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Clean or Replace Your Car's Air Filter

Tip #54

This is such an easy and simple way to get better gas mileage and save yourself a little bit of money. 

A clean air filter can improve your gas mileage by up to 7%.  This can save you approximately $100 for every 10,000 miles you drive. 

Cleaning the air filter is pretty easy.  Just follow the directions in your car's owner's manual.  Replacing it is also pretty easy.  Go to an auto parts store, tell them what kind of car you have and ask them how hard it is to change the air filter if you're not sure.  In my experience they are very helpful and will direct you on how to do it. 

Most car manufacturer's recommend that you replace your air filter every 12,000 - 15,000 miles.  If you change it once a year you should be in pretty good shape. 

Review Monthly Bills

If you're anything like me you use online bill pay to pay most, if not all, of your monthly bills.  Perhaps you don't even open the bills when they come to your house.  You can find the balance due online, you set up your bill to be paid, and you pay it.  It's quick, easy and done.  But this one thing could really be costing you.

Tip #53

Scrutinize each bill that comes in to your house carefully.  We signed up for a new cell phone plan in January of this year.  Recently I discovered that every month since January we have been paying an extra $15 for a service on our cell phones that we don't use.  I have an unlimited plan and I was paying that plus a plan for texting that was left over from my old cell phone plan.  So I had paid an extra $90 for something that I didn't need and wasn't using on this current plan. 

I was able to work this out with my cell phone carrier and they have credited our account the $90.  But who knows how long this would have continued if I hadn't looked at our bill.

I had a similar experience with our water/trash/sewer bill.  We were being charged for something that we weren't using.  I had never really read the bill very closely to know that was on there.  Even though it was only a couple of extra dollars every month it had been on our bill since we moved in to our house a year and a half ago.  $2 every month for 18 months is $36.  It's not much but it's something that I don't need to be paying. 

So really make sure you are taking a couple of minutes every month to really look at your bills and make sure the charges are correct. 

Magazines

Tip #51

Do you subscribe to a few magazines?  Are you reading all of them every time they come?  If not, consider calling the subscription department and ask for a refund.  Sometimes they will refund the amount you have not received.  Others offer a guarantee that if you don't like their magazine they will give you back the entire subscription amount.

At the very least cancel your subscription so you don't continue to receive a magazine that you are not reading and enjoying every month.  My personal rule is if I'm not excited every time I find the magazine in the mailbox then I need to stop getting it.

If you are getting magazines that you are reading and like to receive you may not know what to do with all of those magazines when you're done with them.  If they are just stacking up, some suggestions for getting rid of the magazine clutter around the house:

• Donate your read magazines to a nursing home, hospital, local senior center, or other similar organization. 
• Check with a local pre-school, daycare, or nursery school and see if they need magazines for the kids to cut up and make arts and crafts projects out of.  This is a great use if you have lots of old magazines stacked up. 
• When you are reading the magazine tear out the pages that have an article, tip, recipe or anything else of interest to you.  Instead of keeping the entire magazine for that one good recipe, simply make a binder with sheet protectors in it and file the items from magazines in there.  

        I have a binder that is labeled "Magazine Good Ideas".  I have 5 different sections in         mine: recipes, decorating, kids projects, good tips, and miscellaneous good ideas.          This way I can easily find and try a recipe from a magazine.  If we don't like it I can         get rid of it.  But at least I don't have the clutter of a whole magazine hanging                 around for a recipe.  Periodically I flip through my magazine binder and clean out             anything I haven't already tried or is no longer interesting to me.

Finally, remember that magazines are recyclable!

Seal Air Leaks in your Home

A drafty home can be sucking money out of the house unnecessarily.  By spending a couple of hours searching for leaks and sealing them you can save yourself a lot of money.

Tip #49

Air leaks are just making it that much harder to keep your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  The US Department of Energy has great tips on their website for detecting air leaks.

They also have some tips on how to go about air-sealing your home more efficiently.  According to their website, caulking and weatherstripping - two simple air sealing techniques - will pay for itself in energy savings in approximately one year.  They have great DIY steps for doing both of these techniques. 

Start a Summer Reading Book Exchange

I love to do exchanges with people I know rather than buying new all the time.  One of my favorite things to exchange is books! 

Tip #48

Make a list of books that you and a small group of friends would like to read this summer.  Check out Amazon.com Bestseller's list, the New York Times Best-Seller List, or Oprah's Book Club to gather ideas for books to read.  Perhaps you can suggest that each person is participating in your summer book exchange have one or two books in mind that they would like to read.  Or decide on a theme like murder mysteries or trashy romance novels.  Whatever you are interested in reading this summer. 

Decide how many books you are going to try to read as a group this summer.  If there are three of you in the group maybe decide that you will read 6 books this summer as a part of your exchange program.  Each person buys two books and then you start reading those two books. 

As you finish your books you start exchanging your books for another member's of the group.  The thing I like a lot about each member having two books is that this can accommodate different people's reading speed. 

The other nice thing is all of this can be done online if that's more convenient.  Consider setting up a Yahoo chat group to keep track of who has which books, post book reviews, and schedule drop off times.  This also would not limit you to only your local friends.  By being able to coordinate this online you could do this with your friends across the country. 

Happy Reading! 

Photo by vieux bandit

Summer Efficiency Tips: Outdoors

So far we've looked at how to save money on your utility bills in the kitchen and in the living room/bedroom.  Today we're going to talk about saving on the utilities outside.

Tip #47

If you need to water your lawn, converse the water by watering "smart".  Water your yard in the early morning or late evening, when it's cooler outside.  If you run the sprinkler during the hottest part of the day, most of the water will evaporate before the plants have time to absorb any of the water. 

If you need to wash your car fill up a bucket with soap and water.  Don't let the hose do the work.  A hose can go through approximately 6 gallons of water per minute if you leave it running whereas a bucket and a sponge requires only a few gallons at a time. 

Finally plant deciduous trees on the south and west side of your house to block the sun.  Check with your local garden center about finding trees that have a fast growth rate but don't kill the grass or the plants in your yard. 

Photo by bark

Summer Efficiency Tips: Living Room/Bedroom

The last post addressed ways to control your summer utility bills in the kitchen.  Today I'm going to give you some tips for controlling those out-of-control utility bills in the living room/bedrooms.

Tip #46

If you have unused bedrooms or other space in your house, close those off.  That way you are not paying to heat/cool them year round.  But up blinds or dark curtains in those rooms and keep them closed.  Then, shut the door and put a towel or something under the door to block the warm/cool air from escaping. 

Don't put lamps or any item that lets off any heat near a thermostat.  You will make the thermostat work harder to keep the room cool if it senses the heat from the lamp. 

Consider sleeping with bedroom doors open at night if possible to let the air flow.  Ceiling fans can really help with this.  This allows you to set the air conditioner slightly higher and still be comfortable to sleep. 

Finally, hang blinds or curtains over your windows and keep them closed during the hotter parts of the day.  The sunlight beating down through a window can really heat up the house.  So make sure you keep these closed as much as possible. 

What are your tips for keeping your house cool during these hot days of summer?

Summer Energy Efficiency Tips: Kitchen

I don't know if it's 900 million degrees in your neck of the woods, but in my little corner of the world, it is very warm.  Uncomfortably warm in fact.  We are under Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories.  So it got me thinking about saving money on utilities when it's really hot out.  This will be a three part blog post.  Today I will cover some tips for saving money in the kitchen, the next will address the living room and bedroom and the last one will be outside.  So look for those in the coming days. 

Tip #45

First, I've talked here before about cooking once a week.  That can be a great way to keep from heating up your house every day.  I love to do this with our grill.  I will have my husband grill something for dinner that night.  While the grill is hot and going I throw on a bunch of different things for us to have for other meals throughout the week.

If you are going to use the oven to cook, consider only using the oven in the mornings or at night.  Generally it's cooler outside during those times so your air conditioner won't have to work as hard to bring the temperature in your house back down.

So for instance if we are having grilled chicken for dinner that night I will have my husband grill several extra chicken breast.  Then we can use those on top of salads, in wraps, or to make chicken salad.  I will also grill some veggies (red bell peppers, zucchini, onions, and asparagus work very well) and maybe a package of hot dogs and hamburgers so we have those for lunches.  By doing this one thing I can keep from a) heating up my kitchen every time I want to make one of these things for a meal and b) be more efficient about our use of the grill and charcoal (not to mention my husband cooking outside in the blazing heat.

On the topic of leftovers, always make sure you let your leftovers cool down on the counter before putting them in the fridge.  Don't let the food sit out for more than 30 to 45 minutes or you could be dealing with some dangerous bacteria (set a timer to remind yourself).  Never let food sit out for more than 2 hours.  When you put warm food in the fridge it has to work harder to get it cooled down, which wastes energy. 

Also, make sure your freezer is full.  A half-empty freezer expands extra energy to chill the unused space.  If you don't have food to fill it up fill up empty milk jugs to 3/4 of the way full with water and put those in the fridge.  You can also use freezer bags filled with water and placed in the freezer.  Also, you can store bags of ice in the large, vacant spots. 

Finally, now is a great time to try out those lighter recipes for things like salads and lettuce wraps.  Or buy foods that can be heated up in the microwave.  Your microwave uses 65% less energy than your oven. 

Create a Gift Closet

Tip #41

Gift-giving can be one of those things that really eats in to your budget.  By planning ahead and purchasing things on sale or clearance, you can really save some serious money. 

I have a simple calendar that I use to track all of my gift giving information.  My calendar happens to be a free one that I get every year from my insurance company.  Use whatever you have.  You can even make a calendar on your computer. 

I write down all of the birthdays, holidays, and gift-giving events that happen throughout the year.  I also list the name and ages of the recipients of my gift-giving.  Starting right after Christmas I start scouting for things I think people will like.  I also pick up things like wrapping paper, gift bags, and other wrapping items, as well as greeting cards. 

The real key to doing this effectively is to find things that aren't necessarily holiday themed (or overly holiday themed) if you are buying post-holiday clearance items.  The other key is to have an intention in mind for the item you buy.  And of course, actually using your gift closet when it comes time to give a gift.

If I buy something with an intended recipient in mind I put it in my gift closet with a post-it note with that person's name on it.  I also make a note of what I bought for them in my gift calendar. 

If it's something that I think will make a nice gift but don't have an idea of who I will give it to, I put it in the gift closet and write it in my calendar (on a Notes page) as a gift I have available. 

I especially love to do this for gifts for kids.  I find toys, fun books, or even clothes that are marked down, buy them and put them in my gift closet.  That way I always have something on hand for the kids in our life.

Whatever way you choose to organize yourself, I do recommend that you have a system in place.  Otherwise your gift closet can turn into a disorganized nightmare.  By having a tracking system you are more likely to give those gifts away and not have them turn into another junky closet!

Do you have a gift closet?  If so, what is your system for dealing with it?  Or do you have a system at all? 

Freezer Cooking

Some people call this once-a-month cooking, once-a-week cooking, or freezer cooking.  The concept is the same.  You block out one day and do the bulk of your cooking for the designated amount of time. 

Tip #36

So if you have decided to give this a go, I suggest planning on cooking for one week.  Carve out a day where you know you can cook with minimal interruptions. 

Make a list of what you are going to cook for the week.  Try to build some meals that are different but have similar ingredients.  Perhaps a chicken stir fry that includes onions and bell peppers for one meal and chicken fajitas that also includes onions and bell peppers for another meal.  They will taste different enough that it doesn't seem like you are eating the same things over and over.  Yet they are built around the same ingredients. 

Purchase or assemble the ingredients you will need for your cooking marathon.  The best time saver is to look at all your recipes.  Determine how much of each thing you need and then cook or cut those things all at once.  So for instance let's say you are going to have tacos and spaghetti this week.  You will need ground beef for both of these.  Instead of browning beef once for tacos and then a second time later that day for spaghetti, do it all at once in one big batch. 

The same is true for cutting up vegetables.  If three of your recipes call for chopped onion, cut the onion you need for all three recipes rather than cutting it three times. 

Then it's just a matter of getting your dishes assembled and cooked.  For most things that have a pasta component, I don't cook the pasta all the way.  I find this makes it too mushy after it's been frozen and then re-heated. 

Once the items are cooked you want to let them cool and then either freeze the whole dish or cut them in to individual servings and freeze those.  The nice thing about the individual servings is you can use these for dinners for one or to take your lunch with you. 

I suggest wrapping things very well.  If I've made a casserole I usually wrap it completely with plastic wrap and then cover that with foil.  I write the contents of the dish on the foil along with some general reheating instructions with a sharpie.  This is especially great if I'm not going to be the one home to reheat the food. 

Interested in cooking this way?  I found a couple of great resources that I use.  Check them out:

Once a Month Cooking Club

Freezer Cooking Recipes

Do you ever cook this way?  What are your hints and tips?  What recipes do you use all the time?  Post in the comments!