Energy Saving Tips

As summer approaches, we'll all be using even more energy to cool our homes. Here are some tips to help you cut back on your utility bills:

• Cook with your microwave whenever possible - it uses 65% LESS energy than your oven - not to mention that your oven heats up your kitchen! It's also a great time of year to use your grill...



• Close the drapes/blinds - Everyone (well, almost everyone) loves natural light...but leaving curtains & blinds open during the heat of the day can make your room/house about 10 - 15 degrees hotter - which makes your a/c run harder & longer - costing you big bucks. Early morning and evening sunlight is great and can light a room for free without heating up your home.



• Wait to put leftovers away - your fridge has to work harder to cool down warm food - wasting energy! So, let leftovers sit on the counter and cool down a bit before putting them in the fridge. Set a timer for about 25 to 30 minutes so you won't forget....leaving it out for too long can promote bacterial growth. I usually left leftovers sit in the storage container while I finish cleaning the kitchen from dinner....when I'm done cleaning, the food is cool enough to store for a later meal!


• Fill up your freezer - a freezer expends extra energy to chill all unused space! If you don't have your freezer filled with stock-piled food, fill it up with bags of ice or empty containers of water (which will become ice, duh). I sometimes use these "space fillers" in the bottom of a cooler.


• Doing some landscaping this year? Plant some deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves) on the south and west sides of your home - these will block the sun in the summer, but let the sun warm up your home in the winter!


• Save on water - After the kids take a bath, don't drain the tub right away! Fill up a plastic watering can and water your potted plants and garden vegetables. FREE water and the plants love slightly soapy water (natural insect repellent).

FREE Custom T-Shirt

OKAY - So I think this is too cool. Make your own custom t-Shirt FOR FREE (just a few bucks for S/H). They've got easy tools to walk you through the process. You can put a photo on the shirt, designs, words, phrases. The possibilities are endless: (note: your own photo or company design is an additional $8, but they've got TONS of cool stock designs to pick from..and, really $8 is less than you'd pay anywhere else for a custom shirt)

• "Maggie's Mommy" or


• "Happy Birthday *****" with a photo of your loved one when he/she was young and pretty/goofy/firm/whatever


• Bridal Showers


• Baby Showers


• Bachelor/Bachelorette parties


• Reunions


• Sales Meetings (either to motivate or frighten, as appropriate)


• Sarcastic comments you feel compelled to share with the world....


• Or the old classics like "I'm with Stupid" or "Give Peace a Chance" or "God Bless America"

I'm totally making my shirt tonight, friends, so click the link above and get crackin' on your shirt!! "Wear custom or go topless", as Grandma used to say...

FREEbies

These are a day early this week. Enjoy...there are some good ones this week!

• Check out the great freebies at Walmart (playtex, kotex, sun crystals and more!) Click here for all the goodies...
• This is a GREAT freebie site!

• Free Book Summary: "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Powerful Lessons in Personal Change" Click Here
• Get your FREE sample of Gillette Clinical Strength here.
• TOTALLY FREE Sales & Marketing Magazines Click Here Would make a great Father's Day gift or a nice way to sharpen your own mad-skillz!
• Educators can receive a FREE Lego Kit here.
• I just love these free motivational books...are you a procrastinator or just need a little extra Kick in the Pants? This is a great e-book - Enjoy! Free Book Summary - "The Art of the Start - The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything". Click Here
• Free Subscription to Accounting Today Magazine - The Business Newspaper for the Tax & Accounting Community. Click Here
• FREE Fitness plan - NO obligation. Join Curves Now and Get 50% OFF & 30 DAYS ON US! Click Here for more information
  
• I just ordered my blueberry plants and can't wait to save TONS of money eating my home-grown, organic blueberries! Click below for yours.

Meet Me at Meijer w/o 5/24

Here are the "good" coupon match-ups for this week. Enjoy!


• $2.50 Ball Park Beef Franks - AND $1/2 in 5/17 RP$2.50



• $1 Chi-Chi's Salsa - AND .55 in 5/17 SS. NET PRICE = Free!
  


• $2 Bertolli Pasta Sauce - AND .60 in 4/5 Unilever NET PRICE = $1



• $1.75 Quaker Life Cereal - AND $1 printable if Quaker Life Maple & Brown Sugar Cereal is included NET PRICE = .75



• B1G1 Free Orville Redenbacher's Microwave Popcorn - AND Coupons in 5/17 SS & 4/19 SS. Net Price varies



• $.99 Aunt Millies Buns - AND .35 in 5/10 RP. NET PRICE = .29



• $1.33 I Can't Beleive It's Not Butter - AND .50 in 3/29. NET PRICE = .33


• $1.67 Triscuit or Wheat Thins - AND $1 Printable in the coupons.com widget in right side bar NET PRICE = .67 each

• $3 Sargento Deli Style Natural Sliced Cheese - AND .40 in 4/19 SS. NET PRICE = $2.20



• $5 California/DiGiorno Pizza - AND $1 printable here & $1 Meijer Mealbox . NET PRICE = $3



• 1/2 Price SuperPretzel - AND .75 in 5/10 RP. Price Varies (Should be REALLY cheap!)

FREEbie for Responsible People!!

Suze Orman (I love her!)

Free online will & trust kit! Suze Orman offers a free Online Will and Trust Kit via coupon code "people first". (This is an online version, not a download, but still works great and fills a need for many of us!).

Note that you can have the site save as much or as little private information as you choose.

Now get busy and scratch this off your list of "grown-up" things-to-do!

Aldi Deal w/o 5/24

Another week of great Aldi produce deals -

• Tomatoes - .69/20 oz package
• Mushrooms - .69/10 oz package
• Red Onions - .69/2 lb bag

Stock up on the red onions! They freeze really well (see my post on this here).