How To Spend Less & Enjoy It More

I found a book in my boxes of un-read books titled "How To Spend Less & Enjoy It More". It is a little outdated, but for the most part it has some really good tips.

It starts with the basics like lowering your thermostat in the winter and keep it a couple degrees higher in the summer. Turning off lights when you leave the room. Adding another layer of clothing in the winter time instead of raising the thermostat.

Here is one that I didn't have. Make your own house hold cleaner. In 1994 Consumer Reports actually published a homemade glass cleaner that will clean just about anything.

1/2 cup sudsy ammonia
1 pint alcohol
1 teaspoon liquid dish soap
water to make 1 gallon

When it comes to food, Dale and Sandy Larsen suggest borrowing a cookbook from the library to get some new recipes.

They suggest that if you need to eat cheap, but still want a balance diet build your meals on eggs, carrots, cabbage, rice and apples. These foods seem to be consistently the cheapest foods. You can also add oatmeal and skim milk for breakfast.

Another way to stretch small amounts of meat is to add it to a casserole. Most casseroles use condensed cream of something soup. Make your own cream of chicken, mushroom, etc. by:

2 cups dry nonfat milk
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup dry bouillon - chicken, beef, vegetable, or any flavor
any seasonings you want (salt, pepper, onion flakes, thyme, oregano, garlic powder)

Keep the mix in a tightly lidded jar. To substitute for one can of condensed soup combine 1/3 cup of the dry mix with 1 1/4 cup of water. You can add a tablespoon of butter or margarine.

One thing that I don't know that I could do that they suggested was to stop buying paper towels. Use rags around the house instead. Sorry, with 3 dogs in the house and one is 14 years old. I am not reusing rags that I used to pick up poop or mop up pee with.

One suggestion that is becoming more and more popular with gas prices rising is walking or riding your bike around town. Maybe even take public transportation.

It has 50 great ideas to save money. I just looked on Amazon to add a link and the book is out of print. But www.half.com has a few listed for sale.

Please leave your ideas on how to save some money.