So, what I'm asking is just for good ideas. If we all try to come up with ideas then sometimes one idea sparks another we may have missed. Like Hawkeye, with her insurance claim, if someone hadn't mentioned the carseats it may have been totally overlooked and that's important. Think: recipes with very few ingredients, supplementing income even if it's a little, saving energy to keep that electric bill down. Any way you can contribute to the idea pool, that is appreciated. Even though this was sparked to help maidenwolf, there are others reading who may see it and think Oh, I can do that. We never know how we can affect or help another.
This is a wonderful idea. I'm always looking for more ways to cut our bills. I've enjoyed this discussion of food because our food bill is so much higher now. The bag of groceries that cost me $20 a couple of years ago (and I complained about that!) now costs $50. Gas goes up every year, both for our cars and for our house. Our health insurance is looking for more and more exclusions, and is making us have to supply more and more information and work back and forth for what we do get. Sometimes I think they're just trying to wear us down so we'll quit without them having to pay. DH finally got a cost of living raise, the first in years, but it's nowhere near equal to how much living costs have increased THIS year, never mind all the years he didn't get one. And many people never get cost of living raises.
1. Hang clothes outside to dry versus using a dryer. I figure every time I dry a load of clothes in the dryer, it adds about $2 to my electric bill. Even if you don't have a clothesline set up, you can hang clothes on hangers from the ceiling fan, over the banisters, etc. Sure it looks messy for a few hours but as soon as they're dry, you can fold and put them away and get your living space back.
Some places don't allow clothes hanging outside, or you might have a family member like DH, who doesn't want stuff hung outside for a variety of reasons that make little sense to me. He also complained no end about how stiff he thought his clothes were (even though they become unstiff almost instantly after you put them on). So what I do is put them in the dryer for 10 minutes, then hang them up in the basement.
2. Turn the thermostat lower in winter and higher in summer. We set it to about 85 in summer and 60 or so in winter. Saves a TON on our electric bill not to have those appliances running all the time. In winter we wear more clothes, cover our laps with a blanket, and use hot water bottles to stay warm. And stay active - as long as we're on the move we don't get cold.
We do this, too. We also use our fireplace to heat the house as much as we can in winter. It does a pretty good job until temps get below freezing. Anytime we're driving around town and see a tree cut down, DH offers to clean it up in exchange for the wood. People we mow for will also hire us to cut down trees or clean up fallen limbs. One thing we don't do is buy wood, it's very expensive.
3. Pare down services like cable, internet etc. Our family does not have a TV service. I was spending $80/month for Dish and felt frustrated every time a storm took the service out, or disrupted its recording. Once our contract was up, we dropped the service and switched to Netflix. Now for $16/month we have unlimited streaming and 1 DVD out at a time. The kids can sit and watch their favorite TV shows via the instant streaming and without commercials. I found I didn't miss it at all and rarely watch anything.
4. Talk to the cell phone company about reducing services/plans. We don't have a data plan since I figure I can get all the online content I want via my computer. We consolidated our services into a family plan that saved us a bunch. Then last week I had occasion to call our cell phone company and learned that we can switch to a new plan that will be $20 less than we are paying now and give us more minutes to share. So it doesn't hurt to check in with the cell phone co. from time to time to see if they have new rates and plans available that will save money.
You can also go with no-plan cell service. Wal-Mart has a variety of options for both regular and smart cell phones. The only drawback is that you have to come up with the money to buy the phone in the first place, but your savings will probably pay it off fairly quickly.
5. Insurance - see if you can drop any. If you have a car fully paid off you no longer need to carry the full insurance on it and dropping to third party only on an older car not only makes sense but will save a fortune.
6. Grocery shopping. The first place I stop when I go to the store is the clearance rack. When items are getting close to expiration, the manager will reduce the price to about half of the original to move them. I stock up on canned goods this way and other non-perishables. I've bought bottles of Sunscreen for under $1 for a large bottle. I mentioned yesterday, getting about 60 boxes of wholewheat pasta for .69 apiece. Those last forever and two years later I still have a few boxes left. After the clearance rack, I go to the produce section and look for marked down items there too. Most of the greens we eat in our salads are reduced to half their original price because they were close to expiration. If you pick and choose carefully you can often get things that are still edible as long as you are willing to eat them that day or the next. I buy every red-taped banana there is. DH likes them over-ripe anyway, and what he can't eat, I put in the freezer. A frozen banana is better than an ice-cream on a stick and healthier too.
I also buy a particular brand of chicken any time I see it marked down. I can get 2-3 meals worth of chicken thighs for a couple of bucks. I divide them up and freeze them.
7. Coupons. Be careful here because coupons are generally for name brand items and even with the coupon the product is more expensive than the store brand. However if the name brand item is on the above mentioned clearance rack, you can still use the coupon. That and a store that doubles coupons can be a real bonus. There are times the store has actually paid me to walk out with something. For example, one time I found a bag of Iams cat food on the clearance rack for $2.99. I had a coupon to get $3 off any size bag of Iams cat food. So I walked out of the store with a penny and a 15-pound bag of cat food. Another time the Yoplait yogurt had been reduced to 10c apiece because they expired the next day. I had a coupon to save $40 off 6 and the store doubles coupons up to $1. So I took home 6 tubs of yogurt and 20c to boot.
Yeah, I've found that, for the few things I can even use a coupon on, it's still usually cheaper to buy the store brand. Definitely compare per unit prices. It's a good idea to keep an eye on that anyway. For example, I buy the store brand of raisins. Sometimes the raisins in the big tub are cheaper per ounce and sometimes the ones in the smaller box are cheaper. It changes every few months. Don't take for granted that because a certain size or brand is cheapest this time, it will be the cheapest next time.
8. Reward programs - join every one that is free but don't change your shopping habits. I never buy something just to get the rewards points, but if it was something I was going to buy anyway, why not get the points? By shopping at Dillons, for every $100 I spend, I save 10c in gas. At QuikTrip, every dollar I spend in the store or every gallon of gas I buy, gets me 1/2 cent off. One refill of my tank gives me 7c off at the pump the next time I fill up. It sounds like not everyone has access to those two stores, but whatever stores you do have in your area, ask them if they have a rewards program and if its free, join it.
9. Credit cards. This is iffy because it takes self-discipline. Personally, I have and use credit cards - I rarely have cash. I have several cards that give me rewards points based on the type of purchase. One gives me 3 points for gas, hardware store, restaurant and office supply store purchases. Another gives me 3 points at grocery stores. Both give me 1 point for every purchase that doesn't fall in those categories. Those above categories are the things I spend at the most, so for almost every purchase, I am getting 3% off. I pay the card off in full every month so I never pay interest or late fees (have it set up to auto pay on the due date), plus, every other month or so, I have earned enough points to get a statement credit of either $50 or $100.
10. Surveys. Okay, here is a good one for you Maidenwolf. If you go to e-rewards.com, you can sign up to take surveys and they pay you for it. You fill out a profile about yourself and when they have a survey they think you will qualify to take, they send you an email, inviting you to participate. I take 2-3 surveys a week and get paid anywhere from $2.50-$10 per survey depending on how long it takes. Now, those aren't true dollars because when you go to redeem your reward, it takes up to 3x the reward dollars for actual dollars. But - the rewards are decent. They have gift cards and you can redeem for Gamestop, Itunes, or Target. For example, for 75 reward dollars, I can get a $25 Gamestop gift card. For 145 reward dollars, I can get a $50 Gamestop or Itunes gift card. All it takes is my time, which I have, and for my kids birthdays and Christmas, they almost always get gift cards to Gamestop and Itunes. My kids have no idea how I obtain those cards and to me they are "free" because although my time is valuable, I didn't have to go out and find the money to buy those gift cards. It takes awhile to build up the reward dollars so you may not be able to do anything with them by Christmas this year but by their birthdays and Christmas next year, you will have enough saved up to get them something.
Thank you for sharing, I appreciate all the support I can get and you all are great and I really didnt mean to turn this thread into this, but I so needed it. It is very impowering and makes me feel confident. thank you all so so much for all you are doing. I really need to proritize and start planning . I am loving the info coming in I feel hopeful and very proud to have you all as friends.
Personally, I'm glad the thread turned into this because I'm learning from it, too!
I make nearly all of my own cleaning supplies.
- Vinegar and/or baking soda will clean most of the stuff in my house. I have some recipes for heavier-duty cleaners as well, using a little ammonia or rubbing alcohol.
- Dust sprays are expensive, as are all those Swiffer-type disposable cloths. I use a microfiber cloth sprayed lightly with water. The water picks up and holds the dust but it isn't wet enough to damage any woodwork.
- I make my own laundry detergent (though I've been using a powder recipe that does contain borax) and use vinegar instead of fabric softeners. Thanks for the homemade "Shout" stain formula; I tried using just Dawn and it wasn't that effective.
- I make my own foaming hand soap using 1/5 liquid castile soap and 4/5 water in an old foaming soap dispenser.
- I don't use any facial cleansers. I use a mineral makeup, so when I wear it, it still washes off with water. If you wear mascara, it can be removed with olive oil. Most days I just "wash" my face with water and a washcloth. I often follow up with a toner made of witch hazel if I think I've gotten particularly dirty that day. I moisturize with pure aloe vera gel when it's humid, and a very thin coat of oil in winter. You could use almond, apricot, olive or coconut oil. About once a week I use an oil cleanser to clean my face:
http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/
- Most days a bath without soap is sufficient, or I just soap my armpits, and I only wash my hair 2-3 days a week. I've tried a number of homemade shampoos and whatnot, but apparently my hair is one place I need to splurge. I use a very thick conditioner that cleanses. It's expensive, but it lasts me a long time since I don't have to use it that often.
- We brush our teeth with baking soda. There are several "recipes" for baking soda based tooth powders, but really all you need is the baking soda.
- I can't use this, but I make deodorant for DH. You start with baking soda. If that's too harsh, cut it with cornstarch. His formula is about 1/2 and 1/2. If that's too drying, you can mix it with a little coconut oil to make a paste.
I did try a homemade dishwasher formula, but it left a nasty film on my dishes.
Back on food, I also buy the 2 pound bags of beans and cook the whole thing at once. I put them in baggies in 1 and 2 cup amounts and freeze them.
I don't wash anything until it's actually dirty or smells. If I wore a shirt for the evening to visit my parents, I hang it back up in the closet. We hang our bath towels up to dry and reuse them multiple times before washing.
We don't flush every time. As the saying goes, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down."
As for making extra money, any services you can provide for people might work. It depends on your ability to get to them. We mow lawns and do other yard work, as well as general handyman work for one of our people. I have cleaned the occasional house in the past. Bartering instead of buying is also a good way to save money. You might not always need a product. You could barter housecleaning or errand running or some other service in exchange for goods.
The stories about ex-husbands have actually given me an appreciation for my ex. He moved to Texas and we've never seen or heard from each other since!
