Ten Ways to Save

People are always asking me what are some ways that we save, so I thought I would share a few things that have come to mind.

1. We turn down the heat, especially when we are going to be gone or at night. They say you can save 3% on your heating bill for every degree you go down.

2. We hang all of our laundry up to dry. In the summer we use a line outside, and my husband set one up in our upstairs porch if it's raining. In the winter we hang the clothes on a drying rack next to our wood stove, which dries pretty fast. Then we toss it in the dryer for about 10 minutes to help remove lint and soften the fabric.

3. We wash and reuse plastic Ziploc bags—well, until they get a hole in them or become so greasy that we can't get them clean.

4. We try to use rags over paper towels whenever possible. Someday I would like to make these awesome reusable cloth towels, but until then I just have rags.

5. I make my own laundry detergent—which I plan to write a "how to" blog the next time I make it, with pictures of course!

6. I don't buy many pre-made meals or food, but instead basic groceries that I know I can make many different things from. I would love to be really organized someday and have a meal plan or do freezer meals, but until then this has worked for us.

7. I try to do all of my trips to town at once. I don't like making a bunch of 20 mile round trips, so when I am out I do it all. Sometimes, when it's convenient, we carpool with friends.

8. Both Jake and I have trouble sleeping without some kind of white noise in the background, like a fan, but we traded running our fan all night for a sound machine that makes various white noises. We noticed a significant difference on our electric bill when we did this.

9. I try to buy decorations after the holidays when they are on sale. This week I scored some Christmas wreath mesh and a candle for 90% off, taking the cost from $44 to $4!

10. Instead of going out on expensive date nights we do free at-home or local dates, part of my year of dates for my husband that I gave him for his birthday. Stay tuned for some pictures of some of the ones we have done these past couple months.

So, there you go! Ten ways we have saved during our journey to debt free living.

Keep pinchin' :-)