Friday, August 7, 2009

A Few Tipperoonis

Just a few things I want to make sure you know about.

My Ecosource
This is a company that is contracted by Oncor Energy to go into residential customer homes (in Texas and maybe other parts?) and check for energy efficiency. The state requires Oncor to save so many kilowatt hours per year and this is how they do it. I heard about My Ecosource from Cowtown Camera Girl and was SO excited...until they told me we weren't eligible because our home was built too recently to qualify. But, I want all you to know about it. The BEST part about My Ecosource is it is FREE to the customer. Really. And, they do all kinds of fixes right then and there and you pay NOTHING. And, let you know if you need bigger ones like insulation, etc. If you live somewhere besides TX, check with your state to see if there's a program comparable to this!!

Magic Jack
This is a residential phone service that goes through your internet. There's unlimited calling in the US and Canada. You get caller id, caller id block, call waiting, & voicemail. You can pick up the USB connection at RadioShack or order it online. The initial cost is $40 for the USB connection and then $20/year for the service. You heard it right. $20 for an entire year of phone service. We have friends who've had it for a year, my parents recently got it, and we've had it for about a week and all have had good experiences so far. I did see there's a 30 Day Risk Free Trial Period if you're skeptical.

I had a 3rd tip in mind, but it's taken off and left me wondering what it was! If I remember, I'll let you know!!

Okay, I remembered!!

Slickdeals.net
This is a website dedicated to finding great deals. We've used this for everything from electronics to, well, I used it yesterday to get a 50% off coupon for Michael's. You can either scroll through and look at all the posts, or if you need something specific, you can do a search in the top right of the homepage.

3 comments:

Cowtown Camera Girl said...

Bummer that you couldn't use Ecosource! I guess they save it for the houses that really just suck the energy out the door -- that's us, built in 1928. We always felt that our old house (built in 1921) that the money was just flying out the door in the breeze that we could see in the crack. Should have had Ecosource hook us up there too! Oh well.

Something else I just discovered to save a little money.....

Do you use your home phone line? We don't but have to have it for our alarm company in case there really was an emergency. But we NEVER use our home line. We use oru cell phones for everything. Well, I've always been paying for the $20 per month basic phone line with AT&T. I just found out this past month that there's a plan where you only pay $0.18 per month with them! Yep, $0.18. The only kicker is that you can only make 25 calls out. *It's unlimited calls into your line.) After the 25 calls you will be charged $0.08 per call. Seeing that we never use our home line then this is great for us! Why have I been paying $20 per month for the past six years!!!

Ok, that was a really long reply. But I'm always up for saving money!

Lil Eskimo said...

Nell, that is AMAZING!!! We do use our home phone for as much as possible because we have low minutes on our cell. BUT, I know LOTS of people in the same position as you that I'm sure will love to hear this. THANKS for the good info!

On, EcoSource...they said our house was "supposed" to be built energy star already and we could call them in 10 years. I did ask them a couple specific ?'s and got some helpful info, so it wasn't wasted for us and we've already told others. Thanks AGAIN!

Cowtown Camera Girl said...

You are welcome! I'm always up for saving money!

p.s. - I love that picture that you have on your profile. :0)