Pennies Pennies Everywhere! Saving Money on Laundry

There are quite a number of ways to save money doing laundry and if you do all of them, over the course of a long period of time, there is quite a bit of money to be saved!

We all do laundry differently based on our family size, time we have, where we do the laundry etc. I will be sharing a number of tips that have worked for me and I hope that readers will tweak these tips to their own way of doing! 

First of all, make sure you have a full load of laundry. If you do smaller loads, you will use water, electricity and time that you would save by doing the largest loads you can at one time. 

Secondly, unless your laundry is very dirty, use cold water. 

Thirdly, use less detergent. I usually buy detergent on sale, sometimes with coupons and in bulk. I like to use all unscented detergents and they are not always on sale as often as the other kinds which is why I buy a fair amount when I can get the unscented. If you are brand specific, you will not get as much on sale which is why I am not picky about the brand, I just want it to be unscented. I don't use a full cap like they recommend, I usually use 1/2 to a 1/4 of the recommended amount. If you want to be super thrifty, you can make your own detergent and there are plenty of recipes to do that online. 

Fourth, you can hang your clothes on a clothesline and save a lot in dryer use. I don't hang clothes on the line a lot for a couple of reasons: 1. Time and 2. Allergies. I love, love, love sheets hung on the line so I usually do that. But that's often all I do on the clothesline. 

One thing I do to save on drying costs is I always rip my dryer sheets in half. Again, I buy unscented sheets. They are really easy to rip in half and I just do it with my hands. If you are a little OCD and want a straighter line, you can cut them. This means, instead of 40 dries like it says on the box, I get 80. Double the sheets! 

Try not to over dry your clothes. This costs money not only on more energy for more drying but also it stresses the clothing and you won't get as much use out of them.

As always, there are so many ways to save money! Every little bit adds up and there are pennies, pennies everywhere! 

Happy Savings! 

Saving Money on Laundry

1. One way to save money on laundry is to simply do less of it. Some people will wear a shirt for half a day and then wash it. Unless you are doing hot, sweaty work, there really is no need nor reason for that. Shirts can easily be worn a couple of times. Sweaters can be worn many times. Jeans can be worn usually a few more times than shirts. Towels can be hung to dry and used a few times before laundering. Not only does this save money but it also saves time. Everyone can find the level of re-use they are comfortable with. It also saves on wear and tear on clothing so clothing doesn't have to be purchased as often.

2. Clotheslines can be great money savers. I personally do not use one too often because of allergies. However, the dryer is one of the biggest energy users in the house and hanging the clothes to dry can save quite a bit. If you don't like the stiff way clothes feel after hanging, you can tumble dry for a few minutes towards the end of drying or afterwards. I also like the way ironing can be avoided with tumble drying. Make sure you don't over dry your clothes although I confess I am guilty here.

3. Only do a load when there are enough clothes to do a full load. This will save on energy expenses and time as well.

4. Use half the recommended amount for laundry detergent and tear dryer sheets in half. Some people make their own soap. I just make sure I buy my detergent on sale and steep discounts and then always tear dryer sheets in half.

5. If I had to use a laundromat, I would hand wash as many clothes at home as possible and hang dry. This might not be possible for people with families but for a single person or couple it could be done while showering easily enough.

Small changes can add up to big savings over time! Pennies turn into dollars and dollars turn into tens and tens turn into twenties and.......

Happy Savings!

How to Save Money on Heating Costs

Put your house in a scarf!

Heating costs can eat up a lot of money in the colder months, especially in colder climates. There are a number of ways to save money.

1. Turning down the heat is an obvious step but an even better one is turning down the heat and buying a programmable thermostat that turns the heat down for you when you are sleeping and/or away. This way, you can turn up the heat shortly before you get up or get home so you never really feel the temperature change, but you can save a lot by doing this even though you will need to make a small initial investment of a programmable thermostat. You can buy programmable thermostats for around $40-$70 and save between 10% and 20% on your heating costs. When you figure out how much you spend on heating per month, and shave 10%-20% off, that is cash in your pocket!

2. Using humidifiers is not only good for your health but makes the room feel warmer so you can have the temperature at a lower setting.

3. Turn your ceiling fan blades to blow up in the winter, so the air is not blowing on you but blowing the hot air down to you.

4. A lot of heat escapes out of windows. Clear plastic sheeting can be purchased to apply to the windows to form a air barrier to keep warm air in. A very cheap way that I have seen some do this (although it is not beautiful but practical) is to simply take bubble wrap and a spray bottle and squirt water on the window and affix the bubble wrap. Another way to save money if you don't want to spend the money on clear plastic is to cover your window with blankets put up with tacks.

5. Don't use exhaust fans in the winter.

6. There are filters made for dryers so you can blow the dryer air into your house rather than outside. I personally have never found one that keeps the dust down but there may be one out there.

7. You can make your doors draft free with weatherstripping.

8. Open your oven door after baking.

If all of these suggestions are done, it will make a difference on the monthly bill! Pennies turn into dollars and dollars turn into great savings!

Happy Savings!

Reminder! Time to Buy Propane!

If you haven't yet gotten a summer-fill or a pre-pay for your propane, now is the time to do it. Locally, the last date is Aug 31st to buy. We just bought our summer fill and paid only .89/Gallon! That is an amazingly low price!

Summer-fill is when you get your tank filled during the summer for gas you will use during the winter. Pre-pay is when you pay for gas you project you will use during the winter at a discounted rate (rather than waiting until mid-winter to buy at high winter prices) but it is not put into your tank until winter-time, when you are low.

This year, we didn't do any pre-buying because we think with our new hot water heater, we won't need more than a summer fill. Hope we are right! I would hate to pay at winter prices! However, a pre-buy has a 300 gallon minimum here and we don't think we will need it.

Happy Saving!

Give Yourself an .18 an Hour Raise! Save on Heating Costs with Little Time or Money

What you see in the picture above is a programmable thermostat. I think whether you rent or own, you could possibly use a programmable thermostat in either case. There is some debate on whether programmable thermostats actually save money. In an article I read today about programmable thermostats that said they do not save money, it said that the people who use them think they are saving so much they put the temperature very low while they are gone and then very high while they are there so they end up not saving any money. Well, I thought that was kind of a no-brainer. You just have to use your head a little bit.

The concept is that people are not always at home and they also sleep, so you program your thermostat to your advantage. For example, if no one is home from 9-5, the thermostat can be turned down from 9-4:30. Then, as well, it can also be turned down while sleeping. I think many people actually sleep better in a cooler temperature. The point behind programmable thermostats is that how you program it is up to you. You can set it at any temperature that works to your advantage.

I used the below chart to come to the figure in the title. Annual savings of $365.00 a year and of course this will vary depending on how you set your thermostat.

You can spend a lot or a little for a thermostat. I saw them online from anywhere between $25.00 and $125.00. These costs should be easily recouped in the first year. There are a lot of videos on youtube  for how to program them. Here is another article for a few pointers:

http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/saving-energy/programmable-thermostats/#.

So, you may be able to get more than an .18 hour a raise depending on your climate and how well you program your thermostat. Once again, an easy and relatively inexpensive way to save money with little time or money! Tax Free!

Buying Propane: Give Yourself a $.67-$1.07 an Hour Raise Tax Free!

Some of us live in the country and need to buy propane for the cold season. There are a few ways that I know of to buy propane. One is summer fill. That is the least expensive buy. Then there is pre-buying, That is when you buy propane before the cold season starts but it is not put into your tank until later on. Then there is buying when you need it. Of course, buying on the spur of the moment when you notice you are about out of propane is the most expensive way to buy. Also, buying is less if you own your own tank than rent one from the propane company.

We do summer fill and pre-buy. We have two tanks, one that we own and the other is rented. When we first moved here, we had the one rented tank. That tank is 500 gallons. If we summer fill on 500 gallons we will run out before the year is over. My husband bought this second 500 gallon tank used (on craigslist) and had the gas company come out and make it so we could use both tanks. 1000 gallons is almost enough to make it through a winter here and might be if it were mild but for a very cold winter, it isn't enough.

Here, summer fill is $1.44 a gallon if you own the tank and pay in cash or check (.05 gallon more if you pay by credit card). Summer fill is $1.49 a gallon for a leased tank and pre-bought gallons are $1.69. With all things considered 1030 gallons for us (summer fill and pre-buy) is $1577.95. Okay, that's quite a hunk all at once. But let's look and see what it would be if we paid for it all in last year's peak prices.

Here is a link to some 2013 numbers:

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_epllpa_prs_dpgal_w.htm

I live in Wisconsin and it is showing $3.69 a gallon for last year on Feb 14th. $3.69 x 1030 gallons during peak at that time would have been $3800.70. Of course no one buys all the gas at peak so let's average it out to $2.89 a gallon (yes, I pulled that figure out of no where. :)) $2.89 x 1030 is $2976.70. So buying a summer fill and prepay we are saving somewhere between $1398.75 and $2222.75. So, if $1577.95 sounds like a big hunk, it's really not comparatively speaking for gas we are going to buy anyway.

That's a $.67- $1.07 an hour raise for a person that works 40 hours a week for the year. Tax free!