Saving Money While At Home?
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
United States
March 10, 2009 12:33pm CST
Do you concern yourself much with trying to shave pennies off your household bills, such as electricity, natural gas, telephone, etc?
Do you try to limit the amount of water you use to save money? Do you limit the number of phone calls you make?
What sorts of things do you do in your home to save money?
I rarely paid much attention to what I did to save money around the house. I didn't pay any attention to the phone calls I made, but I rarely made any outgoing calls, so I wasn't worried about it. I did't pay any attention to how often I ran the oven, or how much laundry I did, or how much hot water I used.
Now for some reason I'm paying a lot more attention. I'm worried about our gas and electric bill. My stove is now gas, my old one was electric. I'm worried that my cooking and baking will cause a huge spike in my electric bill.
Also I'm worried about my phone bill. At the moment my phone company charges me for each phone call I make, and now I'm on dial up. I'm making many outgoing calls a day each time I sign onto the internet. Unfortunatly I can't just stay online all day because I might miss important phone calls, especially when my kids are in school.
Once I get my first bills in this new home, I may have to think about making adjustments to my routine.
1 person likes this
16 responses
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
10 Mar 09
I am the frugal one in my home - although my son is improving. I turn off all power bars and do not leave charges plugged in the socvkets 24/7. I always wash in cold water. I do not have a land line and my part time job pays for one of my cells. The other one I pay for. I do turn off uneccessary lights and fans. My son would lesve the house and the fan in his bedroom would be on full blast and he would leave on the light in his b/room and bedroom. He doesn't do that anymore thank goodness but he does not turn off his tv at night.
It's good to be frugal and you can get quite high on thinking of ways to save those pennies. all of my loose change is saved on a daily basis. Each Christmas, I have enbough money to buy a turkey, ham and extra food that is needed. I've been doing that for five years and to have the extra money is great at Christmas time.
I really don't limit water as we all need to bathe at least twice a day in hot weather. I always though make sure that I wqsh with a full load and wash on the shortest cycle possible. Let us know hoe you do when the bills come in. Blessings
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
10 Mar 09
Things like washing full loads of laundry on short cycles and turning off lights etc are things I've always done. I can't imagine cutting back on my cooking or baking though. I guess I could just use my crockpot more often.
@playapal (894)
• United States
10 Mar 09
When I lived in the US I never really paid attention to saving money around the house, just on groceries and clothing. Now that I live in Mexico and work on commission instead of having a regular paycheck I am a fanatic about it. I keep everything unplugged until I use it, try to cook as many things as possible in the oven at the same time. I never run a small load of wash I wait until I have a full one. It seems that I am doing a good job as last time that I paid my electric bill it was less than $50 for 2 months. I try to never make calls on my cell phone, instead I let people call me or send text messages. I also run around like crazy at night shutting off lights behind my husband. Thank goodness my internet is DSL and reasonable, couldn't live without it.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
10 Mar 09
I miss my DSL, but I can't get it where I am now, only dial up or cable, and I can't afford the cable.
@sophie_dfuss (2365)
• Philippines
11 Mar 09
Yes I try to save money even I am at home.
(1) I limit my cellphone calls (local and international calls)
(2) I turn off appliances that are not in use.
(3) I turn on the lights at night time only.
(4) I prefer to walk if its only short distance.
@celebratelifeh (1142)
• China
11 Mar 09
hello. talking to saving money off househlod. i am really curious about our water cost. we keep the used water of washing clothes to flush the lavatory but still cost the same with do not use this saving...aha.
ofcourse we tried to save some pennies for this recession . if this going on a long time and you'll find that you have saving a big amount, happy saving.
@NuttyMomma (901)
• United States
11 Mar 09
i try to make sure that during the day i don't put lights on unless i have to. i try to rely on natural sunlight coming in the windows. also i keep the heat set low and if i am cold i move around more or put on more clothes. i haven't been able to cut back on water useage except for making sure i don't leave it running while brushing my teeth. i try to keep chargers unplugged when not in use. i am thinking about getting rid of my landline cause it will save $40 a month. i know that isn't a lot but every little bit helps. yeah, i do think twice about using gas versus electric when cooking. everything has gone up and i get scared about it.
@sagapo121845 (277)
• Philippines
11 Mar 09
yeah,my mom even limits us to use things so that we wont pay more bills.We are now in a very strict law...haha...lol.Im kinda comfortable at it at first but we have to get used to it,the crisis is ruling the world,I can feel it..
@tentwo67 (3382)
• United States
10 Mar 09
Well, I'm certainly aware of things like leaving things running, and conserving my efforts in different areas (like doing all of one thing at once). One thing we definitely watch is the thermostat. When it was really cold I was bundling up like crazy (I'm really cold natured) so that we could have the heater on a much lower temp. I was happy to do it, too. Now that it's starting to get warm we will try to use as little air conditioning as possible too.
It's not just the economic times that make this stuff important. It's good for the environment and just overall good karma to use only what you need.
Good luck to us all.
(Off topic, I have a way for people to make either a little or a LOT of extra money with no start up costs. PM me for details)
@mjmlagat (3170)
• Philippines
11 Mar 09
Hello there! Yeah, I'm really concern about payables at home and how to minimize them. I am religious in making follow-ups whether the other members of the family are really cooperating. We recycle our washing machine water whenever we can..we turn off unnecessary lights at night and we all watch one show as not to turn on two televisions at a time.
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
11 Mar 09
Hey kats! I try to watch certain things that I do. I have a
straight phone bill that is hooked up with the cable and
the internet so I know what that bill is. My gas is paid
in with the rent. What I try to watch, but it does no good
anyway is the electric bill! It seems no matter what I do
it is still outrageous! It is really hard to watch these things
since you really are not in control of any of these things.
You can try to watch, but only to a point. I guess after a
month or two you will be more familiar with what you are
spending and will be better able to tell what is going on.
@uicbear (1900)
• United States
10 Mar 09
We have don a few things to try and cut down on costs. The first thing we did was to cut down our satellite package. We were getting a couple of movie channels and I said that should be the first to go. I've missed it occasionally, but not too much.
Then we are also more conscious of turning off lights when we leave a room. We have also turned down the heat a couple of degrees.
The last money saving thing that we do more of now, is look for coupons for grocery and miscelaneous shopping.
Those are the things we've done so far, but are on the lookout for more.
@mystic888soul (390)
• Philippines
11 Mar 09
actually, im not the one who's paying the bills but what i am doing to save money and somehow to help reduce the bills is that i limit my time watching tv, i turn off unnecessary lights & limit my phone calls..^^
@HelloMickey (1655)
• Hong Kong
11 Mar 09
Hello katsmeow1213
I concern much with it. As I don't want to pay much on bills, I don't use air-conditioner a lot, it uses a lot power. I read a japnese article about saving money in households, some japanese even don't open frig so soon.
I wash my plates and dishes with small amount of water, as I know how to wash with less water as long as it is effectively and efficiently.
I think it is a good habit to control myself not wasting money on trivia. So we can have more money spend on meaningful things.
Have a good day~
@fasyahime (629)
• Malaysia
11 Mar 09
definitely,i close the light as much as possible,prefer to watch TV in dark,do not open the water tap big,close it while brushing your teeth,washing and shampoo.always cook at home nowadays,shopping when have great sale only..buy locally instead of imported brand.only surfing the internet at workplace instead of internet cafe..it also help,that i live in quite far place from shopping mall.
@delkar (1712)
• Romania
10 Mar 09
well, i`m not on my own money, but my parents are sending me money each week, but without to say, i see that with this crisis, they are affected too, so i really try to earn some money for worse days, and i really did that. Some months ago, i was out at 3-4 days, and eating out and so on, now i`m just cooking at home, i`m making some soup, i try to eat less(it really helps me to lose flesh too), and i`m doing some sport too. I`m tring to make all that i can to spend less on everithing. I even pull out all the electics. I try to safe from anything i can. It`s the perfect time for that, because there will be worse days that how it`s now...some money will help us...
@TRWilliams02 (349)
• United States
10 Mar 09
I've tried to keep in mind what I could do to help save. I haven't gone as far as pulling plugs out of the wall. But while I'm home during the daytime I try to make sure all the lights are shut off and open the blinds to allow as much light in. Any chance I get to open the windows to help on heating/cooling cost I do. I have noticed since we haven't been eating out as much that our electric bill has gone up with me cooking. I'm just waiting for the weather in my area to get a little warmer to where we can start cooking on the grill more. I'm actually having the hubby install a clothesline so I can start hanging clothes out to dry instead of running the dryer as much. I wash my clothes in cold water only like someone else said. Anything I can think of to help out, especially with the tough times.
