Your Credit Score (also known as FICO score) can have a significant impact on your financial life. Most of us know that it influences whether you get approved for credit cards as well as the interest rate that you pay on those credit cards. But your credit score often effects terms of car loans, home loans, car insurance, renter/home owner's insurance, whther you will have to pay a deposit for utilities, and a number of other monetary matters.
The bottom line is, if you have anything on your credit report that is dragging your score down, it's usually worth the effort to fix it. Below is a link to an eHow article I wrote for an easy way that most of us can fix/repair our credit on our own. If you have the time, try this method BEFORE paying someone else to help fix your credit. It's fairly easy to do this yourself.
How to Repair/Improve Your Credit
Once your credit has been repaired, and your score has improved, you can try a number of things that may save you money every single month.
Rebid your insurance policies. Your car insurance policy is probably the most expensive policy you carry (except for health insurance if you have it) and you will probably see the most savings from shopping your business out again. Progressive, GEICO, and Allstate all have pretty easy online quoting. (My experience with Allstate is that their online quote was not at all competitive with Progressive and GEICO, but the next day I received an email from a local Allstate agent with a new quote that was much closer to the other two. I wonder if they do this to take advantage of the suckers who don't shop around and just assume that their quote will be competitive and sign up right away online?! If so, pretty slimy.)
If you carry a balance on a credit card and the interest rate is high (over 12.99% per year), consider applying for a new credit card that has both a special introductory balance transfer offer, and an attractive ongoing offer for regular purchases. Two things to watch for when doing this. Many credit card companies will charge you a transaction fee of 3 - 4% of the amount that you transfer. Some will cap this at a certain $ amount (like $75), others will not, and still others will waive the transaction fee altogether. Ideally, you want this transaction fee waived, but be aware that if you transfer a balance for a special 3.99% APR and pay a 4% transaction fee to transfer the balance, at the end of a year you have actually paid 7.99%.
The other thing to keep in mind with credit cards is the amount that you are transferring and the length of the promotional offer. Some cards will give you a choice between two different rates. One will be really low for a short period of time (around 4-6 months), the other may be slightly higher but for a longer period of time (say 12-18 months or even permanent as long as you don't miss any payments). If you are transferring a large balance that will take you a long time to pay off, it may be the better move to pay an extra 1 or 2% for the extra time to pay down your balance. Remember, when the promotional period is over, that balance will jump to something in the neighborhood of 12% - 23%.
Finally, do NOT miss any payments. Almost all of these credit card companies have a clause that says that if you are late on or miss a payment, your promotional APR will go away and you will be stuck paying a not so fun rate. Consider signing up for autopay if they have that feature so that at LEAST the minimum amount due each month is automatically pulled right from your bank account. As long as the money is in your account, you should be in good shape.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Free Money from uPromise
This is another one of those low-hanging fruits.
UPromise.com is an examples o "Social Savings". Perhaps the best way to describe it is to say that it's a cross between an affiliate program, a loyalty program, and a savings account. It's fast, it's free, it's safe and it's easy.
1. Sign-up for a free Upromise.com account
2. Register your grocery store loyalty cards (as many as you own)
3. Register your debit/credit cards that you use for everyday shopping. ***
4. Go about your life as usual.
*** UPromise does not ask this information so that they can charge you anything. They use this information to link purchases that you make with their partners (over 600 of them) back to your UPromise account. UPromise has been in business since 2001, has more than 10 million members, and is owned by a publicly traded US Company (Salle Mae Corporation).***
With your information registered, some of the purchases that you make at your grocery store, online retailers, local retaurants, and at other retailers will result in that partner making a contribution to your Upromise account. It's like you have become your own affiliate. These retailers also do this in the hopes that you will be more likely to continue to use their goods/services in the future. This means that you can keep buying the same stuff you would have bought anyway, and in the meantime a trickle of savings will begin to flow into your UPromise account. (You could also spend some time looking at the various merchants/products that will result in savings and switch to those products and services if you want to receive more savings, but it's not really necessary.)
These savings are supposed to be allocated towards the college savings of someone you select as your savings beneficiary. However, you are able to request that these funds be mailed to you each quarter and they leave it to your discretion to spend it how you choose. You can save for yourself, a child, someone else, or someone not even born yet it you want.
So what's the catch? Well, from my experience, these savings don't add up very quickly without you taking at least one or two more steps.
1. Apply for the UPromise Credit Card. This card has several benefits. The most important is that it automatically adds an additional 1% of the total amount spent on that card to your college savings no matter where you spend it. As of this article, there is no annual fee for this card. Bank of America also gives you an additional $25 in your UPromise account for using your UPromise card within 60 days of approval. Finally, you have the choice between two optional benefits available through the card: additional savings on gas & grocery purchases or additional savings on dining out at restaurants when you use your UPromise Credit Card.
2. Install TurboSaver. TurboSaver is a browser add-on that makes sure that you get all the savings you are entitled to when you shop online at a UPromise partner. It also highlights in your Yahoo and Google searches those retailers that provide UPromise savings. Without this add-on, you'd have to go to UPromise.com and then click on the link that takes you to the partner site in order to receive the savings. Turbosaver cuts out that step so you get the savings without having to do anything else.
3. Enlist the help of family and friends. UPromise.com has a way for you to invite your family and friends to sign-up for UPromise and allocate their savings to you. If you can get a savings posse together, you will begin to see real savings accrue in your UPromise account.
Happy Savings.
UPromise.com is an examples o "Social Savings". Perhaps the best way to describe it is to say that it's a cross between an affiliate program, a loyalty program, and a savings account. It's fast, it's free, it's safe and it's easy.
1. Sign-up for a free Upromise.com account
2. Register your grocery store loyalty cards (as many as you own)
3. Register your debit/credit cards that you use for everyday shopping. ***
4. Go about your life as usual.
*** UPromise does not ask this information so that they can charge you anything. They use this information to link purchases that you make with their partners (over 600 of them) back to your UPromise account. UPromise has been in business since 2001, has more than 10 million members, and is owned by a publicly traded US Company (Salle Mae Corporation).***
With your information registered, some of the purchases that you make at your grocery store, online retailers, local retaurants, and at other retailers will result in that partner making a contribution to your Upromise account. It's like you have become your own affiliate. These retailers also do this in the hopes that you will be more likely to continue to use their goods/services in the future. This means that you can keep buying the same stuff you would have bought anyway, and in the meantime a trickle of savings will begin to flow into your UPromise account. (You could also spend some time looking at the various merchants/products that will result in savings and switch to those products and services if you want to receive more savings, but it's not really necessary.)
These savings are supposed to be allocated towards the college savings of someone you select as your savings beneficiary. However, you are able to request that these funds be mailed to you each quarter and they leave it to your discretion to spend it how you choose. You can save for yourself, a child, someone else, or someone not even born yet it you want.
So what's the catch? Well, from my experience, these savings don't add up very quickly without you taking at least one or two more steps.
1. Apply for the UPromise Credit Card. This card has several benefits. The most important is that it automatically adds an additional 1% of the total amount spent on that card to your college savings no matter where you spend it. As of this article, there is no annual fee for this card. Bank of America also gives you an additional $25 in your UPromise account for using your UPromise card within 60 days of approval. Finally, you have the choice between two optional benefits available through the card: additional savings on gas & grocery purchases or additional savings on dining out at restaurants when you use your UPromise Credit Card.
2. Install TurboSaver. TurboSaver is a browser add-on that makes sure that you get all the savings you are entitled to when you shop online at a UPromise partner. It also highlights in your Yahoo and Google searches those retailers that provide UPromise savings. Without this add-on, you'd have to go to UPromise.com and then click on the link that takes you to the partner site in order to receive the savings. Turbosaver cuts out that step so you get the savings without having to do anything else.
3. Enlist the help of family and friends. UPromise.com has a way for you to invite your family and friends to sign-up for UPromise and allocate their savings to you. If you can get a savings posse together, you will begin to see real savings accrue in your UPromise account.
Happy Savings.
Become an Affiliate
"Affiliates" are people (or businesses) that are compensated for helping drive a desired behavior in consumers. The desired behavior is typically a sale, but it can also be for leads (in the form of traffic, ad clicks, phone calls, or completed information requests.
Becoming an affiliate is typically is usually pretty easy. Often time the minimum requirement is that you own a website that has some measurable traffic and completing an application. Some affiliate programs do not even require a website and provide you with tools for marketing their products/services offline in the form of sign-up codes. Since there are literally THOUSANDS of affiliate opportunities, I'm going to discuss what I believe are the keys to choosing the affiliate program that has the best chance of being successful for you.
Here are the key questions you need to ask yourself (and answer honestly) to determine the best way to choose an affiliate program that is right for you.
1. Do you know how to build a website (or are you willing to learn)?
2. Are you a decent writer?
3. What are you interested in, passionate about, or knowledgeable of?
4. Do your friends/colleagues come to you for advice about certain types of decisions?
If you answered yes to most of these questions, then you have the potential to be a successful affiliate. Probably the most important component of being a successful affiliate is the creation of a website. For the uninitiated, this may seem very intimidating, but designing and developing a website has gotten MUCH easier with tools such as MS Frontpage. Designing and building a site is now kind of like using Microsoft Word. You type, format, insert pictures, etc in order to create a webpage graphically. Very little HTML knowledge is actually needed in order to create web pages anymore. If you do NOT have a website, you will be relying largely on promoting the affiliate product or service person to person. Is having a website important? In terms of viewing affiliate pgrams as PASSIVE income opportunities it might.
Consider the following affiliate structure:
Company "A" pays you 2% of every sale on every sales from customers that originates from you forever. Company "B" pays you $25 for every new customer the originates from you.
With Company A, you will make 2% on the first sale...but you will also make 2% on all future purchases that your customers make with that business. For this reason, sending them business both online AND offline can be considered ways to generate Passive Income. Once the upront work is done, you continue to reap the benefit into the future.
With Company B, you are compensated one time for each new customer you find. If you have a website that has monthly traffic that results new customer signups each month, then you have created a Passive Income stream. If you rely on person-to-person promotion to find new customers for them, you are essentially a sales person who works on a commission-only basis. This is NOT passive income. This is just to demonstrate why a website may take turn an affiliate opportunity into a passive income stream vs just another source of active income.
So, given that there are thousands of affliate opportunities, your best chance for generating a successful Passive Income is to:
- Choose an product/service/industry that you are knowledgable about.
- Choose an affiliate program that pays in a residual fashion.
- Use both ONLINE and OFFLINE methods to promote the good/service you have selected.
Why is it important to be knowledgable? Simply put, most of the OTHER people who have chosen this good/service to promote ARE knowledgable. They are your competition and you want to be able to compete. Do you feel that you are not knowledgable in anything? Well, the good news is that you can take some time and research some affiliate opportunities and learn about them. If taking this approach, it may be smart to choose some of the more lucrative affiliate programs and learn about those. They may be more competitive, but if you are going to put in the time the payoff could be much bigger.
Remember, Passive Income doesn't mean "Easy and without effort income". It just means that you do the work up front and get an ongoing benefit.
Where do you go to find affiliate programs? They are all over the place, you probably just never noticed. Go to your favorite sites and see if they have an affiliate program. Here are a few example affilite programs to get you started:
Amazon.com Associates
NetFlix.com
Commission Junction
LinkSynergy.com
Google Affiliate Network
ClickBank
FullTiltPoker.com
Amazon.com
Through this affiliate program you can earn 4-8% of all sales revenue generated by your visitors at Amazon.com. They provide many tools/methods for driving traffic from your site with the goal of generating sales that you can share in.
NetFlix.com
This affiliate program provides a "bounty" structure where you will receive a flat fee (currently $16) for each new customer that you generate for them. NetFlix is a DVD/Movie delivery service that charges a monthly subscription fee to its customers.
Commission Junction, LinkSynergy, Google Affiliate Network
These companies all do essentially do the same thing. They act as a 3rd party affiliate program provider for companies that do not want to build their own affiliate platform. For example, BlockBuster.com (a competitor of NetFlix.com) has chosen to use Commission Junction as it's affiliate program. By signing up to any one (or all) of these programs you will be able to apply to any of the thousands of affiliate programs that may interest you.
ClickBank
This affiliate program allows it's members to promote DIGITAL products on their websites. The most common examples of these products include software and eBooks, which can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
FullTiltPoker.com
This is an example of an affiliate program that allows you to generate an ongoing stream of revenue that is driven by how many new customers (poker players) you drive to their site. They provide you with the option of receiving a flat commission for new player signups, or to receive an ongoing percentage of the income generated for the site by your new players. For passive income, I recommend choosing the percentage of player revenue option.
These are just a few of the many, many, many affiliate programs that you can locate and enroll in. Find your area of expertise and start building your pipeline of affiliate-based Passive Income.
Becoming an affiliate is typically is usually pretty easy. Often time the minimum requirement is that you own a website that has some measurable traffic and completing an application. Some affiliate programs do not even require a website and provide you with tools for marketing their products/services offline in the form of sign-up codes. Since there are literally THOUSANDS of affiliate opportunities, I'm going to discuss what I believe are the keys to choosing the affiliate program that has the best chance of being successful for you.
Here are the key questions you need to ask yourself (and answer honestly) to determine the best way to choose an affiliate program that is right for you.
1. Do you know how to build a website (or are you willing to learn)?
2. Are you a decent writer?
3. What are you interested in, passionate about, or knowledgeable of?
4. Do your friends/colleagues come to you for advice about certain types of decisions?
If you answered yes to most of these questions, then you have the potential to be a successful affiliate. Probably the most important component of being a successful affiliate is the creation of a website. For the uninitiated, this may seem very intimidating, but designing and developing a website has gotten MUCH easier with tools such as MS Frontpage. Designing and building a site is now kind of like using Microsoft Word. You type, format, insert pictures, etc in order to create a webpage graphically. Very little HTML knowledge is actually needed in order to create web pages anymore. If you do NOT have a website, you will be relying largely on promoting the affiliate product or service person to person. Is having a website important? In terms of viewing affiliate pgrams as PASSIVE income opportunities it might.
Consider the following affiliate structure:
Company "A" pays you 2% of every sale on every sales from customers that originates from you forever. Company "B" pays you $25 for every new customer the originates from you.
With Company A, you will make 2% on the first sale...but you will also make 2% on all future purchases that your customers make with that business. For this reason, sending them business both online AND offline can be considered ways to generate Passive Income. Once the upront work is done, you continue to reap the benefit into the future.
With Company B, you are compensated one time for each new customer you find. If you have a website that has monthly traffic that results new customer signups each month, then you have created a Passive Income stream. If you rely on person-to-person promotion to find new customers for them, you are essentially a sales person who works on a commission-only basis. This is NOT passive income. This is just to demonstrate why a website may take turn an affiliate opportunity into a passive income stream vs just another source of active income.
So, given that there are thousands of affliate opportunities, your best chance for generating a successful Passive Income is to:
- Choose an product/service/industry that you are knowledgable about.
- Choose an affiliate program that pays in a residual fashion.
- Use both ONLINE and OFFLINE methods to promote the good/service you have selected.
Why is it important to be knowledgable? Simply put, most of the OTHER people who have chosen this good/service to promote ARE knowledgable. They are your competition and you want to be able to compete. Do you feel that you are not knowledgable in anything? Well, the good news is that you can take some time and research some affiliate opportunities and learn about them. If taking this approach, it may be smart to choose some of the more lucrative affiliate programs and learn about those. They may be more competitive, but if you are going to put in the time the payoff could be much bigger.
Remember, Passive Income doesn't mean "Easy and without effort income". It just means that you do the work up front and get an ongoing benefit.
Where do you go to find affiliate programs? They are all over the place, you probably just never noticed. Go to your favorite sites and see if they have an affiliate program. Here are a few example affilite programs to get you started:
Amazon.com Associates
NetFlix.com
Commission Junction
LinkSynergy.com
Google Affiliate Network
ClickBank
FullTiltPoker.com
Amazon.com
Through this affiliate program you can earn 4-8% of all sales revenue generated by your visitors at Amazon.com. They provide many tools/methods for driving traffic from your site with the goal of generating sales that you can share in.
NetFlix.com
This affiliate program provides a "bounty" structure where you will receive a flat fee (currently $16) for each new customer that you generate for them. NetFlix is a DVD/Movie delivery service that charges a monthly subscription fee to its customers.
Commission Junction, LinkSynergy, Google Affiliate Network
These companies all do essentially do the same thing. They act as a 3rd party affiliate program provider for companies that do not want to build their own affiliate platform. For example, BlockBuster.com (a competitor of NetFlix.com) has chosen to use Commission Junction as it's affiliate program. By signing up to any one (or all) of these programs you will be able to apply to any of the thousands of affiliate programs that may interest you.
ClickBank
This affiliate program allows it's members to promote DIGITAL products on their websites. The most common examples of these products include software and eBooks, which can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
FullTiltPoker.com
This is an example of an affiliate program that allows you to generate an ongoing stream of revenue that is driven by how many new customers (poker players) you drive to their site. They provide you with the option of receiving a flat commission for new player signups, or to receive an ongoing percentage of the income generated for the site by your new players. For passive income, I recommend choosing the percentage of player revenue option.
These are just a few of the many, many, many affiliate programs that you can locate and enroll in. Find your area of expertise and start building your pipeline of affiliate-based Passive Income.
Compact Florescent Lightbulbs
Item: Switch to Compact Florescent Lightbulbs
Category: Energy Savings
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: $2.00 per light bulb
Est. Annual Savings: $9.20 per bulb
Est. Return on Investment: 2625% over 5 years
Est. Payback: 2.6 months for each bulb with modest usage
OK. Low hanging fruit is always nice, so we'll start with this one...
Converting the modest usage light bulbs in your home to Compact Florescent Light bulbs (hereafter known as CFLs) is simple, low cost, environmentally friendly, and is an easy way for individuals to take a step towards energy independence for the United States.
I'm not going to suggest that you switch every bulb in your house to a CFL right away, because the truth is that some of them you just don't use enough to warrant replacing the current bulb before it burns out on its own (think of the bulb in that crawlspace where you store holiday decorations). However, once a bulb DOES burnout, you should always replace it with a CFL.
Take note of the lightbulbs in your house that get significant use. These probably include bulbs in your living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, and kitchen. Of particular interest are the multi-bulb fixtures - like overhead lights, bathroom vanity lighting, and lights in ceiling fans - and high use single bulbs. Do you have an outside light that you ALWAYS leave on? Get a count of all of these lights.
Once you have a count, you know how many CFLs that you are going to need. When buying CFCs, it is important to note that there are three main types of CFLs:
1. Cool Light
2. Soft Light
3. Day Light
Cool Light Bulbs tend to have the "weakest" feel to the quality of light. Soft Light is similar to Soft White light bulbs that you may already be used to. Day Light is the "sharpest" light of the three.
In general, the Day Light bulbs can be annoying to look at directly, and you may only want to use them in places where the light generated from these are diffused through a lamp shade (or by other means).
Home Depot (and presumably Lowe's) has each of these types of light demonstrated for you in the section of the store where these are sold. The lightbulbs are color coded to these types of lights so that you can easily select the bulbs that you want.
CFLs are also sold in "Equivalent Watts" so that consumers can try to compare apples to apples when it comes to replacing their existing lightbulbs. If you are replacing a 100 watt soft white regular lightbulb, you may want to consider the 100 Watt equivalent Soft Light CFL.
An additional benefit of switching to CFLs is that you can place 100-watt equivalent lightbulbs in light sockets that are only rated for 60-watts or lower. The watts refers to the electrical load that the light is rated to carry. Since CFLs use between 20 - 25% of the electricity that a traidtional lightbulb uses, you can upgrade the light in these outlets, get more light and STILL save money.
So how much can you save per lightbulb replaced? The answer is "It depends". It depends on how much you use the lightbulb you are replacing. Here's a quick way to estimate how much you can save in electricity on each lightbulb you replace.
Calculate Total Watts used per year
Example:
8 60 watt bulbs used an average of 4 hours a day (8 * 60 * 4 * 365 = 700,800)
6 100 watt bulbs used an average of 4 hours a day (6 * 100 * 4 * 365 = 876,000)
6 75 watt bulbs used an average of 4 hours a day (6 * 75 * 4 * 365 = 657,000)
Cost of electricity per kWh (Kilwatt hour): $0.105
Cost of electricty per year for those 20 bulbs: 2233800/1000 * $0.105 = $234.55
Cost of electricity if using equivalent CFCs is about 78% less at: $50.82
Total Savings for those 20 bulbs: $183.73 or ($9.20 per bulb per year)
A few things to keep in mind. This is the AVERAGE saved per bulb per year. The bulbs you use more often save you more and the bulbs you use less often save you less. Some other things to consider. Your savings are affected by the season...since CFLs don't generate nearly the same heat that regular lightbulbs do, the lightbulbs DON'T help to heat your house in the winter (which would reduce the electricity you spend to heat your home). However, this is offset by the lightbulbs NOT heating your house in the summer (which requires your AC to work harder and costs electricity). In other words, you will notice your savings more in the summer than you do in the winter.
The Daylight CFLs (most expensive) cost about $2/bulb when not on sale.
The Incandescent 60 watt lightbulbs cost about $.25 each (but don't last as long).
Assuming the incandescents DID last as long, you are paying an additional $1.75 to save $46 ($9.20 per year for 5 years). You also save on the cost of all of the incandescent replacements you would have needed and the time and effort required to replace them when they burn out.
Estimated Passive income generated by switching each moderately used lightbulb over 5 years: about $45
My assumptions, in case you want to adjust to your situation:
Cost of a single regular 60 watt lightbulb at Home Depot: $.25
Cost of a single regular 13 watt CFL at Home Depot: $2.00
Estimated Life of regular bulb: 1,000 hours
Estimated Life of a CFL: 7,000 - 10,000 hours
Estimated Electricity Usage of a regular 60 watt bulb:
Estimated Electricity Usage of a CFL 60 watt equivalent: 13 watts
Cost of Electricity: $0.105 per kWh
Category: Energy Savings
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: $2.00 per light bulb
Est. Annual Savings: $9.20 per bulb
Est. Return on Investment: 2625% over 5 years
Est. Payback: 2.6 months for each bulb with modest usage
OK. Low hanging fruit is always nice, so we'll start with this one...
Converting the modest usage light bulbs in your home to Compact Florescent Light bulbs (hereafter known as CFLs) is simple, low cost, environmentally friendly, and is an easy way for individuals to take a step towards energy independence for the United States.
I'm not going to suggest that you switch every bulb in your house to a CFL right away, because the truth is that some of them you just don't use enough to warrant replacing the current bulb before it burns out on its own (think of the bulb in that crawlspace where you store holiday decorations). However, once a bulb DOES burnout, you should always replace it with a CFL.
Take note of the lightbulbs in your house that get significant use. These probably include bulbs in your living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, and kitchen. Of particular interest are the multi-bulb fixtures - like overhead lights, bathroom vanity lighting, and lights in ceiling fans - and high use single bulbs. Do you have an outside light that you ALWAYS leave on? Get a count of all of these lights.
Once you have a count, you know how many CFLs that you are going to need. When buying CFCs, it is important to note that there are three main types of CFLs:
1. Cool Light
2. Soft Light
3. Day Light
Cool Light Bulbs tend to have the "weakest" feel to the quality of light. Soft Light is similar to Soft White light bulbs that you may already be used to. Day Light is the "sharpest" light of the three.
In general, the Day Light bulbs can be annoying to look at directly, and you may only want to use them in places where the light generated from these are diffused through a lamp shade (or by other means).
Home Depot (and presumably Lowe's) has each of these types of light demonstrated for you in the section of the store where these are sold. The lightbulbs are color coded to these types of lights so that you can easily select the bulbs that you want.
CFLs are also sold in "Equivalent Watts" so that consumers can try to compare apples to apples when it comes to replacing their existing lightbulbs. If you are replacing a 100 watt soft white regular lightbulb, you may want to consider the 100 Watt equivalent Soft Light CFL.
An additional benefit of switching to CFLs is that you can place 100-watt equivalent lightbulbs in light sockets that are only rated for 60-watts or lower. The watts refers to the electrical load that the light is rated to carry. Since CFLs use between 20 - 25% of the electricity that a traidtional lightbulb uses, you can upgrade the light in these outlets, get more light and STILL save money.
So how much can you save per lightbulb replaced? The answer is "It depends". It depends on how much you use the lightbulb you are replacing. Here's a quick way to estimate how much you can save in electricity on each lightbulb you replace.
Calculate Total Watts used per year
Example:
8 60 watt bulbs used an average of 4 hours a day (8 * 60 * 4 * 365 = 700,800)
6 100 watt bulbs used an average of 4 hours a day (6 * 100 * 4 * 365 = 876,000)
6 75 watt bulbs used an average of 4 hours a day (6 * 75 * 4 * 365 = 657,000)
Cost of electricity per kWh (Kilwatt hour): $0.105
Cost of electricty per year for those 20 bulbs: 2233800/1000 * $0.105 = $234.55
Cost of electricity if using equivalent CFCs is about 78% less at: $50.82
Total Savings for those 20 bulbs: $183.73 or ($9.20 per bulb per year)
A few things to keep in mind. This is the AVERAGE saved per bulb per year. The bulbs you use more often save you more and the bulbs you use less often save you less. Some other things to consider. Your savings are affected by the season...since CFLs don't generate nearly the same heat that regular lightbulbs do, the lightbulbs DON'T help to heat your house in the winter (which would reduce the electricity you spend to heat your home). However, this is offset by the lightbulbs NOT heating your house in the summer (which requires your AC to work harder and costs electricity). In other words, you will notice your savings more in the summer than you do in the winter.
The Daylight CFLs (most expensive) cost about $2/bulb when not on sale.
The Incandescent 60 watt lightbulbs cost about $.25 each (but don't last as long).
Assuming the incandescents DID last as long, you are paying an additional $1.75 to save $46 ($9.20 per year for 5 years). You also save on the cost of all of the incandescent replacements you would have needed and the time and effort required to replace them when they burn out.
Estimated Passive income generated by switching each moderately used lightbulb over 5 years: about $45
My assumptions, in case you want to adjust to your situation:
Cost of a single regular 60 watt lightbulb at Home Depot: $.25
Cost of a single regular 13 watt CFL at Home Depot: $2.00
Estimated Life of regular bulb: 1,000 hours
Estimated Life of a CFL: 7,000 - 10,000 hours
Estimated Electricity Usage of a regular 60 watt bulb:
Estimated Electricity Usage of a CFL 60 watt equivalent: 13 watts
Cost of Electricity: $0.105 per kWh
Guide to Passive Income
Greetings all. This blog is dedicated to the process of building, maintaining, and growing sources of passive income. Let me be very clear about what I consider passive income.
Passive income has the following qualities:
1. It requires some upfront work/research, which can cost you time and/or money
2. The return on your investment of time/money is continuous
3. Once implemented, it requires no/little work to maintain
Under this definition, I will also include "Passive Savings" as a category of passive income, because let's face it, money not spent spends just as good as money earned.
As long as there are no changes in laws or policies, the items found on this site can all be considered ways for you to generate passive income. I encourage all comments, especially those that fall into one of these three categories:
1. Corrections/Improvements
2. Additional Resources
3. Personal experience with the process being described.
Of course, any other feedback is also welcome, but I'd really like to make this as useful as possible in terms of content and results. Thanks and happy reading.
Passive income has the following qualities:
1. It requires some upfront work/research, which can cost you time and/or money
2. The return on your investment of time/money is continuous
3. Once implemented, it requires no/little work to maintain
Under this definition, I will also include "Passive Savings" as a category of passive income, because let's face it, money not spent spends just as good as money earned.
As long as there are no changes in laws or policies, the items found on this site can all be considered ways for you to generate passive income. I encourage all comments, especially those that fall into one of these three categories:
1. Corrections/Improvements
2. Additional Resources
3. Personal experience with the process being described.
Of course, any other feedback is also welcome, but I'd really like to make this as useful as possible in terms of content and results. Thanks and happy reading.
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