How to Save $5 a Day
If you’re like me, you’re on a budget. Some months it’s very tight, others not quite as
tight. But every month we watch what we spend carefully. This is a very good habit to
get into, regardless of what our income is. And if we’re fortunate enough to get to the
point where we don’t need to watch our budgets quite as closely as we used to, there are
plenty of great causes out there that need our money more than McDonald’s does.
Can you image saving $5 day? It’s possible, depending on your current spending habits.
That’s about $150 per month and approximately $1,800 over the course of a year. I don’t
know about you, but I could use an extra $1,800 at the end of the year. Some people
could accomplish this task merely by cutting Starbucks out of their daily habits. Others
could do it just by taking leftovers to work everyday instead of buying lunch with the rest
of the gang.
But if neither of those scenarios are options for you, below are 11 ways to save money, in
no particular order. Pick out the ones that might work for you and then starting saving $5
a day. I guarantee the extra cash will come in handy.
Use caulk and weather stripping to cut down on drafts in your home and save
money on heating and air conditioning bills.
Go to the library instead of the bookstore. Most libraries probably have a lot
of great books you’ve never read and plenty of music you want to hear.
Eat soup as a meal and not an appetizer. It’s healthy and tasty, and if you
make your own soup, you’ll save even more cash.
Drain cleaners are expensive and not particularly good for your pipes. Clean out drains yourself with a long plastic “snake.” It can be a bit gross, but it’s
worth it.
Ceiling fans are well worth their price. They cool things off in the summer
and keep heat from rising too high in the winter. They will limit the amount of
time your AC and furnace need to run.
Whenever possible, buy store-brand products rather than name brands.
If you use vinegar in the rinse cycle, you won’t need fabric softener or dryer
sheets. Vinegar is also good for cleaning your toilet.
Speaking of cleaning, instead of expensive bathtub cleanser, try inexpensive
baking soda.
Grow a garden. It’s easier said than done, but you’ll save a lot more than $5 a
day by eating food you’ve grown.
Drink more water and less soda and other beverages.
Restaurant bills can really pile up when you’re on vacation. Choose a hotel
that offers a Continental breakfast and take snacks with you that you can eat
for lunch. Then you can enjoy a guilt-free dinner.
Do you have any money-saving ideas you’d like to share? Hope to hear from you about
this.
Trash bags can be expensive, and only purpose is to throw them out, so whenever I shop anywhere, I request they double bag my items, which ensures the bags won’t break open when carrying them to the house, and then I use the bags for my household trash. You may have to make a few extra trips out to the trash bin each week, but saves money on buying bags. Also re-use food storage bags for food scraps and vegetable peelings – seal them and store in fridge so they don’t smell up the kitchen, the throw them out with the garbage on trash day. Instead of throwing out large bags from dog and cat food, use them for yard waste and leaves, or to put recycle items in for trash day.
ALWAYS order water in restaurants. High mark ups you
pay for, put on pounds, while you flirt w/diabetes. See
the results at your next physical.
I make money from solar power, in Oregon, no less. It
doesn’t make sense to me why it works this way, but the
money comes in handy. It could all go away tomorrow
when someone figures it out.
Collect cold shower water in a bucket until water is hot. Use water in bucket to flush (when you have enough; usually 3 gallons) toilet. Use less water. It’s precious.
Not wasting anything is a good idea but water is in good supply unless you live in a small town in the desert that has to truck it’s water in !
The Earth / Oceans are a giant water recycling machine along with the mountains evaporate, Clean, Filter out salt and start out fresh over and over again for millions of years !
I have learned to use Hydrogen Peroxide as every task cleaner you can think of and it works better than branded expensive products. The only thing is that, you need to be patient with it.
Pay your income taxes as itemized one year and standard deduction the following year. By arranging mortgage and other deductible expenses like property taxes (which can get absorbed in the standard deduction) early or late, lumping them in the year you itemize, you’ll probably save hundreds of dollars.
USE BLEACH ON THAT CLOGGED DRAIN. IF YOUR BATHTUB, SHOWER IS SLOW TO DRAIN , POUR A CUP OF BLEACH AT BEDTIME DOWN THE DRAIN AND THE NEXT DAY YOUR DRAINS WILL FLOW NICE.
Bleach can be harmful in a septic tank. It kills the bacteria in there that breaks down the waste. Use with caution!
Banana peels make good shoe polish, let dry & buff.
Pickle juice an excellent window cleaner grease cutter
Ultra white tooth paste an tooth brush works to remove the dullness from headlight lens.
Salt & ice cleans your garbage disposal with some water to lubricate.
Not spending change will make your savings grow fast
I haven’t bought a new book in over forty years, and I read a book usually every 3 to 6 days. On a fixed income, this could get prohibitively costly, However, I started out haunting used book stores , and then when yard & garage sales became popular, I spent Saturday morning picking up 30-40-dollar books for a buck or two, often much less. Most of the books were of no interest to me, but usually I’d find at least a few books each Sat or Sunday, and by Fall I’d have enough to last me until next summer’s yard sales.
Then when eBay and Half.,com happened, or used book specialty sites like bookfinder.com, I could search out exactly what I wanted — slightly more than yard sale prices, often, but it also saved a lot of gas and time.
This of course only saves money if you do a lot of reading, but any serious prepper should have a serious library of SHTF books, most of which would br expensive if you bought them new:
First Aid & Emergency Medicine
Edible Plants
Trapping Game & Fish Traps
Processing Wild Game to Eat
Raising livestock
Vegetable Gardening
Emergency Shelter
Firearms & Reloading
Survivalist Skills
Primitive Cooking
etc.
The list is basically endless, and there will be no WWW when things get really bleak. And even if you don’t do much casual reading now, you’ll have a lot of free nights with no TV, video games or internet, so the time to stock up on good books, even just for enjoyment, is NOW. And keep in mind that those useless ten-cent paperbacks at yard sales will make good fire-starters, if ghastly romance novels aren’t your thing. Two pages of “Hilda’s Heart-throbs” will help those twigs in your rocket stove fire up quickly! And the blank end-papers are free writing paper, too.
NO WORRIES FOR ME. I HAVE A 2000 WATT SOLAR GENERATOR AND A FOLD UP SOLAR PANEL AT 120 WATTS, 3.6 AMPS. KEEP THE FRIDGE RUNNING AND WATCH TV, MAKE WATER FROM MY WATER MAKER.
We put a space heater in our bedroom & turn the furnace down 10 or more degrees at night in the winter. It saves a lot of electricity.
We use an LED flashlight to move around the house in the dark – much cheaper than turning on lights.
Walk instead of driving whenever possible.
Make your own jewelry and clothes (only works for clothes when you can get supplies at a discount or wholesale) I often buy sewing supplies at yard sales — they are much cheaper than store-new and are still in the new packages. I can often get fabrics that are now very expensive and I can’t even afford new.
Use your dish rinse water as the starter for your wash water for laundry, the floor or other uses.
Lots of ways if you look for them….
We stopped leaving a light on in the bathroom and kitchen at night, and instead bought a couple of cheap night-lights, which use almost no electricity but still give you enough light to use the bathroom and get to the kitchen for a midnight snack. We also changed almost all our bulbs to the newer LED models. So far the drop in our electric bill seems to be about $25 a month or more.
THE CURRLY FLORESNT LIGHTS USE LESS WATTS THAN THE LED AND GIVE OFF THE SAME AMOUNT OF LIGHT.
YOU KNOW WHATS COOL FOR WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT. THOSE ROUND MOON SHAPE LIGHTS YOU PRESS ON AND OFF. THEY LIGHT UP A WHOLE ROOM. JUST MAKE SURE THERE LED LIGHTS. THEY TAKE 4 AA BATTERY’S. ONE ON MY LIVING ROOM AND KITCHEN AND BATHROOM.
Turn down house to 50 degrees and wear a sweater, Then
Turn down house thermostat to 40 degrees, Just not cold enough to freeze water in pipes, and use several blankets or an electric blanket in bed !! Beat those electric and gas companies at their own game !
I practice all of the above except the last one. I do not spend nights in hotels. I travel in a large van and sleep in it on long trips. I save the cost of motel fees this way and it’s much more sanitary.
Where do you park the van while you are sleeping?
Any truck stop, walmart or any other place that’s open 24 hrs.
Walmart lets you 24 hours a day even the ones that close at night unless it is against the City ordinances at some. They do not require you buy anything, But having a couple sales recites could not hurt !
a fixed limited income makes all of these processes a necessary action. the only viable option is to make the monetary system an advantage instead of a necessity .
On vacation, we eat our big meal at noon. Lunches are usually cheaper and you can get regular foods like you would eat for supper. Then for supper we eat sandwiches–like peanut butter, which does not need a fridge.
I already do all your suggestions, but where I save the most, next to canning and freezing my own garden stuff is drying my laundry outdoors. I put 2 clothslines on the rafters of my deck and also put rugs and jeans on the rails, my electric bill is about $20. a month less and I don’t have to worry if it rains while I am gone because they don’t get wet!
You can, like I do, put several lines in my garage and dry my clothes there. Living in California, my garage retains a lot of heat, usually over 95 degrees F to 110 degrees F. Since a lot of my neighbors tend to stick their noses in the air and in your business; when some one dries their clothes outdoors, and there is a city ordinance against it, I find it better to keep my wash from prying eyes.
I purchased the little forever lighters (4) I think. I cannot get any of them to work. What am I doing wrong?
I use many homemade cleaners that I make myself.
Here are soem that have not been mentioned:
Dishwasher Soap
Ingredients: 1 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax 1 cup of Arm and Hammer washing soda ½ cup kosher salt ½ cup citric acid
Directions: Mix all the ingredients together and store in a glass jar. To use, just place 1 tablespoon of the powder into the dishwasher for each load. If you want sparkling clean dishes, simply add white vinegar to your rinse aid dispenser.
So what is all this stuff?
Borax: Borax is made up of a 100% natural mineral called boron, and salt. Boron is an essential trace mineral found in the foods in our diet and plants even need it to grow. Once it is removed from the ground, it is washed, dried, and boxed up for use in cleaning products.
Washing Soda: A natural substance that is made from limestone and salt. You may also know it as sodium carbonate. It is safe and contains no chemicals whatsoever.
Kosher Salt: Just a fancy way to say 100% pure salt. Many use kosher salt in cooking so you know that it is safe for cleaning your dishes.
Citric Acid: Simply extracts from citrus fruits. You can actually use unsweetened lemonade mix if you prefer.
DIY Furniture Polish Recipe
1 Tbsp. olive oil
¼ cup distilled white vinegar
¼ tsp. fresh lemon juice
Pour the ingredients into a spray bottle and shake to emulsify the lemon and oil. Spray or pour the homemade solution on a soft cloth (never spray directly on the furniture) and work it in, wiping with the grain. Right away you will see the luster return to the wood. If the wood looks dry, let it sit and then go over it one more time. Remember to remove any excess polish with a clean cloth.
Homemade Spray ( Shout) Pre-treater for Laundry
(Makes about 30 fl oz)
2/3 C Dawn dish detergent
2/3 C ammonia
6 Tb baking soda
2 C warm water
1. Mix together all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Using a funnel, pour into an old Shout bottle or other spray bottle.
2. To use, shake the bottle well because the baking soda does settle to the bottom. Spray as you normally would on a stain then launder. Do not use on anything that will be washed with chlorine bleach due to the ammonia!
Well Frank things have been getting a little bit expensive from food to cleaning products. My household has turned to me to provide an alternative for both. I bought from you at http://www.SurvivalSeeds4Patriots.com to augment my fresh vegetables. Then I make my own cleaning supplies from laundry detergent, floor cleaner to All-Purpose cleaners. Here are my recipes: I.) floor cleaner:1 C white vinegar, 1/2 c rubbing alcohol (reduces streaks), 1TBSP dish washing liquid. Put in spray bottle then fill with water to the top.
2.) Glass cleaner – 50% white vinegar, 50 % water, 1tsp of lemon juice or 2-4 drops of lemon extract.
3.) Degreaser & soap scum remover – Mix in a spray bottle 50% dish washing liquid, 50% white vinegar.
4.) Disinfectant – in a spray bottle mix 50% rubbing alcohol, 50% water. Note that the rubbing alcohol must be 65% USP or higher.
5.) All-Purpose cleaner – in a spray bottle mix 2 TBSP of dish washing liquid, the rest with water.
6.) Stain Remover – in a spray bottle mix 2 parts of hydrogen peroxide with 1 part dish washing liquid.
7.) Scouring Power – 1 Cup baking soda, 1/2 Cup Borax. Mix, then sprinkle over: porcelain, glass, cast iron, tile, etc.
If you look at the ingredients listed you will see that a lot of them are used in other remedies. That is why it is so cost effective. When I say dish washing liquid, I prefer DAWN dish washing liquid. It is inexpensive and gives me the best results. Although others also do the same job with the same results, but, the price is usually higher than getting DAWN.
My wife swears by my cleaning products. They do their job effectively and is environmentally friendly. Most importantly they only cost a few dollars compare to what they would cost you if you had to buy each one individually from the store.
Give it a try. :-)