Every year around this time, my electricity supplier sends me a notice about renewing our electricity supply agreement. Last year, I ignored it because the pricing was competitive and it automatically renews for a year. While we’ve only been using Washington Gas Energy Services for two years, I thought I’d take a closer look this year to make sure we’re still getting a good price.

The electricity supply agreement sets a flat annual kWh price on electricity supply of 10.8¢. In pricing electricity, usually there is a summer price and a winter price, with the summer price being higher in our area. With this agreement, it would be a flat rate throughout the year. To give you an idea of energy use, we typically use more energy in the winter than we do in the summer (about 1,000 kWh per month in the winter, 600 in the summer).

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Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted 416 to 0 to pass the Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009 which extends the current $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit for another 12 months for members of the military, Foreign Service, and intelligence corp who served at least three months of qualified overseas duty in 2009. The program is set to expire on November 30th, 2009 for everyone else and the justification for the extension makes sense. If you’ve been serving abroad for our country, it makes it very difficult for you to look for a house and take advantage of the program. Extending it another year certainly makes sense.

At the moment the bill has passed only the House of Representatives, it or a similar bill needs to pass the Senate, then reconciled, then signed by the President before it is law.

“If you are in a conflict zone, you don’t have time to get together with your spouse and family to go house shopping,” says Rep. Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat. Rep. Dave Camp, a Republican from Michigan, expressed similar concerns. “A lot of service members get called overseas at a moment’s notice,” Camp says. “And because of the time limit on the legislation now, they can’t always take advantage of it, not because of anything that they did or didn’t do but because of the unique nature of serving in our armed forces.”

It’s estimated that this will result in an additional 10,000 home sales, likely clustered around military facilities, at no extra cost. It’s revenue neutral because there are other revenue generating provisions included in the bill. The Senate received the bill yesterday and is set to vote on it fairly quickly.

As for the original credit set to expire on November 30th, there are discussions about extending the credit an additional six months.

House Votes to Extend First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit for Service Members [U.S. News & World Report]

Greenwashing in the newest term around the green shopping aisle and it refers to the marketing practice by companies who are creating products and hoping that you think they are eco-friendly and healthier for you simply because they look “green”. This can include the simple addition of the word “natural,” which is currently not defined or regulated by the FDA. This sneaky marketing practice is certainly not in the best interest of the consumer, but it’s not illegal. It’s just dirty and not very ethical or honest. The best way to learn about a product is to look past the wildflowers and butterflies fluttering on the box and to actually read the label of everything you purchase. This will help you avoid common dangerous ingredients and learn more about what you are bringing into your home.

Now, if you’re looking looking for ideas to be green while washing around the kitchen, here are some ideas you consider:
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As the world of green cleaning grows, the shelves are being lined with products that claim to be natural and eco-friendly. Some companies are actually taking the time to research and utilize natural plant-derived ingredients and use recycled and bio-degradable bottles. For the rest, the term green-washing comes to mind as the best way to describe their new cleaning products. Just creating a beautiful label with wild flowers and leaves does not mean the product is natural. Just as with food and skin-care the best way to know if a product is green is to read the label. Watch for my next post on a list of cleaning products I am currently reviewing to see which are truly eco-friendly, safe-to-use and work!

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We bought our first and only home four years ago, about a year away from the peak of the market in our area, and we saw some atrocious houses along the way. It was a hot housing market back then, so perhaps some of the horribleness we saw is excusable, but with the market today there’s no excuse for being lazy.

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For those who have been following our exploits in gardening, you may recall that we put our plants in pots and leave them on our deck. This ensures they get the maximum amount of sun. There is a downside to our strategy, the spigot for the hose that sits on our deck is on the ground floor. To water our plants, we have to go down downstairs, turn on the spigot, walk up stairs, water the plants, then go back downstairs to turn off the spigot. Unfortunately we can’t get downstairs directly from the deck, we have to go back into the house, and through the carpeted basement.

At first, this sounds like not a big deal right? How lazy could I be?

It’s not that big of a deal but that, coupled with my growing appreciation for being as ecofriendly as possible, has turned me onto the idea of rain barrels. Why pay for water when I could be catching what falls for free from the sky? So, I started researching rain barrels and the first thing I learned was that they are expensive!

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With mortgages once again at historic lows, I’ve once again considered refinancing our mortgage. A few months ago we weren’t sure how long we’d be living in our current home and so we put off refinancing, despite rates being as low as 4.75% APR. Fortune has smiled on us and rates have once again come close to those lows and I’m taking another look.

Mortgage refinancing, much like buying a home, can sometimes be a scary process because it involves what usually is the largest asset you have. That’s the case for us, our home is our more valuable physical financial asset by far, and so any decision involve something of that magnitude can be a little scary.

Fortunately, mortgages aren’t quite that complicated and there is a wealth of resources available to help you compare different offers.

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Every year, Remodeling Magazine publishes a list of home projects, their estimated costs, their resale values, and how much you can expect to recoup whenever you sell your home. I wouldn’t use the list to decide which home remodeling projects to start but if you have two you like equally, their information might present the tipping point.

I looked at Remodeling’s Best Home Renovations list in 2007 (and in 2006) when the housing boom was still happening. Now that we’re in a recession and the value of homes falling, how does the list compare?

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JD shared a story last week about how their winter heating bill increased 50% compared to last year. Unfortunately for him, the increase wasn’t large enough to raise any red flags. He only did a post-mortem calculation but in looking back he saw energy use had increased 30% and the cost has only increased 50%.

He says it was a “lot more energy” but if it were me, I wouldn’t have noticed even if I was checking my bills as it was happening. I would’ve attributed the increase in energy costs to fuel being more expensive and it being a colder winter. I know I wouldn’t have noticed. That being said, higher than average bills are usually a sign that something is wrong.

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You probably already know that tackling home improvement projects on your own (or with some friends) is one of the best ways to build equity in your home. Skilled construction and remodeling labor commands a premium price in the U.S. By doing it yourself, you save the cost of that labor; plus you get the added satisfaction of showing off your improvements to your friends.

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