Susan Brannon
3 August 2011
1) Dry your clothes outside, instead of using the energy. Your clothes will last longer too! The savings is not so much, but it does add up, the
average load of drying your clothes costs you: $.50 a load for electric, $.25 for gas. Multiply that number by your loads, and if you hang up your clothes, you can save that money towards your credit card debt!
2) Buy only
one all purpose cleaner. You do not need 10- Example: (aprox. values prices found on
Netgrocer (I listed their cheapest prices)
glass cleaner - 3.85 Borax $5.15
floor cleaner - 4.49 Vinegar and Water
Bathroom/cleaner - 4.59 for glass and more! .95
toilet cleaner - 3.19
total: $16.12 Total $6.10
A savings of $11.00
Things that Borax can do:
Ant repellent 5.39
carpet stain remover $4.49
car wash cleaner 3.59
unclog drains 4.49
week killer 5.69
Total: $23.65
Grand Total: $39.77
Savings of: $33.67 for two months that is:
$16.84 Per Month!
3)
Use vinegar and water and and old spray bottle for washing windows! Use old newspapers to wipe with. $.95
4)
Get rid of cable TV or switch to basic. $75.00 per/month (
Comcast)
Basic cost $20.00
Savings? $55.00 per/month
5)
Use Netflix or Hulu in place of cable. It is less expensive, no commercials and you can watch great movies and documentaries!
6) If you can, stop your internet at home and
use the library instead.
Savings of $35.00 per month
7)
Set your thermostat lower in the winter and higher in the summer. Each degree you turn down the heat saves 3 percent of heating costs, while each degree you raise the temperature of your air conditioner saves 3-4 percent of cooling costs.
8)
Change to florescent bulbs (if you can stand it) Or go, High Intensity light(HTL):
Example: a 60 watt light bulb cost the average of
$6.81 per month to use. A fluorescent bulb is
$1.60 a HIL is $3.21
Let's say that you have five 60 watt bulbs in your house: that is
$34.05 per month. A flourscent is:
$8.00 per month
A Savings of: $26.05 per month. or
HIL- $16.05 a Savings of
$18.00 per month. Anyway you look at it, you are saving something....
9)
Do the house repairs yourself.
10)
Sell one of your cars. Do you really need two cars? If you only have one, think of using your bike more.
11) Try to
carpool.
12) Take
public transportation or ride your bike! In some cities you can purchase a monthly pass for $60.00 per month. If you are spending $250.00 a month on gas going to and from work you can save
$190.00 per month! It might do you some good to do some walking to keep your body moving, in rain, snow or sunshine.
13) Don't drive around with an
empty tank of gas, the gas evaporates faster that way. Keep it at least half full if you can. Plus, you never know when the prices will go up!
14)
Grow a garden.
15)
Quit eating and buying all junk food. Simply put, pre-made junk food costs more.
Example: Healthy Choice Chicken with Rice at
$2.95 a 15oz can. Serves 2 people, but you will not get full and the product is all processed food and not really a full meal.
1 chicken (Organic) $6.99
bag of vegys (organic) $2.69
1 onion .50
Total
$10.18 Now that does
not seem like a savings, but read on....
You can use this chicken and cook it in your
crock pot, remove 1/2 of the chicken and put it in a pan, mix your vegetables and cut up onion, throw in a little rice (.69 16 oz) That meal will cost you:
$6.68, BUT! You will have more than one meal, you can use the
leftovers for your lunch at work, and
another dinner (for two) Instead of getting just one meal, you now have 4 meals the real cost for you first meal (and the other three) is:
$1.67 Now that sounds better doesn't it?
A
savings of: $1.28 Now, you still have another 1/2 of a chicken to make another meal with as well.
16) Make your own laundry detergent and household cleaners.
17) Use
crystal deodorant, it is healthier, because of the lack of aluminum and last longer, but costs more...but will save you in the long run.
18)
If you smoke, roll your own. You will smoke less, and maybe you can work towards quitting? More on that later....
19)
Ride a motorcycle...saves on gas! A motorcycle gets an average of
56 miles to the gallon. The
car gets an average of 25mpg. At the current average cost of gas at
$4.00 per gallon. Example: The average car holds 16 gallons of gas. You use one tank a week at the cost of
$64.00 per week. You can drive 400 miles on that tank of gas. With a motorcycle you can drive the
same distance for $28.74. That is a $36.00 per week savings
or $144.00 per month! Women can use motorcycles too, why not?
20) Consider a
pay-as- you-go mobile phone. The average cost for a mobile phone is $50.00 per/month; Virgin mobile prepay is $25.00 per month for 300 talk minutes and unlimited data. That is a
$25.00 per month savings.
21) Sell your clutter on
E-Bay or a garage sale.
22) Use
your talents to earn extra cash.
23)
Shop around for the cheapest car insurance. You may find quite a savings out there! Example: If your car is old and you do not get comprehensive: you can pay as low as
$522 per year.
Premium plans cost anywhere from
$1,000 per/year to $4,000 per year depending on your risk factors. By shopping around, you may be able to save up to
$500 per/year or more. That is a
$41.66 per month savings!
24)
Learn to say "NO" when friends ask you to go out all the time. If you spend 20 dollars on drinks three times a week, that is a
$60 dollars weekly at a
savings, $240 dollars a month, that you can put towards your credit card debt.
25) Try to talk your family into the
Christmas lottery idea. Put a limit on the price to let's say 50$. You can save at least 100 dollars with this idea! Depending on the size of your family, at least there are three people you buy for!
26) Consider
paying for your car insurance 6 months at a time: most insurance companies offer a discount when you do this.
27) Every time you wash your clothes, put the amount that it would cost at the laundry mat in a
jar on top of your washer instead! It costs .
50 cents per/load to wash and 1.00 per load to dry. Hang up your clothes instead, but if you can't hang out your clothes put
1.50 in a jar each time you wash clothes. Take that money saved and put it towards your electric bill, or your credit card
debt. If you wash 3 loads a week, you will save $9, that is
$36 a month!
28) Don't buy
payment protection for your credit cards. You can save $100.
29)
Avoid extended warranties. Most goods are reliable, how many times has your fridge broken down? Do you need to add $15 dollars to that toaster?
30) Remember: If you don't need it, don't buy it!
This page has a total of $909.15 in possible savings per month!
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