5 Money-Saving Ideas You Can Use Today

There's an old saying that you have to spend money to save money'"but that's not always the case. There are many ways to use what you already have on hand to save anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds. As an accountant and tightwad, I always strive to make the most out of everything we own. Here are my top five ways to save money starting today:

Organize Your Freezer

Like most busy families, your freezer is probably full of frozen pizzas, bags of ice cubes, and plastic containers of unidentifiable items. Your freezer, however, can be your strongest ally in saving money on your grocery bill.

Start by emptying the freezer. Clean and defrost if necessary. Then, only put back the food that you know you will eat in three months. Throw out anything that is freezer burned, elderly, or otherwise questionable.

Now that your freezer is organized and likely nearly empty, you can take advantage of sales at the grocery store. Meat, vegetables, cheese, and other foods can be purchased in large quantities when on sale and frozen for later use. To make certain that you eat everything in the freezer, keep a list of its contents by date.

Make Your Own Container Gardens

There are three ways to save by making your own containers for your patio garden: saving money on buying plants, helping out your grocery bill, and not having to buy the containers.

Rinse out a 1-gallon milk jug and cut it in half horizontally with a sharp knife. Fill the bottom with 2 cups of pea gravel and add a cup of water. Invert the top of the carton into the bottom. Stuff the container opening with cotton balls and fill with potting soil. Plant seeds and keep warm until they sprout. Keep the bottom reservoir filled with water. The soil will soak up the amount of water it needs through the cotton so the roots will stay moist.

Dig Out That Old Pressure Cooker

I inherited my grandmother's pressure cooker. I was afraid to use it for years but once I started, I was hooked. A pressure cooker allows you to make tough meat cuts tender and can cook potatoes and rice in minutes. It can make good food quickly, lessening your reliance on fast foods when you are pressed for time. If you have one sitting neglected in the back of your cupboard, pull it out and learn how to use it. If you love the food you are making in the pressure cooker, consider buying a new electric one that has more features and can be programmed.

Learn to Use Your Ceiling Fans the Correct Way

You probably already know that your ceiling fans keep air conditioning costs down in the summer by distributing the air more efficiently. But did you also know that they can save heating costs in the winter? Most ceiling fans have a switch that reverses the direction of the blades. This drives air up instead of down, which forces the warm air that rises from your heating vents down into the living area more quickly. Without this circulation, the heat will rise first to ceiling level and then slowly drop. That forces your furnace to run longer until the whole room is at the set temperature, costing you money.

Turn Your Food Scraps Into Compost

Gardening can be expensive, especially when you factor in all of the supplies. Save money by making your own compost rather than buying it in bags. It doesn't need to be expensive. You can use an open pile if your area is not afflicted with wild animals. Alternatively, you could use zip ties to turn four shipping skids into a box to enclose the compost. Add in all of your vegetable and fruit kitchen scraps, fallen leaves, and grass clippings'"but only if you do not use pesticides. Your local coffee shop will often have bags of used coffee grounds for the taking that boost the nitrogen level of your compost. Once it has broken down into dark, rich soil, your compost can be used in existing beds or as a potting medium.

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