5 Reasons Why Landlines Are Still Relevant

Don’t get me wrong. I do love mobile phones. In fact, I own more than one and I use them heavily each day. I definitely enjoy the convenience of staying in touch with everyone wherever I go.

Despite that, I am a firm believer that landlines are still very important to have these days.

Watch this short video and let me show you what I mean:

Do you agree or disagree that phones are still necessary in these days of smartphones and other devices? Share your thoughts in the comment section and let’s talk about it.

Reducing Your Telephone Bill

Image credit Tomomarusan (commons.wikimedia.org)

Most people nowadays heavily rely on mobile phones for their daily communications to the point that they sometimes forget they have a landline connection at home.

Telephone bills, however, come on a regular basis, usually every month. If often neglected, this could lead to problems such as having an expensive bill or, worse, permanent disconnection of the service.

If you want to retain your phone line connection at home and avoid huge monthly bills at the same time, allow me to share some pointers here for you. This comes from my personal experience so listen up. These tips could definitely help you save money!

1. Get rid of the voicemail

Telephone companies often encourage their subscribers to take advantage of voicemail features. Actually, you can get rid of this extra service. An answering machine pretty much does the same job. If you’ll do some computations, you’ll even discover that it’s often less costly to purchase your own answering machine than to pay for voicemail every single month.

2. Switch to a per-call package

Since we’re mostly using mobile phones, a per-call plan is definitely a money-saving option. Inquire with your provider if this alternative is available. This is very effective because you will only pay for the times and days you actually use their service instead of having to pay big bucks all the time.   

3. Use the internet when possible

Another idea is to take advantage of online technology whenever possible. Try to avoid excessive phone use because frankly, that’s not the only way to get in touch with people. Take note that international calls, in particular, are way more expensive than local calls.

For example, you may want to use Skype and other similar services as you make calls to a different country. If you have a webcam, then that’s even better because you can have video call.

Electronic mail also lets you send messages anywhere in the world. Your message will hit the recipient’s inbox in seconds. This also gives you the chance to practice writing long letters - a forgotten art in these days of SMS prominence.

Conclusion

An additional tip here is to refer to your monthly statements and try to determine which calls are costing you expensively each month. I did this several times and upon identifying the culprit, I made adjustments to my usage (I kept those calls as brief as I can) and it surely helped me decrease my phone bills.  

You may also like:

Telephone Savings Tips (puco.ohio.gov)

9 Reasons to Keep Your Landline (tdstelecom.com)

Build a Proper Shed, from the Outset

Photo credit: Christine (flickr.com)

Only neat freaks avoid clutter from piling up, and you're probably well-acquainted with the piles of knickknacks on your garage or basement. You can get away with clutter if it's tucked away in a forgotten corner in your home, but you have to admit your well-worn and used tools need space to call their home. That being said, there's a concern handymen and homemakers have in common: the shed or at least a small alternative to it. It's the ultimate solution to problems of backyard organization, and you have to build one of your own if you want workspace and storage that's functional and easy to the eyes. Building a shed should be an invested effort, and even if you can avail of easy-assemble sheds at a home depot or online store, you still have to make sure the space is prepped and the project is properly executed.

Location Is Crucial

Your shed will be a standalone structure in your garden or backyard, so you have to choose the best spot to build it. Choose level ground found high up on a rise in your property, make sure water doesn't collect and sludge around its foundation. The right spot saves you time, costs, and effort building drainage around and away from your shed, and it's also displayed as a prominent structure on your property. Sludge rots and rusts wood and metal, even if you invest in a solid foundation. This is all the more important if you're building a shed large enough to serve as your private workspace.

Prerequisites to Building

Believe it or not, but such a small project requires the approval of a building inspector just the same. It's important that you're aware of this at the outset, be friendly with yours and make the process as smooth as possible. A building inspector should be your best friend throughout the process, reviewing the plans, checking out the site, and making sure everything complies with local building codes. You'll also get free advice if ever your shed plan doesn't meet the standard. At the very least, your inspector spares you from building a costly mistake, so consider yours a blessing in (heavy) disguise.

A Stable Foundation

Your shed's foundation makes all the difference in stability, and you can choose between solid bricks or pressure-treated timber for yours. Depending on the size of your project, the foundation should be laid along the grade. Avoid using hollow bricks as these eventually buckle under the pressure of the structure. For larger projects of at least two hundred square feet, you'll need a permanent foundation of poured concrete. Consider shed building advice you can find online if you’re up for something more elaborate. You'll have to dig deep for the poured concrete piers and the timber posts. The specifics are more involved, though, and you can check with your local building codes for details on laying the right foundation.

Building sheds shouldn't be too troublesome if you start right it right. While it's true that the simplest shed needs no involved prep work, no red-blooded handyman will ever settle for something that's second-rate and substandard. Settle on the best design and build, whether you're doing it from scratch or choosing the convenience of easy-assemble projects.

You may also like:

How to Put Up a Garden Shed in the Backyard (videos.huffingtonpost.com)

Why gardening is good for your health (edition.cnn.com)

An Infographic on Saving Your Energy Bills

It’s never fun to pay astronomically high bills especially when you’re in the middle of planning your yearly family vacation. Sometimes we get too busy with work that we forget to track down our electricity usage at home and then wonder why we are paying so much. We all try our best but sometimes our best is just not saving us enough money as much as we’d like.

Believe it or not, really simple things like turning off the lights when they’re not in use or keeping the curtains closed at night to keep the heat from escaping already goes a long way towards lowering your energy consumption and eventually lowering your energy bills. If you work at home and tend to keep your computers and TV on standby to save time, you may want to consider turning them off when not in use because it’s not like it will take you hours to turn them back on again.

And last but not the least, you may want to make sure your insulation is thick enough to keep the cool air in especially during the warm months. You may want to have an energy audit done on your home as well to pinpoint the problem areas to further lower your bills.

How a Home Energy Audit is Done

Photo credit: Green Energy Futures - David Dodge (flickr.com)

Having a home energy audit done on your home helps you save on your energy bills because an expert will go around and pinpoint areas around your house that may be costing you too much energy and also tell you how you can keep it from doing that.

Among the many things they will point out will be air leakage, which is can not only cause you to pay high bills but also cause your home to be uncomfortable and unhealthy to live in. Energy audits will identify where the leakages are taking place if any, and offer effective solutions to the problem.

Having an energy audit done will also increase your home’s resale value and marketability because it gives potential buyers insurance that they are buying a home that is energy efficient and won’t cost them an arm and a leg to maintain. It will also uncover hidden problems that can otherwise turn into health risks like mold and mildew growth.

Believe it or not, energy audits will also tell you how much greenhouse gas your home is emitting so you’ll be able to do your bit for the environment as well. And lastly, energy audits are really a good investment because you will be able not just to have an energy efficient home for as long as you live there, you will also enjoy a healthy tax return of about 16% each year after taking into account the money you spent on home improvements.

What You Should Know Before Choosing Gas Suppliers

Photo credit: Michael Tapp (flickr.com)

When we first moved to our new place, it wasn’t just packing up the life we knew and starting over somewhere where we didn’t know a soul that bothered us but also the fact that we had to find new utility providers as our current one didn’t provide service in the area we were moving to. My wife and I already had too much stress going on so really, we didn’t need more grief to be honest.

But grief we did experience because who knew how difficult and challenging it could be to find new gas connection service? About a month before we were scheduled to move, we were already taking turns calling up a few companies we came across online and some that were recommended by friends.

Too many high rates and a few rude customer service representatives later, we came across a moving home company that offered to not only provide us with a list of reputable providers in the area we were moving to but also take care of the connection and needless to say, by the time the last box was deposited into our new home by the movers, we already had electricity, water, phone, internet and gas service going on.

While not many moving home stories end up happily like ours, it doesn’t mean you will be doomed to a dark fate when it’s your turn to experience moving day. Planning ahead and some exceptional organizational skills can ensure that moving day isn’t as stressful and drama-filled as you imagine it to be. That and hiring moving home companies who offer free services on the side like connecting your utilities and you’re well on your way to starting your new life.

However, I have to admit that choosing our utility providers was tough. I was concerned about high energy bills and while we did our best to conserve our energy consumption and had the house specifically built to allow for excellent heating and cooling conditions, there was the matter of making sure everything else was peachy.

Photo credit: Phoenix Energy (flickr.com)

If anything there are tons and tons of utility providers you can choose from, all claiming to give you the best rates and the best service but that makes it all the more confusing doesn’t it? Shopping around for the best rates is the first thing you need to do after you’ve determined how much you can afford to pay. Determine how much you are paying with your current provider and compare that with the rates your potential suppliers are offering. Figure into the costs the discounts you can get and cancellation fees if you decide to end your contract early. Getting the best utility services for your home means being able to pay for everything within your budget so you can manage your household expenses well. Make sure you read the fine print on your contracts and understand the terms and conditions clearly before signing on the dotted line.  

One thing that you should do a lot of when shopping around for the best utility providers is to ask questions. Remember that if something is not part of your contract, then it is not part of the plan you signed up for so you need to make sure that everything you agreed to is written in your contract. You can always ask for an offer summary from your utility companies  and remember that you are entitled to a cooling-off period before finally deciding on the company you want to sign up with.

You might also like:

What You Should Know About Getting Utility Services (consumer.ftc.gov)

Choosing Utility Providers (neighborhoodlink.com)

How to Shop for Portable Garages for Your Home

Photo Credit: Nigel Parker

Often when people buy homes, one of the things they put the least consideration for would be their garages. They will think of adding rooms for guests or maybe a garden shed as extra storage space for their garden tools or maybe even as a work space but they will never think of adding a portable garage for any additional vehicles they might add to the one they already have.

These days, however, more and more people are adding to their vehicles as a kind of investment. Second, people develop hobbies and as such, they buy motor boats, motor cycles, mountain bikes and RVs to be able to indulge in those hobbies and these are things you cannot fit in your built-in garages. For these reasons, the popularity of portable garages has grown so much but people who buy them can actually find themselves confused about what style is best for them and their needs. Here then is our handy guide on how to choose the best portable garages:

1.   Find the one that’s just right

Size matters and it especially matters when you have to fit three cars in one small space. Finding the right size for your portable garage isn’t as intimidating as you think, as long as you know these rules you need to follow in order to select the perfect garage size:

• The number of vehicles you need to protect
• The size of the vehicles you need to protect
• How much space you have for it

It is important to realize that each vehicle type will need its own kind of space and that while your measurements of the dimensions of each vehicle don’t need to be exact, you will need to leave just enough room for maneuvering especially for RVs and boat trailers which can be a bit unwieldy.

2.   Find one that’s made from the best materials

When you search online for garages for sale, a big part of your consideration will be coming from the materials it is made of particularly with the frames and covers since this affects the weight, strength and price. A popular choice for garage frame material is steel because it assures superior durability. When looking for steel frame garages, the rule of thumb is the larger the diameter of the steel tubing, the stronger your garage will be.

As far as covers go, the best material is polyethylene because it does a better job of filtering out harmful UV rays that can make your car’s paint fade. However, it can be quite expensive if you’re on a tight budget so you’ll need to decide on what’s more important: economy or durability. You will also need to make sure you are aware of construction limitations for your portable garages  like the height of the eves which is usually 2.5 meters and the extent of space covered by the construction.

3.   To Set Up or Not to Set Up My Own Garage, That is the Question

Most people prefer to just browse for easy-to-install portable garage kits online that they can set up themselves rather than hire professionals to do the job for them obviously to save on labor and construction costs. Also, buying portable kits means you don’t have to get any kind of permits but you will still need to check for local zoning laws concerning garages in your area to avoid getting into trouble as there are rules that apply to such outbuildings.

In order to fully protect your vehicles from harsh weather conditions, you may also want to consider investing in some important accessories with your portable garages like sidewall or enclosure kits which fully enclose your garage space like a storage garage would. Inclusions vary so you need to thoroughly check what’s included in your kit before making the purchase. If you’re planning to use your garage as an entertainment area, then sidewalls are a great accessory to invest in especially if you do a lot of entertaining and don’t want to hold your parties inside your house. They are often a regular inclusion in garage kits but you will still need to check to make sure.

You might also like:

7 Weekend DIY Projects That'll Whip Your Garage Into Shape (huffingtonpost.com)

Garages (fema.gov)

Tips on Building a Metal Garage Building Kit for the Do-It-Yourselfer (technorati.com)