Five Ways to Save Money in 2012

• To start out the new year on the best foot financially here are five things that you can do to keep more of your money.

Thunder Bay through either Thunder Bay Hydro or Ontario Hydro Hydro One is now using the Smart Meters for charging clients for their use of power. The new pricing is based on "Time of Use."  An easy way to save some of the money you would otherwise be using for your electricity costs is to Plan when to use your electricity. Planning "Time of Use" will benefit all of us especially since using power in the peak times is going to increase your costs for your normal everyday usage unless you plan to do some of the tasks and chores differently.

Some of the things you can do to save money are:

• Put your dishwasher through at night before you go to bed when the electricity costs are cheaper rather than running it in the morning or throughout the day. Unless it is on the weekend, then you can run it whenever you want as the costs are cheaper.
• Don't use the dishwasher unless it is a full load.
• For smaller amounts of dishes handwashing can be done.
• Do your laundry washing and drying on the weekend when rates are cheaper or after 7:00 p.m. in the evening.
• If you do meal planning you could cook most of your meals on the weekend and warm them up during the week in the microwave which hopefully would use less power during the peak times when it is the most expensive.

To find out what the rates are in your area go to Thunder Bay Hydro at www.tbhydro.on.ca  and/or Ontario Hydro at www.hydroone.com

When was the last time you looked at your telephone contracts for your cell phones, I-phones, smartphones, etc.? Are you using the products that you have purchased like Voice mail, caller id, data packs, etc. Could some of these packages be reduced or increased for better pricing. Talk to your provider they can be very helpful in ensuring that you are being charged for what you really need. They can also make suggestions so that you can get the biggest bang for your buck by changing packages.

Do you have a home phone as well as a cell phone. Do you really need both. Most young people today only use their cell phones and don't even have land lines in their homes.

Have you bundled your telephone, cable and internet so that your costs are as low as they can be?

These are just a few suggestions to help you keep more of your money. I'm sure you can think of many others. Please email me with your suggestions at tbaytel%23net|adbernst