If you are offended by swear words, do not click on this link. Otherwise, if you want a laugh, enjoy this gem from McSweeney’s that completely made my day!

It’s getting chilly outside. Winter is the time of year where it’s too easy to waste all kinds of energy and it can cost you a lot of extra dollars. There are a few quick and easy things you can do that will save you a big bucks. Start with an online survey from The U.S. Department of Energy’s Home Energy Saver. If you have a few more bucks set aside now to save a lot later, consider having someone audit your house. The Building Performance Institute Inc. can help you find a local contractor who has been certified to audit your home here.

If you are raring to put a few items on the honey-do list this weekend here are a few quick and easy energy saving moves you can do yourself:

1) Install a programmable thermostat.

2) Wrap your water heater in an insulating blanket (this will run you about $20). Make sure your water heater is at a low setting (usually a little lever near the bottom – even I was able to find this sucker, and I’m terrible at this stuff).

3) Add weather stripping to your windows and doors where needed (you know where you’ve felt a draft coming in – every time you feel it, imaging the dollars slipping right out those cracks.

4) Have your HVAC equipment serviced. Last time I had someone out, they let me know that some shrubs around my A/C unit were making it work twice as hard and once they were gone it saved me a ton.

5) Purely a money saver: If you are not locked in at a good per-therm rate and you use natural gas, call the gas company to lock in a good rate per-therm. Call around to a few to find out their best deal – if you don’t want to switch, your current company will likely match the lowest rate you find in order to keep your business. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t locked in last year; when I finally locked in a rate, I cut my gas bill by 50%!

Sometimes when you’re on a walk and you look down, you see something fun left by kids. The kids up the street from me had completed chalk portraits all the up the sidewalk last week:

My favorite part was that they wanted to make it clear that one of them was not up to their standards, so they made it clear with the words “Mess Up”:

From October 20th to November 8th all smoking hawt design from Blu Dot is marked down 20% (*Can’t be combined with other sales, promos or discount coupons). Have you been on the fence? NOW, is the time to jump on some Blu Dot my friends. SALE ENDS NOVEMBER 8th at MIDNIGHT, CENTRAL TIME. See more here.

So I just signed up for my very first social networking event. It’s pretty easy for me to make it because it’s in my hometown. The Broke Socialite has been working hard to put this lavish shindig together. If you want to go, I promise to recommend cool places for cocktails and deeee-lish Southern cooking! So bloggy friends, if you plan on going, let me know in the comments section! Oh, and for more information, click here.

Becky