Five ways you can save money

You see this puppy?  (Well okay it's a donkey)  I made it.  Yup, just some cereal boxes, cardboard, wrapping paper, tape and time!  It was virtually free because I already had these things in the house! PS Thank You Internet!
When budgets shrink there is cause to be a bit more creative. And with taxes going up for middle class and beyond, it'a time to get busy with some frugality tips. I have asked a many people for ideas and would like to share. :-)
As you know, I have a fascination with the 40's and 50's. And toning down my spending has only helped me to relate and want to dig a bit more into these decades. They were certainly more resourceful and frugal than we are today. All suggestions are things I do. And with no further ado:

Five ways to Save:

1) Make your Milk last longer. When your gallon is half full, supplement with powdered milk. In a seperate bowl mix together water and powdered milk. For every one cup of water add 1/3 cup of powdered milk. Add into jug of milk, close, shake and put in fridge I supplement with about five cups of powdered milk.

2) Hang half your laundry.

3) Turn off your water heater during the day and while you sleep. I have a friend who does this and saves $50 a month!!

4) Do your own oil changes: or have your hubby do it. ;-)

5) Set your thermostat at 65 or below. Ours is set to automatically go down at 62 when we sleep and in the middle of the day.

Other things we are doing:

1) Make our own homemade pizza, pudding, popcorn, pie crust, soft pretzels,

2) Meal planning for the month. I used to do this for two weeks but it's cheaper I beleive for the month.

3) Making my own cleaning products, mouthwash, laundry detergent, toothpaste. If you ask for it I'll be happy to share.

4) Cancelled our netflix account and will be using the library more.

5) Changed my phone plan. I no longer use my iphone as a phone. I don't have a data plan on my phone and cut back my minutes. Saving some moolah.

How do you save??

Comments

Celeste said…
Those are some good ideas; we do a few of those too. Homemade pizza is the best! When we renew our phone contract, we're going to 'downgrade' to non-smart phones and save not just on the phones, but about $25 for the data each month.

Once the weather gets consistently warm we actually turn off our thermostat so the furnace doesn't kick in. We leave it off until about mid-October.

We are also selling things that we don't use (just sold my magic bullet), and it's helped us to earn a little bit extra which has come in handy.
Danielle said…
Celeste,
Those are great things to do!! Keep on keeping on!! :-)
Andrea said…
Magic Jack...if you have the internet already, it's a phone that hooks into that. I was spending $30/month on BASIC phone for the house (I didn't have a cell phone) and then I saw this..it's $20 a YEAR and nice to have if you want to downgrade cell minutes, have an extra phone on hand or whatever. Just thought I'd pass that along.

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