You May Be Sitting on Cash

As I get older my spending habits are becoming increasingly conservative, especially in this economy. There are many ways to save money if you take some time. Take each line item of your budget, hopefully you have a budget and micromanage each item. I saw an article the other day about residual energy useage. To lower your electricity bill, make sure all of your gadgets that use power are turned off, electricity is being used 24/7 to power the clocks and lights on stuff like wireless speakers, cable boxes, DVD players, etc. Definitely make sure lights including porch lights are turned off first thing in the morning.
I have cancelled my XM radio subscription which took about 1 week to adjust to. I take my water to work with me and usually an apple or two for snacks before lunch. This month, we are going to a less extravagant cable package since we don't really even watch 90% of the channnels now. Line by line, tighten up these things.

Big stuff now. To free up some cash for my friends who are homeowners, right now is the best time since maybe 2002 to refinance your home. Interest rates are near 4.75% for a 15 year mortgage. Consider this ONLY if you plan to STAY in your home long enough to recoup the closing costs.(usually about $3000, the cost is added into financing so you don't have to come up with that much cash.) Rule of thumb is that it make dollar sense to refinance if you can get a .75% or better interest rate. We are talking FIXED rates. Stay away from variable rates. You can save over $100,000 over the life of your mortgage by going from 30 to 15 0r 20 years.
We are currently refinancing our house from 5.5% to 4.75%. We are reducing our term from 20 years to 15 years, taking $30,000 equity out of our home to become debt free (except house) and to do some projects to improve the place(new office in the garage, paint the deck, landscaping,etc.)
All this will cost us an extra $168 a month. We will be freeing up about $1000/mo cash that would normally go to debt payments. So think about equity in your home right now. It's a good time. Remember this is not free cash. This is a loan to yourself so if you pay off credit cards, cut them up, throw them away and close the accounts or you will be tempted to reuse the cards.
Call your trusted mortgage company and ask for a "good faith estimate". Tell them that you want to reduce your term or pull some equity out or both and you want their best fixed rate with "NO POINTS", this is the cost of a lower interest rate. They will be happy to work with you. My "good faith estimate" was emailed to me within 5 minutes.
Email or call me if you have any questions. Remember to be a good manager of your money. That's our responsibility to our Lord.
Savings are our servant...Debt is our master. Savings allows us to give and help our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Remember, God loves you and so do I. - BradCole