Cheapo Groovo

Cheapo Air Conditioning

If you open a window at each end of the house and place a window box fan backwards in one of the windows so that it blows outside of the house, it pulls the air through the house (especially in the early morning hours) and cools your home.

Downsize UR House and Save Tens of Thousands

Whether it's a tiny house, a shipping container, or a yurt, the savings are incredible.

Plus many of these homes are portable.

 

Save Money on Heating & Cooling Using Passive Technology

Superstorm Sandy Deals Death Blow to USA Economy

Before the storm season people possessed intact homes and businesses and their money; their insurance companies’ cash was invested in productive enterprises. After the storm season people possessed destroyed or damaged homes and businesses, which they had to spend their money to replace or fix. Their insurance companies had to liquidate investments to pay the claims. That money would have been spent or invested to produce additional things. Instead, it will be used simply to put things back the way they were the day before the storms.

 

Save Big Money When Buying A House

The U.S. title-insurance industry faces increasing pressure from regulators to justify the fees charged to consumers for ensuring they have clear ownership of their homes, Title insurance can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars!

So here is what you do. Early in the process of buying a home or refinancing, let your real-estate agent and lender know you will select your own title insurer. Research title-insurance costs online and check whether there are fees on top of the premium (in many states, consumers pay separate fees to the agents for that research, on top of the premiums).

How to Negotiate Home Repair and Improvements

Comparing bids from several contractors will give you some leverage with the one you’d like to hire.  Get three to five bids, and be clear about the products you want to use. If your preferred contractor is at the high end, say so and offer to show him the other bids. He may adjust his price.

When hiring a plumber or a tradesman for a small job, ask him to break down his price into labor and materials. About 35 percent should be materials and 65 percent labor, says Al Paxton, a construction estimator in Malibu, California. If the ratio seems wrong, say so. But be diplomatic. “If you squeeze him too hard, he might give you less than first-class workmanship and use less expensive materials,” Paxton says.

Homeowner's Insurance Highway Robbery

I got my homeowners insurance and the premiums rose 20%. My dwelling figure (replacement cost) went up despite lower copper and lumber prices. State Farm bases everything off this number as a percent. Personal property is 75% of the dwelling for example. The Insurance Information Institute said personal property should be 50% - 70% of the dwelling.

So I called and said I have no intention of rebuilding the exact same house in the exact same location, I was able to name my own replacement cost for the dwelling!

 

If you are ever in this situation, you can try what I did and raise your deductible at the same time.

How To Live on Practically Nothing

Spend Less TV - The Free Video Service About Saving Money

Pre Pay Your Mortgage

I used an Excel based mortgage spreadsheet to see how the life of my mortgage would change if I paid a little more each and every month to the principal. It amazed me! By paying just an extra fifty dollars a month, I was able to shorten the length of my loan by five years and ten months and save more than $18,000 in interest!

 

The Best Bailout Plan Would Have Been To Rescue Homeowners

How? By simply paying off their mortgages. Since 2/3 of GDP is consumer spending, the savings would have gone to buy products/services. That would have kept the unemployment rate from rising.

The government could have financed this bailout by creating a line on your 1040 called housing debit. It would have worked exactly the opposite of the mortgage deduction. Each year, a percentage of that paid off mortgage would add to your taxes.

Here is what me research shows:

The quarterly survey published by the Federal Reserve, called the Flow of Funds Report, shows the total value of all home mortgages in the U.S. was $11.2 trillion through the third quarter of 2008.

According to a team at Bloomberg News, at one point last year the U.S. had lent, spent or guaranteed as much as $12.8 trillion to rescue the economy.