Utilities

FCC Extends Net Neutrality Deadline as Writers Guild Pushes for More Feedback

August 15, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 7 Comments

The comment deadline on comments for net neutrality to the FCC has been extended until September 15

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) increased the amount of time people have to reply to comments on the issue of net neutrality rules by five days. The previous deadline had been set for September 10, but it has now been set for September 15, 2014, giving the public a few more days to express their opinions on what the government should do to regulate Internet traffic.

The first round of commenting on the issue was supposed to end on July 15, but it was extended to July 18 due to the FCC’s website crashing. There was such a huge number of last-minute comments around the 15th that many people couldn’t reach the website to make their opinion known. The three day extension was to allow those who tried to comment, but couldn’t to due to the crash. The FCC said that this latest extension was “to ensure that members of the public have as much time as was initially anticipated to reply to initial comments in these proceedings.”

The FCC has already received over 1 million comments from the public on whether all businesses on the Internet should be treated equally when it comes to content delivery speed, or if businesses should be able to pay to have their information and content prioritized for delivery. The vast majority of the comments indicate people want all to be treated as equals, with many saying the FCC should treat Internet providers as common carrier utilities. Many have concerns with allowing broadband carriers to penalize the speed of traffic they deliver at their discretion.

The Writers Guild of America has also weighed into the conversation asking the FCC to hold public hearings on the net neutrality issue before making any rule changes. In a correspondence to the FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler by Writers Guild president Michael Winship, he expressed the following sentiment,

“The time has now come for the commission to hold public hearings on the Open Internet rulemaking around the country. It is imperative that the FCC members travel beyond Washington, D.C., to hear for themselves the voices of the American people who insist upon an Internet kept available on an equal and democratic basis for all.”

Those who want to have their opinions known can submit them by emailing the to openinternet@fcc.gov or through the comment section on the FCC’s website under the title of Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet.

(Photo courtesy of Free Press)

52 Week Save Money Challenge Week Five

February 2, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 4 Comments

It was a tough week when it came to the saving challenge. I had high hopes that with the first month’s bills coming in, I would have good numbers which would net me savings with my water, gas and electric bills. Unfortunately that didn’t work out, and all three bills were more this month than they were for the same month last year. The result was that I failed to save any money in these areas, and I had planned this to be the majority of my savings this week.

Water Bill

The water bill came to $129.49 this month, while it was $102.32 in January 2013. That’s about $27 more, which is a pretty significant increase, and it’s certainly not where I would have liked to see it end up. I’m not sure there is a whole lot more I can do to reduce my water consumption, but I will put together a water reduction checklist and see if I’m wasting water somewhere where I don’t realize it.

Saved: $0.00

Electricity Bill

This month’s electricity bill was $45.71 while the electricity bill for the same period last year was $39.16. While only about $5 in difference, it was in the wrong direction. I’ll have to spend some time looking if there are some other steps I can take to reduce the amount of electricity I have been using.

Saved: $0.00

Gas Bill

The gas bill came to $89.61 this month while it was only $41.36 for the same period last year. This was a huge increase and one that I’m not happy with at all. I can’t remember if the weather has been colder this year than it was last year, but I was definitely not pleased to see this big of a difference when comparing the bills.

Saved: $0.00

At first, I was perplexed at how this could happen since I had been going out of my way to save in all three areas. I had also been gone a number of days house sitting which should have helped as well. I then looked back at my calendar last year and realized that I had a long house sitting stint in January 2013 which kept me away for three of the four weeks. Considering how much more I was around this year, the increase in the bills was actually a lot less than might have been expected. Since this billing period is kind of like comparing apples and oranges, it’s still a toss-up as to whether or not the utility conservation is working. Hopefully next month will make this a lot clearer and there will be a reduction this year compared to the same month last year so I can claim some savings for the challenge.

Money Jar & Pay to Use My Car

Due to the failure of finding savings from utilities this month, the only savings I was able to add to my total came from the money jar and using the car. Because I had such a good week last week, I didn’t count either of these toward the total. That decision was a good one considering what transpired this week. There was $5.15 in the change jar, so I’ll put $5 toward the savings this week. There was also $8 for the driving fund over the two weeks.

Saved: $13.00

Total Saved Week 5: $13.00

$1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 $10
$11 $12 $13 $14 $15 $16 $17 $18 $19 $20
$21 $22 $23 $24 $25 $26 $27 $28 $29 $30
$31 $32 $33 $34 $35 $36 $37 $38 $39 $40
$41 $42 $43 $44 $45 $46 $47 $48 $49 $50
$51 $52

Goals for the Coming Week

What happened this week is exactly why I like the alternate version of the 52 week challenge as compared to the standard version. The unexpected sometimes happens and I was able to save far less this week than I’d anticipated. Still, I crossed off a number on the chart so I’m still in business.

I have a busy week coming up, but what I’d like to do is put together a checklist for at least one of the three utilities (water, gas and electricity) on ways to better save money.

How did you do in your week 5 challenge?

The 2014 Challenge
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four

(Photo courtesy of KOMUnews)

Preparing for the 52 Week Save Money Challenge

December 28, 2013 By Jeffrey Strain Leave a Comment

Most people who decide to take on the 52 Week Money Challenge see that they only need to save $1 the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third week and $4 the fourth week for a total of only $10 the first month. Since the amount is so low, many fail to make any preparations for the challenge. With amounts so low at the beginning, many wonder why it’s even worth bothering to come up with a plan?

While part of the allure of this challenge is that it appears easy, taking the time to do some basic preparations can go a long way to increasing the chance of the challenge succeeding. What I’ve decided to do is to put in place 10 different things that I plan to do each week throughout the year that will help toward the challenge. This will give me a base that helps ensure that some money is going to be saved each week, even if I don’t come up with any new ways to save money.

Another positive thing about making a list of weekly things to do is that when combined together, they can add up to some of the larger weekly amounts for the challenge. For example, if I do ten different things, and each of them ends up saving me $5 during the week, I’ve saved $50. This means that I don’t need to necessarily find big savings to reach the higher amounts. I can instead save small amounts in a lot of different ways to reach those goal numbers. Below are some of the things that I plan to do.

Start a Money Jar

I still use cash quite a bit so I’m constantly coming back home with change. I will place any change that I have at the end of the day into a jar that will go toward this savings challenge. While I will start with just coins, I hope that at some point I can increase it so that I save any $1 bills I get as well, but I’ll leave that decision to a later date. I’ll start off with the smaller step of just placing coins into the jar at the end of the day.

Use Coupons and Sales

When I go shopping, I will use coupons (but only for things that I would already normally buy) and look for sales (again, only for items that I would normally buy) and put any savings toward the challenge. For example, if I use $2 worth of coupons one week, then I will place $2 towards the challenge. I’ll do the same things with sale items. If it’s something that I need and I would regularly buy, I will take the difference between what I would usually pay and the sale price and place that amount towards the challenge.

Utilities

One of the things I can do, in a lot of different way, is to try to reduce the cost of my utilities. This is one of those areas where it’s usually difficult to know how much has been saved with the different efforts. For example, how much am I really saving when I make the effort to turn off the lights in rooms that I’m not using? To calculate this, I will look at what I paid for the utilities for the same month last year, and compare that to what I end up paying this year. Any reduction in the cost of the utilities I will assume is from my cost cutting efforts, and I’ll put the difference towards the challenge.

Buy Second-Hand Gift Cards

I will buy gift cards at a discount to the places where I normally and consistently spend money. For example, I do most of my shopping at a local Safeway grocery store. If I can buy a $100 gift card to that store for $95 on eBay, I will purchase it and place the $5 I saved towards the challenge savings. I will try to do this at all the places where I regularly spend my money.

Pay to Use My Car

This is a system that I used when I was first out of college and needed to save money for purchases. It’s an effective way for me to save money, and it can be used in a wide variety of ways. My car just went over 100,000 miles so I know that it will probably start costing a bit more as parts wear out. What I will do is pay $1 toward the challenge every time I use the car this year. From past experience, doing this will save me a lot more than the dollar. When I have to pay to use my car, I tend to walk or ride my bike a lot more often for shorter trips. When I do use the car, I get organized before I go out so that I can do all my errands in a single trip rather than in multiple trips. It’s a method that has always been effective for me and fits well with this challenge.

Found Money

I tend to find quite a bit of money each year. I actually enjoy keeping my eyes open for dropped coins and bills when I walk. Any money that I happen to find, I’ll put towards the challenge.

Stick to My List

When I do go shopping for something, I will stick to a list that I write down before going. If I see something that I think I need which isn’t on the list, I will not buy it. Instead, I’ll note the price and give it a few days to determine if it’s something I really need to purchase. If so, I’ll go and buy it with no harm done. If not, I know that I prevented myself from making an impulse purchase, and I’ll put the money that I saved towards the challenge.

Get for Free

Before I purchase something, I will see if there is an opportunity to get the product or service for free. If there is, I will take the difference in what I would have had to pay for it and place that money towards the savings challenge.

Buy Used

If I need to make a purchase that I can’t get for free, I will always see if I can buy whatever I need used, rather than new. If it’s possible, I will take any savings I get from buying used and put that towards the challenge.

Ask for a Discount

When I am going to make a purchase, I will ask for a discount at every opportunity I have. It costs nothing to ask and if they say “no,” I don’t lose anything. If, on the other hand, they say “yes” and give me a discount, I can put that savings toward the challenge.

Automate Your Savings

There are a couple of good apps available these days which make saving super easy. These are acorns.com and digit.co. Between these two, digit.co is the better option. Digit is a great online tool for people who want to take a passive approach towards their savings. Pretty much how digit.co works is you sign up and let the software read your bank account traffic. Then it automatically deducts a small amount from your balance, not enough to impact your ability to pay your bills, and sweeps that amount to an account you control. Its perfect because its totally passive, you don’t have to do anything – you just let the savings accumulate. Digit.co can be found here.

These are just some ideas that I’ve come up with that I plan to do on an ongoing basis throughout the year. If you’re planning to do the challenge as well, you should probably put together a list of 5+ of these ideas that you plan to work on, week in and week out. You can use any of the ones I will be using or create your own that fit with your personality. If you create your own, please share them in the comments so that others have even more examples and inspiration on little, ongoing steps they can take to save money.

Rain Barrel: Outdoor Gadgets That Save Money

August 18, 2012 By Jeffrey Strain 4 Comments

If you are someone who enjoys gardening or has extensive landscaping in their yard, a great outdoor gadget to consider purchasing is a rain barrel. Rain barrels are containers which capture rainwater (usually from your gutter system coming down from your roof) which can be stored for use around your home and yard. There are a variety of rain barrel sizes with most ranging from 50 gallons to 80 gallons. In addition to the container, a rain barrel will usually have some type of spigot which will allow you to fill up watering containers, and some sort of connection for a hose.

The main money-saving advantage of rain barrels is the reduction of money spent on the household water bill. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average household lawn and garden is responsible for about 40% of a household’s water usage during the summer months. A rain barrel system can save a household from using approximately 1300 gallons of water from their water utility during the summer months providing a free water source for use on the landscaping.

For those who have flower gardens and other sensitive plants in their yards, another financial advantage of using rain barrels is that they can help keep soil healthier compared to tap water which can result in less landscaping costs (there is currently some debate as to whether or not rainwater is good for consumable garden plants, so please do your research before using rain barrel water on them). Water coming from the water utility may contain a number of additional substances such as chlorine, lime, calcium and fluoride which over time can potentially damage the soil and reduce plant healthiness. Rainwater collected in rain barrels does not contain these additional substances.

The water that comes from rain barrels is non-potable which means that it can’t be used for drinking water. That doesn’t mean, however, that its use is limited to watering plants around the house and in the yard. Rain barrel water can be used to wash windows, wash cars, and even flush toilets. By using rainwater rather than water from your utility, you save money on all these activities as well.

How much money you will actually save depends a lot on what the water costs are in the area where you live. Those that live in areas where water is quite expensive can see a rain barrel pay for itself relatively quickly, while those that live in areas where water is relatively inexpensive will have to use a rain barrel for a longer period of time to get back their investment. A rain barrel will almost always pay for itself many times over during its lifetime no matter how inexpensive your utility water may be.

While rain barrels don’t cost a lot for the amount of money you will save over the lifetime of their use, you can also make your own rain barrel (PDF) if you have the time, energy and want to save even a little bit more money.

EcoButton: Computer Gadgets That Save Money

July 28, 2012 By Jeffrey Strain 1 Comment

We all know that we should do it, but most of us don’t because it’s either too much of a hassle or we simply forget. Every time we leave our computer and it remains running, we are wasting energy. While each individual time we do this may not seem like like a lot of wasted money, when all those times get added together over the year, it can add up to quite a bit. The EcoButton attempts to solve this problem in an easy and effective way.

Plug the EcoButton into a USB drive and anytime you leave your computer, simply push it and it will place your computer into energy-saving mode. Since the button is bright and right there next to your computer, you’re much more likely to use your computer’s energy-saving feature than you would otherwise be. When you return, simply click the EcoButton again and your computer comes back to life exactly where you left it. This can be especially effective with kids who constantly leave the computer running as they answer phone calls from friends or get distracted doing other things.

Another motivational feature this gadget has is that it calculates the amount of energy you saved each time you use it so that you can see how much money you have saved with each press of the button. This gives your instant gratification knowing that you not only saved money, but you also helped the planet by reducing Co2 admissions.

How much you can save depends on your computer and monitor since all makes and models use energy at different rates. The EcoButton estimates that the average computer users will save about $60 a year on their electricity costs. That means that you will get a 500% return on your investment in the first year alone, and continue saving for years after that. If you happen to be a heavy computer user, or often leave your computer running all night, the savings could be more than double this.

As with all gadgets, the key for them to be effective money savers is that they actually need to be used — even if you have the best intentions, but fail to use the gadget at all, it will be a waste of money. That being said, the cost (about $10) is relatively small for the potential savings and even if you don’t use it every time, it should pay for itself rather quickly. It would also make a wonderful gift for any person you know that spends a lot of time on the computer as you will be not only be getting them a gift today, but also saving them money long into the future.

Money Lessons Learned From a Dysfunctional Phone System

December 28, 2011 By Jennifer Derrick 1 Comment

One of my clients (where a friend of mine also works in IT) recently upgraded their office phone system. The phone system they had was perfectly functional but, like so many people and businesses, they wanted something with more bells and whistles (and something that several of their competitors had). After taking bids, forking over the money, and getting everything installed, the new system has been nothing but trouble. It rarely works and even when it is working, it’s not able to reliably handle the call volume that they deal with. The poor IT staff has done nothing but work on this system for months and the “support” that was supposed to be provided by the seller has been unhelpful. Everyone who has to deal with it is fed up and wishing for the return of the old system.

While this hasn’t been my problem directly, I’ve certainly had to listen to my friend complain about it every single day for the last three months. In all of the complaining, I’ve picked up on a few money lessons that apply to both businesses and individuals.

The cheapest product/bidder is probably that way for a reason

Also known as, “You get what you pay for.” The company opted for the lowest bidder, as many companies and individuals do when choosing a vendor or contractor. The trouble is, the lowest bidder is usually cheap for a reason. In this case, the installation was faulty and the promised support never materialized.

The Lesson: When shopping for a contractor or vendor, do your homework. Don’t choose someone just because they’re cheap. Make certain that they will do the work you need and do it well. Find someone who takes the time to understand your unique needs, not someone who’s looking to make a quick buck. Check their references and look at some of their other jobs, if you can. Low cost is great, but if it’s going to end up costing you more in the long run to fix the resulting problems, choose another contractor.

Just because the Joneses have something doesn’t mean you need it, too

The main reason that this company opted for this particular phone system was because many of their competitors used it, too. That may seem like a flimsy reason for choosing a system, and it is. But this industry is dominated by appearances and the thinking always goes that if someone else has something and they are successful, then we will be successful if we have it, too.

The Lesson: Keeping up with the Joneses is almost always a bad idea. Whether you’re a business or an individual, buying something just because others have it is rarely a good idea. The item may not meet your particular needs, it may cost more than you can afford, and it may not be as good as the item it replaces. This is the case with phone systems, cars, houses, and anything else that you buy simply because someone else has it. The wiser action is to buy something only when you need it and do your own research to determine which product is right for you.

If you feel like something is off about a deal, you’re probably right

My friend told me before the deal was finalized that something seemed off about it. The price they were quoted was much lower than anyone else’s quote. The salesman was hard to reach and seemed to avoid phone calls. My friend recommended that they use another vendor. She was overruled by upper management and the low cost vendor was chosen, with disastrous results.

The Lesson: If something feels off in any sort of deal or financial transaction, listen to your gut and go elsewhere. Too many times I’ve tired to ignore that feeling and I’ve always been punished for it. I’ve learned through a lot of trial and error that if something feels wrong I’d better find another solution. Sure, you might miss out on something great, but the chances are that your gut is right and there’s something wrong with the offer.

Doing some research ahead of time can save a lot of trouble

Had this company taken the time to research this new system, they likely would have learned about the problems that other businesses had with the vendor. They would also have learned that this vendor does not make systems that scale well to the size of my friends’ business. Of course, they learned all of this after the fact. They didn’t do any research on their own and instead listened to the claims of the salesperson, who was in it only to make a sale.

The Lesson: Always do your research before entering into any kind of financial transaction. Make sure you know as much as you can about the provider, the terms of the deal, what other people have experienced with this provider, and make sure you read any fine print. If you have to get a lawyer involved to go over the contracts with you, do it. Make sure you know exactly what you’re getting and that the product will meet your needs and perform as promised. Never believe what a salesman tells you because they are not your friends. They are looking for a sale. Verify everything with independent sources. Doing your own research will save you a lot of headaches.

If you already have something that works well, keep it

The phone system that the company had before worked fine. It just wasn’t the latest and greatest thing. Now that they have the latest thing and it’s a disaster, everyone wants to old system back.

The Lesson: Don’t get rid of something that works perfectly well just because there’s something newer out there. It’s one of those, “Better the devil you know…” situations. Sure, your current item may not be the greatest, but you know that it works and you might even know how to fix it already. A new item is always a gamble. It might work great, but it might also be a total lemon that makes you yearn for the item you discarded. Keep what works until it stops working or until you have a justifiable need for something else.

This experience with this phone system has taught this company a lot of valuable lessons about how to hire and work with contractors. They’ve learned the hard way that upgrading for the sake of upgrading can be a risky and costly strategy. Maybe next time they’ll think twice before deciding that they need something just because the competitor up the road has it.

(Photo courtesy of Peter Kaminski)