How did I save money today?

[Sewingcreations15]

Day 12 of not spending any money today.

We saved our small town not for profit RSL club money by repairing a gazebo with timber moulding we had in our shed which saving them buying another gazebo for Anzac day. This temporary repair will probably get a few more years out of the gazebo we estimate before they will have to purchase another one.

 

[WVDragonlady]

Saved $12 on 3 Augason farms emergency pails ( 48 hour 4 person). Its basically shipping price if I ordered them online from walmart. This is the first time I have ever seen emergency buckets/food of any kind at our local walmart.
Also found tomato plants at walmart for only $1.50. that is cheap here for veggie plants. They had seed packs for .50 and .20 so I picked up a variety of veggies. Of course there aren't that many seeds in the packs for the price

 

[LadyLocust]

I think it's day 3 in a row of no spending and I don't know how many that makes for the month. The place we are at now has Everything! Electric. Last months electric bill was $330 (horrible freezing weather.). This month's bill was $140. The weather is still improving and I have been figuring out little things I can turn off/unplug. We only have a couple things that actually plug in but it's killing me to use so much power. Within the next week, I should be able to consolidate enough to unplug a freezer so that will help too.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Yes having everything electric can indeed up the power bill as we are all electric here too @LadyLocust although in winter we will heat with our slow combustion fireplace and have no airconditioning here.

A couple of ways we save money on electric is only turn on the hot water system at the powerboard to heat once a week and when the water starts to cool turn it back on overnight to heat and turn it off again. Heating the electric hot water system uses on average around 21 - 30 % of the average households bill and the system doesn't need to be turned on all the time. Also using smaller appliances to cook rather than using the oven is more cost effective too we have found and we cook most of our meals in an electric frypan. When cooking in the electric oven we bulk cook to last the week so it is not going on and off all week as they are expensive to run. We also turn down the brightness on the television which also chews a lot of power and turn off computer modems when not in use and adjust the fridge and freezer temps to the most economical power usage levels. Also we unplug appliances when not in use too and wash in cold water and stain remove clothing before we wash. The only times we will warm wash clothing is if we have been doing things like cleaning the grey water tank out or handling manure for preparing the garden and we wear specific garden clothing for that.

I know that the power prices in the United States is a lot higher than Australia due to high charges. Our electricity for a two person household here running both a rainwater and grey water pump was $277.80 with rebates and $320.81 without rebates for 3 months. I don't think we can get any lower than this but we always try . It is kind of a challenge of ours to lower our electricity bill from the previous quarter.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Day 13 of not spending any money.

 

[hiwall]

I think it's day 3 in a row of no spending and I don't know how many that makes for the month. The place we are at now has Everything! Electric. Last months electric bill was $330 (horrible freezing weather.). This month's bill was $140. The weather is still improving and I have been figuring out little things I can turn off/unplug. We only have a couple things that actually plug in but it's killing me to use so much power. Within the next week, I should be able to consolidate enough to unplug a freezer so that will help too.

Our electric bill this month was $44. Same as last month.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Do you have solar and run off gas @hiwall ?.

 

[Caribou]

A couple weeks ago I picked up a 55 gallon barrel, in excellent condition, for free. I poured out about a quart of ATF which I plan to use to make Ed's Red. I used about a quart of gasoline to rinse it out. Today I picked up 35 gallons of gasoline at a dollar off and added Sta-Bil and Mystery oil. This is the maximum that I can buy, at one time, on discount. This will go into the steel drum as the steel will not allow any oxygen passage in or vapour out.

The 3/4" bung has the original seal over it. The only thing I have to worry about is the large bung. I'll put a 2X4 under the drum so that there is no water sitting over the bung where it might be sucked in when the gas cools and a vacuum forms. This gas should be good for a couple of years at least.

The wife wanted a new Bar-B-Q so she picked up some Lowe's gift cards at Free Meyer's giving us a ton of gas points. She'll spent a couple hundred more at Fredie's this month so we can save another buck off on gas. and that will top off the drum.

 

[Amish Heart]

Found hamburger for $1.79 lb at Albertsons

 

[hiwall]

Do you have solar and run off gas @hiwall ?.

We have no solar for the house. We have mostly gas appliances but do have an electric dryer and electric heaters in each bathroom. Plus both a refrigerator and a separate small freezer. I have changed all light bulbs on the place over to LED. Plus our well pump is an electric hog. But it is just the two of us here living in a small house.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Electric bill was $17.94 last month.
Only appliances on all the time is refrig, and small chest freezer, range.
Everything else gets unplugged if not in use.
Including the coffee pot.
All light bulbs are LED.
Usually 40 Watts including the floor lamp behind my recliner.
Laptop doesn't get charged until battery is completely dead.
Hence why haven't been on yesterday.
TV in my bedroom on timer.
Electric bill this month is $ 25 even.
Air conditioner came on scared the crap out of me.
It was still covered in cover and plastic for the winter.
It was 82* that day, then dropped to 49* the beginning of the next day.
Normally I pay $70 on even pay for the year.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

My budget to a big hit today.
But my new to me car is legal for another two years.
Just have to change out the plates tomorrow.
Haven't owned anything of value to pay property taxes on since 2009.
Bought new to me 2015 FIAT 500 Lounge 31 miles on it in April 2017.
Bought new tags, paid property taxes, city and county today.
Budget took hit of $335, but that's better than it could have been.
No groceries this month are needed, as I have fully stocked pantry.
Freezers are in good shape too.
But on a good note; car is legal, bills are paid, car insurance will be paid Friday.
Was able to tuck a little bit into savings(saving for bigger meat bundle, and new laptop)
Will still have a little bit left in checking.
And I won right at $100 last night at Bingo for date night.
Which helped on getting car legal.
And still have a bit to play Bingo next week.
All in all good expensive day.
Will put money into other account for taxes in December on car.
And I didn't have to borrow money from anybody to help get car legal today.

 

[backlash]

No idea of your VA status but if you're at 100% disabled you can get free license plates from Missouri.

https://dor.mo.gov/motorv/plates/dvplates.php

Other benefits for vets in MO.
https://www.military.com/benefits/veteran-state-benefits/missouri-state-veterans-benefits.html

I'm sure you already know all I this just want to pass it along.
100% disabled vets have a lot of benefits from their home state.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Day 15 of not spending any money today .

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Day 16 of not spending any money today.

 

[LadyLocust]

@Caribou $1 off gas is awesome!!! I knew Safeway does that but didn't know Fred Meyer did it too and brilliant to get gift cards for other places that you'll need to shop to get more points.
@Sewingcreations15 You are doing faaaaabulous on no spending.
@MoBookworm1957 That cracked me up about your AC kicking on. And congrats on the bingo win and legal car.
Well, this might sound like an odd one, but today was my last full time day of work in Oregon where 9% comes right off the top of the pay for income tax. I will be working with my husband here in Washington where we don't pay income tax. WA has sales tax which you only pay if you spend money on things other than food which is far less than 9% of our income. Also, I won't be traveling 50 min at each end of the day saving gas, wear and tear, and sanity
I am so excited! It's been a big decision as my current employer is a good person, but we have to do what's best for our future and driving that distance during February and March this year pretty much made up our mind(s). I put it that way, because even though it is my job, it's a decision we made together.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Thank you @LadyLocust. I am so happy for you too to have finished fulltime work and you are right it will save you a lot of money on fuel, wear and tear on your vehicle and sounds like it will save your sanity too not driving those sorts of distances every day.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

In the last week we have saved money by -

- Making a batch of homemade yoghurt using some of another batch we had made for the starter saving $2.81 over purchasing it in the supermarkets.
- Made 3 homemade loaves of bread saving $10.47 over purchasing it in the shops.
- Made a half batch of chocolate brownie/fudge sauce premix saving $7.33 over purchasing the commercial packet mixes in the shops.

Not a lot of money but it all adds up over the year when you add all the little savings up over a year.

 

[WVDragonlady]

I just added $287 in my savings for the year. I take whatever is leftover from the grocery budget each week and save it then add it to the savings account. Some weeks I have more and some weeks I have less but by the end of the year it adds up

 

[backlash]

@Caribou $1 off gas is awesome!!! I knew Safeway does that but didn't know Fred Meyer did it too and brilliant to get gift cards for other places that you'll need to shop to get more points.
@Sewingcreations15 You are doing faaaaabulous on no spending.
@MoBookworm1957 That cracked me up about your AC kicking on. And congrats on the bingo win and legal car.
Well, this might sound like an odd one, but today was my last full time day of work in Oregon where 9% comes right off the top of the pay for income tax. I will be working with my husband here in Washington where we don't pay income tax. WA has sales tax which you only pay if you spend money on things other than food which is far less than 9% of our income. Also, I won't be traveling 50 min at each end of the day saving gas, wear and tear, and sanity
I am so excited! It's been a big decision as my current employer is a good person, but we have to do what's best for our future and driving that distance during February and March this year pretty much made up our mind(s). I put it that way, because even though it is my job, it's a decision we made together.

Congratulations on the job change. It will take some adjustment but your mental health will improve simply from not having to drive every day. I know mine did when I started riding the train and quit driving to work every day in Seattle. My Granddaughter even commented on how much less stressed I was.

 

[Amish Heart]

Bought a bunch more $1.77 lb hamburger

 

[timmie]

i found asparagus spears for 99 cents a pound. bought all 7 packages. cooked some for supper. got a gallon each of spears and pieces to can tomorrow . also have some ham to can.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

No idea of your VA status but if you're at 100% disabled you can get free license plates from Missouri.

https://dor.mo.gov/motorv/plates/dvplates.php

Other benefits for vets in MO.
https://www.military.com/benefits/veteran-state-benefits/missouri-state-veterans-benefits.html

I'm sure you already know all I this just want to pass it along.
100% disabled vets have a lot of benefits from their home state.

Thank you for the information

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Day 17 of not spending any money today .

We did spend money in the not counted gardening budget as the auger I purchased on eBay had the wrong description saying it had a 300mm wide auger piece when it came with a 200mm wide auger piece instead . After some tooing and froing of contacting the seller and letting them know I purchased it purely for the 300mm auger piece I was given a refund of $60 on the machine. That left me to find someone who sold the 300mm auger piece on eBay or somewhere else. I had one whole set of 100, 200 and 300mm auger pieces and pole extensions in my watch list for $139 but then today I found another new set where the seller had some of his stock turn up without the auger engines so he was selling the auger pieces and extension poles for $94.99 instead so I snavelled those instead saving $44.01 and still have a new auger bits and pole extension set.

This came out of DH's gardening money he earned and instead of taking it out of the cash (as I paid for it from the bank account) we will use an equivalent amount to top up on our fuel shortly from that money.

 

[Meerkat]

I saved by not going to the store or ordering anythign online.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Staying home.
Did go out to lunch the other day with grand daughter, oldest son and his lady and her youngest daughter.
As their guest, it was interesting to say the least.
Then we came back to Granny's house to play.
All of sudden his lady's youngest daughter has taken to calling me Granny.
Not sure what to think about that yet.
But not the two older children.

 

[Meerkat]

Staying home.
Did go out to lunch the other day with grand daughter, oldest son and his lady and her youngest daughter.
As their guest, it was interesting to say the least.
Then we came back to Granny's house to play.
All of sudden his lady's youngest daughter has taken to calling me Granny.
Not sure what to think about that yet.
But not the two older children.

Mobook, just enjoy the title. I have lots of natural grands and greats and a few that just call me nana or granny . Of course I don't see mine as often as I use to most grands are grown.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Day 18 of not spending any money today.

We also saved money by -
- Making a large homemade cheesecake with juice from gifted lemons saving $69.48 over buying the equivalent quality in the local cheesecake shops.
- Made a 1.02 kg batch of homemade chocolate fudge saving $44.01 over purchasing the equivalent quality in the shops.
- Listed 28 homemade items on eBay on a free listing promotion saving $46.20 on usual listing prices.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Mobook, just enjoy the title. I have lots of natural grands and greats and a few that just call me nana or granny . Of course I don't see mine as often as I use to most grands are grown.

Son told me today why his lady's youngest has taken to call me Granny today.
It's because I have neat toys and let her play with them with adult supervisoion.
My neat toys are an old fashion "Reel mower", this does two things:
1. Burn soff excess energy of hers.
2. Sets boundaries of what I will allow.
Plus whether or not she knows it or not she is picking bits of weed knowledge too.

 

[Meerkat]

Today and for past month I saved us $3000 by being a self made front end loader.