Saving Money While Stuck At Home (page 2)

Realbavman

A few money saving and immune system building tips from the upper midwest United States that I have used.

Make your own homeade wine (pick or barter for apples, sumac and so forth).

Go fishing, clean and freeze your catch.

Plant a garden, especially fresh greens.

Hunt or at least pick up fresh venison roadkill.

Swap sweat for fresh maple syrup and small farm and grass fed beef.

Cook and bake homeade food.

Exercise and eat healthy.

Take in plenty of fresh air, sunshine and vitamin C.

Do your own home repairs.

Save your vacation and sick days for if things get really bad. Work now if you can.

Turned out that the individual smart-plugs for monitoring have really come down in price, or else I just got lucky, but Costco had a twin pack of them for I think $24.99 CAD (that's probably equivalent to $0.20 USD right now, LOL)

It has it's own app, so you can turn sockets on and off remotely, as well as tracking the electricity used. Seems to work great.

a dozen or so 1 gallon demi johns

We have the 30 litre ones, equivalent to about 6.5 of those, it's even easier when you're doing it in one big batch (and makes it more likely to maintain a stable temp etc... because of the larger volume)

Simon

So after using the individual outlet monitors (that also provide remote control for the outlets) plus an energy meter for measuring individual device under load, I decided to take the plunge and get a whole-house monitoring system.

The theory is that if you only have your utility bill to go off, you are only getting 12 data points per year. Where is all the money going? You need to measure more to know and can then maybe make simple changes or upgrade appliances to save energy.

I liked the idea of the "sense" one but most of the comments I saw from people who used them were that the reality doesn't quite match the promise and it fails to identify devices accurately enough and consistently. The recent exchange rate has also pushed the price up to $450 CAD which is a bit steep for something only partly works.

I ended up getting the Emporia Vue (https://emporiaenergy.com/) which was significantly cheaper ($160 CAD but it is now listed for $245) and as well as monitoring the total usage you can measure 8 specific circuits (so cooker, washer, dryer, fridge etc...). The combination of this, plus the separate outlets provides a lot more data but I think I'd probably just go with the whole-house monitoring to start with if I was doing it again - that part was the simplest to install and only costs $60 USD (they didn't have it on Canadian amazon though, but if you're in the US you can probably buy it from them direct)

Installation of anything electrical can seem daunting but isn't really difficult if you take your time and the instructions were pretty clear and simple to follow.

The end result is great - I can now see the power usage of anything just by checking the app as it's used and you also see the hourly / daily / weekly / monthly usage (also broken down for the 8 individually monitored circuits).

It's fascinating being able to see what boiling a kettle uses for instance and the difference it makes being minimally filled vs completely full. I'm also going to see whether keeping a Keurig on for extended periods costs a lot more than just turning it on when you want a drink and then turning it off again.

I think I've probably saved a fair bit of money already just by seeing that some things draw quite a lot of power just by being plugged in. I expect it to more than pay for itself within 4 months, possibly less. Apple laptop chargers and XBox consoles look like they are pretty greedy. Some things such as fridges / laundry may turn out to be worth upgrading (or not as expensive to upgrade, once you take potential energy savings into account).

Could I have saved the money by unplugging everything? Maybe, but then you are making life really inconvenient. Being able to see exactly what each thing uses lets you target what is specifically costing money which is why having the detailed data is useful.

RubaDub

It sounds like electricity is very expensive in Canada and some parts of the US.

Phizzy

Very good advice on this Thread ! Thank you Simon for starting it.

We have put much of it in to practice, and have ended up saving money, and getting better quality food etc at the same time. I thought that Lock Down would cost me money, instead we have been living cheaper, but better, and are now not so lazy !

BluesBrother

We are saving money alright, no opportunities to go out and spend it in coffee houses and the events we would have gone to if it were not for the virus. It is a quiet, boring summer,but a cheap one.

Simon

no opportunities to go out and spend it in coffee houses

Yeah, I'm always astounded at how much people regularly pay for fancy coffee, it can be really expensive - you're paying for the pretentious self-aggrandizing titled "barista" (you make hot drinks pal, it's not a real skill). It can be a really expensive habit and make a huge dent in your retirement fund if you invested the money instead.

McDonalds coffee is great and a fraction of the price (plus their food is substantially better than Starbucks)

Phizzy

" Fancy Coffee" has never been my thing, I buy great quality beans, grind them myself, and make a better cup for pence than what they serve for about £2.50. They can keep it ! Rip Off !

Where I am not saving money, or rather am spending more, but still saving overall, is, because of boredom, I am drinking and smoking more than before Lock Down. But somehow, I have to keep somewhat sane.

We have brewed some rather nice St. Peter's I.P.A. which works out real cheap, so it is swings and roundabouts.

GrreatTeacher

It makes me laugh when you guys talk about how wasteful it is buying Starbucks because I totally agree, making your own and putting it in a to go cup makes so much more sense monetarily, but also it reminds me of when I was dating my husband.

We would be out riding around, and he would fill up the tank and go in and buy a soda which I thought was outrageous! Who does that? You bring your own drinks from home. You pack your own lunch for work. What an absolute waste of $2! My God, if you do that everytime you're out and about, you could waste $20 a month! What kind of a monstrous profligate spender are you?

And then, he paid the bonus $1 on top of the fill up to buy a token for the, wait for it.....drive thru car wash!! What in the actual...? Who does that? You wash your car at home use the vacuum there, too! I had only a few times used a public car wash, and it was the do it yourself kind where you put the quarters in and you'd better get finished before the water ran out and there was no dryer!

I had never been in such a thing. Wait! You can stay in the car? It drags the car along the platform? It soaps and washes? And then dries? And spits you out the other end? I was absolutely dumbfounded. And also a little enchanted. I was a very cheap date!

30 years later and we still have very different money styles, but I won on the packing of lunches. We both still pack lunches, drinks and coffee every day for work. If I ever get a Coke from the machine it's because I'm very stressed or overheated and dehydrated, but it's very rare and it still pings my heart to hear those three quarters clink in the machine!

Italiancalipso

Another small advice. Check your wifi router setting and switch off in the night the antenna. Small less consume of electricity, and a better environment for your health.

Ciao

IC

Saving Money While Stuck At Home

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