Tight economic times mean consumers are looking for ways to
put more pennies in their pocketbooks.
We hear from experts in family budgets about how to trim costs and
expenses– from tracking your household spending habits, to picking up movies
at the library. Our guests are Mike Fife, a credit counselor with the Consumer Credit Counseling Center of New Hampshire and Vermont, and Jane King, a financial educator at Opportunities Credit Union, and the leader of the support group, Budget Buddies. (Listen)
Send us an email now and tell us about the creative and
practical ways your family is saving
money – write to vermontedition@vpr.net.
that focuses on teenagers and young adults with autism. The school is called Inspire for Autism
School, and its goal is to create
an environment where students can learn to connect to the world outside of
themselves. (Listen)
Emails from listeners–
Email from Nermin–
I would like to say that I really enjoyed and found the cutting coffee
suggestion by Jane King beneficial and helpful. My wife and I are
cutting out the frequency that we eat out to save some money.
Jonathan from Norwich–
1. Change Your Printer Options.
Printer ink is very expensive. In Windows, Go to "Print" then, "Properties."
Change the default printing mode to "draft" or "quickprint" or whatever your particular printer calls it. The "draft" mode uses less ink and also prints more quickly than "regular" or "automatic" mode. You’ll
realize that you almost never need the "regular" mode. You can save
"regular" mode for final versions of your work product.
2. Recycle printer paper.
When printing emails, or recipes from websites there is often a second piece of paper with just a couple of lines on it.
Keep
an "inbox" type container next to your printer. Put all the extra
printer output into this "inbox" right away and use it the next time
you print.
Make sure to somehow mark the used side with a light slash of a pen or pencil to avoid confusion later on.
Anonymous email–
Tracking money is like tracking calories… you can’t make trade offs if
you don’t know what you’re trading for….
it is easy to say… I’ll buy this and spend less later
it doesn’t work!
You must say, I’d like a brownie to go with my coffee today… I’ll trade
by bring coffee from home for the rest of the week.
You can have it all, just not all at once!
We also buy in bulk and cook from scratch…
I can make soup for a week for the cost of a few cans of soup (with 4 kids
it takes numerous cans of soup to make a meal)
Make big batches of stuff and put them in the freezer.
Soup is a great budget stretcher… simple meals, soup, salad and
biscuits. Often meals like this are healthier too – saving health care
and fitness center dollars.
Carpool!!! it is more work, my husband sometimes has to make 3 calls in an
evening to set up the carpool for the next day, but it is worth it …
they almost always have a carpool of 2-4 people.
Megan from Montpelier–
I worry about all of the people calling in promoting shopping in
grocery stores that do not support local farmers…we need local
farmers…pretty soon, we will no longer be able to rely on california
produce because it will be either too expensive to ship or our shipping
options will no longer be available…by supporting local farmers now
we are investing in our future!!!!
- save $ by going to your local farmstand or farmer’s market!!!
- drive 55mph….saves gas, which saves $ and the environment…
- ride your bike, the bus or walk…
- reuse, reuse, reuse!!!!
- reduce the amount commercialized clutter you buy…you probably don’t need it…
- don’t buy ziplocks or paper lunch bags…buy reusable containers/bags or wash plastic ones to reuse…
Patrice from Goshen–
1) Close off rooms and vents in them that are not necessary to
occupy during the heating season (I literally shut off most of my house
to 45 degrees and live with a wood stove that heats my kitchen,
bathroom and bedroom) I only used 1/3 of a tank of oil last year! 3
cords of wood did the job for my living area.I live alone, so this is
easy for me and many who are.
2)Unplug all appliances not in use as they collectively drain
much electricity (this means turning off the computer and unplugging
the broadband modem)
3) Make food from scratch, as prepared foods are not just
vastly more expensive, but not as healthy either. (I make my own yogurt
and cheeses from milk I buy at a local farm. Whey the by product of
cheese making is high in proteins and minerals. I also bake my own
breads. A bread machine is handy for busy working people.
4) Grow your own food; can and/or freeze it ( I have intensive
gardens that produce much in the smallest amount of space with less
work). Needless to say fresh grown produce is always more nutritious
and less costly (not to mention the great satisfaction of being close
to the earth)!
5) Here in Vermont wild edibles are plentiful. I collect
mushrooms, wild apples, berries and other wild foods that get stored
over the winter.
6) THINK SOLAR AND WIND!! Right now I am completing a self
invented light weight passive solar chicken tractor that also can serve
as a green house. One can grown greens and root vegetables during the
winter. Total cost 200.00
7) Build your own low tech solar panels to heat your water or
cook. See what is being done at the Barefoot College in India! It is
worth a Google!
8) Buy recycled materials and use some of your own to do
projects like building and sewing. Shop at thrift stores and go to
garage sales!
9) Don’t spend what you do not have!
10) " A penny Saved is a Penny Earned"…always relavant and wise words!!
AP Photo/Matt Houston