Grocery Finals

I've been over budget all month and really hadn't planned on shopping at all this week, but Kroger super doubles lured me in. And then there were a couple of deals I just couldn't pass up at Publix. All in all, it was a light week. My checkbook needed it.

Sorry still no picture. I think I know what is wrong with the camera and hopefully we can get the piece that we need this weekend.

KROGER
1 Danimal Yogurt
Sale 1.88 – 1.00 q (from SS 8/09) doubled = FREE
1 Breyers Ice Cream
Sale $2.27 – 1.00 q (from Raise Your Hand for Savings booklet) doubled = .27
2 Blue Bell Ice Cream
Sale $4.99 – 1.50 IP q (no longer available) doubled = 2.00 ea

Mega Deal (Buy 10 participating Items, get $5.00 off)
Nature Valley Granola Clusters
Sale 1.99 – 1.00 q (from SS 8/09) doubled – 1.00 e-coupn - .40 e-coupon = FREE + Overage
6 Quaker Rice Quakes
Sale .69 – 1.00/3 (peelie) doubled = .03 ea
3 Tuna Helpers
Sale .99 - .75/3 (SS 8/09) q doubled - .75 e-coupon = .24 ea
2 Fruity Cheerios
Sale 1.49 - 1.00/2 (SS 8/16) q doubled = .49 ea
2 Cascadian Farms Organic Cereal
Sale 1.49 – 1.00 IP q doubled = .49 ea
2 Grands Biscuits
Sale 1.49 ea – 1.00/2 IP q doubled = .49 ea
2 Fiber One Muffin Mix
Sale 2.29 - $1.00/2 q (from SS 8/09) doubled = 1.29 ea
1 Quaker Rice Quakes Sale .69 (filler item)

TOTAL OOP w/ Tax: $11.98


PUBLIX:
6 Bags of Friskies Cat Food
Sale $3.00 – $3 IP = FREE
3 Publix Sodas
Sale .50 ea - $1/3 FLIP = .17 ea
2 Lysol Nutra Airs
Sale $1.80 - $1.50 q from SS 7/12 = .30 ea (wished I had this q at Kroger, probably would have been free)
4 Aunt Jemima Frozen French Toast
Sale $1.35 - $1 Publix Q from Toss 4 Cash Booklet = .35 ea
4 Orville Redenbacher Popcorn
Sale 1.50 - .40 q from SS 8/02 doubled = .70 ea

TOTAL OOP w/ Tax: $8.85

GRAND TOTAL FOR WEEK: $20.83

Otter Creek Kids Consignment Sale Friday - Saturday

This week is my favorite consignment sale of the year. Here are the details

Friday, August 28 8a -6p

Saturday, August 29 8a - 2p Half Price day

Cash or Check only

Otter Creek Church

409 Franklin Rd

Brentwood TN 37027

Click here for website

What are those codes on produce?

Ever wonder what or if those stickers on you banana meant anything other than to help the cashier figure out what the price was? Turns out they do!

a four digit code means it was conventionally grown

a five digit code starting with 9 means it was organically grown

a five digit coded starting with 8 means was genetically modified

Go here for more info on PLU codes

Thanks to Ideal Bites for the tip!

Own a Camaro? Get a Free Pizza!

In celebration of Papa John finding his long lost Camaro, Papa John’s will offer a free large, one-topping pizza on Wednesday, August 26, 2009, to Camaro owners. To redeem, Camaro owners must arrive at their nearby Papa John’s restaurant in their Camaro to order and pick up their free pizza. Limit one pizza per Camaro, and one visit per Camaro.

Ahhhh! If I were only still with my high school boyfriend.......

Happy Eating to all Camaro owners.

Stockpiling

As most couponers know, stockpiling is the way to save money on groceries. No, the picture above is not my stockpile, I wish it was. I'm not there yet. I've only been stockpiling for about 8 months now, so I'm not through an entire years cycle.

Many people think of stockpiling as something those crazy "end of the world is coming" folks do. While I have no intention of going that far, the more I learned about stockpiling the more fiscal sense it made. I have been able to purchase things for pennies or even free, stock pile them and I will not have to buy them again for a long time. An example: last winter, Kroger ran a Mega sale where I was able to purchase Glad trash bags for less than a $1.00. I bought 5 boxes with 60 bags each. That's 300 name brand trash bags for less than $5.00 In my house, that will last us over 2 years (we recycle most of our trash and compost food scraps).

I'm still learning all the sale cycles. In the southeast most grocery stores have a 6 - 8 week sale cycle. In the north I understand it is closer to 10 - 12 weeks. But some things only go on sale at the lowest price once a year. I recently was turned on to a forum at Hot Coupon World where they have listed by month what type of items will go on sale by month. Go here for that forum. They even list what kind of produce will be in season. Some things are obvious, baking items around the winter holidays, school supplies in August, but did you know that March is National Frozen Food month? And that there are good deals to be had in that area of the store? What about May has National Pet Week? Time to stock up on pet food and treats!



Thanks to Money Savin Diva to turning me on to this forum.

$5.00 Menu

I aim for each dinner to cost $5.00 total. I am able to do this with the great deals I get on food with sales and coupons. I figure in the price of my main ingredients. I usually round up to accomodate smaller ingredients such as spices.

Here is my $5.00 Menu plan for the week:

Sunday - Veggie Helper, crescent rolls $2.50

Monday - Black Bean Tacos and rice $4.00

Tuesday - Bakeless Ziti $3.00

Wednesday - Pizza $2.00

Thursday - Eggplant Parmasan $5.50 (I'm going to try this in the crockpot instead of oven - save some energy)

Friday - Italian Vegetable and Asiago Bow-ties $6.00 (we all like this dish alot last time, but it was a little dry - I found that adding pasta sauce made it great!)

Saturday - Baked potatoes, salad and soup(for the kid who won't eat salad) $3.00

Form more menu ideas visit OrgJunkie.com

Weekly Grocery Wrap up - Mom gone Wild Edition!

Oh My Gosh! I think this sinus infection has started to eat into my brain and cause me to lose all control. Budget? What Budget? Apparently, I have NO budget!

There were some really good deals this week, and I couldn't stop myself. Sorry, still having technical problems with the camera so no picture. Here are the highlights:

Kroger:
First off, I cannot pass up a clearance sale or manager's special. Not the worse habit to have, but it can cause you to go over budget. Kroger had an entire refrigerator full of items on manager's special. Could not resist. Here's what I got:

6 Amy's Organic Vegetable Pot Pies .79 each (normally $2.59 ea)
3 Rosetto Butternut Sqash Ravioli 2.00 each (normally $4.99 ea)
1 Kroger Veggie Dip .25 each
2 Kroger Skim Milk .50 each

Mega Sale Items (Buy 10 participating Items get $5 off)
2 Grands Biscuits FREE

used printable and e-coupon

3 Quaker Rice Quakes .36 each

used $1/3 peelie

1 Quaker Instant Oatmeal .99

used .50 doubled coupon from Kroger mailer

2 Betty Crocker Brownie Mixes

used printable and e-coupon

1 Betty Crocker Cookie Mix .69

used printable and e-coupon

3 Tuna Helpers .82 each

used printable and e-coupon

2 Betty Crocker Potatoes

used e-coupon

2 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls .74 each

used printable and e-coupon

2 Old El Paso Taco Shells .39 ea

used printable and e-coupon

2 WanChai Sweet&Sour chicken frozen meals 3.49 ea note: I had a craving for Chinese, I won't buy these again! Ugh!

used $2.00 coupon from 8/9 Smartsource

Produce good buys:

.99/lb tomatoes

.33 cucumbers

.99 eggplant

TOTAL OOP w/ Tax: $42.04

Publix:

8th Continent Soy Milk .50

used $2.00 printable (no longer available)

2 Purina Beggin Strips .24 each

used $1.50 printable

6 Morning Star Veggie Patties .90 ea

used $1.00 printable

4 Kraft Mac n Cheese .25 each

used B3G1 Free printable (value doubled) no longer available

4 Uncle Ben's Rice Pilaf

used .75/2 q from 7/26 RedPlum

Cole Garlic Toast .40

used .50 printable

9 Various Frozen Veggies .97 ea

no coupon

1 Back to Nature Granola .80

used $1.00 Competitors coupon from Whole Foods

4 Tidy Cats Litter 1.50 ea

used $2.00 peelie

4 Juicy Juice 1.32 ea

used .50/2 q from 8/9 Redplum

TOTAL OOP w/ Tax $31.54

Aldi's

Bananas .99

Cucumbers .80

Baby Carrots .69 ea

TOTAL OOP w/ TAX $9.58

Apple Market

2 Loaves of Peppridge Farm Bread .50ea

2 packs of Peppridge Farm Hamburger buns .50 ea

TOTAL OOP w/ TAX $2.16

GRAND TOTAL FOR WEEK: 85.32 Whew!

Monthly Financial Checkup

At the beginning of the year, we set out with 2 big financial goals: build our emergency savings and get rid of all credit card and other debt besides the mortgage.

I decided to share a little about our journey now, mainly just to keep me accountable because I feel like we've made a dent, but still have a way to go. It gets harder now, kinda like that last 5 pounds when you're on a diet.

Goal 1 - Debt free

Goal Complete 55%

Goal 2 - Build 8 month Emergency Fund

Goal Complete 46%

I'm especially excited that we are over 50% debt free now. I really want to stay on track with that. Now, the harder part, and quite frankly this has always been the hard part for me, ramping up our savings. What seems to work best for us is to have a certain amount automatically withdrawn from our checking to our savings each week. It started out just being a few dollars and we've increased it a little every couple of months. It's time to increase it again. For us, it almost becomes like another bill that we have to pay. Since hubs and I have always been really good at paying our bills, it's easier for us to save by thinking of it this way.

I hope to make this a monthly post. So, check back to see where we are next month. If you have any tips or ideas that have worked for you, please leave a comment

Also check out Money Saving Mom for her monthly financial checkup and to see what others are doing.

Volunteer Opportunity

There is an event coming up that needs volunteers! Graceworks Ministries is in need of many volunteers to help unload and sort donations from a major food drive. The volunteers are needed during the following times:

Sunday, Aug 30, 3pm - 6pm
Monday, Aug 31, 9a - 4p
Tuesday, Sept 1, 9a- 4p
Monday, Sept 8, 9a- 4p
Tuesday, Sept 9, 9a - 4p

If you can help, call Carol Dublin at 794-9055 x 14 or email (carol at graceworksministries dot net)

Made $27.99 and never went to work!

I've not been to my job in 2 weeks! We've had a series of illnesses at my house that has prevented me from going to work. I work part-time, so if I don't work, I don't get paid. That can make it rough on an already tight family budget. But I'm happy to report that I did make a little money this week.

I finally received my $17.99 Rite Aid Single Check Rebate. These were items that were free after Rebate and I actually paid with a gift card I received for bringing in a new prescription.

I got $5.00 added to my paypal account by cashing in 80 Swagbucks.

I received a $5.00 check in the mail today for taking an online survey. I have signed up with a few different Online survey companies that will pay you for your opinion. Go here to see what Money Saving Mom has to say about one accepting applicants now.

So, although this really won't make up for my lost income for the past 2 weeks, at least it make me feel a little better! :)

Weekly Grocery Finals - Back on Track!

I thought I had went over on budget this week, but after a second review, discovered that I was right in line with my goal - $40.00. I actually budget $50 a week, but always aim for $40. And since I have been over for the past few weeks, I am glad that I was able to keep it near my target this week. It also helped that it was not a great sale week.

Currently, we are having technical difficulties with the camera download, so I cannot post my picture.

Here are the highlights:

Kroger Highlights:
1 can Kroger coffee FREE
w/ Kroger mailer coupon
1 bag baby carrots FREE
w/ Kroger mailer coupon
1 gallon Private Selection Ice Cream FREE
w/ Kroger mailer coupon
Watermelon $2.99
1lb almonds $2.99 sale (normally $6.00)

TOTAL OOP w/ TAX: $23.74

Publix Highlights:
2 Bags of Beneful Dog Food FREE + Overage
used 3.50 Internet Printable
2 Scotch Brand Mailers FREE + Overage
used .50 coupon from 7/26 RP
1 Kellogs Rice Krispies FREE
used FREE coupon from Vocal Point (must sign up to receive coupons in mail)
2 Heinz Vinegar .29 each
used .50 Internet Printable coupon
1 8th Continent Soy Milk .50
used $2.00 Internet Printable (no longer available)
1 lb Squash .99
1 lb Zucchini .99
1 lb Green beans .99

Total OOP w/ Tax: 17.25

GRAND TOTAL OOP 40.99

My Favorite Deals this week

As many coupon blogs have pointed out, this is not a particular great week for Publix in terms of sales and coupon deals, but I guess we can't have great weeks all the time.

But..... if you are lucky enough to live close to the handful of Krogers that are tripling coupons, you could have a fantastick week! See what Keeping our Cash saved by shopping the Kroger and Harris Teeter sales. Faithful Provisions has a list of the possible stores that are tripling. I can confirm the Edmondson Pike and Harding Rd/Belle Meade store.

Kroger is rumored to start a huge Mega Sale this Sunday that will include a lot of General Mills products. So, be on the lookout for the ad in Sunday's paper. I'm sure there will be much more buzz in blogosphere once they release the ad.

My other favorite thing this week is Swagbucks. If you don't know about Swagbucks, it is a search engine site that rewards you for your searches in the way of points or as they call them, Swagbucks. You can cash in your swagbucks for prizes such as gift cards and other items. It's completely free. Swagbuck recently added a paypal cash reward. This week I was able to cash in 80 swagbucks and have $5.00 cash deposited to my paypal account.

Have a great weekend!

Micheal's 25% Off ANYTHING Coupon

Micheals is having a Summer Madness Sale on Sunday, August 16. Go here for a coupon good for 25% off your entire purchase including sale items! The coupon is only good for Sunday between 4pm - 8pm.

Happy Shopping!

Southern Savers comes to Nashville this Week!

Jenny from Southern Savers will be visiting Nashville this coming weekend. She will be holding 2 Couponing Workshops.

1. Radisson Opryland

Friday, August 14

7pm

2. New Vision Baptist Church

Murfreesboro TN

Saturday, August 15

9 am

Admission is $10.00

Go here for all the details and to sign up.

$5.00 Menu

Here is this week's menu. As usual I am trying to hit my target price of $5.00 per meal. I don't always make it, but it keeps me from going overboard too much. I calculate the cost of the main ingredients. I am able to get these ingredients at lower costs by shopping for items on sale and using coupons with the sale price. I usually round up the cost of my meal to compensate for the price of smaller ingredients such as spices.

Sunday -- Italian Vegetable and Asiago Bowties $4.00

Monday -- Red Beans and Rice with Homemade Tortillas (yes! I'm going to try making my own tortillas!) $2.00

Tuesday -- Broiled Salmon, green beans, scalloped potatoes $5.00

Wednesday -- Teriyaki Veggies with Rice $3.00

Thursday -- Black Bean Tacos $4.00

Friday -- Salad & Baked Potatoes $4.00

Saturday -- Pizza $2.00

Lowering our utility bills by 27%

I set out a few months ago to earnestly reduce our utility bills. Not only to be frugal, but also to conserve energy overall and be more mindful of the natural resources we are using. I usually don't use the trendy words "green" or "carbon footprint" because I think it sounds just that: trendy and I don't pretend to be following in the latest hollywood fad. But I do have a great concern for the environmental impact that we have on the earth. I believe we were always modest in our energy usage, such as not running the water while we brushed our teeth, turning off lights when we left a room, etc, but now it was time to step it up and really become vigilant about it.

I read many blogs on what other families were doing to reduce energy bills and started implementing many of their ideas. I must admit, none of these ideas are ground breaking, really more common sense. But, like alot of people, I often choose convenience over common sense. :)

1.) The first item I did was to try washing most of our clothes in cold water instead of hot or warm. I still wash certain items in hot. This reduces the amount of natural gas we used to heat our water heater. I saw no difference in the cleanliness of our clothes.

2.) I started running our dishwasher no more than every other day. I hand wash all the larger dishes such as pots and pans, and larger serving or mixing bowls. This allows more room for smaller dishes to accumulate and be washed at the same time. I've gotten so accustomed to hand washing dishes now, that I actually wash some small dishes too. Now, I often go 3 days without running the dishwasher. This saves water, electricity and dishwasher detergent.

* Now, I have to admit, this first two items alone did not seem to make a big impact on our utility bills so I had to step it up even more.

3.) Adjusting our thermostat. I had read on a frugal mom's blog that her family does not turn on the air conditioner until it hits 80 degrees for the first time of the season. And then they keep their thermostat at 80 for the entire season. They rely on their ceiling fans to help cool them. I know many readers are gasping right now, "80 degrees! I would die!" . Well, guess what? I tried it. In May I set our thermostat at 80 degrees, turned on the fans, and haven't looked back. With the exception of a couple of times when hubs said it was too hot and turned the air on manually, it has worked for us and this adjustment has made the most impact on our utility bills.

4. Not using the clothes dryer. In July, I conducted a little frugal experiment where I tried to go a month without using our clothes dryer. Go here for the whole story. I learned what a big impact our dryer has on our electric usage. While I cannot continue to go totally dryer free, I will use it less and line dry some clothes.

5. Unplugging appliances not in use. Even though they may not be use, small appliances such as hair dryers, electric can openers and blenders are still pulling some power. Now I unplug any small appliance that is not in use and is easily plugged back in.

6. Purchase a rain barrel. Mid summer we purchased a rain barrel from Metro Public works. With half the summer gone, and a pretty generous rain fall, we've not used it that much yet, but we intend on making it a primary water source for outside water needs in the months and years to come.

With just these few adjustments and a new perspective on how we use energy, we have been able to reduce our overall utility bills by 27% from this time last year. That's an extra $57.00 that we have for other things.

This did not happen overnight. It took a few months of getting into the groove of new habits to really see an impact. But, now that I have seen the impact, I don't think we'll be going back to our old ways of doing things.

Our future plans include:
1.) Buying a programmable thermostat
2.) Pay more attention to the time I'm in the shower (I love long hot showers!)
3.) Using our rain barrels as the only watering method for next year's gardens.

Do you have a good way to save on utilities? Please let me know!

Grocery Weekly Wrap Up - Not a good week for the budget

I had hoped to level out my splurge last week with a small grocery trip this week, but that did not happen. We are going through a serious illness right now at our house (don't worry, we will fully recover soon) and that has given me little time to do a lot of comparison shopping and couponing. And it's called for some extra items in our grocery cart. So, I made one rushed trip to 2 stores. Here are the highlights:

Publix Highlights:
6 bags of Kraft Shredded Cheese 1.66 - 1.00 IP Coupon = .66 ea
4 Uncle Ben's Rice 3/$4 - 1/2 IP coupon = .87 ea
4 Red Baron Pizzas B1G1 5.79 - $1.00 Q = 1.89 each
* I hesitated to list this deal because it's not completely on the up and up. I discovered after I had purchased them and reading another blog, that the coupon I used was actually for a differently type of Red Baron Pizza. My mistake, I didn't look at the coupon or the box close enough (and neither did the cashier) I do not advocate fraudulent couponing!

TOTAL OOP w/ Tax: 28.22

Kroger Highlights:
Colgate Kid's toothbrush - clearance $1.81 (I bet if I had searched there was q for this somewhere, but we need a new toothbrush now and I didn't want to wait)
Zucchini & Yellow Squash .88/lb
Green beans .99/lb
Cucumbers 2/.88
Bell Peppers 2/1.00
Tomatoes .99/lb
I did not use a single coupon!

TOTAL OOP w/ Tax: 28.35

TOTAL FOR WEEK: $56.57 Here's hoping next week is a really good coupon week!

Tax Free Weekend in Tennessee

Starting tomorrow, Friday, August 7 at 12:01 am many items will be tax free. The Sales tax holiday lasts until Sunday, August 9 at 11:59 am. Most retailers will be having special sales to go along with the tax free days. Check your sales ads in the local papers.

Also eligible items purchased online or via phone will be tax free.

Go here for all the details and a list of the eligible tax free items.

Happy shopping!

$5.00 Menu

Better late than never!
I try to spend no more than $5.00 on my nightly dinners. I do this by purchasing the ingredients with sales and coupons. I do not figure in the cost of smaller ingredients such as spices. I do usually round up in order to offset the costs of those smaller ingredients.

Monday -- Special night out for daughter - Chic Fi-la -- definetly more than $5.00!

Tuesday -- Veggie Helper $2.00 ( I use a box of Tuna Helper and replace the meat with a bage of frozen veggies)

Wednesday -- Pizza $2.50

Thursday -- Pasta and Bean Skillet $4.00

Friday -- Veggie Burgers & french fries $4.50

Saturday -- TBA

Weekly $5 menu postponed

This week has gotten off to a rocky start. Many unexpected issues have arose and has kept me from making a menu. I'll try to post one tonight or tomorrow.

As for today, I think we will be going out for a special treat for my 4 year old who decided to cut all her hair off yesterday. She's had a rough day a preschool because of her new hair style and I feel a trip to Chic Fi Lay may be in order followed by a trip to Claires for some hairbows!

Weekly Grocery Wrapup

Wow! Did I go over budget! But, there were several good deals going on and some areas of my pantry needed restocking, so I don't feel too bad about the splurge. Because my list is so long this week, I'm not going to list out every item. I will highlight the best deals.


Kroger Best Deals:

10 boxes Eggo Waffles - FREE 50% off sale made them .98 each. They qualify for the Kelloggs Fuel for School Rebate which will make them free

P&G Promotion - buy 4 get $4 off (used combination of paper coupons and e coupons from P&Esavers site)
1 Aussie Shampoo FREE
1 Aussie Conditioner FREE
1 Herbal Essence Shampoo FREE
1 Herbal Essence hairspray FREE
3 Puffs Tissues .52 ea

10 for 10 Promotion
Crest Toothpaste FREE used .50 coupon doubled (PG insert 6/07)
2 Oral B Toothbrushes FREE used .50 coupon doubled
1 Listerine pocket pack FREE used .50 coupon doubled (SS insert 6/14)

Total Kroger Shop: $52.89






Publix Best Deals: I actually made 2 trips to Publix in order to get the Bertolli pasta sauce and use the coupon from Family is It's Own Reward book before they expired. It made the Pasta sauce .87 each.

8 Bertolli Pasta Sauce .87 ea
8 Milkbone Dog Biscuits .59 ea
4 Hunts Ketchup 1 free, 3 .48 ea
3 Publix Soda .17 each
9 Muellers Pasta .42 ea

Total w/ Tax $20.87

Aldi (sorry no pic)
No particular good deals, just a few extra things we needed that were not a good deal anywhere else.
Total: 7.97

GRAND TOTAL OOP FOR WEEK: 81.73
I will submit for my Kelloggs Rebate and get $10 back, so that will bring it down to $71.73

Still I'm Waaay over budget. Don't expect much shopping in the weeks to come!

Not using the clothes dryer for a month

I set out on a mission a few months back to lower our ever growing utility bills. I read up on many cost saving ideas on the numerous frugal blogs. I have adopted many of their ideas. One idea that kept coming up was to reduce the dryer usage. Go here to read one of my favorite blogs, Grocery Cart Challenge for her breakdown of how much energy a dryer uses. I finally decided to give it a try. My plan: for one month do not use the clothes dryer, but rather hang the clothes up to dry.

I had some challenges immediately. One, the homeowners covenants in my neighborhood do not allow clothes lines outside. I knew this when we moved in the neighborhood but didn't really care, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Who wants to see your neighbor's tighty whities flapping in the breeze anyway, right? But, now in these troubling economic times, I'd rather see clothes lines in my neighbors' backyards rather than the numerous For Sale signs in the front yard.


So, I had to string up my lines in the house. Two in my bedroom and one one in my daughter's room. The idea was to use hooks that I could easily take the line up and down so that I wouldn't have to keep it up all the time. I bought cheap clothespins at the dollar store - 50 for $1.00


The second challenge I ran into was space and time. I learned quickly that one full load of our laundry took up two or two and a half lines. And it takes at least 8 hours for most many of the clothes to completely dry in the house. Longer for thicker clothes like jeans. A week's worth of laundry in my house is 6 or 7 full loads (including sheets and towels). Most weeks, it took me 4 days to get thru all the laundry.


I did end up using the dryer a few times. There was one week that I ended up working 5 days of my normal 3 day a week job. There was just no way to wash and hang clothes and do everything else I needed to do in just the 2 days I had off. By the way: BIG hat's off to all the full time working moms out there -- I applaude you.


I did get a payoff in the end. I received our electric bill for the month of July. It was $8.00 less than it was in June and $32.00 less than last July! Not all of that $32 is dryer related, we've done several other things to conserve electricity that I will post about later.


I had hoped to report that this was such a great experience that I would be selling my dryer on Craigslist (not really, I knew it wouldn't be that great). I will go back to using my dryer mostly, but I think I may try to continue drying 1 or 2 loads every week on the line, just to help with our electric bill.


Here are a few things I will do differently:
1.) Invest in some better quality clothespins. The cheap ones broke easily.
2.) Start my washing earlier in the day - to give them the most time on the line.
3.) Maybe petition my homeowners association to reconsider the rule about clotheslines.