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1. Have
a yard sale. You might net a few hundred bucks and
clean a lot of unused stuff from your home.
2. Check out yard sales. You can typically find a
phone for $2, a table lamp for $4, a TV for $20, a
bicycle for 25-50 bucks, and good deals on kitchen
appliances, little rugs, clothes and what not.
3. Learn to cook 3 to 5 low on the food chain,
healthy meals. Much of the world relies on simple
foods like black beans, corn, and rice at almost every
meal. The price per pound on many foods like these is
very low. And many of these staple foods have lots of
fiber and are low in fat. The Food Revolution: How
Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by
John Robbins and Dean Ornish is a good book to learn
more about this approach.
4. Get a super efficient laptop. The Exerex
laptops that use the Via microprocessor, instead on one
by Intel, use 12 watts or less of power. Some PCs
(including the monitor) can cost over $100 per year in
electricity, if you leave them on all the time.
everex.com
5. Get a library card.
6. Use high speed internet at a library or a free
wifi hotspot. Lots of places like malls and coffee
shops offer free wifi access.
7. Consider one hybrid car for your family. Look
for discounts on insurance with some insurance companies
for a hybrid. You may be able to get a better loan rate
on a hybrid through a credit union like Vantria.
8. Get Fido and Fluffy fixed. An extra pet or two
or three can end up costing a lot more.
9. Cut your own grass. While you're at it,
consider an electric mower. Gas mowers emit a lot of
pollutants. Making your yard low maintenance makes a lot
of sense. Some local landscaping companies are
knowledgeable on what native plants are good to plant to
reduce the maintenance you'll need to do in terms of
covering ground that otherwise would have to be mowed.
Using less, or no, fertilizer, means slower growing
grass, that will save you money and time on mowing.
10. Experts recommend washing 4 out of 5 loads of
clothes in cold water. It costs a lot to heat water
for using the warm or hot settings.
11. Set your water heater to 120 degrees. You'll
substantially reduce your gas or electric bill.
12. Air dry your dishes; crack the door open when
the washing and rinsing cycles are done, instead of
using a heated dry cycle.
13. Consider a used car. The greatest
depreciation is usually in the first couple of years.
Most dealers list their used inventory on their
websites. Look for the free Carfax report for any car
you're interested it. This is good assurance that a car
hasn't been in a wreck or had water damage. Some people
feel that traveling to Maryland from Virginia or DC is a
good idea, since Maryland has a pretty tough safety
inspection. You'll have to get your car re-inspected in
your state, but you're more likely to have reliable car.
14. Buy an electric bike. If the price of gas got
really high, you could do a lot of essential shopping
with an electric bike. A couple of baskets on the
side, or a little tow behind cart can carry quite a bit
of stuff/ Most electric bikes let you still pedal if
want the exercise.
15. Try a super center grocery store. For
instance, Safeway's Nutley Street store in Fairfax, has
so many services in it, you could eliminate a lot of
other trips. You can do dry cleaning, rent a movie, get
your pharmacy items, and get a substantial discount on
gasoline (if you use your frequent shopper card).
16. Use a top tier gasoline. Several car
manufacturers got together to set a standard of a
gasoline that cleans engine deposits better. You
shouldn't have to pay more for a top Tier gas. Check
your owners manual to make sure you are using the right
octane of gas. Using too high an octane actually can
result in more maintenance costs.
toptiergas.com
17. Use a rental car or a Zipcar (rent by the
hour) instead of owning a car (or being a two car
family).
18. Visit a food co-op. You'll get the best
prices if you pay for a membership. And you'll find tons
of bulk food items at great prices.
19. Consider a used computer. Computer warehouse
(pcretro.com) has good PCs for about $150-200 for a
desktop PC. laptops run about 200 to 300 bucks for
something decent.
20. Get
a gasoline credit card with a rebate. Shell has
offered credit cards with a 5 percent rebate every time
you buy shell gas.
21. Refill your water bottles instead of buying water
by the gallon. Some Healthway and Whole Food Market
stores let you refill containers for about 50 cents per
gallon. This will get you water free of fluoride and
other nasties and not use lots of plastic containers.
April
2008
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