Nicole

Hello again, savvy savers! Can you believe this month is almost half-way done! I don’t know about you, but as difficult as no spend days are around my neck of the woods, knowing how much I have been able to save is awesome! Now onto today’s challenge!

As Summer is soon to be entering the longer, lazy, hazy dog days of summer, full of warmer-than-normal triple digit weather, afternoon showers, and the omnipresent, money-sucking power bill spikes! If your anything like me, your seasonal electric bill can be nothing short of terror! 

With this situation in mind, here are a few tips to help your “Summerize” your power bills this coming season:

1. Charge your cell phones in the car: Leaving your phone sitting on the charger overnight not only shortens your phones battery life, but costs undue amounts on your power bill, due to its phantom consumption charges; avoid theses charges by charging my phone and gadgets in the car  while I drive a few times a week! This small change can save you upwards of $10.00 a month!

2. Reduce the brightness on your HDTV: The factory settings on your HDTV are adjusted to provide the best in-store viewing experience, but home lighting often negates higher UV levels; reducing the brightness settings will slow your tv’s power usage by $3.00-$5.00 monthly. 

3. Running the fan on your A/C: Running the A/C fan to circulate the cool air already in your home, instead of turning down the thermostat, for two hours daily, will cut the cost of your monthly A/C costs by a 1/8th; this one trick helps cut my power bill by $30.00 monthly. 

4. Cook outdoors: Cooking outdoors causes you to not only use less electricity, but to not generate cook-related heat in your home, a real boon here in the deep south; also consider you will use less dishes, service wear, and utensils, too!

5. Wash clothes with cold water:  If you’re a night owl, consider washing laundry during non-peak times, from 7 pm-midnight in most area, using cold water cycles, will cut your laundries electrical usage by half!   

6. Clean your cooling system: Changing your air filters, keeping A/C return vents clear, and allowing air to circulate fully through your home will keep your A/C running efficiently this summer, and reduce service call fees.

8. Consider drying alternatives: Using a clothesline, DIY dryer balls, combine dryer loads, or time your dryer to stop can help cut your drying costs in half!

All of these steps have helped to keep my Summer power bills lower and it can for you, too!

Here’s to summer,

Good morning, savvy savers! Can you believe we are almost half-way finished with this month! So, today is going to be another organization day, but today we will be focusing on our home offices, bookshelves, craft areas, and/or home libraries. 

This is a very important challenge for me as I work from home, and so I spend an inordinate amount of time at my desk. You would think that would mean I automatically have the motivation to keep that area neat and tidy at all times.  And while generally speaking my desk is clutter-free, my drawers, rolling cabinets, and shelves are not!  My inbox/outbox too, was a mess, and my vertical files were full of unneeded papers, review guides, and coupons I hadn’t looked in several months. I firmly believe that home are our most important investments, and therefore our most important business. Keeping this space organized is essential to keeping our homes running more smoothly. 

So, for today I challenge you to join me in cleaning up these areas in our homes. 

A few tips to consider today in your home office:

• Create a container for important family and personal documents; this includes licenses, insurance forms, medical records, etc.
• Clear out your coupon binders, and make room for the extra inserts coming this Spring; be sure to donate coupons to Coups For Troops. 
• Tax files over five years in age, can be shredded and discarded.
• Be sure to recycle all paper products.
• Magazines can be donated to public schools and libraries.
• Tackle boxes make awesome crafting, beading, and thread organizers.
• Consider grouping like books together on shelves; educational, biographies, fiction, non-fiction, etc.
• Any books you would not consider either home reference editions or you would gladly re-read, place to the side, for local book swaps or library donations. 
• Re-think your office furniture; dressers, buffets, and other larger pieces can still be functional desk spaces, and will allow you to have cabinet space, too!

So, all-in-all, I’m really excited about yesterday’s progress in my craft room and office!

So, I was able to:

1. I cleared off my desk.
2. I organized my dining room bookshelves, putting like groups together, and placing non re-reads to a bin for a later book swap weekend.
3. I took the binders and manuals I previously housed in on my dining room shelves, and placed them on an upcycled shelf in my office.
4. I turned my former dining room buffet station into an office credenza to hold my craft room staples.
5. I sorted through my personal files, and established a personal box for my husband and I both, as well as created a new lock box system for credit cards, cash, gift cards, etc.
6. I cleaned out my coupon binder.

I felt completely overwhelmed when I started, and utterly victorious when I stopped! Woohoo!

I was also able to accomplish:

1. As part of my #Choose30 Daily Challenge, I woke up at 7:25, walked my fur babies, showered, & dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
2. Worked on my daily Motivated Moms Planner.
3. I finished a day’s worth of clerking assignments ahead of schedule!
4. I cooked from my pantry for each meal.
5. Read my daily devotional.
6. I waked two miles.

Yesterday I saved:

• I eat at home this evening for dinner, saving our family $6.95. 
• I recycled, upcycled, and composted one bins of deluge, and saved $0.25, the cost of 1 trash bag. 
• My family drank water today, and saved $0.69, the cost of a 2-liter of soda.
• I also did not watch cable tv, and saved $3.68 by doing so.
• I lost a half day’s worth of electricity costs, and saved $3.00! 

Total amount I saved my family: $14.57

This months savings goal remaining: $344.86

Here’s to saving,