Background Noise

One of the things I've been trying to do to save money is cut my electricity consumption. It's rough going. Way too often, I have the TV on just for background noise. Usually, it's reruns of a TV show I've seen a thousand time but still love to watch, such as "Friends," "Supernatural" or "That ’70s Show." It's a tough habit to break.

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Tackling the Electricity Bill

I got our latest electricity bill this past week. It went up. Again. I don't understand why. It's been a mild winter, so we haven't used the heater as much as last year. Plus, I've made a few small changes that I had hoped would add up to even a slight savings: I've cut down on the time the TV has been on. I haven't been perfect about it, though, because I still turn it on to watch something, decide to work on something else at the same time, then after an hour or so, I realize I'm not watching the TV at all. Wasted electricity. I've unplugged my alarm clock. When we first brought our daughter home, her pediatrician recommended we feed her every two hours for the first week or so. After the first night of pushing an awkward combination of buttons and waiting for the alarm time to advance every couple of hours, I realized it was tons easier to just punch the time into my cellphone alarm. I kept the bedside clock until about two weeks ago. I also unpl...

Getting Inspired

Few things inspire me more to do the work to get my debt paid off than seeing other people do the same thing. Sometimes on Saturday nights, I get a dose of inspiration through watching a show called "Princess" on CNBC. The premise of the show is that a woman who spends like there is no tomorrow gets a series of challenges designed to get her on track financially from Gail Vaz-Oxlade, a financial expert. I've seen Vaz-Oxlade in a similar series called "Til Debt Do Us Part," in which she helps couples do the same. I can't say I really get tips from the shows, but it does help to see others who owe large debt start feeling empowered to take control of it.

Finding a use for gifts you don't use

( Stuart Miles / FreeRangeStock.com ) Question: Someone gives you a present. You open it, give the gifter a sincere smile, and say, "Thank you," but you know that gift is something you'll never use. Not once. What do you do with it later? Me? I keep them. I just can't shake the feeling of guilt that goes along with regifting or selling them. As a result, my family and I have lots of items we either haven't used in years or have never used at all: An electric knife, electric griddle, a big mixer, something called Yonanas. The list goes on and on. But the bottom line is, Yonanas and electric knives don't fit my family's lifestyle. They never have, and I doubt they ever will. So I think I might need to get over feeling like it would be ungrateful to get rid of them and post them in places like Craigslist or some of those online sales sites on Facebook for sale. That way, at least we can have the cash to pay toward part of our debt. Wouldn't...

Going for Not Broke

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