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.

check out other papers

I was talking to family not too long ago that the major metropolitan areas seem to have better coupons. Even though some coupons are only good in your area ie restaurants, and local stores but P&G and other coupon inserts seem to have a lot more coupons than smaller cities. I am going to test this theory next weekend as we will be in St Louis and I will get back to you on how true this is.

Coffee

You know how a lot of economists say that giving up your daily latte can save you over $1000 a year well thats true but if you really want that same taste and want to save money try not only making it at home but also see if your office would chip in for an upscale coffee maker (keurig,tassimo) for around $120-$150 and the individual serving insert for different coffees and everyone can have thier favorite coffee/tea/ hot beverage as most can even make a perfect cup of hot chocolate. Yes the refill can cost more but in the long run you still save $700-$800 a year and you can hve a cup of coffee in 1-2 min which is much quicker than waiting in a drive thru at Starbucks. Also some store brand coffees rate just as high taste wise as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts coffee, in fact Archer Farms coffee just got a national award for taste and it beat starbucks.

Not all store brands are created equal

The one true way to see if you are saving money is to see if you like the store brand of a certain product but not all store brands are the same. I personally can't stand the Walmart store brand of paper towels and toilet paper because they aren't worth the money if you use 3x as much. I tried the store brand from several places and I Love the up and up brand (formerly target brand) of toilet paper and paper towels. We occasionally still buy quilted northern if I have a good coupon, or coupons, and it is on sale and my family can't tell the difference. The same with paper towels. We did start getting the select a size and when we do use paper towels we use a lot less. We only go through about 1 roll a week now since we got a bunch of cheap white washcloths and we use those for most things. They are cheap and we just add them to our regular load of whites.
Food wise store brands are definately not created equal. I have tried Walmart coffee and Market Pantry (Target) coffee and I would much rather drink MP coffee any day. I don't care for Market Pantry chips though but you just need to try different products and getting the store brand when you are out of something and it isn't on sale can save quite a bit.
One important note especially if you shop around at different stores keep a journal of what products you like and ones you don't so you don't buy Walmart TP and your family complains until you run out.

Organizing your coupons

There are several ways to organize your coupons and most people swear by whatever method they choose but I think each type of organizing has it's advantages and disadvantages.
1- The coupon file this can be an inexpensive organizer with 7 pockets up to an 15 pocket folder and they also come in various sizes. Most cost between $1 and $5. I have a few organizers so I not only have more pockets but I also don't have to take restaurant coupons to the grocery store. The major advantage to this system is it is small and potable so you are more likely to carry your coupons with you all the time. I divide my pockets by aisles/sections found in most stores, ie frozen foods, baking, refrigerated etc. Some people divide by expiration date and yet others divide alphabetically. I would look at how you shop and what you think would work best for you.
I also have another organizer for restaurant coupons, specific non food stores ie Babies R Us and also receipts. I have 3 receipts pockets 1 to be filed , 1 for rebates and 1 for returns. I only clear this out when it gets really full since I can buy something and 2 weeks later need to return it. I also have Buy one get one and free coupons for fast food restaurants in a free pocket so if I am tight on money and my kids are hungry I have a few options.
2- Binders are the other organizing tool. People will buy a large binder and page protectors both full page and card sized to organize their coupons you can put printout coupons and multiple coupons per page in the full page and cut out as needed at the store and the rest put in card slots putting the one closest to expiration on top. You can then also sort by aisle, or alphabetically. The advantage for this is less cutting time.

No matter how you organize it won't be worth your time if you don't use coupons or if you don't get the most from them. More on that later.