What are you doing to cut on cost in your home?

I am a pretty frugal person to begin with so I have not really done anything different.

I am also cutting coupons, using toaster owen istead of big one, my husband is buying gas at cosco, where it is cheaper and buying meat in bulks

I'm frugal too Chris but since I have a 2 story home with 5 people living in it, my electric gets very expensive during the summer so I'm trying to cut that cost as much as possible.

Thanks for your comments Chirs and Dagmara

I allow myself $40 on gas every other week.

We also had our frugal ways, even before they started raising everything, so we have really had to brainstorm to cut expenses more. We have gotten dark curtains up in our kitchen and living room, where the sun warms the most, and I also try to cook on the stove top more. If I do have the oven on, I bake bread, cook meat and potatoes in there all at the same time.

Oh, I forgot about closing the shades in the rooms where the sun comes in.

I know how that is. We have a 3 story home with 5 people two o those people are teenagers and well we all know that they are not very energy efficient most of the time. I am constantly telling them to turn off the light when you are not using them.

The only advice I can give there is use ceiling fans along with your air conditioner. It really does help because it keeps the cool air circulating. That and we also use keep the fan on the air conditioner on all the time to move the air around which makes the air conditioner run less.

Jr we do the same thing with the curtains. Then in the winter we open them up and let the sun help to heat up the house.

Same as the other folks....
I use ceiling fans and have purchased extra floor fans to move the air...and I keep the curtains closed during heat of the day...also have turned off air vents in rooms seldom used and closed them off...
Winter I close curtains at dusk...

I have to have my a/c these days. I don't know how I use to do without it all those years! lol I pretty much leave it on 78/80 degrees and use fans also.

I use the stove top sometimes, but mostly use the crockpot and microwave for cooking. I haven't had the oven on all summer. It's electric which I think is worse than gas for holding the heat and I don't want the a/c working harder and using more juice.

I started using Angelfood Ministries for food help. Anyone is eligible. They have a web site. I also wrote an article about them with pictures.

I only do full loads of laundry and only let the washer run on the wash cycle for ten minutes. I try to use cold water more. And I don't have an outside clothesline but I do put some things on hangers and let them air dry in the basement.

I got rid of my home phone and use my cell or I make calls on the computer using Skype. I've had it for a few months now and I love it. It's much cheaper than paying a regular phone bill. I wrote an article about it and am about to make an update article.

I use to leave the computer and everything on all the time. I also left the satellite box on and the VCR and now I turn all that off every night. It's not that hard if you have it all plugged into a surge protector. All you have to do is push the reset button and it's all off.

I've almost got all of the light bulbs changed over to the more economical kind. I still use my dusk to dawn light but it has a power saver light bulb in it now. They also last so much longer.

I've noticed that my neighbor is catching rain water from his gutters in a big bucket. I think he uses it to water his plants with. I would like to do that but I just got new guttering and I can't figure out how to make it so that I can catch water without messing up my new gutters.

Before I got the new gutters it would have been no problem at all to do. lol I could catch a whole trash can full of water at one corner of the house then.

Chris, we also have the fan on all day, and we usually have the A/C on 82 degrees. If it rains, we turn it off and let the fresh air in, but as soon as that rain cloud goes away the temperature is up again.

Carolyn, I forgot to mention that I got our Internet bill cut in half without cutting our services, it took a few calls and some polite determination, but it worked out and saves us 25 dollars a month.

I also started taking out the cord for the microvave and every other thing that we do not use all the time, and we rarely have the light on.

Yeah, I'm thinking of calling my Dish provider and trying to get my bill lowered. I'd hate to give it up altogether because I have the worst reception where I live. But I'm thinking it really is an extravagance these days. :o(

Clipping coupons and using them! Great read, Carolyn.

I won't use the bulbs. It is not woth the risk to me with young children around.

I haven't changed much of anything I do .............I never had air conditioning ,we burn wood in the winter.I always cook at home ,except once in a blue mooon we go to McDonalds,and I buy less meat because the price is to high. I am happy that my hubby is retired and doesn't need to buy gas to go to work...

We have a very open house and are on a county co-op for our electric, so it can get pretty expensive. That's with a geothermal heating/AC unit and gas stoves. We have the thermostat set pretty high - 74 degrees. We have curtains that have that insulating backing and all the kitchen appliances are unplugged when we aren't using them. Supposedly the ceiling fans help, but I've not seen much of a difference.

Marianne and Jr, Our blinds are closed in our living room and our rooms up stairs to keep the heat out too.

Chris we use ceiling fans too and it does help a lot, I make sure I don't move my thermostat, it stays at 80 during the entire summer.

Lera, we use the energy efficient lights on our front porch and back porch but not in the house yet, they are expensive too but worth it and will soon use them inside the house as well.

You're right about the oven, it does pull a lot and I love to bake so I'm baking and cooking in my oven once a week instead of 3-4 times a week.

I wash about 9 loads of clothes a week so I wash at least 2 days per week in cold water as well.

Does your power company have a "off peak" electrical usage program? We are on that, where they charge less for electrical usage at certain hours. However, they charge more during "on peak" hours, so it provides incentive to stick to the program. It is easy to do actually, washing/drying clothes, dishwasher, whatever draws a lot of power, later in the evening instead of during the day. We save a lot without really trying...

LOL, Lera I use to catch rain water in a bucket too to water my plants and rain water is the best water for your plants. Now I just move them out in the rain when it rains, that's a smart idea too.

Jr and Lera I need to start unplugging things we don't use all the time and start turning off the computers at night, I leave mine on and cut it off maybe once or twice a week, thanks for the ideas!

Our car insurance dropped $33 and that started this month(July) and that was a big help too. With 5 people in the household your food bill always go up.

I love your answer Elaine, good for you!

I don't know if we have that or not but I do use my dishwasher once a week to help with that and my water usage. I don't mind washing by hand. I'm going down stairs and unplug all my appliances that I don't use often such as my coffee pot, it stays plugged up, thanks all for the feedback, it helps all of us.

Thanks to everyone for all your comments.

just watch how much energy we use. trying to use more fans instead of low ac, using energy light bulbs...ect

Thanks Adele and chelsea for all your great ideas.

I'm learning about that oven, today I was going to grill out but it looked cloudy and finally rained so I cooked my chicken on top of the stove and barbecued it for the first time that way!

We are cutting back on electric, and water costs. We are being more conservative. Leftovers are used for lunch or for ingredients in the next dinner.

We travel less and stay in our town more. We do family game nights instead of going mini golfing or out to spend money.
We swim in our pool and play in our yard more . If we go to the movies we go to the Tuesday ones they are $5 movies.
Small things help save money.

I agree with you Amy, we have AAA and we can get discounts on movie tickets.

I think I've seen one movie at the theater this year and I took my sister as a treat. I usually rent them any more and not from any place expensive either. I can see as many movies as I want through netflix for $8.99 a month. The catch is that I can only get one at a time but that's fine with me. It cost me more than that just to watch one at the show.

About the light bulbs being expensive, I bought a bunch and with the rebate I ended up getting them for free. I sure would like a deal like that again. I can't remember if it was Home Depot or some other place like that. But I do know that Home Depot has them in a package of like 6 or 8 and I think it's cheaper than if you buy them one at a time. I've also gotten them at Aldis and at Big Lots which are discount stores. Even Dollar General carries them.

Praying nobody in our family uses the car. Heh. Aside from that, we've cut back on practically everything at this point, including food.

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Just cutting corners where we are able....spending more time at home, smaller vacation...etc...

I got my light and gas bill today, it was almost 3 times as it usually is. I know that is wrong. tried calling them, they must have a lot of people calling I could get anyone, Have it try again tomorrow morning..they have a new billing system now. supposed to be better. bull do do

I have been buying up the really good sale items. Meijer have been running alot of buy 1 get 2 free. So I buy them up like crazy and freeze what we do not need right away.

I limit the places I go to save on gas. I clip coupons, make sure all the light are off if none is in the room.

I am trying to remember to unplug appliances when we are not using them!

Right now we are eating cheaper dinners and not eating out.

I run around like a maniac turning of lights.

less junk food, keeping doors closed to rooms not in use to not use up heat, shutting of lights, keeping things unplugged, trying to coordinate tasks when driving places (if something is one direction, then pair it with something else that needs to be done in that areas of town instead of driving around.) I put all paychecks and payments on direct deposit and direct withdrawal to reduce going to the bank to cash checks and going to the post office to mail them.

I saw a suggestion of gathering up all the unused bottles of lotion, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner, etc - until you have nothing left and used them all - before buying new ones. I would frequently purchase these things when I had about 20% of it left and realized I would need a new one soon, so there are lots of bottles that have a few uses left so I don't throw them away. So that saved me some money and cleared out my overflowing closet.

Turning lights off when not in use is a pet peeve with me. Only doing the wash when I have a full load, stop using hot water for the laundry, too. We bought new windows. Our power bill went down $68.00 (approx.) We put door sleeves on all the doors. I emptied out the garage freezer. Replaced some fixtures with energy efficient bulbs. Made sure there wasn't any air coming through the doors when they were closed. and duck taped the attic stair around its edges.