AMVA - Amanda Moore Virtual Assistant

by Charlie Wildish

We are living in an age when energy prices are constantly going up and more and more people are struggling with debt management. Reducing your expenditure on the energy can be easily done with some simple measures. In isolation they will not seem very big, but when working in synergy with each other, they can make a substantial difference to your bank account.

Furthermore, many of the savings are achieved by finding ways to use less energy which in turn has a positive effect the environment. It may seem that on our own we can do little of value to protect the environment, but I am reminded of a story of a man who found hundreds of jelly fish stranded on the beach after the tide went out. The man started to pick up the jelly fish and put them back in the sea. A passer-by commented that the man was wasting his time as there were far too many jelly fish stranded for him to make a difference. As the man placed the next few jelly fish back in the water he replied, “made a difference for him . . . . made a difference to him . . . . made a difference to him”.

However small, we can all make a difference to the environment and the more of us that do so, the better off we will all be. So here are some simple top tips to save money on your fuel bill:

1. Always switch off lights in rooms that you are not using. Also, get yourself energy saving light bulbs. Although they are more expensive to buy, not only do they use less energy, but they last longer too saving you money in the long run.

2. Use a shower rather than a bath as a shower uses less hot water. That is of course unless you want to share a bath with a spouse (preferably your own).

3. Just turn your hot water thermostat down a few degrees. Most of us have our hot water set too hot to directly handle, so we need to mix in cold anyway. Turning down just a few degrees will hardly be noticed but will save money over time.

4. Use a plug in your sink when washing dishes or your hands and do not waste so much heated water.

5. Do not over fill your kettle. Only fill the kettle with the amount of water you need so as not to waste energy on heating water that will not be used.

6. Do not leave your electrical appliances on standby, always turn off at the mains. Even standby uses electricity which all adds up over a period of time.

7. One of the largest savings is made by good use of loft and wall insulation. Although it may take a bit of an outlay and some work to set it up, it only needs to be done once and will last indefinitely, keeping the warm air in and the cold air out.

8. Insulate your hot water tank. Although it can be used to warm an airing cupboard, a boiler will give our heat indiscriminately, regardless of whether that heat is being used.

9. When cooking, try to match the size of pots/pans to the size of the gas hob. Flame that goes up the side of the pan is a complete waste.

10. Cooking with a pressure cooker will reduce cooking time, hence the amount of energy required to cook with.

All of the above top tips are simple ways to save your money by reducing the fuel consumption, but not reducing your standard of living. Another means of reducing your expenditure (though not your consumption) is by looking at your energy supplier. There are many good deals to be found, especially on-line. However, don’t be too quick to necessarily jump for the cheapest deal at that time as you could find the price being jacked up later while you are still tied in for some time to come. The best option to look for should really contain two main conditions:

1. A long term guarantee to be amongst the cheapest suppliers of energy, not just the cheapest at this moment in time.

2. No tie in period.

The no tie in period is especially important, as it reflects the company’s confidence and commitment to sticking by its long term price guarantee. If they put their prices up high, they can lose their customers very quickly.

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Charlie Wildish has advised many consumers on how to save not only by energy comparison (UK only) but also on all of their home or business utility requirements.

By: Nell Taliercio

How would you like to hire someone that is more motivated and more qualified to do the work and costs you less than your average employee? No, I am not talking about hiring someone illegally. You can accomplish this simply by employing a telecommuter. Let’s take a look at 5 very good reasons, why it makes sense for you to consider telecommuting from an employer’s perspective.

1) Less Overhead
How much is all this office space, furniture, computer equipment along with your IT department to maintain them, utility bills etc. costing you? Telecommuters do not require any of the above, which will cut your overhead cost tremendously. Telecommuters use their own office, their own equipment from computers to paperclips; use their own power, phone and Internet connection. If their computer acts up, it’s up to them to get it up and running again.

2) Less Benefits To Pay
Most telecommuters are independent contractors. You do not have to provide for health care, workman’s compensation or paid vacation. Consider the tax benefits as well; there is no employer portion of federal and state tax to pay.

3) Hire Experts When Needed
Do you need someone to write the occasional press release and maybe come up with a revision to your brochure every once in a while? Instead of hiring someone fulltime as your marketing person, consider outsourcing the tasks to a freelance telecommuter. You will pay per project, or hire your freelancer for a few hours per month, instead of creating a marketing position. Freelancers give even small businesses the opportunity to hire an expert for almost any task.

4) On Demand Work
Do you expect a temporary increase in your workload, be it seasonal, or because you just landed a large project? Why not pick up a few telecommuters for the task instead of working with inexperienced temps, or hiring in-office personnel that you may not need three months down the road. Telecommuters combine the flexibility of temps with the on-the-job experience of permanent employees. You get the best of both worlds.

5) More Motivated Workers
Telecommuters have a very good reason why they want to work from home. Whether that reason is being able to stay home with the kids, a disability, or avoiding a long commute, being able to work from home makes them happy. As you well know, happy employees are more motivated, don’t count the minutes until they can leave the office and overall get more work done.

If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to give telecommuter a try the next time you need a highly motivated, experienced worker, but aren’t in a position to create a permanent onsite position. Once you have experienced all the benefits a telecommuter brings to your organization, you may even consider converting even more positions to telecommuting.

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About the author: Learn more about hiring and using telecommuters for your business at <a href=”http://www.telecommutingmoms.com” target=”_new”>http://www.telecommutingmoms.com</a>