Electric Usage

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Kill-A-Watt Usage Monitor

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I would love one of these handy little gadgets to tell how much electricity I am wasting, but the truth is, I am just too cheap to buy one. Our highest electric bill has been under $200/mo. but usually around $100 or under.


If you're like me, cheap, here are some things you can do to make your electric consumption drop.

• We only have our hot water tank on for 15 minutes prior to bathing or dishes. The rest of the time, we shut it off at the breaker box.
• Line drying all clothing.
• We plug all video games, tv's, dvd players, etc. into a surge protector, then shut it off or unplug it when it's not in use. Same with the microwave and coffee pot. You'd be surprised at how much juice those little red light sensors and digital clocks need to run.
• I try to use my oven just once a day. I also try to not use my oven at all, I like to utilize my crockpots and bread machine. They are cheaper to use than the oven.

Here's some cool information:

The Energy Information Administration found Americans use 60% more electricity today than they did 20 years ago. Some examples of the amount of energy you use and how much it costs you are in the following examples:

• iPod Docking Station – Uses three watts charging and five when it’s playing music. This costs you a penny a day!
• Big Screen TV – When the TV is on it can use 210 watts, when off 64. It costs you 11 cents a day just have the TV plugged in at your house!
• Game Systems – Can use 2 watts when the system is off but uses 145 when it’s on. This costs you about one penny an hour!
• Digital Video Recorder – This can pull 83 watts all day long. That means just having one of these plugged in the wall in your home can cost you 15 cents a day!

If you absolutely must have one of these gadgets, I found these at Edmund Scientific.

Am I missing some ways of saving on the electric bill? If you have any more ideas, please share!

Please Help Me Pay My Mortgage!

Wait. . . Before you think I'm just soliciting you for money, read the post!!!

My husband and I became debt free a year or so ago. We refinanced our home to a ridiculously low interest rate. Our payments (now including property taxes and homeowners insurance)is half of what it used to be. I realize this might not be a solution for everyone, but it's worked for us.

We have managed to stay out of debt, have a small savings, etc. Now I want to begin attacking our mortgage payment.

Hubby is not so sure, he thinks having more savings might be a better idea. Now I know that as a conservative Christian wife, I must submit to my husband's will,

BUT . . .

We came up with a compromise. He agreed that as long as we have it, I can pay an additional $100/month on our principal. Also, any money that I can bring in from rebate checks, yard sales, selling items on ebay or Craig's list, survey companies, etc. . . I can put onto the principal amount.

So, hopefully soon, I'm going to do a post about how I make money online and if you haven't signed up for some of them, and if you use my referral, (which I know you all will, please, please, please!) Then I will be able to pay our mortgage (without being a mooch).

So, here's the numbers. We currently owe $53,542.10. I was able to apply $305.00 extra to principal this month so, that alone will take it down to $53,237.10 (plus the hundred and something from our actual payment).

What do you say, will you help me? What has worked for your family?

July Budget Numbers

Several months ago my husband asked me what we do spend a month on gasoline and groceries. I had to tell him the truth, I had no idea.

After sitting down and thinking about it, I decided that $800/mo. would be a reasonable amount for gas and groceries. Now I know that sounds high, but there are two of us on special foods for food allergies. Our cookies are almost $4/9 cookies and our bread was $6/loaf (I haven't bought it in awhile, so that figure could have doubled). Shayla's organic rice milk powder doubled - it comes out to be around $5.50/gallon. Ouch!

Anyways, I am happy to report that this months' grocery expenses came to $352.38 We are stocked up on everything pretty good. Our gas was $210.15. That figure will probably go up, we haven't went hardly anywhere. We live a distance from anyplace, so that figure may seem high to some. Also, it includes gas money for mower, and other power tools. Now here's the bad part, our miscellaneous was $258.33, but in all fairness, some of that can come out of the back-to-school expenses because I bought some cheap supplies at Walmart, Michaels, and Meijers.

What does your family's budget look like? Are my numbers way off what they should be?

YEEEEESSSS!!!! Debt-Free at Last

This past year has been the Year of the Finances at our household. After reading Dave Ramsey's books and being convicted in the Bible where it says, the borrower is servant to the lender, we took a hard look at our finances. Granted, at that point, we were not in as far over our heads as many folks, but none the less, it's a good feeling to owe nothing, except our newly negotiated, low fixed-rate mortgage.

Originally I started our family on this journey to prove to my husband that we could afford another child. That was all that was getting in the way of our adopting a child. Who would have thought that it would have changed us into Frugal Zealots!?!

How were we able to do this with rising prices on gas, groceries, and utilities? First off, I think there was a lot of divine intervention, but here's what we did to also help:

• We refinanced our mortgage and home equity into one fixed-rate 15 yr. mortgage. This includes an escrow account, so we "prepay monthly" for our property taxes and homeowners insurance. Doing this step alone saves us almost $500 per month.
• Hubby and I sat down and discussed all our little money drains. We decided to eliminate trash pick up because we recycle most everything, what we don't can be burnt. (Savings $15/mo)
• We eliminated the outside security light (Savings $8 per month)
• Since I only have a cell phone for emergencies (yes, really) I checked into Verizon's prepay and found that I could switch to a .99/day fee ONLY ON THE DAYS YOU USE IT! Plus .10/minute, if it's not another verizon customer. (Savings $15/month)
• I re-evaluated some of the herbal supplements we were on and made adjustments (Savings $60/month)
• We have been eating out less, sticking to a menu plan more, cooking from scratch (Savings: too much to guess!)
• This past year I started couponing, specifically CVSing. I plan menus around the food I bring home. (Again Savings: too much to even guess!)
• We started staying home more (this is especially good when homeschooling!)
• Hubby has always taken his lunch and snacks to work.
• We plant a garden. Although it's not the half acre we usually have, we have been blessed by an abundance of organic produce for eating healthy and canning.
• I hang almost all of our laundry. Outside on nice days, inside on not-so-nice days. I have also been able to cut our washing down to one load every-other-day. When we return to wearing pants that will probably go back to a load a day again.
• We've also been asking ourselves this question, how much is enough? Do I really need a full cup of laundry soap to wash? How much will work to get my clothes clean? Do I really need to have a light on, or is the natural sunlight enough? Is it really hot enough to turn the a/c on, or can I just open the windows? You get the idea!
• We've been like the ants gathering our firewood for the winter.
• I've been utilizing the public library and internet more for my homeschooling plans. I also bought a simple curriculum at a local school supply store for $20. Hey, it's only first grade!
• I've been doing several online survey companies for cash, participated in the Rite Aid Single Check Rebate program, get free magazines for viewing commercials, sell our stuff on ebay, half.com, amazon. Buying online using coupon codes.
• I'm planning on having a yard sale soon, when I can get together with friends and family for the event.
• I make our own laundry soap (when not having free from CVS), snacks, cloth napkins, newspapers for cleaning windows, cleaning supplies are usually just baking soda, vinegar and plain old water. And the list goes on and on.

Now I can smile a little more when I use that newly paid for stove, microwave, and refrigerator!

We will be spending the "payment" money we were using for school clothes, car insurance, and Christmas. Then hopefully beginning with next years' tax return, we can start attacking our mortgage payment.

These are just a few changes we've made. What have you done to offset the economy in your finances?

How Much Are You Worth As A Mother?

If you've ever wondered how much you are worth in dollars, as a stay-at-home mom, check this out. It puts $ amounts in for all the jobs you do!

http://www.handprintsonthewall.org/category/motherhood/ministry-as-mothers/

Kendra said she was worth just over $116,000 per year, mine ideal salary came in higher, probably because of all the special cooking, cleaning and accomadations for our allergies and general health.

Worldwide Food Shortages! Is This For Real?

I received an email from Herbal Healer with this article attached.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120881517227532621.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Folks, this is some scary stuff! I don't know what to believe. What I do know is my husband had heard about a worldwide rice shortage. Now rice is our family's staple food because of gluten intolerance. We had the foresight to stock up on rice milk and other rice products we use. Lately in the grocery stores, the rice shelf has been bare. Yes, there is still the white enriched stuff (that we can not tolerate) but all the whole grain brown rice is gone. Usually just an empty hole on the shelf. If you are lucky enough to find the rice, be prepared to shell out at least $1 more per bag!

I guess what bothers me most is that I have heard that there were some adverse climate conditions which resulted in less than optimal growing seasons, but most of the food shortage boils down to GREED!

The stock and housing market is bad, so people are investing in commodities, like food, electricity, and gasoline. These few people are controlling who gets what and what we pay for basic necessities. It doesn't surprise me, because we all know man is sinful in nature, but it saddens me that many people may go hungry at the expense of the wealthy.

My husband is a wise man. He told me months ago to invest in food because the gas prices would drive the food prices up. Boy, how right he is! He said that no bank investment will give me the return of stocking up on food. A can of peas from aldi is .49 this year, but next year it could be .79. Multiply that by 365 days in a year and you're talking a significant difference.

It's going to be hard to keep the grocery budget within range. We were planning on scaling down our garden this year, but have planted about a half acre again. I am using sales to load up my pantry and making our family's menu plans according to the sales. With all these changes, our grocery bill has actually come down. Unbelievable I know!

Is your family making any changes during this rough financial period? What are you doing? Please share ideas.

Another Way of Spending Your Stimulus Check

How to use Your check...
As you may have heard, each of us who files a tax return form
for 2007 will be getting a tax rebate check to stimulate the economy.
If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China. If we spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs. If we purchase a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruits and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Japan. If we purchase useless stuff it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.
We need to keep that money here in America. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it at yard sales, since those are the only businesses still in the US!