What is your best money saving tip?

Trek said:
.... our clothes dryer senses moisture and automatically adjusts how long it stays on to dry (you can adjust the sensitivity as well). Now the dryer doesn't stay on near as long when drying towels and saves us money on our electric bill.
....
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In 1970 a friend gave me a similar tip to use fewer quarters and less drying time in a coin-op dryer which of course gives a set number of minutes rather than sensing moisture. His idea was not to take the load out as soon as the dryer stops but to leave the load in the dryer a few minutes or longer while it is still hot in the dryer.

Numbers is hard: that's one quarter and ten minutes per load times x number of loads per month times 12 months times 39 years.;) Math would have to be adjusted considering that those dryers used dimes back then and the newer models use 6-8 minute increments rather than 10, and remember to add the Enron! effect for applicable months.
 
We also do the drip dry thing in the shower and it helps a bit, but washing and drying the towels only once a week also helps. They air dry each day for the next in between.
 
dh2b is going through towels like crazy for his 3-4x per week early AM gym sessions. I use just one for several days. :blush:
All towels, jeans and w*rkout outfits are line dried, inside in the family room. Also my own casual and not-for-public-view daily FIREd clothes*.
A very quick tumble in the dryer on low gets rid of wrinkles and fabric stiffness. The only direct washer-to-dryer loads are his w*rk clothes.

Line drying first is making a huge difference in my electricity bill.

*It is fun to wear crummy clothes around the house just because I can. :LOL:
 
freebird5825 said:
*It is fun to wear crummy clothes around the house just because I can. :LOL:
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I have been enjoying this so much during my pre-ER vacation time lately.* Frank knows that if we are going somewhere, he needs to call a few minutes in advance to give me time to dress in clothing suitable for venturing out. I end up with twice the laundry but right now I don't care.

*(Not only can I wear crummy, comfortable clothes around the house, I don't even have to wear shoes or a bra and I LOVE it. Shades of the 60's! and probably TMI, sorry)
 
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I have bagged up my clothing in construction plastic bags (the kind construction companies use for clean-up) that I purchased from Home Depot or Lowes. They are big and much, much thicker and stronger than what you can buy at the grocery. Perfect for using for laundry bags you can drag into your laundry room or a laundromat or when moving things from one place to another in your car. You could use these to bag toys, Xmas items, anything that doesn't need a box. Or you can cut a hole in the bottom and slip them over a hanger as a cover for suits or winter coats for storage. These bags can be used for so many things at a very cheap cost.
 
Orchidflower said:
I have bagged up my clothing in construction plastic bags (the kind construction companies use for clean-up) that I purchased from Home Depot or Lowes. They are big and much, much thicker and stronger than what you can buy at the grocery. Perfect for using for laundry bags you can drag into your laundry room or a laundromat or when moving things from one place to another in your car. You could use these to bag toys, Xmas items, anything that doesn't need a box. Or you can cut a hole in the bottom and slip them over a hanger as a cover for suits or winter coats for storage. These bags can be used for so many things at a very cheap cost.
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What a great idea for lugging laundry around! It sounds like it would be especially great for those houses with laundry in the basement, instead of carrying heavy laundry baskets up stairs.
 
RonBoyd said:
Debate Follows Bills to Remove Clotheslines Bans
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From the article...
“There are a lot of kids these days who don’t even know what a clothespin is,” he said. “They think it’s a potato chip clip.”

Dual-use technology strikes again! :LOL:

I use my downstairs family room as my main drying room. I have a removable nylon line from the fireplace mantle (railroad tie) to the ceiling beam support thingie (HD metal tubular column with adjustable top screw for sag prevention). I also have smaller lines strung over the washer/dryer for lighter clothes. I have enough room to hang two large loads at once, easily.
 
freebird5825 said:
dh2b is going through towels like crazy for his 3-4x per week early AM gym sessions. I use just one for several days. :blush:
All towels, jeans and w*rkout outfits are line dried, inside in the family room. Also my own casual and not-for-public-view daily FIREd clothes*.
A very quick tumble in the dryer on low gets rid of wrinkles and fabric stiffness. The only direct washer-to-dryer loads are his w*rk clothes.

Line drying first is making a huge difference in my electricity bill.

*It is fun to wear crummy clothes around the house just because I can. :LOL:
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I change the bath towel twice a month. Don't have a dryer.
 
travelover said:
Good tip. To the amusement of others that have seen me do it, I "squeegee" myself off with my hands before toweling. It really does take a lot of water off, though I admit I started doing it as a time saver, not a money saver.
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I was going to suggest the squeegee technique that I thought I invented. Apparently I'm not as clever as I thought. Agreed though - saves time more than money I think. And the bathroom floor isn't soaked upon exiting the tub.
 
I don't squeegee, but rather try to emulate my dog when she comes up out of a stream. I think my technique ends up looking more like a convulsion though. :LOL:
 
Same money on stamps. Set up bills for autopay directly from checking account.

Also, buy those forever stamps. When those stamps first came out, I bought about 200 of them -- wish I bought more.
 
Want2retire said:
I have three tips.

...

(2) An unrelated money-saving tip: In the summer, I keep the thermostat as warm as is comfortable, and wear nearly nothing and drink lots of ice water. In the winter I keep it as cool as is comfortable, and wear warm clothing and sit with a blanket on my lap.

...
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Great tips Want2Retire...for summer cooling I would also add:

Use a ceiling fan alone when you can or in combination with the A/C. They do a great job making you feel cooler and being very energy efficient.
 
It's well known that retirees like to toodle around their communities in golf carts. Now, thanks to the federal tax credit in the stimulus plan aimed at getting people to buy high mileage cars, many people can get a golf cart nearly, or even totally, free! :ROFLMAO:

Golf Cart Subsidies - WSJ.com
 
harley said:
It's well known that retirees like to toodle around their communities in golf carts. Now, thanks to the federal tax credit in the stimulus plan aimed at getting people to buy high mileage cars, many people can get a golf cart nearly, or even totally, free!
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RVers are, also, gonna be interested in this.
 
Let me second that ceiling fan idea. One of my relatives visited Texas/Louisiana where everyone has ceiling fans, so he installed some fans in his house in Chicago (1 in the living room, which is huge, and one in each of two bedrooms). He called me to ask if it was possible that the ceiling fans cut his electricity cost THAT much 'cause his bills were now running 30% less than normal!!! Worth the money and effort to install ceiling fans for sure.
And, for those of you who never have had ceiling fans, there is a button at the motor that allows you to have the air pulled up for summer and push the button down and the air is pulled down for winter. So, you can use ceiling fans all year around.
One thing they don't put in houses anymore are big, strong attic fans. I had one in my 1939 bungalow in Houston, and it would suck ALL the hot air out of the house after about an hour's use. I loved it, and wish they would use huge attic fans again in homes. Talk about cutting your electricity bill...it's great! Come home, suck out all the hot air and turn on the ceiling fans and a/c = lots of money savings.
 
I think my greatest cost-savings tip is to fully enjoy the things I ALREADY have. For example, we have five 8'tall, 3' wide bookshelves crammed with books. I have not read at least half of them. I could read for three years and not get through all our books. So, I don't really need to buy more books.

This is true of a lot of the things in my house. We have a great picnic hamper we rarely use. Why not go on a picnic next time instead of out to a restaurant? I have a book about paperfolding and a stack of office paper -- this is something the kids and I could do for HOURS, and we'd enjoy it.

I try to remind myself that if I'm feeling bored, it's because I'm not really paying attention to the resources available to me here and now. I can always take a walk, look for birds at the local creek, play fetch with the dog.

And on a more practical note: We line-dry our laundry, except for sheets. This is about 8 loads a week. It saves us about $50 a month in electricity, and doesn't take up much more time than a dryer would.
 
Orchidflower said:
.....<snip>.....One thing they don't put in houses anymore are big, strong attic fans. I had one in my 1939 bungalow in Houston, and it would suck ALL the hot air out of the house after about an hour's use. I loved it, and wish they would use huge attic fans again in homes. Talk about cutting your electricity bill...it's great! Come home, suck out all the hot air and turn on the ceiling fans and a/c = lots of money savings.
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These central attic fans are still sold and are relatively easy to install. I use two box fans set next to each other in a 4 foot wide window and achieve the same result. Last summer, in Michigan, I ran the central air conditioning a total of three days.
 
Orchidflower, one of the first things I did when I moved into my new place was have 5 ceiling fans installed: one in each bedroom, one in the living room and one in the den where I have my TV. They are wonderful and I save a lot on the AC for sure, esp. on those marginal days when you need air circulating but not necessarily the central AC.
 
A central attic fan would be worth installing to me. My gosh, the hot air is sucks out so fast is amazing! Why in the world did that ever become unpopular? They're fantastic.
 
Orchidflower said:
A central attic fan would be worth installing to me. My gosh, the hot air is sucks out so fast is amazing! Why in the world did that ever become unpopular? They're fantastic.
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They went the way of vent windows in cars - everyone wants to just flip an air conditioning switch these days. I agree with you, though, they can save a lot of money in some areas of the country where it cools down significantly at night.
 
Orchidflower said:
A central attic fan would be worth installing to me. My gosh, the hot air is sucks out so fast is amazing! Why in the world did that ever become unpopular? They're fantastic.
Click to expand...

I installed one of those (called a "whole house fan" then) in the house with wife #1. In the summer it would pull the curtains out about 30 degrees and we didn't turn on the A/C until temps reached the high 80's. It also needs someplace for the air pushed into the attic to go to so I installed a large vent in place of one of the gable vents.

I don't remember noticing any huge savings on electricity but there were other issues more pressing at the time.
 
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