Should we all be switching to Dominion is the question. Consider the following before making a decision:

• If you make the switch by September 17, 2010 and your one of the first 25,000 customers who enrolls, you are guaranteed a rate of 9.67 cents/kWh until May 2011. So essentially a year’s worth of cheaper electricity.

• Currently BGE’s rate is 11.901 cents/kWh, effective through September 30, 2010 and the rate will be reduced to 10.083 cents/kWh beginning on October 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011.  Basically, because BGE is lowering their rate starting in October, the difference in rates for the year if you switch would be 0.413 cents/kWh—not a whole lot of difference really.

So, should you switch? I guess it doesn’t hurt because nothing really changes as far as your service, billing etc., just your rate, which will drop 0.413 cents/kWh.  Also, after the promotional period, you have the option to continue with Dominion or you could switch back to BGE. At that point, you could just do another rate comparison and make a decision in 2011 based on which company will have the lowest rate (I was told that the average Dominion rate currently is 11.33 cents/kWh, higher than BGE’s “normal” rate for the year).

So for a guaranteed reduction in electricity with no real change in service and no fees to make the switch (I was also told on the phone that all of the fees associated with delivering the electricity that you see on your bill will remain the same), I don’t really see a reason not to switch to Dominion—at least during the promotional period.

[Update: 9/16/2010]

Upon receiving a letter from Constellation Electric offering a deal to compete with BGE and Dominion Retail, I thought it would be worth updating this post to compare all of the deals.

Here are the deals compared:

• Dominion
  • 9.67 cents/kWh until May 2011

• BGE
  • 10.083 cents/kWh beginning on October 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011

• Constellation Electric –
  • 9.55 cents/kWh (If you sign on for 1 year)
  • 9.45 cents/kWh (if you sign on for 2 years)
  • In addition, if you are enticed by gimmicks, Constellation Electric will also offer you a $25 or $50 Target gift card for a 1 or 2-year commitment. (Maybe you should use the Target gift card for some weather stripping)

It was too good to last let alone be true…Hulu will be a paid subscription service as of 2010.  While we all are enjoying this free service kicking the shorts of cable, it seems that the rumors are true and Hulu isn’t able to survive on ads alone.  

I am going to make a forecast that this will be the end of Hulu as we know it, not only in its format but in its usage.  People like Hulu for two primary reasons: its completely free and it works well.  Now its just going to work well.  That’s great but after having unadulterated access for so long, how can we go back?

Hulu claims that some content will remain on the free side of the fence but the quote from News Corp doesn’t exactly exude hope:

“It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online. I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value. Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business”

Most seem to think that it would be better to simply increase commercials.  And with Netflix having such a strong hold on the content subscription purchase, its going to be tough going.

Perhaps a compromise?  Ad driven and free, or no ads with a paid subscription?  Guess I’ll get back onto the torrent train…

[Editors Note: I thought that perhaps Fancast.com would make for a great alternative but after looking into it, theres a major problem: Its videos are pulled from Hulu!!  Dammit Beavis...]

I know that the regularity of this site has been somewhat “light,” but would like to ensure our readers that we are still alive, just reorganizing.  With that said, here is your latest tip on how to milk the most with what you have…

If you are one of the lucky few who have an invite to Google Voice, you may have the ability to milk a loop hole in the way your carrier treats your select few of free call numbers.

[Note: This has not been released to the masses yet, but check out the video below, and roll the dice on an invite.]

Many providers offer the ability to preselect a few numbers that you can call at any time, free of charge.  What this tip [via Lifehacker.com] does is have you set your Google Voice Call settings so that your caller ID number is through Google, then setting that number amongst your “circle.”  Use this to make your calls and presto, free calls!

I have a feeling that if this catches on, carriers are probably going to either remove this “My Circle” ability or have a conniption.  Maybe both.  In either order.

This may or may not work so leave a comment and let others know of your experiences…

Tod Philips over at Geeks Are Sexy wrote up a great piece on how he is saving a ton of money on Skype and the unreal taxes being charged to his long distance account.  Almost 30%!!  Check it out.

Yes.  Yes they are.  One in particular to me anyway.  Yesterday, Frank wrote an article about how we shouldn’t have to pay for GPS map updates.  If you read closely you might have read that he mentioned me and my issues with paying for an internet connection.  Its not that I don’t WANT to pay for it actually, I just don’t want to pay through the nose for a shoddy connection that isn’t even really that fast.  Right now I am piggy backing off my neighbor…yea yea I know might not be the most nicest thing but its wide open and free.But I don’t want to do that anymore.  I want my own connection, not only because I feel bad that I can completely demolish my poor unsuspecting neighbor, but because I want to work at home more and I need some more serious juice in order to do it.  Writing a few articles on a laptop is a far cry from this speed demon desktop I built from spare parts (from power button to windows, it boots in about 30 seconds) and the amount of FTPing I need to do.

So the first issue we run into is choice.  Of all the internet service providers, in all the world, we only get one.  And I don’t mean “we” as in me and my fiancée, I mean you as well.  It is very rare to have a choice in who provides you with an internet connection.  I can kind of understand this because there is competition in where they lease these from and ISP’s are very territorial.  Of course thats where the competition stops because all the ISP’s are gouging consumers in this country.  The U.S. is one of the absolute slowest, not to mention what we pay for it.  We put a man in the moon and a robot on Mars?  Sometimes I really wonder…  So lets move on from that issue, and say “ok, I will just make the most with what I have in front of me.”  And that would be  Comcast.

Have you been to Comcast’s website?  Lets talk about it.  For starters, they have a great marketing team.  They post the prices for an internet connection at the lowest amount but you can’t get them.  $19.99 a month for 6 months is not a bad deal when you consider the alternative of $42.95.  But that later price of $42.95 is only for those that get the Comcast cable package.  How much is that?  $29.99!  (For the cheapest package that no sane person would want.)  So I need to spend $62.94 (before taxes, service fees, surcharges, amendments, handling fees, breathing charges and charity donations mind you) in order to get internet for the on going cost of $42.95 and get cable TV.

What’s the problem?  What if I don’t WANT cable TV?  We currently get plenty of HD over the air and its only costs was the antenna.  Virtually free and we really don’t have the time to watch all the crap we want to watch.  So if I stick to my guns and get just the internet: $57.95.  

Dammit.  

Is it too much to ask to get a decent connection for under $25?  And not for just the first twenty minutes of the contract.  And so help me if I have to commit to a contract for a connection that constantly goes down.  Can you negotiate with Comcast?  No, You probably have to call in the Navy.

This sounds lame, but I feel as though my frugality is making me a victim.  It doesn’t seem fair that because I don’t want all the bells and whistle I have to pay more.  This brings me back to my original thought: Maybe stealing bandwidth isn’t so bad?  Comcast seems like they are stealing…What would you do?

PS – Sorry about the crap image: you can thank MSPaint.  No photoshop today.

Netflix. What?! Don’t take away my movies!  I know how exciting a movie in your mailbox may make you when you come home for work, but how happy are you shelling out $20+ a month?  Movies are great, don’t get me wrong, but there are better and cheaper methods for renting them.  I’m still a huge fan of Redbox.  Check out their website and see if one of their boxes is close to your home.  Movies are $.99 and free on Mondays.  Some things are worth repeating, Redbox movies are $.99 and free on Mondays.  Are you watching 20+ movies a month with Netflix?  We would never pay for way more food than we could possibly eat month after month, why are videos any different?

Phone Bills. Obviously we can’t live without a phone, but many of us are doubling up on coverage and in the process, doubling up our expenses.  I recently wrote about switching to a pay-as-you-go monthly service on your cell phone, which is a great option for those of us that sparsely use our cell phones.  Home phone lines seem like something we are supposed to have because our parents had them; they give us a sense of stability.  But why have a home phone line that you only use to hang-up on telemarketers?  Ditching this could save you upwards of $30/month.

Satellite Radio. If you would of asked me 10 years ago if people would ever consider paying for radio, I would have said you’re nuts.  Now, I’m one of them paying each month for Sirius/XM radio.  I love listening to talk radio and random radio stations on the way to what can be long commute in and out of Washington, DC, but I’m starting to doubt the worthiness of this expense.  I seem to be looking for better songs more than actually listening and most of the talk shows I enjoy most are on ESPN radio, which is free.

Useless Insurance. Many of us have overlapping insurance coverage and have no idea.  For example, many people pay extra each month on their car insurance for towing and entry into their vehicles when their keys are locked inside.  These same people may also belong to AAA, which provides the same services.  Look deeper into your insurance policies and see where you can cut the fat, or in some cases, cut the insurance completely.  Credit card insurance is one you can probably get rid of, especially if you don’t carry a balance.

Gym Memberships. Lets me honest, are you getting your monies worth?  If you find yourself going to the gym once or twice a week, your likely better off choosing free, but still healthy choices like running, playing recreational sports, and On Demand exercise routines.  Rather than keep shelling out the monthly expense, purchase equipment that will last forever and provide free exercise down the road.  With little to no money you can: run, play tennis, lift dumbbells, do sit-ups and pushups, ride bike, walk, countless abdominal routines, and more.

Magazines/Newspaper Subscriptions. Maybe you love reading the newspaper or getting new magazines in the mail, but do you find yourself struggling to keep up with them?  At times I feel like its work to keep up with the Washington Post and the few magazines I get.  The solution may be to cancel or cutback on the subscriptions.  For example, just get the weekend paper delivered and on the weekdays you actually have time, pay the $.35.  Consider canceling some of you magazines and only keeping your absolute favorite subscriptions.

What have you cut from your monthly budget? $

It’s a little ridiculous to think we can live without a cell phone anymore, but we can live without the $100 + bills we all receive from our providers each month.  If you use your phone multiple times everyday, this idea isn’t for you, but if you’re like me and your cell phone is rarely used and mostly the reason you wear a belt, then consider switching to a prepaid/pay-as-you-go service.  I expect I will lower my bill, which has two phones on it, by 60%.

If you seem to continually come under your allowed cell phone minutes on your current plan, why pay for extra unused time?  At best, a plan for a single phone will cost around $40 and this is not adding in the fees, txt messages, etc.  Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and TracFone all offer some sort of prepaid service that either allows you to pay per block or by the day.

My wife and I are going to switch to Verizon’s prepaid service this month.  Currently, our bill is around $90 every month and we never get our money’s worth for a couple of reasons.  For one, we have a house phone, primarily for our home’s alarm system.  It’s worth nothing that our phone is through our internet service provider (VOIP) and offers free long distance.  Second, my wife’s work supplies her with a Blackberry with unlimited access.

The Verizon plan we are going to switch costs .99 cents a day, but only the days we use the phone.  The catch is, it costs .15 cents a minute when you call people outside of the Verizon network (not including dead zones–scary), but a Verizon to Verizon call is free.  The majority of my family and friends are on Verizon, which makes this deal even better for us.  I expect to lower our bill from $90 to around $36-40, based on our current usage.

These types of plans are also great for kids, seniors, and anyone else that has access to other means of communication or rarely uses their phone.  If you are already paying for a house phone for example, you’ll just have to get in the habit of using that to call your friends and family versus your cell phone.  The savings over a year, depending on your situation, could really add up with this move.  However, if you are one that uses your phone like crazy, has a monster text messaging package or an unlimited data plan, then your likely best staying with your current setup.  Although, I question the need for all of the extra bells and whistle many of us pay for each month with our phones.  After all, your computer does everything your phone does, but cheaper, faster, and with a bigger screen!$

Participating in your employers 401(k) match program allows for a great way to accelerate your retirement savings, but have you ever considered using your credit card rewards program as a means to save?  Although rewards programs are all over the map in their offerings, certain programs present a great way to add to your future nest egg.  Despite the great opportunity for additional savings, nobody paying interest on their current card should spend with the rewards in mind – no program will out accrue your current cards interest rate.

What I Do
My wife and I use a credit card for nearly 100 percent of our purchase and about 50 percent of our monthly bills.  Because charging as much as we do can lend itself to overspending, it is only recommended for disciplined spenders that stick to a budget and spend only what you can afford.  If cards are used like this, they actually offer you a no interest loan during the grace period in additional to the cash back award.  Hey, it’s free money – if you have the discipline, take it.      

I now have a personal IRA account with Sharebuilder, which offers a Visa card with a 1 percent cash back on all purchases.  This program in my opinion is extremely valuable, because the cash back is automatically deposited into your Roth IRA, instantly earning additional monies in a money market fund.  Also, because Roth IRA’s grow tax-free, the free money you earn is truly all yours. 

One percent may not sound like much, but considering how much you spend in a year, coupled with compound interest, has the  potential to add up to a significant amount.  Like I said above, we use our card for nearly all our purchases and about 50 percent of our bills.  Last year alone, we put about 36k on our card (remember, we are constantly paying it off, with multiple payments throughout the month). As you can tell from the figures below, using your card the right way can really boost your savings.

———————————————————————-
Estimated Earnings Potential -

Average yearly amount spent on card = $36,000
Average yearly cash back amount received = $360
40-year earnings based on an 8 percent return = $ 104,730.23
———————————————————————-

Remember if you decide to use your card as a savings vehicle, keep your debt to credit level around 35 percent as to not negatively affect your credit score, learn more about what I mean here.  Also important to keep in mind is that most rewards programs have limits as to the actual amount of money you can receive in a year while participating in their programs.  Do you currently participate in a rewards program worth sharing? $  

If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to our RSS feed, or better yet, get us in your Email, Stumble it, or give it a Digg!
 

We hear from a good number of people that they would like to have more money. Not just have more, but make more. They talk about the need to get a better paying job, how they can barely afford to pay the bills and if only they made more money every month, then all their problems would be solved. However, having more money, can in many situations, make things worse. Its just about a proven fact that a huge majority of lottery winners end up in ruin not because they have too much money, but they use that money to dig themselves a hole of debt. It takes a considerable amount of discipline to manage huge sums of money and the truly wealthy are good at it, simply because they have had the practice. Who is going to be a better golfer: Tiger Woods with the run of the mill clubs, or you, who has the bleeding edge of club technology? There’s an analogy in there somewhere, but I digress…

»What we need are not only a few simple steps to get us on the right track but also the ability to stay on that track. Before you think to yourself, I need more money, think about making the most of what you already have.«

1. Stop the Bleeding – Get a detailed printout of your current monthly purchases and give it a hard look. What are the most common things you buy? For my girlfriend it was Starbucks. Every morning she would order a half-caff, triple latte, super espresso quad-shot coffee that would have given your whole family a permanent orange afro after it peeled the paint off your house. You can imagine how expensive this was, especially on a daily basis. It adds up and now that she brews it herself, we save, literally, about $130 a month. Apply these thoughts to your own image of spending. What are buying constantly that might be considered “extra.” It’s ok to cut out a little at a time; the goal is to not alter your lifestyle, but to reduce the expenditures that come along with it.

2. Budget – Get into the habit of monitoring your finances on a weekly basis. Set aside a solid 20-30 minutes a week to assess your money. Examine what you spent money on and what you saved and keep track of it. Even if you don’t necessarily have a perfect day, the notes and trends you see will help you in the long run. Wealthy people seem to never worry about their money, but they have a very accurate pulse on their financial situation. There are several ways to do this; Quicken, Microsoft Money, Mint, Wesabe, Geezeo and Lazy Man’s personal fave: simple spreadsheet. Here’s ours.

3. Bills – One way to manage bills is to set up automatic payments, once you are caught up of course. It is far better to scrape by until you adjust than to miss a payment here and/or there and have your credit report take a hit from late or non-payment. You will also be able to judge for your budget how much you have left over and set that money aside preemptively. Then you don’t have to worry about it, its being paid. Important note: Keep very specific notes on all bills you set up for auto bill pay. You are going to consult this whenever it comes time to buy other items, like groceries for example. Keep close track until you are in the habit of recognizing how much you have every month.

4. Saving Methods – We are big advocates of investing, but then again that’s the industry where both Frank and I work. However, there are few drier things then learning about stocks, bonds, interest rates, capital gains, tax exemptions, deductions, liquid returns, and P/E ratios for most of us to entertain for any length of time. Lately, we have been talking about some of the most sure fire ways to save without thinking about it. Both Wachovia and Bank of America have saving programs that set aside small sums frequently over the course of your spending, and employers will set any amount aside for you into any account you choose. ING Direct has some nice rates for long term savings, as well as checking. Keep in mind that rates are not good right now due to the Fed dropping them so low. Watch this, history has shown that when they get very low, it comes time to crank them up and when they do, especially when the economy is in this sort of situation, you can almost bet that it will be fast. But that’s a whole other article.

5. Maintaining Financial Discipline – After all this is said and done and you feel as though you have reigned in the wild spending of your spouse, or yourself, you are going to need to be diligent about keeping up with it. Educate yourself. Yea, its hard work and is sometimes a little boring. But then again 1) if it were easy, you would already be doing it and would not be reading this 2) eventually, it will be a habit and over time it will really pay off. No pun intended. (Well, maybe a little intended.)

6. Temptations – What about when we get into having a few extra dollars coming our way? These sorts of things happen from time to time and the best policy is to really just grab onto every penny and not let go. Populate an emergency fund in a high interest money market, or at least in a savings account with your current bank. Then forget about it. Its hard to convey this but you will absolutely be glad you did when the time comes. If you have already done that, then jumpstart your 401(k)/403(b). If you are already maxing that out, then drop it into an index fund. Anything, but park it into your checking account and having access to it through your debit card. The same applies with any windfall or raise. Be disciplined and simply try it. You will be amazed at the results.

These are but a few most basic principles to consider but powerful none the less. Take advantage of what you are already making and be diligent and you might find a few financial surprises right under your nose. $

It’s strange how the conveniences in our lives continually improve but we seem to constantly be on the run with more things to do. We no longer have to go to the store to rent movies, we can now have our groceries delivered to our door, and we can even hire life coaches to take care of the odds and ends we don’t have time for. Then there is the whole outsourcing concept. In all of our hustle and bustle, it’s important we take advantage of online bill pay, another added convince, which not only saves us time, but also saves our credit scores.

Credit Scores and Monthly Bills
A significant part of your credit score is your ability and history of making on-time monthly bill payments. Falling behind on a few monthly bills – which would ultimately be reported to a collection agency – will significantly affect your credit score. There is a perception that our credit history relies mainly on our current and future debt, and the importance of our monthly bills is downplayed. Although determined in a complex way, our credit scores can be maintained and improved mainly by being responsible consumers.

Online Bill Pay
Nearly all major banks now offer some kind of online bill payment system. If you are not familiar with these, they allow us to consolidate all of our monthly bills into one online source that makes paying our bills a breeze. I use Wachovia, which in my opinion has an excellent bill payment system. I use Wachovia to pay all of my bills, which saves me a lot of time and headaches. It literally takes about 5 minutes to pay my bills for the entire month. Below is what I consider the top 10 reasons to use online bill pay:

Top Ten Reasons to Use Online Bill Pay
1. No Postage Necessary. We no longer have to mail in personal checks – I can’t even remember the last time I bought more than one stamp.

2. Bill Reminders. Have reminders automatically emailed to you so you never miss a payment again.

3. Records. Every time you pay a bill using an online source, a copy is saved in their network, which makes record keeping a breeze.

4. Time is Valuable. Have you ever realized a bill is due tomorrow? Now it doesn’t matter, most bills will reach their destination either automatically or the following morning.

5. Credit Score. As I mentioned above, a missed bill payment can shave valuable points off your credit score.

6. Eliminate Paper Bills. Do you no longer eat at your kitchen table because it’s full of mail – this is the case with me. You can have your bills automatically sent to your bank account to eliminate the mailing of paper bills. Go green.

7. Organization. Within seconds you can see your list of bills, whether they have been paid or not and their due dates, all of which can easily be lost or forgotten otherwise.

8. Flexibility. Let’s say a bill is due in two-weeks but you will not have the money until a day before the due date. With online bill pay, you can easily set your account to pay the bill whenever is convenient for you.

9. Automatic Reoccurring Payments. Most people have a few bills where the amount never changes. With these, it’s easy to setup an automatic payment, which will pay the bill at the same time every month without us doing anything.

10. Because its 2008!

If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to our RSS feed, or better yet, get us in your Email.
Stumble it, or give it a Digg!

Anybody – no matter what point in your life you are at – should create a monthly budget. A budget is the one big step you can take, to take control of your financial future. Until you realize where your money is going, (or isn’t going), will you be able to start paying down your debts, putting money into savings, or planning for your retirement. Try this budget and regain control sooner rather than later. There are many different programs available, i.e. Microsoft Money and Quicken that can also be used. Let’s get started…

Monthly Bills
At the beginning of each month, enter in the cost of all your monthly bills (cable TV, internet, mortgage, property tax etc). Because most of your bills are not the same month to month, our budget template has a column for your projected costs as well as the actual costs. This way you can give yourself a realistic look at your monthly expenses at the beginning of the month and enter in the actual amounts when the bills start arriving. Remember, it is better to over estimate the cost of bills then to come up short.We find it is best to view your savings as a monthly bill. Currently, the United States Personal Savings Rate is staggering around 1%, which makes it apparent, how Americans view saving needs to change. Remember it is recommended to have at least two months of living expenses in a liquid savings account (like a money market fund), so you have easy access to the money in a time of need.

Necessary Expenses
Necessary expenses include groceries, toilet paper, gas etc. Just like your bills, enter your best estimate for each category. For a starting point, consider that in our household, my wife and I budget $300.00/month for food, $115.00/month for gas, and $75.00/month for toiletries etc. It is important to be realistic when setting your projected expenses, think of everything you need month to month. Remember your budget when you’re shopping as well, just because something is on sale, does not mean you should buy it. Many times the best bargain is keeping your money.

Income
Here, simply enter in your after-tax household income, including any supplemental income like rental income. Hopefully by sticking to this budget you will start to see more of this money! After all of your bills, expenses, and income is entered, Excel will calculate a total amount of money left after paying your bills. Assuming you entered your savings as a bill, this amount can be easily divided by four to give you a sense of what you can spend on a weekly basis. We find its helpful to think of your disposable money in week increments, this way you have a better mindset as to what you can afford to do for fun, and not feel guilty about what you do spend, because remember, if it’s in your budget, your on the right track!Actual Costs
To really get a sense if you are sticking to your budget or not, pick a few nights a week to enter in your purchases in the actual costs categories. By taking the time to enter in these figures, you get a chance to examine your spending habits. Perhaps you will recognize Starbucks showing up more frequently then you care to admit, this is a good thing that will hopefully get you to start making conscientious purchases.

How Did You Do?
At the end of the month, after you have finished entering all of your purchases and the correct billing amounts, you will find out if you stayed within your budget or not. Take a few minutes to really examine your month. Ask yourself things like, where did I go wrong? Are there any negative patterns? Where can I make cutbacks? Until you see your finances broken down in front of you, it’s hard to start making postive financial changes in your life.

If you are lucky enough to continually have money left over each month, start playing with the numbers, put more money in savings or pay more money on credit cards with higher interest rates. Both are great ways to reduce debt and accumulate wealth!

Conclusion
It doesn’t matter which program or method you use for budgeting your money, it is just important you do it. It does require a little bit of your time, but remember, you work an estimated 160 hours a week to earn your money, you owe it to yourself to spend a few minutes to determine how best to spend it! $