Money Saving Talk

We all tend to buy enough meat that lasts for the weekly grocery list. Recently I did some experiment with buying meat in bulk and found that it saves more doing so. There are two reasons. First, bulk items including buying meat in large packages usually have lower per unit price. Large pack of chicken breasts are usually cheaper than smaller packages.

Also when you buy large packs, you freeze them and have a better plan how to prepare the family dinner menu. It’s a lot easier to plan meals when you have meat in the freezer instead of taking a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up a pack of meat. It’s always a good idea to keep extra meat in the freezer before your next grocery shopping so your fridge never goes empty. You will also save on gas if you always have extra food left in the fridge before the next shopping.

This is a much debated topic. Is it more economical using the air conditioning or letting the window down? It all depends. If you are driving in local traffic or get stuck in a traffic, it is definitely cheaper to open the windows. But if you are on a high way and going at over 65, it is better on gas to close the window and run the air conditioning. Because doing so decreases air resistance.

But the problem is, if you got stuck in traffic and the temperature is 95, will you still leave the air conditioning off? So the best way to save gas is to carpool, and combine errands together so to reduce the chance of getting stuck in a traffic.

Although there’s so much you can do to winterize your apartment to save on utility bills, there are simple energy conservation measures you can use to increase the comfort of your apartment.You can caulk and weatherstrip the window and exterior doors; select and use window treatments.

Since heating and cooling use about 56% of the energy in average American home, saving on heating and cooling will significantly reduce your bills. Although your landlord or management company is ultimately responsible for your building’s energy efficiency, you can use supporting energy source such as space heaters to make your apartment more comfortable.

Source: EERE

Many families start trimming their grocery bill before they think about other ways to save. For example, your electricity bills. The good thing about saving electricity is that you’re saving not only money, but also the environment.

Here are few simple tips that you can start right away:

1. Wash your clothes in cold water. You really don’t need warm or hot water for your clothes. Besides, shirts and under wears last longer if you don’t use hot water to wash them.
2. Turn off the lights whenever you go to bed, go to work, step out, or simply leave the room. You would think it saves very little. But if you have a 4-bedroom house, trust me, it adds up.
3. Change all the bulbs in the house into energy savings bulbs. You don’t have to change all of them today since it also adds up the costs. But only buy the energy efficient ones when you shop for light bulbs and switch over gradually.
4. Turn off the computers, TVs, and monitors.
5. Set your refrigerator temperature to medium or high temperature. You don’t really need to be that cold in the freezer.
6. Line try your clothes in sunny hot summer days.

If you think this will only save a little, surprisingly studies show that by making little changes, you can cut your bill by at least 25%. So if you’re paying $100/month now, expect to pay $75. That’s nice if you do that every month.

In many parts of the world, people still shop their groceries in the open market daily. The best part about shopping at open market, you get the in season fruits and vegetables directly from the growers. In-season fruits and vegetables are the most nutritious and probably are cheaper than the ones you get in grocery stores.

There’s one way to buy in bulk and save them for later: canning or drying. People have been doing them for centuries to save their vegetables and fruits. Amish people still do it today. By canning in-season fruits and vegetables, you buy in bulk at a cheaper price. Fruits and vegetables are usually the most expensive in winter months. So preserving them enables your family enjoy the same nutritious meal and pay nothing in winter months.

Some fruits can be dried and most of them can be canned. The same goes with vegetables. Canning takes a bit of work. If you have never done it before, get a good book on canning. Imagine cutting the grocery bills in half during the winter months! It’s well worth the trouble.

Each month, a million people visit CoolSavings to take advantage of money-saving coupons and offers from their favorite name brands. They also enjoy helpful tips and articles, newsletters, free recipes, sweepstakes, free trials, free samples and more!

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With unemployment figures at an all time high, many people are forced to rely on their money wits to keep their families afloat. Even if you still have your job, it would be prudent if you knew how to save a dollar or two when you go to the grocery.

While it may sound obvious to most people who are reading this, the definition of the word “need” seems to have been warped by marketing and mass media. What you need to do first of all is to redefine the word itself.

What qualifies as “needs”?

A quick and somewhat brazen answer is, “it keeps you alive”. Defining the things that you don’t need could also help, “You don’t need things which you can be alive without.” I know it’s hard to change your mindset after years and years of conditioning. It takes a certain strength and a certain personal control to be able to think beyond how you normally would.

The thing is, mass media has been a very powerful source of conditioning for our minds. We’ve been fed with ideas that we need rice crispies, power bars, cereals and countless other so called nutritional supplements that we actually think that we are going to be sick if we don’t buy them.

Don’t fall into that trap.

Do a little more research. You could find a lot of the nutrition that you need in the basics like bread, rice, fruits, vegetables and meats. I’ll say it again, you don’t need a specially formulated concoction to give you Vitamin E!

Alcoholic beverages (including wine)

Blot spilled drinks promptly and sponge with cool water. This should remove most of the color, even if it has already dried. Rubbing alcohol or white wine may also work in a pinch, but they may affect fabric color. If clothing is washable, follow instructions for non-greasy stains.

Blood

First, soak or rub in cold water until stain is almost gone. Then, if fabric is washable, launder in warm water and detergent. On non-washable materials try a little borax or hydrogen peroxide to get the last traces out. Once blood stains set, they are difficult to remove, but a warm solution of trisodium phosphate will sometimes work on cotton or linen.

Coffee, tea

These are easier to remove if no cream was involved. Treat as non-greasy stain with cold water. If cream was involved, follow directions for combination stains, treating first with water, then detergent. A solvent may be necessary.

Egg

Never use hot water on an egg stain because it will set the stain. Scrape off as much as possible with a dull knife, then sponge or soak with cold water. Launder if possible.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

You use natural and less-toxic household products whenever possible. It’s a great way to save money and save the environment.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

One of the simplest ways to save money, and often achieve a healthier lifestyle is to cut back or eliminate personal vices. Do you really need that extra pack of cigarettes? Couldn’t you make through at least one weekend a month without buying a six pack of beer? If your personal vices tend to be illegal in nature, so much the better.

There’s plenty of money to be saved by for-going an ounce of marijuana. People tend to underestimate the amount of money they spend on their unhealthy habits. Perhaps they do not realize how much money they are spending because each outlay to indulge their vice is often relatively small.

If you are truly interested in saving money though, just take some time to do the math. For example, spending six dollars on a pack of cigarettes may not seem like much, but if you smoke a pack a day this amounts to forty two dollars. This comes to total of over two thousand dollars a year going up in smoke. By quitting your bad habits, not only will you save money directly, but you may be able to save money in other ways as well. For instance if you stop smoking, you may be eligible for cheaper health insurance rates.