Moving the Thermostat A Few Degrees May Burn Pounds Too
Combining energy conservation, weight loss, and money saving can be done with a few degrees in the right direction.
The temperature: Air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter may make you less cranky, but they may also make you fatter. If you’re in a cool room in winter, for example, your body has to do more metabolic work to get your temperature up to normal. Nothing replaces a good old-fashioned workout for calorie burning, but lowering your thermostat setting a bit in winter and tipping it a smidge higher in summer may boost your baseline calorie burn. [via RealAge]
Find Free WiFi with WeFi
foXnoMad writes:
WeFi is a free download [via Lifehacker] and combined with HotelChatter’s list of the best (and worst places) to get free WiFi can ensure you’ll be looking up porn writing emails to mom in no time.
Post Highlights [6/25]
Join a Focus Group For Extra Cash
Big companies and corporations are always looking to get consumers’ opinions of their products and pay well for them.
The Sopranos Series in 7 Minutes
With the cultural phenomenon ending this past Sunday after 6 seasons we figured many of you may still be out of the loop. Here is the entire series summed up in 7 minutes.
Dan Akroyd to Open 12 Million Dollar Wineary
Dan Akroyd of Ghostbuster fame is putting his money behind a winery in the Niagara region of Canada.
Gift Ideas for Wine Enthusiasts of Every Level
Wine is a great gift for those who drink it often and those who don’t. The hard part is knowing what to get from whom if you’re not all that wine-savvy.
Ways to Speed Up Passport Applications
Passports applications in the US are taking an average of 10-12 weeks to process due to backlog. Kiplinger’s offers a few tips to speeding up the process.
Make A Room Look Bigger
Freshhome offers 5 tips [via Lifehacker] to making any room in your home look bigger without spending big bucks.
Let the light into the room too. Buy letting the natural light flow into the room, you will be surprised at how this will open up the room and make it look larger. If you do not have a lot of natural light, you can add some lighting features to the room to make it look bigger. You will be amazed at how this small addition can make a big difference.
This list summarizes some of the lest ways to make the best use of the resources you have available in your home. Any other ideas - hit us up in the comments.
Best Posts of the Week: [6/23]
Drink Tap, Not Bottled Water at Home
Ounce for ounce, bottled water can cost 1,000 times more than tap water.
Don’t Buy Shredded Cheese, Grate Your Own
A 8-oz bag of pre-shredded cheese can cost up to $4. In most grocery stores you can buy a 1-pound of block cheese for around $5.
Free Financial Software from Expensr
By tracking the amount and category of your purchases, this free program will show you, through pie charts and graphs, exactly where all your money is going.
The Simple Dollar suggests devoting 15 minutes a day to getting your finances in order, along with a list of 20 money-saving things you can do in those 15 minutes each day.
Join a Focus Group for Extra Cash
Big companies and corporations are always looking to get consumers’ opinions of their products and pay well for them.
Save Green By Being Green: Plant a Tree For Home Insulation
Planting a small tree or trees in your backyard and around your home can not only help insulate the house but also give you a return on your investment when you sell.
Select a young ‘high-return‘ tree. As the tree grows in size, it will grow in value.
A large Curly Willow, which started out as a lowly sapling bought for tens of dollars. The sapling was but a wisp of a stick with some tendrils at the end. Today, proudly it stands, three years later, soon to be a commanding presence.
Not only can you make some green with your tree, its presence will help block the sun in the summer and keep heat in during the winter.
Trees improve air quality, with one huge 30 foot tree providing an average household a clean source of air and enough oxygen for a whole day.
Also, by keeping your bedroom doors shut, installing a power save, and tearing your paper towels in half, you can help save even more trees.
Join A Focus Group For Extra Cash
If you have a little extra time on your hands and want to make some quick extra cash, you should consider joining a focus group. Big companies and corporations are always looking to get consumers’ opinions of their products and pay well for them. Companies like House Market Research and Shugoll Research run focus groups all the time and pay consumers generously for their opinions.
Two people I personally know are participating in focus groups. One is making $100 for a 2-hour meeting and the other is making $75 for a 90-minute meeting. Not too shabby for the amount of time invested. In the amount of time it takes you to watch 1 movie, you can make enough cash to go out the next day and buy 5 movies. Why not give it a try, what’s an hour of your time worth to you?
15 Minutes A Day To Frugality
Many people come home from work and plop themselves right down on the couch in front of the TV for hours. I can’t blame them either, working full-time can be emotionally, mentally and physically draining.
The Simple Dollar suggests devoting 15 minutes a day to getting your finances in order, along with a list of 20 money-saving things you can do in those 15 minutes each day. For example: hang clothes up to dry instead of using the dryer, drive under 65 when you’re not in a rush, and stop wasting money on your car.
The World’s Most Expensive Cities
The Lazy Persons Guide To Online Competitive Research
Be Lazier writes:
Those of you with online [blog] or other web competition would do wise to keep tabs on them.