What are people doing to save money in this insane economy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did many of the things mentioned above, but here is where we spent money to save money long term:

We bought a battery powered lawnmower for $500 and safety goggles for $10. But mowing our lawn saves $110/month from April- Oct.

Cancelled the housecleaner twice a month. Saves $850. Bought a robot vacuum for $500 it does a decent job- maybe 80% as good as a good human (not my kids, who do a 50% as well as the robot, lol).

Bought solar panels just under the wire for the tax credit last year. Payback given current utility rates is 6 years, NPV is something like 38k, depending on assumptions.

How long does it take you to mow the lawn? I do things like that because I enjoy the yard work but the ROI is higher by just working a little harder at work to make my bonus larger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

We are similar, except not immigrants. Interesting to see how we made such similar choices right down to the car brand.

Why is everyone sending their kids to get STEM degrees? Aren't any of your kids interested in anything else?

What they are interested in is irrelevant. Its what pays the bills that matters.

ah! i guess this is why my college engineering student sees half the class he started with has dropped out because they can’t hack it. If you don’t have the natural talent and drive you’re gonna fail. this world is so competitive many of you are putting your mediocre kids in tight spots thry have no business in. Intelligence for engineering is like being a natural athlete. if you don’t have it, you don’t have it and never will.

[Anonymous]

Old car
Get gas in suburbs
Thrift everything
Do not eat out
Eliminate apps subscriptions and services
Plan meals
Turn lights off
Sweater and socks in winter - 67
Shades, windows open at night and until 8 am, temp at 79 in summer
Walk a lot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it really an “insane” economy?

No. But it might be getting there, and people are anxious about it for good reason.

It is insane if you don’t own a house and rent instead and can’t afford to buy.

If you own a house at a reasonable mortgage, the economy is not “insane.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have really changed how I cook. Buying more frozen than fresh for foods where that's possible (veggies, fish). My weekly baked potato "bar" dinner has been a hit and that's super cheap.

I switched to drugstore brands for makeup and skincare. Nice things in that vein were my "affordable luxuries," but they were surprisingly easy to let go when I found some threads about good drugstore products in the Beauty forum here.

Echoing the others who have said they're using the library. I got the Libby and Hoopla apps set up with my library card can get ebooks and audiobooks for free when my local branch doesn't have a book. That's been a huge savings.

This is such a cheap, comforting meal. We do baked potatoes at least once or twice a week too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

Where do you live? We are in DC and make a ton on SREC credits (like $3,000/year), but never have Pepco sending us $$$s even when it shows we produced far more energy than we used. We still pay at least $20/month just for being hooked up to the grid.

Same for me. Also in DC. However, at the end of the year, we did get an actual check in the mail from Pepco-- sorry, I don't recall how much it was.

[Anonymous]

I'm renting space in my garage to a company that does aquamation of pets. They have freezers with animal remains in my garage. Veterinarians drop the remains off and then the aquamation company comes and picks up the remains and brings them to their facility. The freezers are locked so my kids can't open them.

[Anonymous]

WTF, how big is your house? Our row house is 2500sqft and expensive cold months are $150. We keep it at 70 day and night.

NP, NOVA townhouse here, 2400 square feet. Our electric bills were about $450 a month this past winter, same as most people in our neighborhood and the not fancy SFH neighborhood behind us (from the neighborhood news group). We usually keep the thermostat at 68 during the day and 66 at night in the winter, but this winter we turned it way down and only heated the rooms we were in with energy efficient space heaters. Still $450. This is part of the price spike from data center energy demand.

[Anonymous]

Energy costs for many people exploded in BGE in the Baltimore area, but there's also the same wide variations in bills you see mentioned on here.

Here's the thing. It's not all due to data centers or rising energy costs in general. Some of it is due to infrastructure rebuilding. Some of it is due to that Maryland has to import energy due to shutting down coal plants with no replacement. But it's also due to that we had an especially colder winter this year, and last year was also a colder than typical winter, following several years of quite mild winters. When temperatures plunge, it costs significantly more to generate the energy. Outdoor temperature drops from 50 to 40 is less intensive on the energy usage than from 40 to 30 or lower.

Then you have the house itself. Huge variation. Do you have great big open windows with no curtains? Do you have open floor plans? Do you have newer windows or good storm windows? Are you shaded by trees or naked open on a lot? How old is your furnace? What insulation do you have?

I have an older property (circa 1930) with original windows, but new furnace, new insulation in the attic, restored windows and high quality energy efficient storm windows, no open floor plan other than the kitchen - breakfast room, and house isn't too exposed to wind chills. All in all, our bills were pretty reasonable given the stories we've heard, and we set our temperature at 68 indoors and down to 63 at night.

I do feel a bit weird that my SFH energy bills seems comparable to what some people have paid for studios in old converted buildings, probably with terribly leaky windows and loft floor plans. But there you go. It's not BGE's fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

Where do you live? We are in DC and make a ton on SREC credits (like $3,000/year), but never have Pepco sending us $$$s even when it shows we produced far more energy than we used. We still pay at least $20/month just for being hooked up to the grid.

Same for me. Also in DC. However, at the end of the year, we did get an actual check in the mail from Pepco-- sorry, I don't recall how much it was.

That's interesting...maybe this year we could get an end of year check as we will be out of DC for a good 5 months (including two summer months when our electricity usage is the highest).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

Where do you live? We are in DC and make a ton on SREC credits (like $3,000/year), but never have Pepco sending us $$$s even when it shows we produced far more energy than we used. We still pay at least $20/month just for being hooked up to the grid.

Same for me. Also in DC. However, at the end of the year, we did get an actual check in the mail from Pepco-- sorry, I don't recall how much it was.

We are in MoCo, MD. We have a east-west facing house and we actually get humongous amounts of sunlight. Our entire roof, on both slopes, over home and garage, is covered with solar panels. Our house almost resembles a sci-fi house.

We actually use a lot of electricity and we produce at least twice of what we consume. There is a charge for being hooked up to the grid, distribution, and the cost of using electricity at night or at peak usage time, which is substantially higher than day-time when electricity is being produced.

So, you are selling cheap and buying expensive. That may be the reason that we don't see too much money. However, we have a neighbor who is very frugal with his electricity consumption and he also has solar. He makes more money from Pepco than we do.

On the other hand, DH and I, get our cheap thrills when we even get $5 back from the utilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

We are similar, except not immigrants. Interesting to see how we made such similar choices right down to the car brand.

Why is everyone sending their kids to get STEM degrees? Aren't any of your kids interested in anything else?

Both my kids did dual majors. One STEM major and one Humanities major. Interestingly, they both got jobs easily because of their STEM major but it is the Humanities education that has allowed them to excel in the workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

Where do you live? We are in DC and make a ton on SREC credits (like $3,000/year), but never have Pepco sending us $$$s even when it shows we produced far more energy than we used. We still pay at least $20/month just for being hooked up to the grid.

Same for me. Also in DC. However, at the end of the year, we did get an actual check in the mail from Pepco-- sorry, I don't recall how much it was.

We are in MoCo, MD. We have a east-west facing house and we actually get humongous amounts of sunlight. Our entire roof, on both slopes, over home and garage, is covered with solar panels. Our house almost resembles a sci-fi house.

We actually use a lot of electricity and we produce at least twice of what we consume. There is a charge for being hooked up to the grid, distribution, and the cost of using electricity at night or at peak usage time, which is substantially higher than day-time when electricity is being produced.

So, you are selling cheap and buying expensive. That may be the reason that we don't see too much money. However, we have a neighbor who is very frugal with his electricity consumption and he also has solar. He makes more money from Pepco than we do.

On the other hand, DH and I, get our cheap thrills when we even get $5 back from the utilities.

I think the rates are highest due to demand, not production time. Rates are high in the evenings because everyone is pulling electricity. They start dropping after 8pm when usage starts to wane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

These things are all obvious. I’m already doing most of this (except solar panels). Like a PP said, these are just common sense. There are just a lot of unavoidable expenses.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm renting space in my garage to a company that does aquamation of pets. They have freezers with animal remains in my garage. Veterinarians drop the remains off and then the aquamation company comes and picks up the remains and brings them to their facility. The freezers are locked so my kids can't open them.

OMG.

Good for you on finding the craziest side gig I've ever heard of. But I'd have nightmares, lol.