How We Save Money - and have lived to tell about it {Part 2}

Well, here it is, day 2 of my 7-part journey. I've been struggling with what exactly to post today, but I think I've finally got everything all scheduled and laid out the way I want it. 

I'm going to again encourage each of you who read this to remember that this is just what works for us. It may not work for you. I would hope and pray that it might, but this is just how I'd like to encourage each of you. Please, ask me any questions you may have! I have already felt so blessed in doing this, and hope each of you enjoy my sharing. 

Which brings me (through means of a less-than-smooth segue), to how we run our home. This part will be dedicated to explaining how we live day-to-day and save money in the process. 

Tip #6: Scheduling of Jurisdictions. We have laundry days designated. Robert knows if that pair of work pants doesn't make it to the hamper on Wednesday night or Saturday night, it won't get washed on our laundry days, which are Sunday and Thursday. Those days were chosen specifically to fit our needs and schedules. Basically, Sunday is the start of the week for us, so starting off with everything clean is very handy. Also, Wednesday is Awana night for us, and since our church's softball team plays on either Tuesday OR Thursday nights, Thursday's laundry ensures that jerseys and Awana uniforms will ALWAYS be clean for the following week. Even if they get missed on Thursday, they'll get washed on Sunday. I vacuum every Monday and Thursday. Dusting happens on Thursdays, usually. Bathrooms get cleaned most every Tuesday. Etc. 

We call chores "jurisdictions." (Again, that's kind of a Duggar-ism). I remember growing up and if our chores weren't done, we couldn't do anything. Reasonable, but the title left a bad taste in my mouth. It seems to me that something titled a jurisdiction rather than a chore leads to a feeling of personal responsibility, and not just something to drag your feet to accomplish. 

Tip #7: Designated Use of Resources. Our dishwasher runs only one time per week. That means, I volunteered to wash everything by hand. Robert's official home jurisdiction is now no longer the kitchen. Most of the "inside" chores are my jurisdiction, while his is the yard/ house maintenance. Please don't misunderstand us though; we BOTH help each other a lot! If he comes home and notices that I've had too much to do during the day, and something didn't get accomplished, he asks what he can do to help me. Sometimes, the answer is nothing, but I also take him up on his offers as much as I can. We enjoy making this home ours - together. 

It's important that I remember that I don't do what I do as a wife for recognition. Although my husband thanks the Lord every night for everything I have accomplished at home while he's away at work, and for providing financially for us by giving him a work to go to - it's not necessarily something he has to do. It's something he feelshe needs to do. And it's such a blessing to me!

Tip #8: Homemade is cheaper. We make our own laundry soap. It costs us approximately $12 for 4 batches, so about $3 per batch. (It makes 10 gallons). It does a fantastic job getting our clothes clean, and smells great. Plus, a batch lasts us about 5 months. :) We estimate the savings to be approximately $175 per year for us. The recipe can be found here. Also, we make our own breads. I sell artisan breads here. But we have 4-cheese bread, Italian dinner bread, and plain wheat or white bread - whenever we want, for less than $1 per loaf! Also, I do buy 15 apples every other week and make homemade applesauce with it. It's a recipe from Kate Gosselin's latest book, and it makes plenty for 2 weeks, and/or enough to freeze for later. (It keeps really well). 

Since Robert and I are both foodies, we love to cook together, create new things, and try new things. So, I can turn on the crock pot full of apples, cinnamon, water and sugar before work (part-time, at H&R Block during tax season only), leave it on low, and Robert will come home to a wonderful-smelling home, and fabulous applesauce! Sometimes, though, I just toss the ingredients for bread - whatever sort I'm making - and it's ready by the time he comes home from work. It's a great treat for us, and it makes the house smell fantastic!

Tip #9: Lights out! Always. We use natural light all day long. We don't turn on lights unless we have to. We make it a habit to turn out lights when we don't need them on. Even if I put away laundry in our walk-in closet, if the bedroom window blinds are open, I really don't need the overhead light. If Robert is working in the yard with the garage door open on a Sunday afternoon, and I'm doing laundry, we keep the garage door open and open the laundry room door that connects to the garage to let the natural light in the hall way and laundry room. We unplug things that aren't in use. That includes TVs and DVD players in the guest room and office, turning off the strip that has the office's computer and other things plugged into it, and anything else we aren't really using.

Also, it's a good idea to not run the vacuum, hair dryer, or iron all the time. I know I touched on this point earlier, but I'm going to expound on a little bit more of it now. I don't blow-dry my hair every day. More like every-other day. It's better for my hair (bonus!), and it uses a ton of electricity. I iron one day a week. I don't walk away and leave the iron plugged in, even if I intend to come right back. The iron is so powerful and uses so many kwh, that when I have it plugged into the same circuit as the television and surround sound in the family room, the surround sound fails, and the lights flicker! Yikes! When I realized that, I moved my ironing location to the kitchen, and stopped leaving it on for long periods of time. Not to mention the fact that it's not safe, it saves electricity. Plain and simple. When I iron (it's on Sundays), I iron the sheets I pulled off our bed to wash, and any of our nice clothing that hangs and needs to be ironed. All at once. When I vacuum twice a week, I also do all that at once. Additionally, I do it as early in the morning as possible. That allows for maximum light in all areas of our home (which faces west).