Saving money and energy

I was going through our house last night adjusting this turning off that and I realized how many people forget to check faucets and such before bed. I usually do a walk through before leaving the house and before bed it takes like 2 minutes but I can't tell you how many times I have found a faucet dripping or a light on. I also realized since we got a programmable thermostat we use less energy too. Plus the house is warm in the morning and when we get home but goes down in temp when we aren't home. I also plugged all of my bedside stuff into a power strip and I turn it off when I get up. I don't need my lamp or my phone charger, or anything else when I am not in bed and I just use the 9v battery we take out of the smake alarm to power my alarm clock when it is unplugged so I am not constantly resetting it. more tips to follow

Notebooking aka price journal

No I am not talking computers. I am talking about a small spiral notebook to keep prices in. When you are planning to go shopping write down what you use in categories meats, personal care, frozen, baking etc then write down how much things cost the next time you buy that item. Keep checking back and add price changes and the date so you know ok this item goes on sale every 12 weeks or maybe every 3 weeks and try to only buy when the price is at its lowest. Why pay $3.29 for an item you can get the next week for $2.49?

cleaning tips around the house

ok so how much do you spend every year on cleaners? I used to spend about $300 or more between toilet bowl cleaner, bathroom cleaner,kitchen cleaner, etc etc so I realized how much I was wasting and simplified. So now I have bleach, vinegar, baking soda, and water.

Laundry-I use vinegar to deodorize clothing so that cuts how much detergent I use. I also put baking soda in the pretreat thing because besides eliminating odor it traps colors and it makes your detergent work better by naturally softening the water.

Windows- ok so when I had kids I started cleaning the back door more because the dog always looks out and gets nastiness on the window so I get a couple of pieces of newspaper and I use vinegar to clean the window. If it is really bad I make a paste of baking soda and water and scrub that off with a sponge, then clean with vinegar.

Drains- I pour boiling water down the drain 2-3 c then baking soda then vinegar. The vinegar and baking soda make a volcano looking concoction (with no fumes) and clean the drain. I do this 1-2x a month in the kitchen and 3-4x a year in the bathroom.

Toilet-sprinkle baking soda in the toilet brush then splash with vinegar and try to leave overnight or longer to also deodorize.

Kitchen- no matter what everyone says I still use bleach in the kitchen I know vinegar works well but I am just used to bleach. I never use full strength bleach though. I take a simple small spray bottle and put 2-3 tsp of bleach and fill with water. This lasts the day and at night I rinse the kitchen sinks out and spray them with the bleach. This mixture also works well on toys to sanitize them. Bleach actually works better diluted than full strength. Label the bottle well though. I clean the fridge out once a week and do a quick wipe of the shelves just in case anything nasty was dripped from thawing meat etc. that was missed.