Financial Prepping at Home
Posted by caged_vermin@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 45 comments
I have always tried to pinch pennies where I can and I thought I'd share some things I do to save money around my house. It may not be a ton, but sometimes it adds up to a tank of gas or a few extra groceries.
One big thing I do to save electricity is put everything on my house in power strips and turn them off when the devices that are plugged in are not being used. Every electronic device in your house pulls power when it's plugged in. Specifically things like computers, TVs, and video game systems are essentially always in stand-by mode pulling power so that they can turn on quickly. Even things like lamps, or phone power blocks (which are a huge culprit in power draw). Our dryer is also electric and I learned you can dry your clothes on lower heat and for a shorter cycle than you think. We cut our dry time down by 20 minutes and everything was dry. I've been experimenting with running the dryer for only 20 mins on low and then hanging my clothes on a dry rack which is also going well.
Another often overlooked thing is water consumption. When I do dishes I have a small bowl filled with soap and water and I use that to scrub and wash from, the sink is not on unless I am washing the soap off of the dishes. When I run the water on the sink to wash off the soap, I never go full blast, usually just a small stream. When I shower I will get in, get wet, and then turn the shower off. Soap up and scrub and then turn the water back on to rinse off. When I brush my teeth the water is off until I need it to rinse, but immediately gets turned off when I am rinsing my mouth out.
Lastly, groceries. We do two things that help tremendously, that are kind of both the same thing. One is we sit every Sunday morning and plan out the entire week's meals. While we do this we also both hunt for coupons. I know it's old school and not glamorous but we end up saving in the low end $5-10, on the high end we have pulled $20-30 off of the bill. We plan our meals based around what's on sale or is cheap and every meal lasts a minimum of two nights for the family, and at least a day of lunch for two people. The second part of this is we use the local mega grocery store's app to build our shopping list in. Then when we go to a cheaper store, like Aldi, we have the list open and compare prices on everything we purchase. If it's cheaper at the big brand name store we go there after to purchase it. If your local stores have bulk sales on produce buy them and learn to freeze or store them. Often during the summer we can get 10 ears of corn for $2-3. We break them in half, blanche them, and freeze them in packs of three. We do the same for potatoes, onions, and peppers and peppers and onions don't need to be blanched!
These seem trivial but they start to add up over time. Take the grocery example. If you buy 35 items at the grocery every week and you can get all of them for $0.10 cheaper that's $3.50 per week, or $14 per month, or $168 per year, which for my car is four full tanks of gas.
DaveyAllenCountry@reddit
Okay so the power strips are a great idea. You can get the ones that have most of the plugs that aren't always on too and only turn on from activation. For water, believe it or not its better to use a faucet head with small powerful jets than it is a standard stream with low intensity.
logicflawz@reddit
I got into prepping from the FIRE angle. I started looking to reduce debt, then get FI, then moved in solar and other ways to save money and reduce dependency on grid, gardening/composting/basic “homestead” …. and then eventually into prepping.
Next up, self-defense/home defense, skill building, and maybe hunting/fishing
Virtual_Duck_4934@reddit
Get a monitoring kit for your circuit panel and find out for sure what's drawing power and what isn't. The phantom drain phenomenon with phone chargers isn't nearly as bad anymore and I can confirm that personally because I can see exactly how much power is being used on every circuit all the time.
It'll keep you from chasing your tail, and it'll also give you some perspective when you realize that your phantom drain would need to go for like a decade before it matched how much power your coffee maker consumes every morning. It's also excellent for knowing exactly how big of a generator you need, for example, or exactly how long a battery of a certain size will run your freezer. I was surprised with how much power some appliances consume and how little others did compared to conventional wisdom.
caged_vermin@reddit (OP)
Yeah but that's also assuming people have modern chargers. I know a ton of people who haven't bought a power block in years, especially for phones that don't come with new blocks, like iPhones.
But yes you are absolutely correct that appliances have a huge draw to do dumb things like toast and coffee.
Virtual_Duck_4934@reddit
That's true, but you won't actually know without measuring it which is more the point I'm trying to make. I know in my house with a mix of chargers, the power it takes to run the clock on my microwave far outstrips any phantom drain I've been able to find even with every circuit in my house being monitored constantly. YMMV, which is why it's worth it IMO to measure before spending money and/or effort on a problem that may not exist for you.
So while phantom drain IS a thing, especially if you have devices plugged in that just go to sleep like laptops, in my experience a charger without a device plugged into it simply isn't causing enough phantom drain to justify the expense of a whole other device like a power strip to cut it off. I'm talking pennies a year.
Scotty-OK@reddit
I used to leave my main desktop computer running 24/7 due to it running as file server. But recently I've moved all of that online. Then when I switched to Fedora Linux and realized that during the update process there is a "shutdown" option, I decided to let it update every night then shut down. Only been doing it a couple of weeks now, so don't know of the savings (if any) in the power bill.
SheistyPenguin@reddit
Another big benefit when building a PC, is to pay a little more for a "gold" or higher -rated power supply (it goes bronze, silver, gold, platinum). It will pay for itself in your power bill within the first year.
PrisonerV@reddit
My wife just surfs the internet and plays basic games. I got her a little fan less mini PC that uses like 15 watts of power when it's on. No since having a big energy hog like my gaming PC.
SheistyPenguin@reddit
Those things are great- they are my go-to when older relatives ask for help getting a new PC. They are literally pocket-sized desktops!
armacitis@reddit
I've been eyeing up some of the old Ryzen "efficiency" chips with onboard graphics for AM4 boards I already have because they're listed for like twenty bucks on ebay and the documentation says they use like 30 watts.
At the same time I'm putting together a pc in a gigantic aluminum case from 2007 for my uncle and a little tempted to just use the efficiency part.
Open-Attention-8286@reddit
I've seen people take an old tower PC, gut it, and replace the innards with a raspberry pi. That might be an option next time :)
armacitis@reddit
I usually go with platinum and they usually have a 10 year warranty. There are gold ones that do too but that means the manufacturer expects it to last at least ten years without needing to be replaced and that difference will add up even more over that long.
caged_vermin@reddit (OP)
I do have a home lab that was originally running off of some small form factor Dells, but I moved everything to some Raspberry Pi 4's and 5's and they use almost no power. It is true that computers, especially with lower wattage power supplies, idle at very low draws, but my thing was more of "Zero Consumption".
bigdog_00@reddit
You may look into getting a 1.0L PC. You can leave that running constantly, and they typically idle at under 10 watts, which is pennies compared to your main rig, I'm sure. My main rig idles at over 120 watts, so it's a big difference!
Also, I think I'm a bit out of the loop. I see a lot of people mentioning Tuesday, and prepping for Tuesday. Is that in reference to Black Tuesday? Right before the Great Depression?
PrisonerV@reddit
Switch to all LEDs for lighting.
Make sure your attic is properly insulated.
Invest in double pane low-e windows and doors.
Cook at home. Grill outside in the summer. Bake inside in the winter.
Get a killawatt meter and check actual power draw. Electric dryers use a lot but only for a few hours a week. Changing out that old fridge in the garage or changing an upright freezer to a chest freezer will yield much more savings.
Automate. I have the bathroom fan on a wall switch timer. The garage is all motion lights.
cardiganqween@reddit
I wish I had the money to add insulation in my old house. We roast in summer and freeze in winter. It’s expensive but it would be a huge long term benecit
armacitis@reddit
You might be able to do it one part of the house at a time to spread out the costs and "bootstrap" the efficiency savings.
OtherwiseAlbatross14@reddit
Many power companies have some big rebate programs that can help with the cost
Open-Attention-8286@reddit
If you are a compulsive baker and can't stand restricting yourself to winter, get one of those countertop electric appliances like a toaster oven or air fryer, so you can bake out on the porch easily during the summer. Or, look for a "camp oven" that you could set on your grill/firepit/rocketstove to do your baking with.
Solar ovens are also an interesting option for summertime baking. They can be store-bought or DIY, there are tons of designs available online.
caged_vermin@reddit (OP)
We love baking during the winter, it warms up the house and fills it with delicious smells.
SYadonMom@reddit
I’ve been baking in an old BBQ that my husband wasn’t using. I got a new temperature gauge. And was in business. Just did two loads of bread. My kitchen gets too hot in the summer.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
One of the best preps you can do is getting completely out of debt.
This gives you Initiative. Initiative is the freedom to ACT rather than being forced to REACT.
When things get bad in the city, taking a few days off to get away and avoid trouble isn't that big of a deal if your bills are paid, no debt and have some cash.
How many keep their houses closed up year round. Open the windows, enjoy the fresh air. We are in the deep south and usually only run our AC 2 1/2 to 3 months a year when it's averaging 100 or so daily.
Get out and walk. Beats spending money on TV, gets your body moving and will probably allow you to stop taking some of the "required" medications your doc has pushed on you many of which are because of people's sedentary lifestyles. Instead, preppers are worried about stockpiling meds than figuring out how to get off of some of the meds.
caged_vermin@reddit (OP)
Yeah were in the North East and we can do that for good chunks of the spring and the fall, and even parts of the summer, but the winter is completely out of the question. Just this past winter we had lows between 8 - 12 degrees.
Yeah I agree about the meds, to a point. If you aren't eating well, getting good sleep, getting plenty of exercise and sunlight, not boozing or drugging or smoking all the time, and detaching from media of any kind, social, TV, video games, you absolutely are destroying your body and creating unnecessary health complications.
I will say, however, that I have a psychological condition that the government considers a disability, and if I didn't have my meds I can be a danger to myself and others, so in that case I'll give an exception, and I already tried all of the things I mentioned like meditation, yoga, journaling, therapy, exercise, diet, sleep, detaching, spirituality/religion, and nothing has worked like this. Last thing I need in an emergency is to loose control of my mind and body.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
We get some cold in winter but nothing like y'all get. We had snow this year, first time in 7 years. It snowed while we were at Shot Show but thankfully it hung around a few days so we got a little bit of time to enjoy it after coming home.
Hopefully you have a wood stove and plenty of firewood! Stay warm!
Rachaelmm1995@reddit
I charge a big battery bank when I’m at work, use it when at home.
caged_vermin@reddit (OP)
Oh I have one of those, I'm going to steal this idea.
bigdog_00@reddit
I would just like to mention that phone charging blocks that plug into the wall are immeasurably small in power usage. As in, it would cost you less than a penny to leave ten of them plugged in for an entire year.
caged_vermin@reddit (OP)
Depends on how old they are, and I know people who keep and still use ten year old power supplies for their phones. Especially if the phone doesn't come with a new block, like iPhones haven't for a few generations.
Perenniallyredundant@reddit
good stuff here
Ok-Half6395@reddit
Having a dryer is less common here in Europe. When the weather's good, many think it's a waste when the air/sun can do it for free. In the winter, drying indoors can be quick and use less energy if hung on a clothes rack in a closed room with a dehumidifier on. The water from the dehumidifier can then be used for cleaning or watering plants.
McDrummerSLR@reddit
I have everything automated. My investments come out before I even see my check, and a large portion of each check goes towards a few different savings accounts that serve different purposes. I really only jump in if I can add additional amounts to savings each month. The automation makes it really easy to stay well within my means, and it has been awesome in conjunction with having just bought a house.
Led_Zeppole_73@reddit
Yes, an electric dryer is a huge energy hog. With my family, we do loads every other day. I bought a nice 8’ drying rack and it sits in the backyard, right outside garage door and gets full sun and breeze. Folds up flat for storage. Not only does it save a lot of money, clothes smell nicer too.
raiznhel1@reddit
We live in Australia and we have the Hills Hoist, they are pretty ubiquitous.
It can hang up 3 big loads of wet laundry… the Aussie summer sun can dry a pair of jeans in a couple of hours, in winter weather we have a rack in front of the fire.
Never owned an electric dryer. It would be very rarely used of we had one.
Hills Hoists can also be used as a child’s toy/swing… and once over 18, to play a wonderful game called “Goon of Fortune”
Led_Zeppole_73@reddit
Nice. Here in NE US, winter time it gets to below zero degrees Fahrenheit. My house is all electric, there is no nat gas here for heating or cooking, just propane, which is more expensive. I heat with wood in winter, and have a geo-thermal furnace for backup.
falconsarecool@reddit
Can’t do outside if it’s allergy season
NotAnotherRedditAcc2@reddit
I'm grateful to live in a very, very dry area. Around 2/3s of the year, everything (that goes in the dryer - I do hang dry a lot of stuff, too) gets dried on "no heat" and it never takes more than ~30 minutes, even for heavy loads.
Eredani@reddit
Not to complain too much but I made a post with some similar financial points about saving money but the mods removed it because it was not focused on prepping. Maybe they were right?
IMO, financial hygiene is a prerequisite for prepping. It probably falls into the category of basic adulting.
preppers-ModTeam@reddit
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PrisonerV@reddit
Could have posted it here instead of...
No_Wonder_4997@reddit
I started intermittent fasting as part of my carnivore diet and it’s honestly helped my finances so much. I started for health reasons, but I was surprised to see how much it affected the number of times I had to go to the grocery store (monthly instead of weekly) and how much I saved.
Standard_Switch_9154@reddit
I have floodlights all around my house in the country. I keep them off unless I am going outside. I have one garage door light that is solar powered and a motion triggered camera on the drive. I find that a dark house at night is easy to miss. And dark skies are better for the birds and animals.
iamadumbo123@reddit
ngl skimping on basics is a no from me unless absolutely necessary. and what you describe does not make a huge difference at all in our household (and only creates more stress) to each their own!
Artistic-Bit6765@reddit
Thank you for this ! Ive been trying to work out in my head how to be more thoughtful in my home , this was helpful!
recyclingloom@reddit
This maybe just me and if you’ve a cash back credit card through a legitimate bank that you bank with. (1)Set up direct deposit (if your employer offers it) to your checking account to have the paycheck deposited into your account so that it can eat up the debt in that account (if any) plus close out all of your accounts access to overdraft access (the bank won’t let you pay for something if you don’t have the cash in your account at the moment. (2)If you’ve a credit card through your bank then get it setup as a cash back credit card where you make all of your purchases on that to earn your cash back rewards once you’re checking account balance can start paying off the credit card. (3)Have a coin bank to help you save up your physical coins so that you can use the coins to make payments (1)on your credit card, (2)as a deposit into your checking account (if overdrawn), or (3)as a deposit into your savings account (if overdrawn) so that cash deposits can eat away at the debt in your bank account(s)/credit card or as a form of payment when you are shopping for food at the grocery store such as at Walmart.
Capital_WTF@reddit
Yah, FIRE (financial independence / retire early) is a part of prepping imo. I also look at the big items... I don't drink or do weed and see my friends spend hundreds on that each month. I've ordered food delivery once the last 12 months and that was to impress at a professional event.
Plus subscriptions... they're sneaky. No spotify, no Netflix, no Sip Club, no Scrub-a-dub memvbership, $220/yr for phone instead of a monthly plan, pre-pay car insurance for 6 months to get the prepayment discount. I do have a gym membership.
I make exceptions when it's worth it - I'm contributing over $150 for a double birthday party this week. But it's an exception, the point is to have all the habits down tight. Because it's exactly what you say - the slow accumulation over time.