**Bumped, 8/23/22 8:30pm ET**
My jaw came near the floor when I opened July’s electricity bill to find a notification of a 28% increase in electricity rates, effective immediately. An increase of 28%…. just like that. This month, August, even higher with less use.
After the initial shock wore off, I started thinking about what this means to the working-class people in my community.
Already struggling with a doubling of gas prices, massive food price increases at the grocery store and the pain of all costs for goods far outpacing any rate of wage increase, this type of uncontrollable increase in price of electricity is going to hit hard.
In the past we have used CTH threads to spotlight the smart thinking and resourcefulness of Treepers from all walks of life. A discussion thread where people can share tips, things that can actually be done, to help offset the financial pressures during severe economic times. I think we may all benefit from starting a series of post like that again.
Let us share our wisdom and experience again. There are many thousand who will benefit, as I have always done, from reading your smart tips and suggestions.
What ideas, tips and suggestions do you have to help people save money on ordinary life and living expenses?
These are painful economic times and the stress that is caused by financial worry is some of the most horrific family stress that people can face. Let us come together with tips as a community to help each other. No suggestion is too small. What advice do you have that can help people save money on monthly expenses?
During one of our previous discussions someone gave a tip about putting a clean dry towel in the clothes dryer as a way of cutting down drying time and energy used. I tried it and jumping ju-ju-bones it worked fantastically. Simply putting a dry towel into the dryer when you add the wet clothes from the washer reduces laundry drying time by around 25%. Not only does that save time, but it also saves money – and it was so simple.
So, what suggestions do you have? Tips about anything and everything that might lower the monthly cost of ordinary life. No tip is too small. No suggestion is too odd. Your advice can/will make a difference.
Please use the comments section to drop your advice.
Thanks again for being part of our fellowship.
Love to all.
Check you oven for a dehydration setting(180F or so). Dehydrate all the food you can get your hands on and store in a Mason jar. Be sure to put in a food-grade moisture absorber.
Hang in there folks.
Unfortunately it is not inexpensive and it may take 3 years to realize a return but if you can spray foam your attic either the roof or attic floor you will cut energy usage in half
They charge per square inch and even 1 inch of coverage well seal air passage through the roof. Air movement is the biggest loss by far energy. You can spray 6 inches of open cell foam and reach your R 42 requirement or spray 1 inch of foam and add fiberglass batting. This helps in longevity of equipment as well.
A word of caution on foaming the floor: Remediate any mold issues before spraying.
This ^^^^. Insulation, in my limited research admittedly, is the *best* way go. I didn’t have the money to do it though.
But, if you’re ok w/slightly less efficiency at reduced initial cost and are capable of doing some handyman work yourself, buy some rolls of ‘attic-foil’ and put that up in the attic.
Begin long ramble-tron about installing attic-foil:
TL;DR; you can google/youtube tons of vids on this… I’ll** just babble out my experience anyway, maybe it’ll be entertaining to some.
It goes by several names, just google ‘attic foil’. You staple it to the rafters*. It does not follow the contours of each rafter.. you are spanning them with the foil. It does not have to look pretty (unless you’re uptight about such things), there can be little gaps all over the place and you don’t have to have 100% coverage to realize a benefit (but more coverage yields more benefit of course). Some areas of your attic are just going to be tough to crawl over to and if you can’t get to them, its ok. Everything you can cover takes off some of the IR load and is worth doing.
Probably the first thing to do: get up in your attic and survey it for mobility-concerns. If your house has multiple attic areas, lather-rinse-repeat. The primary goal is to cover the largest space you can reasonably get to. If you do this survey and can’t see an easy way to get anywhere, then go no further and explore other options. Don’t hurt yourself or fall through the ceiling if you have to be a gymnast to reach any part of your attic.
You’re basically making an infrared ‘shade’ in the attic… it reflects this heat back up into the roof. It does nothing for convective heating (so make sure your vents/fans are working well!), it is an infrared blocker (as far as I’ve ever read/understand). There are arguments that this could overheat the roof, do your own research and decide if you believe those arguments. The fact that a lot of new-build homes come with foil backed roof decking as standard, to me, indicates that this ‘roof heating’ is not a real concern.
The rolls are like 50′ by 3′ or so (don’t quote me, I did mine ~5 years ago)… so just do basic eyeball math, buy one extra roll and start stapling it up. If you have limited mobility, this may not be a thing you want to try… you’ll be up in a dusty, cramped space. There are folks that you can hire to do this job, but then you’re getting closer to the costs of the foam insulation installers and ought to just go that way b/c that’s a better benefit overall. You can do it yourself, I did.. but a buddy/helper would be better.
Wear some kind of coveralls + eye-pro to keep yourself out of the insulation… assuming you have fiberglass insulation. If you have something that doesn’t cut you up like razorwire, then factor that in.
Unless your whole attic is already decked, you’ll need to buy several sheets of at least 1/4″ (3/8″ would be better) masonite so you can make sort of a movable ‘decking’ to move around on. I’d say plywood, but last I looked, plywood was still pretty pricey… up to you.. plywood is preferred (stronger) if you can swing the $. Factor your weight in… I’m 175lbs, so 3/8 masonite was fine, prob overkill (btw, not ‘pegboard’… holes make it weaker).
If you have a better suggestion for this, go for it… masonite was cheap enough for me at the time, and I didn’t fall through it, but I freely admit there are surely better options that I’m not aware of. I think I bought a 4×8 sheet, and had it ripped into 4 equal parts at the big box store… that makes them not too heavy to push around with one hand while lying on your back in a cramped spot… you do have to kind of futz with them to get good coverage. Its fiddly, just accept this won’t be a breezy, comfy job before you start. You will ‘feel it’ at the end of the job, and if it takes several days (mine did), it’ll suck for a week.
The whole point of the movable decking is to just have something you can slide along under your back and backside as you are stapling this foil up over your head to the rafters. For all of the middle of the attic, you’ll prob be able to stand, so that’s easy.. but when you get to the pinchy-points where the roof starts to meet the soffit, you’ll have to crouch, and then lie down.. and lying on joists hurts, and you’re liable to fall through the roof into the living room if you aren’t careful… or lose your stapler in the insulation between the joists etc… . Its nice to have something right next to you to put stuff down.
When stapling, there’s no worry about making it all even.. you’re just trying to get the stuff stuck to the rafters… if you put 5 staples in one run and three on the next, who cares… as long as you tack the leading edge, the middle and the bottom edge, that’s fine. Tautness is just ‘reasonable’.. you don’t have to obsess about it. Do your best, make it as flat as you can is all… ‘as you can’ (note, this implies you’ll prob not be perfect and that’s ok). If you wind up with long wedge-shaped gaps between runs/rows and you’re worried it’ll ‘leak’… who cares!.. run another row that covers that gap and presto.. no more gap… that’s why you buy an extra roll.
There’s youtube videos showing how it goes up, watch those, get a feel for it… have a convo with yourself if you’re up to it before you buy anything. Expect issues.. expect stapler jams, expect dropping things… don’t get flustered. It does no good to buy all the stuff, spend 30min struggling to get one piece up and then giving up.
It will (likely) be a cluster when you first get started, just push through… it eventually makes sense and you’ll make headway.
You will absolutely notice a difference in the bill. I never quantified numbers, sorry…but I’m sure the ‘net has lots of breakdowns. Just on installation day alone, you’ll feel the difference while you’re under the foil even just as you’re stapling it up. That alone told me this was worth doing… I’d say it was a good 15deg cooler ‘under the foil’ even before it was stapled to the rafters… poke your head out… feels like an oven, tuck back under.. less hot.
You’ll want to wait until it cools down in your area before doing it though, so it’s not a quick-fix for ‘today’. I was dumb and did mine in the summer… prob just about died 3 times from heat exhaustion. Dumb. Don’t do what I did. If you insist on being dumb like me, aim a sprinkler at your roof (the outside of course!) to water it down the whole time you’re up there… it takes some heat out of the equation. A smarter bear would disconnect an AC duct and point it at their working area, I was not that bear (learned about that trick after I was done when my AC guy was up there doing some maintenance).
*buy a -good- ‘construction’ type stapler… the kind your whole hand wraps around (I used a ‘reverse’ action type where you are pulling the handle closed with your long fingers primarily vs the little ‘tail’-lever kind that rely on pinky/palm)… Do not try to get by with the ol’ red swingline from Milton’s desk.
**long time lurker, super-duper rare poster… but I felt like this was something I could weigh in on b/c normally, I have no good observations to contribute other than ‘I agree!’ or something equally useless. Y’all say it so much better than I can.
Thank you, friend.
I was a single mom in Eastern Canada, living rent-free with my two kids in a drafty uninsulated old farmhouse.. In the winter months we closed away all other areas of the house and lived in the big kitchen with its wood-fired cook stove. It was fun, like camping, and brought us closer together. It became part of celebrating snowfall and Christmas. Along about Valentine’s Day, as cabin fever began to set in, it also was lovely to move back into our very own bedrooms.
I don’t see why that couldn’t be done in cities too. Just be sure your plumbing doesn’t freeze ! You can drain any extra bathrooms, or keep them just a bit above freezing, with a couple well-placed freeze alarms.
We had a similar experience. Yes, it is sort of fun but great to get your space back. I agree. Reduce living space during the winter, or reduce/cut heating in rooms being used very little.
Another tip: warm neck and ears (neck scarfs) as well as feet (warm socks) make you feel ‘less cold’!
We used to have sleeping porches, usually outdoors and with a ceiling g fan, for sleeping outside on bD night. On cots. Often helped. Turn the AC down (not off) in the usual rooms.
In winter, we would move beds into the LR or FR (wherever the stove was), and reduced the number of rooms needing heating.
Ceiling fans.
James, thanks for all the info on attic foil. As a builder and re-modeler, I strongly agree with most of what you wrote re foil except to add that I prefer to use it in the attic to ISOLATE the crawl spaces from the living space, but not the inside of the rafters since that will tend to trap hot air in the attic. I much prefer OPEN rafters. I further recommend spray foam insulation on VERTICAL walls only, and this mostly only in new construction. (Somewhere between fiberglass bats and spray foam is BLOWN IN insulation.) For absolutely the most bang for the buck, install one or more thermostatically controlled Broan exhaust fans in the crawl space, either in the gable ends or in the roof or both, depending on the situation. You want the attic space to BREATHE! Finally, ceiling vents that empty into the attic space help to vent hot ceiling air in the summer and, in conjunction with attic fans, can bring in cooler air at night from open windows. People should look into creating an attic “air plenum” upstairs for maximum ventilation. Respect
Awesome!, thanks for the more informed info! It’s good to hear from someone that does this for real. Folks, listen to this man!
I forgot to mention it in my write up, but I did leave the 2′ or so either side of the ridge vent open (no foil) for air to get to it from all-over, and I left the bottom 1′ or so at the rafter-joist joint open.. I figured air might ‘duct’ in there and move up above the foil and exit towards that ridge-vent. That was the thought at the time anyway. My house just has a hip-roof, no gables, but I do have a couple of turbines up there. I do think the thermo-fans would be an improvement, just gotta budget for that still. Bidenflation sucks.
Thinking about it now though, would it make more sense to tack the foil directly to the roof decking that is exposed between the rafters? The thought being, this would very nearly mimic the foil-backed decking that is installed on a lot of newer-build homes? Or, could that possibly trap moisture against the deck? Agh.. a lot to think about.
Good job, James.
Funny you should say this. We are just finishing such an installation. We upgraded the furnace for more efficency and today the installlers are finihing up the cleanup and some needed painting.
Be sure you have a totally dry surface before applying foam or you’ll be sealing in moisture that will 100% end up being mold in your house.
We didn’t spray the floor, but we did the rest of the attic and were amazed at the difference it made in utility expense. We bought an older home and renovated it. We, in the last few years, put in new windows in the entire house, and we have a ton of windows, sunroom, huge bedroom with lots of windows, etc. That made a huge difference, also. It’s amazing how much air escapes and enters around the old windows and doors.
So does reflective window film. I did my westerly windose first, and it cut my internal temp by about 20%!
If you have a whole house ceiling exhaust fan in the attic, and it’s properly installed. It can vent the hot air out the ceiling. Quite effective.
This also down through staircases in Mexico. You have a well-barred screen security door to the roof, an with the addition of a standing fan to drw the hot air up, the natural flow of air will cause the hot air up, and out of the house. It cools my main house wonderfully. Heat rises.
Make certain any attic wiring is up-to-date and in top condition before spray foam is applied. Finding and fixing problems under a layer of foam is damned difficult and costly!
gas saving technique learned in my cab driving days waaaay back when, is to drive so as to minimizw *braking*, as well as the lightest possible throttle foot.
raised my city cab mpg from just under 20 mpg, to just under 30 mpg, or around FIFTY % better mpg, just from learning to drive so as to minimize braking…
That strategy will probably increase overall brain function as well; it requires astute observation of possible traffic situations far ahead of your hood ornament and readiness to apply action in the “now”.
And its also a very fun game to play when driving…
Hood ornament? Today’s drivers can’t see over their I phone.
Very good tip! The way I characterize it is, you want to drive such that you maximize the minimums. If you could look at a graph of your speed over time you would see the dips raise up well below the zero point. The upward slope back to normal speed should be as gradual as is feasible.
One caveat to the braking rule is sometimes it *does* pay to brake early, so you can maintain a higher speed before the traffic ahead of you accelerates back up to normal.
Newton’s law – an object will not change its motion unless a force acts on it
That force being brakes, tires, and a vehicle’s suspension. All expensive repair and replacement items.
Also…approaching known rough terrain, railroad crossings, speed bumps, etc., decelerate and brake prior to and
alow your vehicle to coast over. Your vehicle will thank you with fewer costly repairs.
Not sure why it amuses me when another driver zooms past me only to slam on their brakes at a light that is already red.
I was taught in drivers ED to drive as consistent as possible other than entering and exiting traffic. Learn this by having a glass of water in your car and don’t allow it to slosh out. One of the keys is to keep your head on a regular pattern of checking your rear, check your sides, check your front and put a mental note on each vehicle you see and keep track of them relative to you.
You can make a game of driving freeways by trying to maintain the same speed by watching well ahead and well behind so that you can make a move without changing speed. Try using only cruise control speed controls and keep your feet off the gas and brake. Saves a lot of leg cramps.
I use motion detector, USB rechargeable strips of LED lights under kitchen cabinets and almost never turn on the overhead lights. These can be used elsewhere also. Available on Amazon.
Someone on a previous thread talked about bringing in their outside solar lights to use in their home at night. I thought that was pretty clever!
It definitely saves on your electricity bill if you don’t need to turn on every light in the house.
The younger generation routinely ‘streams’ their news and entertainment on their laptops. Any college student can confirm that is much more economical than paying for a separate TV and cable service.
Eff Amazon
Balancing the load in your electrical panel can save money. Your house receives electricity in two legs of 120v, large appliances go from one of the 120v legs to the other 120v legs creating 240v but all the smaller 120v standard stuff is hooked up to one of those 120v legs. It is quite common for the loads on the two legs to be imbalanced, say pulling more off of one leg than the other and that can cause a slightly higher bill, the greater the imbalance the more effect it can have on the bill. It’s best to pull equally from both legs. The small things add up quickly and I have seen 60amp draw from one side and 5 amps on the other, this reduces the efficiency of the system and costs you a lil more. Yes they bill in Kw or KvA but there are losses when an imbalance is present. In the old days they only billed for Kw (kilowatt) now most places use KvA (killoVoltAmps) the difference is kw bills for what you used at the meter, KvA moves the meter to the power plant end of the wire and bills you for all the losses on its way to your house. Imagine having the meter at the power plant and you have a 10 mile long extension cord plugged into it, so now you are billed for the effort it took to get the power to your house. They quietly implemented this to increase revenue. So now that you are being billed for KvA it is much more important to have the loads as close to equal as possible to reduce your KvA consumption. Don’t mess around in your electrical panel unless you know what you are doing! Death is easy to find in those things so please don’t even open it unless you are qualified!
So true!! My husband switched around and it’s AMAZING the difference on your POWER Bill!
Flip the breaker off to your hot water when you leave for overnight trips.
Timers. I use timers for both lights and for the hw heater. Set the lights for night lights in places where you go periodically but don’t need full light. The heater you set for when you aren’t up using hot water. Also double insulate your water heater.
Definitely ! Also, turn WIFI when no one is in the house. Use power cords with switch so you can turn off anything that usually is on ‘standby’ (printers, phone chargers, …).
And turn off the water supply to your house. If a leak or failure should occur while you’re away, you’ve just saved the entire repair cost. (Don’t ask me how I learned this …)
If you do not already have LED bulbs in every place there is a lightbulb, strongly consider it. A few years ago when we did this in my house, our electricity bill lowered almost 20%. A while after that, we replaced our electric water heater to a natural gas unit, that savings was over 40% monthly with surprisingly little add to the natural gas bill. All said and done, even with the rate hikes this last month, we are still about $20-30/mo below where we were before the 2 major swaps and the nearly 50% electricity hike last month. The initial outlay isn’t horrible for LED bulb like it was 4-5 years ago, the bulbs are cheaper now than back then. The water heater swap was a big $$ amount upfront, but the long term outlook is good even though the ROI isn’t as quick as I would like.
LED bulbs is a big one – the most bang for your buck with really good ROI time.
my experience in this area has been poor. maybe i’m buying bad bulbs but they are burning out in about 1/20th of advertised
Same. I am dumb about electric but seems that there’s different quality electric depending on many factors – I am in a 50 years old property built during housing boom in a state notorious for being behind in standards.
The best money saving tip I know is – DON’T LET ELECTIONS BE STOLEN!!!
election denier
@Lesko Brandon: You win comment of the thread.
FJB
Air infiltation/exfiltration is energy consuming enemy #1. Use a stick in incense and watch the smoke’s movement at doors, windows, wall receps, etc. You’ll be amazed at how drafty your house is. Go to the attic and stuff insulation around the wires coming out of the wall tops. Make sure there is ZERO air passing from the climate controlled envelope to the basement, attic, and outside walls.
Spray foam in cans works great, closed cell iso foam professionally sprayed is best. I foamed my attic and underfloors and my electric bill went down by half! In the hot summer there is no slippage from my thermostat’s set point anymore.
Respectfully, the best tip is don’t be in debt. Ever. That means house and car too. Money seems to stick to my fingers and account now that I don’t pay the moneychangers. Banks are the enemy for financial and social reasons. don’t feed the enemy!
My best investment is me. I read long ago that rich people “all” have a side hustle- a way to make more income outside their main gig. For me it was selling everything I could sell and buying a medical office building 5 years ago. The MDs pay flawlessly, and no internet thingy will ever replace gong to the doctor- so they HAVE to have nice office space. I mow the grass, blow the lots, fix little things and bill the tenants my work. The leases allow for this. It’s called “Triple Net Lease”. I’m 60. I’m wealthy and I still do manual labor for money. Why not? An extra 4-500/m makes gas prices and the like no biggie. I realize that this is not for everybody- like my Dad who’s 87, but you’d be surprised what a little creativity and gumption can get you.
I’m not sure this is listed as a tip for saving money, but is a tip for budgeting.
I have envelopes….labeled homeowners, propane, auto ins, property taxes, prime tv subscription, and lastly, surplus.
I have one SS check since my husband died and I assumed his and lost mine, and lost his disability…a 1700 a month adjustment.
I pay these from that one check. Any not used is saved….and pays unexpected things like the $180 bill yesterday for a new battery.
I am comfortable in knowing I have these covered and there when due.
An increase in either won’t devastate me.
Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud today!!
Do what John Prine said in this song.
I love John Prine’s early music. May he RIP.
Back in the early 80s, kids were little and we were in the throws of an energy *situation*… We had two kerosene heaters that we used – 1 in kitchen and 1 in den (tv room) as we lowered our heat thermostat.. At the time lived in NY lower Hudson Valley – cold winters. IIRC, many families were doing the same..
Cover your Eastern facing windows in the morning with cardboard or with the Elmer’s foam boards you can buy in the craft section in the big chain store. Then when the sun is directly above your house move them to the Western facing windows in the afternoon. This blocks the heat from coming in and warming up your walls, furniture, carpet. Have you ever noticed how the sun shines on something in the house and it feels warm to the touch? This stops that thermal heating. Closing the drapes simply does not do as well – or I have cheap drapes. Which is very possible!
I also open my garage door in the morning and run a fan to run the warm air out and bring in cool air. The garage has a bedroom above it and it also shares a wall with my kitchen and living room. I open the windows in the morning if the outside temperature is 70 or below. I live in MO – where the humidity is high too. If the humidity is above 90% then I don’t open the windows unless it is 66 degrees outside or less. Then I close them when the temp rises to 70 outside.
Doing these things has allowed me to cut my electricity usage from 1158 BTU to 686 August 2021 compared to August 2022. It ALSO allowed me to lower the thermostat from 82 to 75!!! It was a bit uncomfortable at 82! Now it’s downright cool! My children thank me for this! So I should be using 21% more electricity but am using roughly 40% less. July 2021 vs July 2022 had similar results! I turn the A/C on for one hour when it gets to 78 degrees in the house (about noon). I turn it on for an hour about 4:00 PM and again for an hour about 7:00 PM if need be. I did the same thing when it was set at 82 degrees. Even last year I was in the top 10% efficient homes in my region for similar sized homes (about 2400 homes 2100 SF). This year I have to be near the top 1% efficient homes. My electric bill went from $152 August 2021 to $105 this August. Right now – almost 10:00 AM – the A/C hasn’t run since 8:00 PM last night and it is 69 in my house and 77 outside.
Agree with and also do many of the same things.
I grew up without electricity or running water in the house, heck, anywhere on the farm. These days I often just try to live a bit like I did then utilizing natures light, cooling or heating. We are all just spoiled and don’t really need to be turning on lights all the time.
My grandmother sewed for us by kerosene lights. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all the modern conveniences but we don’t really need as much as we think we do.
In the winter I can heat my entire home to 78 degrees with a super efficient wood burning stove that I installed where my inefficient fireplace was. I can get a rolling boil on a pot placed on top of it so I could do some cooking too if necessary.
Hang some laundry out on a line in nice weather- no need to buy additives to make your laundry smell good either. Be prepared for the worst and you will be pleasantly surprised if it happens.
Great stuff, Little dickens
Yes – I hang my laundry outside as well. I run it in the dryer for 25 minutes on fluff cycle to get the stiffness out for the children’s clothes and towels. They don’t like the stiffness – but I do. It reminds of when I was a kid and my mom hung clothes on the line year round! I teased her as a kid. In the winter I’d say “These were freeze dried”.
Lesko, I only use dryer for a very few minutes, like 4/5 and my clothes are never stiff.
25 seems like a lot.
An Aladdin kerosene lamp, with a mantle, is remarkably bright. Requires a $200+ upfront investment, but it’ll outlast you and me. Plus it is a thing of beauty.
Also, self-applied reflective window film (and the new type is great) will drop your internal Temps by about 15 degrees, even in S. FL.
Thank you!
If you have space for it, a small hydroponic system can save you money, I have been growing lettuce, kale and other greens, green beans, peas, cucumbers, herbs in one outside on the deck. Critters don’t bother it since it is so close to the house. I bring it in when it gets cold, and things continue growing with the help of a grow light and a south-facing window. I don’t get overly scientific with it–just eyeball the measurements for the nutrients and use white vinegar to adjust the pH. Since there are only 2 of us, I can pick outer leaves for a salad rather than harvest a whole head of lettuce at once, or pick some basil or cilantro for a dish instead of buying a bunch and finding myself throwing out the unused remainder three days later. This particular system was purchased from Amazon, and is made of pvc pipe. A tiny pump takes water from the reservoir (a dish tub) up a tube to the top and the water zigzags down through the other pipes and back out to the reservoir. Some pumps have on/off timer features, or you can plug it into a timer (but it should be weather proof if outdoors.) I have also had a tower system outdoors, the kind people sell for growing strawberries, that is a drain-to-waste system instead of recirculating, and that works great too, especially for larger plants. You need a big reservoir (like a used blue food-safe 55 gallon barrel) but a resourceful person should easily find something to work inexpensively.
Preserving food and/or amassing a pantry is a good way to protect yourself from inflation. During the pandemic, we got serious about emergency prepping. When I open a jar of home-canned chicken or tomato sauce, or even commercial tuna or soup, I am glad to be eating at 2020 or 2021 prices nowadays. YouTube is a great resource for food preservation tips and techniques, as is the Ball preservation book, and the National Center for Home Food Preservation. https://nchfp.uga.edu/ You just need to follow directions to the letter….preserving food is different from cooking food, and you shouldn’t mess with the recipe. If you never tried it, it is easier than you think to do home canning.
There is a federal tax credit available on efficient wood stoves, which includes credit on the installation thereof. Yes, you have to plunk down money to take advantage of this, and you also have to procure wood, but if you plan on staying in your home a long while, it could help. It’s also a safety net in terms of brownouts/blackouts/winter storms.
I bought a Schwinn Meridian three wheeler with a basket. I could walk to work, but since I am usually carrying something back and forth, I had been driving. The basket allows me to tote stuff, so most days I take the trike. Not a huge savings in gas, but it’s something over time, and being middle-aged in a one story house, it helps maintain strength in my legs. These trikes were hard to find and expensive during the pandemic, but I bought mine in January from Walmart.com and it was under $400 delivered to my door. Assembly wasn’t overly difficult.
Food Growing/Gardening/Composting Tip:
I became a Master Gardener several years back. The best vegetable gardening advice I learned is called “lasagna gardening”. It is based on natural composting and doesn’t require any intervention, turning or action by the gardener once implemented. You use this method to create “hill rows” or to fill in a raised bed. You can start on grass or bare dirt. If you begin on grass you will need to begin with a cardboard or newspaper layer first. This will kill the grass for you.
Save your kitchen scraps as you would for your compost pile. I put those into a plastic grocery bag and toss them into a cardboard box I keep in my deep freezer. Thaw them when you are ready to make the beds. The bags make for convenient size as well as easier to thaw for ready use.
Materials: brown stuff-dead leaves, peat, straw, hay, any dead organic material. Green stuff- recently trimmed grass, clippings, fresh weeds, etc. Hot stuff: kitchen scraps, peelings etc. Water – use a garden hose to wet each layer in. If you use cardboard to start, you will need to thoroughly soak it before starting the soil layers.
Begin with a 2 inch layer of brown stuff. wet it down. next is a thin layer of of hot stuff – you don’t need a lot just spread it out evenly. Next 2 inch layer is green. wet it down. Continue the layering process until it is about 18 inches deep. Finish with a brown layer. Wet it down. Top it off with a 2 inch layer of topsoil. This keeps it all in place.
Plant your seedlings directly into your lasagna bed. You can not plant seeds in this style of gardening because of the heat from the composting process kills them. Within 6 months you will notice the height/depth of the soil is about half of what you started with. Mother nature composting away and making fresh soil. You will have less weeds and need to water and fertilize less. You will be able to plant seeds in the lasagna bed the next growing season if you don’t create new layers.
Copying and pasting. I applied to for a master gardener class in my area but did not make the lottery.
I was told to try again the next year and at $200 a pop to apply, no thanks to another lottery gamble.
This composting you describe sounds so easy, even I can do it. Thank you for posting your master gardener pro-tip.
Tips for pumping gas actually save money and put more fuel in your vehicle.
https://drrichswier.com/2022/06/08/tips-on-pumping-gas-that-will-save-you/
All great information! Thank you.
Terrific, Thank you DTL!
We grew up without a lot. But our bellies were always, always full. How, with 3 boys to feed? Simple – potato everything. And that would be real potatoes, not instant. Real potatoes are inexpensive and easy to grow in the garden (You Tube bucket potato gardening.) Mashed potato with dinner most nights. You only got one modest sized piece of meat and some veggies, but all the spuds you wanted. Potato salad, scratch made – again, on hot dog night, you only got 2 hot dogs, but all the potato salad you wanted. The 2-3 times a year we had turkey, Mom would make a leftover out of the remainder after the 2nd night – the aptly named “Turkey, Rice and Gravy”, which also included peas and probably could have also had small cubes or slices of carrot in there as well. A bit of meat and a lot of rice and some “gravy” made from chicken stock, store bought packet or chicken bouillon makes this a budget stretcher.
My Irish mother fed the eight of us potatoes every single night. We could be having spaghetti but there was always a side of potatoes. Lots of youtubers – economic ninja, Southernprepper1, and Appalachian homestead are currently reporting potato shortages. I’ve been growing potatoes and have harvested the first ones I planted. They seemed to be growing so well, but the harvests were a real disappointment. Not any one plant yielded enough potatoes for a single meal. These more recent potatoes I’ve planted are sprouting flowers (which I think is a good sign) so I’m hopeful that this new crop coming in will yield a better harvest. That said, my husband and I are low carbers for health reasons. These potatoes I’ve planted are definitely earmarked for our hollow-legged teenage sons.
I was quite surprised and delighted a few days ago to find potatoes listed among the “Top Eleven Most Nutrient Dense Foods,” right up there with salmon, blueberries, garlic, and dark chocolate, and plan to eat more of them.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-most-nutrient-dense-foods-on-the-planet#2.-Kale
I was especially pleased because they are one of the few things I can feasibly grow inside my house if it comes to that, and because they’re one of the foods I have habitually denied myself for a lifetime in the interests of maintaining a respectable weight, despite the fact that I love them. 😍
Thanks, token, time to get out potatoes and cook, mash, freeze a huge bowl and eat other for lunch, dinner.
I do this every two weeks.
Also, for lots of dishes, I cook lots, freeze in one serving containers, and always have something to eat without the bother or cost of cooking.
Today?? Taco soup.
I use a cash back app at the pump and grocery store. My wife and I have gotten over $350 cash back over the last few months.
Every little bit helps.
Its free cash back on gas and other errands! Here is the link.
https://upside.app.link/57227V
I’m building a gasification system to power my 12k welder/generators on hydrogen gas.
You are not to be using conditioned air, plebe
Energy conservation is conservative! God calls us to be good stewards of all that He has given us.
1.) Cancel your cable TV packages and stop the funding of the codependent party being held at our expense.
2.) If it is item that you eat regularly. Buy, one or two extra each time you shop.
That way you can hedge inflation.
3.) Lower your water heater’s set temperature to 110 degrees.
4.) Replace all iridescent bulbs with LED bulbs.
5.) Identify if any of your windows are a day time heat monster. If so apply a thermal heat reflecting film.
6.) Dry laundry during your ultilities off peak hours. Same with cooling down your home.
7.) When you use the oven, cook an extra meal or two.
8.) Buy whole birds and butcher your own chicken.
I cut the wings off my birds and put them into a freezer bag. Then every three or four weeks. Yum time.
Also, learn how to make soup out of the back, neck and tail parts. And don’t throw away those chicken livers. Just before the soup is finished cooking the veg’s. Drop those little beauties in.
9.)
thank you as i did not know what temperature to put for hot water
I live in North east San Diego County Ca. in a rural area that is considered high desert (4200 ft elev). When I purchased this property five years ago one of the greatest assets was the 200 panel solar array with inverters and batteries for stored power. I have two meters and typically I receive a refund of close to 2k back from SDG&E each year! That is an amazing thing from one of the highest utility providers in the US. Also noted I use electricity for almost everything! Water heater, appliances; My well water system (10K storage tank, pond and two back up wells with static water at 30′) gets heavy usage with several pumps and a fountain to aerate my pond. I have installed an Electric radiant floor heating system under tile. In the summer the floor is cool, in the winter it’s warm.
My house sits in the shade of an Oak grove and the ceilings and roof are insulated. I have good air flow to remove heat in the attic during summer. We have on occasion recorded temps to 100 degrees (last week) yet the interior temp of my house has never gone above 73 degrees. I open the windows at night to let in cool air and close them during the day when I turn on my ceiling fans. Any windows with direct sun exposure I keep shaded.
Two days ago we had an unannounced outage that was from 11:00am until 9:00pm. I would say that we get at least five outages a year. I have four generators (one for the well, one for Wifi/communication) One for remote construction projects and one for lights during night time when battery back has worn down. It is surprising that many of my neighbors don’t have a back up plan.
It’s a lot of work (maintenance), definitely not free, but well worth it. Several years ago we had a four day outage followed by a day back on followed by 2 days off…Prior to Christmas and after. Last year power was cut on Thanksgiving day at 10:00 am for three days. No high winds, no fire threat.
It should be noted that Ca will not be selling gas/Diesel powered vehicles in the near future.
Be prepared…it’s going to get ugly
Energy poverty began in Europe years ago… too bad those in power ignored the warnings.
OR
Perhaps this is a means to an end…you will own nothing and be happy?
Energy poverty | Energy (europa.eu)
Set the A/C at 78/80 in the summer and the heat to 67/68 in the winter (you can get used to this!). Turn off lights you don’t really need. Don’t overuse the oven. Dry clothes on a line (we have lines in the garage) and only use dryer to finish drying for 10 or so minutes. In the winter, put a rolled-up towel near the bottom of the front door to help with drafts.
An old fashioned trick from back in the day of radiators: You can buy little wells that fit into floor vents that you can add water to in order to put humidity in the air. (As the hot air blows out, it evaporates the water from the can.) If your vents are on the wall (like my 100+ yr old house) take old soup or vegetable can, punch a hole near the top rim, make a hook that attaches the can to one of the grate openings on the vent and add water. Yes, you will have to check the water levels. This is how old radiators worked. On the backside of the radiator hung a thin but long “pan” where you provided water for humidity. The higher the humidity, the warmer it is even with a lower thermostat setting. It was good enough for grandpa and grandma!
By the way, the humidity can is for those with natural gas heat but I am sure one of your fine readers will think of something for electric heat consumers along the same goal. For natural gas customers: last year I was paying less than $4 per Mcf for natural gas. Currently the price is almost at $9! Since I read CTH, I had a clue I should probably prepare, so I have been stashing money in my natural gas account. It adds up quickly to a nice cushion.
Clothing: Buy used. Thrift stores, depending on your location, can offer great value. We live in a semi-rural town that’s a retirement haven. Retirees seem to purge their wardrobes AFTER they move; so we find a lot of quality, perhaps a bit dressy, items in our thrifts.
There’s also that condition that some women suffer from, the “I can’t be seen in this outfit twice” thing … so my wife has found brand-name, designer clothes, nearly new, on the thrift racks for a tiny fraction of new prices.
In our experience, women will have better luck thrifting for clothes than men, because every guy I know wears stuff until it is threadbare. No fashion sense at all, tsk tsk ….
I buy new and wear it until it’s well-worn and fit for rags. I’m Gen X, used to insist on Levi brand, no more.
Grew up wearing clothes from Sears and Montgomery Ward, mom taught me well. Occasionally I’ll wander into a thrift store, will look for quality over brand.
I’ve been wearing KMart clothes for nearly 20 years. They were cheap then and I bought a lot. So I’m still wearing the. I havent bought any clothese for about 2 years. I only buy on sales. My daughters buy at a 2nd hand clothes shop in in upmarket area. One got an Armani jacket for work for a tenth of the price. Hardly worn. Other got a very thick Llama hair coat for winter-had a tiny cigarette burn on it-unnoticeable.
Un-wad the wet clothes before you toss them in the dryer. Shake out the towels and jeans especially. More surface area exposed to the dryer heat helps them dry quicker. This was a big help for me.
i shake them all place wrinkle drip dry on hooks behind doors and only dry rest for 20 minutes or so and place them damp dry on clothes rack and no wrinkles and soft towels
I read put a huge dry towel in your load and it dries faster–I wouldn’t know..I use a retractable line on my back porch.
I put a wall to wall closet poll in the laundry room.. I hang dry towels, then machine dry them for about 10? minutes to soften.
Insurance – WHAT YOU PAY -TOTAL your costs:
Calculate the percentage of your gross income that you pay annually for insurance premiums. 10% is not uncommon.
This number will go up as values of vehicles and homes rise, or health needs increase, so, so will your premiums.
Add your deductibles to your premiums, one time; less likely you’ll have 2 claims in 1-10 years.
Add in your repair costs for what you didn’t buy or isn’t covered; medical, a hit and run in a parking lot or intersection (common), theft, collision.
Add in: an increase of 30% in insurance premiums. In motion now. Industry wide in all 50 states, all companies, all policies.
WHY? You didn’t have a claim why is your premium going up? The many pay for the few.
Companies are cancelling and withdrawing completely from high loss zip codes and even entire states.
Fewer companies mean those companies carry (they’re called “Carriers”) all of the now concentrated risk and losses.
Higher values of cars and homes translates to higher dollar claims, resulting in higher premiums.
More inexperienced, unlicensed, drugged, medicated and drunk drivers are involved in more accidents and Hit and Runs.
Get your camera out when the other driver jumps out screaming and ranting at you; classic behavior of guilty and the unlicensed and uninsured. He’s convincing witnesses you’re at fault. What the say can cost you in a spitting match. Ask yourself how you smashed the side of your car or if the light was red or green or yellow. There were green lights both ways. Only the witnesses know which one was red. Your deductible is at stake.
More car pooling by the unlicensed or to save gasoline becomes more injuries in a collision, higher losses equal higher premiums for everyone else.
ALSO: higher values.
1200 wildfires in 22 states in 2021.
In 6 months of 2022 Billions of dollars of losses from food processing plants, livestock, chickens, tractors, fields.
Liberal courts awarding extreme amounts in an increasingly litigious society looking for money. I witnessed an award last week of $1 million for a broken arm of a person who has a good medical plan and it was ruled the business did nothing wrong. A true accident happened on their property. The injured party had asked for $3 mil.
HIDDEN CAUSES: Did you know insurance policies will not pay for damages caused by “civil unrest and war”?
Your eyes saw Riots but Reporters said Protest. Now you know why.
Five years of riots deliberately crafted as “protests” by clever immoral Lawyers.
Recall the overuse of the word “protest”? Now you get it.
Protesters fall under the First Amendment and insurance companies pay for the damage.
READ the EXCLUSIONS section.
THE FALLOUT of “PROTESTS”: Higher premiums for everyone else.
Fires, theft, looting, medical bills, cars totaled, commercial rents that couldn’t be paid, cleanup costs off the charts to haul the rubble, lawsuits and high dollar claims. It takes three to five years to recover the losses IF premiums are increased.
Groups of brutal Rioters sneered that insurance would pay. Companies did. Then cancelled under the potent language “increase in hazard”. Neighborhoods became red lined zones of increased hazards. Those neighborhoods won’t rebuild because no lender will loan without a policy to protect the lender. And the organized Destroyers are hidden under homemade flags naming their protest; evidence on video’s at 6:00 pm.
Protect your neighborhood, have a plan. Where were the McClosky’s neighbors?
I’ve not met anyone yet who has read their policies.
Federal law: all insurance policies must be written at the 6th grade reading level of comprehension, same level as newspapers.
All policies have a glossary of industry terminology. Start there. Next is Exclusions.
If you can complete a loan or credit card app, read your escrow or mortgage doc’s or the instructions to assemble a bicycle or memorize how to use your computer or cell phone you can understand your insurance policy.
Why read? Because Agents typically low ball you away from competition. It’s illegal. But the intent has to be proven. Most people are underinsured and haven’t calculated the costs they’ll pay against the premium they saved.
What’s out of your pocket dwarfs the savings presented when the Agent’s intent was meeting his / her quota or you’re alone online believing lowering premiums saves money at the time of the claim. Usually the opposite. We can be Penny Wise, Dollar Foolish at times.
ie; if your car is paid for it’s a ‘used’ car.
A ‘new’ to you used car, running, in fair condition may start at $7,000. to $10,000;
buy the Comp and Collision. You are the bank that will finance the replacement car. Act like one.
Choose a higher deductible but one you can actually pay the same day it’s towed into a repair shop.
$1,000.? Your premium drops, you save and the replacement cost you $1,000. not $10,000. or is a down payment on new.
Under “WHY?” above is why you buy UM Uninsured Motorist + UIM Underinsured Motorist + UMPD Uninsured Motorist Property Damage. Buy all you can. It’s the unlicensed uninsured hit and run who is likely to cause the accident then the experienced driver or well insured new car owner with a loan.
The Liability pays the other party. Not you.
Buy the UM’s, Medical Payments, Comp and Collision to save your money when the claim time comes and it’s your fault or they’re not insured.
Add up all the costs you pay for in your medical plan; buy the highest amount of Auto Medical Payments sold to cover your medical plan out of pocket. It will pay for what your med plan doesn’t. And it pays per person in your vehicle. No one else.
Report the accident to your company! It’s illegal to not report to your states DMV and hiding something earns a cancellation which raises your premium.
The third party has to report the accident or cannot collect. Report them if they make a direct demand.
If they’re not insured your premium included company Lawyers at no additional cost.
I hope this helps some to discover what parts will cost you more when you use your policy. Invent a possibility and walk through who pays what. Few ask until the claim when it’s too late to change limits and values. Whatever the bottom line make it your choice before the surprise.
Cleaning the dust build-up on refrigerators and air conditioner condenser coils helps dissipate the heat resulting in more efficiency and the compressor runs less. If the refrigerant inside the air conditioner is low it will make the air conditioner run more often. Changing the air conditioner air filter allows more air flow across the evaporator coil making the air conditioner more efficient.
Anyone have tips on a small wood burning stove? We have a cut up (not open concept) two story house with full unfinished basement. Would love to have a wood stove as we have an endless supply of good hardwood; just looking to heat a small portion in the event SHTF. We use central heat with LP, price to convert to a wood burning furnace is way outside the budget.
Ben Franklin type stoves are small and efficient. Invented by a genius. I don’t know if they pass the EPA standards though. But it will keep about a 14×20 room warm.
Thank you, we’re rural, EPA can kiss my arse.
Look at rocket stoves – youtubes – lots of makeshift options – camping stoves – quite a variety at Amazon.
Lived for decades dependent on a wood burning stove with no central heating or other fuel source. I enjoy them but I respect them because of what I’ve seen they can do. Look for one that’s burns logs like cigars; a more efficient generation of useable heat. The surface of the stove and flue pipe are the only distribution of generated heat from inside. Burning several logs at once creates more heat with no place to go but up and out. A professor of Engineering taught me this decades ago.
Unless you add electrical fans (craziness) to increase the speed of distribution these are the physics.
Next, look for a stove with surfaces for cooking. You can boil water in a sturdy kettle for coffee or washing self or laundry, cook a meal in a quality cast iron pot or pan. A piece of removable clothesline in the same room, not too close, is useful during storms, warming jackets and blankets, or just drying items you hand washed in the water you heated.
Chose real stone to cover surrounding surfaces and below. Chose Granite stone if possible. Granite has the highest heat retention properties of all stones. It won’t remove heat but will release heat after the fire is out. Use a good sized flue pipe that won’t become easily clogged with debris floating up inside. Flue fires are hot and fast; the roof goes first and burns horizontally then down the walls. You MUST have serious fire reistant roofing; metal, tile or the expensive thick shingles. I’d chose metal. It comes in colors. Plan, save. Flue fire means the fire is no longer burning “in the stove”, it’s now burning in the flue, bottom to top, generating it’s own cyclonic action pushing flames and debris up. Shut down all the air vents to smother it if you even think the sound is unusual.
I cannot stress how important roofing is in relation to wood stoves. Flue fires develop themselves, burn hot so they burn fast and leave nothing. I’ve seen the results and the ember blistered feet of the people, stunned into trauma, who escaped at 2:00 am. Even concrete and every pipe was consumed.
Remove trees touching the house at any point or remove every branch within 20′ to 25′. Remove dried vegetation on the ground around; sparks can fly up the flue, cold air currents outside push them down onto the roof and ground.
Officially the cleared distance around the house is recommended at 50′. Trees shed more needles and leaves after a hot summer, they land on your roof. A wind storm might blow them away but be prepared to sweep the roof with a broom or hose with a high pressure nozzle just as temperatures drop in Fall and before the first fire.
Don’t burn greasy, oily trash in a wood stove. It’s not a campfire. It has a metal flue. The residues will line and prime your flue for a fire. Never burn a piece of plastic or plastic wrappers in a wood stove. They aren’t consumed, only melted into a residue that makes a fire hotter.
Only burn cured, dried hard woods. Timber in the Spring, stack in the sun on the down wind sunny side near a door, dry all Summer, tarp all winter. No pine cones, they add heavy soot
Buy a ladder and flue cleaning equipment, buy the 100′ hose and a high pressure nozzel ; dedicate them both to the roof and yes, paint the water value red so everyone can find it with a flashlight. Clean the flue every year in early Fall; soot can re-burn, leaves, needles, twigs fall in becoming tinder. Learn how to clean a flue with 1 or 2 others. Never clean a flue or walk a roof alone. Wood stoves are only dangerous to the uninformed. Yes they’ve been around since huts and houses but one fire educated everyone.
Drop by the local fire dept., ask questions and let them know you ‘re putting in a wood stove. They’ll anticipate a flue fire if you ever have to call. Educate your family what not to do and have a drill. In the event, God forbid, of a fire, everyone is less traumatized when they know what to do. Grab boots and a coat if you can. Once out you won’t be going back in for days in a best case scenario. Not intending to scare anyone but creating a safe friendly fire inside is a wonderful skill that keeps you warm and the food and water hot!
Anybody else canning tomatoes right now? I just tried a new method that saves a bunch of time and cooking energy. Wash, core and quarter the tomatoes. Put them on a wax paper lined sheet pan and freeze until solid. Thaw in a big bowl. Lots of clear water is released as they thaw. Pour off the water and then slip the skins off and put the tomatoes in a colander. Put the colander back into the big bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. The peeled tomatoes will continue to drain and be ready to heat up for canning the next day. No need to simmer a pot of sauce for hours to thicken. I actually had to put some of the drained water from the bowl back in because the sauce was a bit too thick when I heated it up to can.
I’ve always frozen tomatoes for easy peeling, way easier than using boiling water. Putting up 5 gallons of tomatoes tomorrow.
Thank you, mom, for teaching me these skills.
Don’t be…He knows.
Take out movies for free from the library, or buy used dvds cheap off of Ebay or Alibris.
Becauses heaven forbid if we suggest someone check out a book??? really??
I buy from amazon because I can’t afford the shipping costs…have you even checked lately???
I am a 72 yo woman widowed recently with not one neighbor to ask about me in 20 months, no family, no friends.
Tv saves my life.
Had a couple come a few miles to get free rice-filled buckets, oats and cases of other canned goods.
Her gift , along with two tea towels, was a piece of paper with a church and address and phone number……did that hypocrite ever think to ask if she could come visit, invite me to visit, share emails/phone numbers??? Did she ask if she could be my friend?
NO…she put that off on someone else.
That’s why I have my scripture at home every day.
You can also allow clothes to air dry, and then put a Wet Towel in the dryer along with the air dried clothes, and about ten minutes the air dried clothes are ready to hang and having absorbed some moisture they may not even need ironing.
I have political fatigue, came here to post an idea while cleaning house. I used to be a yuge user of paper towels for cleaning. A few years ago, switched to microfiber cloths. They get used around the house for everything, go through the washing machine, when they start to look a little sad they go into the pile for washcloths for the vehicles.