A Penny Saved

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My husband often jokes about all the little ways I save money (although he is very grateful I do).  He says I can stretch a dollar farther then anyone he knows.  The state of our countries economy is changing.  Our family is not the only one feeling the financial pinch caused by increased prices in gas and groceries.  We also are facing the loss of my husband's side job, but are grateful it's not his primary source of income we're losing.  However, we are being more careful with our pennies.  As I revive some money saving techniques I had laid aside, I thought I would share.  Perhaps they will help others.

This week's money saving tips:
#1 Hang laundry up to dry. 
 I don't like to hang laundry outside in the winter when it is cold.  It takes too long to dry, and my hands get cold.  However, I have a huge unfinished basement.  My husband has strung clothes lines for me down there.  I often partially dry a load of jeans and then flop them over the lines to finish drying.


The hanging clothes I also dry just enough to shake the wrinkles out and then hang on hangers to finish drying.


 I do go ahead and use the dryer to do all the little things like socks and underwear.  I just don't have time to mess with hanging all that up.

#2 Substitute ground pork for part of the hamburger called for in a recipe.
 I have mixed ground deer meet and ground turkey with my hamburger as well.  Right now pork seems to be a bit cheaper, so I'm using it.  I can get ground pork for just under $2 a pound on sale.  Hamburger on sale is just under $3 a pound.   So if I'm making a big pot of chili that requires 6 pounds of hamburger, I can save $3 by using half ground pork.  It may not seem like a lot saved, but that $3 will buy a sack of potatoes.

I don't think any of these ideas are original with me, but I thought I would share a couple each week.  Send me your money saving tips at tashales2@gmail.com, and I just might feature them in upcoming weeks.  

Linking up with:



Comments

  1. JennMarch 5, 2012 at 8:05 PM

    I love that you hang up your clothes--I really want my husband to install a clothesline for me but I think he likes the smell of the dryer too much right now :) Sometimes I use half of the ground beef a recipe calls for. It works for us in things like spaghetti sauce and lasagna. Ground pork is a good idea, never thought of that. Hope you'll come on over and share this at Thrifty Thursday this week :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NatashaMarch 5, 2012 at 8:24 PM

      You might try drying the clothes partially in the dryer with your dryer sheet and then finish drying them on a line. Maybe you could accomplish the dryer smell that way. Personally I love the smell of line dried clothes. It was beautiful here today, so I hung them outside. By the way, my husband likes his towels soft out of the dryer instead of stiff off the clothes line. :0)

      Delete
  2. Anna @ Feminine AdventuresMarch 8, 2012 at 10:05 PM

    I love the smell of line-dried clothes, but always dried outside first and then "fluffed them up" a bit afterward. However, it never really works well for jeans. I'm going to have to give the reverse order a try.

    Thanks so much for linking up at Thrifty Thursday! :)

    ReplyDelete

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