As the days continue to get hotter and hotter, and the kids are growing more bored by the minute, things can get a little pricey. During the summer, your electric bill is a lot more likely to skyrocket. Buying water toys and letting the TV play for hours on end are sure fire ways to spend more money than you’re willing to spend this summer. Coming up with ways to save money this summer might be a little hard if you’re at wits end, so I’ve compiled a list of ten ways YOU can save money this summer while keeping your sanity. You can thank me later.
1. Use a push mower.
Instead of using a gas powered lawn mower to manicure your lawn, try using a push mower to save on gas. Also, the larger a yard you have, the more gas you need to power your mower in order to get a beautiful lawn. A push mower can help you save money on gas, it can also help you get in a little exercise (saving you even more money!).
2. Sweep instead of vacuum.
As you know, vacuuming requires electricity. I don’t know about you, but my electric bill tends to skyrocket in the summertime. When you sweep your floors during the summer, you can add to the savings as opposed to adding to the costs. Obviously I dont mean sweep a carpet, but if you tend to vacuum the hardwood parts of your home (like me) summertime is good time to at least cut back on the excess electricity use.
3. Eat meals that don’t heat up the house.
Eating meals like salads and meals cooked in a slow cooker are great electricity-savers and don’t heat up your kitchen (which means your AC wont kick on as much). And a plus about the slow cookers: they’re a great time-saver and your house will smell amazing all day long as long as you have a good recipe cooking in there.
4. Let your laundry dry outside.
If you’ve got room for a clothes line outside, definitely hang your laundry outside to dry instead of spending dollar after dollar on drying your clothes in a dryer. Can you imagine how much you’ll save this summer if the only thing you do differently is hang your laundry up on a line? I dont know about y’all, but my family goes through A LOT of laundry so we end up doing 1-2 loads everyday, adding up to anywhere from 60-120 loads of laundry over the summer. YIKES!
5. Turn down your water heater.
I’m not suggesting that you wash your dirty dishes in cold water. But if you turn down your water heater just a few degrees, you’ll see a noticeable difference in your electric bill.
6. Don’t overfill your refrigerator or freezer.
If your fridge or freezer is overloaded, it’ll cost more to keep all that food cool. Shopping weekly can help keep the amount of food in your fridge at a minimum, increasing your overall savings. When your freezer is too full, your freezer has to work harder to keep everything at a safe temperature.
7. Plant a small garden.
By planting a small garden, you can cut down some of your grocery bill. I suggest planting hings that can be pricey, sucj as fresh herbs you tend to use a lot, as well as high yielding plants to save some cash each month.
8. Watch less TV.
Think about how many hours you or your kids collectively spend a day watching TV. If you watch a few hours a day, that’s fine. If you end up watching much more than, try to cut back because you’re just washing cash down the drain.
9. Turn the air conditioner down (or off!).
According to Energy Star, for each degree you reduce your air conditioning, it’s estimated you’ll save 3 percent on your utility bills. A few degrees can make a huge difference! If it isn’t that hot outside, just switch off the A/C and let some fresh air in by opening the front door or a few windows. A good tip for staying cool we used to do a lot when our AC was on the fritz is go outside and have a (not too lengthy) hose play where you take turns spraying each other down. Once everyone is nice and soaking wet with the cold water, when you go inside you will still feel cool for at least a few hours even if the AC is off.
10. Make sun tea.
Sun tea is a great way to save on summer beverages. Buy black tea in bulk and sweeten it to your liking. Place water and few tea bags in a gallon jar, let it sit in the sun for a day or so (covered of course), sweeten, and serve. You can add ice, mint leaves, and you can even use sparkling water to make it for a fun fizzy drink. You’ll save TONS! (Make sure you remove the paper tags from the tea bags to avoid that paper-y flavor!)
That’s it folks! Do you have any money saving tips for summertime?
Please share in the comments!
