Identify 10 new ways for me to save money.

I had gotten several quotes on landscaping my yard. After several months of hand-wringing, I have decided to make a go of this on my own. I have spent some money on books and attended some classes on landscape design. I also bought a few hundred $ worth of plants and am still working on getting them all in the ground.

When it is all done, I don’t want to have to have a service maintaining the yard either. I want to control what/how much chemicals are used on my yard. I am also finding it a bit relaxing.

It will not likely win any landscaping design competitions but I am liking the process.

Well, I have been saving all year and have a small budget for spending on Christmas gifts. I have been watching my coupons like a hawk. I got my nephew a book for 60% off and his Star Wars DVD set for $5!

I have also been building my niece’s gift. I didn’t get it finished while on vacation this week but I did make nice progress. It took me a whole day to turn the spindles for this cradle but I felt that a baby cradle needed to have curves and be somewhat ornate. This is from Woodcraft magazine. I used oak instead of maple (oak is what I had on hand).

I still need to make the legs/pendulum support and then stain/seal. When it is done, it will swing. The pattern was for the American doll 15” “bitty baby” but my niece collects the 18” version so I had to modify the length a bit.

has led me to ride my motorcycle to work more often. At today’s prices, I save almost $3.50 each day I ride my bike. (and having my motorcycle at work means that I can not be the driver when we all head out for lunch.)

Keep those tires inflated. I increased my milage @ 10% simply by keeping the tires properly inflated – and increased the life of the tires at the same time.

I have an electric hot water heater and the “hot” is absolutely scalding. This leads me to believe the temperature is set very high. Lowering the temp will not only save money each month but prolong the life of the heater. I will check this tomorrow.

I converted one switch in a dark hallway to a motion sensor. This hallway only had one switch and was being left on overnight often.

I also have replaced one bulb in each of my 2-bulb table lamps with compact fluorescents. When needing quick light for a short time, I use the standard filament bulb. If sitting for longer periods to read, I use the other.

I also replaced the lights on one of my ceiling fans. This has 4 bulbs, but can be turned on 2 at a time. 2 are regular and go on with the switch. The other 2 are the fluorescent and I switch to them when I will be in the room for longer periods of time.

I also removed 1 bulb from most of the other 4-light fans.

I hope the cost savings will offset the cost of the compact fluorescent bulbs. Even if they don’t, I feel better simply using less electricity.

I have a favorite chair in need of a footstool. Instead of spending the ridiculous amount of money places want for a leather footstool I decided to make my own. I already had the leather and foam. I just needed to buy the wood and edge piping (@ $30 in materials).

So, what is the “way to save money” here? By deciding to make something myself instead of buying it I entertained myself for the better part of a whole weekend and have a nice piece of furniture.