AdSense Is The Main Revenue Source for 45% of Our Readers

Last week I launched a poll asking our readers what was their main revenue source. Among the options to vote you had AdSense, affiliate marketing, selling one’s own products and so on. I was expecting that the results would be quite balanced, but that was not the case.

It turns out that over 45% of the readers who took the poll rely on Google AdSense as their main income source. Freelancingand consulting services appeared in a distant second position, with 17.8% of the votes.

Affiliate marketing appeared in the third position with 13.6%, and selling one’s own products in the fourth position with 9.3% of the votes. Another curious point was the small percentage of people using direct ad sales as a main income source, since this has been one of the most profitable methods I have used. Only 5.4% of the participants voted on it.

The Dangers of Using a Debit Card

Here's the short version of the dangers of debit:

1. Loss Limits

Like credit cards, federal law limits your liability for fraudulent transactions on a debit card to $50. But that's only if you notify your financial institution within two days of discovering the theft. If you're a space cadet and don't check your bank statements for a couple of months, you could lose everything.

2. Pay Now/Reimburse Later

If someone has fraudulently used your credit card, you don't have to pay the charge. But when somebody has fraudulently used your debit card, the money comes directly out of your account in real time. That means you're out the money while the bank does a leisurely examination of their records to investigate your fraud claim. Many consumers complaining to Privacy Rights Clearing House said they lost access to their funds for several weeks. In the meantime, they were caught short and unable to pay their bills, Givens said.

3. Merchant Disputes

The same problem affects merchant disputes. If you pay with a credit card when ordering something online, and that product comes damaged, broken or not at all, you can dispute the charge and stop payment with your credit card. If you used your debit card, the charge is paid when you made the order. By the time you find out the goods weren't what was advertised, the merchant has your cash and you're in the unenviable position of having to fight to get your money back.

4. Phantom Charges

If you use a credit card at a hotel, the hotel takes an imprint when you check in, but doesn't charge your card until you check out. It's a far different story with a debit card. Generally, hotels will put a “hold” on funds in your account for more than you're spending. Yes, more. They hold the full amount of your stay, plus an estimated amount for “incidentals,” such as meals at the hotel restaurant and dipping into the mini-bar. This is not an actual charge–the hold will come off your account at the end of your stay. But it affects the available balance in your checking account anyway and can lead to overdrafts. One consumer said these phantom charges cost him $140 in overdraft fees. These “holds” are commonly placed on debit card transactions made at hotels, gas stations and rental car companies.

5. Overdrafts, Overdrafts and More Overdrafts

Overdraft charges have been soaring in recent years and the vast majority of consumers who pay them explain that their overdraft was the result of a debit card transaction. Many consumers naively assumed that if they didn't have sufficient funds in their accounts, their bank wouldn't approve a debit swipe. But they were wrong. The result: a $4 coffee could trigger a $35 overdraft fee. Government regulators are reigning in these fees by demanding that banks give consumers a chance to “opt out” of automatic overdraft protection, but that doesn't start for existing accounts until August. (If you have a new account, it's starts in July.)

6. Skimming

Financial crooks have gotten sophisticated in recent years and are using “skimming” machines to read your card data and charge your account, Givens said. When your debit card is skimmed, your bank account can be drained before you know that you've been had.

How to find cash hidden in your house

You don’t have to look under the floorboards to find the cash that’s hidden in your home. Many of your ongoing monthly costs come in the form of energy - you know, those bills that keep showing up every month.

We can show you how to take control and reduce your carbon emissions in each room of your home -- and discover that hidden cash.

If you have a few evenings free, become a Weeknight Worker with our simple, easy projects. If you have a little more time to dedicate, become a weekend warrior -- it’s a bit of a bigger time commitment, but you’ll see bigger savings.

Laundry room: Save $60 to $185

Weeknight worker
Did you know that 90% of the energy needed to do a load of laundry goes into heating the water? The easiest way to start saving money in the laundry room is to simply wash your clothes with cold water.

With today’s advanced detergents and soaps, cold water can be just as effective as hot water. Merely pressing the “Cold/Cold” button on your washing machine 80% of the time will save you between $60 and $100 per year.

Weekend warrior
Want to “launder” even more money? Well, add another energy saving twist: Skip the clothes dryer and line-dry your laundry. By avoiding another laundry room appliance you can save up to an additional $85 per year. Adding that savings to the $60 to $100 you saved with the cold-water laundry, you could save anywhere from $145 to $185 every year.

Kitchen: Save $20 to $300

Weeknight worker
Here’s a simple way for you and your family to save money: Use the dishwasher less. Many people do a load every day, but by waiting for the dishwasher to be full before you run it, you could cut your dishwasher use by a third, saving you a total of $21 per year.

Weekend warrior
If you’re ready for extreme kitchen efficiency, it’s time to upgrade those old clunkers. New Energy Star-rated refrigerators and dishwashers use a fraction of the energy that those terribly inefficient older models use.

If you upgrade your older dishwasher and refrigerator to Energy Star models (top freezer for fridges is the best), you could lower your annual energy cost by $85 every year (from $170 down to $85). And if you use the government’s new stimulus money for upgrading appliances, you could receive up to an additional $200 for your new Energy Star-rated refrigerator. That’s a total of $285 saved in the first year alone.

Bedroom: Save $50 to $150

Weeknight worker
Replace just five incandescent light bulbs in your bedroom with CFLsand over their lifetime -- a little over three years if you average five hours of use every day -- you can save $30 per bulb. That works out to about $10 a year per bulb, so by replacing five incandescent light bulbs you can save around $50 every year.

Weekend warrior
If replacing more incandescent light bulbs means saving more money, why stop at just five? You’re a weekend warrior, you’re committed. Why not go for an additional 10 light bulbs: 15 CFLs could save you a total of $150 every year. Heck, replace every light bulb in your home, and cash will pour out of every light socket.

Living room: Save $20 to $225

Weeknight worker
Money is flying out your windows: Leaks can be responsible for 30% of the total heat lost in your home. There’s a simple solution though -- and that’s weather-stripping.

Depending on your window type and air-flow method, you could potentially save $7 to $14 per window, per year in efficiency upgrades. If you weather-strip just three windows in your living room, you can save $21 to $42 every year.

Weekend warrior
Why not weather-strip your entire home? Increasing the efficiency of your windows and blocking the small leaks that allow air to go in and out, you can knock off up to 15% of your annual heating and cooling costs. A typical U.S. family spends about $1,500 on its utility bills every year, so by minimizing air leaks through your windows, you could save around $225 every year.

Adding it all up

So how much cash is hiding in your home? If you follow all of the weeknight worker tips, you can count on saving $152 to $213 every year, and all for a few simple changes and a few hours of dedication. Now, if you put in some serious time as a weekend warrior, you’re looking at annual savings of $805 to $845.

Yes, you’re saving a lot of money. But don’t forget the environmental benefits as well: For example, just one CFL bulb can save over 2,000 times its weight in greenhouse gasses over its lifetime compared to an incandescent. Now that’s big savings.