Being Frugal & Green is Cool!

Calling all frugal and green people out there! I am looking for ideas on how to be frugal and green with today's economy. So if you have some great ideas I would love to hear from you. I am going to share some of my things I have done and I hope I don't forget any because in our house we have made many changes.

One of biggest moves to saving money and going green was to install a geothermal furnace in our big two story farm house built in 1905 by my husbands grandfather. Our old furnace had seen better days and we were in need of a new one. There was no repair and LP gas prices were on the rise. We did lots of research and decided to go with the geothermal. It has saved us considerable money and we have been very happy with our decision.

I have also switched to all natural plant based cleaning products which are concentrated so you add your own water saving you money. The products are versatile and can be used in so many different ways and they work. I bought some degreaser from Watkins and then a few more products and decided these were wonderful. I joined Watkins and am an Independent Watkins Associate. I love all of the cleaning products and feel safe using products that are good for the environment and my family. I have pets too and these products are safe and not harmful to them. I have been an Independent Watkins Associate since 1982. You can go to my website and see what all is available at www.watkinsonline.com/denisepassehl where you can browse around and read about the products.

Some other things that we have done in our house to save money is by turning off lights when we leave a room. Rooms that we do not use the vents are closed and not heated.

I dry most of our clothes on a clothes drying bar in the winter. In the summer I do hang them out when the weather is nice. I also wash my clothes in cold water using the Watkins laundry soap, a little goes a long way. My clothes stay new looking longer so I can wear them for a long time.

We work outside of the home so I take my lunch to work every day and my husband is able to come home for lunch. I cook extra food for supper and what is left I use for our lunch the next day. No food is wasted, if it not going to be eaten right away I freeze it. I am very imaginative when it comes to food and come up with some really great recipes using what we already have.

I am very organized so I know what foods I have in my cupboards, refrigerator and freezer. This saves buying more of an item you already have. Same goes for the rest of the house, if I keep things organized and cleaned up I know what I have and don't need to buy it again.

I take advantage of the sunshine to heat up the house more. With the geothermal furnace you leave it set on the same temperature at all times. Ours is set at 70 degrees. If we are chilly we put more clothes on to keep warm and move around more.

My husband is a mechanic so he can do all our automobile repairs. He is there when I need him to fix about anything really. That saves us money also. We were in need of a different vehicle this year also. I had a Jeep and it was 11 years old and over 200,000 miles on it needing some major repairs. With gas prices on the rise and only getting 18 miles per gallon we decided to purchase a car. We shopped around for almost a year deciding on the Chevy HHR and we both fell in love with it. In the summer I get 30-35 miles to the gallon, winter is 27-30 depending on how cold it is. We live in Iowa and the winters are cold and hard on cars. The HHR has back seats that fold down so you can haul larger items, it is smaller than the Jeep but it is a very comfortable car. We got our car from an auction which saved us lots of money also.

I shop local as much as possible, using coupons on items I use only. I love to use my coupons on paper products and coffee when our local Pamida has double coupons.  I watch the ads and get my coupons organized. Pamida also has Senior Citizens day and my husband is that age so we can take advantage of that. I don't buy junk food, only healthy foods which are better for us.

We don't eat out often but treat ourselves once in awhile for a special occasion. Since I love to cook I can make a great meal at home and dress it up with candles, tablecloth, napkins and my nicer plates, but it is nice to be treated special once in awhile.

I know I am leaving some things out but maybe you can help me by letting me know what you do. I am open to some more great ideas.

Here's to saving money!