Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Stacy Myers of Stacy Makes Cents.
Hello. My name is Stacy and I was raised by a frugal mother. When I was growing up, I sometimes felt like the things my mom did were “weird.” None of the other moms saved cereal bags or wrapped gifts in funny papers. But you know what? Now I find myself saving box liners and wrapping gifts in funny paper…and LOVING IT.
I now realize my mom wasn’t being “weird.” She was being smart – making do with what she had. I am very blessed. And now I hope to pass on the same knowledge to my daughter.
Let me set your mind at ease – being frugal is a state of mind. You are not born frugal. You learn to be frugal – it takes effort, my friend. So, today I’m going to share 15 very easy ways to cut back on your household bills – to get you started on your life of frugality, or to give you an extra boost if you’re already there.
15 Easy Ways to Save Money On Your Household Bills
1. Buy in Bulk – the savings for buying in bulk are usually very high, especially on things like beans, rice, and flour. Instead of buying two bags of flour, why not buy 50 pounds at once? This is a gradual process and not one you should tackle in one month. If you wonder how to make your budget stretch for this to happen, check out this great bulk buying tutorial from Penniless Parenting
2. Use Coupons – I am a self professed Coupon Queen who has turned into a Frugal Healthy Housewife . I don’t use many coupons anymore because I find myself buying scratch ingredients and making my own household products . However, there are savings to be had with coupons – just don’t go overboard and buy a bunch of junk. Save coupons for the toilet paper, man. For great tutorials and lessons on how to coupon, check out Southern Savers.
3. Use Space Heaters – In the winter, we find ourselves cutting our heat pump down to around 65-68 degrees…sometimes even less than that because I’m tighter than Dick’s hat band. Then, if we get cold we use a space heater to only heat the room that we’re in. Wonder what the cost savings on using space heaters is? Check out this breakdown from The Simple Dollar .
4. Open Windows in the Summer – On the flip side of saving on heating, in the summer we try not to use our cooling pump much either. I do the same thing my mom did to keep the house cool (my parents didn’t have an air conditioner until I was in college). In the late evening after the heat of the day, open all the windows in the house – leave them open overnight if possible, to cool the house down. Make sure to leave them open all morning as well, taking note of the temperature outside. When it starts to rise and it’s the same temperature inside and outside, close all the windows and blinds. You’ll find that it will take a LOT longer for the cooling pump to turn on this way and it will save you a LOT of money.
5. Line Dry – I’m a huge fan of drying my clothes outside, even though I live in a townhouse. In the summer, hang clothes to dry and you’ll save on your electric bill. In the winter, dry your clothes on a drying rack inside. Will this always work? No – sometimes you’ll need that pair of underwear before it can dry. In that case, use the dryer. Amen.
6. Telephones – Several months ago we got rid of our land line at the house. We both had cell phones and it seemed an extra expense to have the other phone at home. Do you use your land line enough to make it worth it? How much could you save if you just got rid of it and used only cell phones? Points to ponder. I hate talking on the phone anyway, so it was an easy decision for me.
7. Bye-Bye Cable Television – We once had cable television…and that was because it was cheaper to have it. Cable service, combined with internet and phone was cheaper than only having the two. When we got rid of the land line, we got rid of the cable. Do we miss it? Not a bit. Most of it is trash anyway. Bye-bye trash! Now we watch things on Netflix instead, which is much cheaper for us.
8. Lights Out! – This is pretty self explanatory. If you’re not in the room, don’t have the lights on. If it is still light outside, open the blinds for Pete’s sake. Use the natural light God gave you. This is something I’ve had to learn…and I still sometimes have issues. My husband is the light police though. “Are you trying to light the entire neighborhood??” Save a few pennies on your electric bill – and don’t scoff at pennies…they make dollars.
9. Cook from Scratch – How about trying to make things at home instead of buying them at the store? For the most part, making something from scratch will save you tons of money. Take bread for instance – it is WAY cheaper to make your own. Our family scarfs down my Honey Oat Bread. If you’ve never made bread before, try that recipe. It’s easy and delicious. Are all things cheaper to make at home? Probably not. And you also have to pick your battles. You can’t cook it all. Leave high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and food colors at the store…leave the cart at the store too; you’re not supposed to bring it home.
10. Use CASH – This is a tip most people don’t think about. Did you know that if you use cash instead of a debit card (we are anti-credit card) that you’ll use LESS? It’s true. We live on a cash basis, except for those bills we can pay online. When you have a $50 bill it’s really hard to part with – he’s a family member. Don’t just give him away! It will really make you rethink those purchases. Are they a need or just a want?
11. DIY – Try making that gift yourself. Read up online and figure out how to fix your washer. Don’t just run out and buy something new or hire someone if it is something you can do yourself. I’m blessed with a very handy husband. We always try to fix things ourselves first. If it doesn’t work out, THEN we call in the help. By trying first yourself, you haven’t really lost anything – unless you break it beyond repair…..not that I’ve done that or anything. *Cough*
12. Buy Used – This is one of my favorite philosophies of the Duggars. For the most part, we try to buy used instead of buying new: used computers, used furniture, used appliances, etc. The savings are HUGE! “Yes, but Stacy you don’t get a warranty.” That’s okay with me. If I’m paying half the price and it works for at least half the time of the brand new item, I’m golden. So far, we’ve never had a problem with anything we’ve bought used. Check out Craigslist.org. Embrace it my friends. It’s a beautiful thing.
13. Cut Your Own Hair – Okay, let me clear the air here a minute – I do not cut my own hair. I am the Queen of Crooked. So, my friend Heather cuts my hair but sometimes we try to barter things so I get a free hair cut and she gets some free stuff. It works out great. BUT, Barry does cut his hair and I help cut the back (he can’t see it so he can’t tell it’s crooked). And my mom helps me cut Annie’s hair. Do you know how much it costs to visit the hair dresser repeatedly? YIPES!
How To Homestead – Haircuts with Anastasia from Chet Bentley on Vimeo.
14. Pack Your Lunch – I always pack Barry’s lunch at night after dinner. I try to make enough each night for dinner so that we also have enough the next day for lunch. A lot of Barry’s co-workers go out to eat every day. I cannot begin to imagine how much they’re shelling out. Even if you eat on the Dollar Menu, dollars add up. I’ll keep my dollar, thank you. This also applies to me. If I’m going to be out during the day, I usually pack a small lunch for Annie and keep it in the car in a lunch box. That lets us skip eating out…unless I get a Chick-Fil-A craving. 
15. Make Homemade Cleaners – I’m still astounded at how much I save by making homemade cleaners. I also avoid worrying that Annie will turn into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle by breathing in bleach fumes. My homemade laundry detergent saves us a bundle! Check out Andrea’s recipes for toilet bowl cleaner and soap scum spray . Embrace white vinegar and baking soda. They are your friends.
By now you’re thinking, “Man, that Stacy is a total bore. I bet she just sits around and watches grass grow for fun.” But no. I assure you, I’m as fun as a barrel of monkeys!
Now It’s Your Turn
Daily Goal: Pick ONE thing from this list that you can implement to start saving some extra cash and let us know in the comments and/or in the forum what you’re going to tackle.
Download: The 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge Daily Goal Sheet
Connect With The Community: Take a few minutes and head over to the forum. Share your “Frugal Living Daily Goal“, encourage, and support one another.
Subscribe: Be sure not to miss a day of the Challenge! Click this link to receive the 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge by email.
Stacy is a stay-at-home mom to her first child, Annie (2). After an “awakening” in March, her family switched to a more natural, whole foods diet. She likes to blog about how to live on less than you make and how to eat good food while doing it. Her passion is teaching others how to save money and she tag teams with her husband in this endeavor. At Stacy Makes Cents you’ll find information on how to save money in the kitchen, how to have fun with your kids, and how to be thrifty in all areas of life. Her passion is teaching others how to live debt free. Make sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with her daily antics.
See this post shared here: Homestead Barn Hop
Thank you so much for all of these wonderful suggestions! I am very grateful to whomever took the time to put this together. Sending love your way, Barefoot Mama
Thanks!
I hope you find them easy to follow!
I’m encouraged to see that I already do the majority of the things on the list. We figure the fact that I learned to cut my husband and son’s hair alone saves us about $400 a year. They both have very thick hair that grows like gangbusters and were needing haircuts every 2 – 3 weeks. I still get my cut, but have a style that only needs a trim about twice a year. We use space heaters in the winter to off-set the heat bill, but don’t do so good with the air in the summer. We really need to work on that. And, getting a clothes line so I can lay off the dryer so much.
I dearly love my clothes line – we’re tight.
I’ll be making homemade cleaners and laundry soap as soon as our current stock runs out (waste not, want not!)
Amen to that!
Make do with what you have.
I love it! In the winter, we leave our heat set at 63 when we are home, 53 at night and when we are at work. People (including my husband) think I am crazy, but at night, we are bundled up and under the covers, so why waste the heat? It’s better to sleep in the cooler temperatures anyway. We have a new baby coming next month, so I will up the heat at night (since there won’t be a proper “night” for a while!) but it is still chillier than most people like.
It’s a good thing newborns like to be swaddled and those one piece sleeping bag/nightgowns for newborns are handy for keeping them warm. To make my life easier since I was nursing, I kept all of the babies in bed with me. That doesn’t work for everyone, but with babies born in December it had the added benefit of knowing that they were warm at night and snuggled up right next to me.
I don’t think you’re crazy – I think you’re a kindred spirit!
I don’t think you are crazy either! Up here in Boston (which is heating oil country…didn’t even know there was heating oil until last year), we keep our heat at 61 downstairs, 60 upstairs, round the clock. It’s a good idea to turn it down at night. Thanks!
Thanks for the support! Everyone in real life keeps asking how high we will keep the heat when the baby comes. We are planning to keep it 63 round the clock until we have some type of sleep patterns forming, just because we won’t be snuggled under the covers all night for warmth. It’s nice to know we aren’t the only crazy ones!
Been there. We never changed our heat with a baby (61 all winter), we just put a space heater with a digital setting in her room at 66 and put her in footie jammies and a sleep sack. They make them big enough to go through 24 months, so we still have her in one. Good luck and congrats!
Congratulations on your new little one!
Along the lines of space heaters, we also open the curtains wide on sunny winter days to let the sun heat the house some. We often have cold, windy days when we keep the curtains closed for warmth, but love to enjoy the sun and view when possible.
Great tip, Heather! Thanks for chiming in!
I love all of these! You mean I can only pick ONE? Kidding aside, like Pam I’m encouraged to see we are doing some of these already. Stacy, you are hilarious. I can’t wait to read more of your blog. Oh, and we are going to try in earnest to tackle #7 (bye-bye cable) today…after the college bowl game, that is. Sigh.
http://www.lonehomeranger.com/2012/01/adios-comcast.html
Hey – gotta keep the hubby happy.
Tell him next time he can watch that game at his buddy’s house. Ha! Or if it’s you, then you can do the same. LOL
Wow, I knew I was frugal, but this post confirmed it! I already do all of these things you mentioned excepting opening windows in the summer & that is because our house stays cooler in the summer if we leave the windows closed during the day and only open them at night. Glad to know I’m on the right track! Thanks for the suggestions!
Kudos to you, sister!
I’m always tickled pink to meet another fellow frugal sister.
Thanks Stacy! These are great. I am working on making more from scratch. I make quite a bit now, but still found myself buying granola bars! My kids and husband love them. I’ve tried recipes in the past and just couldn’t find something they liked. I just tied another one I found and I think this one is it! Little more tweaking and we might have a winner.
If you still need one, check out mine…..it’s our favorite.
http://www.stacymakescents.com/make-your-own-granola-bars
I smirked at “Are you trying to light the entire neighborhood?” Growing up, my dad’s phrase of choice for this situation was “Are we trying to land a plane?”
HA! That’s a great quote! I have to use that. Thanks dad!
Great post! Thank you for sharing. Just one question…
I HAVE to know what your mom did with all the cereal bags and box liners she saved?
And a note in response to your decision to cut your land line. I recently downgraded to the least expensive form of land line service in an effort to save money because we honestly NEVER use our house phone. I was talking to my mom one day, contemplating getting rid of the land line when she brought up a great point: IF something happens to mommy/daddy and grandma’s babies (five and seven years old) need to call grandma or dial 9-1-1, how will they react in a panic? Naturally, my children will run to grab the house phone. My cell phone would be a distant thought. And IF they think about my cell phone, where will it be? In my purse, left in the car, upstairs charging? Needless to say, we kept the house phone and decided the monthly expense is well-worth my childrens’ sanity.
Just a little something to think about when making that decision.
Guess we were writing at the same time….I’m just slow to post. I’m glad I’m not the only one with these concerns.
Yes, I guess we were! You make excellent points by the way, even more reasons why I will be keeping the land line. It works for us.
Some people may choose to keep a land line for that very reason – especially if that is all your kids know. My Annie only knows cell phones, so I know that she would immediately look for that.
I guess it just depends on what you’ve taught them.
We were just trying to cut out an un-needed expense, but not everyone’s unneeded expenses will be the same.
I think keeping a basic land line is a fabulous idea.
Chi Chi, here is how my mom used cereal liners.
http://www.stacymakescents.com/save-it-cereal-bags
Thank you! This could be revolutionary for me.
We’re changing the world – one cereal bag at a time. LOL
I just read the post. All kidding aside, it IS revolutionary for me!
I just threw away a couple cereal bags and I am so tempted to dumpster dive for them (but won’t)!
You could do it under the cover of darkness. LOL
Thanks for subscribing!
Thanks again! I subscribed to your page too!
I love everything you suggested here….except relying completely on cell phones. Having a landline (and having an old fashioned “corded” phone) is great during emergencies for a variety of reasons. When you have no power this phone will still work….you don’t have to worry about charging anything. If say an earthquake happened, and everyone is trying to use their phone….cell phones don’t always have great service. During a normal emergency situation, dispatchers can more quickly assist you, because you will automatically get the right dispatch center and your address will come up. Using a cell phone, depending on where you live, you may not get the right dispatch center right away and they will need to rely on GPS or you to provide the correct location. Lastly…I have friends that needed to call 911 for a baby that wasn’t breathing…..they didn’t have a landline and on that particular day could not locate their cell phones immediately. I think having a landline would have helped ease some of the chaos, etc. during that stressful time. I say all of this only to caution people when making this choice. Thank you for your wonderful post though….it was very informative!
You make some excellent points.
However, I would think it would entirely depend on what type of emergency it was. We had a tornado in our parts last year, and the land lines no longer worked – but cells phones did.
I see no problem with owning a land line. It was a suggestion for reducing household costs if needed.
Thanks for chiming in with fabulous points!
Great ideas and most of them are ones we already do at our little homestead! Instead of the space heaters, we installed a wood stove this year. It is wonderful! It keeps the main living area nice and toasty during the day, and the heat only comes on in the morning while we build another fire. We also cook on top of the stove whenever possible. Less electricity! (It will also be our only source of heat if the power goes out…which happens around here sometimes.)
I have yet to try the homemade toothpaste, but that is on my list for this frugal 28 days. So far, no one in the house has noticed that we are being frugal.
Thanks for all of the ideas…great to read!
I am hoping and praying that when we move to a new house that I’ll be able to have a wood stove.
I grew up with one and I greatly miss it.
Stacy, if you do put in a wood stove, I would recommend that you talk to your insurance agent before hand. We were planning to do some of the installation ourselves and the insurance agent told us that if we did, our insurance would be cancelled. The installation had to be done by a company that professionally installs wood stoves.
Our home insurance did not go up, but the did add the wood stove into our coverage, just in case anything happened. Just some info that you might want to know before hand!
Thanks!! I hope we buy a home with a stove already installed, but this is great information to file away in case I need it. Thank you!
I am determined to cut my own hair. I haven’t been to a salon for months but I haven’t yet had enough nerve to cut my own. It is pretty shaggy right now.
In ‘The Tell Me it Ain’t So’ department: we are saving so much electricity in my community that their revenues are down. They have applied for an increase in the rate. The very next newspaper had a similar story for landfill owners. We are recycling so much that they are not recouping the fixed cost for maintaining the landfill.
That’s almost laughable!
I’m encouraged to know that we already do most, if not all of these. An excellent article! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome!
Frugal People UNITE!
About phones and cable TV…We live in an area where cell phone signal is unreliable, so when we compared the cost of keeping our land line at less than $20 per month, local and incomming calls only, compared to over $40 for an unreliable cell, we decided to keep the land line and get magic jack for all our long distance needs. We also reconsidered our TV bill and chose to get rid of cavble. We now us our computer with an oversized screen to keep up with the world via the internet and get TV programing via HULU. We listen to more music now and use the TV for movies free to borrow at the library. These two decisions cut our monthly communication bundle down to less than $40 from over $120. We are a very active household and use the answering machine to make it work. We have found that we now more time to get things done and we volunteer more throughout our community. Feels great!
Yes MomaLotte! Everyone has to do what fits their own unique situation. You make some excellent points. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
we do almost everything on this lis. The areas we need to work on are the major bulk buying and the media issue; we are looking into what will be the most savings regarding phone usage, internet, television etc. Moma Lotte’s post really made me aware of somethings in this area that I will need to research ASAP! Thanks and God bless!
I’m so glad that you have found this helpful!
my husband and i did this last night! we looked at our bank statement and found that we were throwing away around $50. to things we didn’t need. that $50 can now go to an extra bill payment.
Tawny that’s awesome! Thank you for sharing your story…it’s such an encouragement!
What a fun read
What an extensive list…I knew lots but also things I never thought about. Will definitely be implementing them. Always trying to save.
We did just get rid of cable TV…that one was huge for us…no more hockey games.
That’s great Connie! Getting rid of cable is a huge deal:)
Excellent ideas and inspiration. I need to get better about making my lunch for work.
I do most of these things. I’ve cut my son’s hair for 18 years. I also save quite a bit by
doing electronic banking. By charging most of our day to day expenses, we accumulate
enough “points” for an airline ticket each year. I use vrbo.com to plan vacations and we
cook at the home instead of going out for each meal while on vacation. I also shop all year long for
birthdays and Christmas. I keep a list with what I’ve bought and how much I’ve spent, so
I don’t forget. I have 1/2 my shopping done for Christmas and it is February. Needless
to say I’ve gotten all the gifts at least 75% off.