Tuesday, October 25, 2011

How A Towel Can Save You

No, this is not a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Much like the the simple washer savings baby step, I loved this idea because it only takes a second and it isn't something that I would have thought about on my own.

I live in a community where I can't line dry my clothes outside and I haven't reached the level where I am comfortable with wet clothes lying all over my house to dry. That means that I use my dryer and according to dryer tips there is an easy way to reduce the cost of each dryer load by 10%.

After throwing in all the wet clothes that have come out of the washing machine, take a big, fluffy, dry towel and throw it into the dryer with all the wet clothes. As this fluffy towel tumbles in the dryer with all the wet clothes, it helps to absorb the moisture in the wet clothes which allows them to dry more quickly. In the end, you get your clothes dry in less time and save a bit of money in the process.

I started doing this about a week ago and it seems to work just as claimed. it's one of the easiest 10% savings I have found in a long time.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Throwing on Cold Water

I love finding little baby steps to improve my finances which take very little time or effort to accomplish. This baby step does both in a matter of seconds and can save about $100 a year according to washer tips.

All you need to do is take a stroll over to your washing machine and turn the wash cycle switch so that it's pointing to a "cold – cold" wash. I have been doing this for a few weeks and I can't tell a difference in the cleanliness of my clothes at all. Unless your clothes are terribly dirty, I highly doubt that you will see a difference either.

It is the cost of heating the water that is the most expensive part of washing clothes. When the washing machine is set to "cold - cold" there is no cost to heat the water, and this is where the money savings comes from. A small and easy baby step that I took to help improve my finances.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Dave Ramsey Baby Step 3

Once you finished Baby Step 1 and Baby Step 2, you are ready for Baby Step 3 which is to put aside 3 to 6 months worth of expenses into your savings account. This will be your full emergency fund. Take the time to look at your monthly expenses and figure out how much money you would need to live for 3 to 6 months if you lost your job. Whatever amount you come up with is how much you should have in your full emergency fund.

The important thing to remember is that this money is for emergencies only such as any unexpected incident which would have a major impact on you and your family. This emergency savings should be kept in a money market account so that it can easily be accessed in an emergency. The key to remember is that this money is not investment money, but insurance money for you to use when the unexpected things in life happen.