Guest post from Kim of Protean Mom
Want to enjoy your summer while keeping those budget goals you’ve set? Here are 4 ideas that should help:
1. Be Water Conscious
No matter where you live, water is a precious commodity. Using less water is a great way to help the environment while saving some cash. Here’s how:
- Lawns also don’t need to be watered every day unless you’re watering mid-day. Try watering before dawn instead.
- Planning on using the kid’s sprinkler toy that day – but also have the sprinkler system set to run? Run the other stations, but keep that zone off. It’s going to get soaked when the kids start playing.
- Take shorter showers or use less water in the bath. Kids may prefer to bathe in the pool; I’ll let you decide whether that counts! 🙂
- Mulch your plants: a lot of the water just evaporates in this heat unless it has something, like mulch, to keep it put. You won’t have to water the plants nearly as often.
2. Get Outdoors
How does being outside save money? Well, for one, you don’t have the lights on in your house when you’re outside. It’s summer – there’s plenty of sunlight! It also means that the TV can be off, the A/C can be raised a couple of degrees, and that you could enjoy nature.
There are tons of outdoor options: hiking, camping, playing in the backyard, gardening on a budget, swimming, boating, and more. Just be sure to take proper precautions for the activity.
I grew up in Arizona and I’m a ginger, so I understand that being outside during the heat of the day isn’t always possible. That’s fine – go outdoors when you can and wear sunscreen. Mornings and evenings are cooler – even in Arizona – and are great times to enjoy being outside.
3. Change the Thermostat
Keeping a house cool in the summer is a big deal, but it doesn’t have to be a drain on the pocket book. Go look at what your thermostat is set at: ours is set to 75 degrees. Having it set at 75 degrees saves us on our power bill, but is still refreshingly cool compared to the 90+ degrees outside.
Don’t think you can handle 75 inside? Try raising it just a single degree. You should still notice savings.
4. Avoid the Oven
I wish this meant a free pass on dinner, but it means using other appliances to cook your dinner.
We do the majority of our summer baking in the toaster oven. There’s less energy (or gas) used, the house doesn’t get as hot, and my bill stays lower. It also means I can’t make – or eat – as many cookies at once.
There we have it: four easy ways to save big money this summer. Good luck!
What would you add to my list?
Kim considers herself versatile as a writer, wife, and mom because she occasionally does yoga. She’s geeky and proud of it. She lives with her husband, their children that she’s nicknamed after Transformers, and their intellectually-challenged dog. She blogs at Protean (pro-te-an) Mom.
Guest says
For anyone feeling guilty that you don’t keep your thermostat at 75 degrees, we keep ours on 69 or 70. I would rather go without food than be hot in my own house. 🙂
Diane says
Oh wow! We keep our heat at 68 in the winter and ac at 80.
Guest says
I don’t turn on the heat in one part of the house and keep the other around 67. In general, I like it to be cool. 🙂
April @ A Simple Life says
Saving money this summer: using crock-pots for meals, eat more salads, smoothies, fresh fruit and veggies, raw foods, make your own sunscreen, use the sprinkler vs. purchasing a water toy, use public parks – some have water features.
I am doing a series on 10 Things To Do This Summer Under $10 on my blog.
Kim says
Wait a minute – you can MAKE your own sunscreen??? Help a ginger out: what recipe do you use – and how does it compare?
April @ A Simple Life says
Sorry for the delayed response – yes, just google homemade sunscreen. I don’t remember what we did, it was 3 or 4 years ago for my very sensitive (everything has to be fragrance free) fair blond girlie (she has some redhead tendencies).
Now we just do an incremental exposure – 10 minutes to start, then 5 or 10 minutes longer every few days. She has been out for over an hour w/o sunscreen and w/o burn. But I know this won’t work for everyone….
Misty Nicole Overstreet-Roberts (The Lady Prefers To Save) says
Something I do at home is seasonally check-up on my peak hours/consumption for my water, gas, and electrical bills; energy and water counsels are required to let you know what times are non-peak hours for your area. You would be surprised at times that are considered non-peak hours, and its generally not the middle of the night, as most savings blog would have people believe. Finding your areas billing is one way I helped save my family over 100.00 annually on just my water alone last year by this method. Also, most of the tips are awesome, but my family physician mentioned several times, when I told him I had trouble staying asleep at night, was that it is advisable to sleep in a much cooler room than 78 degrees at night, he actually recommended to sleep in a room that was 68-70 degrees.
Kim says
Misty –
Sleeping in a cooler environment can definitely help you sleep better! For us, 75 with ceiling fans works. Way to check with your doctor for sleeping problems, though.
Tina says
When I want to bake cookies in the summer months, I use the Nestle milk chocolate chip recipe on the bag. I mix them up and spread on a oiled jelly roll pan. They are all baked in about 15 minutes.
Sakura says
During the summer if I need to bake anything I do it very early in the morning between 4 and 6 am. That way I can just open windows to cool the house back down again. I also have a two burner stand stove that I do my canning on outside. I move my dehydrator outside also. We have a west facing house and our shade tree out front died last year so the house heats up a lot now.
Just bought a new smoker grill, somim excited to try it out.
Leah Joy says
We keep our thermostat on 78. Feeling a little warm in the summer is good for ya!
Splash pads and creek stomping–free ways to keep cool!
Don’t go out for ice cream, make your own! Look for an ice cream maker at the Goodwill or invest in one–there are excellent models for about $20 on Amazon and it will more than pay for itself. Homemade icecream is always healthier and you can use almond milk or coconut milk or even yogurt!
Pinterest–Tons of summer activity ideas for little or no money.
Kim says
Splash pads and ice cream – a recipe for a perfect day. Coconut or almond milk ice cream: what flavors would work best?
Leah Joy says
You can use a can (13.5 oz) of coconut milk–the full fat or the lite kind in the baking section, blend 3 frozen bananas into that along with 1/4 cup sugar and a pinch of salt and tsp vanilla. Add that to the ice cream machine. After it churns, fold 2 grated dark chocolate bars into that, then freeze for 2+ hours. IF you search ‘coconut milk’ or ‘almond milk’ ice cream recipes into Pinterest, tons come up!
Jessica says
I use the crockpot, microwave, or we grill.
We live in OH and keep the thermostat at 80. We’re still fine in the house in shorts and a t-shirt, my electricity bill is not too high and you don’t get a shock when you walk out the door into 90degrees like you would if the thermostat was at 70.
I only water my garden. I use the water collected by the dehumidifier.
I keep the shades drawn during the day.
Cathy says
For cooking, I like to use my crockpot. It doesn’t heat up my kitchen. Plus it gives me time to do more fun summer activities since I can fix it and forget it!
Kim says
Whoever invented the crock pot should be sainted. Hmm.. Now I have to go look up who that is!
Katie says
Air conditioning can be so expensive, so we use ceiling fans and portable / table-top fans in warm weather – they cool the house down nicely, can be moved from room to room, and the cost to operate them is much less than running the AC.
Kim says
Fans are definitely a lifesaver! Any types or brands you’d specifically recommend?
Katie says
No particular recommendations — our ceiling fans are all Hunter brand (no complaints so far). For portable fans, I don’t pay too much attention to the brand as I usually pick them up at thrift stores or just buy the $10-$20 ones the grocery store carries at this time of year!
Jenna says
I love summer time for the ability to line dry clothes outside. Nothing like that fresh air smell on your linens. If you have allergies, you can dry the majority outside, and run a shory cycle to get tbe bugs and pollen off at the end 😉
Kim says
Being allergic to so many things, I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll have to break out the dryer manual and see what it recommends. Thanks! 🙂
Mona says
My DH would be thrilled if our thermostat was at 75!! I keep it at 78. 🙂
I’ve been making sure that everything gets turned off at night. I also unplug our laptops. I’m surprised it makes a difference! I’ve also been making sure that our hose gets turned off. It drips just a bit, but when it’s on all the time, it adds up!
Tiffany@anothertxfamily says
Ours is at 78 too (sometimes 79)!! When it gets 100 degrees 78 feels nice! Turn it down to 76 at night and it cools us down plenty.
Kim says
Great idea! Maybe I can be as brave as you two, as long as we can cool off more at night.
Kim says
Mona, you are braver than I!
Thanks for pointing out the importance of unplugging – that’s something I forget to do. 😛
Cheryl says
Block the sun by using window coverings or foil. We block the east windows in the morning and the west ones in the afternoon using foil insulation cut to fit the windows.
Kim says
Cheryl, that will definitely help with the power bill. My only concern, as a sunlight fanatic, is how much does it affect the amount of light coming into the house?
Cheryl says
Since we are only blocking one side, we still have light coming in on 3 sides of the house plus 2 skylights. As soon as the sun stops glaring in, we remove the blocking, so in the middle of the day we have more light coming in.
Kim says
Savings and sunlight: I think that’s a great combination!
Tracy S. says
I’ve got a large toaster oven that I bake with most of the time anyway so I moved it outside for the summer. And I started grilling our pizzas so I’m not heating my main oven up to 400-500 degrees at least once a week. Also, we had to replace our grill right before Memorial Day and the one we chose has a deep fryer instead of a side burner. I have yet to put oil in it but I’ve boiled pasta, potatoes, and beans outside instead of in the house. HUGE in terms of heat and humidity. And we use our grill a lot during the summer. I basically have an outdoor kitchen on my back porch. And I love it! 🙂
Kim says
Wow! Great idea to move the toaster oven outside – and GRILLED pizza? I’m going to have to try that.
When we get a grill, I think I’m going to ask for a side fryer like you did. 🙂 Thanks for the tip!
Tracy S. says
It’s a CharBroil brand grill and it has a smoke compartment as well. And I use a recipe similar to the one you’ll find on MSM and I’ve fallen in love with the technique she uses.
Amy F;) says
We take our toaster oven outside for a pizza backyard picnic too! 🙂 not exactly a brick fired oven roasted gourmet, but still super fun!