It's been two months of solid living under the fluorescent bulbs and changing our patterns of consumption.  We've made real progress on nearly every detail imaginable.   So I thought I might share an estimate of the monthly savings per month, averaged over the last two months.

Cut coupons: 30.00

Fuel savings (trade-ins): 50.00

Fuel perks (Get Go): 25.00 

Major Retail Store 10% ViSA card: 17.00

FNBODirect Interest: 16.00

Cash Back Cards: 104.00

Home Owners' Insurance: 16.00

Refinance w/Points: 36.00

Energy savings (Electric Bill):  14.00

Water Bill: 13.00

Gas Bill: 5.00

Total (Estimated Per Month): $326.00

Remember that 2007 Vibe that we purchased?  Our savings per month actually is more than enough to pay the monthly payment (287.00).

We intend to pay off the Vibe in 10 months or so as to avoid paying interest on the loan for 5 years.

Having the budget helps me obsess about each item to be sure that we really have done everything possible.  I realized that we were overinsured on the house; by insuring full replacement cost, a number of additional types of coverage were also inflated.  So we went to 80% and saved $16.00 per month.  I've looked into changing life insurance, but cannot seem to find a less expensive coverage compared to what I have now.  I dropped collision coverage on my car if the accident's my fault, and now save $50 a month in our interest-bearing savings account in case of needed repairs.

As you can see, by far the largest 'savings' is the 6% cashback card.  We buy everything on it; the rate is 13.99%, but I make weekly payments on whatever the balance is.  And nothing extra goes on the card.

Our credit debt (down to 10,700 from 27,000 1 year ago) is now parked evenly divided in a 15 mo 0% card  and another card (1.9% for the life of the transfer).  We are paying ahead on both by putting the 'ahead-minimum' payment into the FNBO savings account (currently 3.85%), and paying the minimum.   When the time comes, we'll pay them both off in full, and enjoy the accumulated interest.

Watch for an article next month on changing your patterns of consumption so your consumption habits make money for you.

Posted by jameslivingwell at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We have lived in Allegheny County for 5 1/2 years.  We used to purchase power from Green Mountain Energy, but now our only option is Duquesne Light.  This gives them an effective monopoly over the people in my area.  On their website, DL reports that, until May 2008, I can purchase electricity from People's Dominion Plus, at a price equal to 10% that of Duquese Light.  I though price-fixing was illegal.  Moreover, I don't see an option anywhere to freely choose my supplier.
 
Duquesne Light's new rates are 8.14 cents per kilowatt hour.  By comparion, Allegheny Power's rates are 5.1 cents per kilowatt hour.

So I decided to write to DL, and inquire about my optionsas a consumer.  I cc'd the email to the Governor's office and to the office of the Attorny General.

 
Here is the error I received from their web site.  Apparently DL doesn't want to communicate with their customers in writing.  Personal details are x'd out:

101 : 		<cfelse>
102 : 		'',
103 : 		</cfif>
104 : 	 'N')
105 : 	</cfquery>

COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.DB2Exception: [IBM][CLI Driver][DB2] SQL0904N  Unsuccessful execution caused by an unavailable resource.  Reason code: "00C90097", type of resource: "00000200", and resource name: "DCSPDB17.CSSTSSB0                           ".  SQLSTATE=57011

	at COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.app.SQLExceptionGenerator.throw_SQLException(SQLExceptionGenerator.java:263)
	at COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.app.SQLExceptionGenerator.throw_SQLException(SQLExceptionGenerator.java:206)
	at COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.app.SQLExceptionGenerator.check_return_code(SQLExceptionGenerator.java:445)
	at COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.app.DB2Statement.execute2(DB2Statement.java:594)
	at COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.app.DB2Statement.execute(DB2Statement.java:371)
	at coldfusion.server.j2ee.sql.JRunStatement.execute(JRunStatement.java:212)
	at coldfusion.sql.Executive.executeQuery(Executive.java:705)
	at coldfusion.sql.Executive.executeQuery(Executive.java:638)
	at coldfusion.sql.Executive.executeQuery(Executive.java:599)
	at coldfusion.sql.SqlImpl.execute(SqlImpl.java:236)
	at coldfusion.tagext.sql.QueryTag.doEndTag(QueryTag.java:498)
	at cfprocessContactUs2ecfm1594091954.runPage(E:\Inetpub\secure.dqe.com\dlx\ContactUs\Email\processing\processContactUs.cfm:103)
	at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:152)
	at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:343)
	at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.invoke(CfincludeFilter.java:65)
	at coldfusion.filter.ApplicationFilter.invoke(ApplicationFilter.java:210)
	at coldfusion.filter.RequestMonitorFilter.invoke(RequestMonitorFilter.java:51)
	at coldfusion.filter.PathFilter.invoke(PathFilter.java:86)
	at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:50)
	at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28)
	at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)
	at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)
	at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)
	at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:105)
	at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:78)
	at jrun.servlet.ServletInvoker.invoke(ServletInvoker.java:91)
	at jrun.servlet.JRunInvokerChain.invokeNext(JRunInvokerChain.java:42)
	at jrun.servlet.JRunRequestDispatcher.invoke(JRunRequestDispatcher.java:257)
	at jrun.servlet.ServletEngineService.dispatch(ServletEngineService.java:527)
	at jrun.servlet.jrpp.JRunProxyService.invokeRunnable(JRunProxyService.java:204)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$DownstreamMetrics.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:349)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$ThreadThrottle.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:457)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$UpstreamMetrics.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:295)
	at jrunx.scheduler.WorkerThread.run(WorkerThread.java:66)

Posted by jameslivingwell at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)