Lets do tips to help save money!

[debilorrah]

Well obviously because we like sleeping in the all together, alot of blankets is not preferable. that is why we LOVE the electric blanket.

 

[lotzahenz]

We grow our own food as much as possible. We canned cherries, grape juice, jelly, tomotoes and froze corn. We also killed our own pigs and made sausage for the first time ever. We are storing apples and potatoes. I also like the idea of the Sour Dough starter and making homemade bread to freeze.

We have all our friends, co-workers and family save egg cartons. We also feed leftovers to the birds, then compost their litter, which fertilizes the garden, which feeds us, then ................on and on. OH, and never name your supper first.

I also recycle the egg shells for the wild birds and the hens, mixing it up with some lard and peanutbutter and hog feed or cornmeal to make suet.

 

[BonnieMiranda]

I keep a plastic container with a lid in the freezer. When I have leftover vegetables from a meal - corn, peas, almost anything that is not enough to justify me putting it away in the fridge, I toss it into the container.

When I want to make vegetable soup, I empty the container into the crockpot. It's nice because everything is pre-seasoned and it keeps me from wasting anything.

I wish this was my idea, but my sister started it.

 

[taz2]

"Vent your drier inside the house during the winter! Don't worry about a system from Home Depot - you can do that ,, they're not that expensive, I just aim the vent into a large bowl of water to collect lint and deflect the air. Between that and the wood heater we haven't had our heat on yet this year...." quote from I Have What In My Yard

I spoke to my DH about this. He was a plumber and said I should write and tell people to be careful, be sure to have a carbon monoxide detecter in your home. This could be very dangerous, gas dryers put out carbon monoxide which of course you know is deadly We just want to be sure everyone is safe.

 

[BettyR]

Quote:
We have very poor soil here...most people ranch here because about the only thing you can grow here is grass. But we do hay bail gardening and it works very well. I don't know if you have access to hay where you are but a simple wooden frame with some plastic sheeting over it, some hay and a little heat and you could have a nice garden.

Here on the Gulf Coast we get winter on a Wednesday some time in December or January then Spring comes at the end of February. We can pretty much grow food all year long here with the hay bales.

Check out these sites and see if you think this is something you could do.

http://www.co.clay.mn.us/Depts/Extensio/ExAPHydr.htm

http://www.hvtd.com/?q=node/565

I don't use pesticides so I have a little bug activity but I also have a healthy population of Anole lizards living in my garden and they keep the insects down to a minimum.

 

[junebug7334]

Betty cool idea!

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Learn to hunt and fish.

Learn to utilize wild plants in your diet, they are free and nutritious and grow well on their own.

Learn to can and dry foods.

Burn wood to heat your homes. I bought property that has a life time supply of trees. I cut and split my own.

Install an on demand water heater. That saved me $20 per month on the electric bill.

I never heat my bedroom, ever, most of the time my window is open, even in the winter! All the bedroom doors stay closed in the house and are not heated.

Raise and process your own livestock, if you are urban, join a CSA and get more people to join it. The more involved will bring prices down. Process extra cocks and cockerels for your dog food if you don't want to eat them.

Stop eating out, prepare your own meals! Cooking is fun. Food is much cheaper this way.

I only grocery shop or get supplies on the way home from work. I never make a trip on the weekends, ever. The car stays parked.

Compost and garden. I find I only need to mow once a year, the chickens and ducks keep everything clipped.

My best buy this year? A yogurt maker, it is easy to use and much cheaper than store bought. I drop a spoonful of my own elderberry jelly into the finished yogurt, yum!

Read product lables in the stores, TRY to buy American (or what ever your Country might be). Avoid Chinese made goods.

Cancel your cable/satellite and cell phones. We all lived very well with out them not all that long ago. Yes, you can....

 

[barnkat]

Good thread...yay for recycling, buying used, bartering, DIY ingenuity and just plain being CHEAP!

Trading is good for cheap media. There are some good websites for trading books, cds, dvds & video games that I've been using for a few months and liking a lot.

paperbackswap.com for books (not just paperbacks), also has links to their cd & dvd swap sites. You can search for what's available and also put things on your wishlist that aren't currently up for trading...it's important to get a good wishlist going right away, to get in line for what you want as soon as you can. Long lines for good chicken books! Also, trade credits are transferable around their different sites, so you could trade cds for books or whatever, which is nice.

goozex.com for video games. Seems to be the most used and cheapest.

 

[SarahF]

Oh, I forgot to add before, I'm using cloth diapers (www.mother-ease.com) on my daughter Avery and breastfed until I found out I was pregnant again (8 months)! That all saves alot of money!

 

[HennysMom]

My printers going to be on overdrive when I cut and paste all these wonderful ideas! I'm in the process of putting them into a Word Doc and then will mass mail in email to all my friends (good idea everyone..share the wealth, right?)

Seems most of us keep the heat set (regardless if electric or gas) right around 65 - 67 degrees. Another great tip, run a humidifier or just put a pan of water out (especially if you have wood stoves, set it right on top of the woodstove, but be very mindful so it doesnt catch on fire please!). Our house is 2100 sqft, all electric baseboard (ugh) - and we keep the temp year round at 68 in here. During the winter we run 4 humidifiers between the upstairs and downstairs areas (cost is about $8.00 a month to run all of them 24/7 - our electric cost per day averages about $4.00 per day now *running all 4 humidifiers currently, its cold!* and during the full blown winter, about $5.25 max according to our electric bill usage). Just by running the humidifiers, it brings the temperature up in our house on average 4 degrees and it feels MUCH warmer in here, not to mention no more stuffy noses! Everyone that comes in always asks us what our heat is set at and we tell them "A constant 68 year round" they tell us their heat is set at 75-78

and its still very cold in their house - I would die if my heat were set that high not to mention what my electric/gas bill was!

So - run at least one humidifier if possible. Our are 1.5 - 2 gallon units and we fill them up every 2 days on average if we run them on high. The cost in the long run is much cheaper than turning up the thermostat and we can actually wear shorts in our house during the winter....(of course, I dont...I'm always cold)