Welcome to the McVay quest for Financial freedom. We are constantly in search of money saving measures that we can put in place in our home. Last month we started hanging our clothes on the line. I would love to tell you it was a very sophisticated pulley system, however, I simply some rope to two trees and wham bam a clothes line. Okay yes it is a little bit hill billy and seriously it's embarrassing...well if you know me I'm not embarrassed. I am completely unwilling to spend the money to erect a clothes line I am not convinced I would use!
Well the results came in after a month of consistently using the clothes line we realized a savings our October bill was $241 last month and this month it is $180, that is a savings of $60 (our lowest bill this year was $227 in April) ! Well, maybe $60 isn't enough for you to consider a clothes line how about the $720 we are going to save this year with the clothes line? I always try to look at savings (or spending) over a years period of time so I can see the true picture.
We wash 2 loads a day Monday - Friday and Saturday is catch up day on which usually a load is washed. I hang at least 75% of these loads on the line
and have come to love the smell of air dried sheets.The other cost cutting measure that was added to this months budget is including the kids in keeping costs down by encouraging them to turn off lights. Let me elaborate....if they do not turn off lights all 3 of them stand in the corner for 5 minutes! It's a punishment I am always willing to implement and now we have three light turning off kids! Wayne added a reward if we are getting ready to go and they have turned off the light in their room and closet then they get a treat (like some of a .33 bag of candy to split, stickers, a scoop of ice cream (from our freezer) or something similarly inexpensive) Next on our agenda of money saving measures: switch to the spiral lights, find a water cooler cover (we are also finding out how much a solar water heater will cost, as well as a tankless water heater!), and finally this year our Christmas lights are going on a timer!
So, perhaps this December we will look for a design for a nice efficient & inexpensive clothes line that costs no more then $60 but hopefully way cheaper! Don't forget to vote in our poll about whether or not we should get rid of our home phone and go 100% cellular??? (Savings of $710.04 per year!!!)
Counting the cost!
RH
6 comments:
Wow, that makes me seriously consider hanging my clothes out to dry. However, how much time does that add to your daily chores? I'm just curious if it's a lot of labor or what? I already hang all of our pants out to dry but I just use the fence in our backyard. I don't use clothespins so all the lightweight stuff would fly off (when it's windy) unless I started using an actual clothesline.
Also, I just looked at your homemaking website about what freezes well. I never know what freezes well! Are you saying that I should make the casserole w/ all of the veggies first and then freeze it, or freeze the cooked meat and veggies separately and then throw it all together in a casserole to heat up when we're ready to eat it? I hope it's the first choice b/c that would make things so easy! Oh, I remember that I still owe you a crock pot recipe but I probably got most of mine from Kaylene so you might already have them.
You better still have this site when I have a home to take care of, lol.
You amaze me with all of your money saving tips :) Everytime I go to the grocery store I feel guilty, because I know you could have spent what I did on a month of groceries AND feeding five people!
That phone bill saving is HUGE! I say go for it, I hear most people are getting rid of landlines these days ;)
I'm in serious clothesline withdrawls because my umbrella clothesline broke last week! I'm planning on two new clotheslines- one umbrella line and another heavy duty one on posts for blankets.
Our money saving plan this summer was that I could not run both the A/C and the dryer, so it was pretty easy to get in the habit of hanging clothes. I also did not put the A/C lower than 80 degrees, and we were just fine and saved at least $350 over the course of the summer!
If there is the slightest bit of sun, I hang clothes out. Lightweight clothes don't need much to dry and even if the jeans are still damp when I bring them in, that's less time in the dryer.
Now that it's getting cooler, I'm also looking for a few sturdy indoor racks for drying things overnight.
I'd love to get rid of our home phone, but we seem to be in a funky area, the trees will often block cell phone reception. If I can find a viable solution, the home phone is gone!
I forgot to answer your question! Sutter's Fort is in Sacramento.
We went cellular almost a year ago. Works for us.
We went cellular. Works for us.
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