by Joe
on October 1, 2010
I was talking to someone who was considering using the VOIP (Voice Over IP) offered by their cable company. She was concerned about how much the modem would cost her to run. I came to realize that she was on a tight budget and was wondering how much it would add to her electric bill.
I didn’t know off hand how much power a modem draws so I started to think about a 100W bulb, and figured we can scale from there. If a bulb were left on 24/7, it would use about 72KWH of power in a month as there are 720 hours in a 30 day month. At her rate of 15 cent per KWH, this one 100W bulb would cost $10.80 to run full time each month. It turns out a modem is 10W or less, so it’ll take about $1/mo to run.
This exercise got me thinking. I bought a device a few months back to help me add up the current I use in my basement as I was wiring it room by room. It’s called Kill A Watt and available at Home Depot or on line.
The first thing I did was to find a power supply plugged into an outlet in my office with nothing attached. 4 watts! Now, I can afford the 40 cents per month, but how foolish is this, there’s nothing even plugged in, it powered a hard drive that’s now in a closet but I forgot to unplug the supply till now. Next, I checked how much power one of my old Macs was drawing. I was glad I use it remotely, no monitor, saving that power. But I found it uses 180W. About $19 per month. I need to rethink whether it’s worth it to keep this guy running.
Last, I’ve been replacing the incandescent bulbs with CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light bulb). Most rooms in our house have 4-6 in-ceiling cans that hold a 65W spotlight type bulb. The CFL replacement is 15W and puts out the same amount of light. So, anytime we are in a lit room, we’re saving 200W of power. Of course, during the day, it’s good to pull the shades/blinds and use natural light, but when we need to turn them on, it’s less power and less heat generated. How many power bricks do you have plugged in that are just keeping warm and burning your money? Have you gone to CFLs yet?
Joe
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by Joe
on September 30, 2010
Do you suffer from poly-W-2-phobia? You may have this fear and not even realize it.
The main symptom is that you break into a sweat when you gather your tax documents and see that you have more than one W-2 to contend with.
Fear not, my friends, my post Don’t Let Filing Multiple W-2s Scare You is now up on the TurboTax Blog and I walk you though why this is nothing to keep you up at night. Easy to handle, and even more so when you’re using TurboTax’s software.
FTC disclosure – I am compensated for the guest posts I write on the TurboTax blog. Not for the ones I write here, as they are just teasers to get my readers reading the good stuff there.
And a very happy end of Q3 to all of my readers!
Joe
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by Joe
on September 28, 2010
A few weeks back I was invited to join a number of bloggers who would be writing for a new web site Currency, by American Express.
I was very happy to be part of such a group as I was familiar with many of the others who would be writing. I have to say, I have a soft spot in my heart for AMEX. While I was still in school, my godfather trusted me with a Gold American Express Card which I was welcome to use as needed and I could pay him when the bill came in. This was my first experience with credit and at the time, the AMEX card did not have credit you could carry month to month. The bill was due within a few weeks of receipt. Period.
I’ve always felt that credit is a tool which can be used wisely or foolishly. In and of itself, it neither good or bad. Whenever I run into the “credit cards are evil” type, I remind them that I get rewards at no expense to me, whether it be the miles on my Citibank AMEX card (getting American Airline miles) or the American Express Open card that gives my 5% at office supply stores and 3% on gas purchases. My first post at Currency is Understanding Marginal Tax Cuts. Take a look and let my friends at American Express know what you think.
FTC disclaimer – I am paid for blog posts I author for the currency site. This post was not compensated.
Joe
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by Joe
on September 26, 2010
We start this week with the ongoing coverage Kay Bell has been providing regarding the expiring tax cuts. One of her posts this week was Effect of expiring tax cuts on the rich. As you may know, if congress doesn’t act, the Bush tax cuts expire as this year ends. The expiration will impact all of us.
Craig Ford alerted us to the ING Direct 1% Cash Back Debit Card Promotion. Not bad for a debit card. He also shared a quote from a reader who unsubscribed “YOU ARE BORING AS MUD DRYNG !!!,,,,DUDE!†Wow. That tells me more about the reader than about my fellow blogger. Me, I once asked my wife if she read me now and then. She answered, “Read you? I never have a clue what you’re writing about.” Hmm, not exactly true, I know I get dry and technical sometimes, hopefully not too often.
Neal Frankle asks Rollover to Roth 401k. A Good Idea? I was afraid this would be more Roth Mania, but not from Neal. He offers a level headed approach to this topic much in line with my own.
This week, The Oblivious Investor discussed Deducting an IRA Loss (Roth or Traditional). Turns out you already deducted (most likely) the deposits to a traditional IRA, so any loss there cannot be deducted. For an IRA that wasn’t pretax or a Roth, there are some details that need to be considered. All in all, this won’t apply to too many people but info that’s good to know.
Next, Len Penzo shares 21 Reasons Why Corner Lots Are For Suckers. I’ve not given this any thought in, well, forever, as I moved out of the city after I graduated college, and lived in the ‘burbs ever since. But for you city folk, this is actually a well thought out list of reasons to avoid corner lots when buying a house.
And last this week, I’d like to share Canadian Finance Blog’s Dying Without A Will. Good to know that Canadian laws regarding wills is pretty similar to the US. The list is very similar to one I’d write for my local readers. A nice guest post on CFB by Jim Yih.
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by Joe
on September 25, 2010
’nuff said?
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