How much am I actually saving?

A while back a friend asked how much money I was actually saving by doing all the ‘weird things’ that are so typical in my life now. He has stressed a few times that even though I make things from scratch, I still have to buy something. He’s right to a certain extent. My usual answer is ‘that’s not the point’. Here’s my take on it:

Saving money at the grocery store - Usually making something from scratch is a lot cheaper than buying convenience foods, but not always. I could buy a cheap brownie mix for $1.07, but the homemade recipe I use is so much better although it probably costs as much or more to make. If I used a more generic recipe, it’d be cheaper.
Bread is another thing that I don’t feel guilty about buying, especially in the warm months. We like several types of ‘bird seed bread’, like 12 grain, etc. I don’t want to buy a bunch of different grains to make that. But during the winter we also have homemade white, whole wheat, oatmeal, skillet bread, etc.

Keeping as much plastic and other packaging out of the waste and recycle stream - Plastic can be recycled only so many times before it becomes toxic. I switched to real butter sticks instead of plastic tubs of margarine, make grape jelly (one aluminum can from shelf stable grape juice vs. three plastic jars to recycle), etc.

Not having to drive into town as often to get groceries - It’s a full gallon of gas round trip. Need I say more? I can make tons of things with just staples I keep on the shelf so there’s no running to the store to pick up a couple of things.

The ability to make pretty much whatever I want or need from the staples I keep on hand. - Now this is where the ‘make it from scratch’ really shines. I hate the taste of powdered milk, but it’s great for cooking and mixes. I use it in cream of chicken (or mushroom or celery) soup mix, flavored coffee creamers, all kinds of substitutions like sweetened condensed milk sub, on and on. The cream of whatever soup mix is stored in a smallish glass jar, and makes the equivalent of 9 cans of condensed soup. You’re just making your own convenience foods. It really doesn’t take that long to make the mixes and most use just simple ingredients.

So how much am I actually saving by doing all my ‘weird things‘? I tried to figure it out about 6 months ago. Although the numbers would vary month to month, it was $197 for that month.

The Cost of Doing Laundry

Mr. Electric has a bunch of little energy calculators to help you understand how little or how much power you use for typical day to day living.  Most of us here in the US use a washer and dryer.  You can see how much it costs to do a month's worth of laundry at your place by going here:
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html

I have been using homemade laundry soap for months, but sometimes I wash grungy work jeans in Simple Green, or add $0.10 worth of baking soda to the wash.  I also have a private well, so every time I use a bunch of water, the pressure tank kicks on, using electricity.  Ditto for the well pump. On the flip side, my Fisher-Paykel washer uses 1/3 less water than a standard washing machine. So my numbers aren't exactly accurate.

I'm okay with hanging clothes, but I hate stiff clothes, so I do the 5 or 10 minute dryer thing with a couple of dry towels, then hang everything to finish drying.

So, how did I come out?  Drum roll please....  My cost by using homemade laundry detergent, cold water wash, 10 minute dryer time and 4 loads per week = $2.41 a month.  Wowser!

He does a have blurp about putting a wet towel in with your clothes that have sat in the dryer, then turning the dryer on again.  Why do that?  Does it matter if your underwear is wrinkled?  Just hang up your shirts, whatever, then give them a few light sprays of water and let them dry for a little bit.  You could also hang it in the bathroom while you take a shower.  The steam will relax all the wrinkles, and it will be good to go by the time you finish getting ready.  You might want to hang it outside of the bathroom when you're drying your hair, etc.  I did this all the time when I was traveling with my job.  Sometimes I had to finish 'drying' a heavier dress, pants, whatever by using the blow dryer for a minute, but most things were dry enough to put on. 

The Cost of Using Your Coffee Maker

According to the propaganda, I mean newsletter from the local electricity company, the average annual cost of using your coffee maker is $80. Too bad it doesn’t say if the cost was figured from just brewing, or how long the warming burner was on. Since a lot of coffee makers have a two hour auto shut off, maybe that time was factored into the cost. I drink a lot of coffee, especially when the weather is cold, so my coffee maker gets a workout. In an effort to get a more accurate read on my coffee maker, I went to Mr. Electricity - http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

He has a nifty table that you can plug in your own numbers, electric rate and hours to get your 'real' numbers.  Holy Mama!!  My coffee maker annual cost is almost $200 a year for the amount of time that I usually have it on. $16.44 a month.  Wow.  Can't be.  Now I'm sure that there's more power consumed during the brew stage, but hey, I want coffee without having to build a fire outside.  I originally set the energy calculator for 5 hours daily usage, but like I said, I'm sure the 900 watts (which is the most it will use) is for the brew cycle and nothing is mentioned for the warming element.  BUT, by setting the calculator to just 5 minutes (brew time only), it brings my monthly cost down to $0.28.   I'm not sure that's right, either.

According to the smart people at http://www.nppd.com/My_Home/Product_Brochures/Additional_Files/electric_usage.asp , using the brew cycle on my coffee maker once a day is costing me $1.17 a month.  My electric rates are higher than their list, so I busted out the calculator.  But this sounds reasonable.

I bought a Thermos brand carafe for $13 and pour the freshly brewed coffee into that.  The coffee maker gets clicked off right away.  Besides less electricity used, my coffee maker may last longer and the best thing is better tasting coffee later.  Worth every cent and short payback period.

*Note - this brand does not hold an entire pot like my previous Wal-Mart el cheapo carafe that I hated.  It was a battle to get the lid screwed on correctly every time I used it.  I was glad when it bit the dust.  The new Thermos brand carafe is definitely better.

Ways with Whey - what to do with it

I just had another failed yogurt experience.  Sure tastes good though. This time I used whole milk and an envelope of unflavored gelatin.  I'm now convinced it's because of my old, old slow cooker.  It heats up just fine, but not insulated at all, so it doesn't keep the yogurt warm enough during the resting phase. I did use vanilla yogurt instead of plain as the starter culture so that might have had something to do with it. I also just learned that you can 'incubate' it for 12-14 hours and it will be thicker and have a tarter flavor. So I turned on the slow cooker for 10 minutes and will let it sit for another 2 or 3 hours to see what happens.

If you didn't read my first post about homemade yogurt, I used Steph's recipe from her blog at http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html

Most of this batch was destined to be yogurt cheese anyway. I'm going to put it in a colander lined with one of Bill's hankerchiefs (bleached, rinsed well and from now on designated to the kitchen - he doesn't use them anyway) and drain the whey.  We love that stuff (the yogurt cheese, not the whey) and there's plenty of bagels around.  I especially love it with canned or fresh pears and a sprinkling of chopped walnuts.

The smart people at http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/factsheets/yogurt.html  say that the gelatin inhibits whey seperation.  Bummer. I'll see what happens. (Later:  Some of the whey has drained off and now it has the consistancy of a respectable yogurt.  I used a spatula to scrape along the edges of the cloth so the whey will continue to drain.)

I also found this great toubleshooting blog page (and recipes!) - http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/skinny-secrets/healthy-homemade-greek-yogurt

Okay, what to do with the whey?  If you used whole milk to make your yogurt, a half cup of whey has approximately 30 cal., no fat, 1 gram protein ,7 grams carbohydrates, 130 mg calcium (according to the Dannon yogurt people).  Whey also contains many of the most important vitamins and nutrients in yogurt.

Although I could add some to the dogs' chow, I kinda want to take the 'people first' route.  I tried drinking some of it and frankly you have a stronger constitution than I do to get that stuff down just the way it is.

Here are the best suggestions I have found so far:

Pour it into ice cubes and freeze it to use in baking. You can use it in place of buttermilk in any recipe. It gives the same flavor and richness with none of the fat. It is supposed to make the best "buttermilk" biscuits and pancakes.  Use it in place of water in any bread recipe.  This is what I'll probably do with whey from now on.

You can use it in other fermented food recipes like sauerkraut or WAP ketchup (what's that?)

Soak your grains or beans in it. Soaked grains (oatmeal, rice, quinoa) and beans take less time to cook, are easier to digest and allow our bodies to utilize more of the nutrients. Add 1-2 T of whey to your water and soak overnight.  Maybe this will help cut down on the 'whiffy' side effects of beans later.

Season your whey with garlic or other spices and use it as a marinade for meat. This works especially well with frozen meats. The enzymes will help bring out the flavor.

Make some homemade ricotta cheese.  I tried this one time and was happily surprised.  The ricotta has a real fine texture. I didn't have enough and since I usually use cottage cheese in lasagna, so I mixed the two.  Good stuff.

Add some to a smoothie. (See note above about having a strong constitution.)

And of course, give some to the dogs and chickens.  My hens looked at me like I was green and had horns when I tried giving them some whey.  They just walked off.  After I put some oatmeal in the whey, they finally did eat some of it, but I might as well have just dumped it on the compost pile.

AND today (11-4-11) I discovered a list of 18 ways to use whey at Paula's 'Salad in a Jar site:
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/recipes-with-yogurt/18-ways-to-use-whey-a-by-product-of-greek-yogurt

Let me know if you have any other suggestions!

Even MORE ways to save money and end up with money

Put your debit card away.  It's pretty easy to grab that thing and use it, huh.  You're less likely to buy impulse items if you have to dig out the check book or use cash.  Vow to never get cash from the ATM that charges you a fee.  If your bank charges you fees for checking, look for another bank.

Now that you have the checkbook in your possession again, there are some things you can do.  First, start a coin can.

Write the check at the grocery store to the next highest dollar so you get some change back.  When you get home, put the coins in your new 'savings' can.  Every time you have a few coins in your pocket, add them to the can.  A lot of people save $300 a year doing this simple thing.

Use coupons?  Rebates? Put that money in your coin can when you get home.

Talk yourself out of buying something extra at the store?  Put that money in the coin can.

Got an expensive habit, like tobacco or alcohol?  Try to cut it in half.  You're already used to the money leaving your pocket, so put the 'saved' money in the coin can.

If you usually have cash in your wallet, can you add a dollar a day to the can? Or even just a dollar a week?

Now that you have your own little stash at home, use it to your advantage. Do the debt snowballing thing to stop paying interest.  If you saved up $30 in your coin can this month, take it to the bank and then pay an extra $30 on your credit card payment, car payment, etc. You can get a good idea of how much your loan is costing you (and how much you'll save by paying a little extra each month!) by using an online 'what's missing' calculator like this one - http://www.hughchou.org/calc/missing.cgi  .  Hugh has a ton of different calculators to help you.

Round up to the next dollar when you subtract the check amount in the register. Write a check for $39.03?  Subtract $40.  By the end of the year, you could have another $300.

You can also write 'saved' amounts on a calendar. This comes in handy when you get back from the store and only used $2.15 worth of coupons, or decided not to buy that bottle of water from the convenience store.  Put that amount on your calendar.  At the end of the month (or sooner!), make an extra online payment on  your credit card.  Seems like another bill going out, doesn't it.  But it's money that you would have spent in your previous lifestyle.  If it's just a few dollars at the end of the month, add it to your usual payment.

Need to buy a car?  Buy a used one instead of the new hybrid you really want.  The money you'll save over all by lower cost, insurance and taxes will more than offset what you'd save in gasoline costs.  I hate this one, but it's true.

Sometimes you have to look at quality over cost.  We could save $500 by buying a used riding lawn mower, but by spending the extra, we'll get a three year warranty and know that we aren't buying someone else's problem. We'll take good care of it, so it should last us for as long as we're here or will need one.

Rent a movie instead of going to the movies.  More popcorn, whatever drinks you want and as much as what you want, plus you won't miss part of it if you need to make a pit stop halfway through.  Write down what you normally would have spent on the calendar.

Try more private label stuff at the grocery store.  Some of it is lousy, but many items are just as good as the name brands. Jot down the price difference, then add it up when you get home.  Put the difference in the can, or write it on the calendar.

Every two years, check around for insurance rates.  Insurance companies have a way of sneaking the rates up.  Look for an insurance broker that doesn't represent just one company or look online.

Ideally, come April 15th, you don't want to have to send a check, but you also don't want to use the IRS for a savings account, either.  But some people qualify for money back that they didn't send to them to begin with.  Don't go buy that new computer!  Pay off your debt or put it in a savings account.

Just got a raise at work?  Lucky you!  Use that extra money to pay off debt or save.

The One Dress Protest

There really are some great blogs and information on the net if you take the time to sift through the crap.  Today on the Frugal Village forum, someone posted this gal's blog - One Dress Protest, Fasting from Fashion.  She's going to wear the same dress every day for a year.  All I can say is that my hat's off to her!

You can read her blog and follow along here - http://onedressprotest.com/2011/01/this-week-in-the-dress-and-on-the-web-3/

My personal fashion habits, or lack of them, is based pretty much on whatever shirt I grab from the closet.  I'm not picky, I just want to be covered.  Most of 'my' clothes in the closet are Bill's clothes, too.  We have gotten fat together so we still can wear the same jeans and shirts, all 'mens'.  That helps a lot.  I have no problem wearing mens clothing, but he might have a problem wearing 'womens', ya know?

We used to get a lot of t-shirts from the company we work for, so there's been quite an accumulation through the years.  We used to have eight identical t-shirts, but I think we're down to three of those.  Our boys know to bring their donation bag to Ma and Pa's first, so we can dig out anything 'new' or needed first.  Then we take the rest to the DAV or wherever.

Honestly, I don't miss the fashion bug at all.  My every day clothes are my work clothes, designed to get dirty.  I don't mind wearing them on the days that I'm not planning on gardening or basic slaving away.  If I happen to suddenly change my mind and start playing in the dirt, it's no big deal.  I don't have to come in the house just to change clothes.

And I have been known to hit the grocery store wearing shoes that still had some chicken pucky stuck on the bottom.  Oh well.