One kind word can warm three winter months. ~Japanese Proverb

This morning I woke up to the first real snow that we've had here in Indianapolis. This prompted me to add a project this week for my to-do list- purchase and install a programmable thermostat. I constantly talk to my clients about how great they are for saving money on utilities, but I don't even have on in my own home! (Shame on me, I'm always recommending things for my clients to do to their home, things I have not done yet. Hey, it's like a doctor who smokes or doesn't exercise). This is a great thing to do if you have an older home, with an outdated thermostat because you can have pre-programmed settings for the temperature in your home. The Energy Star website has some extra info about this and suggestions on how to program them.

Anyway, I found this handy do-it-yourself video from This Old House's website. Now I just need to narrow down which one I would like to purchase. My house is smaller, a little over 1400 sq ft, so I don't need anything fancy. My work schedule usually is seven days a week, with Saturday and Sunday being a little lighter. So, I'm interested in the 5+2 day models (programmable for weekday and weekend). It seems like these are ranging between $30-$40. The small price of that (plus asking nicely for my dad to come over and help with installation) will be well worth the potential savings this coming winter... especially since I have older windows that will eventually need to be replaced (that's a whole nother post).

My true love gave to me...

All the recent talk of the 'down economy' isn't just talk anymore. Everyone from low to high income families are feeling it now. The guy sitting next to you just got laid off and college kids home for the holidays are having problems finding part time jobs. Maybe you're not going out to eat as much or now you're going to a beauty school to get your hair cut. No matter who you are, we all should try and find ways to save money. Funny thing is this is how it "used to be" and we have recently just become a materialistic society, putting everything on credit.

Anyway, I digress. The real point of this post is to talk about some fun, FREE things you can do with your family this winter. Indy.org put together this great list of the Twelve Free Days of Christmas. This is a list of 12 fun and free activities you can do together with your family before the Christmas season. There is everything in here from free admission to the Indy Motor Hall of Fame to even free admission to the Children's Museum.