Saving Money When Heating Your Home

It’s January. Here in Pennsylvania it’s almost a given that we’ll have some single digit nights and below freezing point temps during the day. It’s not my favorite time of the year. I’m someone who is cold more often than not. But the cost of heating can make me hesitant to turn up the thermostat. Well that and my hubby and boys always complain it’s too hot if I turn it up. So I resort to thick socks two layers of shirts and warm comfy pants.

There are a lot of ways to save money on heating your home. Here are just a few:

One of the best things we did for our oil furnace was to get a programmable thermostat. We set it so the temperature goes down a little while we’re sleeping but kicks on right before everyone starts to get up and get moving for work. When I worked full time and the 3 boys were in school we’d also have it drop a few degrees during the day and kick back on just before I got home from work. It’s nice because you don’t have to forget about turning it down or come home to a colder than usual house. If you’re going on vacation, you can have it set to a lower temp, say 60 degrees while you’re away so you don’t have to worry about pipes freezing but you also don’t have to use as much heating fuel.

Insulated curtains are another easy way to warm a room up a degree or two. We have nice 2 nice size windows in our small living room. We also have hard wood floors. I kept telling my husband how that room always felt colder. We only had sheers on our windows. Putting up insulated curtains for the winter did help take some of the chill off the room.

Infrared quartz heaters. We just moved into a new house in October so we’re still learning the best ways to heat our home. We found out the family room above the garage did not have heat set up for it. The baseboard heating elements are there but it hadn’t been finished by the people that lived here before us. We moved out Infrared Quartz heater from our old house and decided to give that a try in the mean time. Our family room is a large room The infrared quartz heater works well to warm the room up. They’re safer than space heaters and don’t get very hot to the touch. You can get some with a fireplace look or just a standard box shape. There are also different BTUs depending on the size of the area you’re trying to heat. We’ve had ours for about 7 years now. It’s been a good investment.

Check weather stripping on doors and windows. Old, cracked, or peeling weather stripping will allow cold are to sneak into the house.

Another simple thing, if you have a door that goes into your garage from your house, make sure the door is closed. We have to go through the garage to get to the family room. The kids leave the door in the laundry room open all the time. I can always tell when they left the door open because the cooler temp from the garage creeps into the kitchen.

If you’re not sure where or why your home isn’t holding heat you can have an energy audit done. An energy audit is done by a professional. They can find why your home isn’t holding heat and make recommendation for heating efficiency. You might need insulation or more insulation, windows could be the culprit, or a draft from your chimney could let old man winter into your home.

If you have electric heat, another thing to consider is comparing electric companies. You might be able to lock in a better rate with a different electric company. If you live in Pennsylvania, like me, Direct Energy PA can Save up to 16%* over MetEd’s electricity rate, and up to 12%* over Penn Power’s electricity rate. There’s more! Save up to 10%* over Penelec’s electricity rate!

*All savings refers to the current difference between Direct Energy’s fixed rate offer and the Utility’s current Fixed Rate for Basic Service as of January 8, 2016, and does not include any other component of the electricity bill. Utility rates are subject to change and there may be no savings following the respective official utility rate change date. Direct Energy’s fixed rates include electricity supply charges only and excludes delivery/transmission charges, taxes, and all other utility-related charges. Offer is limited and valid for new residential customers only.

As a money saver, I also noticed Direct Energy PA participates in the Plenti program so on top of electric savings you could be earning Plenti points too. Just thought I’d point that out.

What recommendations do you have for saving money on your heating costs?

How To Use Digital Coupons at Dollar General

I had heard about digital coupons from Dollar General, but I’ll be honest, I never tried using them. As a frugal lifestyle blogger I felt like I should probably know how to use digital coupons at Dollar General. I mean, I shop there fairly frequently. I didn’t really understand how the digital coupons worked at Dollar General but after reading about them, decided to give them a try on the SCOTT® paper towel and SCOTT®bath tissue bonus packs.

I visited one of my local Dollar General stores with digital coupons for SCOTT® paper towels and bath tissue loaded to my account. We go through paper towels and bath tissue like nobody’s business in our home. Having never used the digital coupons before I picked up the SCOTT® bonus packs and checked out. I asked the cashier if she could make sure I do it right. She took the time to explain it to me but it’s really quite simple. Say you want to get the coupons for SCOTT® paper towels and bath tissue bonus packs like I did, you follow these steps:

To redeem Digital Coupons:
1. Sign up at or visit the DG App
2. Create account and load which SCOTT® coupons you would like to load
3. Visit your local Dollar General to redeem coupons at checkout. Find a Dollar General near you by using the store locator:

Digital Coupons: Valid – December 6 to December 31
Save $1.00 off any (1) SCOTT® Paper Towels
Save $0.50 off any (1) SCOTT® Extra Soft Bath Tissue
Save $1.00 off any (1) SCOTT® 1000 Bath Tissue

Bonus Packs: Find 3 special SCOTT® Bonus Packs in-store through the end of February 2016.
• SCOTT® 1000 Bath Tissue, 16 pack (2 Free Rolls)
• SCOTT® Choose-A-Sheet Paper Towels, Mega Roll 6 Pack (Bonus 15% Sheets)
• SCOTT® Extra Soft Bath Tissue, Double Roll 16 pack (2 Free Rolls)

**There is a little button the touch screen pad when you check out that says “DG digital coupons” you touch that and input the phone number you registered with. The digital coupons will automatically be applied to your order. Simple right?**

With my coupons I bought the SCOTT® Choose-A-Sheet paper towel bonus pack. The biggest bonus pack they had. As a family of 6 we go through a lot of paper towels and bath tissue. I also got the SCOTT® Extra Soft Tissue Double Roll 16 pack.

The choose-as-sheet towels are great. Take a small sheet when you bump your coffee and just a little splashes out of the cup, choose two or three sheets when you completely knock it over. Not..not that I do that on a regular basis or anything..tee hee hee. The absorbency is great. These are not flimsy paper towels. The ridges really help with the extra stubborn spots. I can actually clean with these when I want to, not just sop up spills. SCOTT® is a no-frills, affordable, premium brand paper towel and bath tissue.

Ready to try the Digital Coupons at Dollar General? Just think no worries if you forget your clipped coupons! Clip the SCOTT® coupons and grab the bonus packs for even more savings!

Tight Purse Strings: 4 Thriftiest Cities in America

Are you looking to move to a city that is known for being thrifty? Don’t worry; you’re in good company. A surprising number of the best places to live in the U.S. are considered thrifty. Whether it’s because of the number of consignment shops in the communities, or how frugal the residents tend to be, make sure you check out the top thrifty cities in the country.

San Jose, California

One of the most credit-conscious and frugal cities in the country is San Jose, California. Residents there have had a difficult time in the last few years. At the height of the recession, the city had an unemployment rate of over 12.5 percent. In recent years, this has dropped, and it is currently 4.3 percent. However, the residents here have stayed on top of their debt. Even when things were the worst across the country and in San Jose itself, those who live here only had about an 11.5 percent debt-to-income ratio when considering only credit cards. This is significantly lower than the rest of the country, which averages 22.6 percent.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

In the Midwest, you find much lower cost of living than on either coast. The average cost of living in Minneapolis is about 21.64 percent lower than somewhere like New York City. Of course, cost of living doesn’t necessarily make a city more frugal. However, in Minneapolis, residents are also conscious of what they spend and how they spend it. There are websites dedicated to frugal things to do when you’re in the city, including a number of great outdoor activities. Those who live in Minneapolis are also well-known for being coupon crazy when it comes to shopping.

San Francisco, California

It’s kind of surprising that several cities in California have made the list of the most frugal cities in the country. Most people think of high cost and expense when they think of San Francisco. However, because of the high cost of living, residents of San Francisco have had to learn to live frugally. You’ll find a huge number of consignment shops and thrift stores. On top of that, Coupon.com has named San Francisco America’s Most Frugal City for 2015. This is due to the $56.3 million saved in coupons yearly in the city. Even though the San Francisco has one of the highest household income rates in America, it’s also one of the best places to go to save a little.

Chicago, Illinois

Chicago has a huge number of resale shops for the frugally minded. In fact, it has over 150 consignment stores within the city borders. And if you go to some of the suburbs, such as Barrington, you’ll find the highest number of resale stores per capita in the country. If you’re looking for somewhere to get a great deal, Chicago and the surrounding area will give you a great option.

Living frugally is important to being able to save money. When you’re looking for a new location with frugality in mind, check out any of the cities listed to save a few bucks.

Earn Rewards to Try Spotify Premium

Sign up for ad-free streaming music for 99 cents, then get 5 dollars back for your troubles. Life, hacked.

We all know that listening to music without ads is like 1000x better than listening to music with ads. I mean, seriously, when was the last time you were like, “wow, that car dealership ad made Adele’s Hello so much better,”? Never. So I found this offer online that only charged 99 cents (!) for three months of Spotify Premium – you know, the one with unlimited playback and NO ADS that normally costs $14.99/mo.

At first I was like:

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Then I actually read the fine print to see that this offer was legit and was like:

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But paying 99 cents still isn’t free, let alone getting paid. I want to get PAID for Spotify Premium to have the privilege of playing music in my ears. Yes, I am an only child.

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I mean it was 99 cents!

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I could spend 99 cents on this:

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But here’s the skinny – if you sign up for this Spotify offer through Swagbucks.com, they will give you a $5 Gift Card as soon as you pay Spotify 99 cents!

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And when I say gift card, I mean basically any gift card you can think of, including Visa, PayPal or Amazon. Or Fast Food.

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So for the next three months, be like this:

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And like this:

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Cancel anytime your ears grow tired of being loved, keep your gift card, and keep enjoying the good life.

Double Dip Saving at Shaw’s and ACME Grocery Stores

You have a list of gifts to get, you have a grocery list of food to get for the holidays. You can save some money and do both at Shaw’s and ACME grocery stores. From November 20 to December 3 buy $125 or more in select gift cards, and receive a $15 coupon for your next purchase of $25 or more at Shaw’s and ACME grocery stores Earn points, miles or cash back by using your favorite rewards credit cards when you buy gift cards everyday. That’s how you can double dip and get even more savings.

There are a lot of participating gift cards too!

iTunes

Outback Steakhouse

Toys R Us

Amazon.com

Google

Sears

Xbox

GameStop

Brinker Restaurants

Domino Pizza

Fandango

Regal Entertainment

Bass Pro Shops

Aeropostale

Petco

JCPenney

Hot Topic

Sports Authority

PetSmart

Nike

Kohl’s

Lowes

eBay

Even if you don’t like to give gift cards as gifts, think of it this way. You could buy the gift cards to get the gifts you’re gonna buy anyway. So if you were going to get your daughter an ipod you could buy an Amazon gift card then use the amazon gift card to get the iPod on Amazon. If you know your son wants a specific video game and you know GameStop has it, you can buy the Gamestop gift card then buy his game.

Another idea, say you buy someone a set of headphones for their iPod/iPad. You could get an iTunes gift card to go along with it. If you buy your son that game you could get him an Xbox live gift card to go with it. Get the idea?

When buying the gift cards, use your favorite credit card to get double dip savings:

Earn Credit Card Rewards: By using your favorite rewards credit card to purchase,

you can earn points, miles or a percentage back on your purchase. Some credit cards

even offer increased rewards for purchases made at grocery. For example,

the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express offers 3% cash back on groceries, and the Blue Cash Preferred® Card offers

awhopping 6% cash back! Capital One

QuicksilverOne®, AMEX EveryDay® and Citi® Hilton HHonors credit cards also offer increased rewards for grocery purchases.

Now, here’sthe math!

$15

off coupon

$7.50 back

if you earn 6% cash back on credit card grocery purchases =

$22.50 in savings on a $125 gift card purchase!

Hurry though, the extra savings offers is only available until December 3, 2015.

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