Are you feeling unsettled with the global economic downturn? Are you concerned about your retirement savings? Or are you worried about paying for college or starting a new family?
The Community Resource Centre offers one to one confidential financial advice sessions by qualified financial advisors: Debbie Mealia and Sandy McBride. Please call 604 885-4088 to book your FREE 45 minute session on November 13, 2008 from 2:30-4:15 pm or November 25, 2008 from 2:45-5:00 pm.
The Community Resource Centre will be hosting more finance workshops thoughout the Fall - watch this space for info.
If anyone is interested in participating in a small support group to discuss money saving tips and challenges to saving money please contact us at 604 885 4088 or email: admin@communityresourcecentre.info
The Centre also have free information booklets on a variety
of topics including: retirement, debt, money savings tips and RRSPs.
=============================== Top Money Saving Tips
1. Pay yourself first. One of the best money-saving tips there is. You work for you so pay yourself before you pay for other things.
2. Buy inexpensive alternatives. Do you need the $4 coffee every day? Twice a day? Or will the free coffee at the office do the same job? One of the easiest ways to save money is to look for little ways to cut costs. Why not brown bag your lunch? Small savings really add up!
3. Curb impulse spending. No one likes a budget, but everyone likes to get the things they really want. Give yourself a fixed amount each month for variable expenses like entertainment and stick to it. A large part of what you could save each month is spent impulsively. Before you buy, ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”
4. Be patient. Everything goes on sale. Wait a month or two. The difference between what you pay now and what you pay later could be significant and that puts more money in your savings account.
5. Keep an eye on your dream. Tape a photo of that dream vacation to the corkboard at work. It’s easier to say no to a mid-mid afternoon latté when you’ve got a reminder of why you’re saving.
6. Only use the ATMs of your bank to avoid additional fees. You know that using another Financial Institution's ATM could cost you up to $3.00 per withdrawal.
Top Tips For Saving on Electrical Bills
Use efficient lighting. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents (CFLs). Compact fluorescents use four times less energy, and last eight times longer (8,000h instead of 1,000h) than incandescent light bulbs. For example, a typical 75W incandescent bulb can be replaced by an 18W compact fluorescent. The compact fluorescent will be more expensive to buy, but you will need to replace it eight times less often and it will use less electricity, which often makes it the biggest electricity saver in your house.
Fluorescent tubes are even more efficient than compact fluorescent lamps, and last even longer (10,000-20,000h). Only use tubes with a modern ballast starter that avoids flickering and lights immediately - good ones add another 20 per cent efficiency. Another option is a CFL with a dedicated fixture. The electronic ballast, which is part of the fixture, lasts 40,000 hours and bulbs can be replaced separately at lower cost. Both CFLs and fluorescent tubes are available in dimmable fixtures. This can increase comfort, save even more energy and extend the lifetime of the bulb.
Also pay attention to the light fixtures. Clever use of reflectors, and directional lamps to get the light where you need it can save you another 50 per cent energy cost and improve your comfort! Well thought out use of efficient lights can thus reduce electricity needs up to eight times.
2. Buy efficient electric appliances. They use two to 10 times less electricity to perform the same function, and are mostly higher quality products that last longer than the less efficient ones. In short, efficient appliances save you lots of energy and money.
In many countries, efficiency rating labels are mandatory on most appliances. In Canada, the Energy Star label is used.
3. Refrigerators: Buy a high efficiency refrigerator that consumes around 100 kWh/y. This is 10 times less than the average in the US, and four times less than the EU average.
These efficient refrigerators are about 5-15 per cent more expensive to buy, but will save you loads of money and energy in use. In general, they are also high quality products that will last longer, need fewer repairs and make less noise.
Avoid refrigerators with a built-in frozen food compartment, if you have a separate freezer. These models are less efficient and you lose cooling space.
4. Freezers: For most home consumers, it is better to buy a two door refrigerator/freezer combination with separate compartments than a separate refrigerator and freezer. Refrigerator/freezer combinations with the freezer at the top or bottom of the unit are generally better than ones with side-by-side doors. Of course, you should always compare energy consumption ratings, pay attention to energy efficiency labels (see above), and look for Greenfreeze technology.
This award winning two-door refrigerator/freezer only consumes 137kWh/year.
Chest type models are more efficient than uprights. Unlike refrigerators, with freezers size does matter. Larger freezers do need more electricity, so don't buy a freezer that is larger than you need, especially if you live close to the store.
The most efficient models on the market will only use 180 kWh for a 300 litre chest, and 240 kWh/y for a large 450 litre freezer chest. The best upright models range from 170 kWh for a 190 litre model to 220 kWh for a 310 litre model.
5. Clothes washing machines Buy a high efficiency model with a power consumption of less than 0.9 kWh/washing cycle.
Consider a 'hot fill' model which connects directly to your efficient gas fired water heater. Using gas to heat the water almost halves electricity consumption. Installing a hot fill appliance needs to be done correctly, so good advice is required.
If using a clothes dryer, make sure that your washing machine can spin at 1600 or even 1800 rpm.
The most efficient washing machines save some 1,500 litres of water per year - a double gain!
6. Clothes dryers Traditional clothes dryers are very energy intensive. So called 'condensation' models – without an exhaust tube – use even more energy.
Consider drying the natural way (i.e. on a clothes line outdoors) if practical. This will save you 3-4 kWh/washing cycle.
If line drying is not an option, first make sure that your washing machine can spin at 1600 or even 1800 rpm. This will almost halve the energy needed for drying. Drying by spinning is 20 times less energy intensive than drying with heat.
There are two technologies for drying clothes that use far less energy: the gas-fired clothes dryer and the dryer with an electric heat pump. The gas-fired dryer is the best alternative, especially for more intensive use: it uses 60 per cent less energy (including the gas) and dries 40 per cent faster. If gas is not available, consider a dryer with a heat pump. A heat pump dryer will use half the electricity of a traditional dryer. However, heat pumps can be rather expensive.
7. Dishwashers An efficient dishwasher consumes no more than one kWh/washing cycle, compared with 1.4 kWh for an average model.
Consider a 'hot fill' model which connects directly to your efficient gas fired hot water heater. That way, gas is used to heat the water instead of electricity, thereby reducing electricity consumption by 50 per cent, or even up to 90 per cent for the top models. This is because gas is almost twice as efficient for heating water as electricity. Note that installing a 'hot fill' needs to be done properly so good advice is required.
8. Computers and IT
Buy a laptop instead of a desktop, if practical. It consumes five times less electricity.
If you buy a desktop, get an LCD screen instead of an outdated CRT.
Enable the power management function on your computer; the screensaver does not save energy.
Switching off a computer extends its lifetime, contrary to some misconceptions. Leaving a computer running the whole year will cost you more than 1,000 kWh/y, or almost as much a the total electricity consumption of a high efficiency household.
Use one large power strip for your computer, broadband modem, scanner, printer, monitor, and speakers. Switch it off when equipment is not in use. This is a practical way to cut 200 kWh/y or more of standby losses (see standby).
Minimise printing. Laser printers use more electricity than inkjet printers.
For more information see Greencampus Harvard and the Rocky Mountains Institute.
9. Cut off standby losses ("The vicious energy-suckers")
Most modern electric appliances consume electricity even when turned off. For TVs, VCRs, faxes, HiFis, computer screens, cable boxes, and broadband modems this is on average some 40 – 120 kWh/y. In total, household losses can reach several hundreds kWhs/y, all for doing nothing useful.
The best solution is to buy appliances that have a very low standby energy consumption. Standby power consumption is mentioned in the product manual and can be checked before buying. Or you can look for it on specialised websites (see links). For most appliances, it should be around 0.5 – 1 watts/hour or 4-8 kWh/year. Keep in mind that the cost of wasted standby energy over a model's lifetime can be higher than the cost of buying it!
A power strip is also the most practical way to switch off VCR, TV and DVD-player stand-by losses (you can cut off all three devices at once).
10. Do not use an electric boiler (hot water heater) for hot water ("Heat the water, not the sky!")
An electric boiler consumes about 3,200 kWh/y (average OECD). But producing that electricity in highly inefficient gas, coal or nuclear plants, and then transmitting that electricity down the power line to your home costs some 9,600 kWh in electricity wasted as heat - so roughly 2/3rds of the energy is lost before it even reaches your home. Using gas or oil directly to heat water reduces energy use to 3,800 kWh.
A solar boiler can further halve that figure to 1,900 kWh in a moderate climate zone (and even less in sunny regions) - for a total energy savings of about five times what the electric boiler uses. However, do not use a solar boiler combined with an electric heating, as this will be less efficient than a gas boiler alone - the energy cost of the electric heating usually wipes out the savings gained by the solar boiler.
11. Use a water saving shower head The water saving shower head is very comfortable despite using only half of the water (5-7 litres/min instead of 10-18 litres/min.).
Hot water requires the most energy in a household after space heating, and thus needs extra attention. An efficient shower head can save almost 1,500 kWh electricity/y if an electric boiler is used, or 1,900 kWh heat if a gas or oil boiler/geyser is used. All this for just a few dollars/euros extra when you buy the showerhead. Over its lifetime of 10 years, a showerhead will also save some 70,000 litres of water.
Using a water saving showerhead combined with a solar boiler reduces energy needs to some 950 kWh heat (gas or oil), or almost 10 times less than when an electric boiler is used with a traditional shower head!
12. Do not use electric space heating For the same reasons as the electric boiler. Instead add insulation, and ,ideally, heat your house using a renewable energy solution like solar thermal. However, gas heating is still far better than electric heating.
Interested in doing more? Check out more green living tips from Greenpeace Canada.
======================= ASK AN EXPERT Q: With the volatility in the stock market, what do you think of the strategy of selling some of my investments and using them to pay down my mortgage?
A: I'm a big fan of paying down your mortgage and generally reducing non-deductible debt as a key part of your financial planning strategy, although it's hard for me to provided specific recommendations without knowing more about your situation. Factors to consider include:
- Tax implications: would you be cashing out investments from your RRSP or OPEN account, and would you be triggering any capital gains? Alternatively, are there any capital gains or losses being carried forward that can be applied against this?
- Fees: what would it cost you to access these funds, including redemption fees, deferred sales charges or other costs?
- Market value: Are you cashing out the investments when the portfolio has dropped substantially, thereby locking in your losses?
And last, perhaps it makes sense to consider the original objective of the investment you are considering cashing in. Was this a long-term investment and except for current market performance, do all other conditions still apply?
I would recommend that you discuss your situation with your adviser in light of these factors. Alternatively, if you are managing this yourself or feel you are dealing with a broker who doesn't provide much in the way of financial and tax planning, consider hiring an independent certified financial planner for a limited engagement to evaluate your options.
Imran Syed CFP CFSB is an independent, fee-based certified financial planner and can be reached at feebasedadvisor.ca.
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