Energy Saving Tips-That Apparently Work

Part of my job as a Stay At Home Mom is not to just cook, clean, and care for kids. It is also to save money. I just got my electric bill for December 10th - December 14th. (They read it late because of the snow.) I was so worried since I figured the bill would probably be ridiculous because of Winter. Guess how much it was-$85.00. Wow. I knew I was strict about electricity, but I didn't realize it would save us so much money. Everybody I know had a bill that was about $200.00 and I only had $100.00 for it in the budget. Here is what I did. I hope the tips help:

1. Set the heat on 68. Luckily, since we are the middle apartment, the one below us and the one above us keep their heat on and it actually keeps our house around 73, except at night. The heat runs pretty much the whole night. The electric company said that 65 is the ideal temperature to set it on if you wanted to save money, but we just couldn't do it. Samantha's little lips were turning purple. 

2. Of course, keep all the doors and windows closed. 

3. I unplug everything during the day except the refrigerator, laptop-so it can charge, and Jessie's TV because it is so hard to hook back up. But I unplug the lamps, phone chargers, microwave, etc.

4.I keep all the lights off during the day. We get enough light.

5. I keep the hot water heater turned down. 

6. We don't use unnecessary appliances like the dishwasher. It doesn't work anyway. 

7. When I was clothes I use a light wash cycle since we just wore the clothes around the house.

8. Lastly, we are converting to energy saving stuff such as appliances,  lights, curtains, etc.

Here are a few more I have heard, but haven't tried. 

1. Charge the filter every month.

2. Getting black out curtains, which I do not recommend. It makes the house WAY too dark.

Anyway, hope it helps. ;)

DH made dinner last night.

And it was amazing! He heard about this chicken from a guy at work and he wanted to make it. We used the generic chicken from WalMart, which was a pretty good price and was in a resealable bag. We used a little over a pound of it. Then as he cooked it, he drenched it in Italian dressing! YUM! He said what happens is the chicken absorbs all the Italian and all that is left is oil so it sort of frys the chicken. We also had rice, macaroni-we didn't have enough butter, so it up a little dry, green beans with hot sauce mixed in-delicious, and scalloped potatoes, one of my favorites. This was definitely one of my top favorite meals. I didn't think I would like it at first, but I couldn't quit eating it! Usually we just have hamburger helper and such. I really enjoy us both getting in there and cooking with different recipes. It doesn't cost much more since a lot of the seasonings and spices you buy in large containers and can use over and over. I can't wait for income tax time. DH and I are going to stock up on kitchen supplies like a good set of new pots and pans, a crock pot, and some herbs and spices. 

Clean House

Ahh...The feel of a clean house...There is no feeling like it. Everything looks, feels, and IS brighter. I LOVE it! That is why, the first Monday of every month, if I don't give in a little sooner, those walls, floors, and appliances get a good 'ol scrubbin'. Thanks to my mad skillz and my heavily packed, handy dandy cleaning bag, I have everything I need to give the house what it needs. Now I know I have already explained which rooms are the best to start in and so on, so I guess I will add a few tips and leave it at that.

Cleaners I Recommend:
I shop at the Dollar Tree and they generally have the same products in a little smaller quantity. Stocking up may be preferable to others when there are sales at other stores. I will be looking into those sorts of deals shortly, but as of now, the Dollar Tree is my Go-To-Place. I started my bag with the basics. I got an all purpose cleaner, great for counters and such, even the baseboards. Glass cleaner, generic Windex works just as well. Apparently, for glass. I use it on the windows, sinks, knobs, and the shower door. I also got some Mean Green, which I give my award for #1 Cleaner of All Time. It cuts out the grease on the stove after dinner. I even use it in the bathtub AND to mop the floors. I have one of those mops where you put your own cleaner in it and the pad is washable. Eh, not so sure what I think about it yet. It was a Christmas present. I wanted it so bad, but I guess I am just picky about my mops because I have yet to find one I like. Anyway, you also need toilet bowl cleaner. I do NOT recommend the tablets you drop in. You will need stove cleaner. ALWAYS use gloves and NEVER breathe when using it! You will need some rubber gloves, scrub pads for the oven, scrub brushes for the bathtub and tiny corners, and it wouldn't hurt to have some steel wool, for certain things. Always make sure it is okay to use it on something before you do. Also, I usually use Febreeze for the house after I clean. It gets rid of the cleaning scent and I use it on the couches and stuff to get rid of bad odors, since, like the commercial says, you can't wash them. I almost forgot the last two items-A duster. I prefer the generic Swiffer duster with replaceable covers. It is cheaper and works just as well. And those Magic Erasers. This is one time I recommend the name brand. They are a bit more expensive, but they get the job done. The generic just wither away too easy. I use them to wash the scratches off my wall, which I don't recommend doing if you have flat paint. But, it you don't, just wet a small area on the eraser and scrub away.

Bathroom Tips:
This, this is the dirtiest room in my house. There is pretty much one thing you need to know about the bathroom...Scrub Scrub Scrub. Scrub that sink. Scrub that toilet. Scrub that tub. We have a sliding glass door, which I prefer since there is no mildew building up. Therefore, I do not have to replace it on a regular basis. However, the side railings where the door slides have a tendency to build up with all kinds of junk since it catches some of the dirt and water that runs off of you during showers. That takes a long time to scrub, but it's not so bad. But make sure when you are cleaning the tub, DON'T close the shower door! I did that one time when I was using tub cleaner. NEVER again. My throat burned for days. Also, scrub behind the toilet. That is one of those place people never look, but dust is attracted to that sight. Sinks and mirrors are obvious...I guess that is it. Next, I will take you to the kitchen...

Kitchen Tips:
Clean EVERYWHERE! Places you could never even imagine, there are messes. Believe it or not, as little as you use the BACK of the refrigerator, It is total chaos back there, especially if you have kids who drop toys often. Even if you don't, dust collects like crazy. Try to even lift up the top of your stove and get a good look. Look on the sides. (I am adding a picture of this.) I can guarantee you there will be junk under neath where your drip pans were, for obvious reasons. Now, I am a freak about things not looking new anymore, so a few tips I have learned-Use tin foil on your drip pans. If you don't like the way it looks and you want to save cleaning up a HUGE mess, just get stove eye covers. They are a nice accessory to the kitchen and they will cover up the tin foil. They actually have tin foil covers made especially for the eyes at Wal-Mart, but I personally don't think they fit right and they get expensive after awhile. Another tip that I wish I would have learned sooner, use baking soda to scrub the bottoms of your pots and pans to get the gunk off. You know, that stuff that looks like the stove eye burned the bottom. Just take a cloth, and scrub that pot down, a little at a time. It actually works, but I waited too long to do mine and now it won't do the whole thing. It will just take off the what was on there from that night's dinner. Anyway, here are the before and after pictures. The last one is a picture of under where the trash can was. We are not dirty people. I am probably one of the cleanest people you will ever meet. Everything has its own spot, everything. And everything has to be clean, all the time. But, with that said, my house still gets dirty in the places I don't see. I actually disgust myself when I see these messes, but I realize it is not possible to clean all day AND give DD AND DH the attention they need.











Other than that, the rooms are pretty self explanatory. Don't leave any rooms out. That includes the closets and washroom. There is usually a lot of lent and left over things on the floor that were dropped from the pockets. In the bedrooms and livingroom, I usually just dust and then move all the furniture and vacuum. The amount of dirt that builds up under the bed is unbelievable. That is what inspired me to clean like this. When we moved last time, we lifted the bed and I was embarrassed by how dirty it was. Yuck. And the other day, I found a piece of chicken under the couch. I usually don't let DD eat in the livingroom, but I guess it was one of those days and I didn't even notice.
Well, this is just some of what I know. Good Luck! Happy Cleaning!

Rice Treats

Mmm...Found a recipe on allrecipes.com for DH's birthday. I thought I would make him something different. I had rice krispies. So all I needed was marshmellows. Here is the recipe. It was delicious. I thought I was going to burn it because it didn't say what to set the stove on, so I started at 3-1/2 and it was perfect. It didn't take long either and they didn't burn!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups of miniature marshmellows

4 cups of rice krispie treat cereal

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Marshmallow-Crispie-Bars/Detail.aspx

Hello. My name is Susie Homemaker.

Bad Pic, I know. I just thought I would post something recent. This was in DD's room before we redecorated it. I will post pictures of the whole house later.
My name is Brittany Mays and this year, 2011, I am trying to learn to be more like Susie Homemaker. I stay home with my 2 year old daughter and I Love every minute of it. Okay, maybe not EVERY minute. Anyway, this year I want to learn to cook, clean, sew, and clip coupons like never before. And what better way to share what I learn than to blog it. I would really like to start a book one day. Maybe this could serve as an outline. One thing I am already good at is cleaning. Although, there is always more to learn. The first Monday of every month, I take the entire day to scrub down the house. This includes everything. And boy, do I mean everything! I usually start with the hardest, dirtiest room, the kitchen. This, for obvious reasons, since it is the room you cook and eat in. Then I usually move to the bathroom. Scrub the tub. You would think it'd be semi-clean since you bathe in it. One close look and I want to puke! But I try not to because then I would have to clean it up too. It literally takes a toothbrush and 3 different cleaners to get down in those small areas in the tub and all along the walls. But I don't mind it. I usually have my Little Homemaker following closely behind me with her cleaning cart and supplies. She will spray the windows and sweep the floors. She will make a great Mommy one day. Cooking has never been my thing, mainly because it wasn't my Mom's and she was the one who raised me. But now that I have my own home and my own family, it has become more appealing, especially since I have started talking to my Dad more. He is very interested in different recipes. He has been sending me some off of a website allrecipes.com. I never thought I would like any of them since I am a picky eater, but I have learned some tricks. And some recipes don't call for anything out of the ordinary at all. One of the best tricks I have learned, by far, is using a seasoning ball. It is a mesh ball that you just fill with herbs, onions, whatever you are using for flavor and drop in the crock pot. This gives you all the flavor, but keeps you from picking things out of your food. And the best news for this Frugal Momma, it is only $2.00! My little famil equals big eaters. We Love to eat big meals. We have all kinds of things from fajita makers to the George Forman grill, great for hot dogs by the way. We also like our sweets from time to time. For awhile, DD and I were baking every Wednesday, but the Christmas season came and so went our delicious treats due to my focus on other things like online shopping. I would enjoy getting back into that. She really enjoys the together time that results in yummy desserts. My last goal, learning to sew, should be an easy accomplishment. I just bought a lower end sewing machine, just to see if I will stick to it. My grandmother knows how to use one and recommended that I get one. So I did. It comes with everything I need in the beginning. Not so sure how well it will work. I am hoping I can get over to her house soon so she can show me how to use it. I enjoy saving money on DD's clothes and being able to put her in cute boutique dresses for cheap. I generally shop at yardsales for her things, but it is very rare to find boutique dress, pillowcase dresses, hairbows, and tutus there. Well, this is me. These are my goals. Wish me luck! Susie Homemaker, watch your back, here I come!