**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.
Just got my bill ealier and it went up 26%. Looking at the detail, I find it impossible to believe it was in usage…nothing changed from last month, except a few hotter days. I think I am paying for someone else’s. 🤬
Well, Inspector Clouseau, look at last month’s usage. That should solve the theft issue: either a neighbor or your utility company stole your money.
New Hampshire Electric Co-op has a rate hike effective August 1.
Vince Vega is correct.
My husband and I just built a retirement home and used spray
foam insulation. It is expensive, but very worth it. We had the
garage pre-wired for an electric charging station, but I hope we
are never forced to use an electric car.
There are many farms in the Lakes Region area of New Hampshire.
We won’t go hungry but prices will be high.
Like Sundance I am very worried about all of the people who will
struggle.
My best to all Treepers.
Years ago I knew of someone who purchased an antique farmhouse up in Maine. As they remodeled they learnt that the farmer had insulated the property with egg cartons inside the walls. Removing that apparently very effective insulation gave them a much larger interior – (it was only a “summa” home.). Just makes me wonder about materials that could be recycled to get similar results to what you have achieved.
Nearly 60 years ago my parents bought a “payday” house, built by the owner bit by bit as he could afford it.
It was insulated with egg cartons and newspapers.
It also had one electrical outlet in the entire house which was an overhead ceramic lightbulb socket.
Everything in the house was run off an extension cord from that one outlet.
Job one for Dad was to wire the house.
Repurposing…
I use the grocery store plastic bags for dog poo collection…haven’t bought the cute little bags in over 2 years now. A package of them runs anywhere from 6 to 12 cents a bag-anywhere from 60 to 120 per package. Not much to look at but the savings adds up.
Nor have I bought any Glad bags or generics for my kitchen trash, in at least, two years.
And I don’t wash my recyclables….not wasting water, donchya know! LOL. I will rinse milk bottles as they get smelly but that is it.
Repurposing / Storage :
Also, you can reuse grocery store plastic bags as trashcan liners.
Another good tip for storing them is to save paper towel cardboard rolls and you can insert about five or six of them at a time instead of having a huge mound the bags piled up somewhere in your kitchen.
In our house we fold them into a rectangle / square shape and then use an elastic to bind them together. Easy to store and easy to take one out.
Ditto without the elastic. They store well in an empty facial tissue box without the top.
Many years ago, I reinforced a 12 can cola holder cardboard with packaging tape and took the end off –that has been the best grocery bag holder ever for free.
It sits in the pantry beside my bread holder and it’s just right.
Everywhere you save the Democrats are going to look for ways to undermine you.
Sadly, where I live in NY the store plastic bags you speak of are illegal. Now it’s bring your own bags.
My late hubby and I bought a bunch of Pyrex containers from a thrift store years ago.
We used those for leftovers, instead of ziplocs.
I wash all my ziplocks. I reuse them unless I let the food go bad. The only ones that take effort are those that hold meat. I take meats out of original containers and use ziplocks to put single servings in the freezer.
Ditto on the grocery bags as trash liners. For me they’re the right size too so I take out the bag before it gets too smelly. I just don’t make that much trash so the bigger normal size ones take too long for me to fill up.
Pyrex bowls with lids are the best, but you can also totally wash & reuse ziplocs.. depending on your purposes. I think I’ve only ever bought 1 box of each size in my whole life.
Consider not only the things that make light and use electricity, but consider the things that make heat as well. if you use electricity to have heat removed (heat/AC).
If you live in a moderate climate look into a heat pump. It gives you not only heat but AC and humidity regulation as well as efficiency. I recently had one installed here in East Tennessee, it raised my efficiency rating from 10 to 16.
But be very careful if you live in colder area bc our heating bills many years ago in Pennsylvania were a hardship.
Good to know that about Tennessee however…. For no particular reason….
If you live where it is legal and feasible, think about installing a wood cook/heat stove.
We also live in east Tennessee and gave up our 2-stage heat pump about 20 years ago. Got tired of freezing to death with tepid/cold air blowing out the vents and occasionally warm air when we turned the thermostat up. Maybe they have been improved the past few years.
I hate the heat pump for that reason…that cool air for a few minutes HAS to be making it harder/longer to heat the house.
I do know temps below 32 degrees cause a double motor to kick in and heat that cold air before it can be released. ( I researched heat pump)
Thank God for propane here in Ky; about 1 in 3 homes have propane.
I checked my meter one day and that double motor situation would cost about 10-20 dollars a night!!!
We here in Ohio have the ultra corrupt Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO,) which continues to rubber stamp utility rate hike requests such as, “Demand for our services is down, as are our profits, so in order to maintain our profit levels while providing less service, we have to raise prices.” Not to mention the statewide Issue 6 corruption scandal where state reps were busted taking hundreds of thousands of dollars to push through legislation to charge Ohio residents for the costs to take out of state nuclear power plants off line, etc. First Energy and these reps are PsOS. GET THE PITCHFORKS. Also. yesterday’s poll numbers have the Dems ahead in the midterms by 7%. This is the exact same playbook from 2020. Biden, who couldn’t get 13 people to show up anywhere, but was ahead by 7% and then 15% by election day. The Dominion servers fix is in. GET THE PITCHFORKS.
Look into the website:
Bondsforthewin
Every official, elected or not, must put up a bond in order to serve.
Bondsforthewin explains how to get that bond revoked.
This strategy has worked all over the US.
We don’t have to lay back quietly while these officials have their way with us.
Especially school board members.
Dear Admin: please see comment at 2:33ET today by Jean04. I requested an answer from you regarding appropriate content in my post. Thank you in advance!
Jean, you can also use the email [email protected] to ask questions. You might get a quicker response.
Or “flag” your comment.
I have a house phone number plus an 800 for my business and my cell phone. Both land lines came with separate bills and many extra charges. About two years ago I got rid of my land lines and thru Freedom Voice both of those same numbers are ported to my cell phone. The cost $10.39 per month saving me almost $125 per month plus I always have access to all my calls even when out of the studio. Great company to work with.
Only buy nutrtional food. Quit chemical, packaged foods and home remedies, household stuff, toiletries: lotions, toothpastes, etc.. can b replaced by a large jar of coconut oil and baking soda. Pesticides, weed killer- bulk vinegar, dishsoaps.. find alternates
lori: Careful about coconut oil. That stuff will solidify in drain pipes.
Eat too much coconut oil and it will liquify your “drain pipes.”
Home made weed killer: You need a spray bottle.
One gallon white vinegar, (I use cleaning type, 30%)
One cup salt
One tablespoon dish soap (I guess I am going to have clean dead weeds? Actually it cuts thru and lets the concoction get absorbed by the weed leaves)
Put in a spray bottle and treat weeds at the sunniest time of day. Works great on a lot of weeds.
I like to pull my dandelions and feed them to the chickens.
Results in bright orange yolks!
Eat them in salads! Health food. High in vitamins. And make wine.
Learn to cook from scratch, too and if possible, have a garden.
Most towns have community gardens.
You can raise a lot of food in containers set out on a patio or set along the edges of a driveway.
There is also a “poorman’s” hydroponic method called the Kratky method. YouTube has videos about it.
A good source of organic food and hygiene supplies, etc. is Azure Standard.
I have a Kratky garden in my spare bedroom. My leaf lettuce grew 3 ft. tall and didn’t turn bitter. Every day I pull off leaves for a salad, going on several weeks now. Next I’m going to try growing endive and swiss chard the Kratky way.
My outdoor container garden struggles to produce in AZ summer heat.
I live in NM. I container garden, invest in shade cloth and cover the containers ,it does help lower the heat and keeps the plants alive they will start growing again once the temperature is below about 95. Use a layer of perilite in the bottom of the container in addition to the potting soil. Of course water often.
Appreciate the tips. My present “shade cloth” is the big mesquite in the backyard. I’m hoping for a revival of my tomato plants when the weather cools.
yeah, I had no clue lettuce grew like that!
We have a clothesline we use when possible.
Yeah I tried that but it wasn’t cost effective. The bird neighbors seemed to have been in perpetual shock, or they knew exactly what they were doing – after a few times of having to wash bird dung out of everything I decided to stick with the machine.
Hang some old CDs attached with string to deter the birds. The reflecting sunlight scares them away
Back porch; retractable line.
Yep, us too.
When you garrote the dems that keep bankrupting the nation, things get better fast.
(Just kidding for the folks that are too dense to get that).
Most of these things are known to those here but there may be some who have not lived through difficult times
-Prep and cook in batches.
-Skip buying prepared food and prepare from scratch at home
-Bread, wraps, tortillas, pies, cookies and such are simple to make and cost less
-Eat what is locally in season.
-Buy common oft used items in bulk (go into together if too much for you)
-If long shelf life or preservable buy 1 or two extra when on sale where possible.
-Preserve what you can–can, dehydrate, freeze.
-Use toaster oven for smaller batches it has less volume to heat.
-Use the grill or smoker. Again cook in batches if grill or smoking what else can be cooked for later reheating.
-Make coffee with a coffee press
-In some areas electricity is cheaper during off hours – run dishwasher, washer and dryer at night
-Heat with fuel that is locally available, in my area it is wood and we use it to heat using oil only as backup.
-In winter lower thermostat. In summer raise it if you have central A/C
-Close off-doors or use curtains & close vents in rarely used areas.
-Vent fan in attic or upper window in the summer.
-Insulate attics, crawl spaces
-Dress in layers in winter.
-Wait to use A/C as long as possible.
-Sleep on lower floor in summer if you have multi floor house.
-Have insulated drapes and use them–close in summer during the day; open on sunny side in winter.
-Can buy reflective material to put on windows if you live the south or in urban area
-Dust/Vacuum under and around frig especially where it vents, to reduce how hard it has to work.
-If you have large empty spaces in freezer fill milk carton almost full with water and put in freezer-can be used later if water is needed or in a cooler.
-Take care of your things and keep them in good repair. Consider buying used where less expensive and in good condition.
-Most metals are fetching a good price at the dumps – go around on junk days and pick up those metals and take to the dump.
-Clean/replace filters — A/C, furnace, dehumidifier
-Block of ice in a cooler with the lid off and a fan blowing across the top will cool the air in a smaller space
-Dry on low, pull clothes before dry and hang to finish
-Use a clothesline, drying rack, and hangers with clips to dry smaller items instead of dryer.
-Wash laundry with cold water
-List and Add up all digital subscriptions, cull where possible. Check all payment methods to be sure you haven’t forgotten an automatic re-occurring one.
-Make every effort to reduce use of and pay off high interest cards. Try not to charge things it if you cannot pay it off the same month!
-Hold a garage or yard sale
-Have a skill – advertise and charge for it
-Barter/Share–skills and expensive occasional-use tools, and extra food (garden surplus)
-Look out for and support where possible those who cannot do for themselves
Most of all count your blessings, there are always more than you think and no matter what, even the worse situations are building, honing abilities and character.
Do you see?
They expect us to “adapt” gradually to these insults. It’s how other societies became what they are, totalitarian.
It’s how Germans believed, heck–Jewish people believed–that “they’d never do those things that are rumored. It just_can’t_be.”
Here is CA it’s also water.
Never once have I heard any GOP rep OR Dem ever complain that the millions of illegals added to California would impact the amount of water for each of us already living here.
What really needs to happen is a 5 MILLION PERSON MARCH on the WH and Congress. Dems welcome.
Imagine in the future when everyone is driving an EV and they decide to march….. not gonna happen.
They would have a kill switch shut the car off and even if they didn’t do that they would simply cut the utility power.
Sounds like a grand scheme built up by DemoNazi’s.
My suggestion is if you know somebody who cooks from scratch, barter for food. I know a cool woman who just started making soups and what she can’t sell at the farmers market she brings us in exchange for helping with her daughter’s care.
In the lean days when we were first married, my husband, a home repair genius, bartered for services for the kids. One dentist needed a garage door fixed, and painting; the Catholic school needed a slew of things done throughout the year, cut down on tuition payments, and his sister and her husband owned a restaurant so he would fill in for dishwashers who did not show up and bring home entrees and desserts.
It’s so disgusting that We the People have to ‘adapt’ while those who want to destroy us and are gloating publicly about it, live in lavish homes with as much food and energy as they want. This is how grassroots revolutions happen.
I think it is also good to remember those who are struggling even more than we are.
Giving an elderly neighbor a ride to the store, donating surplus garden produce to the veterans food bank, contributing a can of pet food to the animal shelter-all of this helps others and makes God smile and Satan frown.
Use the Aeropress for making just one good cup of coffee.
https://aeropress.com/
This coffee is so smooth and convenient. Don’t neglect the water temperature recommendation, it is important.
This way you won’t be willing to pay for expensive coffee from the shops. Like when the Italian food you make at home is so far superior to anything you could get from local restaurants, you never spend money in those places.
Love my Aeropress! Best cup of coffee I’ve ever had.
The Aeropress is neat true, but IMHO, only good for trips when you are pressed for space and can’t bundle the stuff with you. It’s fundamental shortcoming, IMHO, is that it won’t froth milk.
For trips, we take our french press.
If we stay with family, we take our Moka pot.
At home, we use an American Style drip to wake us up. It has a timer!
Then we got an E61 group based machine (with a flow control valve) to keep us going through the day.
I grind at home, naturally, burr grinders.
Good coffee is important to us.
Come to think about it, it’s midday. Time for my wife’s cappuccino and my “double shot in the dark”.
I cold brew my coffee. No electricity to make and heats up in microwave.
Bacon. Buy your bacon when it’s on sale, and then repackage it for the freezer.
Using a long sheet of waxed paper, lay one piece of bacon on the edge of the paper — flip paper over slice; lay another piece; flip paper, etc. You’re essentially forming ‘an accordion’ of waxed paper with bacon slices in between the folds.
Place the stack of ‘wrapped’ bacon inside a large Ziploc bag & freeze.
Now it’s easy to just take out the number of slices you want to use at a time — preserving the balance in the freezer.
Bacon is the springboard for many cheap meals! Homemade noodles, cabbage, & onions fried up together with bacon ; sweet potato hash browns cooked in bacon drippings; bacon loaded potato salad….
Split pea soup with bacon bits, served with cornbread!
And German potato salad!
Yum!
fried squash
And don’t forget to save that bacon grease! You can use it to fry eggs or potatoes or anything else – delicious! I have a container built especially for bacon grease but my mother always used a rinsed out soup can. She’d just stick a saucer over it to keep the flies out.
Bacon can be preserved by canning, too.
Instructions on YouTube.
Or just throw it in the freeze and thaw when ready for it. I cook a package or two at a time for the bacon grease.
Need a laugh? its too hot for solar panels. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/heat-decreases-solar-panel-efficiency-experts-say-hot-solar-panels-handle/
I recently had a solar panel melt…. needless to say it no longer puts out power.
They are asking us to sacrific in the same way people did during WW2.
The difference is there is no climate emergency–just all kind of folks being paid off by politicians like Biden. All kids of people making money of panel, windmills, etc.
We need to encircle all the major media buildings in NYC until they start putting on their news shows all the experts on climate that they have on their blacklists.
The difference is this time the enemy is from within.
They want us dead.
I heard a caller into I think the David Webb show, and he was an off-the-grid guy calling to say how you have to live if you are off the grid. No dishwashers, no washing machines or clothes drier, which is pretty obvious.
The thing he said that resonated was that most ‘modern’ electrical devices (paraphrasing) never truly turn ‘off,’ and thus consume considerable power even while not in use. He said he had to actually install ‘off’ switches on everything.
That would save on electricity once you started operating like that for a bit.
Been doing that for a long time, never sure if it saved or not, glad to know it does!
A valuable website out of Kidron, OH is Lehmans dot com. It provides products for Amish, but also many supplies for everyone who wishes to prepare for the future and possible non-electric methods for heat, energy and food. You can order a catalog and they even have a blog.
Lol, yes I’ve already purchased a rub board and soap berries from Lehmans. We will always need a way to clean our clothes.
Check local first. We have an Amish store that sells Amish supplies but everyone is welcome to come in and buy. They have a whole row that is nothing but bolts of blue cloth and black and straw hats. Make friends with your local Amish people. It may save your life.
1 box of arm and hammer..$5
1 box of borax $6
2 bars of Amish soap $1
Mix this with the grated bars and it lasted me 2 me two years and a little left
I like their “breathing” plunger clothes washing device.
Works great!
We have a large Amish community here where we live .
Our Amish neighbors all have hot and cold running water, bathrooms with tubs and sinks and toilets, kitchens with gas stoves and gas fridges and gas hot water heaters.
They use propane and have a tiny solar panel to run their house well.
They also have electric washing machines which they run once a week for a few hours with an diesel powered generator.
Some of them are farmers but many of them support their families by running businesses that sell things or provide a service to ” the English”.
They have a variety store, a bakery, and many different types of business that deal with construction like roofing, insulation, cement work, specializing in doors and window, or other handy man types of work as well as full blown construction.
And all of them have cell phones and facebook.
They have adapted very well to do what they must to provide for their families.
All of the families here moved from back east because the farms they lived on for generations were overtaken by cities and towns that grew outward to them and farming them became almost impossible.
Their farmers are hooked up to the rural electric co-op to run the great big agricultural sprinkler’s to irrigate their fields.
The bakery is hooked up to the electric grid in order to get their health certificates from the state because they must keep the ingredients that must be refigerated to a constant level.
The business that provide construction use power tools that uses electricity.
A lot of Amish do not live like the ones portrayed in the movie “Witness” or in the way Hollywood makes them out to be.
They have learned to adapt.
Might sound unavailable to many but we plan grocery, gas and any other non-emergency purchases into single trips across state lines (Washington to Idaho). Gives a feeling of depriving the commies in Washington’s state capital of tax revenue. We use all the plastic bags we want and the prices are cheaper due to less taxes over all. The item by item sales prices are the same in the main retail chains but saving the 8.5% tax pays for the trip then some. Hit the native American reservations for gas. They’re much cheaper here anyway.
My cousin lives in Kansas, says sales tax on food is almost 10%…. somehow a Democrat Governor got installed in the Red State (wonder how that happened, Lol). Anyways, she talks about doing away with the sales tax on food, but never does it. Too addicted to all that power and taxpayers money it seems.
I’m in Taxachusetts and only a short drive from the NH border.
Draw your own conclusions. ☺️
We switched to the ketovore diet. About 80 percent of our calories come from animal products. Nutrient dense meat and fat keeps us satiated so we only eat once or twice a day. Simple and a lot cheaper.
We also use foaming dispensers for shampoos and other liquid soap. We fill it with soap about a quarter and the rest distilled water.
I make my own lotion bars with bulk cocoa butter, coconut and beeswax. The shelf life is good for years.
We also make shelf stable medicine using dried bulk herbs for tinctures.
More details. Wanted! How to obtain the bulk components for lotions.
Sure. I get all my supplies online. Two main sources for me are Bulk Apothecary and Mountain Rose Herbs.
I use lotion crafters. Eden botanicals and lotus garden for essential oils.
I want to second the ketovore suggestion. We used to eat like everyone else and our oldest son almost ate us out of house and home during his teenage years. He would come in from crew practice and eat two peanut butter sandwiches BEFORE dinner. We went through at least two loaves of bread per week. Since going low carb and bringing my family with me (I’m the grocery shopper), I’ve realized just how much we used to spend on bread and cereal and even rice and potatoes. Start by making simple switches. Get rid of cereal and have eggs (cooked in butter, olive oil, or bacon grease) for breakfast. If you’re used to having two pieces of toast and two eggs, switch to three eggs and one piece of toast. You’ll be amazed at how much fuller you feel even though you’re having fewer calories than you usually would. Eventually, you’ll be able to eliminate the toast entirely.
My husband and I are the truest ketovores in our house but my sons who are still living here are much lower in the grains than their older siblings were. We don’t even average one loaf of bread per month these days and I’ve got 3 teenage boys here. I would say to give ketovore a try for a full month. Less time than that and you may not realize the savings as your family will still be eating up old carbs lying around and experiencing carb related hunger. But I promise you that higher fat and protein minus the carbs equals a smaller grocery bill, smaller waistlines, fewer trips to the grocery store, less joint pain, more energy, and better sleep.
Only 28%? Those are rookie numbers – in Rhode Island we are being subjected to 50%
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/22/metro/electricity-bills-ri-could-increase-by-50-percent-come-oct-1-heres-why/#:~:text=The%20newly%20proposed%20rate%20for,higher%20bills%20for%20residential%20customers.
Rhode Island needs a Vineyard 1! LOL.
Learn to sew and make your own clothes. Recycle cloth from clothes that no longer fit.
My Grandma who grew up in the Depression had the same clothes for roughly 40 years. She really took care of them and they always looked decent, despite being old.
I grew up on home made clothes–dresses and cardigans/pullovers. Even my school uniforms were home made. I learned to sew as well and have a sewing machine. I save scraps of material or buy end lots when cheap-I have a large amount And I see recently the fashion for women is make multicoloured tiered dress es/skirts in different patterned cotton fabrics of the same colour
Here is a trick when you are sewing and need to buy buttons, which can be really expensive. Shop at the second hand store for the buttons on clothes. Sometimes you can get a garment that has top quality buttons for cheap.
I hit resale stores. I’ve even bought underwear there. A fraction of new and better quality than what I can buy today.
I can sew, but fabric is expensive.
I called the utility after 4 months of $680 bills without much increase in usage.
Ever since my bills have been lower, much, much lower. I highly suggest calling; they assigned me a usage specialist and I never got a chance to call back, the bills dropped so I am good.
I have noticed and it was mentioned in the call that new equipment has been installed, blah, blah, meter reading. So maybe the new equipment is reading incorrectly. I also had the smart meter uninstalled, and they may have overcharged for years for that ($10 per month). Good luck, I’m not getting solar, that’s for sure. And, I’m holding out for a flying car. 🙂
Wow Lori I thought my 400 dollar bill was outrageous but it is always high in July and August here in North Florida. I will cut my grocery bill and loose a few lbs before I cut down on my air conditioning. I have it at 74 during day and 73 at night and not going to change it.
I read my usage meter a few times a week..No surprises when I get my electric bill since I am always within $5 of knowing the statement.
If my usage jumped, I’d know it and I only have a $22 water bill every month since my usage doesn’t surpass base fee for every household.
My late husband took 15 minute showers–yes, he did!!
Driers are one of the biggest energy hogs. Two weeks ago I installed a pulley cloths line from our deck. Have hardly used the drier since. It has a bit of a rustic feel and since we just retired, we have the time for it.
Get a gas dryer. Your refrigerator/freezer uses the most of any appliance.
Always use the 2-sided print option on your printer if/when you can. If what you’re printing doesn’t require that, recycle your used printer paper and print on the clean side.
I keep stacks of printed but unneeded paper around the house torn up into pieces I can use for scratch.
At my age I write almost everything down, so it definitely doesn’t go to waste.
The impact really depends on what your current area kwh rate is. In Texas it might be $.12/kwh. But in So. California, the top rate is $.48/kwh. So a 28% rate increase in Texas is a 3 cent increase, but in California it would be a 13 cent increase. So I would recommend moving to a State with lower electric costs.
Our bill, in Illinois, went up 34%….
We are using economizing measures we learned with food when we were first married, curtailing traveling and any non essential purchases….we have lost 30% of our investments…..so.
Men, have your wife cut your hair. Haven’t paid for a cut in over 10 years. Saved a few thousand $ in that time. Don’t even think about asking your wife if you can cut hers!
My wife has been my barber for 35 years. 12 of those years I was in the military. We have saved thousands of dollars.
I cut my late hubby’s hair.
Used to cut my Dad’s hair, too.
We do that for close to 20 years, bought one good pro-level hair clipper and it paid for itself first time we used it(5 males).
The wife actually wants me to use it on her, but as I tell the boys, “long hair is for girls”!
I have cut my own hair ( shoulder length) for 3 years since the pandemic-I dont want to visit hairdressers as Im afraid of the ‘rona and also the cost. Man they charge a fortune.
So I wash it and then when wet bend over the bath, comb it all forwards and with a sharp scissors cut it straight across while wet. I find the side bits are someties a bit longer but then I trim them slant wise. I then blow dry with side bits flicked up a la Farrah Fawcett and the back flicked in or out depending on my mood, and finish off with velcro curlers and a bit of hair spray.
Looks good. I am 71
It’s the reverse here. He trims my hair every two months, but won’t let me touch his.
Anyone who has lived through the 70’s can make this list of things you will do to save money on food and energy:
Shop smarter for food. Eat the leftovers. STOP COOKING SO MUCH EXTRA. We NEVER threw food away at my house growing up. NEVER.
Don’t run the water so fast when washing or rinsing dishes. Run the dishwasher when it’s full.
Take shorter showers with the water not running full blast.
Stop watering your lawn (I never do this but it shocks me people still do it). Water your garden with rainwater caught in a rain barrel.
Drive more gently, you will get better mileage. Keep your tires properly inflated. Replace your air and fuel filters.
Find and seal leaky door and window weatherstripping.
STOP PRACTICING THE RIDICULOUS SOUTHERN SOCIAL CUSTOM OF LONG GUEST GOODBYES THROUGH AN OPEN DOOR. OMG.
Find and seal leaks in your HVAC ducts. Insulate your HVAC ducts. I personally raised my across-the-coil delta T by 2 full degrees F by doing this in my attic. Did it many years ago, it has paid for itself many times since then. Installing a ridge vent in your attic will lower attic temps significantly in summer and cut your electric bill.
Consider shade screens on southern-facing windows in summer.
Avearge US rates around $0.14 a Kilowatt/ hour – Above are our rates in NW Montana.
Move here – in our election primary in Flathead County, MT (Our county is bigger than Connecticut) in June 2022 we had 25,000 Republican votes and 5,500 for the Communists. So few jerks and cheap electricty, 80% Hydroelectric and we have plenty of water.
Your asking for it.
I am Flathead county, too!
Lots of conservatives here, thank God.
WOW–I watched the last 15 years –my usage went from .085 to .151 in south Ky.
tips to save money on vacations. when you need to get away pitch tent up by the spring or down by the river or over by the old growth spruce we call the ents. those “ent” trees have a lot of what look like small doors and we imagine all sorts of creatures useing them. we have a large population of cougar and Oregon black bear so take precautions when out away from main house
Start a budget… put every dollar that you make into a category. 24 years old, me and my wife started this January, and its done wonders for us!
Shut off your television. It will recharge your mental power and keep your electric bill down. Use the batteries of your phone or computer or both in reading truth instead of socialism slop.
Been said many times here, but definitely cut the cable to teevee.
I pay for good Internet speed but have saved a huge chunk every month after I brought back all those cable boxes and just started streaming everything I wanted to watch – and/or buying cheap used DVDs on ebay…
depending on lots of things, generally spikes or big changes in temperature, speed of your car, etc. tend to consume more than keeping some consistency. Driving at a set speed gets better mileage. It’s the ramp up that burns your gas. Most newer cars have a little graphic that you can watch to monitor.
In you are going to use AC or heat it is generally more efficient to get it where you’re comfortable and can afford and do all the little things noted to try and keep it there.
You can save a lot on groceries by shopping once a week for sales only. Warehouse stores are also cheaper because you buy in bulk. Learn to process the extra using dehydrator or freezing or canning. Refrigerator canning saves but things don’t last as long. Fridge pickles will last 6 months or more if you do it right.
Learn to cook from scratch. Here is a technique that works for most meats and is easy. Season some smaller protein chunks, brown, add veggies and liquid halfway up the thickness of meat, put in oven at 275-300 for 2 hours depending on your protein.
Finally, gardening saves quite a bit. Most of my summer vegetable diet comes from my yard. Don’t bother with sweet corn if you have raccoons in your neighborhood and don’t plant things that are cheap at the store but take a lot of space in garden. For example, cabbage is very cheap but takes up 2 sq feet for just one head. Plant things like colored carrots, yellow beans, and specialty vegetables like amaranth for greens. I also plant things that are just not very fresh at store like cucumbers, green beans, and leafy veggies.
Red cabbages don’t attract those blasted white moths who come from cabbage eating caterpillars/loopers.
We’re in AZ so we have a different set of issues and some opportunities that differ from many Americans.
We installed solar panels on a south facing roof and took advantage of tax breaks. We were lucky to find this house in 2011 during the housing crash. It is professionally designed to minimize solar heat gain with overhangs and covered porches. Built of rammed earth with 2 ft thick walls it has tremendous insulation values. Triple glazed windows and a well placed solar light well illuminate what was a dark kitchen.
We use a retractable clothes line.
My point is that we have always been energy conscious. We heated our homes with wood for 40 yrs when we lived in Northern Commiefornia where wood was abundant. We even bought a Prius at one point and got no end of teasing about it. But at the time, it was the right car for us.
We have two chicken coops and a vegetable garden. Honestly, this year’s tomatoes suck, but the last several years we put up 40 qts. Winter gardens are much easier to grow in our climate zones.
We have low energy light bulbs and ceiling fans in every room (not bath). We keep the thermostat at 80 in summer and 68 in winter. We never eat out, grocery shop wisely and stretch our food dollars. We combine trips as the closet grocery or hardware store is over 10 miles away.
Good luck to all!
Unplug anything you are not using. Even though something like a lamp is no turned on it still draws electrical current through the cord.
If you have areas of your house that don’t get used like spare bedrooms for example shut the breakers off to those rooms.
Agreed. If you have central heat, block the vents. Simply turning them off does not completely shut them. If you are in a high moisture environment, watch for mold. It may be necessary to have a bit of circulating air to prevent mold and moisture buildup.
Even if you don’t have a high moisture issues, there are other reasons to keep those rooms going with minimal heat/cooling. It will cause issues if there are any water lines running through the walls, and very cold or very hot rooms will do damage to drywall as the walls ‘flex’ with the temperatures. It also can effect your flooring on anything laid other than carpet.
Almost no lamps draw current when turned off except for some LED’s. Appliances and electric devices like radios might have a continuous low draw of power.
Do an inventory of items plugged into the electrical grid.
Are all items needed to be plugged in, 24/7?
Can an item be unplugged?
Should it be unplugged?
Vampire power refers to the electricity a device consumes when it isn’t in use.
[ electrical cords, by themselves, do not consume measurable electricity (some energy is lost in heat of the cord).
However, a cord or surge protector, connected to a smart tv (that’s designed to start up quick due to being in quiet mode, ‘does’ use electricity).
Also, lights, cameras etc. being on – when a person is not in room being used, or to light up the outdoors, still use electricity. i.e. shut off a light upon leaving a room.
Plus, lights being on, generate heat.
Computers, security systems, use electricity when in sleep, or on mode.
People can do a meticulous inventory, walk through, of items plugged into the electrical grid (i.e. connected to wall plug-ins). Or not. Free choice.
Fan(s) can cost less to operate than air conditioning.
Thereby, a higher air conditioning setting, combined with an area, or ceiling, fan can feel cool (instead of just using a lower a/c setting).
[ but fans or a/c operating in unused rooms may, or may not, be a good use of electricity (coal, nuclear, hydro, gas, solar, battery usages etc.) ]
p.s.
in the late 70’s the guidelines for energy conservation, iirc:
a/c cooling temp setting: 78 (and dress cool)
furnace heating temp setting: 67 (and dress warm / use extra blanket)
And leave the thermostat alone, do not change it.
For some, with the handy thermostats these days,
it is easier said, than done.
Some people are always adjusting the thermostat.
imho
If you have a programmable thermostat you can program it for efficiency during the overnight hours-cooler/warmer depending upon the season.
Vampire power. Never heard that term. Scarier than phantom power.
A while ago we plugged all of our electric items and appliances ( small ) onto surge protectors. We keep the surge turned off until we need to use an appliance. When we want to use it we just turn the surge on.
table lamps, kitchen small appliances , tv , computers, etc.
This has worked quite well , it’s a tiny bit inconvenient, yes, and it’s saved around 25% on our bill.
There are a ton of modern appliances that draw electric just for silly things like timers, clocks, nightlights, wifi ,etc.
One of the biggest savers I have found for A/C is having ceiling fans in most rooms. The ceiling fans cut down on my summer electric bills by about 20% or so, when I got them in my last house.. If night time temperature will be much lower I usually even turn off A/C & open windows leaving fans on. (reason for turning off A/C is if you forget to close windows in morning you’re not cooling outside. Rather have a hot house versus high electric bill.)
Timers on living room lamps & motion lights outside are really helpful. All my living room lamps are on timers, which not only saves on electricity but helps with security when away.(Not only change timers for Daylight Savings but by a few minutes here & there every few weeks for security).
As for food–I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with soups and casseroles. Hey soups & casseroles really make just a small bit of meat go a very long way.
Learning to use my freezer too, when things are a very good price, or in other words the older price, buy in bulk.
My mother would stretch one pound of hamburger into two night’s worth of suppers for our 6 person family by making soups or casseroles or spaghetti.
We never threw out food.
My Dad would dump all the cookie crumbs from our Christmas cookies into a bowl, add milk and that would be his breakfast.
I freeze lots of soup and broth.
If your utility has an average monthly payment plan, enroll in that. It takes the last twelve months’ bills, and averages them out. You are billed the average for the next eleven months, and settle up the twelfth. Then they adjust the average up or down for the next eleven months, depending on whether you ended up in the black or red. It helps with budgeting, and the lower spring and autumn bills balance out the winter and summer.
I was going to suggest this very thing. We have this “average monthly payment plan” thru FPL in Florida!
I hated that plan. I could not figure out what my real electric bill was. They were billing way more than what I was using to cover for summer. Maybe if I had been here a long time, I would know what to expect.
Read your meter–I know within $5 what my bill is before receiving it.
I have a lot of shade at the back door. The front door has absolutely no shade, so we are not using the front door at all. I can’t believe how much cooler the LR is by just simply not opening the front door. Usually there is an A/C vent near an outside door, so I placed a box fan at the front door A/C vent to push that cool air into the LR.
I cook enough for 3 days at a time, so basically I am only cooking twice a week, and I run the D/W when I can’t possibly stuff one more thing in it. I also allow the dishes to completely cool down before putting them away.
Using Borax along with detergent is a huge savings, after my stockpile of laundry detergent is depleted I plan on making my own with Sundance’s recipe. I drip dry my delicate load in an unused bathroom by hanging the clothes on their hangers on the shower curtain rod.
I have found that dresses are much, much cooler than t-shirts and shorts. I have worn house dresses for years and don’t forget about bath powder. You’d be surprised at how much cooler you feel with bath powder in the warmer months.
Use the oven in early-early A.M. to avoid heating up the house.
If you find yourself “perched” at the end of the bed in the morning, from eating too much chicken
ignore this easy economic roasted chicken recipe:
buy leg 1/4’s on sale $.99/lb, cut off drumsticks, place thighs & drumsticks in oven proof pan, sprinkle both sides (liberally) w/ paprika, chili pwdr, lowery’s seasoning salt, & 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you dislike “hot” flavor ever!)
and magic ingredient: 1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (part of KFC recipe) leave skin side up for crispier skin.
place
in 400ºF oven for one hr, Will provide economic meals for up to 4 days (leftovers will keep up to 4 days in frig)Home Made KFC spices for those yearning for KFC takeaways!
1T sage
1T ginger
1T rosemary
1 pkt tomato soup mix
1 T mexican oregano leaves
1 T sweet marjoram
1 t pepper
1.5t crushed wild thyme leaves
2 T garlic salt
2 T powdered chicken stock cubes
2 T onion salt
40 gm brown sugar
3 T dry parsley leaves
Put all in a blender for 3 to 4 mins
Keep excess in fridge
Toss chicken pieces which have been coated just in beaten egg ( or even without egg) and toss in plastic bag with herb and flour mixture
Put in baking dish
Bake in hot oven/air fryer
Costco $4.99 rotisserie chicken.
My wife and I get two meals from one of them, and then I make chicken noodle soup by simmering the carcass for 20 minutes and cleaning it. Instead of packaged noodles, I often make spaetzle from flour and eggs — Yum! Remember to pull out the wishbone and the long sharp bones in the legs.
It may not be the size of an electric bill, but it helps.
The key to saving is to just buy the chicken and not make the trip a wish fulfillment exercise — which can add up to serious bucks.
I do like to stock up on rice and beans and TP while there.
I use rotisserie chickens for many meals.
I microwave the legs for dinner (right now accompanied by my own homegrown redskin potatoes).
I precut and make packages of all the breast meat and freeze it for sandwiches, to put in packaged soups, or just to eat for an extra proteiny snack or meal or whatever.
I do BJs. Takes me a week to eat it. A meal per leg/thigh, breast half, both wings and soup from the bones.
Ah, BJs – I didn’t think of their large rotisserie chickens. Definitely on the list for my next trip! Many thanks, Lolly!
I also just ordered from them the big boxes of Fancy Feast which is the only wet food my cats will touch. Sticker shock definitely, but still a lot better than buying the cans individually.
Also, one of my indulgences is smoked salmon, and they have the very best at the best price – I think it’s called Latitude or something like that, comes in a long flat cardboard container. Even a better deal than Market Basket which is the king of deals around my area.
One good thing the government did was the pricing per unit on the grocery store shelves. 😉
Always check them closely.
For example; a big ‘economy’ chunk of cheese might actually be more expensive than a couple smaller packages.
Also, check the grocery store flyers.
True that. But they need to stop the toilet paper pricing games by citing price per ounce not price per roll.
I think you meant price per sheet for toilet paper. But again, Brand A it’s price per sheet, but Brand B is price per roll. Subverts the purpose of unit pricing.
got TP today at walgreen their brand 10 for $6.00 just went up from 5 but similar to scotts and you can use rewards also
They cheat the pricing per unit. Two identical products, let’s say rice. One pricing unit is cents per ounce and the next product is cents per pound. Break out the calculator or smart phone app. Makes it hard to compare like items.
What do we spend each year on obligatory gifts ? Birthdays, holidays, weddings, and graduations can be celebrated very well — perhaps better — without them. Especially, the electronic games on our kids’ wish lists cost more than is reasonable for many parents’ budgets — and many kids want nothing else. They need to get real. It will help them in the long run..
And a gift, at the perfect time, can be a wonderful and loving surprise.
I saved over $100 this year by skipping gifts for my 4 great nieces and nephews. They all get WAY too much. I made baked goods for each family instead and the kids and their parents loved that. I included homemade applesauce I canned and that was a huge hit with them.
Home cooked gifts are full of love !
I quit the gift rituals years ago, and I told my grandchildren that if they ever really need something, come and ask me — the money not spent on unneeded gifts is here waiting. When she was older, in school and working part time, my granddaughter needed car repairs, and I said happy unbirthday !
The dollar store has very cheap greeting cards, usually 2 for $1.
Also cheap wrapping paper.
We recycle greeting cards. We cross out ‘Merry Christmas’ and the names and any printed message, and repurpose the card. People get a kick out of it.
Biggest energy saving idea…
BUILD THE WALL!!!
Drink iced tea instead of canned cola.
Instead of lugging in cases of cola, storing it, getting rid of empty cans…blah..blah..blah
Make fresh, healthy refreshing iced tea.
For variations -try mixing mint or lemon ginger tea bags in with the regular tea bags!
I freeze my ice in glasses in my refrigerator freezer door! The glasses are frosty and blocks of ice last longer than small cubes.
Sun tea is the best–use a big gallon jug or plastic one actually works too. Found it makes a few tea bags go so much further. Orange tea makes the best sun tea.
Funny story, was looking for a sun tea jar a long while ago and wasn’t wanting to pay the $10-13 they were wanting for one, few isles down and across the store was the bulk items, one being a huge, gallon size glass jar of whole dill pickles, for $4,50. Bonus, pickles were really good too. 😁
I buy things from Etsy or charity shops bc I can’t stand China.
Don’t drink tea, but lemonade is great.
Sometimes I make my own soda with a Sodastream.
But mostly I drink water.
You reminded me of a saver…bottled water, you know the kind companies run from the tap and charge you for filtered??
A berkey water filter has saved me a bunch in the years I have used it.
And, I save gas and never run out!!
Forgive my clunky statement here – – – I’m not what’s considered chronologically old (or any other kind of old) but it seems returning to the “old ways” is the way to go. I wasn’t raised in the old ways or if I was I just thought it was normal. Being frugal, being thrifty, repurposing things might be a better description. But even living within your means was so that you could splurge on occasion!
I’m taking things on as a challenge to be creative/problem solve and exercise my resilience muscles. It pisses me off that we have to share tips but I understand the necessity of it. My biggest tip is to put a little extra effort into strengthening your relationships with neighbors, friends and family. With anyone really. You never know when you’ll need someone.
Well said ! Thrift is truly a creative challenge. And it gives you an identity that is no slave to fashion and status symbols. The better your relationships with others, the better it works.
I think we need to remember most, if not, all are stressed right now. Kindness and a smile go a long way. Everyone is tired of the shortages of stuff, people to fix stuff and in sticker shock over the price of stuff.
My husband noticed a crack in the attic door. He cut a strip of window seal and placed in the slight open area. Sure enough the house is a lot cooler. We thought we would have to invest in a new air condition, because the air condition had a hard time cutting off at the set temperature.
Our attic fan was broken when we bought our house. Replacing it has greatly helped late afternoon heat surges.
To save money never ever vote Democratic.Ever!
best tip yet!
Use an air fryer for most thing you cook in the oven. I bought a $39 air fryer from Costco and started using it on french fries and bread initially rather than my gas oven. Moved on to air frying my butterfly shrimp powdered in flour and then encrusted with crushed cornflakes, absolutely no grease with an air fryer. What shocked me the most is my gas bill used to run $30-32 a month(only my stove and water heater are gas) and it immediately went to $24-25 a month, consistently. I will continue to phase out the use of the oven for anything I cook in it as the air fryer cooks faster and keeps any meat you are cooking moist. It is only a small contribution to the total picture but do something like this 10 times and save $75 a month.
Crock pot cooking is similar.
Of course, using wood from the forest in a Kamado style cooker/smoker reduces electricity enormously.
If you have the ability to divert your water from the shower, you can make a sand filter and use the water for your vegetable garden.
Instapots work well.
Low electric use and cooks quickly.
Also great for cooking tough meat, like hens which have stopped laying.
Having a few hens is a good way to save money, too. Lots of ways to feed them which don’t rely upon store bought feed. Just check out YouTube.
And, learn to make your own bread. A bread machine doesn’t use much electricity. Bread where I live doubled in price, when you can find it.
I use the crock pot weekly. The newer crock pots heat up warmer than the older ones so they cook much quicker. I usually make enough for three meals and freeze two of them.
I have two baby crock pots and one extra large. I use them all.
Also, catching the shower water (or bath) can be used to flush. Just not needed that yet.
I have a really low water bill, but could be used for large families with huge bills??
Also, I use an electric kettle to boil water. Its more efficient that the stove top.
In the winter, I use the electric kettle to warm up just enough water to wash my face at night. I COULD use cold water but prefer to use the kettle for about 30-40 seconds to get the water warm. If I used it from the faucet, the water would need to run from one end be of the house to the other, wasting a lot and possibly turning the water heater on to heat the replacement water coming in.
Especially if you mark the side for the exact amount needed. If you are making a pot of tea, don’t heat water for two!
I use mine for the instant oatmeal or grits and I only heat enough for one bowl.
Me too!! I’m on my third. Had one for many years.
A lady was concerned about her mother leaving pots of water on for coffee/tea, forgetting and going outside, and this was suggested for her since it turns off when hot.
I recently bought a countertop oven because my kitchen is being renovated, and that thing is awesome! Even after my kitchen is done it’s very likely that I’ll do most of my oven cooking in the countertop oven and not a big range oven.
I have had mine 18 months and like you I find more and more things to cook in it. I love that it does not heat up the place like the oven or even the crockpot.