Hello from Florida

[onencgirl]

Welcome to the village

[KimZ]

Cape coral You?

How long have you lived here?

Ahhhhhhhhhh No Way! Me too! How awesome is that!!!!!!!!! I live SE Cape....... you?

DD DoesGymnastics at Tropical Twister off Pine Island Rd..... and Goes to Cape Elementary

I have been her since 1996

and I just noticed something else Weird.......... Your birthdate...... August 27? I'm August 26! Are you my Doppelganger?

[Debbie-cat]

Hi and welcome from Minnesota!

[FLgal]

Ahhhhhhhhhh No Way! Me too! How awesome is that!!!!!!!!! I live SE Cape....... you?

DD DoesGymnastics at Tropical Twister off Pine Island Rd..... and Goes to Cape Elementary

I have been her since 1996

and I just noticed something else Weird.......... Your birthdate...... August 27? I'm August 26! Are you my Doppelganger?

Too funny!

I'm in the SW Cape, moved here in 08. I really love it here, and hope to retire here. If I can ever afford to retire. lol

I'm still young, i guess. Will be 30 in Aug. We have a Mortgage, two car payments, and other life expenses. blah! when we have money, it goes towards debt. When we don't have money, something always breaks, and then we accumulate more debt. And the cycle goes on.
So we are saving, saving, saving for a rainy day. Paying our debt when it rolls in, and extra when we can. In the meantime there are simple things I know i can do, and use to do, that can save us a bundle. For instance, all my utilities went up. electric, water, and cable/internet/phone, cell phone. I pay nearly 200/mth for each. That is some rediculous stuff. what a rip off. So i am line drying clothes, conserving water, cutting my grocery bill in half(sorry kids, no more pizza on fridays), going down to basic entertainment in aug when our contract is up, started a veg/fruit garden and talking less on my cell and doing more email for work. I'm doing a modified DR. Envelope system only for gas/groceries so I am not apt to spending more than I have. so far I have spent 30 of my 300 budget for the month on food, and i shouldn't have to g.shop until next week. I stock up on staples and canned items, as we are now in hurricane season. another blah. Every commission i earn, will go towards a debt and savings. Of course we need to set some aside for play. But not much. I'm not a big shopper...but my favorite thing to do is EAT OUT. For a family of 5, it is minimum 70 bucks to do so. So limiting that to special occassions will just have to do for now.
So long story short, i look forward to learning to tricks to saving, I look forward to seeing my savings grow and how to live again, below my means.

[KimZ]

I'm Old lololol 44 soon to be 45...... You don't have to give up pizza Fridays - Make them at home instead! You can get premade Pizza Dough at publix for 99 cents enough for 2 pizza's or make your own... really cheap... ask for discounted cheese ends at the deli =) and use leftover cut veggie's for the toppings....

As for the laundry - watch out cape does not allow drying lines outside and they will fine you..... inside the garage is ok because you can't see it.

Have you had your hotwater put on a heat recycling? it will cut your bill by 1/4 to 1/2.... also LCEC has a great thing that you can monitor online your electic usage! I haven't used it yet because I just found it =/

Famers Market in FT Myers (cape through May) you can get some good deals on Produce.

Do you have dark window treatments on the west side of the house? This will reduce the air bill which is just HUGE down here.

We do the Publix/Target Shuffle since I really don't like Wallyworld. There's a reduced bread place on Metro and their is that new Restraunt food place that has reduced prices.

We spend a LOT of time at the Library on Saturday's - checkout books on things like crockpot cooking etc...... they are CHALKED full of info.... I just took 5 out today to plan our menu's for next week.

Being frugal can be a LOT of fun---- esp with the folks around here!

[FLgal]

I'm Old lololol 44 soon to be 45...... You don't have to give up pizza Fridays - Make them at home instead! You can get premade Pizza Dough at publix for 99 cents enough for 2 pizza's or make your own... really cheap... ask for discounted cheese ends at the deli =) and use leftover cut veggie's for the toppings....

As for the laundry - watch out cape does not allow drying lines outside and they will fine you..... inside the garage is ok because you can't see it.

Have you had your hotwater put on a heat recycling? it will cut your bill by 1/4 to 1/2.... also LCEC has a great thing that you can monitor online your electic usage! I haven't used it yet because I just found it =/

Famers Market in FT Myers (cape through May) you can get some good deals on Produce.

Do you have dark window treatments on the west side of the house? This will reduce the air bill which is just HUGE down here.

We do the Publix/Target Shuffle since I really don't like Wallyworld. There's a reduced bread place on Metro and their is that new Restraunt food place that has reduced prices.

We spend a LOT of time at the Library on Saturday's - checkout books on things like crockpot cooking etc...... they are CHALKED full of info.... I just took 5 out today to plan our menu's for next week.

Being frugal can be a LOT of fun---- esp with the folks around here!

Thanks for the tips!
I'll have to check the lcec site, as for the hot water heater, please explain. Is it something we have to add to the tank or is it already there?
We go to the library multiple times a day, as our kids are great readers and strive for the highest AR points possible. I have DR book on hold right now.
We only have one window on the west side, in our diningroom, which has thick curtains. you are right, it gets hot on that side of the house. We have our AC set on 78 during the day, 76 at night. I don't open windows right now b/c of the smoke smell and allergies.
I'm line drying on my lanai, which our backyard is private with a 6ft fence and 10ft arecas. No worries there. i'd hope anyways.
thanks for the tips! keep them coming! Oh, and who do you use for internet? I was going to switch to centurylink, but if you don't get a phone line too, sometimes the rate can be a little high. We currently have the best package available with comcast. That is to expire in Aug, increasing the bill over 80/mth. Forget that! See ya comcast.

[KimZ]

Thanks for the tips!
I'll have to check the lcec site, as for the hot water heater, please explain. Is it something we have to add to the tank or is it already there?
We go to the library multiple times a day, as our kids are great readers and strive for the highest AR points possible. I have DR book on hold right now.
We only have one window on the west side, in our diningroom, which has thick curtains. you are right, it gets hot on that side of the house. We have our AC set on 78 during the day, 76 at night. I don't open windows right now b/c of the smoke smell and allergies.
I'm line drying on my lanai, which our backyard is private with a 6ft fence and 10ft arecas. No worries there. i'd hope anyways.
thanks for the tips! keep them coming! Oh, and who do you use for internet? I was going to switch to centurylink, but if you don't get a phone line too, sometimes the rate can be a little high. We currently have the best package available with comcast. That is to expire in Aug, increasing the bill over 80/mth. Forget that! See ya comcast.

The Hotwater can be hooked to the airconditoner so that you don't have a hotwater electric bill.

What is a Heat Recovery Unit (HRU)? An HRU takes the waste heat expelled during the air conditioning process and uses it to heat your hot water. Your hot water tank becomes more of a storage unit for the hot water, rather than the source of heating it. During air conditioning season, you can shut off the breaker to the hot water system and have virtually free hot water

It's expensiveto have hooked up but you can re-coup the cost in just 2 years with an average size family! and you may already have it and just not know it ..... most builders install it just don't have it hooked up...... look at LCEC HRU Program


http://lcec.net/billing/images/kiloWATCH.mp4
this is the program to watch your electric.... I plan on signing up this week =)


My air is on 80 during the day... we aren't home and 78 at night.... I have programmable thermostats... They are a GREAT saver... We have 2 air units... I live on one side of the house and my mom on the other.... (like a mother in law suite) I keep my air on 80 all the time until 8:00 pm until 5:00 am when it automatically goes down to 78.

My electric bill averages 170 with a pool - which only runs the min of 4 hrs.

Hummm I guess I know more about saving than I realized.... I just do it without thinking about it...

Cheers... Off to my Neices Graduation in North Port!

As for the net... we have Centruylink. We do have basic cable but I have netflix for anything good that I can't get I pay $7.99 a month for that and it's AWESOME

[FLgal]

I hop on the frugal train and I am hit by the "everything that can break, will now, until I have 0 funds and must use a CC bus"

TV, Car battery (yikes), toaster, blender(no more pina coladas..), and finally the fax machine. I had to fax something today, went to UPS, 18 bucks later. Fax transmitted.
This always happens. Why???? oh whyyyy.

[pollypurebred39]

FLgal Been there, still there. No CC's though. I'm sorry you're going through this.

[Russ]

blender(no more pina coladas..),

This is what the emergency fund is for, right?

[FLgal]

I just got the Dave Ramsey Total money makeover book from the library yesterday. I have read half of it, and cracked up at the chapter where it names situations such as the one I have experienced, as "Murphys".
No CC. I'm not buying a new toaster, blender or fax. I did buy a new car battery, need the car to take the kids to school and work.

Doubled our EF the other day. Feels good.