SIGN OF THE TIMES

We Americans have recently learned that we need to save; apperantly we have forgotten how to save.
Remember the times that our parents used to give us  piggy banks to save some of  our allowances or monies that we made doing chores? The idea was to teach us to save for whatever we needed to buy without asking them. My dad always quoted "A penny saved is a penny earned" .  I remember having an orange (I don't know why it was orange) colored piggy bank. I used to put the loose change that I had in my pockets there. I though I was saving but later learned that my brother found a way to take money out-of it without being too obvious.

 In today's economy we should all learn to live more efficiently not only to benefit ourselves but  for the benefit of our country and our planet. Here are money some saving ideas:

Conserving energy: I set the thermostat to 65 degrees before I leave my house in the winter and in the summer I set the air conditioner to 70 degrees until I come back home.

"Cloth Bag It" use reusable cloth (or re-usable plastic) bags that comes with your cosmetic purchases for toting your home made lunch to work whenever possible. You'll be eating healthier.

Enjoy home cooked supper at home with your family. Everyone can get into action and have a blast cooking and talking about their day.  Read my recipes in this blog. They are a breeze to make and  very healthy.  Another plus side to this is you probably already have the necessary ingredients in your pantry.

Don't go shopping when hungry, you'll buy everything you don't need. Just like sending your husband to shopping he'll buy everything he likes but will forget the list you gave him. I usually go shopping with my  husband and we go after our lunch or dinner. Double bonus...!!!! He pays and he buys what we need.

 Make full use of  your supplies. A cap full of laundry detergent is more than enough to wash a large load. Also, putting a table spoon of baking soda (more uses on baking soda coming up soon) in the wash with the detergent makes a good whitener and fabric softener. It saves you both money and space. When you think you are at the end of a bottle of laundry detergent, tightly screw the lid on and turn it upside down you'll get another cap full for the  next load.

To make full use of expensive face/hand creams etc. see my nifty-thrifty helpful hint blog page.

Credit Card Use: If you must use your credit card, make sure you have enough money in your checking account to cover  that amount. Then when you come home write a check for that amount sans date and clip it to your receipt and mail it when you receive your statement. You'll be saving money and paying the exact purchase price (people tend to forget that minimum payments increase the purchase price due to the interest they pay. )