Monday, August 6, 2012

12 ways Sam and I save money




1. Only use a clothesline to dry clothes.
If I have delicate clothes(dresses, dress shirts, etc..) In stead of hanging them on the clothesline. I hang them on a coat hanger on my shower curtain rod. This is also how I hang my laundry in case it's raining outside. (I use this thing, for underwear and socks if it's raining.) 

2. Don't eat fast food! 
Instead of eating fast food, we go out to dinner once a month, normally this will cost $25.00.  If we want a treat, we will go to McDonald and get two Ice cream cones, for a total price of $1.65. (Yes, I know your thinking, Ice cream has dairy. But because it's fake ice cream I can eat it and feel fine.) 
*We did make an exception this month, we wanted to support Chick-fil-a last Wednesday, so we did eat out.:)* 

3. Go without a dishwasher
We don't have a dish washer, because there is no space in our kitchen for it AND I did not feel like it was something we needed with just two people. I'm not sure how much money we save, but it's got to be a little? 

4. Buy cleaners from Shaklee! 
I love my Shaklee cleaners, not only are they organic, but they are amazing prices! In March I got one bottle of Basic H(all purpose cleaner) and one of Basic G(stronger, for cleaning bathrooms). For a total of $27.00. For Basic H I add a 1/4teaspoon to 16 oz of water. For Basic G, I add 1 tablespoon to 16 oz.) I LOVE these two cleaners and the great part about them is, I think they will last me all year! Which means I will only spend $27 on cleaning supplies. :D 

5. Wait until you have big loads of laundry to wash clothes and wash in cold water as much as possible! 
I only wash two loads of laundry a week. 1 load of our clothes and 1 load of towels. 
*Side note* I have not made my own laundry detergent yet, because I was given detergent and fabric softener when we got married and I still have more then half a bottle left. But , it's cheaper to make your own and I plan to do so.

6. Cook with a crock pot instead of your oven. 
A crock pot uses a lot less electricity that the oven.

7. Don't run water when brushing your teeth or shaving. 
This can save you up to $70.00 a year! 

8. Adjust your thermostat when you leave the house.
During the day I keep the house at 85. At night around 7:00-8:00 I will turn it down to 80. Doing this could save us $200 a year!  

9. Only use CFL light bulbs.
Right before we got married I had tons of coupons for CLF light bulbs and stocked up! I have yet to use one ;) Because we switched to CLF light bulbs, we could save $210 a year .

10. Go grocery shopping with just cash. 
This way you can't go over your budget! ;) 

11. Drink water
  Not buying soda or other drinks saves so much money.
P.S. But once in a while it's nice to have soda or a special drink for dinner ;) 

12. When you leave the house, carry a water bottle with you. 
I have a water bottle called a nalgene, it's BPA free. I never go anywhere without this bottle. You never know when you might became thirsty.(And water fountains are gross!)

13. Keep track of your change.
Since Sam and I got married we have put all our extra change in mason jars. So far we have almost $60.00 saved up!! 

2 comments:

Butler Family Member said...

Basic H and Basic G are great- we used to use them all the time. They practically last forever!

Rachel Heffington said...

You're doing so well with all of this, Anna! I love reading about your tips and tricks on FB and here. :) Keep up the great work! It's still weird to think of one of my friends being an old married woman now. ;)