The following article is courtesy of Coppertone. I normally don’t publish unsolicited articles sent to me, but this one caught my eye because of the items for hand sanitizer and sunscreen.  I’ve added my own notes about each.

The average American family spends $2,000 on personal health care expenses each year. Contributing that amount to an FSA can translate to a federal tax savings of more than $500 (assuming the average tax bracket of 27%). But there’s a catch…you need to use all of the funds in one calendar year—or the money vanishes. (CD: We blew through $900 in just 6 months at my new job, and we don’t even have kids! We upped our FSA allowance to $1200 for 2010)

The good news is that many surprising categories of products are typically covered by flex spending accounts. Here’s a handy guide to some seasonal, everyday items often covered by flex spending to make sure you don’t waste a single dollar this year:

1. Hand Sanitizer: Flu season is here, and this year, families and schools are being especially vigilant about H1N1 infection. According to a recent study, only 50% of middle and high school students say they washed their hands regularly. Send kids to school with FSA-approved portable hand sanitizer as an added precaution from getting sick. (CD: I was surprised at this so I did some investigation. It’s a new item on the list, so make sure YOUR FSA covers it. Call your administrator to be sure)

2. Cold Remedies: If you do fall ill, FSA’s got you covered. Over the counter cold remedies such as cough drops and syrups, throat lozenges, and cold medicines are often reimbursable. And if you suffer from high blood pressure, make sure to stock up on a cold medication that won’t raise your blood pressure like Coricidin® Day & Night multi-symptom at the beginning of the season — that way you won’t have to rush out for relief when you’re feeling under the weather.

3. Sunscreen: Dermatologists recommend wearing sunscreen year-round to protect against ever-present UVA and UVB rays. Good thing sunscreens with SPFs over 30 are typically covered by FSA. Moisturizers with SPF aren’t eligible, so purchase a sunscreen that’s lightweight enough for year-round, everyday use, like Coppertone® Oil Free lotion SPF 50. Buy now and you’ll still have enough to toss in your suitcase for a winter vacation.

4. Gym Bag Essentials: With after-school sports in high gear, bruises, scrapes, and athlete’s foot are regular occurrences. Use flex dollars on items like bandages and antibiotic ointment, as well as for antifungal athlete’s foot treatments like Tinactin® sprays. To maximize FSA dollars, it’s a good idea to buy a variety of shapes and sizes so no “boo boo” goes uncovered.

While I’m not big on video games, I do enjoy a new game about every 6 months. My most recent purchase was Guitar Hero World Tour, and I love it mainly because I once had aspirations (and the expensive instruments) to be in a band, but I didn’t take the time to learn to play.

But back to the point of this article. Amazon.com has a deal through Sunday, October 31st, where if you buy $80 in games (mix and match between consoles if you like) and you’ll get a $40 credit. It’s a ploy to get you to spend, but with Christmas coming up, you might catch some good deals. I’m eyeing up Guitar Hero 5 and Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout!

Use this link for the sale: Spend $80, get $40 (The deal has ended…but I got my $40 reward!)

Fine Print

• Limit one promotional claim code per household.
• Only purchases bought from Amazon.com as the seller on the www.amazon.com website will qualify for this promotion. It does not apply to the same products sold by other sellers on the Amazon.com website.
• Promotional claim code will be sent via email seven (7) business days after all items in the qualifying order have shipped.
• Promotional claim code is only valid until 11:59pm PST on 12/31/2009.
• Each promotional claim code can be used only once, even if the full promotional credit is not used.
• Taxes, gift-wrap, and shipping and handling charges do not apply toward the minimum purchase amount.
• Promotional claim code cannot be used to pay for gift-wrap, taxes, or shipping and handling charges.
• Promotional claim code may not be combined with other offers in the same order. Generally, only one promotional claim code may be used per order.
• Offer is not for resale and is not redeemable for cash.
• Offer cannot be applied to orders already placed with Amazon.com.
• If you return items purchased using a promotional code, you will not receive a refund for the amount of the offer.
• Promotional claim code must be redeemed at our Web site, http://www.amazon.com, toward the purchase of by products sold by Amazon.com as the seller. If Amazon.com is not the seller, it will be noted on the product detail page.

A story out of Reuters says the U.N. will begin sending food vouchers to Iraqi refugees via mobile phone text messages that they can redeem at local shops.

The “virtual vouchers” worth $22 per family every two months will supplement traditional aid which rarely includes perishable goods, WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella said, announcing the pilot project supported by the mobile company MTN.

“They will be able to exchange their electronic vouchers for rice, wheat flour, lentils, chickpeas, oil and canned fish, as well as cheese and eggs — items that cannot usually be included in conventional aid baskets,” she told a Geneva news briefing.

I’m sorry, but do you see something wrong with this? I’m sure I don’t see all the details in the article, but I think there’s something basically wrong with

1) Not having enough money for food, thus needing food aid

2) Having enough money to pay for at least a texting plan

I say #2 that way because I’m not going to assume these refugees have $100/mth calling plans, but more likely old fourth-hand cell phones with texting plans worth a few bucks a month, just to keep in touch with home (give them the benefit of the doubt).

Does anyone have more insight into this story, such as first-hand experience of what a refugee’s life is like? What are these refugees paying for their cell service? Where are they charging up their phones (i.e. how are they paying for electricity)?

On the other hand, I’ve known a few people in the past who have pricey cell plans, but use food stamps or free food pantries. Isn’t that just a fundamentally wrong ordering of priorities?

If you live in a moderately urban area, near or in a big city, you may be interested in Restaurant.com. For years, I kept ignoring the emails and advertisements for Restaurant.com until one day a friend of my wife brought her family down for a visit to D.C. from PA. They always hear us talking about Ethiopian food (which is awesome here in the D.C. area), and since they are very frugal, they decided to investigate deals on any Ethiopian restaurants near us so they can try it out. That’s when they emailed us a coupon code for 80% off a $25 gift certificate for our favorite Ethiopian restaurant (Langano in Silver Spring, MD).

I read up on all the fine print and decided it was a good deal, so I actually purchased two gift certificates for $2 each: one to use with our guests and one to use for ourselves another time. I haven’t yet figured out how 80% off of $25 got it down to $2 each, but I took it anyway. Weird math.

Using Our Restaurant.com Gift Certificate

Each restaurant that participates in Restaurant.com must agree to honor the gift certificate, but they can opt for a number of restrictions. In the case of Langano, we had to purchase $35 worth of food to use the $25 gift certificate. With 4 people and a toddler, we could easily do that. That means we would spend a minimum of $12 ($35-$25+$2) for the meal. Not bad for 4.5 people!

Additionally, drinks weren’t included in the $35, and we couldn’t use it for specials or with other coupons, and they would add an 18% gratuity onto the order. We were fine with all this as we always just order water anyway, and I understand why they add gratuity onto the original bill: so people don’t skimp and tip on the discounted amount. Normally, though, I give 20% tip at this restaurant, so they’re actually losing out a bit, but I just chipped in a couple more bucks.

One thing we didn’t realize before using the coupon was that you need to present it before ordering. The main reason is that it takes time to run it through the Restaurant.com verification and they don’t want you to wait till it’s time for your check to go through the whole process. A minor snafu that we corrected the next time we used a certificate.

All in all, we were happy with the gift certificate, since I think we spent under $20 in the end for all of us to eat an Ethiopian feast (which is a LOT of food, contrary to what you might think).

More about Restaurant.com Certificates

One downside of the coupons is if it’s just one or two of you, you might not easily get up to the $35 limit for the $25 gift certificate. We used it for another restaurant in Virginia and we had to buy $9 worth of desserts at the end to get up to the desired amount. Luckily we took the desserts to a party later and everyone enjoyed it, but I recommend planning out your meal beforehand to make sure you’re not going to be spending needlessly. The proprietor really did require us to hit $35 or more before using our certificate.

As for who the site is good for, if you live in at least a semi-metropolitan area, you have a very good chance at finding a wide array of restaurants that participate. Here in D.C., there are literally hundreds within 20 miles of our home or work. It’s a great opportunity to try more expensive menu items for a deeply discounted price, or tack on that dessert you’ve always craved but could never justify the price.

Some more things to note:

• There are always discount codes, so you should never have to spend the full $10 for the $25 certificate. See the end of this article for the current offers, or just search online for “Restaurant.com coupon code”.
• While they call them gift certificates, they’re really coupons as there are restrictions you have to meet.
• Often, though, you can easily meet the restrictions with some planning. When you add the certificate to your cart, you can see the restrictions. Some of the restrictions might include:
  • Minimum purchase amount
  • Minimum number of entrees
  • Exclusion of certain purchases toward this minimum, like drinks, tax, tip, etc.
  • Restriction as to which hours of the day, or days of the week
  • Mandatory tip of X% on the pre-discount amount
  • Dine-in only
  • Cash only
  • One certificate per month max
• There is the possibility that the restaurant could drop out of the program in between the time you buy the certificate and when you go to redeem it. Always call ahead to make sure they’ll accept it, and if they don’t you can redeem it for credit on Restaurant.com to buy a different certificate. That’s something you can’t do with Entertainment Book coupons.
• Watch out for third-party offers when you checkout on Restaurant.com. Some of these offers result in monthly charges, while Restaurant.com is a one-time purchase.

Overall, I’m happy with my experience, and even bought 5 more certificates to other area restaurants we’ve never tried when they had a 90% off sale (again, how does 90% off $25 cost only $1 each?). Tonight we’re going to try a restaurant in Frederick, MD that we never knew existed if it weren’t for Restaurant.com!

Current Coupon Codes for Restaurant.com

I’ll try to keep these up to date, but take note of the offer expiration date before you click through or try to use the coupon code:

(Note that the banner below is for Washington, D.C., but it’s just a localized banner I grabbed. All major cities have participating restaurants):

After reviewing and giving away 3 copies of the “Skinny On” books, I got a bit of an urge to get through more of my book pile. Up next: “The Finish Rich Dictionary: 1001 Financial Words You Need to Know” by David Bach.

I’ll admit it’s difficult to review a dictionary, and I’m definitely not going to read through the whole thing, but I picked out a few key terms, and skimmed through others, to see how David defines each.

What makes this dictionary different than just Googling the search term, or looking it up on Dictionary.com? Well, not much, but you do get focused financial articles such as “How to buy a home”, “Understanding your credit score”, “Top 10 money mistakes that people make”.

However, I’m not going to try to write a glowing review for one reason. While this is a great resource to have, I foresee only a niche audience who would actually need to BUY a copy and use often. For the rest of us, it may just take up space on our bookshelf as we just find the answers online. But on that note, I’m going to give TWO of you an opportunity to win a FREE copy and see for yourself if it would have been worth buying.

And Now for the Book Giveaway!!!

The contest is closed and the winners notified. Check back to find out who won!

Leave a comment on this article by 5pm EST on Saturday, October 24th, 2009. I’ll use a random integer generator to draw 2 winning numbers, and then email the winners to make sure they’re willing to claim their prize (i.e. send me their mailing address). The winners will have 48 hours to get back to me to confirm, or I draw a new winner. Once confirmed, I’ll announce the winner in a new post.

Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or email newsletter to learn when the winners are announced and when I post another giveaway.

Contest Rules

• I only ship to the the U.S. – Don’t complain, it’s on my own dime.
• I will ask for your name and address for shipping, but I promise to destroy the information and never sell/share it
• Void where prohibited by law
• You can only enter ONE TIME. If I draw your name and see you’ve entered already, I’ll delete your entry and redraw.

Now comment! This is the most frugal way to get this book. It’s even delivered right to your doorstep (at my cost)!

In just 2 months from now, I should be graduating with my masters degree from The Johns Hopkins University (an engineering degree, not medical). I was accepted in May 2007, and started my first class in September 2007. Now, over 2 years later, I have just 2 classes standing in my way. It’s been a stressful 2 years, and lately my personal and professional life (including this site) have taken a hit due to the stress.

While the program cost roughly $28,000, with a combination of tuition reimbursements (last employer) and a sign-on bonus (current employer), my out of pocket cost for this program was $8,000 or so (I don’t have Quicken with me to check the exact amount). Not bad for a full masters degree from a prestigious, private university.

What is my graduation present?

Good question! For the last 2 years, I’ve been lusting over flat screen TVs, but my wife has told me I need to wait till I graduate to get one as a present. Although I could have just went out and bought it with cash (thanks to getting rid of so much of our other debt), I honored her wishes this whole time. Now that the end is sooooo close, I’ve been picturing that TV in our living room, especially with football season and the fresh fall TV schedule in full swing.

But I’m not settling for any regular flat screen TV. No no no, I want an LED LCD TV. These are the latest TVs that are lighted by light emitting diodes (LED) rather than fluorescent tubes (or plasma, which isn’t really a backlight). The LED LCD TVs are thinner, more energy efficient and give more of a “true black” than regular LCDs, without the ghosting effect that plasma TVs get.

While I’ve been saving up for the TV, and prices for LED LCD TVs have dropped drastically in just the last few months, at $2400 and up for the 50″ range, they’re just too expensive to justify, especially compared to their fluorescent counterparts. So what do I do?

Are we out of debt yet?

Another goal that I had was to pay off my undergraduate student loan before I graduated with my masters. Right now, that amount stands at around $6,000. I had the money ready for it, but unfortunately we had to spend $7,000 for pool repair this fall (the bill is yet to arrive).

Which goal is more important to me? Spending $2000+ on a new TV or paying off my $6000 student loan?

I’ll have to admit that I REALLLLLY want that new TV, but right now, the debt is nagging me. While I’ve been back in school, the loan was placed into deferred status, and the federal government has been paying the interest on the loan on my behalf. I’ve still been paying $200 a month over the last 2 years, sometimes more, but haven’t felt pushed to get rid of the debt since I wasn’t paying interest. But now it’s crunch time for 2 goals, and I can only work towards one.

TV or Debt Reduction?

I actually already had this conversation with my wife this past week, and I think I surprised her by saying I’m going to pay down debt and postpone the TV purchase. One reason is that I want to get out of non-mortgage debt ASAP, but the other is that I think the prices on these new TVs will come down even more. I’m willing to spend up to $1500 for a high quality 240hz LED LCD TV in the 50″ range, but not $2500-3000.

For now, I’m going to work hard to pay off that student loan debt. I don’t think I’ll get it paid off in the next 2 months, but at least I can cut it down by another third or more.

And perhaps I’ll make a good example for you, my readers

Eva from Texas! Eva left the following comment as her entry:

I’m intrigued by the willpower book. I hope I win.

I gave Eva 48 hours to claim her prize, and she replied back at the last second. I was ready to pull a different winner, but I’m glad things worked out. I’m sure Eva will learn a good bit from the “The Skinny on Willpower, How to Develop Self Discipline” book, as well as the other two books.

If you want to see what books I’m talking about, go see my review of “The Skinny On” book series.

Congratulations Eva! I still have at least 3 more books to read and review, so keep an eye out for those reviews and contests!

Ooh! It’s not yet halfway through the month and I’m actually publishing the recap for last month. Looks like I’m actually a bit ahead of my normal game

Traffic Sources

At a high level:

Search Engines: 65%

Referring Sites: 22%

Direct Traffic: 13%

Top Personal Finance Blog Referrers

You’ll see last month’s rank after the new rank in (). If they weren’t ranked last month, you’ll see a (-).

1. (1) The Simple Dollar
2. (2) MSN Smart Spending
3. (-) Credit Card Finder (I’m a top 25 BadA$$ Personal Finance Blogger)
4. (4) Cheap Healthy Good
5. (5) Five Cent Nickel
6. (3) My Money Blog
7. (8) Budgets are Sexy
8. (6) Frugal Dad
9. (9) Free Money Finance
10. (7) Wise Bread

Thanks all!

I’ll admit, I’ve had these books to review for a long time, but I’m just getting around to reviewing them. Sorry Mr. Publisher!

“The Skinny On” series takes the Dummies and Complete Idiots idea and makes them even simpler to understand in the form of comic books (with stick people as the main characters). From their website:

Inspired by the widely celebrated Japanese literary form, Manga, The Skinny On™ is quickly gaining popularity for its comprehensive analysis of topical subjects, told in an entertaining story format.

Illustrated and easily read in 1 hour, each subject is explored through the lives of Billy and Beth – normal in all respects except one: they just happen to be stick people.

The Skinny On™ is the brainchild of best selling author, investor, attorney and entrepreneur Jim Randel. Realizing that the traditional book publishing business model was outdated, Randel sought to create a new breed of books, aimed at disseminating information to an audience increasingly used to consuming content on the internet and cell phones. Their quick-read, story format, and short lead publishing cycles allow the series to provide The Skinny On™ current events and topical subjects while keeping readers informed and entertained.

Personally, I can attest that they’re readable in an hour or less, but who is the target audience here? Busy people? Teens? Professionals? College kids?

The books are great for anyone new to the topic, whether it be Credit Cards, Willpower or the Financial Crisis. But with any topic, you have to be interested in it to want to learn about it. Therefore, if your kid (or you for that matter) doesn’t care about finances, they’ll probably think even the stick figures are trying to lecture them. But at least it’s one more way to try to teach someone, so I’m all for the concept. Now let’s check out each book, and the get to the giveaway!

The Skinny on Credit Cards

The Skinny on Credit Cards, How to Master the Credit Card Game was probably the best of the bunch in that it taught all the basics about credit cards including interest, budgeting, taking responsibility, avoiding/handling fraud, and more.

The book follows Beth and Billy, a couple of stick figures who don’t always agree on financial practices. They kind of mirror my wife and myself in that Beth is the more responsible one and Billy wants to just go spend money. Beth is careful, while Billy wants to buy a Harley.

The book inserts the author as an “educator” to teach each about credit and credit cards. I didn’t feel like the book was talking down to me at all, and it simplified the concepts into an experience I can use to instruct others in my own personal life (such as my cousins who I KNOW are going to be in big credit trouble when they get their first cards!).

Would I recommend this book? If you’re still trying to figure out the mess of credit cards, or know someone who is, then yes, I would recommend it. If you already understand credit and are pretty responsible with your money, then you probably wouldn’t learn much more from the book.

The Skinny on the Housing Crisis

The Skinny on the Housing Crisis, What Every Homeowner and Homebuyer Needs to Know teaches a different kind of lesson. While some of the lessons are now considered “historical” in that they are meant to reveal what went wrong during the housing boom and bust, the book also teaches good lessons on the importance of understanding mortgage applications, home values, home inspections, credit scores and weird mortgages (the ones they mostly offered to borrowers to get them into a house they really couldn’t afford).

Again, the book follows Billy and Beth, but this time in their effort to buy a home. Again, Beth is the careful one, while Billy wants to jump into the housing market after watching a late night infomercial. They get caught up in the whirlwind many of us (including myself) did and thought they HAD to buy NOW or they would lose their opportunity forever.

Would I recommend this book? While I think everyone needs to understand credit cards, when it comes to the housing crisis, there are videos that explain the whole credit fiasco pretty well. But if you’re considering buying a home, and feel pressured by friends, family, coworkers, or even mortgage lenders and realtors, I would recommend reading the warning words this book offers.

The Skinny on Willpower

I actually just read The Skinny on Willpower, How to Develop Self Discipline as I was writing this article. It took me about 30 minutes to finish, but I’ll admit I skimmed over some of the recaps at the end.

In this story, Beth wants to open a store and Billy wants to lose weight (yeah, funny for a stick person). The author, Jim Randel, makes quite a number of appearances to provide his insight from years of learning about willpower, commitment, goals, and positive thoughts. It’s actually a pretty good book to provide the fundamentals to setting goals and sticking to them, and recognizing things that will distract or deter you from achieving them.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. Although I’ve recognized some of the concepts recently as I try to finish my masters degree, work full-time, manage a home and run a few side businesses, I honestly missed some simple things like breaking big tasks down into manageable chunks. Some of it is common sense, but that doesn’t mean it’s apparent to us without someone mentioning it.

And Now for the Book Giveaway!!!

I haven’t given away any swag for quite some time, but as usual I’m going to make it pretty easy for you to enter.

The Prize: All 3 books!

How to Enter:

Contest has ended and winner has been drawn and notified. Check back to the site to find out who won!

Leave a comment on this article by 5pm EST on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009. I’ll use a random integer generator to draw 2 winning number, and then email the winner to make sure they’re willing to claim their prize (i.e. send me their mailing address). Once confirmed, I’ll announce the winner in a new post.

Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or email newsletter to learn when the winners are announced and when I post another giveaway.

Contest Rules

• I only ship to the continental U.S. states (sorry Hawaii and Alaska) – Don’t complain, it’s on my own dime.
• I will ask for your name and address for shipping, but I promise to destroy the information and never sell/share it
• Void where prohibited by law
• You can only enter ONE TIME. If I draw your name and see you’ve entered already, I’ll delete your entry and redraw.

Now comment! This is the most frugal way to get this books. It’s even delivered right to your doorstep (at my cost)!

_{Clever Dude and the insulation blower machine}

Our home was built in 1941, long before insulation was commonly used, much less a standard in new home construction. We bought the home in 2004, but didn’t know this fact until we really started questioning why the walls were so cold, and the house so drafty in the winter. Bear in mind, however, that the last owners built additions when insulation was standard, and those walls definitely were insulated. The main question was whether the original parts of the house were insulated.

Recall that we have already insulated our crawl space ourselves, and added some extra exterior wall insulation already.

We weren’t quite sure whether the walls were insulated or not until we did some recent home repair and renovation. The first hint was when we installed a new power outlet, and my father-in-law (FIL) found no insulation in that cavity. But we didn’t truly know whether that was indicative of the whole house or just that section until my brother-in-law (BIL) visited last spring.

The last owners replaced the old asbestos siding with vinyl siding, and in the process added a layer of Styrofoam insulation under the new siding (it’s the green stuff you’ll see in later photos). Luckily, my BIL has an insulation side-business and was nice enough to do some complimentary work for me. He popped up a row of siding, drilled a hole halfway up the wall and confirmed there was absolutely no other insulation. I was actually happy about this finding as it’s easier to add insulation when it’s absent rather than when there’s already some present.

How we insulated our exterior walls

I’m going to preface this section with “Your results may vary” because each home is different, your equipment will be different and you probably won’t have a generous relative who knows how to do it already.

Common Materials (aka “What we used for our home”)

For our home, the minimum equipment we needed was:

• Siding Removal Tool – a necessity to pop off and, more importantly, pop back on the siding. It’s only $5 at Amazon
• Insulation Blower – Although my BIL has a heavy-duty $20,000 insulation blower, it was too inconvenient to transport the giant 4 hours from PA to MD, so we rented one from Rentals Unlimited. We paid about $60 for the day. You can also get them from Home Depot and other equipment rental places, but they may be in short supply. It’s small, but still heavy. Take another strong gent with you to pick it up and unload it.
• Cellulose Insulation (NOT fiberglass)- From the Cellulose.org website: “Cellulose Insulation is one of the greenest products in the world. Cellulose insulation is made from recycled newsprint and other paper sources, paper that might otherwise end up in landfills”.  We bought the Green Fiber brand, which costs about $10 per pack at Home Depot. For our job, we used 12 packs before we had to return the rented blower machine.
  For walls, we used the R-19 calculation on the back of the package, or also found here. We were originally going to do 700 sq ft of wall space, but only got through about 400 sq ft when the 8 hours ran out. Also, I decided against doing the second floor for other reasons. We got through 2 side walls and half the front (the back walls are additions that are already insulated).
• Hose nozzle and hose clamps - The machine came with a very long hose, but didn’t have the proper nozzle on the end to ensure the size of the insulation going in wasn’t too large, and to be able to control the flow better. My BIL had the proper fitting (which accidentally fell into the 2nd wall we did and is now insulating our house, so be careful). Just make sure you get all the proper attachments with your machine.The rental was also missing hose clamps to keep the hose secured to both the machine and the nozzle. My BIL had one hose clamp, but we had to use duct tape for the rest.
• Power Corded Drill -You can try to use a battery-powered drill, but if you’re doing a lot of wall space, you want a corded drill, and a decent one at that. It’s also helpful if the drill has a side-handle so you can grip it with both hands. When you drill into the wall, you need to be careful not to let the drill go in too far and hit the other side (wasn’t a problem for us as the drill bit wasn’t long enough to do that).
• Self Feed Drill Bit – While some people use a drill bit that leaves you with a nice little wooden circle that you can reuse to fill the hole you made, we used self feed drill bit to just make a hole, then plugged it with a plastic plug. The size of the drill depends on the size of the plug you buy, or vice-versa, so shop around…
• Sidewall Insulation Plugs – This is a more specialized item, and the link I provide here is just one search result. I’m not sure where my BIL bought his back, or the size (they looked like 2″ plugs), but I know he paid about $60 for the whole bag. As mentioned, these will need to be the same size as the holes you drill.
• Miscellaneous things like a pole (like a broom handle) to stir/break apart the cellulose blocks in the machine’s hopper, or a can to break it up into another container before putting it into the hopper. You’ll need a face mask since you’re working around dusty insulation (you’ll understand when you start working with it).  Also, a stud-finder might help, but we utilized the existing nails and our own knowledge that studs are generally 16″ apart to determine where to drill (with only 2-3 mistakes).

_{Clever Dude’s BIL pumping insulation into the walls}

Tips for Insulating your Exterior Walls

Again, this all depends on your home and what tools/equipment to which you have access, but we learned a few things from this experience:

1. Identify where all the outlets and switches are before drilling! You DO NOT want to accidentally drill into a live wire or a socket!
2. If at all possible, insulate from the outside of the home. If you don’t have vinyl siding, most likely it’s easier to patch your interior drywall/plaster than your existing siding (or brick), but it’s a dusty, messy job, so if you can do all the work from the outside, then do it.
3. Drill a top and a bottom hole for each cavity. You need an escape vent for the air you’re pumping into the wall. If not, your hose will get backed up from all the pressure pushing back and you’ll get really frustrated like this guy.
4. You need to pump insulation in both the top and bottom of the cavity. If you only pump in the top, then it won’t get full and most likely all that insulation will just slowly fall down to the bottom. Do it right the first time, even if it means more work and more holes.
5. You need 2 people and lots of time. We thought we could get all the walls, and maybe even our mudroom done in the 8 hours. However, my BIL was used to his high-powered machine, not this wimpy rental blower. It took 8 hours to do 2.5 walls (along with a long lunch break). You also need 2 people: 1 to run the hose and 1 to run the hopper (break apart the insulation, make sure it moves down into the hatch, etc.). Luckily our machine had a very long hose and a very long control switch cable so the BIL could turn it on/off from his position.
6. Don’t open the hatch the whole way. You only need to open the slot about an inch or two to let enough insulation out that won’t overwhelm the system. You also need to make sure the cellulose is broken into small enough pieces as the “agitator” on the machine won’t do the job for you.
7. Don’t overstuff the walls or else you’ll blow them out. When the wall was full, the blower made a different wheezing sound and you could see insulation wasn’t blowing through the tube. But some blowers are powerful enough to blow out the wall and start blowing insulation into the house.

If I think of any more, I’ll add them.

Cost of Insulating Our Exterior Walls

This is where we really lucked out. The original estimate of 700 sq ft was to cover the front (1 floor) and 2 sides (2 floors). We ended up just doing the first floor.

- I rented the insulation blower for about $60
- I bought 22 bricks of cellulose to cover that amount, which cost about $220. (but there’s a federal tax credit!)
- We would have used the whole bag of plugs at about $60 per bag.
- The drill and drill bit, if you don’t have them, would run around $60-80, or more.
- The siding tool is about $5.
- Total for our materials was about $400-$500, counting the miscellaneous items. But we only used 12 bags of insulation, and less than a bag of the plugs, and my BIL had the drill and bit already.

But where we lucked out is that my BIL did not charge us for labor (which was very unexpected, and appreciated). I asked him “How much would you have charged us for this whole job otherwise?” and he replied “About $1000“. That includes all materials and I believe just him doing the work (but with his machine). Factor in diesel for his F-250 truck and we saved mucho dinero on our project!

How much will we save each year with this insulation? I don’t know because I really hate doing math, but just the fact that my toes won’t be chilly and my wife won’t be complaining are more than enough incentive for me. The fact that it was a relatively easy 1-2 day job is nice. And since my only cost is materials is a bonus.

But Wait! There’s a Tax Credit for Insulation!

See the chart below from EnergyStar.gov about the federal tax credit for 2009. We’ll get about $40 back (30%) on the $120 we spent on insulation, but at least it’s something.

_{¹Subject to a $1,500 maximum per homeowner for all improvements combined.}