The Green Frugal

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How to Save Money on Electricity

Looking at the electric bill at the end of the month can be quite a shock, particularly during seasons of extreme temperatures.  Luckily, if you follow these tips on how to save money on electricity, you can significantly cut that bill. Plus, by saving energy you will reduce your impact on the environment.

Image credit: lemasney, Flickr.com

Tip #1 – Turn off the lights

It’s very easy to forget to turn off the lights, but remembering to do so can create big energy savings in the long run. If you are in a room that does not get much traffic such as the kitchen or bathroom be sure to turn off the lights whenever you leave the room. It may take some time to get used to doing this, but after awhile it will become second nature. If you are still having trouble remembering, consider installing lighting occupancy sensors. Worried that turning on and off the lights too quickly wastes electricity and wears out light bulbs? The MythBusters buststed that myth!

 Tip #2 – Check the energy savings settings on your computer and monitor

Using screen savers help save energy, right? Actually, not at all. It is much better to have your monitor automatically turn off after a certain period of time (I have mine set for 10 minutes).

You can save even more energy by letting your computer hibernate when it is inactive. Hibernation mode uses up virtually no energy and you do not have to go through the entire start-up process again. EnergyStar estimates that you can save up to $350 dollars over the life of your computer (4 years) by smartly managing the power settings on your computer.

Tip #3 – Make your dryer more efficient

When you move your clothes from the washer into the dryer, most people simply bunch them up together in a wet lump and toss those clothes into the dryer. However, if you untangle your clothes and separate them before you throw them in the dryer, they will be dried more efficiently and you will save money on electricity.

Tip #4 – Off-peak hours

Contact your electric company and see if they have off-peak hours. During off-peak hours, the cost of electricity is reduced. Electricity is generally less expensive late at night, early in the morning and on weekends, so it is cheaper to run the dishwasher and washing machines during these times. How much you will save will vary depending on your location, but here in Oregon off-peak rates are 66% less than of on-peak rates.

Image credit: Mick Wright, Flickr.com

Tips #5 – Check that thermostat 

Even a one degree change makes a big difference. Turning the thermostat down (or up during the summer) when you are out of the house will help you save money on electricity without sacrificing comfort. By following EnergyStar guidelines you can save $180 annually on your heating and cooling costs.

We hope you found these tips on how to save money on electricity helpful. You can realize big savings just by making small changes to your daily routine and habits. Are there any other methods that you use to save money on electricity?

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Free Textbook Buyback Android App

We are proud to introduce the official Cash4Books.net Textbook Buyback Android App. Selling textbooks has never been easier:

• Scan textbook barcodes using your phone’s camera. No barcode? No problem! Simply use the custom keypad to manually enter the ISBN.
• Receive instant price quotes on textbooks that we are currently purchasing. We also buy non-textbooks including fiction, non-fiction, hardcovers and paperbacks.
• The app will store your list of books.
• Checkout within the app.
• Print your emailed packing slip and free shipping labels. No printer? Contact us and we will send you shipping labels.
• Ship your books, then get paid.

Download the app today

Click or scan the QR code to go to the Google Android Marketplace to download the app:   You can also download the app by opening up the Google Android Market on your phone and searching the the term “cash4books”.

Eight reasons why you will love our app!

Here are eight reasons to download the Cash4Books Textbook Buyback App:

1. The app is 100% free!
2. Scan textbook barcodes with your phone’s camera (no special barcode scanner hardware required). The high-quality barcode scanner will even work on phones that do not have auto-focus cameras.
3. Textbook buyback has never been easier; get price quotes from anywhere you have mobile service.
4. Auto-Add mode allows you to scan books continuously. In our testing, 15 books could be scanned in under a minute.
5. The keypad has a “978″ button for ISBN-13s and an “X” button that is necessary for certain types of ISBN-10s.
6. Save yourself time and energy by taking your Android to your bookshelf instead of having to to lug your books to your computer.
7. We offer textbook buyback services year-round. You don’t need to wait until finals week to sell textbooks.
8. The app has a built-in help screen to provide you with answers to your questions about scanning and selling textbooks.

Do you have an iPhone? We also have an iPhone Book Barcode Scanner app!

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Money Saving Android Apps

Before we showcase some exciting money saving Android apps, we want to announce that the official Cash4Books Android app will be released on October 19! The app will have a built-in barcode scanner, allowing you to quickly and accurately receive instant price quotes. And since the app is 100% free, you can actually make money using your Android.

Coming soon! The official Cash4Books.net free Android app.

Now, without further ado here are some of our favorite money saving Android apps!

#1 – Google Shopper

Have you ever had that feeling while you were out shopping that you could get the same product for a little less somewhere else? Wonder no more, thanks to Google Shopper. This money saving app recognizes products by voice, text, barcode scanning, and even by picture! It lets you search online for a better price and read product reviews. Next time you buy a product, you’ll know you’re saving money.

#2 – ShopSavvy

With ShopSavvy you’re always going to get the best price on products you buy. While saving 50 cents on one item may not make a huge difference, think about how the savings add up for 10 products. Now think about the savings for 50 products? I’ll leave the math to the experts, but you can see how eventually these small savings add up over time into big savings.

#3 – CardStar

How many times have you stood in line at the grocery store only to realize that you forgot your rewards card? Suddenly that 36-pack of toilet paper that was on sale doesn’t seem like such a great deal. With CardStar you can enter membership and reward card information for Blockbuster, CVS, Best Buy and many other large retail stores. Once you enter your cards into the app, the store can scan your membership information directly from your phone. You’ll no longer have to carry around all those cards and you’ll never end up with overpriced toilet paper again!

#4 – Mileage

We all know too well about the recent spike in gas prices. Mileage is a great money saving Android app that tracks your gas usage and miles driven. The more aware you are of how much you gas you use, the more likely you will try to cut back on unnecessary car trips. As a bonus, you’ll also lessen your impact on the environment.

#5 – Skype

If you ever made an international phone call, you know how expensive it can be. Fortunately with Skype, calling is free when you call Skype-to-Skype. Furthermore, fees are much lower than those of your standard provider if you call an international landline or cell phone.

Now that we posted some of our favorite money saving Android apps, we want to know about a few that we may not have discovered yet. Do you have any particular apps that you use to save money?

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Cash4Books Employees Volunteer Event with The Tualatin Riverkeepers

On Saturday, September 23 more than 20 Cash4Books employees, friends and family members helped the Tualatin Rivekeepers clean the waters and banks of the Tualatin River. This was our second year participating in a cleanup event on the Tualatin and we were more than happy to help out again this year!

Although the day started out foggy and overcast, the instant we hit the water the clouds parted and the sun shone down upon us. Which was a very good thing, as the large amount of rain we received this year made the water of the Tualatin the color of dark chocolate milk. Without that sun illuminating the murky depths of the river we never would have seen the shopping carts, lounge chairs, couches, the back seat of a car, a teddy bear, an exercise ball, a sawhorse, etc.

As you can see from this photo, there was plenty for us to do. And this is only from about a mile stretch of a river that runs 83 miles!

We want to thank The Tualtin Riverkeepers for their efforts in keeping the river clean and usable for all forms of life (including humans!). We are happy to support them, and if you live in the area we highly recommend you head over to their website to check out and support their current projects.  If you don’t live near the Tualatin, there’s no need to feel left out; there is probably a river near you that needs help too!

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Hi Everyone,

We have an exciting new feature on Cash4Books.net that enables you, our customers, to make even more money! We understand how it can sometimes be confusing to know exactly which books we are buying at the moment. And nobody wants to enter a bunch of ISBNs only to discover that most of them are unable to be purchased. So in order to reduce the chance of that happening, the Mountain Dew and Cheetoh stained nerds in our IT department were instructed to make Cash4Books easier to use. And frankly, I am impressed with their improvement.

Cash4Books.net is proud to introduce Cash4Books Suggestions!

Whenever an ISBN or a group of ISBNs is entered into our site, we analyze the entered book(s), find related titles, and suggest them to you. Here is an example:

Let’s say that you just finished reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and you wanted to sell it to Cash4Books. You go to Cash4Books.net and type 9781401323257 into the box on the homepage. You click “Price My Books” and are taken to the results page. If you look right under the results you will see a new box that looks a lot like this:

These are books that our computers predict you are most likely to have and that we are currently buying. To make it even easier on you, if you happen to have one of these books all you have to do is type in the last four digits of that book to add it to your buyback cart. Pretty sweet, huh?

Now let’s say you are in college and are studying American History. You go to Cash4Books and type in the ISBN off of the back of one of your textbooks that you would like to sell back. You click “Price My Books” and under the pricing results you’ll see a box that looks a lot like this one:

Amazingly, the computer predicted three books that you are likely to own. And again, you only have to type in the last four digits of each book to add it to your cart.

We hope that everyone finds this new feature as fun and helpful as we do. Be sure to check it out on your next order and see if we’re able to predict some of the books on your shelf.