How to Save Money in the Laundry Room!!

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There are money saving settings right on your washing machine that you may or may not have noticed. It starts with the size of your load of laundry. There is (on most washers) dial that has water saver mode all the way up to large capacity load. Use this setting option don't just set it on large load and walk away!

There is also a temperature setting dial. This dial lists all the types of temperature settings for the different cycles from cold/cold to hot/cold. Read the tags on your laundry and see what the manufacturer suggests for temperature settings on your clothes and use them! Wash in cold/cold whenever you can and it will save on the cost to heat the water.

You can save money on drying your clothes by not over filling your washing machine as well. If you put too many clothes in your washer your spin cycle will not get as much water out of the clothes as you would with a normal size load. This will translate to higher energy usage on your dryer by taking longer to dry.

If you can hang your clothes to dry rather than putting them in the dryer you can save some money on energy. Even if you just hang a few items in the bathroom to dry you'll save a little. I like to hang my sheets outside to dry when the weather is nice. When I do that I save an entire dryer load!

Cleaning out the lint trap before every load is helpful to keep your energy cost down. You should also clean your dryer hose once a month or more. Lint builds up inside the dryer hose very fast and can clog the hose. A clogged vent hose causes laundry to take longer than necessary to dry and that costs you money. If you use dryer sheets the lint trap and hose get clogged up faster. Use an old tooth brush and warm soapy water to clean the lint trap once a month or when you see it start to get clogged.

Here are some tips that you can Tweet directly to your Twitter Account by clicking on them.

TIP #1: Wash clothes in warm/cold not hot/cold when you can! Hot/Cold cycle is the most expensive way to wash clothes. Check the tags and wash things according to the manufactures suggestion.

TIP #2: Use the water saver feature on small loads of laundry! Most washing machines have several water levels. Utilize this for smaller loads. You save water and energy.

TIP #3: Hang clothes to dry instead of using the dryer! Put up a clothes line outside or hang clothes in the shower and save energy.

TIP #4: Clean out the dryer exhaust at least once a month! The exhaust hose tends to get clogged. Cleaning it out at least once a month will make the dryer more efficient.

TIP #5: Clean out the lint trap on your dryer before each load! When drying items that produce a lot of lint like towels you may want to clean the trap out in the middle of the drying cycle as well.

Save Money at the Grocery Store!

Did you know that an espresso maker costs less than 5 espressos from a coffee house? You can pick one up at one of those big department stores for under $30! You can also pick up a coffee pot and a thermos mug for about $15 total! I bought a cup of coffee at a local fast food place and it was $1.78 for just a single cup of coffee! I could hardly believe it! I buy coffee beans for $7 a pound, grind my own beans and brew my own coffee. After the initial investment of about $15 for the coffee maker and $7 for 2 weeks worth of coffee, each cup now costs about $.27!

There are many ways to save money. 99% of the time you are paying about a 70% or higher convenience markup! So, there we have it, you can save money or have convenience. I for one, given those two options, will choose to save money every time! I buy generic food items more than name brand. I have yet to find a great deal of difference with generic foods. I also buy in bulk whenever I have the option.

When I go to the grocery store I try to always eat before hand and take a list. Taking a list is one thin, sticking to it is another! I find that if I am hungry I tend to stray from the list more than when I am not! Sticking to a list will do many things for you. Lets look at the process for making a list.

First I sit down and write a menu for the entire week. I do a menu for each meal of the day. After that is complete I start my list. I try to lump like items together so that I can make my shopping trip take the least amount of time. Only after I complete the list from my menu do I add things like snacks and or deserts. I do not have kids in the house so that makes it a little bit easier for me. If you have children in your house you may want to treat snacks like a meal in your menu.

If I plan to have more than one meal with ground beef/turkey I try to estimate how much I will need. I then buy in bulk. The more you buy the less times you have to pay for packaging. I put a star next to items that I can buy in bulk. After that is complete I look through all the coupons I have. I put a check mark next to each item on the list that I have a coupon for, this makes sure I don't forget to use the coupon. Then I look at all the store specials from the circulars and put an X next to each item that I am going to get price matched.

By the way, I always get my list together on Sunday morning with the newspaper. That way the circulars are current and all the coupons are right there! I have saved hundreds of dollars by taking the 30 minutes to make a list, look for coupons and circulars. Saving on your grocery trip is not hard to do and it gets easier the longer you keep to your routine.

Here are a few tips that you can Tweet by clicking on them.


TIP: Shop less often and buy in bulk whenever you can!

TIP: A $10 coffee pot is far less expensive than a week of Starbucks!

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As always we are on the lookout for great tips and tricks to save money so feel free to leave a comment with your money saving tips!

Saving Money and Being Frugal is Easy!

Welcome back to How To Tighten Your Belt Blog! This week we will be discussing ways to save money in the kitchen. Your kitchen is a hotbed of wasted money! Let us see if we cannot tune it up this week. First and foremost, and this goes for every room, turn off the lights when you leave the kitchen!

Lights use a great deal of energy! You can save up to $10 a month per room by just turning off the lights when you leave the room. That can add up very quickly! Saving on energy usage in the kitchen does not just translate to turning off the lights.

Even if an appliance is off there is a chance that it is still drawing energy. If you use an item a lot, like a microwave or coffee pot it is probably a good idea just to leave it plugged in, but if you have a mixer or toaster or breadmaker you should unplug them when you are not using them. You may only save pennies a week by doing this but it is pennies that you otherwise would not have!

As for large appliances, such as the dishwasher, there are a few things you can do to cut down on the cost of using. Turn off the drying cycle on your dishwasher and run it at the end of the day. Dishes will naturally dry and most all dish washing liquid for the dishwasher has an anti-spot additive. Just the drying cycle alone can account for more than half the energy used by the dishwasher.

Make sure that the dishwasher is full. Running the dishwasher for 1/2 loads cost you the same as running the dishwasher full. Now I am not suggesting overfilling the dishwasher. Just fill it up to full. If it takes two days to fill it up then so be it! Be sure to rinse your dishes off before putting them in the dishwasher and you can use cold water to rinse them because they will be cleaned in hot water.

That is it for the day! Come back tomorrow for more useful money saving tips and tricks! Here are some tips that you can click on to directly tweet them!

TIP: Run your dishwasher only when it is completely full!

TIP: Run your dishwasher at night and turn off the heat drying cycle!

Click HERE to Tweet this Article to your Twitter Account!

As always we are on the lookout for great tips and tricks to save money so feel free to leave a comment with your money saving tips!

Tighten Your Belt and Save Money!!

In today's failing/failed economy everyone is looking for ways to survive the recession/depression. Though I would love to give you the one good answer to how to make extra money to make ends meet, I cannot. I can however share with you my experiences in saving money. Saving a dime is like making a dime! If you save a dime ten times a day, you've saved a dollar!

I will share plenty of ways to cut down on your expenses and suggestions to put that savings to good use! I welcome any questions and comments and discussion you may have. President Obama has started his stimulus package and many people are seeing $8 to $15 a week extra on their paychecks. My first tip is to take that extra money and put it into a savings account! Let your money draw some interest. You did not have the money before so you won't even miss it. I personally put $10 a week into a savings account. That is $520 put into savings every year.

Finding the right savings account is not always the easiest thing. I suggest finding a savings account at a bank that does not charge you a maintenance fee. Too many banks charge you $3 to $5 a month to save your money. If that is the case it would be better to put your money in your mattress! Some banks will charge toy a maintenance fee if you have below $100 in your account. So, stick your money in your mattress until you have $100 then put it into your account and forget that it is there.

If the bank offers you a debit card or checks for your savings account, decline the offer. If you have the ability to take your money out of the account it makes it that much harder to save! Many people that I know put 10% of every paycheck into a savings account. This is great if you are able to do that, but most people are not well off enough to part with 10% of their paycheck. I hope to get you to the point where you have saved enough money on utility bills and such that you have an extra 20% to put into your newly opened savings account.

I will never ask you to buy anything or join anything! Just press ctrl+d and bookmark the blog and come back every day or subscribe in a reader or via e-mail. I will have those options set up very soon. This being my very first post it will be up for the week and I will have new posts starting on March 20, 2009. That is the first day of spring and a great day to start saving money! Until then, let me know if you have any ideas you'd like to share or questions you'd like to ask.

Click on any tip to tweet it!

1. Turn out the lights when you leave the room, ESPECIALLY the Bathroom!
2. Use cash and put your change in a jar!
3. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth!
4. If you cannot afford it DON'T buy it!
5. Never borrow money to pay off a debt!
6. If you live close to work walk when the weather is nice!
7. If you only need one or two items walk to the store and back!
8. Turn your computer off when you're not using it ESPECIALLY at night!
9. Shop less often and buy in bulk whenever you can!
10. Start a garden in your window or on your deck!
11. Ask your credit card company for a better interest rate!
12. Over 55? Become a member of AARP and get discounts everywhere!
13. Got a fireplace? Buy firewood in the summer it is cheaper!
14. Buy next years winter clothing at the end of this winter!
15. Charge your cellphone at work ESPECIALLY if it is a company phone!
16. When your lights burn out switch out light bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs!
17. Unplug appliances that you do not use often!
18. Set your refrigerator thermostat to warmer!
19. Set A/C Thermostat 2 degrees warmer in summer 2 degrees colder in winter!
20. Keep the refrigerator and freezer 75 percent to 85 percent full!