Entries Tagged 'saving money' ↓

Do you have a big group of friends that you regularly communicate with via SMS or through calling them one by one either via landline, mobile phone or instant messaging? Or are you a club president or handling an organization that requires you to call a large number of people too often?

You might want to save your or your org’s money when you do these group calls. How? Foonz, an online application dedicated to allowing people to make group calls on any phone for free, can help.

How to use Foonz?

It’s easy to get started. Set up a free account here and add people to your foonz contact list. Then dial the “foonz number” you’ll get when you sign up and start a free group call or leave a group message!

When you start a group call, foonz instantly “invites” people to join your call by sending a text message to their cell phones. They simply dial the number in the text to automatically join your call! A group can be any size. If you don’t have time for a call, you can record a message for the whole group and foonz will invite them to call in and hear your message.

I’m sure it would be fun organizing my next family event with Foonz. Try it if you’d like to give online conference calling a break or if you’d like to do something that will let you maximize your group calling experience and please tell me how it goes for you.

Tags: free group call, free conference call, Foonz

This is the last part of the Ways to Save Money on Using Light Fixture series. 

Go for Dimmers
Dimming allows you manual control over the amount of energy or light consumed. Choose knobs over push-pull levers because they give you more control. Dimmers also allow you to set the exact mood which can contribute to a happier atmosphere. When you want a romantic night, you can dim the lights extensively then bring it back on if you need sufficient lighting for family-oriented activities. Dimmers allow you to put your lights to better use without spending less.

Think of Colors and Tones
In the old days, sizes were the only varying feature for light bulbs and fixtures, but today’s range of lighting products allows you to choose the color and tone as well. These are also important because they let you enjoy lesser or greater heat at the right settings and temperature to reduce need for home cooling or heating.

How to Choose the Right Light Bulb and Fixture for Your Home
Consider the setting first. Lights for the living room definitely greater energy or brightness rather than those meant for the bedroom or the bathroom. White light is ideal for the main areas of the kitchen and the office rather than yellow light. And lastly, think about size and number as well. Do you want four small ones or just one big one strategically located at the center?

Diversifying your savings or investments is easy: you simply allocate your resources to what you deem the safest and most profitable businesses or financial opportunities. But why do you have to diversify in the first place?

Here are several reasons that experts cite as the most important reasons for you to diversify your savings or investments:

1. Diversification Allows You to Receive Money All Year Long
When you pour all your money in one company, you will only receive income from it when and where the company decides to release dividends or whatever form of income you’ve been promised to receive. The return on profit might be extremely high, but what if you suddenly need a large amount of money now? With your money all tied-up to just one company, you could then be forced to take a high-interest mortgage or something equally undesirable.

Diversification however prevents that from happening because you could choose your investments to ensure that there won’t be a rainy period at any time of the year for you.

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GetMobio a cellphone application that brings RSS, movie listings and all things shiny for web maniacs has recently added a gas app that you can turn to if you’re looking for gas stations with the cheapest gas.

via Gizmodo

Nowadays, mobile phones are fast becoming a necessity. It is offered everywhere from colleges, drug stores, and job locations and in more other places you can think of. Verizon, Sprint, Cingular, T-Mobile – so many cellular phone providers, but which company to go to? Which company offers the best plan that’s fit for you?

Once you know your needs and your budget this will help in avoiding to pay more than you should. Before choosing which company to go to and which plan to opt for. Here’s a checklist of the things you have to consider.

First, know which provider offers service in your area. A good number of major cell phone providers offer services nationwide, others are more local. Bunch up a list of all the providers available in your area and their rates.

Next, think about how many times you need to use the cell phone the most, how many minutes you need to use your phone and where you will use it. Then, you must determine how much you are willing to spend each month for your cell phone.

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How? By turning in their gas-powered lawn mowers. Each resident who turns in his gas-powered mower will receive a $25 rebate for a new electric or push mower.

They are even going to receive a $100 discount from Northwest Natural Yard Days store if they purchase their mowers there.

But all of this will only be until Tuesday.

Mowers can be turned in at Seattle Public Utilities’ North Recycling and Disposal Station, 1350 N. 34th St., or South Station, 8105 Fifth Ave. S., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents are asked to empty their mowers of oil and gas before they are recycled as scrap metal. Mowers still will be accepted after Tuesday, but without the customer rebate.

For more information, visit www.seattle.gov/util or call 206-633-0224. For participating Northwest Natural Yard Days stores, visit www.yarddays.com.

via Seattle Times

[image from addon]

This is the second part of the Save Money on Lighting series.

Replace the Big Five of Light Bulbs and Fixtures
If you have a very tight budget, you can enjoy the greatest savings on your utility bills by replacing the Big Five. These are the most used lights at your home: light bulbs and fixtures in your kitchen’s ceiling, bathroom mirror, outdoor post or porch, as well as the lamps or lighting source for your living room floor and table. If you can’t replace all the lighting bulbs in fixtures in your whole house, make sure you replace at least the Big Five.

Automate as Much as Possible
Many homes suffer from high utility bills simply because most people in the house forget to turn off lights when they’re not in use. And although you can post as many reminders as you want all around you house, you can’t completely guarantee that these will be strictly followed. To ensure that you’re not wasting money by wasting energy on lighting, you can use lights that switch off automatically when a door closes or any other specified action is made. They may cost more in terms of installation, but think about how you’ll be reaping its rewards for a lifetime!

[image from galeriekreo]

Was able to go to the mall this week but only to run some errands that again didn’t allow me to indulge myself. This emergency fund challenge is definitely boosting my self-control!

However, Mother’s Day is so today and I allowed myself to spend a maximum of $70 for a full-body spa for my mom and a nice hair treatment for the two of us. Hey, it’s mother-daughter bonding time! I planned to treat the whole family to the beach for a weekend getaway slash mother’s day bash but the weather’s not cooperating. I’ve set aside about $200 for that beach vacay, so whatta big savings the weather blessed me with, right? Should I call it a blessing in disguise or a windfall? Hehe.

Since I’m getting Mother’s Day celebration expenses from my supposed-to-be-emergency-fund since I received some blessings I didn’t expect since last week, see results from last week, I’m not expecting to be able to contribute as much as I was able to for my emergency fund challenge this week. But I already started with the paid reviews to make up for the loss. So, here it goes:

Target = $500

Windfall = $106 - $70 (Mother’s Day spa day for Mom) = $36

ReviewMe = $25 (payout this June)

Temp Blogging = $45

Balance = $394

It’s holidays like these that I fail to prepare for that makes saving money not so much of a cinch for me. But I’m not at any rate pissed because I’m more than willing to work doubly hard to get back on track. Also, it’s a lesson learned in a not so hurtful way. Hello, a spa day with my mom, hurtful?

Happy Mothers’ Day to all Moms out there!

This is a sponsored review.

If you are looking for a website that compares credit cards from various companies such as American Express, HSBC, Citibank and Chase which also allows you to apply online, Creditme.com might be the site you’re looking for.

Here’s straight from its About page:

Our mission is to make applying credit cards as easy as possible for our members. CreditMe.com categorizes credit card offers by issuer and by credit card type including airline credit cards, balance transfer credit cards, business credit cards, cash back credit cards, credit cards for bad credit, instant approval credit cards, low interest credit cards , prepaid debit cards, reward credit cards , and student credit cards.

Thanks to the Internet technology applying for credit cards has never been this easy. Ok, ok, I know almost all credit companies don’t give applicants any hard time anymore, right?

But if you’d like to at least compare credit cards to see which will suit your financial management style best, if any.

Creditme.com will show you all your credit card options whether you are looking for a student credit card, a credit card for your bad credit (ouch!), or a credit card for the rewards-freak.

However, I think it would be a lot easier for people comparing credit cards to just be shown a single chart or table comparing each credit cards by category and all the specific features that credit card companies provide.

It also provides guides for those who’d like to learn more about credit cards, how to improve your credit and applying online.

Do you love making scrapbooks but hate the idea of the cost needed to make them? Check out these 5 websites that offers free scrapbooking supplies, and you will be on your way to a fun and inexpensive hobby.

Scrapbookscrapbook.com – A free scrapbook supplies & scrapbooking clipart source. They have over 2000 downloadable, free printable pages of rubberstamping and scrapbook designs. They have alphabets, backgrounds, and a lot more. The site also offers tips and instructions for beginners, and links to other websites that offer scrapbooking supplies not available to them.

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