Save Money on Heat Costs

Want to save some money on heating costs?  Here's how I did it.

This is a ceramic heater, they usually cost about $20 to $25.  I got one at Dollar General last year and another at Big Lots this year.  Both of these oscillate.

Let me say first that I live near Houston, TX and winters here are not really winter like I grew up with in MI. However the high humidity makes it feel colder than it is and goes right to my old bones.
In December I used the central heat with the unused rooms shut off.  Due to dead animal smells coming up the vents (read about that here) I did not use the central heat for January.  Instead I used the 2 ceramic heaters.

Both of mine have 3 settings, cool which seems pointless to me, warm and high.  Mostly warm is good as I am not trying to heat a huge area.  My bedroom is roughly 16' x 12" and one of these on high for 2 hours makes it toasty warm enough to either cut it back to warm or what I mostly did which was to turn it off and sleep under my quilt.  One heater I use in the dining area where my desk is.  This is where I hang out when I get home from work.  This one runs for about 5-6 hours an evening on warm.  The one in the bedroom for 1-2 hours and maybe 1/2 hour in the morning in the bathroom.

My electricity bill that covered December with the central heat set on 60 unless I was home and then it was 68, was $124.  My bill for January which had about the same amount of cold days and nights, using only the ceramic heaters, was $53.

I have similar results in the summer with the 2 window air conditioning units although the cost is greater due to increased use of the a/c in the bedroom.  All in all smaller units for limited areas of use work best to save me money year round.  It may not work for those with more people living in their home and probably not for those in colder climates but for a $25 investment you might see if one might work well for you.

How to Save Money on Groceries

This post also appears on my main blog Canterbury Cottage.

I've always been careful when it comes to buying groceries.  I check the sale papers, the clearance sections and know that things like rice, potatoes and pasta can stretch one meal into 4.  I've also canned my own food for many years.   However I rarely use coupons because they are usually for items that are more expensive and for processed foods. 

In the last year I made a major change in the way I buy groceries and it has saved me a lot.  I started out by buying a bit extra if something was on sale, whether it was peanut butter, fruits & vegetables or meat, etc..  I would can or dehydrate the extra if it was called for.  Many items can be frozen too if you have the room in your freezer.  For example if you are buying one bag of rice because it's on sale, get a couple extra and store it in containers, food saver bags or those mylar bags you can find pretty cheap on Ebay.  

I have bought chicken breast when it went on sale for 99¢ a pound, boiled it and canned it and the broth.  Ready to eat meat in a jar for making sandwiches, casseroles, tacos, soups and more.  Recently I bought beef roast when Kroger had it on sale for $1.99 a pound.  I slow roasted it and canned it just like the chicken.  Last week I canned leftover turkey and broth.  When those large bags of frozen vegetables are on sale I pick up some extra and dehydrate them.  When I buy celery I chop up and dehydrate the stalks from the old bunch and store them in a jar.  

No matter what you are buying on sale, if you pick up one, why not pick up two or three.  You will soon have a little stockpile in your pantry and you can now go shopping right at home.  What happens after a while is that you are now pretty much only buying sale items, so the $100 a week you used to spend on 50 different things is now more like $50 on multiples of a few items that are on sale or clearance.  Because you have a nicely stocked pantry you can still put a balanced meal together.

You can do this with any item, canned veggies, flour & sugar, coffee, etc.  Even one extra will help you to save money in the future because prices will go up and you are buying at a discount today.  Don't be afraid to check out the dollar stores in your area.  I buy a lot of canned goods and fruit juices as well as cat food at Dollar General.  Many of the chain dollar stores take coupons too.  A 13 pound bag of cat food at $8.50 is already less than Walmart, take off the 75¢ coupon I had and I now have a great deal.

Though I rarely use coupons, I have gotten some on Ebay, like for the cat food.  I paid $1.75 for 20 coupons.  There are many sites online where you can print out coupons for items you like tough many store will limit how many you can use and some will not take them at all.

One last thing, you can save the most money by cooking at home rather than eating out.  I love eating out, but if I choose to eat good food and not fast food I have to limit how often I eat out, that means cooking at home most of the time and taking my lunch to work.  And I don't have to deal with lunch time traffic!

Saving On Heating Costs

I've had some requests to resurrect this blog and add more content.  So on that note here is today's post.

All my bills have gone up in the last 6 months but the paycheck has not.  I did pretty well at saving on cooling costs this summer but winter is upon us and even here on the Gulf Coast it can get cold.

Most everyone knows to keep your thermostat set low, as low as you can stand it.  But how do you keep warm enough to not complain?

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First you must dress for the weather.  Layering your clothes is a great way to go.  And make sure they are loose layers.  I'm usually ok in slacks, long sleeved shirt and slippers at home.  If it gets colder I add fuzzy socks and a sweater.  If it gets to freezing temps I can add sweat pants and sweat shirt over regular pants and shirt and a sweater on top of that.  

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Second, decide what rooms you really use and only heat those.  Close off the vents and close the doors to unused rooms.  I have a bath and 2 bedrooms that are rarely used and they are off their own hallway.  All vents and doors are closed  and I put up a curtain at the end of the hallway that enter my living room.  That also saves on cooling those rooms in the summer.  Just a simple curtain will do, make it match your window curtains if you want.  A great Victorian idea we need to bring back!

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Third, if you have ceiling fans you can set them to reverse at a slow speed to push the warm air back down to the area you are sitting in.  This means it will spin clockwise in winter.  A good way to remember is clockwise while we are on regular time and counter-clockwise while we are on daylight savings time.

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Fourth, you can utilize space heaters to only heat the room you are in.  I have a small electric oscillating heater I bought at Dollar General for less than $20.  I only use it in the room I am currently in and it keeps me pretty toasty without using a lot of electricity.  Please be cautious as to what kind of space heater you use and make sure to use it properly with any required ventilation.  If you need to crack a window for ventilation then choose a south facing one to avoid the colder winds coming from the north.

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Fifth, use a quilt on your bed!  Grandma wasn't just saving money by making her own quilt and re-using those fabric scraps, they are much warmer than blankets.  You need it to be loose over you and not pulled tight, your body heat will fill the space between bed and quilt with warmth and you will be toasty all night.  I believe it has a lot to do with the insulation quality of the quilt which is made of fabric, batting and fabric.  Heavier is not always warmer.  If you have no quilt but you do have a sleeping bag, use that.  You can always sleep inside it even if you are in your bed.  Flannel sheets are much warmer feeling than cotton, check  your local thrift shops! 

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Sixth, but maybe this should have been first, add insulation.  Check for drafts and insulate and caulk where you can and add weatherstripping if needed to doors and windows.  If you have no restrictions in your neighborhood then spritz your windows with water and cover them with cut to size bubble wrap for insulation.  You can often get bubble wrap for free from sites like craigslist or freecycle.  Alternatively you can pull down your shades at night to keep out drafts and raise them during the day to let in the sun's warmth.  Grandma used to swap out her light and lacy summer curtains for heavy and lined winter drapes for good reason and we can do the same.

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Seventh, if you are going to be home, make it a day of cooking and baking.  That extra heat will be welcome on a cold day, especially if it came from a pot of homemade stew and homebaked bread or cookies.  When you are done baking leave the oven door open to utilize that heat as well.  I used to live in an apartment that had no heat source in the kitchen so I just turned on the gas burners.  No worries about ventilation, the place was 80 years old and very drafty, but do take care if you need to do this and never leave the room unoccupied with burners on, especially if you have children.  If you have an electric stove you could turn on the oven and leave the door open but I'm not sure how frugal that would be.  Also you can boil water in a pot to add humidity which makes you feel warmer - not much need for that here on the Gulf Coast - this one is quite frugal if you have a woodburning stove.

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Eighth, if you have a pet like a dog or cat and they like to snuggle, indulge them.  A dog or cat's body temperature is much higher than a human's (100-102.5 degrees Fahrenheit) and they are portable heaters that cost very little.   I used to have one cat that would sleep under the covers with me so I stayed nicely warm all night and so did he.

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Ninth, try a heating pad to warm up your bed 30 minutes before you crawl in, just like a bed warming pan of hot coals like your great grandma used to use.  A hot water bottle at your feet works well too.  If you do use a heating pad, only use it for a short period of time, it is not meant to be slept with, would save you no money and could cause a fire. 

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Tenth,  don't be afraid of looking silly wearing clothes to bed.  A sweatshirt and sweat pants are much warmer than a cotton gown.  Also wear your fuzzy socks to bed.  A knit cap on your head in frigid weather  works nicely too, we lose a lot of heat out the top of our heads and it's a good old idea we have lost sight of.  Remember the line from 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' about "Mother in her kerchief and I in my cap had just settled down for a long winter's nap."

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Eleventh, some other ideas I have read about.  If you have radiators you can add a metal panel behind it to bounce that heat back into the room rather than letting the wall soak it up.  For fun put up a tent in the middle of the room and only heat that.  Think your house is cold? go outside for a bit and it will feel heavenly when you come back in.

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So there's 11 ways to stay warm while trying to save some money on heating, at least for those of us without a woodburning stove or fireplace.  If you have more ideas then please share in the comments.

Linking to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways

Drive Thru Breakfast Time

I have a confession to make.  Since I got my new job I have gotten lazy and have been buying my breakfasts.  I know it costs more, I know it costs too much even for a $1 sausage biscuit at McDonalds, when you do it every day.  I also know it is not healthy.  Some days I have even gone to the Donut Shop for a kolache and a donut when the line is too long at McDonalds.  I know all this, so why have I done it especially since it is also not very healthy?   Laziness pure and simple.

For less than it costs me to buy breakfast for 2 days I can eat for 2 weeks on oatmeal.  And I like oatmeal.  But it means I can't keep hitting the snooze button, that I actually have to get moving a litlle earlier.  I'm awake, just don't want to get out of my warm bed.  I told you, pure laziness.

The steel cut Irish oats are my favorite as they are nuttier in taste and have some texture, they are not just mush.  But they do take longer to cook, at least 20 minutes.  So I am resolving to make my breakfasts from here on out and if that means I cook the oats in the evening while making dinner and just reheat them in the morning, then that's what I am going to do.

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My heart will thank me, possibly my waistline will thank me and I know my pocketbook will thank me.  Even the planet will thank me for creating less garbage from all those napkins and bags and wrappers.  And if you are wondering why I don't just eat cereal with milk? its because my innards can't tolerate milk any more.

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So, where could you save money and possibly be healthier and/or greener if you just stopped being lazy in one area?

Thrift Store Buying

I have written before about buying things you need from thrift shops like Goodwill, Salvation Army and a myriad of others you may have in your local area.  I thought I would bring up the subject again just as a reminder to those of you who don't usually shop these goldmines or have never thought of it.  I'd also like to clear up some confusion some folks have about these shops.

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The items in charity thrift shops are usually donated by local people when they de-clutter or clear out after someone has passed away.  Sometimes local stores donate unsold items that are brand new with tags still on them.  A local motel donates used but very serviceable sheets to one of my nearby stores.  What I am trying to show is that it is not all junk no one wants or worn out clothes only fit for rags. 

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Items I have gotten this year include 2 beautiful jackets nearly new for $17 that I am positive would have $75 or more each retail,  2 new corner shelves for my kitchen redo for $1 each, brand new books with the dust jacket in pristine condition for $1 each, peruvian wool yarn, enough to make a sweater for $5, a stack of about 20 or so cross stitch patterns to resell, some brand new, a box full of evenweave linen in various colors for cross-stitching, some still marked at $20-50 per piece and I paid $20 for the boxfull.  Several really nice shirts for my resident poet at $3 each and a vintage basket to keep my knitting in for $5.

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Think about what you need and before you go off to the local department store or big box store, check the thrift shops first.  You may not always find what you need but sometimes you do and always at a rock bottom price.

One blogger I like to read set out to not buy anything new for an entire year and they are still mostly living this lifestyle.  They have discovered the joy of the hunt, the mystery of what can I do with this?, the satisfaction that they are reusing something that might have ended up in the landfill and the blessings that come from giving your money to a charity that uses it to help other people or animals.

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Why not try your local charity shops this week.  You may be able to cut your Christmas present budget and not use that credit card, you can feel good about where the money went, you can even use it as a tax write off!

Soup to Save $

I have written about making soup before, about how time saving and money saving it is as well as how nutritious.  This week I tried something new I read about on another blog on cooking.  It was so very simple and delicious and saved uneaten food from being thrown out which is very wasteful, especially in the pocketbook.

 What you do is take all your leftover vegetables and whizz them in the food processor or blender with a bit of water or broth.  I had leftover potatoes and carrots from a roast pork dinner and we were tired of eating them, plus the pork roast was all gone.  So I whizzed up those while also sauteing some onions and garlic for a flavorful addition.  I whizzed those too.  Then I took some leftover smoked sausage and peeled off the casing, cut into chunks and whizzed that to add to the pot.  We had a bit of gravy left so in it went and of course water to thin things a bit. 

It was wonderful, a thick flavorful soup that we had for supper and lunches the next 2 days.  The lady who wrote the blog article says she uses anything left over and it always seems to come out good.  The one she had made was a green color from the green vegetables she used, mine was orangy from the carrots.  Make it as thick or thin as you want, it is wonderfully warm comfort food.

Excellent for someone not feeling well or who can't chew well and for babies too! 

Remember you can home can the leftovers!

Stockpile It!

Creating a stockpile of food is one of the best ways to save money and to be prepared in case of an emergency situation.  Some folks have a 2 week stockpile, others have 2 months or even 2 years worth of food.  The choice is yours.

The easiest way to do it is over time, a little at a time.  Buy extra when something goes on sale.  We are talking non-perishables here.  Filling your freezer with meat that is on sale is great until the electricity is out for a week, then whatever you haven't cooked and eaten is lost.  This is why I recommend learning to can foods using a pressure canner.  That way even meat will last indefinitely.  You can also buy food or condiments in the huge cans and can it in smaller jars, it saves a lot do that also.  But if you do not can your own food you can still purchase a little extra each trip.  If you can buy in bulk like at Sam's or Costco you can save money on your extras that way too.

(Do not store home canned food with the rings still on as this photo shows.  It traps moisture and causes rust which may rust through the lid as well.)

Think about what foods you want to buy extra of.  Rice, beans, canned goods, cereals, flour, sugar, peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, pet food, toilet paper, soap, etc.  Only buy items you like as there is no sense in stockpiling stuff you will never eat or use.  Some items like pastas, beans, cereals, flour and sugar you may want to transfer to airtight containers to make sure you do not get pantry moths or ants.  Good plastic containers or empty jars with tight fitting lids of all kinds work well.  Clear containers work best for me as I can see at a glance what I have.  Check freecycle and thrift stores if you need to get some more containers.

Once you start stockpiling and your pantry is full, where do you put more?  Organize closets to give you more space or store things under the bed.  It's amazing how much stuff can be put under the bed and hidden by a bedskirt.  Some of those under bed storage bins are helpful.   How about under the sofa?  There are lots of unused spaces in our homes if we get creative.  Attics, sheds and garages are not good choices because of the temperature fluctuations.  Very short term only or for items like bottled water.  Those who live in hot climates sometimes build out cold rooms with insulation and a small A/C unit, some people have basements or root cellars which are excellent as long as they are not damp.

One thing you will want to do is to go through your stockpile and organize it as you use items and replace them.  Put new stock at the back just like the grocery store does.  You can use a marker to date the cans and boxes to make it easier.  Remember that the canned items are not bad just because the date on the can is past, as long as it is not bulging or rusty or leaking, it should be ok.  Cereals and dry beans will not be at their best for more than a few months.  Most home canned and tin canned foods from the store will last years.  If you ever open anything and it smells bad, throw it out.  Older fruits and vegetables sometimes will not be at their best color or they may break down but are still fine to eat.

Some folks, especially those with a large stockpile, make a list of what they have and keep it up to date.  It's best to clean and organize at LEAST twice a year so you don't end up throwing food away because it is no longer good to eat.

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Check out this link for some more stockpiling tips and food recommendations: http://www.birdflumanual.com/articles/foodStockpilingTips.asp

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The stockpile I started last fall when I was told I would be laid off in 5 months really saved me when I went on unemployment.  Groceries have not cost much and even though I am now employed again, I am keeping up my stockpiling as it saves money in the long run.