Last week, I discussed some of the ways I try to save money on groceries (shopping sales, clearance sales, menu planning, etc.). Today, I would like to brainstorm other ways to save money. Some of our expenses are pretty fixed (house payment, car payment, insurance payments), so that pretty much leaves utilities and groceries to work with. Some of the ways I can or could save money on utilities:
1. Hang our clothes up to dry instead of using the dryer all the time. Last summer, when our dryer was on the fritz, I was in the habit of doing this. I'd just do a load every night and hang it up to dry with a fan pointing on it and most of the time it would be dry by morning. Of course, some things are harder to hang inside, such as bedding, and we don't have a clothesline outside. I want to try to get myself back in the habit of doing this.
2. We use almost all compact fluorescent bulbs. They cost more initially, but last quite a long time. We have even found them for our living room lights.
3. We need to cover our back door with plastic. The sliding glass door won't open (except with brute strength) and there is a crack where it won't close all the way either. That is a huge money waster. My goal is to have that covered by the end of this next weekend.
4. Make sure that all lights are turned off when not in use.
Any other ideas that anyone wants to share?
Another true confession time: In addition to liking Sonic drinks, our family likes to eat out (too much). At some point, I'll go through our checkbook and add it up just to give you an idea of how much we like it. This is why menu planning is so important. With my job, sometimes at the end of the day, I'm just wiped. If I have something already planned (and started in the crockpot when possible), then I'm not near as tempted to eat out. So my goal there is to continue to menu plan (right now I've got until Thursday night planned). I'll need to get a weekend menu planned and a grocery list done by Thursday. Tom gets paid on Friday so this is my big grocery shopping weekend.
2 comments:
I have actually noticed a difference by blocking off the cold rooms we don't use with blankets at the bottom of the door, so I am sure fixing your back door will help a lot! I try to always make sure I turn off the computer at night. The eating out thing is hard for me in Enid, but I have been doing better myself. If I figure out early in the day what I want to fix, and its already laid out I feel like I have no excuse not to just fix it. We also eat leftovers for lunch a lot at our house. If we do go out to eat, anything thats left, always comes home.
When I was taking night classes, I would make casseroles and freeze them, or make a big Sunday dinner, like turkey or roast with sides, and there would be leftovers for a few days. Then Randy could just heat something for him and the kids for supper.
I noticed cold air coming in at the outlets. We got insulation and put it in all the outlets, and it seems to have helped.
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