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When it comes to auto insurance premiums, there are a number of factors that you have absolutely zero control over. Most of us like to think that we’re the best drivers to ever hit the road, but we’ve all felt the pain of being 18 years old and having to pay considerably more for the same vehicle than the crazy guy who lives down the street. The injustice!

The good news is that there are a number of factors that you have considerable control over when it comes to your auto insurance premium. In the first of a two part series, we’ll cover the 10 prime factors that you have control over that most auto insurance companies consider in the formulas used to determine how much to charge you.

1. Switch Vehicles

Each vehicle is assessed a different risk variable depending on a number of factors, including category classification, crash test rating, price, cost of replacement parts, and even horsepower-to-weight ratio and how often the model is stolen. If you want a lower premium you should avoid sports cars, expensive vehicles, newer vehicles, and those that are not considered to be top of class in safety (smaller vehicles). Each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports an insurance make and model comparison. Each insurance company should share similar information, should you ask for it.

2. Pay Up Front

Some insurers offer a discount if you pay for the year ahead up front all at once versus a monthly payment plan. If you have the cash on hand to pay up-front, don’t worry about losing it if you switch insurers. Your insurance company is required to pro-rate your total bill and refund you for the days that you won’t be covered under them.

3. Drive Like an Angel

Believe it or not, your driving record is still considered to be one of the top factors that insurance companies look at. Whether you’ve been in an accident or received a major traffic violation within the last few years can have a huge impact on your premium. Some auto insurance companies look back three years, while others look back 5 or more.

4. Cut your Miles

A number of auto insurance companies will offer you a lower premium if you drive less miles. Makes sense for them and for you, right? Moving closer to work might not only save you on fuel and commute time, but it may also decrease your auto insurance premium as well. If you make a move closer to work or end up drastically cutting your mileage driven, call your insurance company to see if it can earn you a discount. A number of insurance companies are offering pay-by-the-mile programs, which may end up costing you less than traditional plans if you rarely drive at all.

5. Improve Your Credit Score

Credit history is becoming a much more highly valued variable that is being looked at by insurance companies (however, this is not allowed in the State of California). We’d recommend that you move to California if your credit history is terrible, however, the cost of living would more than cannibalize any savings in auto insurance.

6. Reduce your Insurance Levels

Whether or not you have collision and comprehensive coverage certainly dictates how much your premium will be, but your decision to carry it really should come down to how much your vehicle is presently worth. Each state has a liability coverage minimum that you should be aware of when determining how much you want to carry. We do not suggest lowering your coverage to the minimum to save money, as that may end up being a big mistake should you get into an accident. However, it might be to your benefit to keep an eye on your liability coverage if it is high and you are in need of cutting your premium.

7. Buy a Vehicle with a Theft Device or have one Installed

Purchasing a vehicle with a theft deterrent system or having one installed will most often get you a discount.

8. Same Insurer, Multiple Policies

Having multiple insurance policies with the same company typically gets you a hefty discount. As if comparing apples to apples wasn’t already hard enough, most auto insurance companies will give you varying levels of discounts for also having a home, life, or other insurance policy with them. You may find that even though one car insurance company would charge you more than another, your ‘total’ insurance cost to go with them is less.

9. Be a Loyal Customer

Loyalty can be rewarded when it comes to sticking with your auto insurance company. As witnessed by the massive amounts of advertising insurance companies partake in, the cost and value to acquiring a new customer is very high. That’s why a good number of insurance companies will give you a percentage off on your total premium each year just for sticking around. It’s also for this reason, especially if you’ve been a cheap customer for them in the past, that they may be a little more willing to work with you in lowering your cost than a Comcast might be. Stick around long enough, and it may be difficult to find a cheaper policy elsewhere.

10. Increase your Deductible

How high of a deductible you set has a significant impact on your premiums. For example, increasing my deductible from $250 to $500 reduced my overall premium by 25%. If you have an older vehicle with a relatively low value it makes a lot of sense to have a high deductible. It makes even more sense if you don’t have collision or comprehensive coverage to begin with – because there is not much else that would make the cost/benefit of having a low premium worth it.

What About All the Factors you can’t Control?

We’ll discuss those and what to do about them in the second part of our series on how to lower your auto insurance premiums.

For more of G.E. Miller’s writings, visit the personal finance blog MicroFrugality.com.

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Just a few years ago when Melody Brooke applied for credit in anticipation of co-signing a loan for one of her adult children, she was told she had such good credit that she could buy a jet.

Today, she couldn’t buy a toy truck. The combination of a weak economy, which forced her to close her private counseling practice and caused her husband to lose a lucrative contract, has taken her family from a six-figure income to barely any income at all. To add to the constant barrage of debt collectors calling them, her husband hasn’t been able to obtain a job. “He’s only gotten two interviews and one offer,” says Brooke, who lives in the Dallas area with her husband. “But when they ran our credit, they told him they couldn’t hire him.”

The current financial crisis has brought about many economic anomalies, including throwing a whole new subset of the population on the radar of debt collectors – upper-middle class and affluent consumers like Brooke.

No More Easy Street

“We are seeing people who’ve never been down this road before” says Phill Hudson, a partner for the law firm of Arnstein & Lehr, with offices in Chicago, Ill., Milwaukee, WI., and throughout Florida. “Most people in this situation haven’t focused on what they’re facing, and the first thing we tell them is don’t ignore it and don’t become paralyzed.”

“Most people are in shock and they’re entering a world they’ve never dreamt of,” says Robert Markoff, president of the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys, based in Washington, D.C. “The first thing consumers must do is talk to whoever is calling you.” Financial experts agree that speaking to debt collectors, especially in the early stages of delinquency, can go a long way in assisting a consumer’s cause.

According to Cena Valladolid, chief operating officer with Consumer Credit Counseling of Southern Nevada (CCCS), a non-profit organization that offers budget education, debt counseling, and elimination programs to consumers, talking to creditors can afford you an opportunity to become educated on special programs and repayment terms.

Part of honestly assessing your situation is looking at your assets that possibly can be sold such as a vacation home, timeshares, recreational vehicle, or non-essential vehicle. Also examine your savings, says Brooke. While she didn’t have anything with equity to sell, she used what small savings she had to settle three loans with a bank willing to work with what she could offer.

Don’t Panic

Perhaps just as bad as ignoring debt is getting into further trouble when trying to eliminate it. Sending all of your money to one creditor won’t make your problems go away, and can get you in deeper with other lenders. “People have a tendency to send the creditor who is making the most noise all of their money,” says Hudson, “but consumers need to make arrangements with all of their creditors.”

The priorities start with the essentials first, says Markoff. “It’s clear that you will need to provide shelter and food for yourself and your family,” says Markoff. “If you don’t have anything left, then you cannot work out plans.”

Markoff also advises consumers against falling into the trap of believing that if a payment plan cannot be worked out, an unsecured creditor can take their home or other property. “Generally, we don’t usually see a company taking property,” he says. If the problem seems overwhelming, he says, law firms that specialize in debt management and bankruptcy may be able to help consumers work with creditors.

“We eventually act as more than lawyers,” says Hudson of the services his firm offers. “We know the banks and lenders and the ins and outs of what they’re doing and accepting,” says Hudson. “Our clients may not always be happy about the options, but if we can get past the initial hurdle, we can help them move forward.”

Seek Extra Help

In addition to seeking paid counsel, there are also non-profit financial counseling alternatives. Services such as those offered by CCCS provide assistance with setting up budgets to accommodate precarious financial positions, and negotiating with creditors.

“Many creditors will reduce or eliminate penalties and interest,” says Valladolid. “We hope to put people in a situation to eventually help maintain or rebuild their credit.”

But, debtor beware. Valladolid cautions against companies that promise to help you immediately increase your credit score or rebuild your credit, or companies that offer to settle debts for very low amounts. “Anytime there is a public financial crisis with long-stretching arms, it always leaves room for scams,” says Valladolid. “I’ve heard of companies say they can eliminate debts up to 80 percent and settle them… we’ve never seen that here at CCCS.”

Additionally, Valladolid says legitimate non-profit credit counseling agencies will not charge a fee for their services. “We don’t charge because there’s nothing we do that the consumer cannot do for themselves for free, including negotiating settlements,” he says.

Markoff also cautions against companies that ask for fees in return for negotiating payment arrangements and settlements. “I see consumers daily who come to me saying they’ve sent all of their money to a company, and when they get sued they realize the company didn’t help them,” says Markoff.

When Should Bankruptcy Be Considered?

Before you consider bankruptcy as an option, speak with an attorney or credit counselor, says Markoff, as it might give you a different perspective. “If there’s a judgment entered, it doesn’t mean a person needs to file bankruptcy,” says Markoff. “It’s a black market on the credit, but the credit reports are already not looking good.”

Chatz says speaking to an expert in bankruptcy is a must. “There are different types of bankruptcy that are best for different people,” he explains. “And people need to realize that you cannot file bankruptcy on government debts such as IRS debts or student loans, as well as on child support debt.”

Markoff says if a bankruptcy isn’t right for you, more often than not, creditors will usually just sit on a judgment until the consumer’s situation improves, at which time, the consumer can then make arrangements for payments or settle the account.

“The most important thing to do is to not panic and focus on the future,” says Chatz. “Accept it and work through it. Things will turn around, they always do.”

For Brooke, she and her husband are still both seeking employment, as well as trying to take destiny into their own hands by starting another business. “We are launching an Internet business that uses his technical skill and the model I developed as a counselor and an author, but who knows how long that will take to go to fruition,” says Brooke. In the meantime, they move forward with credit lessons learned.

“Think Debt Can’t Bury You? Think Again” is provided by Experian.com

As more consumers have opted to purchase their music online over the last few years, the market share of digital music retailers has increased rapidly. With iTunes leading the charge, digital retailers now account for over 35% of all music sales. The introduction of variable pricing by iTunes in April of this year brought on a dramatic increase in the number of monthly transactions per user, helping them to pass Wal-Mart as the leading music retailer. It is also important to note the other digital retailers implementing different sales models that are increasing total user spending and beginning to stake claim to a significant share of the market.

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Early Origins

(Squeaky Marmot)

Contrary to general assumptions, the dollar existed before the United States was an independent and unified nation. Prior to the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress had authorized the government to issue dollars and coins for use as widely accepted tender amongst the thirteen British colonies. The term “dollar” itself actually owes to Spanish currency of the time, specifically the eight-real coin (also known as the Spanish dollar), and U.S. dollars were used side by side with their Spanish counterparts – which were accepted as legal tender until 1857 – during colonial times. In fact, the dollar wasn’t the only monetary system vying for widespread use in colonial America. In the Dutch New Netherland (New York) colony, for example, the lion dollar was the currency of choice. However, the U.S. dollar began separating itself from the pack following a Congressional resolution on August 8, 1786.

It was Alexander Hamilton’s leadership at the treasury department, however, which truly cemented the dollar’s status as the basic unit of account in the U.S. with the passage of the Coinage Act of 1792. The act mandated that a “dollar” be between 371 and 416 grains of silver and an “eagle” be between 247 and 270 grains of gold. (An eagle was said to be with 10 dollars, and a dollar worth one-tenth of an eagle.) Here, again, we see the influence of Spanish dollars on the fledgling American currency, as Hamilton based these silver and gold weights on the average weight of worn Spanish dollars. This act also commissioned the opening of a mint in Philadelphia, then the capital of the nascent country. Incidentally, the mint was the first federal building opened with authority from the United States Constitution.

Interestingly, the practice of putting presidents on the front of U.S. dollars is a rather modern tradition, beginning only in the early 1900’s. George Washington, the president most readily identified with the dollar, scoffed at the idea of using his face on money. To Washington, the very notion smacked of European monarchical tradition. As for the ubiquitous dollar sign ($), various theories have been proposed to explain its emergence. Rand, for instance, claimed that the dollar sign represented “U” and “S” superimposed, although this theory is questionable because the dollar sign predates the formation of the U.S. as an independent nation. Other theories reference the coat of arms found on Spanish colonial currency or suggest that it is nothing but an evolved scribal abbreviation for Spanish and Mexican pesos. The latter is perhaps the most widely believed, but historians remain divided on the exact origin.

The Gold Standard

(Mykl Roventine)

Realizing that pieces of paper had no intrinsic value (and the inflationary dangers this posed) the U.S. government eventually put the dollar on what is known as a gold standard. Essentially, this meant that every dollar in circulation was “backed” by a certain amount of gold that citizens could demand in exchange for their dollars. The gold standard became law in 1900 with the passage of the Gold Standard Act, which aimed to, “…define and fix the standard of value, to maintain the parity of all forms of money issued or coined by the United States, to refund the public debt, and for other purposes”, according to HistoryCentral.com. Specifically, the Act mandated that each dollar in circulation be valued at $20.67 per ounce of gold. Under such a system, the treasury could not simply print money on whim, but only when and if there were sufficient gold reserves. While the gold standard did indeed restrain inflation and promote sound monetary policy, it proved incapable of adapting to changing circumstances like wars and recessions. The standard was suspended twice during World War 1, for example, because European entities began owing by U.S. corporations in the form of gold. Thus began a massive gold outflow that continued unabated until the New York Stock Exchanged closed in 1914 and the gold standard was put on hold. To its credit, the U.S. restored the gold standard when the NYSE re-opened in December of that year, making the U.S. the only nation in the world to maintain its gold standard by that time.

It was not to last, however. When the Great Depression set in, currency speculators began demanding gold in exchange for their dollars en masse. While the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in an attempt to protect the gold standard, bank runs persisted throughout the early 1930’s. Finally, in 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt suspended the standard and revoked gold as universal legal tender for debts. Interestingly, even this suspension was considered to be temporary at the time – it was only the growing chaos of the depression which kept the restoration of the gold standard permanently on the back burner in terms of political importance. Nevertheless, the U.S. dollar’s relationship to gold grew more and more tenuous over the years.

The Fiat Standard

(Noellium)

The dollars we all use today operate independently of gold prices or any precious metals of intrinsic value. This is known as “fiat currency” – that is, the dollar’s value is only that which we collectively ascribe to it. Insofar as we value, accept and seek dollars as compensation, they have and will continue to have value. Transformation of the U.S. dollar into a fiat currency began in earnest in 1963, when the words “payable to bearer on demand” were left out of all newly printed Federal Reserve notes. Holders of pre-1963 currency could still redeem it for gold until 1968, when redemption was discontinued. Additionally, 1965’s Coinage Act stopped the practice of using silver in quarters and dimes, which were composed 90% of silver prior. In sum, this means that all of the roughly $829 billion worth of U.S. currency estimated to be in worldwide circulation in 2007 is redeemable for and intrinsically worth precisely nothing. The “real” value of U.S. currency begins and ends with the value of the paper it is printed on.

Despite being a fiat currency, the U.S. dollar serves as a sort of barometer for the health of the world’s financial system. Today, entire countries (such as Panama, the British Virgin Islands and El Salvador) peg their currency to the dollar just as the U.S. once pegged the dollar to gold; others go so far as using dollars in lieu of – or alongside – their own currencies. Evidently, the fact that the the dollar is backed by nothing but “the full faith and credit of the United States government” is convincing enough for our citizens and the rest of the world. Whether faith in the dollar will withstand unprecedented debt spending and a shaky world economy, however, is a question yet to be answered.

Note: Scroll over a house to view the average home price in that area

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The US stock market is soaring, commodity prices are on the rise, and there are signs that consumer confidence is growing. Ask the US government if the recession is ending and you’ll hear a resounding yes as the Obama administration rushes to claim an early victory. Naysayers however point to the massive US debt and the 10% unemployment rate as signs that, even with the economic stimulus package, we still have a long way to go. Our info-graphics displays some leading economic indicators on the road to recovery.

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If you’re a first-time home buyer you might be interested to know that Dan Marino’s 10-bedroom, 12-bathroom mansion in Weston, Florida, is up for sale for $13.5 million. Marino originally listed the home in 2006 for $15.9 million, but recently decided to make his offer more enticing by cutting the price and throwing in some designer furniture and an autographed football.

If those new incentives get you excited, you need to stop and take a breath. Would you really be induced to spend $13.5 million on a house only because the seller throws in an autographed football? After all, you can get one on eBay for less than $100. For $13.5 million, Marino should come back once a year and hold a football camp for your son. He should be the guest of honor at an annual barbecue with you and your friends where you can all stare wide-eyed while he tells war stories from the NFL — and then make fun of him after he leaves for never winning a Super Bowl.

Honestly, if you’re a first-time home buyer, you would do well to not get too starry-eyed at the prospect of sitting in your living room gazing at a Dan Marino football on your mantelpiece wondering how you’re going to make the next $85,000 mortgage payment.

Here are some other common mistakes people make when they decide to take the leap from renting to owning.

Falling in love with perks that don’t add value

The Marino football is just one, unique example. Some people fall in love with a built-in swimming pool. (Marino’s house is loaded with them by the way.) What a lot of people don’t know is that a swimming pool is expensive to maintain and it may cause your homeowner’s premiums to go up. (Insurance companies call it an “attractive nuisance.”) Also, when you go to sell your home, many people will avoid homes that have swimming pools or ask that, as a contingency for sale, the pool be filled in.

So when you’re shopping, don’t get too attached to the house with the sinking foundation next to the freeway just because it has got a wet bar and pool table in the basement. If you need any perks, add them later to a house that is a better value.

Failing to budget for all those things that will break down

When home repairs need to be done, a renter picks up the phone and calls the landlord. When repairs need to be done and you’re the owner of the home, you’re on the hook. You are the one who has to replace the hot water heater when it busts open like a water balloon. You are the one who has to change the filter in your central air unit, make sure the gutters are cleaned out and replace broken appliances. You’ve got to buy a lawn mower, a snow shovel and salt when it snows. All of these things cost money — and they add up (big time).

Foreclosures are happening everywhere today because people borrowed the absolute maximum they qualified for so they could get into the biggest house they saw. They could barely afford their mortgage payments and that left no money to do repairs or even routine maintenance.

Your best bet is to buy a little bit less house than you can afford. That will leave money in your budget for maintenance and any other surprises that come up; then you can focus on funding your savings account so that in a few years you can do renovations (kitchen, bathroom) that will increase the value of your home.

Overestimating the tax savings

You may have heard that a lot of European millionaires live in Monaco because the principality has no income tax, whereas countries such as Great Britain have nothing but income tax. A lot of people look to buy homes because they think the tax deduction they’ll receive will turn out to be a similar tax haven for them.

It is true that you get a tax deduction on the interest you pay on your mortgage; but remember, when you are a renter you don’t have a mortgage so you don’t pay interest on a gigantic loan. That’s what a mortgage is: The biggest loan you’re ever going to take on in your life.

Getting a tax deduction on the interest you pay on a mortgage makes the interest a little more affordable, but it’s still not better than paying no interest at all. If you don’t believe us, we’ll make a deal with you: You pay our mortgages every month and we’ll write you a check for the tax savings at the end of the year.

Everybody hates paying taxes, but some people don’t have a really big tax burden. If you have a couple of kids and your household income is less than $100,000 per year, then you don’t pay a lot in federal income taxes. The tax savings on a mortgage wouldn’t really be all that great.

That’s not to say there aren’t any compelling reasons to buy your own home; but don’t fool yourself into thinking the tax savings are going to be a windfall for you. Read our article on the home buyer tax credit.

Not researching the neighborhood

“Hell is other people,” said the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre — and sometimes they live next door.

Try to do all the due diligence you can on your new house. Check out the school districts (even if you don’t have kids, the quality of schools in the area will affect the resale value of your home), get a home inspection done and ask people you know about the neighborhood. Still, there’s one thing you might not really know until you’ve been in the house for a few years: That’s the painful idiosyncrasies of the freaks that live on either side of you.

Sure, renters have neighbors too, but if the situation becomes too painful they can get up and move when their lease is up at the end of the year. You can’t just turn around and flip that house when your neighbor takes to doing part-time auto body work in his front yard.

When you buy a house, you’re also buying a whole neighborhood. Ask the mailman if you have to, but try to find out as much about the people who live around you before you move in.

Overestimating your enthusiasm for renovations

A little “TLC” said the listing. It’s awaiting your special designer’s touch, your creative flair. You can paint the walls any color you like. You can put in permanent fixtures. You can build a patio, a deck and remodel a bathroom if you like.

Unfortunately, in a lot of cases you have to do those things. The linoleum in the kitchen floor is a fake brick pattern and 30 years ago some teenage boy epoxied a Fonzie poster to the wall in his bedroom. The realtor can call it any thing she wants, but most people call it what it is: work. Owning a home that needs a lot of updating is like having a part-time job that you don’t get paid for.

It’s great if you have experience doing those things or if you like that kind of work. But if neither of the above is true, then you’re going to need to budget a lot more time into doing the simplest of chores than you think. It’s going to be learning on the job. You’re going to be chasing guys with orange aprons up and down the aisles at Home Depot.

If that’s your idea of fun, then buy the fixer-upper. If not, you might want to consider a townhouse or a home that’s been built in the last 10 years.

Do your homework

This isn’t to say that you should be afraid to buy a home — just do it with your eyes open. Owning a home can be personally and financially rewarding over the long term. But in recent years a lot of people didn’t educate themselves beforehand and our whole economy is paying for it today.

After all, you don’t want to be stuck in a few years trying to unload a house that nobody wants — like poor Dan Marino.

First-Time Home Buyer Mistakes Provided by AskMen.

Low-flush toilets

(Ben Sutherland)

Long a favorite of the frugal, low-flow toilets are a must have for anyone truly serious about savings. According to MotherEarthNews.com, low-flow toilets, “…save the average U.S. household (2.64 people) about 25 gallons of water per day, or more than 9,000 gallons per year.” Typically, a low-flush toilet uses about 6 liters (1.6 gallons) per flush as opposed to the 13 liters used by conventional models. In the average home that cycles through ten or twenty flushes per day, it’s not surprising to see a device that uses half the water for each flush amounting to savings by the end of each month.

Filtered water bottles

(TSK Design)

Americans drink more bottled water today than ever before, with many people purchasing dozens of bottles at a time to consume throughout the week. Those bottles add up awfully fast to a giant sinkhole in the food budget ; one way to drink the same amount of water and spend far less is using a filtered water bottle. Just fill up from any ordinary faucet and the bottle’s internal filter zaps any bacteria lurking inside. The more often you use it, the faster it pays for itself and the more money you save.

Coin sorters

(Roger@Elaws)

Pocket change hoarders face an inevitable dilemma – devote an entire afternoon to tediously hand-wrapping the change they’ve been dumping into coffee jars for the last year, or let Coinstar do it and lose 10% of the money. Luckily, coin sorting machines offer an appealing third route. Simply buy coin rolls and let the machine wrap your change for you. If it turns out you saved $100 in change, using the coin machine lets you keep the $10 you would’ve paid Coinstar. Over several uses, the machine pays for itself and then some.

Electricity usage monitor

(TristanF)

Contrary to popular belief, your TV, XBox or laptop doesn’t just suck juice when they’re on. Simply having them plugged in pumps current through the wires, and over the course of a year, the extra cost of paying for that is not negligible. For those who need this quantified with exact numbers, the electricity usage monitor is ideal. Just plug any device into it and you’ll discover what that device’s “phantom load” is while off and plugged in. You can even go around the house with it, figuring out the total electricity usage of every gadget and gizmo you own.

High-efficiency power supply

(Audin)

Electricity usage monitors are great for measuring the juice your devices suck down, but it still presses upon you the responsibility for taking corrective action. That’s where the high-efficiency power supply comes in. In addition to protecting your valuable equipment from storm surges, high-efficiency power supplies actually regulate the electricity flowing to your devices so as to ensure that they use the least amount required to run. Laptops, for instance, have energy-saving modes which use less power to function. With a high-efficiency power supply, you can rest assured that every gadget it powers is running with as little juice as possible.

High-efficiency washing machines

(Mark Hillary)

One of the biggest energy expenses in the typical home is washing and drying clothes. Powering a big machine that soaks and spins dirty clothes is costly no matter how you slice it, but how efficient your washer is can make a huge difference. That’s why it pays to invest in a high efficiency model rather than the bargain basement clunker that saves a few hundred dollars up front. If the better machine saves even $10 per month by using less water, it should pay for itself twice over inside of five years.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs

(Dano)

Of all the hyped-up money saving inventions out there, compact fluorescent bulbs are truly worthy of acclaim. Said to save $100 or more per year, CFL’s pay for themselves in spades as you substitute them for the old, energy-sucking bulbs you currently have. For those eager to quantify the savings they themselves could receive, free online tools like GE’s Smart CFL Savings Calculator will let you punch in the numbers and see exactly how much money you are leaving on the table without switching.

Programmable thermostats

(Kevin Marsh)

Gone are the days of simply “turning on the heat” (or air conditioning) and letting it indiscriminately bleed your wallet to make the house comfortable. With programmable thermostats, homeowners can precisely specify the exact times at which heating or air conditioning should run, and at which temperatures. Practically speaking, this allows one to specify that nothing should be running when everyone in the home is away at work or school. Just set it once and forget about it forever.

Efficient shower heads

(Steven Depolo)

Now, we concede that some people are just not willing to use a shower head that doesn’t pummel them with hard jets (a famous Seinfeld episode comes to mind about low-pressure shower heads). For all others, however, efficient shower heads offer the opportunity to save the average American homeowner up to 15,000 gallons of water per year, according to SimpleDollar.com. And it’s not just the water bill savings – 15,000 fewer gallons used means 15,000 fewer gallons you have to heat, which translates to significant energy savings as well. It’s the ultimate two for one.

Space heaters

(Robxtgal)

The truly frugal (and smart) realize that it it is pointless to heat an entire house if there are several rooms you are never or seldom in. Spare bedrooms, third bathrooms, and attics usually fall into this category, and nine times out of ten, money spent heating these rarely occupied spaces constitutes a waste. Instead, pick up an efficient space heater from your local hardware store. It costs far less money to just heat an auxillary area while you are actually in it than round the clock, and if you are looking for a quick way to drop your electric bill, this could be exactly what you need to get it done.