June’s bill stated that our next electric bill was going to adjust to $100 more a month. I was shocked! I even called the electric company to make sure there wasn’t a mistake. Of course, there wasn’t a mistake, we really were going to have to start paying $100 more a month in order to pay off our winter bill before next winter rolls around. I thought I was doing good at looking at ways to save on our electric bill but this bill made it obvious that we would have to do more.

While we could come up with that $100, that would be $100 less that would be going to paying off our debt so I knew we had to save on our electric bill any way we could. I made a list of ways we could reduce our usage and began implementing them. To my surprise, not only did we save money, we saved enough money that our budget billing didn’t rise that $100. We had reduced our energy consumption so much that by the time our bill actually came out it only went up $40. We saved $60 just by making a few changes!

Save money on your electric bill by actually completing your laundry. I am horrible about actually finishing a load of laundry once I start it, or I was horrible, I’ve changed recently. I would start a load of laundry, walk off, and then not think about it until the next day. In which case I would have to wash it all over again. I’ve done this three or four times with one load of laundry. I’m not lazy but the laundry is at the other end of the house and I would get involved in something else and . . . Anyway, I decided to stop this. I already dry most of my clothes around the house or outside so I was already saving what I could on the dryer. I also decided I wouldn’t put laundry in except for early in the morning or late at night and I would only do the amount I knew I could wash, dry, fold, and put away in that time period.

Save money on your electric bill by turning off the lights. We were already pretty good about this as we don’t turn on much, if any, light during the day and we only keep a light on in the room we’re in during the evening. I just tried to be even more vigilant than usual.

Save money on your electric bill by turning off electronics. I work from home and it can get pretty quiet when I’m here by myself with just the dogs so I tend to keep the TV on for company. Now I turn it off if I am going to be out of the room and I turn it off if I am just using it for mindless noise and not actually watching anything. I also turn it off at night if the hubby is listening to his audio books and I’m working. We also keep all of our small appliances unplugged and I turn off the computer every night.

Save money on your electric bill by using a toaster oven or having meals that do not require the oven.  Until a month ago we didn’t own a toaster oven. I’ve been wanting one for awhile but we didn’t have the extra cash for one. Until I received a $50 gift card to Walmart from MyPoints. I used the gift card to buy a convection oven. An awesome purchase! It takes a great deal less energy to use than the oven and it doesn’t heat up the house which keeps the AC from working harder than it needs to.  I also try to make lighter meals, such as sandwiches or salads or the crockpot, that don’t use as much electricity as the stove.

Save money on your electric bill by setting the thermostat higher and using fans.  I admit, this took some getting used to, especially as hot as it has been this summer. I began by slowly moving the thermostat up during the day. All the way to 80. Yep, you heard me, 80 degrees.  Most days anyway, some days we take it down to 78 degrees. I tend to live in tank tops and short shorts and the hubby has been walking around in shorts and no shirt. We keep the ceiling fan on in the living room and use box fans elsewhere. Keeping a fan directed at you does a lot more than you would think and significantly cools you down. At night we’ve been lowering it between 76 degrees and 78 degrees and using fans in our bedroom as well. We also have nothing but a sheet and a thin quilt on the bed and we don’t really use the quilt. I wish we didn’t have to lower it even this much at night but I could only take so many nights of waking up drenched in sweat. The hubby and I seem to be very hot sleepers!

 I was very surprised that these changes made such a big difference in our electric bill. I am going to continue to look for ways to reduce our bill and I can’t wait to see how much I can save on our electric bill this winter!

1. Eat organic food, buy from the farmer’s market, or grow your own.

Organic food can be more expensive but the cost is lowering. You may look at adding a few organic foods to your grocery list, such as organic milk, which often lasts longer than non-organic anyway. Visit your local farmer’s market to support your local growers and cut down on the emissions it takes for the food to end up on your table. Grow your own organic food if you find it is too expensive. Everyone can grow something even if it just herbs in your kitchen window.

2. Recycle

If you aren’t already, recycle everything you can. Recycling can take a few forms, you may take everything to a recycling center in your town or you could find other uses in your own home for items. For example you could use glass jars for small item storage or design a lamp out of old tin cans. Ask around the artist areas in your town to see if someone uses household items in their art and may want your extras.

3. Throw less away

Recycling will reduce your waste but so will making food from scratch instead of purchasing all pre-made meals or snacks. Purchasing less will also help. If you drink a great deal of water then get refillable bottles instead or purchasing a large amount of plastic each week and reuse your ziplock bags. Once you begin to look at things differently you will be amazed at how much you can reduce the amount of trash your throw away each week.

4. Lower your carbon emissions

Walk, carpool, and use public transportation if you can. If this isn’t possible then plan your errands for one day instead of getting out every day. Make sure that your car is running well and that your tires are at the correct pressure so that you get the best fuel efficiency possible.

5. Borrow and barter

Instead of paying someone for a service you need look to your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. Perhaps you could trade babysitting with a friend or you can borrow your neighbor’s chain saw rather than purchase your own, especially if you only need it for one project. Have a furniture or clothing swap and invite everyone you know. You just may find the outfit for your next party or the entertainment center you’ve been wanting without having to go out and buy a new one.

6. Natural cleaning can save you money and give you a less toxic home

There are many natural cleaning products you can purchase or make yourself. Items as simple as cleaning with vinegar and baking soda can do a lot of things. These cleaning products are healthier for your family and often are much less expensive than purchasing products. Make sure that you dispose of items, such as batteries or compact fluorescent light bulbs as directed in your town.

To help you stick with this New Year’s Resolution, involve the entire family. Most of these are so easy to do that you will find having a greener life much easier than you thought!

* Use potpourri – You can find potpourri just about anywhere or you can make it yourself. Potpourri is cheap and can be used for a long time if you freshen it occasionally with dried herbs and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg or mint.
* Use essential oils – Essential oils are made from the natural oils of plants. These oils are non-toxic so you don’t have to worry about using them. Combine a small amount of an essential oil with water and spray potpourri, wreaths, or pinecones in your home. Essential oils are expensive up front but a very small amount goes a long way and they will last you a long time.
* Place fruits on a wreath – Cut an orange, apple and lemon into thin circles. Dry the fruit then arrange and attach to a wreath. These will last for just a few weeks so you would have to make a new one next year.
* Light some beeswax candles – Beeswax candles will let off a delightful honey smell and is non-toxic.

These are just a few ways to freshen up your home. What eco friendly and frugal air freshners do you use?

Beeswax candles are made out of what you would expect the wax, or honey, made by bees. They are an all natural product so you can feel good about not harming the environment.

While beeswax candles are very environmentally friendly, you may think that they are much too expensive to be a frugal purchase. Beeswax candles are much more expensive than the paraffin candles you pick up at Walmart but it doesn’t mean they aren’t the better purchase in the long run.

When shopping for candles it is best to look at the burn rate. Paraffin candles often have a very high burn rate while beeswax candles burn longer. You get over 90 minutes of burn time for every inch of beeswax candles. With some paraffin candles your lucky to still have a candle after 90 minutes. This makes beeswax candles the more frugal choice as you get a lot more bang for your buck!

Save the Earth on a budget by purchasing beeswax candles for your home. They will not only save you money in the long run but they will help keep the air in your home cleaner.

You may want to hang lights everywhere that you can, but you may also want to think about how many you are using and how you go about using them.

Think about reducing the amount of lights you use. While you may want to, you don’t necessarily have to light up the entire neighborhood or double as a landing strip for the nearest airport.

When you do use lights, trade in your old ones for some new LED lights. Not only do these lights reduce the chance of a fire because they do not give off any heat, but they also use very little energy compared to the old style of outdoor lights.

While you’re changing to LED’s, you might want to pick up some compact fluorescent light bulbs for your home. These will cost you more upfront but they will last years longer than the regular tungsten lights.

Purchase an electronic thermostat, pick a temperature, and keep it there. The amount of energy you use by moving the thermostat up and down is huge. Use heavy thermal curtains to keep your house warmer and throw on a sweater and socks when you get cold instead of turning the heat up.

Have an energy check performed on your house to get a good idea of areas in which you are losing heat. A bit of silicone around an old window may make all the difference in a drafty room.

Take a look at budget billing in your area so that you have a set amount to work with each month.

Save energy this holiday season to save money and the earth.

What are you doing this holiday season to save energy?

In order to even begin reusing, you have to be organized. Organizing your home for free, even organizing your closet, and everything around you will be a big help when it comes to reusing items. How many times have you bought something only to find the same item in the back of your closet a week later? This won’t happen if everything has a place and is clearly marked. Declutter so that you know what you already have so you don’t go buy it again or what you don’t have and can stock up when it goes on sale.

Gifts that you keep on hand in case you can’t make it to the store should be stored in one place, with gift bags within easy reach. If you forget to purchase the wedding gift until fifteen minutes before you are set to leave, you will know exactly where to look and can easily throw a gift in a bag and go.

Keep your pantry as organized as you can. Purchase kitchen organization items if you need to so that you can see everything that you have, they will save you money in the long run, especially if you tend to lose a lot of food in your cabinets. You don’t want to buy green beans when there are three cans in the back of the pantry behind those yams you only use at Thanksgiving.

Getting organized will help you find things in your home so you can reuse them, recycle them, sell them, or give them away.

Are you getting organized?

An environmentally friendly shopping bag should be one of the first steps you take in environmental shopping. These shopping bags are becoming cheaper and cheaper. They can be handmade even! I purchased a few at time for about 50 cents to a dollar a piece. Others I received as free gifts and I bought a few nice ones. I plan on making some too but haven’t gotten around to it!

Look out for packaging when you go about environmental shopping. Pre-packaged foods are not only often more unhealthy for you than creating food from scratch, but they also come with a great deal of extra packaging that you end up just throwing away. Instead of purchasing the chicken already pre cooked and cut up, buy a whole chicken and make it yourself.

Look for products when environmental shopping, that can be recycled or reused. I will often reuse plastic containers or glass ones to hold craft supplies in.

Environmental shopping should also include a trip to your local farmer’s market. Less gas is used to get your product closer to you than if you bought from a local store and there is often no packaging involved, just drop them in your cloth shopping bag and go!

What does environmental shopping mean to you?

This upfront cost for compact fluorescent light bulbs can be decieving for some. While they do cost more to begin with, CFL’s are actually much cheaper, have a much longer lifetime than the old light bulbs, and use less electricity to run.

Most of us cannot afford to go out and replace every light bulb in our home but it is easy to slowly change them. We began the switch two years ago. When one bulb would go out we would replace it with a compact fluorescent light bulb. We also received a $10 off coupon when you buy $40 worth of CFL’s that we used to stock up with.

We have now switched over almost all of our bulbs and still have not had to change the ones we put in when we first began this process. If nothing else the lifetime of compact fluorescent bulbs is worth the price!

Start making the change today and save the Earth on a budget!

One of my dreams is to one day live a self-sufficient life on acreage. I would like to have a home that is “off the grid”.

This dream would be rather expensive as solar panels and wind towers are not quite financially available for the majority of us.

As each year passes, and my solar dreams get pushed back, I try to do what I can in the confines of my bank account.

To help everyone, I have decided to write a weekly Save the Earth on a Budget. I hope we can all make even small changes that will cost little or nothing and will help us all make a better for world for our children while sticking to our budgets.

One of the frugal living tips anyone can do is adjust your thermostat up or down at least a few degrees and take off or add clothes accordingly, instead of wearing sweats and curling up under a blanket in the summer or wearing shorts indoors in the winter.

To lower your electric bill and save you money in the long run switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. While the initial cost is much higher than an incandescent light bulb you will save much more in the long run. Not only will you save on your electric bill because fluorescent light bulbs cost less to use but you will also save money because you will not have to buy light bulbs very often. Compact fluorescent light bulbs can last years over an incandescent.

Another easy way to save money, and one of my favorite frugal living tips, is to turn off your lights and your water when you are not using them. If there is not a person in the room then there is no need to have a light on and you may find that often you do not need to turn a light on even when you are in a room. Natural light is often more than enough during the day and if you are watching movies at night then turn all those lights off and enjoy that movie in the dark!

Turning off your water, or fixing leaky pipes or running toilets, are also great ways to save money. While you are doing the dishes do not leave the water running but instead turn it off and on. You can also set out barrels to catch rain water that you can then use to water your plants or garden.

Do you have any ideas on how to save money by using less electricity and water? Contribute to The Frugal Home!