Monday, April 26, 2010

Green

I've recently gotten back on board with Dave Ramsey, and sticking more closely to a budget every month. We did the Financial Peace University about two years ago, and were impressed with ourselves with how much we were already doing right. We didn't implement anything new really. Silly pride and all. But we weren't getting anywhere, just staying in the same place. Now that we're self-employed, there is no built-in savings/retirement plan like a 401(k) for us to contribute to without thinking about it. Saving for retirement is an active process. So in order to do that, we're going to stick to a budget every month, and do anything we can to save money on other things. I've started couponing again, and impressed myself with how much I saved last week! 48% at one store, and 53% at another store. And it was only on things we actually use. I'm almost done with Walmart, because while they do match competitor ads, it's such a hassle to shop there that I've almost given it up completely. I'm budgeting myself one Walmart trip a month (maybe two if necessary).

I'm running low on laundry detergent, but really didn't want to drive up to the store just for that, so I looked online for ingredients to make my own. Yes, make my own. I can't wait to get the stuff in, and blog about that! I'll do a cost comparison too. I also bought a clothesline today to hang up outside so we can run the dryer less this summer. I'm excited about all my green-ness!

Happy belated Earth Day...

1 comment:

Liz said...

Lexi,
I know you don't know me, but I'm a friend of Greg's family. I've been reading for a while.

Anyway...good luck w/ the homemade laundry soap. I made & used it for a while but I'm a weenie I guess b/c it got to be too big of a pain to make it so I eventually quit. It worked OK, but not fabulous.

Something you can do to save money on laundry is use white vinegar in a Downy ball in place of commercial fabric softener. I've been doing that for about 8 years now & will NEVER go back to regular liquid softener. It works as well or better than the commercial stuff and it's better for your skin and much cheaper!