hmmm....money saving....
I don't have a tankless water heater--yet. I do have an older although still energy efficient water heater, but it's really big for just one person. So...I turn it on and off at designated times, so that it doesn't keep kicking on/off all day trying to keep 50 gallons of water at temp. I turn it on for 20 minutes in the a.m. before work, take a shower and wash out dog crates/do dishes (by hand.) Then I turn it off at the breaker. When I come home, I turn it on again for 20 minutes, which gives me enough hot water for the evening...then turn it off. If I'm home all day, I may heat water again mid-afternoon, and skip heating it at night. A timer would accomplish the same thing, but my breaker box is right by my front door, so it's easier to just hit the breaker. I had wrapped the tank in insulation prior to this anyway, so the insulation helps hold the hot water temp for three-four hours. Managing my hot water usage that way saves about $75/month. Also, just turning the hot water heater temp DOWN saves money, too. BTW--I also have a single sink. I use the dishpan in the sink filled with the hot clean water, and I first wash everything, then rinse all at once in hot water from the tap. Sorta like camping--or how my mom/grandmother taught us kids to wash dishes before we all had home dishwashers.
I leave nothing plugged in except the TV/VCR and the landline phone, to reduce phantom energy usage. My alarm clocks are all battery or wind-up. I use all energy saving light bulbs. And I only run the washer/dryer with full loads--not mini-loads because I just have to have a certain thing clean/dry. I also use a drying rack to dry about 50% of my laundry year-round, and regularly lint-brush my dryer to keep it running efficiently.
Grocery store items--either fresh, or store brand, so coupons tend to only be for the few non-store brand health/beauty products that I use regularly. Tried the store brands of those, wasn't satisfied and went back to what worked. When the name brands work/taste better, so I waste less or use less, I buy the name brand. Unfortunately, for some of those things there are no coupons--but I save plenty on the store brands and fresh foods I do buy. I try to stick to seasonal foods and produce, and choose proteins which are on sale. I only have a 4.5cf over fridge freezer, so I have to choose what I stock up on carefully. That means I regularly clean out my freezer, too. Food I waste won't save me any money....
I guess for me, that's the key--saving money by buying efficiently, and sometimes by not buying at all.
I also used to keep a pantry and could feed a dozen people on a half-hour notice. Then I moved into a miniature (440sf) house which had minimal storage, and had to learn to shop/store differently. Unit pricing is my friend...and sometimes, the smaller size I'll use completely is a better overall choice than the bigger size I'll have to lug around or store. Now even though my condo is larger than the mini house (1100 sf), I keep a smaller supply of food and pantry items in the house--and waste less that has to get tossed because it expired before I could use it. I live alone, so dropped my warehouse membership; that was an immediate $50 savings. Turns out, I wasn't saving anything by buying more than I needed, even if it was cheap. And now I have the space to store stuff I really want to store--like books, my writing/office stuff, etc.
I am also not a budgeter--but I used to run my own business and keep a cash in/out sheet. That is still how I manage my money--track cash in and cash out, and budget loosely that way. My paycheck is direct-deposited, which saves me bank fees by giving me free checking, and I have the credit union auto-pay a separate savings account and a couple of bills. I also pay the balance of bills online.
And while I do computers really well, I track my money and expenses mainly on paper. My brother was blown away--a single monthly balance sheet (cash in/out) for each month since 2000, all on simple yellow legal paper until I exhausted that pad and switched to a white one. Tracking by hand and on paper makes the money 'real' for me, since with direct deposit, I never see it. And the payoff is that he could access all of my daily financial info just by looking into a single binder, without worrying about websites, passwords or having to access my laptop. At the end of the year, when I do my taxes (myself--another savings) I scan in that year's monthly sheets, so I have an electronic backup in case of emergency.
I also stopped subscriptions for mags that I couldn't keep up with reading, and cut my newspaper to Sunday delivery only (read the daily paper online or at work). I subscribe to 'Eating Well' and will resume my subscription to 'Clean Run' since I'm getting hard into M.'s agility training. But I read whatever mags I can online.
I do have a tendency to shop too much and to accumulate too much--so I try to stay on top of that, and that saves me more than anything. That doesn't mean I'll walk away from a good deal at the right time--two sets of 7 pairs of Honora pearl studs from QVC worked out to around $4/pair and became 14 Christmas gifts for under $60. That was a purchase worth making--but I do ask myself now, about everything, is this something I really need?
by CAJUN LADY » Sat Jan 03, 2009 6:46 pm 
Now I'm the type of person who hates the word budget I never could sit down and figure how much money gos here or there. So I'm starting to document my expenses for this month, then hopefuly I can get a grip on my spending. What do you think? Is this a good thing to do?
.
Besides half the things I'm buying are not all that healthy. So this week I went to the grocerie store and decided to buy lunch. So what I did is I bought some a large cottage cheese and some little cups of fruit, and a couple of large yogurts. I figured that if I buy the large ones I can measure it off myself for snacks and lunch. It is cheeper than buying the little individual ones.
I love cottage cheese. 
