I’ve been hinting about my involvement with Kodak for the past week or so (and you’re probably wondering when I’m just going to get on with it!). Last week I had an opportunity to participate in an online briefing with personal finance expert Laura Rowley and Kodak, to talk about about the numerous ways we can save money in every room of our homes. The briefing was timed perfectly, considering the state of our economy. 30 bloggers joined together both live in NYC and online to learn and share information. And how impressive it was to see over 700 “tweets” during the online briefing. If you missed the event, here is a summary of the tips Laura Rowley provided:
LIVING ROOM: MAKE A LIVING FROM YOUR LIVING ROOM
Use your family room to unplug, literally. Vampire drain of electricity in “standby mode” –turned off but still plugged into the wall – drains our wallets $3 billion per year. Plug items into fuse-protected power strips that don’t suck energy from the wall when turned off.
Watch a little closer. Americans pay an average of $60 for cable, but only watch 15 channels, according to the Consumers Union. If you pay for premium cable, call your provider and put the service on “vacation mode.” You’ll still receive basic service but save temporarily on the extras – and get a good sense of whether you miss them. If you don’t, call the cancellation department and say you’re considering eliminating service altogether – this department has the best deals on hand to keep you as a customer.
HOME OFFICE: CREATE A HOME (OFFICE) TO CALL YOUR OWN
Rethink your ink. Equip yourself with items that stretch your dollars like Kodak’s All-in-One Inkjet printers, which can save you up to $110 a year on ink.
Channel your inner freegan. Sign up for free services like Skype that lets you make long distance calls online without spending a penny and faxzero.com, a service that allows you to fax for free by adding an ad coversheet to your faxes.
BATHROOM: DON’T FLUSH MONEY DOWN THE TOILET
Go with the low-flow. Water bills can be cut back 25 to 60 percent by replacing showerheads and faucets with low-flow aerating models for $10 to $20 each. Look for a model that’s 2.5 gallons per minute to save on average $200 per year.
A prescription to save. Only one-third of prescription drugs are mostly covered by insurance, according to a recent Consumer Reports survey. Prices can vary as much as $100 between designer and generic drugs so make sure you ask your physician for a generic equivalent, which can cost up to 40 percent less.
LAUNDRY ROOM: DON’T GET TAKEN TO THE CLEANERS ON YOUR DRY CLEANING
A dirty secret. Households spend an average of $1,500 a year on dry cleaning, and 65 percent of those clothes are washable, according to Proctor and Gamble research. Wool, cashmere, silk, rayon, polyester and spandex can all be laundered, saving America $750 a year.
This is just the information shared by Laura during the briefing. If you do a search on Twitter for #printprosper, you’ll find creative, unique tips from moms about how they save money. Be sure to check out Kodak’s Print and Prosper website, complete with an overpayment calculator (don’t be discouraged…you’re not the only one and today is a new day).
As part of the campaign, I had an opportunity to test out the brand-new Kodak ESP 7 All-In-One Printer. And yes…the printer is amazing! It prints, scans and copies photos and documents for less money, saving you 50% when compared to similar inkjet printers. Black ink cartridges retail for approximately $10, color ink cartridges retail for approximately $15. By using this printer (or one like it), you can save $110 a year on printing costs without sacrificing speed or quality.
This printer will print a 4 x 6 in 28 seconds and 32 pages in black ink / 30 pages in color ink in one minute. That means I don’t have to wait until next Mother’s Day to get all of my son’s photos printed and sent off to the grandparents. The quality of the photos I printed was amazingly professional. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that they were printed at a photo lab. The colors are crisp and distinct and I love the high quality photo paper that I was sent to print out my pictures. I just completed two ZoomAlbums for my mother and my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day on this printer. I did this same project on MY printer and there was a definite difference in the look and feel of the book.
One of my favorite features is the fact that it’s enabled with wireless printing because I’m lazy and don’t want to get off of the couch to plug my computer into the printer. The printer comes with a built-in, secure, mechanism that allows for Wi-Fi printing. The printer is so smart that you don’t even need a computer. Take your memory card from your camera, stick it in the printer, and print! Here is a little video I did of the printer in action:
The Kodak ESP 7 All-In-One Printer retails for $199.99 and is available for purchase directly from the site. Be sure to come back Monday for your chance to win this printer!
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that printer is awesome!