Hypermiling

Hypermiling, a way of increasing fuel economy, has been getting a lot of buzz in the past few weeks. I've heard stories from two morning shows, NPR, and somewhere else that I can't remember. Getting more out of each gallon is always a plus so I decided to give it a test run.

I've filled up twice since I heard the initial story and started hypermiling. On the first my fuel economy was up approx* 2 miles and on the second it was up approx 4 miles. Not super impressive result, but I only hypermile about half the time. On days where I'm on schedule or don't have a schedule I hypermile. Day's when I'm running later and have to be across town for a meeting I don't. Its somewhere around a 60/40 50/50 split.

What I've been doing:
Coasting down- when there's a hill I let gravity take its course. Instead of stepping on the brake to slow down I ease off of the gas- or just enjoy the extra speed.

Red coasting- whenever I see red (stop lights, stop signs, brakes) I take my foot off of the gas. When I need to I brake, but usually I can coast along for a while.

Keeping back- I keep a couple of car lengths between my car and the one in front of me. This lets me coast when I see red. Another way to think about it is not having to drive like the person in front of you.

Easing up- Letting the car start to roll (let up on brake) before hitting the gas. I played cards through HS physics (and somehow got an A/B) but this has something to do with the difference in effort to get tires moving from a full stop or a slow roll.

Feather feet- Lightly hitting applying pressure to the gas pedal. Manufacturers sell you on how fast you can go 0-60, but a slower start saves gas.

Slowing down- This is the hardest. According to this little chart above 60 there is a falloff in miles/gallon. The sweet spot seems to be in the 40-60 mile range.

This driving style takes though but makes sense when you get into it. Red coasting means you're not pumping in gas that you will then work against while braking. I've also found that just as I hit the stopping point for lights they tend to change.

I've read and heard more extreme things that include changing to neutral while coasting. I don't know if that would be a good idea with my automatic transmission and I feel like that's asking for an accident. Thought the tips above require thinking differently they don't make your driving dangerous.


*Approx because before I did the math in my head, stopping with a whole number, not looking at the decimals. So my last fill up could have been anywhere in the 3.4 and 4.7 miles higher.

Baking Soda Love

It's been a while since I've talked about how amazing baking soda is. Today I have two of my kitchen favorite- in the dishwasher and cleaning veggies.

Those dual action tabs that you can buy are nice, but usually expensive. I got some powdered detergent through freecycle and on its own it wasn't that good. Dishes were spotty, sometimes with food stuck on. I decided to add a little baking soda to the pre-wash cup and the results have been amazing. Everything comes out super clean for just a few cents a load.

Cleaning fruits and vegetables has always been one of those things I hate to do. When I use soap it's hard to get all of it off but water doesn't usually seem like enough. Now, for things like apples, pears, zucchini, and cucumber I use a dash of wet baking soda. I wet the item, put a dash of baking soda in my hand and rub away. The gentle abrasiveness of baking soda strips away the dirt and wax, making me a happy girl.

Baking soda uses- drain cleaner and making baking powder.

Venturing Beyond Laundry- Follow-up

Earlier this week I posted about a clogged drain. Instead of opting for Drano I decided to give a homemade remedy a try. Here's the recipe I used followed by a more in depth review of my process.

Recipe:
1/4 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup vinegar, a lot of hot water, funnel

Use the funnel to pour 1/4 cup baking soda into the drain. Follow with 1/2 cup vinegar. After 20 minutes (or when all of the fizzing has stopped) flush with hot water.

My thoughts:
On Thursday I got the recipe to unclog a drain from many sources.* The general idea is baking soda, followed by vinegar, followed by hot water. The baking soda and vinegar do a fizzing thing, kinda like those volcano's from elementary school. The fizzing breaks down the gunk buildup from soaps, shampoos, ets. The hot water washes it down the drain.

Most of the recipe's called for a 1:1 ratio. On Friday night I poured in 1/2 cup of baking soda into the drain and realized an issue. The baking soda filled the drain hole completely, so the vinegar fizz action happened in the tub. While this was cool to look at it didn't seem to be doing much. I went to the gym, came home, flushed the drain and went to bed. Saturday morning Gameboy reported that the drain was better but not perfect.

I decided to try again this time using a hacked funnel** and only 1/4 cup baking soda. Before pouring the baking soda in I noticed some hair at the bottom of the drain that wasn't there before and yanked it out. This ranks as one of the top 10 grossest feelings ever. I funneled in the baking soda, followed by 1/2 cup vinegar and let it do its thing for a few minutes. I flushed the drain with hot water then jumped in the shower. Honestly, I can't remember the last time the drain worked that well.

All in all this is something I will keep using. I had to use it twice, but the first time I didn't use it in the best way for my particular drain. Also, slow drains and clogs at other apartments have sometimes used more than one bottle of Drano. This method definitely saved some money and is better for the environment too.

*I never just go with the first one I find. I like to build a bit of consensus when wandering to the beaten path.

**We don't have a funnel so I cut the top off of a water bottle in the recycle bin. It was the perfect size for this little experiment.

Venturing beyond laundry

In the shower this morning I noticed that the drain was running seriously slow. I asked Gameboy, who conferred and suggested picking up some Drano next time we do a grocery run. I made a noncommittal sound and turned to the internet.

There are a multitude of recipes, but most go back to baking soda, vinegar, and hot water. Tonight I'll give it a try and report tomorrow.

Snacks on the go

I've realized that I talk about food a lot on this blog. I have a hard time parting with more than $40 at a time (an additional part of the dilemma in yesterday's post) but going out to eat and other food spending was derailing my nonbudget.* As a result I look for ways to keep myself away from restaurants and drive-thrus.

I spend a lot of time in my car. Most is work, but there’s also errand running, socializing, and the different ways I earn money on the side. Some days this means going from the office to an event without time to stop home for dinner. Other days work visits run late and by the time I get back to my car I could eat a vegetarian horse.

To help tide me over until I can get to real food I keep a bag of snacks in the car. Right now its 100 cal snack packs. Over the winter I did a research study that involved snack packs and at the end they gave me boxes and boxes to take home. When those run out I’ll probably make my own snack packs with dried fruit, trail mix, and whatever else I can think up.

To keep my car from looking like a vending machine I stash the snack packs in a tote bag on the floor of the back seat.** Any time I feel hungry or start thinking about a Starbucks run I reach into the backseat and grab a snack.

Thats what works for me!

*I didn't have an official budget until recently. My previous method was to keep a running tally of approximately how much went onto the credit card for the month, trying to stay below a preset amount.

**I live in a two person child free household. As a result the back seat is rarely used. Some other options at the glove compartment and the hump between the front seats.

A different kind of drive through

Friday morning I got up, got ready for work, and headed out the door. I had a site visit in the morning and a meeting in the office directly after. As I pulled up to the site I realized what I didn't have was my lunch.

When the visit was over I started thinking about which drive-thru to visit on my way to the office. I was too far from home to make it to my meeting on time. Somewhere along the way I realized I would pass a Target so I decided to go in and buy what I would have brought for lunch. It took me 11 minutes between pulling off and back onto the road. I picked up a yogurt, banana, and chocolate bar (don't ask) for $1.27. Even with the chocolate bar this was healthier than anything I would have gotten at a drive-thru and less expensive too.

Next time I go into the office I plan on taking in a stack of frozen meals to avoid this happening in the future. That and trying to remember my lunch.

Homemade Laundry Detergent- The Powdered Version

Recently I’ve seen a few posts on frugal/financial blogs about homemade laundry detergent. I think they’re great, but I run into a few problems with the liquid recipes. Most call of a 5 gallon bucket to store the detergent in. Issue is I don’t have the strength or space for something that big. Also, something about boiling the soap down on the stove and large quantities of hot water scares me. So here’s the powdered version for apartment dwellers who are short on space, anyone who uses a laundry mat, or just doesn’t want to deal with the other method.

I got my recipe from Modern Cottage early last year. So far I’ve made a single and double batch. I made the double batch in June and we’re still working on it.

-1 bar of soap: Fels Naptha is laundry soap that worked well for me. Other use Ivory^* or other bath soaps. The soap should come to about 2 cups.

-1 c Borax: I found it in my grocery store. You can also use 20 Mule Team Borax's** store locator.

-1 c Washing Soda. I also found this at the grocery store.

1. Grate the soap on a cheese grater. This isn’t fun but you’ll get through it. Some have recommended using a food processor but I broke the shredder attachment on mine when I tried this.

2. Mix the soap, washing soda, and borax together and you’re done.

Use 1T for small loads (or washers like mine) and 2T for regular loads. I store this in some extra Gladware and have a measuring spoon dedicated to laundry.

^Ivory tip- Grate it and let it sit for a few days to dry out the soap. Use your fingers to crush the soap to a finer consistency. This will help it dissolve better. Thanks Heather! Putting the soap in before the clothes also helps.

*I'll be using the Ivory that got me the $4 register reward I mentioned in the last post when I get around to making more in the next week or two.

**I’m not endorsing any particular brand. These are the ones I found when shopping. I’m a visual person so knowing what a box might look like helps.

$0.05

That was how much I spent at Walgreens tonight. I walked out with 2 boxes of Kleenex, 4 rolls of Scotch tape, and some dishwashing liquid. How you ask?

• I had a $4 register reward from a soap purchase a few weeks ago


• I scanned their circular for the week when I walked in


• I tore out 3 coupons for the above items.

The clerk rang me up and also seemed amazed that my total was 5 cents. Then came the slighly embarasing knock yourself upside the head moment. I joked about having 5 cents, because even I, the queen of the swipe, realized that was too little to swipe. I put my hands in my pockets and realized a) my wallet wasn't with me and b) all I had on me was a penny. The clerk was cool about it but I ran out to my car, pulled a nickel from the change tray, and ran back in.

I couldn't have done this without some help from Money Saving Mom. She blogs about all sorts of deals, including the items that get you register rewards at Walgreens. I've been shopping at this particular Walgreens of and on for over a year and had no idea that register rewards existed. My only note of caution is to only get things that you actually need/use. On a few occasions I've thought "wow that's a great deal" but when I think about it I'd never use the product.

Happy saving.

First Friday

My favorite frugal date night is a little thing called First Friday. In my area (and the last city I lived in too) many art galleries open their doors to the public during evening hours. We get to walk around and look at a wide range or art. Another plus is exploring a part of the city that we might not otherwise get to know.

Tonight we'll head out after dinner, maybe with another couple, to get some free culture and ave a nice evening.

Resturaunt food at home

If you're trying not to eat out this month (or in general) Top Secret Recipes is a fun site. You have to pay for most of the recipes but most categories have a few free ones.

Happy eating!

Groceries

So we're two days into the month and I've already spent more than I did in the first three weeks of February. The damage:

Safeway (Sat): 19.98
Albertsons: 45.32
Safeway (Sun): 18.88

Total: 88.18

Crazy as that may seem I'm pretty happy with things. Gameboy has enough cereal to last the next three months and I got two weeks worth of frozen lunches (both at Albertson's). I also got items to help with the coming weeks of crazy travel in our household.

Something else I love doing is looking at the savings at the bottom of the receipts. On Saturday I send Gameboy on a Safeway run to get things for a picnic* where he saved 7.54. On the other two trips I saved 47 and 17.16. I wouldn't pay full price for a lot of what I bought, but those numbers still excite me.

What keeps me from having a heart attack is that other than produce I probably won't go to the grocery store until the end of the month. I have just over 60 dollars left in this months grocery budget so I shouldn't run into any problems.


*Can you explain how Sat can be mid 70's followed by a snowy 32 on Sunday?

King Soopers Bag Credit

King Soopers (at least in my area) is starting to do a $0.05 bag credit for every bag that you bring in to reuse. I've been bringing in cloth bags for a while now so it will be great to get the extra reward.

Good-bye Netflix, Hello Redbox

Right out of college I lived with two girlfriends in an old (we’re talking late 1800’s) D.C. row house. It was in a great location so we overlooked little things like the lack of air conditioning. Despite the lack of amenities and how little we paid in comparison to our friends we were all young and broke.

One of my roommates proposed Netflix as an alternative to cable. We each paid something like $6 for what worked out to 10-15 discs a month. Three years later I still have the account and pay $9.68 a month. I average about 3 discs a month and occasionally take advantage of their watch instantly online feature.

I love the service but the more I think about it the more I realize it’s an unnecessary expense. After a little math I realize that a putting that money into a savings account making 3%-3.5% interest would mean holding onto $124-128 a year. Since I’m not quite ready to cut the cord I’ll put my account on hold at the end of the month. If I did it today I’d loose most of the money they charged me a few days ago.

A tip let me know that you can put accounts on hold for up to 90 days. During that time I’ll try RedBox. I can’t remember the lovely blogger who tipped me off to their free rentals but thank you. I’ll see how often they send me free codes and consider signing up for the SMS feed or getting codes online.

After a few month’s we’ll reevaluate.

Eating at home

In addition to trying to get my financial life together I’m trying to get improve my eating habits. I’m not trying to be an all out health nut, just improve things a little at the time. In the past I’ve dieted off 10-15 pounds with a lot of focus then slowly gained it back when life got busy and/or stressful.

Luckily my health and financial goals dovetail nicely. The main goal is to get most of my meals from my fridge. Even when the things I cook aren’t good for me it is still healthier than anything I could get at Burger King, Applebee’s or any other major chain. It is also much better for the wallet.

The main exceptions will be when I'm on the traveling for work (and getting reimbursed), a monthly work meeting (sadly not reimbursed) and one date night meal a month.

Look for recipes in the coming posts.