People always talk about keeping up with the Joneses in a bad way, but a recent article in USA Today made me realize there are ways to keep up with the Joneses that are not only good for your pocketbook but good for the environment as well.
According to the article there are now over 1 million household in the United States who receive reports on the energy consumption of their neighbors. The utilities utilizing the reports have seen a a 2-3% decrease in energy consumption where the reports are being utilized. Some people are complaining about an invasion of privacy but the reports are generalized to give you an idea of what others around you are consuming.
Being a suburban dad it doesn’t surprise me that this reporting method actually results in the reduction of energy consumption and being “green.” By providing a report showing you are less frugal and consuming more than your neighbors people are not so subtly encouraged to reduce their own consumption.
Some of the utilities had even started using smily or frowny faces to show how certain households ranked amongst their neighbors. Other utilities were rating homes as average, above, or below average. It turns out people really didn’t like having a big fat frowny faces telling them they sucked at conserving energy, in both instances the utilities stopped “rating” consumption.
I personally think this is a pretty good way to make people not only more aware of how much energy they are using but to also encourage them to reduce their energy usage. If the guy who keeps his house at 72 in the winter and 68 in the summer saw what he was paying compared to his neighbors it would make a pretty big difference, I know it would to me.
Readers:
Do you currently get one of these reports? Has it helped you to reduce your consumption?
What if we took this idea and expanded it into other areas like garbage and recycling?
About the time you are reading this post I should be gearing up for my first ever snowboarding lesson. If I end up in a position like the guy in that picture then I am most likely falling down the mountain and coming home with some casts on. I am super stoked about learning something new, well probably more stoked about a kid free vacation and eating at some new places but still excited. Only thing I am afraid of is liking it too much. The costs of going to decent mountain and boarding aren’t exactly what one would classify as a frugal vacation. I plan on having a blast, while I am doing that you guys/gals can check out this weeks Friday Finance Followers Posts:
@KateAshford brings the concept of marrying for health insurance to our minds. I had heard of marrying for citizenship, marrying for money, and of course marrying for love, but this was a new one to me. I understand the ladies situation but I agree with Kate’s points. If she would put the same effort into finding a job with benefits that will be OK with her ailment she wouldn’t have to sell herself into wedlock.
@EverydayFinance asks how much you could cut your budget if you were to get laid off. This is one of those thing I have actually thought about. When you look at your emergency fund it should be adequate to cover the ESSENTIALS. That means ditching everything that isn’t necessary to keep yourself afloat. Great list of how much that could save you.
@RJWeiss explains the wealth effect and why you should be wary of it. I had never really thought of it as a true blue phenomenon but I guess it is. In case you guys missed this housing bubble bursting, home equity != cash. I don’t even spend more when my income increases let alone if by some miracle my home value went in a positive direction.
@EvolutionWealth explains life insurance banding. I had no idea this kind of thing actually goes on but it makes a little bit of sense. Kind of scary that you could possibly have gotten 100k of life insurance coverage cheaper than you got your 87k policy for.
@MoneyEnergy tells us what to expect from the stock markets for February. Personally I don’t take a lot of stock in predictions on stocks. But she makes some good points that I can’t really argue with. I think the idea is to be generally specific about generalities when talking about future possibilities in the markets. No matter, it is still good to soak up as much perspective as you can.
Usually I see bloggers posting questions from their readers about what they should do in certain situations. No one asks me any questions so I thought I would lay my own dilemma out there for you. My wife and I own two cars both of the are paid in full. I love the fact that I have the title to both of these cars and aside from fuel and maintenance they don’t cost me anything. I know a lot of people who wish they didn’t have a car payment and let me tell you I love the hell out of it.
Recently my wife has decided it is time for her to pick up a new car, the old one is just old to her now. Not only does she want a new car but she wants a 2007 or newer Black Chevy Tahoe. I don’t know if you have ever priced out a Tahoe before but a 2007 with decent miles costs at least $10k more than we paid for either one of the cars we own now. I attempted to explain how ludicrous it is to even consider such a thing as buying a new car, “why the hell do you want a new car the one you have is fine, I won’t have it PERIOD.”
For those of you married men out there, telling your wife she can’t do something is the equivalent of punching them in the face with a brick in your hand, they don’t like it. I still haven’t completed recovered from this little misstep although she did soften her resolve for a few months. We had discussed the option of a car swap, where I take her car and she takes mine. That way the cars are new, to us anyway. To me this was the best solution to the problem and one I embraced wholly. The only things I need to take care of are some new tires and window tint which I have been dragging on but plan to take care of soon.
Thinking that was the end of it I forgot about the dilemma entirely, until recently. I have caught my wife once again perusing the ranks of CarMax in search of the perfect used Tahoe with the occasional “Oh, look at this one Kyle it is only $36k.” Which usually results in me coughing and choking on my beer.
The way I see it is that I am failing to adequately support my desire for not wanting another car payment, these are the facts I think lean most towards us not purchasing, with a loan, a new car:
Both Cars are in good working condition
Out of the two of us working I am the only one contributing to a retirement account
With two children we are saving $0 per month for higher education
Student loan has not been paid off
Second mortgage has not been paid off
My wife really wants a new car, and I don’t want her to be unhappy I just don’t think it is the best thing for us financially right now. The fact that this hasn’t been worked out yet is probably 90% my fault for failing to communicate adequately. What would you do in this situation? What should I do?
No bashing my old lady, she is entitled to her wants just like anyone else, help us out an weigh in on the problem.
Oh, isn’t the little baby so cute… oh wait this is a website. It feels like my third baby though and today it turns one and just like a baby I think it is just now starting to walk from it’s previous crawling pace. From what I hear it is a pretty big deal [...]
I can’t believe another month has already passed us by. Time flies it seems these days, between my day job, two kids, and this blog I don’t really find myself wondering what to do with my free time anymore. Financially the close out to January hurt pretty bad, it just hasn’t been a good month [...]
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