Filtered water, power saver strips can save you money

If you’re looking to make little changes in what you do every day to save money, I want to share some suggestions I read about on Yahoo! Finance.

The article I saw led with an idea I’ve discussed very often: You can save money by drinking filtered water instead of bottled water. I’ve always heard that the typical person who regularly drinks bottled water can spend up to $1,400 a year on the stuff. By using filtered water — that is, taking tap water and filtering it — that’s money going back into your pocket.

There’s something else I talked about before that Yahoo! Finance also mentions. I’ve been ecstatic with these power strips I bought to deal with the problem of Dracula electronics draining energy when you think they’re off.

My strips came from a warehouse club and they override the sleep mode of any kind of electronics item to shut off the juice when the device goes idle for long enough. Each strip was $18 and I probably made that money back within 60 days. (Ask for “power saver power strips or sockets” at your favorite retailer to see what I’m talking about.)

So much of what we do in our lives we do by rote. We don’t realize how small financial nips and tucks can bring so much money back in our lives.

There is one area that Yahoo! Finance recommended that I’m not so sure about: At-home soft drink making machines. These kinds of systems promise savings of $700 per year vs. buying your favorite soft drink. But I’ve never tried it, so I can’t speak to it.