Lower Your Electric Bill

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Electric bill got you down? Fight back with this energy – saving ideas

Keep your fridge and freezer full
Food acts as insulation and lessens the amount of time that the fridge has to run to stay cool.

Clear your refrigerator’s coil
When your refrigerator has dirty condenser coils it has to work harder to cool your foods. Perform maintenance once every three months to optimize its efficiency.

Don’t put uncovered foods/drinks in the refrigerator
Condensation makes the fridge work harder and costs you more money.

Allow foods to cool before putting them in the refrigerator
Placing hot foods in your fridge will increase the interior temperature and cause your refrigerator to work harder.

Only wash full loads
Your washing machine and dish washer use a lot of electricity. Minimise the drain by only washing full loads.

Wash laundry in cold water
90% of the energy consumed by your washing machine goes to heating water. Turn the dial to cold and skip the bill.

Clean your dryer lint trap
If you use a drying machine, remove the lint from your dryer trap after each load to maximize its efficiency. Then scrub it down with soapy water and a brush once every couple months to remove any additional lint trapped in the screen.

Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs
CFL light bulbs use four times less energy than incandescent bulbs. Switch out the most widely used bulbs in your home. Then replace the rest as they burn out.

Shield your home from the sun
Cut down on your air conditioning use by closing curtains and blinds on the sunny side of your home. For even more savings, consider installing tinted window film.

Schedule yearly AC maintenance
Increase the efficiency of your AC system by having it inspected and cleaned once a year. Added bonus: cleaner air in your home.

Install ceiling fan
Keeping the air circulating in your home reduces the amount of work your air conditioner has to do.

Landscape for shade
Plant trees to shade your home and your air conditioning won’t have to work as hard.


Eliminate phantom loads
A surprising 75% of the energy used by home electronics is consumed when they are turned off. These “phantom” users include: TVs, VCRs, Stereos, computers and many kitchen appliances. Look for anything with a digital clock. A simple solution? Plug all of these items in to power strips and then get in the habit of turning off the strips between uses.

Lower the temperature on your hot water heater
13% of your home electricity goes to heating water. You can lower this percentage by setting your hot water heater to 130 ~ 140 degrees. For even more savings, install an insulation jacket, and insulate the first six feet of piping that comes off of your heater.

Install low flow shower head
Less water flowing through your shower head means less water to heat.

Cook with the lids on
Foods cook faster with lids on because the heat can’t escape.

Source: Home Builder

DID I REALLY JUST WIN AN EMAIL LOTTERY OR SWEEPSTAKES?

I received an email from a [name removed, just in case] of London England stating I had won US$ in a sweepstake organized by Microsoft and AOL. In the email numerous words were misspelled. I was told to contact [name removed], Claims processing agent, [number removed], Courier Firm: [name removed]. This email mentioned a [name removed], Microsoft Promotion Team, Vice President. The one stipulation is the winner remits part of the winning fund to a charity organization. Is this email for real or just another fraud email?

Did I really just win an email lottery or sweepstakes?

Man, if every "you've won!" sweepstakes message I've received in the last year were true I'd be a very rich man. Heck, if even one of them were true, I'd be doing pretty well.
Short answer: it's fraud. Run away. Delete it. Ignore it. Don't ever be tempted.
That clears enough?

Let's examine just why that is and what some of the clues are.
I just checked my Junk Mail folder, and in the last week I've received at least a dozen or more "winning notifications" of various flavors. "Staatloterij" (Dutch for state lottery), "End of the year lottery promotion", "YOU HAVE WON!!!", and so on.

Every one of them is totally bogus.

And worse, they're actually scams to take your money, not give you any.
Let's look at some of the clues the show you just how bogus these emails are.
And for the record, these clues apply to 99% of the all spam you get as these are excellent indicators of scams and other bogus emails.

"It's fraud. Run away. Delete it. Ignore it. Don't ever be tempted."
It's email. Let's face it, if you really won a lottery, someone would more likely knock on your door (with lots of proper identification) or at least send you a certified/registered letter. Email is an unreliable notification mechanism at best and should never be used for something this important.

The email's not even addressed to you! This just gets me every time I see it. None of the messages that say I've won actually have my name in the "To:" line. None. In fact, none of them even mention me by name. You'd think that if I had in fact won some kind of lottery that my name would be known to the organization, and that they would actually use my name when they tried to tell me that I'd won. It doesn't get much more bogus than this.

English is clearly not their native tongue. You said it yourself, "numerous words were misspelled". Once again, a legitimate organization would simply not do that. Even if they were based in another country they would take the time to make sure that spelling and grammar were up to business correspondence standards.

They ask for money. This is the big tip-off in my book. In your case: "one stipulation is the winner remits part of the winning fund to a charity". Here's how it works: in most cases you'll have to actually send money before you "receive your winnings". It'll either be in the form of fees that they say must be paid up-front, or in your case I'm guessing that you'll need to make your charitable donation before you get your winnings. And those winnings? IF you get anything at all, there are several scams right now that actually send you a check that's so real-looking that it even fools your bank. Until it bounces a week later and your "winnings" are removed from your account, that is. All that after you've paid the up-front fees with your own real money.

They ask for your details. Lottery scams are another great venue for identity theft. "Winning the lottery" seems like a perfectly legitimate reason to be asked for lots of personal information like Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and the like. It's not. Do not divulge your personal information to anyone you don't absolutely positively trust. Ever.

The fact is that the old adage is very, very true: If it's too good to be true, then it's not.
Unfortunately the sad reality is that these schemes exist because enough people fall for them every day. Out of ignorance, greed, or desperation, people think that they've actually won and fall for the trap. The net result is that they don't win at all, they lose. They lose their money, their belongings, their identity, and more.

It's fraud. Run away. Delete it. Ignore it. Don't ever be tempted.
That clear enough?

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