Ideas That Can Truely Help
The last 2 weeks have been nonstop.
I am reaching my goals slowly but surely.... I now have 2 jobs, my normal full time office job and I babysit 44 hours a week (half of it is at night when we are sleeping so no biggie) which helps keep us from being negative as long as we do not have any unexpected bills pop up and we keep everything we can in control expense wise in our budget....
I am having to delay my garage sale again until next weekend- I am just not ready and I am going to need help which I do not have this weekend... And with how exhausted I am and everything else that is going on this weekend maybe it will be better anyways so I don't over-do it.
Tomorrow we are going car shopping. Not necessarily buying anything but we will be browsing and taking notes. If we come across a REALLY good deal we may go for it but I am not in am extreme rush to where I will jump into something without thinking it through.
Last night we went to the grocery store again to grab a few things while they were on sale and for our 4th of July BBQ. I spent $39.99 total and that was after I got just over $60 off = 60% of the bill. We bought jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, a watermelon ($1.99 after my coupon), hot dog buns and hamburger buns for $.88 each, 8 packs of hot dogs (you can freeze them) for $.38 each, 6 things of Jimmy Dean sausage (only $.99 each after my Buy1 Get1 free coupons + $3 more off from 2 other coupons), 2 jugs of Tropicana50 orange juice ($1.48 each after my coupons), a gallon of milk, 2 bags of frozen mixed veggies and 4 bags of frozen bell peppers & onions, and a bag of charcoal. We even got for the little guy I am watching now, one of those teething rings you put in the freezer and a 2 pack of pacifiers (he is teething and we thought he might like to chew on these to help ease his gum pain). So we did really good. As long as I keep my groceries to about $69.23 a week, it will keep me in my $300 a month grocery budget. And so far we are averaging close to that.
We have even gone through the house to figure out some things that will help cut back on expenses:
We have an extra bedroom at the moment that we do not use too much so we shut the AC vent in there and keep the door closed; That way we are not cooling a room that is not being used.
We closed but not completely the AC vents in the bathrooms and the master bedroom closet just a little since we are not in them for extended periods of time and this way the cool air is pushed more to the rooms we occupy the most.
We have replaced the nightlights in the hallway and the kids bathroom with light sensitive ones that only turn on when its dark and turn off if there is light - Our kids like to leave nightlights on...
When coming into the house from the garage, you have to go through our laundry room. We are currently looking into getting the insulation you put on garage doors but to help with the heat we keep the door inside the house going into the laundry room closed.
We are currently price comparison shopping for those smart strips, the power strips that cut off "ghost" power (the power an appliance uses even when it is turned off) to appliances. But in the mean time we keep most of our appliances unplugged when not in use like the toaster oven, coffee maker, tea maker, the video games units like the Wii and PlayStation, the stereo, computer, etc...
We have our AC set at 80 degrees and on auto so it will only go on if it gets hotter than that inside. That might sound hot but it really isn't bad and when you have it as 116 degrees outside from the AZ summer heat- 80 degrees is nice and cool, and if we have company and it starts to feel warm, I don't feel guilty turning it down a couple of degrees to 79-78 as that is still not bad.
We have reset the settings on our drip system so that it only goes once a week, compared to it going everyday like it was set to when we moved in. It only waters the front yard and our front yard is desert landscaping so the plants are native to AZ and are already capable of surviving without a drip system at all, but we do have a few out front that we planted that are low water plants and do need the once a week watering, otherwise we would have completely shut the system off already.
We are only washing our laundry when we have full loads and only in cold water. Down the road I would like to get those energy efficient washer and dryer. But that is something I need to save up for. The ads about getting them for zero interest and no payments for year, etc... are tempting but I do not want to take on anymore debt so I can wait until I have the cash (even if my dryer craps out on me, which I think it might in the next few months or so as it is not drying things as well as it used to), I can just line dry our clothes in the mean time....
We have turned off the heat-dry setting on our dishwasher which is only ran when it is full and now towel dry the dishes before we put them away.
We have replaced all of the lights bulbs in the house and in the outside lights with energy efficient bulbs. And of course we turn of the lights during the day and anytime at night when we are not in the room.
These changes have made a difference I believe. We are in a 2 story house and when we moved in we were told to expect our electric bill to be at least $200-$300 a month, especially during the summer. We have managed to stay at or below $170 a month, which makes me happy!
I think about all of the articles that are about "going green" or saving money that I read and the above items seem to be listed in both a lot of the time. Its makes it a win-win situation in my book.
I am reaching my goals slowly but surely.... I now have 2 jobs, my normal full time office job and I babysit 44 hours a week (half of it is at night when we are sleeping so no biggie) which helps keep us from being negative as long as we do not have any unexpected bills pop up and we keep everything we can in control expense wise in our budget....
I am having to delay my garage sale again until next weekend- I am just not ready and I am going to need help which I do not have this weekend... And with how exhausted I am and everything else that is going on this weekend maybe it will be better anyways so I don't over-do it.
Tomorrow we are going car shopping. Not necessarily buying anything but we will be browsing and taking notes. If we come across a REALLY good deal we may go for it but I am not in am extreme rush to where I will jump into something without thinking it through.
Last night we went to the grocery store again to grab a few things while they were on sale and for our 4th of July BBQ. I spent $39.99 total and that was after I got just over $60 off = 60% of the bill. We bought jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, a watermelon ($1.99 after my coupon), hot dog buns and hamburger buns for $.88 each, 8 packs of hot dogs (you can freeze them) for $.38 each, 6 things of Jimmy Dean sausage (only $.99 each after my Buy1 Get1 free coupons + $3 more off from 2 other coupons), 2 jugs of Tropicana50 orange juice ($1.48 each after my coupons), a gallon of milk, 2 bags of frozen mixed veggies and 4 bags of frozen bell peppers & onions, and a bag of charcoal. We even got for the little guy I am watching now, one of those teething rings you put in the freezer and a 2 pack of pacifiers (he is teething and we thought he might like to chew on these to help ease his gum pain). So we did really good. As long as I keep my groceries to about $69.23 a week, it will keep me in my $300 a month grocery budget. And so far we are averaging close to that.
We have even gone through the house to figure out some things that will help cut back on expenses:
We have an extra bedroom at the moment that we do not use too much so we shut the AC vent in there and keep the door closed; That way we are not cooling a room that is not being used.
We closed but not completely the AC vents in the bathrooms and the master bedroom closet just a little since we are not in them for extended periods of time and this way the cool air is pushed more to the rooms we occupy the most.
We have replaced the nightlights in the hallway and the kids bathroom with light sensitive ones that only turn on when its dark and turn off if there is light - Our kids like to leave nightlights on...
When coming into the house from the garage, you have to go through our laundry room. We are currently looking into getting the insulation you put on garage doors but to help with the heat we keep the door inside the house going into the laundry room closed.
We are currently price comparison shopping for those smart strips, the power strips that cut off "ghost" power (the power an appliance uses even when it is turned off) to appliances. But in the mean time we keep most of our appliances unplugged when not in use like the toaster oven, coffee maker, tea maker, the video games units like the Wii and PlayStation, the stereo, computer, etc...
We have our AC set at 80 degrees and on auto so it will only go on if it gets hotter than that inside. That might sound hot but it really isn't bad and when you have it as 116 degrees outside from the AZ summer heat- 80 degrees is nice and cool, and if we have company and it starts to feel warm, I don't feel guilty turning it down a couple of degrees to 79-78 as that is still not bad.
We have reset the settings on our drip system so that it only goes once a week, compared to it going everyday like it was set to when we moved in. It only waters the front yard and our front yard is desert landscaping so the plants are native to AZ and are already capable of surviving without a drip system at all, but we do have a few out front that we planted that are low water plants and do need the once a week watering, otherwise we would have completely shut the system off already.
We are only washing our laundry when we have full loads and only in cold water. Down the road I would like to get those energy efficient washer and dryer. But that is something I need to save up for. The ads about getting them for zero interest and no payments for year, etc... are tempting but I do not want to take on anymore debt so I can wait until I have the cash (even if my dryer craps out on me, which I think it might in the next few months or so as it is not drying things as well as it used to), I can just line dry our clothes in the mean time....
We have turned off the heat-dry setting on our dishwasher which is only ran when it is full and now towel dry the dishes before we put them away.
We have replaced all of the lights bulbs in the house and in the outside lights with energy efficient bulbs. And of course we turn of the lights during the day and anytime at night when we are not in the room.
These changes have made a difference I believe. We are in a 2 story house and when we moved in we were told to expect our electric bill to be at least $200-$300 a month, especially during the summer. We have managed to stay at or below $170 a month, which makes me happy!
I think about all of the articles that are about "going green" or saving money that I read and the above items seem to be listed in both a lot of the time. Its makes it a win-win situation in my book.
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