My name is Kip and I have spent my career helping people save money on their mortgages. Over the years I have talked with many people about how to save money both with their mortgage and in their everyday lives. Now I am bringing my years of knowledge to you. Each week I will bring you a new money saving tip to help you keep more of your hard earned dollars in your pocket. Tune in weekly and if you or anyone you know needs help financing or refinancing your Wisconsin home please contact me.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Holiday Gift Tags

What do you do with those beautiful holiday cards that you receive each year?  Here is a creative idea to reuse them and save yourself a couple of dollars.  Speaking of saving money, if you are looking for information on how to buy a home don't pay for it.  Call me - I have all of the information you need and it's all free.  Enjoy the video and please feel free to comment below.






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Money Saving Minute # 020 – Gift Tags

I love receiving cards in the mail but until last December I never knew what to do with them come January one.  Last December, however, I received a gift and the tag was a card stock and obviously hand cut.  I asked the person that gave me the gift about the tag and she told me that she saves her holiday cards from the previous year and makes them into gift tags the following year.  Now I’m not much of an arts and crafts person but this idea stuck with me.  It’s more personal than a sticker, I don’t feel guilty putting those beautiful cards in the recycling bin, it doesn't take a lot of skill and it’s free…

This has been Money Saving Minute number # 020.  It’s your money and watching The Money Saving Minute each week will help you keep more of it.  Subscribe to the right, share with your friends below and as always your comments are welcomed.



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Holiday Lights

What is the difference between C9 and C7 bulbs, incandescent bulbs and LED holiday lights?  Price, energy use and most importantly, safety.  This week we take a look at how LED's will save you money in the long run as well as up your safe level a notch or two.  And speaking of safe, are you locked into a safe rate on your mortgage?  If you are still working with an adjustable rate mortgage now is the time to lock in, before rates go up.  Call me.



 



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This installment of the MSM is a continuation of an article from my upcoming December newsletter.  Each month my newsletter is filled with fun and informative articles as well as a couple of puzzles, a recipe or two and a bit of trivia.  Wisconsin residence can email me for a free one year mailed subscription or subscribe from anywhere to the email PDF version.

Money Saving Minute number zero one nine – Holiday Lights

There are many holiday light options and it may get a little confusing. There are the large C9 and C7 bulbs, incandescent bulbs and now LED lights.

While the LED lights are going to be a little more expensive than the incandescent light bulbs, they will save you money in the long run. LED lights have a three-to-five year warranty and the money saved in energy costs will allow the bulbs to pay for themselves in just a couple of years. 

LED lights end up using 80 percent less energy than regular bulbs. In addition, LED’s give consumers the ability to run multiple strands together without fear of blowing a fuse. They also don't heat up like traditional bulbs so there is less risk of fire.  Another great safety feature is unlike traditional incandescent bulbs which are glass and LEDs are plastic, so they are more shatter-resistant.

There are also LED lights that change color, giving consumers the options of going from white to color and back again. There are even solar-powered strands available for outdoor use.

Also don’t forget to look for the UL mark when purchasing new lights. A red UL mark indicate indoor and outdoor use while a green UL mark indicate the lights are for indoor use only.

Finally, watch for recycling and trade in promotions from area retailers.  Not long ago Home Depot was offering a discount on LED's when customers brought in strands of incandescent bulbs for recycling.  The promotion was a reported success so watch for other retailers to do the same.

This has been Money Saving Minute number zero one nine - it's your money and watching the Money Saving Minute each week will help you keep more of it.  We are always looking for new ideas to share.  Tell us how you save on your purchase in the comments section below.  Subscribe to the right and if you like what you see please tell a friend.






Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Print to PDF



Printing has become more affordable over the years however it still costs money.  We can't avoid printing all together, however, there are times when printing a document to a PDF is both more convenient as well as free.  This short video will explain in more detail.  And speaking of saving money, if you, or anyone you know needs help saving money on their mortgage or needs help qualifying for a mortgage please call or email me.  Thank you and enjoy the video. 



Primo PDF       Nitro PDF



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Money Saving Minute number zero one eight – Print to PDF

To save money in the office many of us have started printing documents to a PDF rather than printing hard copies.  A PDF printer works just like your home printer as far as your print settings are concerned.  The difference when printing to PDF is that instead of the final product being a piece of paper it’s a file that can be stored on your PC or emailed to another user. 

So how can this money saving print feature be used in your personal life?  For one, do you pay bills or make any purchases online?  After you make your payment do you print your receipt and tracking number?  Print this page to PDF and store it on your PC.  This will save you money as well as reduce clutter in your hard files.  Do you print news articles, recipes, school schedules, photos or jokes to share with friends?  Print them to PDF and email them to your friends and family instead.  This also works great for emails that you would like to save.  Print them to PDF and store them in a folder on your PC for easy access.

There are quite a few PDF creation programs available.  I have found two that are very easy to use as well as free. The first is Primo PDF and second is Nitro PDF.  Both offer different features so I have both on my PC.  Primo offers a security feature that will allow you to password protect your more sensitive PDF’s.  Nitro is nice because it’s a one click and done program.  Below are the links for both free downloads.

DOWNLOADING NOTES

When downloading these or any other programs make sure that you read each page that pops up.  You may be asked if you would like to download toolbars, make a program a default program or download additional programs.  The default setting for each of these questions is “yes”.  If you don’t want these addon’s make sure that you uncheck the box.  Also, once you have downloaded Nitro, Primo or both; go back to your PC and change your default PDF reader back to adobe.  To do this simply right click on any PDF, select properties, click “open with” then select adobe.  Nitro and Primo are great for printing PDF’s but Adobe is still better for viewing PDF’s online.

This has been money saving minute number zero one eight.  It’s your money and watching the money saving minute each week will help you keep more of it.  Click to the right to subscribe, click below to share with friends and as always, your comments are welcomed. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Online Coupons




Do you use online coupons? There are so many sites that offer online coupons but so far I have only found one that I like. I could use your feedback. After watching the video please tell me about any experience that you have had printing and using online coupons in the comment section below. I hope you enjoy this short video and if you know anyone that needs help saving money on their mortgage or help with a purchase loan please contact me.






                       





TEXT FROM VIDEO
Money Saving Minute number zero one six – online coupons
 
In this edition of The Money Saving Minute we are going to talk about online coupons and how to avoid the spam that goes with them.  Toward the end of the segment there is a question that maybe you could help answer. 

Coupons save shoppers over four and a half billion dollars annually.  Traditionally consumers have received their coupons in the mail, hunted through the local paper or found coupons at the store.  In the mid 90’s some manufacturers began offering digital coupons online.  It didn’t take long for before counterfeit coupons were being made and retails put an end to accepting home printed coupons.  Today, thanks to new printing technology and security codes, coupons are once again available online and being accepted by retailers . . . but they generally come at a price. 

To receive most digital coupons an email address is asked for and let’s face it, thirty cents off on dish detergent is just not worth the spam that will follow.  The Money Saving Minute suggestion is to set up a new Gmail account that you only use for coupons.  When setting up your new Gmail, don’t bother filling in all of the personal information such as phone number and current email address.  Also be sure to uncheck the set Google as my home page as well as Google may use my personal information boxes.  Do, however, remember your password as some coupon sites will email the print link to you. 

There are two ways to find coupons online.  One is to go to your favorite search engine, such as Google, and simply type in what you are looking for.  The other is to go to a site dedicated to coupons such as coupons dot com.  Coupons dot com is unique because they don’t require a membership or your email but they do require the download their print software.  One of the steps when installing their software will ask about installing a toolbar.  Be sure to uncheck this box so that the toolbar is not added to your browser. 
 
There are many sites similar to coupons dot com and I would like to find the best ones.  Have you used coupon website?  In the comment section below please tell me which site you have used and if your experience was a good one.

By the way, do you know which company was the first to use coupons…

This has been money saving minute number zero one six.  It’s your money and watching the MSM every week will help you keep more of it.  Click to the right to subscribe, click below to share with friend and tell us about your online coupon experience in the comments section.