Saving Money Pt #5 - Utilities
Good afternoon sisters!
I plan to do a marathon to finish #6 - 10 on how we save money and have them done in the next couple days if all goes well.
This one is on utilities and in that will be electric, gas / propane, sewer and water as well as cell phone and internet. Here is what I have learned how to save money in these areas:
By us being off grid we save a lot each month which adds up to thousands of dollars each year that we can use for the ministry. It's like getting a pay raise or allows us to work a bit less and still maintain so that we can be on the road sharing the gospel more. Because we have no utility bills here it only costs us $20 a month for our homestead and that's for taxes. We pay for our freedom by killing our flesh but it's all for the Lord.
I do have a lot of experience in the past with all the above topics so I'll share what I used to do to save money to help set us free. Most are common sense but there are some you might find could be a help.
Let's start with electricity.
Obviously the first thing a person thinks of when saving electricity is to turn off lights when leaving the room. I have taken it a bit further and delayed the time that I would turn on lights in the evening, and instead tried to get by in a dim room for a while until it was actually dark. Some people invest in LED bulbs when they are on sale and you can also look into a lower wattage bulb if you use the traditional ones. Unplug everything at night. Do you know that appliances still draw power even when they are off? We know this for a fact because right after we bought our little house in Wisconsin we weren't living there and using no electricity but our bill was rather high. After hunting around in the house we found some wall heaters that were plugged in and when we pulled the plug the power bill dropped to just the basic charge. Some people say those power strips don't draw power when you turn them off but I've never tested that. You can also make sure the appliances you are using are necessary. We used to use a coffee maker until we found out it took more power to run that than it did to heat a cup of coffee whenever we needed it. Air conditioning is a big one. We had one for a short period of time and that was when I was very ill and in the middle of surgeries but other than that we have learned how to live without it. Not only does it save a lot of money by not having one but it also kills the flesh :-) Cover the windows that face the sunshine to keep out some of the heat in the summer. You can learn how to cook by using less energy, let me share some examples here. If you bake, make sure the oven is full; cook many things at ones. I used to bake about 20 baked potates on one rack, a casserole and sweet bread on the other. Then I would turn off the oven 20 minutes before it was done (without opening the door) and let the heat that was in there, cook it the rest of the way. When cooking on the stove top I would make large batches and have left overs. If you cook pasta you can use much less water and turn it off once it boils. (I will be doing some quick videos at some point on ways we save money and cook fast.) We actually didn't have a regular stove for many years, instead I bought a little one coil burner ($10) and learned to make one pot quick meals. I then found a very small convection oven ($7) at a resale shop and that's what I used to bake. At one point even when we had electricity we cleaned out our freezer and refrigerator and lived without them. That saved us not only money on running them but also money on buying food because you have to be very careful what you buy and to use every bit of it right away. If you heat your house with electricity then you should only heat the rooms you are going to be in and turn it down when you leave and when you sleep. Because we didn't have running water we didn't have to have a hot water heater but honestly, if I were to have electricity today I would get rid of it and heat up the water as I need it. A lot of money is wasted on hot water heaters.
Gas / propane
Many people have this form of heating and it can become very pricey in the wintertime so we encourage insuating wherever you can in your house. This might mean hanging thick blankets over windows on the shaded side of the house and at night and remove them in the day when the sun shines in. Some people even hang blankets on the walls. Downsize your living space and heat only the rooms you need. You can also turn down your heater and use a mobile electric space heater to warm up certain rooms in the house you will be in. (Some people find that more cost effective than heating the whole house to a certain temperature.)
When we lived in the big farm house we had propane heat as a back up and a woodstove and it was hard to keep it warm without spending a lot of money so we moved our mattress out in the livingroom by the woodstove and if we woke up at night we would stoke it (sorta like we do here at our off grid home). As for cooking, you can do the same thing as I mentioned in the electric portion and cook large amounts of food at once. (Saves money and time in the future.) We heat only with a woodstove in our tiny off grid home now. It can be cold in the morning when we get up but warms up pretty quick...and it's virtually free.
Water and sewer.
I don't know how you get charged but there are a couple different ways and it depends on the town you are in. Some charge per gallon used and disposed of and some have a base rate that you only pay more if you go over. If you are charged per gallon then you can certainly save a lot by watching your water consumption. A few ideas are to learn how to quick shower, which means you get wet, turn off the water, wash then rinse quick. We have learned how to shower with one gallon on the road and I use a little more when I have to wash my hair and that's another thing, there's no need to wash hair every day. When you wash dishes you really don't need as much water as you think (I get by with very little on the road) and don't let it run when you rinse them, put some in a basin and use that. I always used cold water to rinse and never had a problem, this saves on power as well. When I was growing up there were times we were pretty much off grid without water, indoor plumbing or electricity so I learned young! Did you know that you can put a brick in your toilet tank to offset the amount of water you use to flush? (Nowdays they have toilets that conserve water I guess but it's something to think about.) Washing clothes takes a ton of water so be sure you have loads that are full enough to warrant a load and wash on the coolest setting (to save power). If you can, you could set up rain barrels.
Misc things like cell phone and internet.
There was a time before our business and ministry that we got along with 2 cheap old flip phones for calls and texts. As time went on and our business and ministry grew we needed to upgrade and have a few more devices in order to have enough data to keep us going on the road. The bill is not cheap but we don't have internet at our home and we use it all for the glory of God for our freedom to be able to travel and keep our business and ministry going. I have found ways to save money buy using apps on my phone that usually covers our expenses each month. Something to think about sisters, if you have internet in your home, there's really no need for a smartphone, you can get by with a cheap basic phone while out doing errands and you can use the internet when you are in the house. On the other hand some people have found that having a couple phones with unlimited data is cheaper than having the internet at home. And we know of people who don't have any connection to the internet and only use the library. You will have to work all that out and see what's feasible for you.
As keepers at home, part of our job is to be frugal and I take that very seriously. Read Proverbs 31 and see how resourceful she is:-)
I hope this has encouraged you, I'm now off to write #6.
Have a joyous evening sisters!
Love to you, in Christ,
Sister Deb
I plan to do a marathon to finish #6 - 10 on how we save money and have them done in the next couple days if all goes well.
This one is on utilities and in that will be electric, gas / propane, sewer and water as well as cell phone and internet. Here is what I have learned how to save money in these areas:
By us being off grid we save a lot each month which adds up to thousands of dollars each year that we can use for the ministry. It's like getting a pay raise or allows us to work a bit less and still maintain so that we can be on the road sharing the gospel more. Because we have no utility bills here it only costs us $20 a month for our homestead and that's for taxes. We pay for our freedom by killing our flesh but it's all for the Lord.
I do have a lot of experience in the past with all the above topics so I'll share what I used to do to save money to help set us free. Most are common sense but there are some you might find could be a help.
Let's start with electricity.
Obviously the first thing a person thinks of when saving electricity is to turn off lights when leaving the room. I have taken it a bit further and delayed the time that I would turn on lights in the evening, and instead tried to get by in a dim room for a while until it was actually dark. Some people invest in LED bulbs when they are on sale and you can also look into a lower wattage bulb if you use the traditional ones. Unplug everything at night. Do you know that appliances still draw power even when they are off? We know this for a fact because right after we bought our little house in Wisconsin we weren't living there and using no electricity but our bill was rather high. After hunting around in the house we found some wall heaters that were plugged in and when we pulled the plug the power bill dropped to just the basic charge. Some people say those power strips don't draw power when you turn them off but I've never tested that. You can also make sure the appliances you are using are necessary. We used to use a coffee maker until we found out it took more power to run that than it did to heat a cup of coffee whenever we needed it. Air conditioning is a big one. We had one for a short period of time and that was when I was very ill and in the middle of surgeries but other than that we have learned how to live without it. Not only does it save a lot of money by not having one but it also kills the flesh :-) Cover the windows that face the sunshine to keep out some of the heat in the summer. You can learn how to cook by using less energy, let me share some examples here. If you bake, make sure the oven is full; cook many things at ones. I used to bake about 20 baked potates on one rack, a casserole and sweet bread on the other. Then I would turn off the oven 20 minutes before it was done (without opening the door) and let the heat that was in there, cook it the rest of the way. When cooking on the stove top I would make large batches and have left overs. If you cook pasta you can use much less water and turn it off once it boils. (I will be doing some quick videos at some point on ways we save money and cook fast.) We actually didn't have a regular stove for many years, instead I bought a little one coil burner ($10) and learned to make one pot quick meals. I then found a very small convection oven ($7) at a resale shop and that's what I used to bake. At one point even when we had electricity we cleaned out our freezer and refrigerator and lived without them. That saved us not only money on running them but also money on buying food because you have to be very careful what you buy and to use every bit of it right away. If you heat your house with electricity then you should only heat the rooms you are going to be in and turn it down when you leave and when you sleep. Because we didn't have running water we didn't have to have a hot water heater but honestly, if I were to have electricity today I would get rid of it and heat up the water as I need it. A lot of money is wasted on hot water heaters.
Gas / propane
Many people have this form of heating and it can become very pricey in the wintertime so we encourage insuating wherever you can in your house. This might mean hanging thick blankets over windows on the shaded side of the house and at night and remove them in the day when the sun shines in. Some people even hang blankets on the walls. Downsize your living space and heat only the rooms you need. You can also turn down your heater and use a mobile electric space heater to warm up certain rooms in the house you will be in. (Some people find that more cost effective than heating the whole house to a certain temperature.)
When we lived in the big farm house we had propane heat as a back up and a woodstove and it was hard to keep it warm without spending a lot of money so we moved our mattress out in the livingroom by the woodstove and if we woke up at night we would stoke it (sorta like we do here at our off grid home). As for cooking, you can do the same thing as I mentioned in the electric portion and cook large amounts of food at once. (Saves money and time in the future.) We heat only with a woodstove in our tiny off grid home now. It can be cold in the morning when we get up but warms up pretty quick...and it's virtually free.
Water and sewer.
I don't know how you get charged but there are a couple different ways and it depends on the town you are in. Some charge per gallon used and disposed of and some have a base rate that you only pay more if you go over. If you are charged per gallon then you can certainly save a lot by watching your water consumption. A few ideas are to learn how to quick shower, which means you get wet, turn off the water, wash then rinse quick. We have learned how to shower with one gallon on the road and I use a little more when I have to wash my hair and that's another thing, there's no need to wash hair every day. When you wash dishes you really don't need as much water as you think (I get by with very little on the road) and don't let it run when you rinse them, put some in a basin and use that. I always used cold water to rinse and never had a problem, this saves on power as well. When I was growing up there were times we were pretty much off grid without water, indoor plumbing or electricity so I learned young! Did you know that you can put a brick in your toilet tank to offset the amount of water you use to flush? (Nowdays they have toilets that conserve water I guess but it's something to think about.) Washing clothes takes a ton of water so be sure you have loads that are full enough to warrant a load and wash on the coolest setting (to save power). If you can, you could set up rain barrels.
Misc things like cell phone and internet.
There was a time before our business and ministry that we got along with 2 cheap old flip phones for calls and texts. As time went on and our business and ministry grew we needed to upgrade and have a few more devices in order to have enough data to keep us going on the road. The bill is not cheap but we don't have internet at our home and we use it all for the glory of God for our freedom to be able to travel and keep our business and ministry going. I have found ways to save money buy using apps on my phone that usually covers our expenses each month. Something to think about sisters, if you have internet in your home, there's really no need for a smartphone, you can get by with a cheap basic phone while out doing errands and you can use the internet when you are in the house. On the other hand some people have found that having a couple phones with unlimited data is cheaper than having the internet at home. And we know of people who don't have any connection to the internet and only use the library. You will have to work all that out and see what's feasible for you.
As keepers at home, part of our job is to be frugal and I take that very seriously. Read Proverbs 31 and see how resourceful she is:-)
I hope this has encouraged you, I'm now off to write #6.
Have a joyous evening sisters!
Love to you, in Christ,
Sister Deb
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