If you're looking for ways to cut your electricity bill, Fred Schebesta at My Next Buck shares 72 ways you can reduce your consumption.

With a list that long, there's bound to be some redundancy. A big chunk is ideas we've all heard before: Turn off lights and appliances you're not using and unplug "vampire" electronic devices. But despite the number of no-brainer solutions, several gems caught our eyes: 

This guest post comes from Frank Curmudgeon at Bad Money Advice.

I like few things more than writing posts that cause consternation. A recent gem was on my confusion over debit cards, and who can forget my assault on the irrational fear of identity theft. So why not combine the two themes?

Consumerism Commentary has a nice post on writing "Check ID" in the little strip on the back of your credit card where you are supposed to sign it. Turns out that this is a relatively common practice and that it is against Visa and MasterCard's rules. I guess I'm not really surprised at either of these facts.

• Bing: How to properly destroy a credit card
  

Why would a person write "Check ID" on a card? I can only assume that it is an attempt to deter a potential thief from using the card if stolen. Does anybody really think this would work? How often do cashiers actually look at the back of credit and debit cards? And then there are all the situations, from the self-checkout line to Amazon.com, that there is no cashier.

 

This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.

In the past, I've strongly advocated for families to introduce their teenagers to financial reality as early as possible. I know that in my own case, I went off to college with almost no idea of how to manage my money, and it really showed in the spending decisions I made over the next 10 years of my life.

Over the past decade, I've had the chance to intimately watch other families raise their children through the teenage years with lots of success and some failure. I've been impressed with some of the young people that are the core of Generation Y coming of age. Two in particular, my niece and my first cousin, are the kind of people that are a big net benefit to the world, and I would be incredibly proud if my own children turned out as well as they have.

 

This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.

Some of us suffer from chronic skepticism about the annual Christmas merchandising frenzy. But you don't have to be totally cheap to come up with a pretty holiday celebration that won't leave you feeling like Ebenezer Scrooge.

Here are a few strategies that have saved me some bucks:

 

What do adults want for the holidays?

 

If they’re travelers, free wireless Internet access in the airport is always a welcome gift. Bing, Google and eBay are all offering free wi-fi at airports and a few other locations -– including in the air -- this holiday season.

• Bing: Best free wi-fi spots

Here are the deals:

 

Retailers are making it easier than ever to trade in your outdated electronics for cash, rebates or gift cards. This post at Kiplinger lists several ways you can ditch your clunkers:

• Got an old appliance your want to replace? Buy an energy-efficient model and receive rebates ranging from $50 to $250. This federally sponsored program, similar to the Cash for Clunkers program, varies by state. More details can be found here.
  
• Trade in old video games at Amazon.com and Toys 'R' Us in exchange for gift cards.
• Old electronic devices can be traded in to Radio Shack, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon and Costco.
  

These programs are convenient, but it's not likely you'll earn top dollar for your junk. One example: A U2 special edition iPod will fetch $26 through the Costco program. A quick search shows bidding reaching the $55 mark on eBay.  

Looks like Black Friday shoppers can “expect more, pay less” at Target’s post-Turkey Day sale.

 

Target's leaked ad shows some great deals on $20 DVDs, such as Pixar’s Up for $13; Transformers and Madagascar 2 for $5.99; and The Dark Knight and Sex in the City for $3.99.

 

On Friday, while supplies last, you can get

 

This post comes from Nora Dunn at partner blog Wise Bread.

 

Saving money is made all the sweeter when you also rest assured that you did your part to save power and energy. And although using the oven is not nearly as efficient as sticking to the stove-top, sometimes you just have to bake that casserole or cake.

So take a look at these 19 tips to help you maximize your oven's energy-efficiency, as well as to cut your cooking costs.