Video: Watch Out for Energy Vampires

We've posted on this blog before about the danger of energy vampires when it comes to your power bills each and every month. There are a number of ways to save electricity and lower your payments, but one of the easiest and least intrusive ways to do so is to watch out for these vampires.

What is an energy vampire, you ask? While your appliances may have on/off switches, many of them continue to draw power from their outlets while they are off. You would be surprised by just how many appliances in your home join in on the vampire fun. Just think of the prongs of the plug as their little monster fangs, taking your energy away.

To provide a bit of advice about this very subject, Alabama Power Company has provided a new video, the latest in its series of consumer education shorts.

What are your strategies for saving energy around the home? Do you watch out for energy vampires?

Placing Smoke Alarms Around Your Home

Now that we've been in our house for just a few weeks over a year, it's time for my wife and I to start checking all of our smoke alarms. It's recommended that your home smoke detectors receive a new set of batteries once a year, so setting it around a yearly event such as a holiday (or in our case, the end of Daylight Savings this weekend) helps to keep track of it.

If you're wondering about the best places to put detectors, Charles & Hudson Home Security has a new blog post up about Where to Install Smoke Alarms in Your Home. Considering that each year, nearly two-thirds of all home fire deaths can be traced to improperly working smoke detectors, this is valuable information that could help you protect your family, yourself and your belongings.

Here's a rundown of the list:

• Put a smoke alarm in each bedroom and on each floor of the house. Yes, that includes the basement!

• Connect the alarms so that one alarm will trigger each one. That way you will be alerted if an alarm happens to go off somewhere that you would not have heard it before.

• Smoke rises, so place alarms either on the ceiling or near the top of a wall. Too low and the warning could come too late.

• Test your batteries each month, just in case!

Hopefully this list proves helpful for anybody that needs to re-inspect their smoke alarms in the near future. For more information, be sure to visit Charles & Hudson.

Find the Best Offer for Your Old Cell Phone in Seconds

I don't know about you, but when I get a new cell phone, I just throw the old one in a box and forget about it. I'm not sure if it's that I want to keep it as a backup or if I'm slowly turning into one of those hoarders you see on TV, but that's just what I've always done.

The other day I was cleaning out some boxes in the garage and came across the mother lode of old cell phones. Between my wife and I, we'd amassed a collection of about 15 phones! Some were broken, some had been replaced when they became obsolete and some neither of us could remember owning (cell phone fairy?). It was a sorry pile of forlorn electronics and it got me thinking.

I knew the old phones could (and should) be recycled, but I was wondering if there was a way of getting a little cash in the process. I took to the Internet to research the topic, and came across EcoSquid. Just like how WhiteFence lets you compare offers on home services from multiple providers at once, EcoSquid lets you compare offers for your old cell phones from multiple buyers and recyclers at once.

Just head to EcoSquid, enter the details about your phone(s) and you'll get offers in just seconds. Depending on the age and condition, you may find that there are companies out there willing to pay you for your old phone. If not, the site will show you a variety of ways to easily recycle your cell phone locally or by mail. Either way, you can get a little clutter out of your house and feel good in the process.

As for my stack of old cell phones, about half are actually worth something, with a total value of around $50. The other half are too old or damaged to have any value and are due to be shipped off to various recyclers. While it may not be a fortune, I'm certainly happy to find $50. Maybe I can use it to upgrade my cell phone...

Choosing Secure Passwords Online

If you're anything like me, you get freaked out every time you hear stories of online security failures. Whether it's people getting their e-mail or Facebook accounts hacked, I just can't help but get a little more paranoid, wondering if all of my passwords could be compromised just as easily.

For the most part, I try to keep my passwords fairly complex while still easy to remember. I also don't use the same password for every single site I access. While these are fairly basic online security procedures, I'm sure there is much more that I'm unaware of.

That's why it's a good thing that Mozilla put out a recent video titled How to Choose Strong Passwords. It's got a handy guide to helping you choose passwords that are easy to remember, extremely secure and also different for all the sites you visit. It's definitely worth checking out if you're unsure about how secure your online accounts are.

Feel free to share your own thoughts about Internet security in the comments!

Take Steps Today to Save Money During Winter

For me, fall is the perfect time of year to take steps to save money during winter. While the weather is still on the warm side, I like to make a few upgrades to the house. I also like to do some comparison shopping to really save money.

Below I've outlined some easy things to do to save you money during winter.

• Make Small Home Improvements - Sealing up drafty doorways and unblocking vents will help keep your home warm and your energy bill low. For a more comprehensive list, read Top Ten Ways to Prepare a Home for Winter.
• Shop and Compare on Natural Gas - If you live in a deregulated natural gas area, then you need to visit WhiteFence to shop and compare natural gas rates to find a low rate to lock in for the cold winter months.
• Buy a Coat Today - Shop around for a coat today. Since you won't be rushing around, you'll be more likely to find a great deal on the coat of your dreams. Also, stores have not started to mark up their winter attire so prices are perfect for budget shoppers.
• Put Holiday Gifts on Layaway - Bargin shop for holiday gifts and put them on layaway today, you'll have them paid off by the time December rolls around. Not to mention you'll miss the holiday shopping rush.

Tips for Better Wi-Fi Connectivity

In our new wireless age, it seems that we still somehow manage to get a few wires crossed from time to time. Have you ever been in a situation where you've followed all of the instructions for your wireless router, and still can't seem to get the thing to work? I know that I've had those moments where I want to pull my hair out because for some reason, whether I'm not getting a great signal or can't even find the signal at all, things just don't seem to be acting the way they're supposed to.

Well apparently this is a common problem. Which is why super tips site Lifehacker polled their users and came up with this great list of home Wi-Fi troubleshooting solutions. It actually runs down a handy list of user-submitted ideas, and some of them are things I had never considered before. While it's mostly common knowledge to stay away from channel, phone and microwave interference, the idea of using a router in your attic for one story homes is a great one, and would certainly help cut down on obstructions to your connection.

To read this list in full, be sure to head on over to Lifehacker. Does anyone else have any Wi-Fi troubleshooting tips? Any frustrations? Feel free to share!

How to Save Money on High-Speed Internet with WhiteFence

It's hard to imagine life these days without high-speed Internet service. You'd have to wait hours to download large files, suffer through endless buffering when watching videos and you wouldn't be able to play games online. While you may need broadband, you certainly don't need to be paying to much for it.

With all of the different Internet providers and types of Internet service available today, chances are you probably have the opportunity to save on your broadband bill. That's where we come in.

WhiteFence is the nation's leading site to compare, connect and save on broadband service. Here's how it works:

• Head to our Internet center and enter your address. We'll search a database of the top brands in the country and return a list of providers and plans available at your location, including cable, DSL, satellite and fiber-optic options.

• Compare the available plans on price and features such as download and upload speeds, included e-mail accounts and web storage to find the right plan at the right price.

• Take advantage of special promotions our providers offer such as gift cards, cash back and monthly savings.

• Bundle your Internet service with home phone and TV service for even more savings.

• Order your new service directly on the site and lock in your new low price.

Looking for more information on choosing an Internet provider? Check out these helpful links:

• Choosing the Right Internet Speed (Video)
• The High-Speed Internet Features That Really Matter
• High-Speed Internet Showdown: DSL vs Cable vs Satellite vs Fiber Optic

The Pros and Cons of CFL Lighting

Over the last few weeks, we've been trying to find new ways to save money around the household. For some reason, the spending has gradually gotten out of hand, so now we want to take a step back and make a better budget.

One of the areas that we want to cut back on in particular is our home energy bill, and perhaps one of the easiest starting steps is to switch over to using compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs. However, as much as I want to save money, I do have some concerns about the process of switching over.

While doing some research about the pros and cons of CFL lighting, I actually came across this video by the guys over at Microsoft Hohm, which talks about this very subject. It's got some great information, and will probably teach you a new thing or two about traditional lightbulbs versus CFLs.

So, who else out there has made this switch or is thinking about making the switch? Tell us in the comments!

Tips Before You Start the Next DIY Project

I have never been what some would call a handyman. There are plenty of my friends that know their way around a toolbox much better than myself. That being said, occasionally I like to try out a couple of do-it-yourself projects from time to time, in order to learn more about that kind of thing and also to help fix stuff around the house.

Fortunately, this experimentation usually goes alright. However, we've all run into those snags and unexpected developments while trying to fix something on our own. You know, when the simple DIY project throws you a sudden curve ball and things take a turn for the worse. That's usually when the DIY project takes on a life of its own, a Frankenstein's monster that becomes hard to cull.

In order to keep from animating your next fix around the home, here are some tips before your start the next big DIY project:

• Take reasonable bites. We've all heard of the phrase "don't bite off more than you can chew", and we all know that it applies to DIY projects especially. If you are an entry level guy like myself, trying to redo all of the electrical or plumbing for the entire house might be a leap too far. Instead, gradually work your way up to those larger projects.
• Do your homework. Before jumping in with both feet without knowing how to address the problem, do some research beforehand. There are plenty of resources online that can help whether you're dealing with lawn care or fixing the garbage disposal. In addition, figure out how much it's going to cost to fix on your own, and match that with quotes from contractors.
• Get a friend to help. Not everything has to be a one man job. If you know someone who is handy or has done the same kind of repair recently, invite them along. They might spot something you would have missed on your own, and can save you a world of headaches.
• Finish the job. Sometimes life takes over and it gets difficult to finally finish that project, but the satisfaction makes all the toil completely worth it. It's easy to leave things half finished around the home, but take the time to get it done and get it done well, and it will pay off in the long run.

Money Saving Tips as Summer Comes to a Close

It may still be sweltering outside here in Houston, but I assure you that we're finally reaching the end of summer. The kids are back at school, the summer vacation memories have been made and the cold weather is only a matter of weeks away.

Here are some tips to help you save during the end of summer:

• Get a jump start on natural gas – With cool weather comes big heating bills. Start shopping for a low natural gas rate today to lock in the best deals.

• Find a deal on TV service – All of your favorite TV shows will soon be back on the air for the fall television season. Also, football is getting into gear and the baseball postseason is just around the corner. Find a great low rate on HD TV service and watch your favorite shows and sporting events for less.