Last night I had a craving for something sweet. No thanks to my frugal lifestyle, I happened to have nothing that could be considered sweet other then a jar of honey and thats not something that ticked my fancy. You know how it is. When you want sweets, you need sweets.

But then my frugal mindset kicked in.

“Wait, you don’t need the sweets. They cost money, you can’t walk because it’s night so you’ll waste money on gas. You’ll waste time going there ….”,  my mind rolled through the reasons why I shouldn’t go. Did it convince me?

Heck no.

I ended  up buying a cookie, yes that’s all. But it was worth it, even though I lost 50 cents on gas and another 99 for the cookie, it was so worth it. The internal struggle was over and I don’t regret a thing. We have to realize that although we may be frugal at heart, it’s okay to splurge every so often. Life should be enjoyable and sometimes that means spending a little more then usual. Don’t hold back if you want something. There is no need to be a frugultralist.

To wash by hand, or by machine, that is the question. Personally, I’ve been washing by hand all my life. I don’t find dishwashers very effective, they take up room in the kitchen that I would rather use for other things. The dishwashers I’ve worked with are usually old and don’t work very well and new ones, well, cost money. Another reason I washed my dishes by hand was because I’ve always believed that it saved money. But is that really the case? Can dishwashers really save you money? Lets find out.

So if you wash by hand, there are two ways to do so. (1#) You either fill up a container and then use that water to wash and then you run water over the washed dishes to rinse them. (#2)Or you wash and rinse over freshly pouring water. There may be other ways of washing your dishes by hand, but these two are probably the most common ways.

Method #1. Clearly there are some problems with this method. You’re washing your dishes with dirty water after some point. Your container must be large enough to accommodate your larger dishes or pots and pans and your still using some water to fill up your container and then, to rinse your dishes.

Method #2. My method also has some clear problems. First off, your using a heck of a lot of water, as it’s constantly being used and the water being used is hot. Heated water is more expensive then cool water, as energy is required to heat that water. Then you got the problem that eventually all your hot water will die off. In my case that’s at the 40 minute mark and yes, sometimes I get to that point.

With a flow rate of 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm) and with a dishwashing rate of 50 minutes every 4 days, you’re looking at a cost of 15.06$/Year, plus 76 hours.

Now the dishwasher.

So the dishwasher needs 3 things to operate efficiently. Energy, water and some sort of detergent. Without energy the machine doesn’t work. Without water your dishwasher isn’t really washing anything and without detergent, your dishes will come out wet but not clean. So with all three, the dishwasher becomes a formidable opponent to hand washing.

According to Energy Star average dishwashers use around 6 gallons of water per cycle. Say you wash your dishes 3 times a week (full loads). You’ll be using 18 gallons of water a week, so roughly 936 gallons of water each year with your dishwasher. With water at around .75$/500 gallons, you’d be paying around 1.5$ for the dishwasher’s water bill.

If we still take into consideration that we’re using a newer energy star appliance (from the year 1999 we’ll say), it uses 422kW a year. At a price of .089$/kW your looking at a cost of 37.56$/year. So a total cost of 39.06$/Year for the operation of a dishwasher.

In conclusion?

Believe it or not, dish washing under running water is actually cheaper then using a dishwasher, as there is little to no electricity being used for the duration of the wash.

Food is an absolute necessity and thus we can’t really rid ourselves of all the costs associated to it. However, we can cut down our costs and at the same time help ourselves too. It so happens to be that money and weight loss are two of the biggest issues we face in our modern day world. We want more money and less weight. So lets tackle both.

1. Coffee: Can’t get enough of it can you? Over one half of the United States drinks coffee each day and another quarter drinks occasionally. The drinkers take in an average of 3 cups of coffee each day. Over 2.03 million coffee drinkers get there fix from Starbucks, known very much for it’s coffee and it’s price. It’s coffee costs over 3$ on average. With a fix in the morning and one at lunch your spending over 1500$/Year. That is really obsessive, cut down and you will see the difference in your wallet. As for me, I don’t like coffee :). If you can’t stop drinking, then buy your own coffee and drink it at home.
2. Soft Drinks: The average American drinks up 2 servings of soft drinks every day. Now thankfully soft drinks don’t cost 3$ a can, however most now cost over 1$ if your buying from machines and I have seen the prices up to 3$+ for cans in odd places (top of mountains and such) but that’s not a common place to buy one. Your pop drink addiction is costs you over 700$/year. Cut down a bit, the savings will be instant you will see.
3. Beer: I mention beer and not alcohol in general because it’s more common to drink beer then to take shots of absinthe and such. Plus you can take a lot of beer before being taken down, can’t say the same for hard alcohols. The average consumption of beer in the US is 24.5 gallons or 92.7 litres. The equivalent of drinking 261 cans of beer. So over 70$ on beer each year. For many people this is a lot higher and cutting down wont hurt you a bit.
4. Bread: Bread and anything made of wheat has been steadily rising for the past year due to the world shortages. The cost is expected to rise for the next few years. Try purchasing semi-older bread, usually close to the same taste but a third of the cost.
5. Potatoes: French fries don’t have to be bought. Try cutting up some potatoes and create your own. It’s not a tough thing to do, it only takes some time but can save you dozens of dollars. Buy the largest bag of potatoes as they are usually cheaper then smaller bags.
6. Generic Brands: There is a large department store around here that advertises the cost of goods made by brand name retailers and those made by no name brands. The first shopping cart is full of stuff, all from brand names Kellogs, Kraft, Breyers, Coca Cola etc. The cart runs up to 320$ of goods. The second cart is filled with the exact same products, but without the name, Corn Flakes, Macaroni and Cheese, Ice Cream, RC Cola etc. That one only goes to 120$. The difference is clear.
7. Pick Your Own Fruits: Depending on the season, fruits and vegetables can be quite expensive. So why not pick your own? Take an hour out of your day and spend some time in the sun picking your favorite fruit. It’s very cost effective and your helping the local economy.
8. Brown Bags: Now while you wont be the coolest worker on the block bringing in your brown bag, you will be saving money. People needlessly pay extra money to get someone to make there lunch at a fast food joint. Do it yourself and save some money. Plus your lunch will be much lower on calories then the one offered at a restaurant or the local McD’s.
9. Stop Going Out: Face it, most people don’t like making there own food. We like to have it done and available whenever we want it. Thats why fast food joints are so popular. Low quality food for low prices. The trade off is not worth it. And don’t think that by going to a restaurant your doing yourself a favor, rather then going to McD’s. Most restaurant menu items have huge numbers of calories compared to fast food chains. Plus is a salad with some spaghetti worth waiting 20 minutes for and then paying 30$ more? It’s up to you, but if you really want to save money… it ain’t.
10. Comparing Prices and Coupons: Don’t feel bad pulling out a coupon in a shopping line. Throw your pride away and save some money. There are reasons those coupons are put out so take advantage of them. You can save hundreds of dollars annually by using coupons. Create a drawer for them in the kitchen so you can see and compare the coupons to each other. Also, don’t be afraid to check and compare prices at different stores. Is it really worth paying 50% more for your items at a supermarket with shorter lines? The sad part is that too many people do, and they just don’t realize that there are much better prices out there, but they just have to go out and look.