Let's quit pussyfooting around here.

Oh my goodness if I hear the words "latte factor" again I am going to scream. I like to eat out and I know it cost money. Do we really need someone to tell us to reduce our Starbucks and drink coffee at home. Are we to unconscious to know this. Here's the deal: You will see me in Starbucks or a local coffee shop on occasion. I enjoy it, its a treat. Yes it is expensive and everyday would be a lot of money. Any human with a grain of sense knows this.
My point is that the economy is in the toilet and we are hearing quite a bit about how to save money but most of it is pretty basic stuff. That has its place but what about getting down to the nitty gritty. There are many things we can do daily to cut expenses. There are far fewer big things you can do but the fluidity of basic life offers many ways to save.
Here are as many tips as I can think of that you probably won't see on the local news.

1. Get up right now and turn off as many lights as you can without sitting in the dark.
2. Wash only full loads of cloths on cold water, dishes too, turn off the dry heat cycle.
3. Wear your cloths until they are dirty. I wear my cloths over and over and use an apron around the house.
4. Have your kids shower every other day unless they are stinky.
5. Sweep your front porch and drive: gives you exercise and no use of electric blowers or water hoses, saves energy and water and makes for sexy legs and arms.
6. Reduce your meat and milk consumption. Add beans to recipes. Sandwiches made with guacamole, hummus, or a little cream cheese taste great with veggies and a little spike.
7. It is not more expensive to eat healthy. Buy oats and grains, fruit and veggies in season, beans canned and dried. Look online or go to the library and research vegetarian cooking. Buy the book "More with Less" and learn how to cook cheaply, healthy, and consciously.
8. Combine your errands into one day or one trip. Example I work on the east side of town so the day I work I schedule places I need to stop on that side of town.
9. Check your tire pressure, get a tune up, drive less.
10. Look inside yourself and examine your spending habits. Are you filling a hole with unnecessary stuff. Shopping is a normal part of life and we all have to do it sometimes but ask yourself this question "Do I need this". If the answer is no and you have debt than put it down and walk away. If you have loads of money and the answer is "no" than ask yourself if there is a better use of money: support a local charity, purchase energy efficient products for your life.
11. If the answers is "Yes" then : can you borrow it, buy it used. Don't get me wrong here this is not a holier than thou position for me. On occasion you will want or need something new but
reducing your consumption of new things helps the earth and your pocket book.
12. Use natural home cleaning products: lots of information on line. Baking soda, borax, vinegar and basic soap work wonders.
13. Take care of your health and your possessions to make it all last longer.
14. Get your hair cut every 5 weeks instead of four.
15. Only go shopping once a week. You will have to plan and make due. An ongoing shopping list will help make this easy.
17. Cook one meal eat it twice or more. For example make a pot of chili, use half the meat double the beans. Eat chili for one meal and next day heat up a baked potato and top it with chili and whatever toppings you have on hand. Eating leftovers saves tons of money.
18. Sell the SUV (if you can). Find a bank that will loan you money on a used car that is over 5 years old (the price drops greatly if the car is older than 5 years). For example we bought a 1999 Subaru from a friend for $6500 dollars, it had 75,000 miles on it. We got a loan for $6000 for three years for $199 a month. We then sold the car my husband was driving and put the money on that loan and paid off the balance in 18 months. I drive a 98 honda van. We have no payments now and are saving to upgrade the van in two to three years.
19. Get cars that last: Honda, Toyota, Subaru and drive them for at least 8 to 10 years or longer. Buying used and taking good care of them they will go for a long time.
20. My husband is awesome at this and it keeps are cars looking nice. There is a silver hubcap paint at Auto Parts Stores it's about $4. He sprays my hubcaps every couple of years and they look brand new (take them off and clean them first). Also he sprays my wipers with black paint to keep them looking new. We park our cars under a carport and try to keep them clean. I wash mine every week or so.
21. Pets: Buy the flea medicines for the largest breed animal. From Nov to March we give our animals Brewers Yeast in there food, $3 a jar, this keeps fleas off. Then March to November in the south you have nasty fleas so I buy a large package of Frontline for Great Danes, Transfer this into a brown vile ( from essential oils) pour it in and use .1 ml in a dropper on my Dachshunds, Mutt and cat, check with your vet or online for proper dosage. We have four animals and this saves you about $75 every three months. Also we buy generic heart work preventive from Dr. Smith here in town.
22. Buy in bulk. Use wash cloths instead of paper towels. I do buy paper towels occasionally, I used to not use them at all but with kids I find they are helpful. However we mostly use cloth napkins, wash cloths, and towels.
23. Add dry milk to your regular milk when half the container is empty. Just follow directions.
Last check this saves you about 50%. I have four kids. My kids are not allowed to have milk more than twice a day. We use only organic and at $8 a gallon its just to expensive so they drink a lot of water now. They are allowed some cheese and yogurt. You can get your calcium from nuts, greens, and cold water fish.
24. pay off your credit cards, get a lower rate in the process: just call and ask.
25. move to a less expensive house.We did this and life is much easier. It was a huge undertaking but even with all the work we had to do to the house we live in now the mortgage payment is $400 less a month, and we added on 900 sq.ft.
26. Don't bounce checks.
27. Use public transportation if you can: Look I can't say I am going on a bus anytime soon but if I travel we usually have this option.
28. Get a bike and use it if you live in bike safe area.
29. Walk whenever possible.
30. Don't use the credit card, I don't even have one now.
31. Have an emergency fund: I recommend $1000, but start somewhere. Cut all unnecessary expenses until you have this in the bank. Then #30 will be easier to do.
32. carpool.
33. Go to a four day 10 hour work week if you can. The college my husband and I work for does this in the summer.
34. Don't idle your car. It waste gas and pollutes. Run errands to reduce left hand turns, this reduces idling and saves time. I make a list of errands and in my head map it out in as many right hand turns (and try to go in a circle around town) by numbering my list from 1 to whatever. Then when I leave just follow the numbers. Its pretty easy to do.
35. If you don't have insurance ask your Dr for samples of prescriptions. At least get generics. If that's not an option ask your Dr for a less expensive medicine. There are usually alternatives and different drug stores have different prices so shop around.
36. Ask for a discount on medical care if you don't have insurance. I choose a hospital here in town that offers good care. We do have insurance now however, they offer 25% off your bill if you pay the balance in full: this includes deductibles. This saved me $250 on my hysterectomy.
37. Get proper rest. You will weigh less, be less stressed, need less drugs and less therapy.
38. Learn to do your own home repairs or ask for help from someone who knows how. At least you may barder or work a better price for someone who needs work.
39. Swap tools with friends and neighbors.
40. Trade cloths, buy used, or clearance sales.
41. Use the library for books, dvds, tapes, cd.s, etc...
42. Use netflix instead of a video store.
43. Share magazine subscriptions: I share with my friends. The magazines I like to keep they return to me when they are through reading them.
44. clip coupons when applicable. But not for processed foods and things you don't use. Kroger's sends me specific coupons every couple of months based on what I use. My usual bill with four kids for toiletries, animal food, and groceries runs about $200 a week (we eat a lot of organics) last week with my targeted coupons my bill was $119. I had 10 canvas bags full of groceries, Mostly produce, 3 lbs of chicken, 1 pork roast and 2 packages of organic lunch meat.
45. After you get groceries use your store card and save 10 cents a gallon on gas. Every Sunday I go to the store and get gas at Kroger.
46. About once or twice a month I might have to go to Walmart if I need air filters or miscellaneous Items that I can't buy at the groceries store. I try to stay out of Walmart as it sucks you in and you spend a lot of money. Never underestimate marketing experts and their ability to get you to spend more. Make a list, go with a full belly and an iron will.
47. Eat in season: Buy local. Don't buy food from overseas even if its on sale. It cost tons to transport and their not regulated by U.S. standards.
48. Find the reduced sale isle in your grocery store.
49. Use your own shopping bags. Kroger's and Good Earth Natural Foods and other store give you 5 cents off a bag. Ask for it.
50.Vacation close to home.
51. Cut back on dining until it feels like a treat.
52. Make a hobby out of service: It makes you feel great and you give back to your community.
53. Holiday dress: This is Easter weekend. I am inventorying what we have and buying only what is needed. Each child and adult will get only what needs to be replaced. My boys don't all need dress shoes that they will only wear once. They will wear their nicest tennie shoes with dress pants and a button down: if we don't have it I will buy used, or new If I can't find what I need.
54.College: If your kids don't have scholarship's then consider community college for the first two years. I teach p.e. and every year I get kids back from university because quote "mom and dad don't want to pay for me to party". Sometimes kids need to mature and make that transition slowly.
55. Also look into Ameri-corp programs, local scholarships, and grant money: I got myself through college with five scholarships (I wrote for them myself), grant money, $1000 from my parents (they could not afford more at the time), and a $2500 loan. Unfortunately my husband being a middle class white male only qualified for grants so we are paying $16000 off in college loans: However his income more than doubled when he graduated. So its was a great investment.
56. Make gifts or pick them up at yard sales and second hand shops. Make cards or a phone call expressing you love for the person. My husband says to me "my gift to you was not buying you anything". He will pick me some flowers or make me a card or do some chores for me. My all time favorite was when the boys were little he came home one day when we were gone and cleaned the house for me (he took a long lunch). That was the most thoughtful thing , I was so grateful.
57. Get basic term life insureance if you have dependents. I have seen my mother really stuggle becasue they did not have enough life insurance. Buy it when you are healthy and young. About 3 to 5 times your income. You spouse needs it if they work or take care of kids: in the event something happened to a non-paid caregiver, thier work would need to be hired out. Make provisions for this it can save tons of money in the event of a death.
58.Turn the air off or in winter 68 in summer 76 to 78 degrees with a cooling breeze using fans or open windows.



Check out prior post for more information.


Blessings for a wonderful day!
Courtney

Recycling 101: It is all of our Responsibility

How to recycle. Please share this as It is a huge problem.

In order for communities to offer recycling programs the citizens have to support it. How do you do that? First of all you recycle properly. Which I will cover. Something that I have observed and spoke to people is never assume somebody has the answers. All persons do not know how to recycle. This is very common as you can notice if you become an observer of our enviroment. At least 30% or more of your household trash could be recycled. This is the estimation in our region. I would bet it is higher judging by my recycling bins

1.Hot Springs city takes newspaper, cardboard, aluminum cans, papersacks (non bleached) and phone books. This is for curbside pickup. Call and get one or two blue buckets and a calender with you dates of pickup: 321-6911 or 623-7871 M to F 7a.m. to 3:30. You can drop off e waste hear.
2. Around May 08 you should be able to drop off plastics #1 and #2 at the Runyon drop station at 218 Runyon (Grand Ave, turn by Horner Concrete to left on Runyon).
3. The County takes all of the above now and excepts steel cans, tires, and e waste,
and large items like Mircrowaves, Fridges, Treadmills etc....County drop stations are .1 mile west of North Moore Road on Hwy 70 (towards Lake Hamilton school) and 1/4 of a mile past the Fox Pass Cutoff on 7N towards Hot Springs Village. I go to the later about once a month. It takes about 30 mins of my day.No big deal.
4.Walker Auto Ranch and Dewey Cook also will pay you for steel and aluminum.

To keep these programs you must follow some basic guidelines. If you do not rinse your recycables it:
1. Causes animals to get in them and get hurt
2. Destroys the machines used in the recycling process. If we want these programs it is pertinent that we pay attention.

1. Wash everything out, a good rinse. I put peanut butter containers in the dishwasher first. Watch those steel can tops,shove them into the bottom of the can carefully, No need to remove paper off of your cans and bottles.
2. Remove the caps.
3. Make sure not to have garbage in with you recycables. Remember that people work in these places and they deserve not to have to deal with your garbage.
4. Cardboard and newspaper must be dry and void of food.
5. Seperate your plastics #1 and #2 only. You cannot recycle other plastics in our area. Do not throw them in the bin this will contaminate the whole process. There is a symbol, usually on the bottom with three arrows in the shape of a triangle the number is inside the arrow.
6.Cell phones, lap tops, E waste go to the Beautificaton Commission office on 2nd street. It helps fund our programs.
7. Never throw batteries, paint, cleaning products etc in the trash. Save them and take them to the Toxic Collection in your area. We have one once a year at the Fairgrounds. GO to hsgcbc.com to find out more. Or you can take them to Runyon Street.
8. Start a compost pile,See my blog on How to Compost.

I am sure there is more to cover. If we all do our part it makes a huge diffrence. It will take you only a few minutes a day to wash things out when you do dishes. Otherwise its a matter of putting things in a blue bin instead of the trash can. Its EASY. At the very least utilize curbside pickup.No one has an excuse here. If you can get your trash to the curb you can get your bucket and your behind to the curb.
When all of this goes in to our landfill it produces methane gas which causes a barrier in our atmosphere. The sun shines down and can't get back up past the atmosphere causing, thats right, Global Warming. I am begging you as we have only a small portion of our city doing something on this issue, you must do your part.

Have a blessed day.
Courtney