Back to Basics, Part 1

In 2009 I moved from Michigan (the country's then worst economy) to Nevada (runner-up). While in Nevada the two flip-flopped, Nevada was #1 for worst eceonomy is the entire U.S. Needless to say that things have been rough for many families, including ours, economically.

Recently we've decided to get "back to the basics" of what is really a financial necessity and what is not. We figure that if you don't need money for much then you don't need to work as much, or as hard, and so on...

Here is a list of our so far updates that have drastically impacted our life:

1. "Downgrading" from smart phones to a (yes, just one) dumb phone.

Cost of start-up: $30 for a monthly airtime card (phone was free!)

Yearly savings: ($90/month savings x 12 months=) $1,080!

2. Baking our own bread (my husband is in charge of this and has a FANTASTIC method that I can hopefully get him to share with the Blog world soon!)

Cost of start-up: $23 total: $1- wicker basket, $10- digital scale (on sale + coupon!), $4- cloth, $8- 25 lb. bag of flour

Yearly Savings: (About 4 loaves/month @ about $3.00/loaf, $12x12 months=) $144

3. Doing laundry by hand

([yes, this includes said cloth diapers] so far my awesome husband is also in charge of this... How did I get so lucky again?!)

Cost of start-up: $2- bar of Fels Naptha laundry soap, old-fashioned washboard and rinse buckets were gifted to us!

Yearly savings:  (8 loads of laundry/week ($2/load) x 52 weeks=) $832

4. Reverting back to cloth diapering

We had to stop doing this in October when we moved because our laundry situation was crazy

Cost of start-up: ZERO dollars! Our Fuzzibunz diapers were a very generous gift!

Yearly savings: ($30/month for disposable diapers x 12 months=) $360

So there you have it, four ways to get "back to the basics", save money (for us this is a savings of $2,416/year!), live frugally, and overall enhance your quality of life. Feel free to snag any or all of the above ideas, and let me know how it works out for you!

As we implement more of this in our lives I'll be sure to "share the wealth!"