How far do you go to save a few bucks?

Maybe if it is really necessary to save some money I will do the same. But the weather here is not that cold and when we are at work we turned off the heater too and other lights. It's good to conserve energy.

I think everyone should be doing things of that nature not only to save money, but it also helps the environment. By doing little things like lowering our thermostat and unplugging unused refrigerators were helping ourselves out and the environment so really it only makes sense for us to be doing things like this. I have done things like photocopy college textbooks so I dont have to buy them in order to save A LOT of money.

we dont usually go away but that is a good idea.

I do, do the same thing when ever we go away. I figure why pay for utilities we are not home to use. Lately though we have a friend stay here to watch our dog when we go on trips so of course he has to have the heat on or the air conditioning depending on the season, but if the dog is staying at someone else's house then those utilities are turned down or shut off and everything unplugged.

Nah. I don't unplug all my electronics or lower the thermostat when I leave the house. I usually try to save a few bucks by shopping for bargains and driving less. The weather has been nice so I've been walking to work a lot this winter. I normally can't do that because of the winter weather. A lot of people can't walk to work but I'm lucky that way.

Hi asyria51, I take several measures to save money; in this climate we need to. I don't leave any of the appliances on standby and turn off lights when not in use. This time last year I used to heat the house upstairs and downstairs during the night; now I just heat upstairs while we are sleeping. Not sure if there will be a difference yet as my gas bill is not due till next month. On the plus side, my electricity bill is €10 less for the same period as this time last year so that's good. Luckily the front of my house is where the sun streams in during the day so I can often get away without putting the heating on except early morning, evening and during the night when it's really cold. I don't put the heating timer on unless it's near freezing here, like 5 degrees Celsius or less as there's no need to. IrishGal77 :)

We unplug things and turn off the heat. but because we live in a condo, it never actually gets that cold. Good thing you can wear extra layers while your house warms up again!

Hi Asyria, I cannot unplug everything since I have a large aquarium at home. I think the fishes will all die if I unplug it. For most other appliances, I will unplug, except for the fridge. I think that is not just a few bucks of saving! It can be a large sum if you are away for a week or more.

It is actually a very rare thing for us to leave our house for more than a few hours, so that is not something that I've ever done in order to save a little bit of money. However, we have gone so far as to use all compact florescent lightbulbs in our home and we also burn a lot of fires in our fireplace during the winter so that we are able to save a little bit of money on our gas and electric bills. Additionally, I buy a lot of things at the grocery store on managers special and then I will immediately freeze those items because they are significantly cheaper.

We always unplug all the appliances at home, if we are to go out for a while. That way, we can conserve on electricity, because they still consume electricity by just being plugged. In addition, the TVs specially are safe from the effect of lightnings , when they are unplugged . And we prevent fires when we do that.

I try an keep a minimal amount of lights on though I'm bad about almost having my computer on. I take quick showers and try and conserve water as much as possible. I don't even have a working heater, so I just have 1 space heater that barely heats my bedroom and I'm freezing right now. I usually save money by eating at home, and I try and buy food on sale and eat cheap. I lived on a food budget of about $30/mo for a while but it sucked. I started walking instead of driving a lot. You can save a fortune in gas if you're willing to walk short distances, it adds up fast. Also when I go out I try and do all my shopping when I already have to drive somewhere. Also until I buy a house I'm determined to pay as little rent as possible, which sometimes puts me in a bad neighborhood and no heat in the winter.

I only really use my heat at night unless it is super cold in the morning. I cook big meals and eat leftovers from them the next night and my dryer doesn't get that hot. My hubby gets a shower before work. I get one at night and wash up in the morning and my three year old gets a bath every night. I turn off the lights when I am not using them, make the large majority of my cleaning products at home so I only really shop for the ingredients once a month and the ingredients are rather cheap and I bought a fryer so if I ever want 'fast food' then I make it at home. I look for shopping bargains and more so. With kids it is sometimes hard to save especially if you need emergency pull ups or something but I do try to save as much as I can.