The other day I was poking around in Quicken when I decided to tally up the amount of money we’ve spent in various categories. We now have ten full years worth of data in Quicken, so it really gives a sense for the extent to which small things can add up. One thing (of many) that stood out to me is that we’ve spent an average of $141/month on utilities (gas, water, electric) during that period (it was much lower early on, and considerably higher more recently). That doesn’t sound like a huge amount, but consider this… Over a ten year period that works out to roughly $17k — that’s a pretty nice chunk of change.

Anyway, all of this got me to thinking about simple things that people can do to cut their utility expenditures without impacting their comfort level. I’m talking here about ’set-and-forget’ modifications that you put in place once, and then reap the benefits forevermore. What follows is a list of simple suggestions. Some of these are common sense, others are perhaps less obvious. And looking beyond the financial savings, a number of these tricks will improve the comfort of your home, and nearly all of them are also good for the environment. [more]

Whether you’re dabbling in self-employment, or you run your own full-blown business, here’s a good example of why you might want to dissociate your business address from your home address… A process server showed up on our doorstep on a Sunday morning awhile back. What a nice Sunday surprise! No, they didn’t show up looking to serve papers on my wife or me. Rather, they were looking for the guy that used to own our house. As it turns out, he’s a home builder, and someone is suing him. While his business partner was listed as the registered agent, they ended up using his (our!) address as the physical address of their business. While we got a good laugh out of this, it certainly reinforced the idea of using a P.O. Box for business-related mail, and also using something besides your house as the physical address of your business whenever possible.

Just a quick word of warning to those of you out there that have taken advantage of the signup bonuses for AmEx Business credit cards. Awhile back, I applied for a Business Gold Rewards Card, which was offering $150 in rewards for just signing up and making a purchase with the card (a $100 credit statement plus reward 5,000 points). [more]

Good morning and welcome to the 85th Carnival of Personal Finance! Before we get started, I’d like to say a few words of introduction. First of all, if you’re new to FiveCentNickel then welcome! If not, then welcome back!

This site is nearly two years old, and the archives contain a virtual treasure-trove of personal finance information. Feel free to poke around and explore. You might also be interested in subscribing to the site feed (via RSS or e-mail). It’s a full-text feed, so you’ll get every word that I write delivered to your doorstep free of charge. In case you don’t know, my wife and I also run a joint parenting weblog called Raising4Boys. As with FiveCentNickel, we offer a full text feed via either RSS or e-mail.

Anyway, lets get to the Carnival. As usual, we received a lot of entries this week. Most were appropriate, but some were not. I decided to enforce the submission guidelines a little more stringently this week, so… If I happened to notice that your submission has previously been included in another Carnival, I kicked it out. And if I happen to notice that it’s in another Carnival later this week, then I may go back and remove it. Likewise, if it was over two weeks old (or lacked a date), off-topic (in my opinion), or just plain spammy, then it didn’t make the cut. And if you didn’t submit by the deadline… Well, sorry.

With that said, I’ve picked out a smattering of “Editor’s Choice” posts that caught my eye. After that, I’ve listed all other submissions that met the Carnival criteria. There are 57 58 articles in all (I left one out by accident — be sure to click through and read the last article at the very end of the Carnival to make up for my oversight!).

» Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity leads us off with A Historical Look at Tax Brackets. If you think you’re paying to much in taxes right now, take a look at how bad things have been in the past!

» Andy from Money Walks put together a nice primer on mutual funds called Mutual Funds 101.

» Lou Keeble from Stranger in a Strange Land put together an interesting critique of the Motley Fool investing strategy (and their reported returns) called A Fool and His Money… .

» Pete from My Financial Awareness has some deep thoughts for you about accepting your lot in life. His article is called Acceptance of Your Financial Situation Can Be Freeing.

» Dan Melson from Searchlight Crusade has an insightful piece called What to Do When Your Loan is Declined. If you’re thinking of buying a house, you should check it out. Actually, check out all of Dan’s writings — they offer a boatload of valuable insight.

» My Financial Journey put together an amusing piece on the odds of winning the lottery called Get Rich!! Play the Lottery!! Somebody has to win!!. Check it out. It’s good for a chuckle.

» Blunt Money ran a detailed Quicken report on spending based on twelve years of data. The resulting post is called That’s a Lot of Money. I picked this one for the idea more than the article itself… It’s really interesting (and a little scary) to dig back through your old data to see where your money went.

» The Stubborn Capitalist has a an entertaining little guide to help you recognize the difference between frugality and just being cheap. Be sure to go check out Frugal vs. Cheap.

» NCN from the No Credit Needed Blog put together a nice piece on goal-setting called Creating a Personal Finance Goal.

Next up are the balance of the submissions in all their cut-and-paste glory. Some are great, and just missed inclusion as an “Editor’s Choice.” Others are good, solid contributions. And the rest? Well… You’ll have to be the judge on that… [more]

• Sorry, Your Tax Refund has Been Delayed
  “Several deductions that Congress renewed at the last minute won’t be mentioned on this year’s tax forms. For taxpayers, that may mean extra work and delays in their checks from the IRS.”
  (tags: taxes irs)
• Senate targets credit card practices - Jan. 26, 2007
  “In a Senate Banking Committee hearing examining credit card practices this week, one consumer advocate suggested those who pay their balances in full every month should pay a small annual fee to credit card companies.”
  (tags: credit debt)

I just received an e-mail from HSBC Direct describing a new promotion in which they’re paying 6.00% APY for new deposits through April 30th. Here’s the text of their e-mail:

Until April 30, your HSBC Direct Online Savings Account gives New Money 6.00% APY. So if you have money elsewhere, it’s time to move it. You’ll maximize your savings and reach your goals and dreams faster.

During the New Money promotion, deposits from outside of HSBC earn a market-leading 6.00% APY. That’s 11 times what traditional savings accounts offer. And checking accounts obviously can’t compare.

You’ll earn up to $150 in just 3 months on every $10,000 of New Money deposited. And, with compounding interest, your savings will continue to grow even after the promotion.

There’s no reason to have your cash lying around anywhere else. Log on to move your money into your HSBC Direct account now, and earn 6.00% APY for as many days as you can until April 30.

Your HSBC Direct Customer Service Team

Existing funds will continue to earn 5.05% APY. I would assume that they’re figuring your “New Money” based on the net of your withdrawals and deposits, such that you can’t simply transfer your money out and then back in. If not, you might be able to goose up the rate on funds that are currently in place. Then again, you’d lose about a week’s worth of interest on the round-trip transfer.

Here’s a quick look at my favorite posts from one year ago this past week:

» The MoneyBlogNetwork (It’s been a year!)

» How to Build a CD Ladder

» Scammed out of $15k

» Kill-a-Watt

» Using Retirement Funds to Pay for College

And this is what was happening over at Raising4Boys over the same period:

» Weaning and Worrying

» Button Cell Batteries (More recently: Button Cell Battery Safety)

» Through the Eyes of a Child

» Phone Number for a Five Year Old

» Eight Year Old Attitude

Here’s a quick look at some articles that caught my eye over the past week: [more]

Based on the results of my highly scientific poll, I can now predict that the stock market will be either up or down during the next year… We now have over 100 votes, and that Indianapolis Colts hold a 58% to 42% lead over the Chicago Bears.

Just to re-cap the point of this poll, the ‘Super Bowl Indicator’ hold that whenever a team from the old AFL (now the AFC) wins the Super Bowl, the stock market will experience a down year. But when the winner comes from the old NFL (now the NFC), we’ll have a bull market. The problem with this year’s Super Bowl is that the AFC representative (Indianapolis) hails from the old NFL, as does the NFC representative (Chicago). So now we’re left to wonder if this is a win-win or a lose-lose matchup (either way, one team from the old NFL will win and another will lose). Hmmm… Here’s the deal:

I can now predict with confidence that the market will be up or down this year!

If you haven’t had a chance to participate, hop on over to the Super Bowl prediction poll and register your vote. We still have a little more than a week until the big game.

FiveCentNickel participated in three carnivals this week. Here they are along with links to my posts that were included in each…

The Carnival of Personal Finance included “0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Arbitrage in Action.”

The Best of Me Symphony included “Reward Credit Cards - What’s in My Wallet?” Also included was “Dealing With a Finicky Four Year Old Eater” from raising4boys.com.

The Carnival of the Capitalists included “Don’t Miss These Tax Deductions.”