Saving Money Around the House

Common Sense Tips and Tricks to Saving Serious Cash Around the House

Frugality is a weird word, in my house we call the practice survival.  We raised a total of 6 kids, and there’s no way you can survive this unless you learn a thing or two about cutting corners and pinching pennies! Everyone makes an issue about turning lights off, cutting down the wattage of bulbs, switching over to fluorescent, and all these tips do save money. But studies have proven this really only saves you around two dollars a year. If you want to see a more measurable savings, combine these things with well placed lighting. 

What good does it do to switch all your bulbs to 60 watts, when you have to turn on 10 of them to see? Study your room, it’s size and shape, and the areas within the room that require quality light… such as reading areas, and desks. Instead of using the main light fixture in the ceiling that has several bulbs and attempts to light the entire room, use smaller free standing light fixtures in your areas that require quality light. You’ll probably find that you stop using the over head all together. Well placed lighting in places where it’s actually needed, will usually adequately illuminate the remaining areas that require less. I also suggest at least one motion or sound activated lamp in these rooms, to avoid the urge to flip on the over head as you enter the dark room.

Don’t forget your washing machine has more than the HOT setting! (This applies to you guys more than gals… I’ve yet to meet a man that thinks cold water will work as well as hot.) Towels, linens, shirts, practically anything not heavily stained or overly thick like denim can be washed in cold water equally as well as it can in hot. Now some people would argue that you can wash jeans in cold too, but denim is one fabric that I personally believe responds best to warm water. (I have kids - boys - they like dirt - a lot)