Watch Wheel of Fortune next week!

That's right, it's finally here. Remember back in December when we shared the story of being in the Wheel of Fortune audience? Well, the episodes we got to see are airing this coming Monday and Tuesday! You should definitely check it out...who knows, you might catch a glimpse of us in the audience. :-)

Cross-posted on ryanandshelsy.com .

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Super easy energy saving idea

image by Will Foster

Since we moved, our electricity bill has varied considerably. Our cheapest month was December when we only used 464kWh, compared to our most expensive month, July, when we used 990kWh. January was another high usage month, at 803kWh.

So, naturally, I began trying to figure out why December was so much less than January. The answer is simple: we were away. During December, we were visiting Pennsylvania for a total of 10 days. Incidently, we were gone for a week in November, as well, and our November usage was only 600kWh.

Whenever we travel, I unplug various items around the house including the TV, microwave, computers, etc. These items sit, unplugged the whole time we're gone, using zero electricity.

So let's do the math. If we're gone for one week, that's 168 hours that these devices are unplugged. Considering just how much electricity is sucked up by electronics (even when they're off), you can see how keeping them off for just one week saves a considerable amount of money.

But I obviously don't want to unplug everything in the house for one week out of every month. The other day, I was sitting at my desk checking some emails when I heard a click behind me. I turned around to see that the light timer on the fish tank and switched off for the night.

LIGHTBULB-OVER-THE-HEAD MOMENT!

I did some quick research and discovered that three-prong, heavy duty timers are not only available, but very cheap. So, here's some more math: If I have the microwave, TV and computers turn off from 1am through 7am, that's 6 hours per night, or 180 per month. There's your week's worth of use!

I picked up three of those heavy duty timers from Amazon. I set them up today and here's how I have them working:

TV Area:
Some items have to stay on, like the computer for recording TV shows, cable modem, and wireless router. Those three get their own powerstrip that stays on. A second power strip gets plugged into the timer and powers the TV, stereo, DVD player, Xbox and Wii. They all get turned off at night.

Desktop computer:
I often leave long downloads running overnight, so I don't want the computer itself being turned off at night. So the computer and external hard drive go on the first power strip to stay on. The second power strip goes into the timer and supplies the printer, speakers, second monitor, and two small chargers. They get turned off at night.

Microwave:
All by itself, the microwave simply gets turned off during the night.

Our next electricity bill cycle begins in just a few days, so March will be our first test month with the new timers. I'm very curious to see what kind of savings we achieve...but my guess is that we'll recoup the cost of the timers within the first month or two. I will report back at the end of March on how it worked out. Stay tuned!

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A Real Domain!

This blog has been hosted at ryaninc.blogspot.com for way too long. I finally got a chance to set up a real domain. The old one will still work, of course, but you can now reach The Dastardly Report by going to www.dastardlyreport.com.

Pretty awesome, I think. This calls for more frequent posts, as well. :-)

By the way, if anyone reading this would like help setting up your own real domain for your blog, let me know, I'd be happy to help!

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Saving Money on Entertainment

It's no secret that quite a few folks are trying to spend less nowadays. Shelsy and I are no exception, especially being unemployed and trying to make every dollar stretch a bit more. As such, I began looking at the budget to see what could be cut. There were some obvious standouts in the entertainment category. I wanted to drop these monthly expenses, but I didn't want to lose the service and quality of entertainment we were used to.

So I began researching alternatives. What I discovered is that we were able to cut a number of things from the budget and go with free alternatives. The result is that we are actually enjoying better entertainment than before and saving a buttload of money at the same time. Here's how we did it.

XM Radio:
Shelsy and I are both music fans and XM's service is (or used to be) pretty awesome. But it's expensive. Our monthly bill was $21 and, had we not canceled, it would have risen to $26 per month.

Alternative? Slacker. As I said in my blog post about Slacker, the service is very similar to XM's and yet has a monthly fee of zero. I personally think Slacker's selection and quality of music is far superior to XM, which means that we're saving money and enjoying better music. Saving: $21.00 per month.

Cable TV:
Before we moved, we were paying $14 monthly for basic cable. Most cable subscriptions, though, are closer to $50 monthly...and that doesn't include optional HD or the DVR box rental, etc.

I know a lot of people that claim they could never go without cable TV. But the reality is that an incredible number cable-only of shows are streamed online. From Discovery and History to Comedy Central and USA, most cable-only channels stream at least some of their shows online. And the network channels can be received with an antenna.

I bit the bullet and purchased a somewhat expensive HD over-the-air antenna for about $50. It picks up all the networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, etc.) with perfect clarity. So at 14 bucks a month, I would have paid for the antenna in less than 4 months of cable payments. Saving: $14.00 per month.

Tivo:
This can't really be counted as "savings" because we never had Tivo. But we were literally this close to getting one so that we could record TV shows. So I'll go over it anyway. Tivo boxes are expensive and require a monthly service fee of about $12. Our local cable company charges $10 monthly to add a DVR box to an existing cable service (which start at $50 montly).

There are obviously other options, such as DVD recorders, but these don't record in HD and don't have a slick guide for scheduling recordings, etc.

The answer is Windows Media Center. I encourage you to read my post about Media Center, but suffice it to say that it provides a superior level of service than most other DVRs and costs exactly zero per month. Obviously, you need a computer near your TV for this to work. I built a system from parts that all said and done will end up costing me between $250 and $300. That's about how much a Tivo costs outright. And if I were paying $60 monthly for cable, I would hit the $300 mark in only 6 months.

Again, since we were never paying for a Tivo/DVR box, I can't call this saved money. But it certainly bears discussion. Money not spent: between $12 and $60 monthly.

Conclusion:
We really are enjoying a higher quality of music and TV entertainment than before. We were able to cut $35 per month ($420 per year!) out of the budget and avoid spending a considerable amount more.

We're not the only ones doing this, either. Check out this video from Good Morning America about a couple that did almost the same thing. There really are free options for these things.

If any of you among my throng of readers have any questions about this stuff, leave a comment. I'd be more than willing to help anyone who wants to set up Media Center or cut their entertainment budget. :-)

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