Top Ten - Money Savings

Money Saving Tips: How to trim a little $ off your monthly bills...just a few of the things I do that saves quite a bit of money when you add it all up! - some of this is out of necessity, and some of it is just a preference now, although, definitely borne out of necessity once upon a time:-) I'm giving estimated yearly savings, but I think my estimations are probably a little low in some categories for most families with a couple kids.

Do not buy trash bags - use the plastic ones from the store (aka the Walmart bag): This will not work for everyone, but I've found it pretty effective for us, especially when compared to the $ savings. The only downside is that I have to take out the trash usually 2 times per day, instead of once (for the kitchen), since the trash can is much smaller. The bedrooms last a few days usually. Stinky diapers get their own plastic bag. I haven't purchased trash bags in probably 4 or 5 years (since our super large can broke and we replaced it with the small ones). Estimated savings: $50 to $100 per year (depending on brand)

Make your own household cleaners: Use old toothbrushes for cleaning, and old tee shirts for rags. Most of the things I clean with vinegar and water. I also keep bleach, simple green and pine sol on hand, and water them down etc. to use in different cleaning solutions. Estimated savings: $25 to $50 per year

Make your own swiffer wet jet stuff: Use the empty swiffer bottles to fill with your own cleaning solution (using materials mentioned above). If you want, you can also make washable cloth pads. Estimated savings: solution only $113 per year. Solution AND pads: $250 per year

Use {.} products like a Diva Cup or Instead Soft Cup (ladies, if you would like more information on this product, contact me or comment with email addy and I'll give you my advice/some info!) Estimated savings: $60 per year or more depending on brand

Make your own laundry soap: Estimated savings: $100- $200 per year (depends on brand and volume)

Price check, use coupons, be willing to try off-brands and see if you like them!

Keep your house temp set to a few degrees warmer or colder than you'd "like". And use the sun/shade/blinds to help maintain inside temp. We keep the house at 75 in the summer and 69 in the winter. We find these comfortable enough, while still being aware that we can't go gangbusters in this area...we also control the temp for our renters upstairs. We can't heat or freeze them out! We have 2 sets of menu items, basically. Ones that require almost no oven time (heats our house up quickly) and ones that do! So we have two "sets" of meals we eat, in the hot and the cold!

Make your own baby wipes (or cleaning wipes). This saves a lot of money, even though it is a little more work. Estimated savings: $80 - $150 per year, per child

Use towels, not paper towels. Whenever I have coupons/can get a smashing deal...I save the paper towels for more wipes:-) If they are very cheap, we will use them, but we consider these more of a luxury. Normally, we use regular old dish clothes or hand towels to clean up spills.

Cut cable tv (or other household "luxury" bills): We have not done this yet, but are considering this right now. Because we have 2 cell phones, we don't need the house phone, and the tv...everything we watch is also available online. Keeping hi-speed internet (about $60-70), and paying for a service like Netflix or Hulu Plus to watch tv is only 7.99 per month (to watch tv on the tv screen, but "through" the computer/internet connection). Our normal cable bill for phone, internet and tv is $150 per month, so this will be quite a bit of monthly savings. Look for ways to cut your monthly bills, last year we changed our cell phone plan, getting us more service and saving us $50 per month/$600 per year.