Budgeting

So for the past few months we have been adjusting to a new budget! Our income went WAY down and our expenses went WAY up! So we have been trying to find a way to live spend only as much as we make-instead of eating into our extra. This is hard because for 4 years (with both of us working) we have been making more than enough to pay our bills and we have been able to CHOOSE what to do with the excess...now with 2 kids there is NO NO NO extra and hardly enough to cover all our bills-
Thus the need for STRICT budgeting.... So you saw my posts in March about keeping our grocery budget down- and in April doing crazy stuff for cheap gas- well May brings you good news!

Last month our Electricity bill was $122.67- we made a great effort all month to lower our bill and when it arrived this month we were please to see that the amount due was $74.00!! That is a savings of over 48 dollars!! So we tried everything, so here are some of the things we tried (I am not sure what worked) So you can try if you too need to lower your monthly bills.....

• We were very conscious about only having lights on if we NEEDED them- turn the light off when you leave the room (basic stuff) and with summer coming using natural light.


• We limited our TV. and computer time - often I would leave the TV on as back round noise and I was surprised to calculate it was on over 5 hours a day!!


• We went around the house and Unplugged everything we were not using- there is NO reason my kitchen-aid needs to sit on the counter plugged in! Did you know your TV and computer suck energy even when they are turned off!


• We lowered our water heater- If we ran our water long enough we could practicaly get boiling water....but there is no reason to keep you water that HOT and lowering it a few degrees you can still run a nice warm bath- and it saves you energy.


• I started using the "normal" cycle in my dishwasher and washing machine- I was running cereal bowls and water glasses in the "Pots and Pans" mode- less time in the dishwasher and just as clean!


• Malachi is a HVAC guy and we already have a really energy efficient heating and air conditioning, but he reset the temperatures a few degrees lower so the system didn't kick on as much-we can put on a sweater instead of pushing the button on the wall!

Good luck- if you think of any other way to lower your monthly bills let me know---Anyone know where to find Cheap gas???