More Cost Cutting Tips

This has been quite a week! Lehman's, AIG, another bank failure (Ameribank) & government bailouts. I've never watched so much programming on the financial news networks before! I think that even if you're in a good financial position, it would be good to institute some cost cutting measures. There will be many people in need in the times to come. Cutting back on some things to save money will allow you to help others even if you don't really need to. Also, please remember that a lot of people are already having a hard time feeding not just themselves but their pets. Most food banks are happy to take donations of pet food.

(Allposters)

1. Cheryl (Copper's Wife) said that her Coinstar machine gives the option of getting an Amazon GC. Amazon has everything so that's a good way to use that change. I checked mine (at Kroger) and I could only donate or cash out.




2. Chris suggests using empty glass jars with lids to store leftovers etc. Recycle - Reuse!




3. Paula gave a recipe for toothpowder - equal amounts of sea salt, baking soda, a little ground sage (for teeth whitening). She also said you could use peppermint. She keeps this in a recycled glass spice jar, wets her toothbrush and sprinkles on the powder.




4. Jen (Fiddle Dee Dee) packs her husband's lunch (leftovers) before they eat dinner. I do the same thing. If I want enough for lunch the next day I have to put it away before we eat. If it's there it gets eaten, if it's not there nobody misses it!




5. Buy a cheaper brand of coffee. Save the better stuff for weekends or special events.




6. Use the Pumpkin Spice creamers (both brands have their variety) instead of getting Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks. It's not exactly the same, but comes close and you can save the Lattes as a treat. There were copykat recipes out there when they first came out with this coffee. All I remember is that you used real canned pumpkin. If you Google "homemade pumpkin spice latte" you'll get all kinds of recipes.




7. Use less dishwasher detergent, liquid dish soap, laundry soap than recommended. Decrease it little by little until you get to the point where you're not happy with it and then take it back up a notch.




8. You can freeze milk, cheese, and butter. Buy it when it's on sale. I buy the grated cheese when it's on sale and just throw it in the freezer. Same with butter. The gallon milk jugs will expand a bit but I've never had one pop open. You can open them before freezing and remove a bit so there's room for expansion.




9. Use cloth napkins instead of paper. You can make your own out of old sheets etc. We use ours all day unless they're really messy.




10. I turn off the oven about 10 min before the food is done. The trapped heat it still cooking the food and I'm using less electricity.




11. Learn to maintain your things to make them last longer.




12. Do not buy things for which you can't pay cash!




13. It doesn't take money to have a lovely house. Cleaning your house, moving things around, using your creativity and decluttering go along way to making your home look great.
    

For more tips I'd like to recommend Brenda 's Recession Ponderings at http://coffeeteabooksandme.blogspot.com/ . Just scroll down her sidebar on the right until you get to that topic heading.