Tim.Brogdon.Net

If your like me and trying to cut costs in every corner, this is probably for you. Or if your a green freak trying to save the environment, this post is probably for you as well.

I recently found this website when trying to find a way to save money. It provides a number of water saving devices and they are all quick and easy to install. I just purchased the toilet tank bank, Tankee Clipper, .5gpm and 1.0gpm Faucet Aerators. I was able to install all in less then 30 minutes. The Tankee Clipper actually has caused my toilet to fill faster, which was a major plus. The website is USA Landlord, I’m not sure why a land lord would be interested in these products, but they are GREAT for home owners. Take note, you can buy the individual items for about half the price of there Kits. All of these items are very cheap as well, which makes saving money feasible. You may want to check with your local water department as they may be providing free kits, I know ours was, but I missed out on the deal.

Some other more expensive options would be, instant water heater replacement (check with your gas/electric company and local government as they may have discounts for switching.) Purchase or build your own rain water barrel, great if you have gutters, not so good if your like me and don’t have gutters on your house.

Some more extreme options, but a great way to save water usage…

a) Keep a bucket in the shower, use it to catch the shower water that runs before it heats up, use this water to fill your cat/dog bowl or to water your garden/grass.

b) Keep a bucket near the cat/dog bowl, empy the remaining water from the bowl into the bucket before re-filling. Use the bucket water to water your garden/grass.

c) Use the shower for no more than 15 minutes for best water savings.

d) Fill the bathtub halfway with water, instead of over filling.

e) turn the faucet off anytime your not actually using the water, during dish washing and brushing teeth, etc.

There are a number of ways to save on Grocery bills, most people do not take advantage of it, because it can be time consuming.  But if you spend about an hour a week, you can probably save about $50 a week on your grocery bill.  The last time we went shopping, we spent about $300 and saved about $75.  I’d say that’s a pretty good chunk of change.

1) Use your local news paper and mailer ads (most people know this one, but few use it, you can save a significant amount of money clipping coupons.)

2) Use the internet…

a) Browse to your favorite vendors website and look for coupons (you may have to wait for the coupons to be mailed to you, which can take a couple of months, but is usually worth the wait, most are moving to instant print systems.)

b) Browse to your local grocery store website, Kroger has a large number of links to coupons and coupon saving websites including P&G E-saver and Shortcuts.  Both have the ability to post the coupons directly to your Savings card.  (Be aware, there is a limit to how many coupons you can store at once on your Saver’s card, I think Kroger is 20 total.  Once you add them, you can’t delete them, you have to wait for them to expire.  So don’t just add every coupon, like I tried to do.)
c) Savings Card, if you don’t have one, get one.  If your concerned about privacy, don’t give out the information your consurned about.  Check out the grocery store website for special deals with the savings card, one example of this is the Kroger Baby Club.  I get $10 off my order for every 200 baby club points, not a lot of money, but every little bit helps.

d) Use Coupon websites, there are a large number of coupon websites showing up these days.  Take advantage of them, they can save you a lot of trouble and money.

e) Compare coupon savings price over store brand items.  You will most likely find that store items are cheaper, even after the coupon discount.  Always compare brands.  Sometimes you just have to have a specific item, I know because we are that way, in which case the coupon deal may be better simply because you will not eat the store brand, but if your not a picky eater or find the store brand just as good, then make sure to check the prices.
More Extreme Options…
a) Angel Food Ministries - This service is actually for ANYONE, the more that sign up the better, so even if your doing great financially, this is a great way to help out others while saving a significant amount of money.  There are a number of distribution sites around the US, the cost is $25.00 for what equates to about a weeks worth of food.  All you have to do is sign up, and then pickup your food on the designated Saturday each month.

b) Check with your local DFACS office for food stamps or other support services.  There are a large number of government services, don’t be affaid to use them.

c) Check with local Churchs, most of them have some type of support system, either financial aid or local food distribution centers.  Once again, don’t be afraid to ask, everyone needs help at some point.

This seems to be a major issue with Sonicwall Firewalls as well as some other Routers (Linksys, Netgear, and others.)  This is a known issue, the simple fix, would be for MS to change the DHCP Client to work the way it always has, unfortunately they will not.  So all the hardware manufacturers have to go back and fix their firmware.

The first step should be to check with your hardware vendor to see if you have the latest firmware installed on your hardware; most of them are starting to fix it.  There are still a few hard-headed vendors like Sonicwall that insist that MS should fix it.

If you’re stuck with the hard-headed vendor or still can’t get a good firmware follow the below steps to disable Vista’s new DHCP configuration…

(Visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233 for the MS version)

1) Go to Start| Run or use the search bar
2) Enter regedit Select Ok or press enter
3) Browse to  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{GUID}

NOTE: The GUID is the hard part, you’ll have to figure out which is your LAN/WLAN device by finding the IP address that matches under each GUID, or you can add the below to each one, although, this could cause problems, I have tried it and have not had any, but no guarantees.

4) Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value
5) Name it DhcpConnEnableBcastFlagToggle
6) Enter the value of 1

Test DHCP if still an issue add the below on the same location in the registry…

1) Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value
2) Name it DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag
3) Set the Value to 0