Well, I am happy to say we are really seeing a difference in our budget due to the changes we decided to make in our lifestyle last April.

We cut kilowatts using less hot water in the kitchen and with shorter showers.  So while the per kilowatt charges went up, the monthly bill stayed the same.  Now that might seem a bit frustrating to be cutting back on energy usage and still be paying as much, in a way yes, it was.  But it showed us what we could do with less of.  And we really can take shorter showers – we just love that extra minute or two of just standing there in the hot water.

I am going to try a new thing this winter by using the clothes dryer less.  I like the fluffiness of using the dryer but not the extra energy out go, so I am going to fluff the laundry for 10 minutes in the dryer and then line dry the rest of the way in the garage (we live in the rainy Pacific Northwest).  I hope this will eliminate the stiffness of line dried clothes and yet drastically cut the dryer energy consumption.

Thankfully it has been a longer summer here – we just last week turned up the one heater in our house.  We have had colds the past week so we are keeping the house warmer for the time being.  But generally we will keep the thermostat at 68* and wear more layers.   Bedrooms are not heated  all night.  We turn up the heat just prior to getting into bed and then off for the night.  Once under the covers we are quite snuggly.

We spent money this past summer on our garden – probably more than we needed to but we also feel it was an investment.  We bought 200 strawberry plants and enough chicken manure to make them happy.  We acquired some nice thornless raspberry plants for free but for the chicken manure too.

We recently found out that we could have gotten a pick-up truck load of barn litter from the local dairy for $15, so we will do that before it gets too much colder.  We plan to use it to mulch all the perennial plants and prepare the beds for next year’s planting of vegetables.

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So, with that entry begins my Frugal Living Journal.  I am inspired to keep a journal for reference for myself and anyone else who might benefit from our family’s frugal ideas.  I have read the Economides’ book, America’s Cheapest Family as well as Amy Dacyzyn’s book, Tightwad Gazette so l have lots of inspiration but even they don’t go so far as we have had to over the years.

Come back often and even post your own frugal living ideas.  In this way we can help each other out in these tough economic times.

Just when I thought we were already tight, we need to get even tighter.  What an adventure!  Learning to do with less and being more thoughtful about what we do with our small income.

I am so thankful we don’t have a mortgage – just one of those blessings of caring for someone else’s home.

Here are some things we are planning on doing or are already doing to save cash:

• This year we are definitely putting in a garden.
• We take fewer and shorter showers.
• We use the dishwasher now.  I didn’t want to use the dishwasher for years thinking it took a job away from the kids.  Well, after finding out that a dishwasher only uses 2 – 3 gallons of water as opposed to the 20+ gallons of water (three times a day) used during hand washing I was convinced to change.  The kids still get to wash the meal prep stuff and rinse the dishes for the washer, but I figure we use less than half the water now.  That is less heated water as well as less water going into the drain field.
• Clothes are more carefully used.  Even though I rarely bought brand new, the used stuff got tossed rather than repaired.  Now I am repairing!
• Reusing clothing.  This is different from repairing.  This involves remaking a dress, shirt, pants into something that fits a smaller person.  It is fun and very creative to see what we can remake.  My favorite thing is to remake denim items.
• We cut our garbage bill down by two thirds just by carefully recycling.  All paper is sorted.  Cans are all smashed.  Glass is sorted.  Plastic is rinsed and sorted.  Clean cardboard and packaging is broken down.  Veggie scraps go to the compost.
• What goes into the garbage?  Plastic packaging and plastic wrap that comes on packaging.  Meat and bones.  Wet or food covered paper is trash.  Bathroom trash (and diapers, if we were still using the disposables). That’s it!  Not much anymore.  We go to the dump every 5 – 6 weeks now instead of every other week.
• My next step is to try to only buy things that come in recyclable packaging.  We buy apples from the local produce store by the box instead of those plastic packages like they use at Costco.  There may come a time when we can incinerate our trash again, too.
• Taking one trip to town per week for all needs instead of multiple trips for any excuse.

All this and more will help cut out wasted $$.  I won’t bother to (or continue to) beat myself up thinking I should have started this years ago but now is the best time to start.

I thought I might spend some time talking about how we save here and there in future posts.  Feel free to share your ideas, too.