across FNBO Direct as I looked for stable banks.  It turns out that FNBO Direct looks to be a great place to put your money, the online savings account is not only financially secure but also offers one of the best interest rates around.  I actually just signed up for an FNBO Direct account two days ago and I’ll write more about that next week.

Although the federal bailout bill was passed by Congress at the end of last week, no one really knows what the immediate future holds for the economy so I covered money tips for a bad economy.

Deals and Reviews

Despite the financial turmoil and starting a new job I was able to launch a new money saving deals section of the site where I highlight ways you can save money or make some extra money.

In terms of reviews, I took a look at how you can get a free credit report by using your American Express Blue Cash card.  I’m also considering applying for the Blue Sky from American Express card to pay for my business travels.

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Programmable Thermostats and Energy Saving Advice from The Home Depot

High energy prices are causing many people to look more closely at how much money they spend on heating and cooling their home.  The good news is that there are usually relatively minor things you can do to make your home or appartment more energy efficient, saving on your heating and cooling bill.  The bad new is that not all of us are handy with home improvement matters so we may be ignoring or overlooking them due to lack of knowledge.

Help from Home Depot Energy Experts

The energy experts over at the Home Depot have offered to come to the rescue and answer energy related questions that could help cut your heating and cooling costs.  I’ll publish their advice on programmable thermostats, attic fans, window treatments, and other energy saving tips over the coming days. If you have questions of your own send them to me via my contact form and I’ll pass them along.  Here’s a little about the guys who will be answering our questions.

Bob Jurecic is the Home Depot’s “Attic Fanatic”, an energy and insulation expert full of tips on home improvement projects and products that can help save energy and reduce costs. Ron Jarvis is the Senior VP of Environmental Innovation at the Home Depot. Ron is responsible for leading The Home Depot’s overall environmental sustainability practices and policies, with an emphasis on making The Home Depot the world leader in offering green building products to consumer and pro customers.

Programmable Thermostat Savings

Question: I’ve heard varying pieces of advice on the value of turning up the thermostat when you leave for the day or go to sleep at night to help save on heating and cooling costs. Would you recommend installing a programmable thermostat to help regulate the temperature during different times of the day and week? If so, are there any specific brands or models that you’d recommend?

A programmable thermostat is a great investment for every home – it’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to bring down your energy bill. A programmable thermostat monitors the temperature in your home while you’re asleep or away. I recommend a product such as the Rite Temp 7 Day Programmable Thermostat, which is ENERGY-STAR qualified and costs just $99. It offers temperature programming for every day of the week. The Rite Temp Flush Mount Thermostat is another great option. It appears flush with the wall when mounted and has a touch screen.

Just remember – the most important step in installing a programmable thermostat is actually programming it! The new programmable thermostat won’t have any effect on your energy bills if you keep it set at the same temperature throughout the day like your old thermostat, so learn to use it right away. It’s suggested that you set the thermostat to an average of 68 degrees in the winter months and 78 degrees during the summer.

It’s easy to program the thermostat. Most models allow you to program the thermostat to change the set point at any time during the day and will automatically adjust to your desired temperature. For example, during winter months, you can set the thermostat to keep your house cooler while you’re at work and to warm up when you arrive home. Programmable thermostats are estimate to save about two percent on heating bills and more than three percent on cooling bills for each degree difference. These numbers will translate into cost savings of up to $180 a year.

You can use The Home Depot’s energy calculator at www.homedepot.com/energy to project your energy savings by installing a programmable thermostat in your home.

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TradeKing $50 Bonus and Free Laptops

TradeKing is offering a $50 bonus if you open a new brokerage account in October. Find out more about the TradeKing promotion, I wrote about the online stock brokerage bonus earlier this week on the deals site. If you want to know more about what the discount brokerage has to offer check out the TradeKing review

Check out the other free money and free stuff deals I covered this week:

– Here are 15 chances to win an HP Laptop package.  I think one or two of them are already over, if you have time to take part in this one you could get a great deal on a computer.

– You can get $25 if you signup for a new account as part of the ShareBuilder promotion in October.

– Honda owners getting maintenance or repair done on their vehicles can get a $15 American Express gift card in October as part of fall car care month.

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You Need a New Job!

If you are as unahppy in your job as I was in mine, then you should think about finding a new one.  I started my new job on Monday and this has been the most stress free week I’ve had in Years!

It was a lot of work refreshing my resume, evaluating jobs, and finishing my projects at my last employer but it was definitely worth it.  Even though I’m earning less money now I’m much happier and quitting my job even taught me a few things.

Now that I’m not as busy I had a little more free time to read up on personal finance around the web. Here are some highlights for the week:

Frugal Dad is looking for a good gas credit card, here’s a review of the best gas credit cards and a place where you can compare gas credit cards.

Speaking of new jobs, Get Rich Slowly talks about getting paid what you’re worth and Free Money Finance reminds us not to stop looking for a job prematurely.

I’m sure you heard about Washington Mutual’s troubles, Sun lets us know the mutual funds that were hit hard by WaMu’s failure. Hope you don’t own any of those. Yesterday I covered money tips for a bad economy and along the same lines the Digerati Life offers up frugal steps for the economic crisis.

Million Dollar Journey asks “is it a recession” and Blueprint for Financial Prosperity shows us how to sell your gold jewelry and cash in on the high price of gold.

My Dollar plan has a summary of the Wall Street bailout, and the Simple Dollar reminds us the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.

Generation X Finance asks if you think $250K is too excessive for FDIC insurance and in light of the poor economic conditions Mighty Bargain Hunter is going to be launching a back to financial basics series.

Five Cent Nickel reminds us of the three biggest risks of retirement and ways to reduce them, and No Credit Needed shares how he lives without borrowing money.

Have a nice Saturday and Sunday!  Relax, there shouldn’t be any annoucements of banks failing over the weekened.

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Blue Sky from American Express vs Corporate Card for Business Travel

Blue Sky from American Express is one of the credit cards I have to choose from to pay for travel expenses for my new job. Airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and meals can be paid for either with a corporate credit card or with a personal American Express Blue Sky card.

Corporate Card

Travel for business is pretty infrequent according to my new boss but we’re taking our first trip next week so I need to figure out which credit card to apply for.  The benefit of using the American Express corporate card is that I wouldn’t have to mess around with being reimbursed for my expenses when I travel.  Of course the downside is that I wouldn’t earn any rewards for the money spent on the trip.

American Express Blue Sky

The upside to opening a Blue Sky from American Express card is that I’d earn rewards points while traveling for business. Apparently some divisions require that we use the corporate credit card but mine is more flexible and allows us to use a personal card instead.

Of course the downside is that I’d have to open the credit card in my name, plus hassle with submitting all my reciepts to get paid for my travel expenses.  Yet, at first glance, it seems to me to be worth the effort. I have a friend who travels pretty much full time for his job and and earns lots of free flights and hotel stays by charging everything on his American Express Starwood Preferred Guest card.

Since I won’t be traveling like he does the rewards I’ll earn will obviously be lower but the card doesn’t have an annual fee so it won’t cost me anything to use it.  Like the Blue Sky review covers, the rewards program is also free and with no blackout dates or travel restrictions the travel rewards are pretty versatile.

Benefit of Travel Rewards

Although I won’t be traveling that often, leaving the family for a day or two isn’t something I look foward to. I’d rather have a job where I don’t have to be away from home but if I’m going to need to go on business trips then I figure I mine as well get a little “travel pay” by earning points on a rewards card.  The Blue Cash card has worked out well for us so I figure I’ll give the Blue Sky card a try and see what kinds of rewards I can earn.

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FNBO Direct Online Savings Bank – Safe, Secure, & FDIC Insured

FNBO Direct offers one of the best rates available for a high yield savings account and unlike many other banks is not in danger of failing.  In fact, at First National Bank of Omaha, deposits are growing and the number of customers is increasing during these troubled economic times.  So why is FNBO Direct remaining profitable and protecting your money while so many other banks are going under?

FNBO Direct Protects Your Money

Rajive Johri, the president of the First National Bank of Omaha, recently wrote a letter to customers explaining that the bank still has a strong and well diversified balance sheet since it avoided subprime mortgages and was not invested in the securities that are tied to subprime mortgages.  As he puts it:

“Our culture of strong, disciplined lending and focus on the communities we serve ensures our continued vitality.”

While many of the banks on Wall Street were repackaging “toxic debt” via collateralized debt obligations and derivatives, First National Bank was using the disciplined lending strategy that Johri refers to; which helped them avoid a lot of downside risk of the bad debt.

Best Banks Manage Risk

One interesting thing about Johri is that before becoming president of First National Bank he was an Executive Vice President at J.P. Morgan Chase for five years.  He must have learned a lot at a J.P. Morgan Chase about managing risk, J.P. Morgan seems to be weathering the financial storm okay so far, recently buying up Washington Mutual, and FNBO Direct is growing while other banks are losing deposits.

The letter to customers goes on to say that First National’s holding company, First National Bank of Nebraska, is the largest privately owned banking company in the US and that the “private ownership structure is a significant competitive advantage”.  Since the bank’s not publicly traded, Johri and his management team can make decisions that aren’t determined by his investors on Wall Street.

Safe Place for Your Money

At one point, Johri mentions how the 150 year old bank has “witnessed and overcome numerous negative economic cycles” in the past.  Another assurance he offers customers is that First National Bank is a member of FDIC, so any money in the bank or in FNBO Direct is federally insured up to $100,000 per depositor.

It’s nice to see that there are some financial institutions that were responsible with their funds during a time when many banks were engaged in speculation with our money and ignored the risks of using leverage to become more profitable.  After learning more about First National Bank I feel confident that any funds I deposit in their online savings bank, FNBO Direct, will be safe and I’m going to open an account this week and move our emergency fund there.

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Home Based Business For Busy Parents

Working from home isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be – especially when there are children in the mix! Scraping spaghetti-o’s, off the ceiling when you’re up against a deadline might make you laugh, but it really does happen when you work at home with your kids. If you want the best of both worlds then there are some definite things you can do to make life easier, and make your time at home with your kids more enjoyable.

Stick to a Schedule:

It’s easy to slip into a non-structured life when you are at home all the time. This won’t be good for you, or your little ones. Use timers to keep everyone sane. Set the time for an hour, and then tell your child (if they are old enough) that when that timer goes off you will have lunch, or some on-on-one play time, or whatever. Make sure you and your little ones get to bed at the same time every night, and get up at the same time every morning. The more you can treat your at-home job like a normal 9 to 5 job, the easier it will be.

Face Your Finances:

Most people who stay at home take a pay cut to do so. Even if you don’t take a pay cut, there are still some complications that will come up while you work from home. If you are freelancing, or running a home based business, then your income could be unpredictable. Clients will sometimes pay late, or you may not earn the same amount of money from one month to the next. This can make budgeting very difficult.

If you are running your own business from home you will have to worry about your family’s finances, and your businesses’ finances.

There are a few things you can do to help overcome the unpredictability:

1. Have good budgeting software – Whether you use Quicken, QuickBooks, YNAB, or any other software, set aside a small amount of time each day to keep your records straight. The last thing you want to do is forget to invoice someone, or lose a customer’s credit card number.
2. Have a set place to put your paperwork – Take it from someone who has found important paperwork underneath her laundry detergent. It’s best to have a filing cabinet, an inbox, or a strategic place that is just for your important business papers. It should be an out of the way spot that is unlikely to attract the attention of sticky hands or prying in-laws.
3. Keep an Accurate Calendar – It’s ok to put business and family activities on the same calendar, since you are now incorporating business and family together every day. You can use a different color marker, or stickers, or anything you want to designate activities, but do keep the calendar.

   It’s easy to let payments, deadlines and details pass you buy if you aren’t careful. Keeping an accurate calendar is just like keeping your invoices and payments straight. Boring, but vital to the survival of your home based business.

Plan Your Vacations:

When you work a regular 9-5 job, you get vacation time, and sick leave. When you work from home you do not. The very best advice that I can give you is do not let your work take up all of your time. If you find yourself working late into the night, working all day on the weekends, or otherwise cutting into your family time, then it’s time to see what you can change.

When I first started working from home, it was a little overwhelming. I was used to quitting at the end of the day, coming home, and doing our usual routine. All of a sudden, that routine was gone. I could work whenever I wanted to, yes, but I actually found myself working more hours per day. I would let little interruptions through the day distract me (“Mama, I’m hungry“, “Mama, I’m bored!“, “Honey could you log online and check the bank account?“) and then I found myself working late into the night to make up the time. That is why I say, have that schedule first, keep an iron fist on your money, and have an accurate calendar – or it will all fall down around your ears.

Also, if the kids become too much to handle during the day, consider hiring an in-house baby sitter to come for a few hours a week. It will cost more, but you may find that you get more of your work done faster with a little help.

Regrettably, there is no real “recipe for success” here. You are going to have to find the balance that works best for you and your family. Staying on schedule, and being organized really is the key. If you can do that, everything will fall into place, and you will be able to enjoy the extra time at home with your kids – like it was meant to be in the first place!

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Career Tips from Co-Workers Show Room for Improvement

Career tips are most valuable when they are specific and come from people who are familiar with your industry or working environment.

Career Feedback

Readers were inquiring about the results of the 360 degree feedback survey I ran when I left my job so I thought I’d share some of the responses.  A little background, I was a team lead in my last position and was responsible for a group of software developers, ranging in size from 3 – 6 people over the last several years.

Self Improvement

One of the questions I asked was, “Name and explain 3 things I need to work on professionally that would make me a better person to work with.” Here are some of the things other team leads and some of my team members think I need to improve on:

Be less tolerant of poor performance from your direct reports.
Related to above, don’t step in and ‘save’ your direct reports too often. They need to be accountable for their mistakes.

I sometimes struggle with delegation and in an effort to make each project successful I would step in and help carry the load of their projects if they were behind their due dates.  There were a few cases where projects were behind due to poor performance of team members and I should have done a better job addressing their weak points so it wouldn’t happen again in the future.

1.  Better organizational skills, his desk looks like mine 🙂
2.  Work more with junior developers to make them more self sufficient.

My desk was definitely messy : )  I need to come up with a filing system at my next job.  Going back to the first response, I let my team members lean on me too much, I should have done more to “get them out of the nest”.

The only thing I think you need to work on are verbal (speak more clearly and loudly) and written (make documents more universally readable)communication skills

I do tend to mumble when I’m thinking out loud; I need to work on my annunciation when I speak.  I’ll have to follow up on the “make documents more universally readable” point and see what they meant.  Maybe I put too much unexplained technical jargon in documents.

As my team lead and coworker I seriously have had zero issues with you but if I have to come up with something that will help you professionally, the only thing I can think of is talk slower at times, Not all of us can keep up 🙂

I mentioned that I mumble when I’m thinking out loud, I also tend to talk really fast when I’m excited or “in the zone” and solving problems.  I need to remember to take deep breaths between sentences if I feel like I’m talking too fast.

The only other thing i can thing of is showing confidence in your answers and decisions . not that you were really weak in this area, but once again, something that might need to be better developed as you move up…”

Of course being in charge means you have to make decisions, something I’m not always the best at. Some days are better than others but there were definitely times when I’d go back and forth before making a big decision about a project or issue.  I need to come up with a systematic way of analyzing decisions and gauging risk that will allow me to make faster decisions.

Feedback Results

The responses are still coming in but so far my survey has shown me areas where I can improve my communication, organization, leadership, and delegation skills.  I’ll share some of the other results later in the week.

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Financial Crisis and Wall Street Bailout – What Do They Mean to You?

The Wall Street bailout and the banking financial crisis are on everyone’s minds these days.  They’re consuming politics and the news coverage, filling everyone with an ominous dread of what the future holds.

How to Survive the Financial Turmoil

My advice is to turn off the television, radio, and ignore internet headlines.  I’m trying to bury my head in the sand and pretend I know nothing about Washington Mutual’s latest failure and acquisition by JP Morgan Chase, AIG’s bailout, Merrill Lynch’s buyout, Lehman Brother’s bankruptcy, or Wachovia’s rumored demise.

Here’s what I’ve been doing: working harder, saving more money, and trying to earn more money.  Here’s why:

• Have I lost thousands of dollars in investment value? –Yes
• Could I potentially lose my job, health care, and home? – Yes
• Is the value of the dollar (our buying power) continually shrinking? – Yes

Is there anything I can do about the “toxic debt” wracked up by big financial firms, the foolish debt taken on by thousands of Americans, or the efforts of the politicians to salvage the financial mess? – No

The Next Great Depression?

If we were talking about impending nuclear holocaust or a killer disease sweeping the country I’d be worried; but no matter what happens on Wall Street and with the economy we’re all still going to wake up tomorrow and go about our lives.

What if things get as bad as the Great Depression? What if we lose everything and have to relive the Grapes of Wrath?  Well, if that happens then we’ll have to:

• work harder
• save more money
• and try to earn more money

If you recall, that’s what I’m already doing.  So whether the financial ship is righted or the bottom falls out, I’ll be working on the same goals. 

What’s the point of spending all our time watching the news and fretting over things we can’t control?  Instead, I say shut off the media distractions and focus your attention on earning more money and saving more money… and hope the bottom doesn’t fall out : )

P.S. – Also check out Smart Money Moves to Make in Tough Times

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