Laughing at the power company

Ok now I have been doing several things during the day to cut the power bill down for the past several weeks here.  I have unplugged and havent ran hardly anything during the day.  The main problem is the power plant is right down the street here and my power bill is still huge.  My rates were cheaper in Illinois and the taxes are more than the actual bill its self up here in NY State.  Eather way I will be cutting and slashing 5 days a week now around here and will do even more cutting and slashing in the time to come.  It takes some new habbits of course and banging my head a whole lot.  I have been dealing without T.V. for most of the day.  If I go past 7am in the morning it feels wierd to have the computer and T.V. on past that Monday thru Friday now.  And talk about power strips all over the can around here and there's at least 5 of them to turn off here.  Ok it drives everyone just plain nuts around here when they see the appliances unplugged.  The one electritions can not understand of why I do things like that.  I ask him to pay the power bill and he says he doesent live here so he wont(also the man likes to bounce checks and not pay his own bills).  Spend thrift on his part and hanging out with his parents for to long.  His Parents God love them for working thier tails off and giveing thier kids everything and then some.  So I will try to be as cheap as I can and go from there and just try to drive everyone else batty over it so I can live within our means if not less at all possible.  If that means by not running hardly anything so be it now.  And the water bill did fall by 20 dollars this time.  After I raised cain at the water company.  I am useing even less water now than I was for 3 months ago.  Ok folks have fun and play even harder.

Starting in on cleaning

I have started the washer already.  Partial cup of laundery deturgant and fabric softener.  The Aldi red bottle deturgant has went really runny of course so I have to use a little more than what I am use to.  When the next 2 and a half bottles are done I am going back to Purex.  I am thinking that Aldi has caught on to what I have been doing with the laundery deturgant.  Normally the red bottle from there lasts for about 3 to 4 months in my place.  Not any more.  So now I have used Purex before and I am going back to it.  I am still wishing that I can find Fresh Start again.  It worked well and dident adjatate my skin.  Oh well at least in that since I am streeching out the dollars in the place.  Now yesterday I found the baged bird seed is cheaper than the one in the canister.  So I will start buying the 10 pound bag and useing part of my storage bowls for the seed.  I wont have to worry about pet food for awhile after yesterday.  I ended up with 30 dollars for the dog, cat, and bird.  That's includeing the food, litter, and the scratch paper.  So that turned out well on my part anyway.  So now I dont have to worry as much about that.  I haven't started cleaning the bathroom yet and stressing yet.  I am thinking on it for the moment.  With the washer being in the bathroom it makes it hard to do more than one thing in there.  And yes I did make my list out last night and I am still adding things to it this morning also.  Even though I am not that far behind in the house work any more it is knowing the fact that I have to do it anyway in time.  If I dont get to all of the list I don't freek out over it nor do I go into hastarics.  I just leave it for the next day and try to do it all then in what I dident get done the day before.  The list that I make up are used on the paper that I have cut the coupons out on that I have printed.  Sometimes there is only one or two that print on the page.  That leaves me enough room to make a double sided list out becuase I do use both sides of the paper.  Some people do not like it and in how I say they don't live here nor pay my bills in the place.  So I do what I can and go from there.  It does get pretty funny around here at times.  Becuase some people say well I use paper plates and I can not live without them.  Paper plates are a habbit and a bad one at that.  As far as I am concerned they are a waste of money.  Along with wipeing your hands on paper towels all of the time.  I have a ton of hand towels for that.  Other wise I would be going thru at least 8 rolls if not more in a month instead of the 1 and a half rolls.  So there is alot of things that I just can not force myself to waste money on like some people do.  It is just not worth it at all.  So now I can say it is a fine line of being cheap and frugal and a bit of being tight with my money.  If you can leave out paper napkins at all cost also along with the paper plates.  You have to do dishes anyway and laundery so a few more items will not hurt at all.  You use the same amount of water if you wash 3 dishes as you would a whole sink worth.  Along with the dish soap.  Just like laundery get a full load at all times if not set the water settings on the washer.  That's why there's a large, medium, and a small load setting on there along with the cold, warm, and hot knob also.  Now the yellow sticker on the washer when you first get it is a guide line.  I have seen this work also.  It may take a few months to see if your bills go down if any at all.  Now I had seen a dramatic fall in my power bill with my washer.  The extended spin works wanders.  The power bill has kept dropping also.  I have a gas hot water tank.  I really havent seen much of a drop in that, it goes along with the gas oven also.  If you first move into a new place make yourself a pest at the power company.  They base your useage off of the last person(s) there before you when the guesstamate the bill.  So every month call them and get a true reading or get the reading yourself and give it to them.  And tell them this is what I used and get someone out here.  The power company readers all know me by first name around here.  And yes I put up a stink with the head office also.  My power bills went down by 75 dollars if not more a month when I started hollaring.  I dident have a fridge nor a dryer at the time.  And the guys took note of that right away and put it in the computer in the car also.  Then also I had an old window unit for cold air.  I found out When I blocked the hallway up along with the windows and the front room that the bill with that was only maybe 150 a month.  Now when I say old window unit it was mostly made by Harison Radiador and Fridgidaire also.  So it went back some years.  It kept the place cool in 2 rooms let me tell you after blocking up the windows and a few other things.  Still to this day I have windows blocked off and rooms blocked with vents covered with foil to save on the A/C and keeping the place cool.  All you do with the foil is get a piece big enough for the vent/grate and cover the bottom of the grate.  Then stick it back in the floor or cieling and what a differance it makes.  And use fans also to help move the air around.  You knotice a cold spot get a floor fan and point it in the direction you want the air to go to.  Ok folks have fun and play hard.

With the windows open

I have the fresh air coming into the place now with the windows open.  No fans no A/C going this is a nice thing.  I am saveing money here without the air going.  It has been an up hill battle for my house hold anyway to get the bills down.  I am still working on cutting the power bill down.  It is hard with all of the taxes taged up with the bill.  The taxes are more than the bill its self here in NY State.  Well now to just get everything off and not to use it at all for somethings.  So now to figure in what else to turn off and unplug.  For the gas bill thats not to bad.  I am on the budget plan for that and at this point I think they owe me money again.  And just maybe I can go without paying that one in January becuase I did over pay for that bill.  And another laundery day is coming up.  I will wait till at least thursday when there is a good day without the threat of rain.  So I will take a look around the place and see what else I can do to start saveing more money and slashing bills again.  SO anyway tonight I am not sure on what to have for dinner I may just have another pasta night again.  Who knows with me or it could be meatloaf.  I am running somewhat low on somethings around here so lets see where tonight takes me.  And lets see how far I get in the house today with everything that I really need to do.  I would like to bake but thats not going to happen today.  It depends on how I feel later on today.  Ok folks play hard for now and I will be back.

Cutting your bills

Cutting down or cutting out on the bills are worth every effort in the household. Now for me it is useing coupons and turning stuff off in the household. Pluss several other things that I do. Just like I DO NOT eat out at resturants as a general rule in the household. It is ok on the rare occation but not all of the time. The only way to get me out to eat is free stuff like sandwiches or free of something and it really has to be a big saveings for me. Now another thing that I do is when I hit the grocery stor or the Walmart super center is that I look for the cheaper cuts of meat. You will be surprized If you know how to tenderize cuts of meat that are tough. Pluss there are this day only specials at the meat counters also. I really like to sweet talk the butchers and I can get more soup bones and other things for cheap. Like deli ends are a good thing around my house. A chest freezer is a nice thing to have also. When whole chickens or turkeys go on sale for like below 50 cents a pound that is the time to buy them and put them back for later use. There are sales all over the place now adays. If you can catch the sale item pluss use a coupon it drives the cost down even more. Just like the Buy one Get one Free stuff did you know you can use 2 coupons for that sale. Just like last month there were frozen pizzas that were 2.50 a piece. I had several coupons for 2 dollars off of a piticular brand. So it is really up to you in what you want to do with it all on the coupon part. I know some people don't use coupons at all. I say if they are out there the companies want you to use them. They would rather take a loss on some of us folks becuase they know some people like to pay full price on the items that they offer. Well with the power bills shooting up now a days and new TAXES being on them in some MONEY HUNGERY STATES some of us have figured out how to keep the cost of that down also. In the summer time I hang out laundery to save from extra heat not going into the household. The washer is energy star rated and it was worth the extra 100 dollars on it for everything like useing less water also. It costs maybe at most 3 dollars a month to run the thing at all times. I genorate alot of laundery in my house hold also. I try to use the dryer as little as possible anyway only becuase it uses alot of power to use it. Now for the computer I do use mine more times than not. There are days that I have it totally off along with the modem also. The only bad thing is that the phone is on the modem also. I have a cell phone to make alot of calls off also. And it does help when the power goes out around here. People say drop one for the other and I say what if MYSELF or OTHERS are stranded out on the road. The kindness of people help and I have returned the favor that was done to myself also on that. But shop around for the best plans for the cell phones. Another thing about the power bills are that you have to unplug the PHANTOM DRAINERS. Like power cords that are not in use. I have saved over 50 dollars on the power bill by unplugging charger cords that are not in use. Pluss I have alot that is unpluged also while I am at it. You don't need the mixer plugged in 24/7 do you? All of the appliances in the kitchen are unpluged untill we need them in my house. Most of the lights are not burning niether. I may have one light going if that during the day. Pluss during the winter months I have a candle burning when I am in the kitchen. Another energy drainer is when you leave the computer going 24/7. Mine gets shut down at night. Pluss it saves on the mother board and hard drive. And it gets shut down when I leave the house also. Another good thing is if you have the bundle packages for alot of things like the cable, internet, and phone on one bill. It saves money most times. Now for my household also I have had to learn that a quiet house is a good thing around here. I can say after you get use to the idea that it is quiet you may not want stuff on like the T.V. or the radio on constantly. Now there are times when I do an alday search on recipies. Eather from the cookbooks that I have or over the internet. Then I mix them up to make them my own. All I can say is be creative on it and do not overload your husband and kids with a week of new recipies. Do it maybe once a week or so and see if the kids and others will like them if its not a hit then toss the recipie. Also I have learned over the years that some kids are very picky eaters. As the old saying goes if the parents put thier foot down then the problem wouldent be there. Unless there are food alergies. Anyway there is still alot of tricks of the traid out there and more that I dident mention so far in this one. So try new things and do not be scared to do so niether.

Got to love some stuff

Some appliances I really like. Some I cant live without niether. The rice cooker is one of those appliances. And yes I am reheating the chicken in it with cooking the rice. All at the same time. Thank goodness for the one I got from www.hsn.com it has Wolfgang Puck's name on it which is fine by me. It was what I was looking for at the time. I wanted a locking lid unlike the ones in Walmart and several other stores with a tempared glass lid. All in all I spent the same for what the discount stores wanted for the 2 cup cooker for a 10 cup cooker. I caught a sale on it of course. I hardly buy any appliance without a sale. Then this way when people come over I can say I dident pay what you thought I paid for it. Another thing is the microwave. It is so easy to pop in something little to heat up that it works for me. Another is the Kitchen Aid mixer. You can find them all over. WWW.TARGET.COM, WWW.WALMART.COM, WWW.QVC.COM, AND ALSO WWW.KITCHENAID.COM. There is so many attatchments that it is unbelievable for it. I even have an icecream mixer to go with it. I use the mixer for almost everything that needs mixing or kneeding. I also have a Kitchenaid food proccessor. I got talked into it after it bit A dear friend of mine. Now I am glad I did get it. I shreed cheese with it pulverize onions and a few other things with it. I have used it more in the past 18 months than I have used it in the past 12 years. I make homemade pizza all of the time instead of ordering out. The onions that pulverize are for the BBQ sauce that I make. I will put it on here today. I try to make things easy as possible around here with me cooking. I like some appliances for that more than others. Like the mixer the food proccessor and the convection oven. The convection oven is for when it gets to hot out to cook and for the extra cooking room for the hollidays also. Ok so I will admit again I do have a SMALL place. So all I need for the appliances is what I have already. If and when you are ready to get alot of the appliances make sure that they are energy star rated. It will save money on power and water. Just like the washer I have. It is energy star rated and uses less pwoer and water at the same time. Pluss gass also. I put it on auto fill and on cool or tap cold and push the button and let it go. When I use up the Aldi deturgant im switching back to Purex again. You can get samples at thier site also. Pluss I have an extended spin on the washer now. It really cuts down on drying time eather way I go for line dry or the dryer. So both ways I do save money on 3 bills water,power,and gas. So shop around and go from there. It is well worth the time and effort for it. Look on line for what you want and go to the web sites and look for sales and deals pluss rebates if any. Play safe and have a good one floks.