[HapkidoRN]

[font="Arial"][font="Arial"]I thought I would share where my 'hidden money' has been found. I bet you find some too!

Places where $$ have been hiding:
1. The utility room. I turned down the hot water heater to 115 degrees. Heating it any higher just wastes energy. If you have children, it's also a safety issue. Turning down the hot water heater can save a little one from being scalded. Some people also buy timers that only turn on the hot water heater at certain times, but I think it's just as frugal to simply turn it down. Don't get me wrong, I love a hot shower. But 115 degrees is plenty hot! And don't forget to cover your hot water heater with an insulation blanket!

2. Insurance bill. I choose the highest deductible whenever possible. Sure, if you wreck or something gets stolen, you pay higher out of pocket. But I get through life most of the time without having to file an insurance claim, and that's what I am banking on when I choose the higher deductible. That way, the premiums are lower. If my car is older, I choose only the state required minimum insurance and opt out of the extras.

3. The kitchen. I don't really like to cook, but when I do, I try to plan it with the weather. Yep, the weather! If it's hot, we grill out so we don't heat up the oven and make the A/C work harder to cool the house. If it's cold, we fire up the oven and get to turn down the heat while the oven serves double-duty cooking our food and warming the house! Also, many kitchen food scraps that you would normally throw away can be composted to enrich your soil when planting season comes. (Certain things you don't want to compost, like meat scraps or bones, but even those can be frozen and re-used to make a soup stock or doggie treats).

4. The bathroom. We install aerating connectors to the faucets. Inexpensive and simple to install, low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators can reduce your home water consumption as much as 50%, and reduce your energy cost of heating the water also by as much as 50%. This conservation of water and energy is not only good for the environment, but the savings in your utility bills will pay for the cost of the aerators within a few months. From then on, you enjoy continued savings.
How to tell if you need one:
Faucet: If an aerator is already installed on your faucet, it will have its rated flow imprinted on the side. This should read 2.75 gpm (gallons per minute) or lower. Replace if over 2.75gpm. If no aerator is installed, check to see if there are threads just inside the tip of the faucet. Most modern faucets are threaded to accept aerators.
Shower: Set a 2qt. saucepan on the floor of the shower and position it in the middle of the shower stream. With shower on full, count how many seconds it takes to fill the pan. If it takes fewer than 12 seconds, you could use a low-flow shower head. If you have a low-flow shower head installed, it should read 2.5 gpm or less.
(The above instructions were borrowed from eartheasy.com).
Don't forget, find yourself one of those 10% off coupons from Lowes or Home Depot, and the aerators will cost even less!
Also, we use grey water from the bathroom to water plants. Grey water is water that you wouldn't want to drink because it has been used in some other capacity, such as shower water. As long as there are not harsh detergents such as bleach and ammonia, grey water is usually fine to water your garden or house plants. Just stick your watering can in the shower and let it fill up whenever someone bathes. Then use it to water plants instead of going down the drain.
Also, liquid soap and shampoo can be diluted some to make it stretch without losing its cleaning power.
In the toilet tank thingy, you can put a float booster in to save water (they are about 5 bucks) to save about a gallon of water per flush. Or you can get a couple of small plastic bottles, fill them with a little sand or pebbles to weigh them down, and pop them in the tank thingy away from the operating parts. That will save water too. Just make sure you still have at least 3 gallons in the tank to flush properly.
We also--ahem--shower together whenever the children aren't around. Saves water with romantic benefits! (OK, so it's not super romantic to speed-scrub each other, and our shower is kinda small so we have to take turns under the water, but it's still fun!)
5. The laundry room. We make our own laundry detergent. Our recipe is a little different from the one posted here at AFC, because I prefer liquid detergent (sometimes dry detergent doesn't totally dissolve in my experience), but either recipe would save money on laundry soap. And really, after all these years of being 'new and improved' is TIDE really getting our whites whiter? 'Cos by now, our whites should be blinding us if it is.
[font="Arial"]Also there's the old stand-by of drying your clothes on a clothesline, but I have to be honest and say that we still use the dryer. Also, in winter the laundry room door stay open to share all that cozy heat with the rest of the house.

6. The lawn. This isn't my area of expertise, but we do water the garden and lawn in the evening so all that precious water doesn't evaporate in the sun. Putting mulch around trees and plants also slows the evaporation and keeps weeds from popping up only to steal that water from your bushes and plants. This is a good place to use that compost you've been brewing up from your kitchen scraps! You can also catch water from your drainspouts and from rain to use for watering.
Here in the humid southeast, there are a few plants that do well with low levels of soil moisture so they require less watering. (Examples: Tall blazing star, Longleaf pine, Sand Live oak, Little bluestem, Compass plant. You could probably visit any landscape place in your area to find out what low-moisture plants thrive in your region. Also, universities often have Agricultural Departments or Botany Departments and I have found that they are more than willing to share this kind of info.
Also in our region we are lucky to have some delightful little creatures that help us control garden pests and cut down on chemical pesticides. The lovely Mediterreanean Gecko and Green Anoles enjoy juicy bugs to feast on. And toads of almost any kind are easy to attract in damp places (like a garden!) and also partake of the insect meals. Speaking of pest control, I know that many of you may shudder at the thought of snakes around the house (and if you are in an area where venomous species live, I can understand), but they really are good for controlling rodent populations. I'm am not saying to go out and buy a bunch of snakes and set them loose on your property, but please don't kill them if you see one. If you come across a venomous species, they can be contained with a garbage container over them, and in many places you can call a pest control that will remove them humanely. Remember, rats and mice carry MANY diseases (hanta virus, plague, etc) while the lowly snake really just wants to keep to itself and not bite anybody (except the rats and mice of course!).
Back on topic!
7. The medicine cabinet. Generic (store brand) medicines usually have the EXACT active ingredient as the name brands. Example: Benadryl is dephinhydramine, the active ingredient in Wal-dryl, which is Walgreen's version of Benadryl. Tylenol is acetaminophen. Motrin is ibuprofen. Check the labels to be sure, but generally, you'll find the store brand is a whole lot cheaper for the same med. For prescriptions, Walmart has a whole list of generic prescriptions they sell for 4 bucks (like fluoxetine, the generic version of Prozac). Target is doing the same deal. Ask for the generic and save a bunch of $$! Also, to save on co-pays, you could ask your doctor to write your Rx for a two month supply instead of a one month supply. Two months of meds, one co-pay. Now, I'm not sure if that's totally kosher, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
If you are like me and don't have health insurance, there are a bunch of prescription assistance programs out there. Just do a web search, ask your pharmacist or your doctor. Lot's of 'prescriptions cards' too. They aren't insurance, but they give you a discount for your out of pocket costs. Also, if you can only afford a little medicine at a time, your pharmacist can sell you part of your Rx. I have bought 2 pills at a time until I could afford the whole prescription.

8. The whole house. Negotiate everything. We recently went shopping for a Dora the Explorer bed for our three year old. There were plenty to choose from, but one of the boxes was kinda banged up and smooshed on the corner. The bed inside was perfectly fine, but we asked the Walmart manager if they could cut a deal for the smooshed up box, and voilà! An easy 10% discount just for asking.
I also noticed a finance charge on my credit card bill for 39 dollars. I pay my credit card off IN FULL each month and use electronic bill payment (saves on paper and stamps!) but for some reason the electronic bill payment was posted a day late. I sent a quick email message to Bank of America reminding them of my good history and asking for the charge to be removed, and POOF!! I also buy, whenever possible, products with a money back guarantee. Recently I bought a vitamin supplement for $28 that guaranteed a boost in energy. I didn't feel any change in my energy level, so I emailed the company and and brought the empty bottle with receipt to the store, and got my 28 bucks back.
And don't forget to Freecycle.

9. The car. Ok, so we all know about keeping tires properly inflated to save on fuel, but you can also check gasbuddy.com to see where the lowest fuel prices are in your area. Of course, you don't want to travel a bunch of extra miles to get a few cents off per gallon, but it doesn't hurt to know where the best prices are. We have a Mustang that isn't exactly great on gas so if we happen to be in the area of a lower price, it helps.

10. The office. Turn off the computer when not in use or set it to hibernate instead of standby. Hibernating uses less energy.. The big difference is that your PC has shut down and is not pulling power. Another difference is that your data is saved to your hard disk and not RAM. This makes it a safer, but slower option for shut down and resume. (per lifehacker).
Unplug the cell phone charger when it is done.
Try Smart Web Printing, a FREE download from HP that is great for collecting portions of info from different sites and gathering them to print on one sheet of paper. Paste a bunch of coupons from different sites without printing all that un-necessary text that usually accompanies them. Saves a bunch of paper. Or try Green Print. Unplug peripherals like the printer or fax when not in use. Dim the monitor or set it to dim after a few minutes of being out of use.

Hope some of these aren't repeats from other posts and maybe they can help! HapkidoRN

[starbasset]

:goodpost2:

[beccaj526]

Good tips - thanks!

[Chesney]

THANKS FOR SHARING . . .
THESE ARE ALL WONDERFUL TIPS!!!

May I add one more to your list that I just learned from my son-in-law ? ? ?
When buying NEW TIRES FOR YOUR VEHICLE - - -
you need to:
1. Have Hubby PHYSICALLY look at the tire the Mechanic has installed on your
vehicle before you lay down your cash.
(Many Companies are selling us tires that have been sitting on their shelves anywhere from 1-6 years. Yes, they are still new tires . . . but they have been sitting there dry - rotting. You WILL NOT RECEIVE the same "Bang 4 UR Buck"
as you would for a tire that has been made this year).

In other words . . . AT MY HOUSE IF I pay $200 for a new tire, then I expect to receive a BRAND NEW 2008 TIRE . . .
NOT PAY $200 for a 2002 tire that has been sitting on the companies shelf for six years .

[HapkidoRN]

Thanks for the tire tip~!

[marchfree]

Thanks a bunch!

[angiengary]

thanks for the info

[linz152]

Thanks for the great tips. Would you mind sharing your liquid laundry detergent recipe?

Thanks!
Linz

[HapkidoRN]

Originally Posted by linz152

Thanks for the great tips. Would you mind sharing your liquid laundry detergent recipe?

Thanks!
Linz

I'd be glad to. This is borrowed from Trent Hamm.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Here’s what you need:
- 1 bar of soap (whatever kind you like; I used Lever 2000 because we have tons of bars of it from a case we bought a while back)
- 1 box of washing soda (look for it in the laundry detergent aisle at your local department store - it comes in an Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for six batches of this stuff)
- 1 box of borax (this is not necessary, but I’ve found it really kicks the cleaning up a notch - one box of borax will contain more than enough for tons of batches of this homemade detergent - if you decide to use this, be careful)
- A five gallon bucket with a lid (or a bucket that will hold more than 15 liters - ask around - these aren’t too tough to acquire)
- Three gallons of tap water
- A big spoon to stir the mixture with
- A measuring cup
- A knife

Step One: Put about four cups of water into a pan on your stove and turn the heat up on high until it’s almost boiling. While you’re waiting, whip out a knife and start shaving strips off of the bar of soap into the water, whittling it down. Keep the heat below a boil and keep shaving the soap. Eventually, you’ll shave up the whole bar, then stir the hot water until the soap is dissolved and you have some highly soapy water.

Step Two: Put three gallons of hot water (11 liters or so) into the five gallon bucket - the easiest way is to fill up three gallon milk jugs worth of it. Then mix in the hot soapy water from step one, stir it for a while, then add a cup of the washing soda. Keep stirring it for another minute or two, then add a half cup of borax if you are using borax. Stir for another couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool.

And you’re done. When you wake up in the morning, you’ll have a bucket of gelatinous slime that’s a paler shade of the soap that you used (in our case, it’s a very pale greenish blue). One measuring cup full of this slime will be roughly what you need to do a load of laundry - and the ingredients are basically the same as laundry detergent. Thus, out of three gallons, you’ll get about 48 loads of laundry. If you do this six times, you’ll have used six bars of soap ($0.99 each), one box of washing soda ($2.49 at our store), and about half a box of borax ($2.49 at our store, so $1.25) and make 288 loads of laundry. This comes up to a cost of right around three cents a gallon, or a savings of $70.

Plus, you can make slime in the kitchen - and have a legitimate reason for doing so!

[therbel]

Great post!! TY!