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Open House

Turn a Small Nest Egg into Your Family Fortune; Patch Up Your Driveway; How Energy Efficient is Your Home?; Protecting Your Pet from Hidden Dangers

Aired June 09, 2007 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And this from Tom, "Dunno which is more criminal, Paris or the media coverage."
And we got one more for you. Did we? I'll just go ahead and read it to you. The last one says "Paris should return to the county jail. I don't think that they understand everyone cries their first time in the slammer. Paris need to grow up and be a woman. You do the crime, you do the time. Now that's hot."

That's from H.H., using a word that Paris loves to throw out.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And did you cry your first time in the slammer as well?

NGUYEN: I have not been to the slammer just yet, thankfully, knock on wood.

HOLMES: You're among friends. That's OK.

NGUYEN: Should I ask you the same thing?

HOLMES: Let's not. Paris Hilton, though ...

NGUYEN: I knew I'd get that response.

HOLMES: Paris Hilton is not alone. A lot of Hollywood celebrities have been arrested for driving under the influence. We'll have a look at the names and the mug shots coming up the next hour.

NGUYEN: Not T.J.'s, though.

HOLMES: No.

NGUYEN: Also coming up next hour, online gambling brings in about $12 billion a year worldwide, did you know? But a new law keeps U.S. players out of that pot.

HOLMES: A debate over the fight to open the game to Internet gamblers. Joining us will be a father whose son robbed a bank to pay his gambling debts. He'll face the president of the Poker Players' Alliance.

NGUYEN: But first, OPEN HOUSE with Gerri Willis starts right now. GERRI WILLIS, CNN HOST: Good morning, everyone. I'm Gerri Willis, and this is OPEN HOUSE, the show that saves you money. Coming up, turn a small nest egg into your family fortune.

And is your driveway cracking under the pressure? A few easy tips to help you patch it up and save some cash.

But first, summer's here, temperatures are rising, and so are energy prices. Now is the time to test how energy efficient your home really is. It might turn out that a home energy makeover could save you a whole lot of money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS (voice-over): George Malek and a team of energy auditors are inspecting this house to see where energy is being wasted. This blower door test determines how much the house leaks.

GEORGE MALEK, "ENERGY DOCTOR", COMED: The fan is actually depressurizing the house. So the fans running at high speeds, and the only way for the air to come in is through leaks. What we're trying to do here is sort of mimicking a windy, wintry day.

WILLIS: Technicians use smoke to see where air blows in. If you don't want to spend $300 for an energy inspection, you can perform our own tests. Wait for a windy winter day. Then feel for cold breezes with your hand or use a lighted incense stick to make smoke. When you find the leaks, plug them with weather stripping or insulation.

MALEK: Of course, everybody's favorite, the great stuff where you spray foam and plug holes like we were seeing on these air leakage areas.

WILLIS: When it comes to leaky walls, Malek's team uses an infrared camera to find hot spots where insulation should be added. You probably don't have an infrared camera, but another test you can do yourself involves saving on your heating bill.

MALEK: So you run the water first to make sure hot water is coming to the faucet. Just gather it in a cup and just a meat thermometer is good enough. And now you take a temperature of the water coming out. And by gosh, it's over 140, 145. That is way more than you need.

WILLIS: Anything over 120 degrees is too hot. Turn your water heater down, and you could save $40, $50, even $100 a year. A few simple tests that could save you a bundle of money.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS (on camera): Some home energy tips seem, well, over the top. Time now to separate fact from fiction. Matt Dean is with the Association for Energy Affordability. Hi. Good to see you, Matt.

MATT DEAN, ASSOCIATION FOR ENERGY AFFORDABILITY: Thanks. WILLIS: All right. We're going to take a test. You've got a little exam for me on energy affordability, and you're going to have to help me out here. Because I don't have all the answers. I've got the questions. So it's like Karnak. I'm going to read each question.

DEAN: All right. I'm ready.

WILLIS: First one, leaving the A/C DURING the day is cheaper than turning it off. All right, so now, I think that -- you know, this is kind of splitting hairs, but I would turn it down during the day at the very least so I don't have it cranked to full blast. What's the right answer, Matt?

DEAN: You actually just want to shut it off.

WILLIS: Turn it all the way off.

DEAN: If you're going to be gone all day long, it's better to have it off.

WILLIS: Why is that?

DEAN: Well, it's going to use a lot more electricity during the day when it's getting warmer towards noon to 2:00. But if you come home at 5:00 or 6:00 and turn it on, it will be more uncomfortable at first. But it will definitely save energy. Having the unit off is cheaper than having it on ...

WILLIS: And keep the shutters closed and the blinds pulled and that way ...

DEAN: Have the shades drawn, that kind of thing. When you come home, you can open up the shades, but keep that solar radiation out.

WILLIS: OK. Number two, using a microwave costs less than using an oven to heat up a meal. I would say microwave is cheaper.

DEAN: You're right. It is cheaper.

WILLIS: Yeah.

DEAN: Definitely cheaper to use the microwave on something short like that, something quick. I mean, you're not going to cook a roast in there, but to warm up food, definitely use the microwave.

WILLIS: Definitely use a microwave.

And you know, in the summertime, you don't heat up the whole kitchen doing it.

DEAN: That's right. Good point. Thanks.

WILLIS: All right. So number three, and this is really interesting, I think. Cell phone chargers, if you leave them plugged in, even if you're not charging the cell phone or any appliance, as long as you're leaving it plugged in, it's using a little bit of juice. And I think that's true. I think you got to unplug the whole unit.

DEAN: Yep, you do.

WILLIS: But why? I don't know why. I know that's true.

DEAN: Cell phone chargers or more so like television sets, stereos, anything that uses a remote control has a phantom power setting. It's always on waiting for the signal from the remote. So those things are always using juice 24/7. So if you want to cut that power usage you can plug it into a power strip, turn the power strip off and cut that power.

If you do that, I mean, it's single digit savings in terms of percentage wise for your electric bill, but five percent of your electric bill over the year.

WILLIS: That's something. Yeah. That adds up over time. OK. So number four -- is this the last one? No. It's not the last one. Clean refrigerator coils and A/C coils to save energy.

DEAN: Yep.

WILLIS: I think you do.

DEAN: Yeah. You definitely do. For the refrigerator, at least once a year, maybe twice a year.

WILLIS: It's gross too. Once you get behind that thing, you don't want to see what's there.

DEAN: It's definitely a chore. Pulling that thing out. The A/C coil as well, when you install them, clean those off and help the refrigerant be able to cool itself off.

WILLIS: That's why it works. I see, OK.

Replace windows or insulate the attic, what gives you the biggest bang for your buck. Boy, I have no idea. I'm going to guess the attic. It's like, when you're outside in the winter and you don't wear the hat, you really feel it.

DEAN: That's right. You've got the wrong profession. You should be doing what I'm doing.

WILLIS: I can't explain why, though. I have no idea.

DEAN: Insulating the home is definitely more cost efficient than replacing the windows. Windows cost a lot. They take up a small amount of surface area, and they don't really save you as much money as insulating an attic would or even air sealing a home.

WILLIS: Matthew, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

DEAN: You're welcome. Take care.

WILLIS: Coming up on OPEN HOUSE, start building your family fortune right now.

Then concrete solutions to fixing your driveway all by yourself.

And how to protect your pet from hidden dangers.

But first, big-time advice for your little guys in this week's "Tip of the Day."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS (voice-over): Teach your kids about money now. It could pay off down the road. Once they learn how money works, they'll be more careful spending it. Sit down and do some budgeting together. You probably don't want to reveal all of your monthly expenses, but how about planning a trip to the grocery store to demonstrate financial restraint? Giving your kids an allowance will show them how to save up so they can afford the bigger things and make them do some chores to earn the dough. That's your "Tip of the Day."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Home prices don't seem to be improving. The National Association of Realtors now predicts the median price of existing homes will fall 1.3 percent this year. This would be the first annual drop on record. New home prices are expected to drop 2.3 percent. Almost all of the nation's leading home builders have been hurt by a sharp decline in demand for both new and existing homes.

Well, forget for a second the cost of that new home. Let's just say maybe you have the biggest blowout wedding of the year. Now what? Well, for most couples, it means merging families, habits, and most of all, money. It's never easy, especially when trying to save. To help us figure out how to do it, how to build that nest egg and family fortune, whether you're a newlywed or not, is Carley Roney.

She is editor and chief of "The Knot" and the author of "The Nest." And there's the book right there. Carley, thanks for joining us. When you're a newlywed, you probably have this sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that you never talked about money. Right. It is so common when you're dating, the last thing you want to do is talk about bank accounts.

CARLEY RONEY, AUTHOR, "THE NEST": Money is just not romantic. And many couples fight about it so much they decide not to deal with it at all. And this is of course the biggest mistake you can make. As soon as you get married, if you haven't done it beforehand, you need to get those two credit reports and sit down and have the financial confessional, where everyone really gets to know each other's finances. That's the starting point for you to be thinking about how much we should be investing, what we want to be spending our money on, and setting the guidelines and the rules. It's like a business, marriage.

WILLIS: It's like you've really got to open the kimono. I know you've met the family. You think you know everything about this person. But until you see that credit report, you may not know them at all. You could be in for some scary stuff. One of the conventional things that people talk about, of course, is checking accounts, joint or separate.

I think -- you know, this is sort of an old fashioned conversation because most of us come to these marriages now, and we have some experience with money. You know, we make our own money. We don't necessarily want to share.

RONEY: Well, the modern solution that we actually put in the book and on thenest.com is that couples should have separate joint accounts. So you each have your own account. That gets around the emotional issue. I don't want someone looking at every little thing I do in there. You can manage your own money.

And then you have a joint account that's used where you both put money into for what you're saving for. Whether that's for a home or vacations or things like that. And you put that in based on a percentage related to your salary.

WILLIS: And automatic transfers are a great thing here because you can do it without even thinking about it.

RONEY: A hundred percent, absolutely. If you do not see that money out of your paycheck, you will not actually use that money. And that savings account should not be touchable by either party without a joint sign-off.

WILLIS: It's very tricky and the rules kind of have to be a little flexible. What about the budget? How do you come to some kind of agreement on what gets spent for what?

RONEY: Well, we actually have a checklist in this book where you literally need to sit down. Because a lot of people don't know how much money they spend. That's the starting place for all of these discussions. Literally, line it up, figure out what there is and how much left there is, and what is actually left over at the end of the month.

There are a couple things inside that as well. Everybody needs to have some fun money. You need to have money that nobody can ask you, whether it's $50 or $500 a month, those are the things that need to be established. Because we want to buy a pair of shoes. You just want to save up for it. But also, that way, you can figure out how much money you actually have to put towards investment. Investing is so important.

WILLIS: I have to get you to debt and getting out of debt. Now, you might have paid for that wedding yourself. More and more people do, and you could have crushing debt when you start out. How do you figure out a plan for getting it paid down?

RONEY: Well, your debt is really the first stage of financing. Figure out what high interest debt you have. Make sure that you're paying that off first. And you will have to sacrifice. One of the things, I think, that people just can't face is the reality of, you will not be able to go to that friend's vacation - that friends wedding in the Bahamas. You won't be able to get that flat screen TV. You have to be willing to sacrifice to get out of debt and make a payment plan with yourself to get out of it.

Consolidate on your lowest interest credit card and start paying off. And only at that point can you really start investing.

WILLIS: And you've absolutely got to get that started too because you've got to have savings for the long haul and a nice nest egg.

RONEY: Retirement.

WILLIS: Right. Thank you so much, Carley. Pleasure having you.

More tips now. IRAs let you build tax-deferred savings for retirement. As long as you're bringing in a paycheck, you can open up either a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. You can open up an IRA at either a bank, a brokerage, or a mutual fund company, and your investments can include stocks, bonds, or mutual funds.

Now, if you plan on being in a higher tax bracket in retirement, consider a Roth IRA. Your contributions are not tax deductible, but you'll be able to withdrew your nest egg tax free. For novice IRA investors, mutual funds are a very good option. This way you can leave the stock picking to the pros. Look for a company with a broad choice of funds.

And for more information, log on to cnnmoney.com.

Coming up on OPEN HOUSE, why all the stuff you see on this table could be dangerous to your pets.

But next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: This isn't going to hurt. Come here, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: All right. It might not look like it from this clip, but I'll show you how you can fix your driveway and save some cash.

But first, your mortgage numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: The cracks in your driveway driving you crazy? Don't panic yet. I met up with Tim Hockenberry from the Do It Yourself Network for a driveway makeover that will add character and value to your home and last you a long time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM HOCKENBERRY, DIY NETWORK: We're trying to keep the elements from having an easy shot at the driveway. Those cracks and separations and nooks and crannies will absorb moisture. When they go through the thaw cycle ...

WILLIS: They just open up further, right?

HOCKENBERRY: It expands it out and breaks the driveway apart even more. First task at hand, you need to dig out all this vegetation. You kind of dig it in, give it a hook and pull.

WILLIS: How am I doing so far?

HOCKENBERRY: Excellent. You've had some experience at cleaning weeds. Good job. Get this stuff out of here so that patching compound has got a good surface to stick to.

WILLIS: Now we're going to put the patch in the cracks?

HOCKENBERRY: Well, first we're going to flush this out.

All right. Now you can use your hose to get all of this other vegetation out of our way. You have successfully rinsed, and now it's time to patch.

WILLIS: All right. So here I go.

HOCKENBERRY: Did I mention that it's non-washable and will stain permanently.

WILLIS: Uh-oh. Do I want to pick up all the excess from my ...

HOCKENBERRY: You want to work it all into the cracks that exist. You don't want to leave standing ridges of patch.

WILLIS: OK.

When will this be dry?

HOCKENBERRY: This will take about four to eight hours to set up. And once that's occurred, we can put down another layer, and if necessary, let it cure four to eight hours and then add another layer. We're going to try this bring this up on level. Once that's fully cured, then we can go ahead and put sealer right over the top of it.

But before you get a chance to mess with the really messy stuff, I want you to protect the beautiful white sneakers. You're going to pull a plastic bag onto your foot.

WILLIS: After this, we're walking on the moon.

HOCKENBERRY: Sealer.

We want to make sure we've got a nice even consistency in the material. So you want to bring up that stuff from the bottom.

WILLIS: So that's about how much you want?

HOCKENBERRY: What we're going to try and do is work either side of it. You're going to take it as far as it can go, and then you're going to find it will run very thin, and we'll have to add some more sealant to that area.

We want this to look like it was professionally done.

WILLIS: I think it does. Like that?

HOCKENBERRY: Excellent. Just like that.

WILLIS: So, Tim, let's recap. Step number one, get rid of all those extra plants, right?

HOCKENBERRY: Absolutely. We don't want to embed vegetation in our patch or our sealant. This is material that doesn't wash off. So protect your shoes and protect your hands and wear clothes you can afford to throw away.

After we got rid of all the weeds, we did a good sweep, we did a good rinse, and then we applied our patch.

WILLIS: And the last step, of course, is the sealer, right?

HOCKENBERRY: Correct. We applied the sealer to give the surface good protection from the elements.

WILLIS: And we let that cure for 24 hours.

HOCKENBERRY: Twenty four hours, and you should be able to walk or drive on this without difficulty.

WILLIS: As always, if you have an idea for a weekend project, send us an e-mail to openhouse@cnn.com. And if you want to check out this weekend project again, check out our web site. Cnn.com/openhouse.

Coming up, hidden pet dangers that you might not know about. But first, to a city north of the border that is more than a little dog friendly in this week's "Local Lowdown."

Toronto is the fifth largest city in North America, home to 2.6 million people. Nearly half use public transportation every day, giving it the highest per capita ridership rate on the continent, and it's the safest city in North America. If you want to get a good view of Toronto, stop by the CN Tower at 1,818 feet and five inches it's the largest free stranding structure in the world.

And the city is not just popular among two-legged tourists but the four-legged variety as well. You'll find them this weekend at Woofstock. Nearly 140,000 dog loves and their furry friends are expected. It's the largest outdoor festival of its kind complete with entertainment, pageants, contests, and, of course, the latest in canine food and toys. That's your "Local Lowdown."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: The recent pet food recall has left many pet owners worried about, well, what exactly is your pet eating? But there are other deadly dangers for your pet, and chances are there's one in your house right now. Nate is with Good Housekeeping Research Institute. Ben, welcome. Good to see you.

NATE BENFORADO, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Good to see you.

WILLIS: I read that there were 116,000 complaints to the Animal Poison Control Center last year. I know that people worry about this all the time. The last thing you want to have happen is to have your little kitty or your little puppy hurt in some way by something that's in your house, and you say food is a big problem.

BENFORADO: Food can be a big problem. We've heard about certain common things like chocolate. Most people know, don't give your dog chocolate.

WILLIS: Right. And you can't throw anything off of your plate and give it to your puppy, right?

BENFORADO: One thing we saw was onion and garlic.

WILLIS: We got it here.

BENFORADO: Yeah. It contains compounds called disulfides, and if ingested by a dog or even cat, causes gastrointestinal problems, can even harm red blood cells. So you need to be careful.

WILLIS: So they're going to get sick on your stomach but they're not going to die, right?

BENFORADO: Probably not, but better safe than sorry. Be -- cover your trash. Make sure they can't get into the trash and be careful with leftovers. And if you're baking a roast and throw some onions on there, be careful ...

WILLIS: Great idea. That's actually a great idea. Now, you say xylitol, which is a sugar substitute, is another big problem. And it's in a lot of things you might not think of, like in this toothpaste.

BENFORADO: It's a small ingredient in certain things like toothpaste, certain sugar free candies, chewing gum, and when ingested by dogs, it can cause real problems, it can cause low blood sugar or even liver damage.

WILLIS: Let's talk about pennies. Only pennies made after 1982 are a problem. Why is that?

BENFORADO: Yeah, 1982 they started making them with zinc. Started making them 99.2 percent zinc, high concentration, which unfortunately, toxic to pets.

WILLIS: Toxic?

BENFORADO: What happens is they ingest it. It kind of gets stuck in their stomach, leaches into the bloodstream and can cause severe kidney problems and ...

WILLIS: Not good.

OK. That's a big, big problem. You say pine oil cleaners are a real difficulty for kitties. How come?

BENFORADO: Yeah. They contain compounds called phenols. To us it's not a big deal to us, but you might wipe down your floor. The cat will walk through when still damp and lick their paws, and that can be enough to set off problems, liver damage.

WILLIS: And we forgot to mention macadamia nuts. They're a problem too. They're sitting next to the pine oil so I thought I should mention. You know what I thought was real interesting. Medication bottles. OK. These things -- kids can not open them, obviously, but boy, your puppy dog sure can.

BENFORADO: We talked to one vet who actually just dropped a bottle in front of the dog just to see what happens, and they said within 15 seconds they popped the lid right off.

WILLIS: Wow.

BENFORADO: So you need to be extra careful. It's hard to predict what's going to happen if your dog eats 10 pills of your medication.

WILLIS: We know liquid potpourri is another bad thing. I want you to answer this as well before we have to go which is if you have a problem, what do you do?

BENFORADO: Well, first things first. You really need to figure out what they ate, call the vet immediately, or if you know the number to the Animal Poison Control Center, call them. Get it treated. It's better safe than sorry. Sometimes the symptoms might just subside. But better to get it checked out.

WILLIS: Absolutely, Nate. Thanks for your help today. As always, we thank you for spending part of your Saturday with us. OPEN HOUSE will be back next week right here on CNN and you can catch us on Headline News every Saturday and Sunday at 5:30 Eastern Time.

Don't go anywhere, your top stories are next in the CNN NEWSROOM. Have a great weekend.

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