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Health & Fitness

Budget Mondays

Monday – 2/10/2014

It’s Monday – a painful day for most people, yours truly included. Sometimes it is made even more painful as we remember just how much money we ended up spending over the weekend.

Budget

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It’s one word that can make people cringe, angry and sad all at the same time, a rare occurrence indeed. There are plenty of reasons for this – people are told at work that their budgets are being cut, their ideas cannot be funded because they are not in the budget, and in our personal life, our budgets don’t usually quite match up to our desires.

The cold weather that has gripped large swaths of the country during the winter is poised to continue this week – local weather stations are predicting a low temperature of 1 degree Fahrenheit for Tuesday. That’s cold! In addition to severely restricting outdoor activities, as well as the pleasantness of being outside generally, this colder than normal winter has had a definitive economic impact. From local news stations, to national news networks such as CNN, to business news channels that include CNBC and Bloomberg, the weather has been a hot topic of discussion this past week. With this cold weather set to continue, unabated, for the foreseeable future, it seems a good time to review some tips to help make wintertime less budget busting.

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Even if you cannot use them this year, these are always good to keep in mind.

1) Insulation is key – keep the warmth in and the cold out
2) Use energy efficient bulbs and appliances to cut down on energy costs
3) Install new windows, or insulate older ones, to help cut down on drafts
4) Reverse ceiling fans to blow back down warmer air
5) Let the sun in through the windows during the day to help warm up the house
6) Make sure your heating system is serviced and is up to date.

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