Mother Earth News - Mother Earth News 2014

Throughout the years, MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers have proved to be a clever lot. Youve shown time and again that you can save a bundle when you apply resourcefulness and a little elbow grease to home economics. Frankly, our consumer culture pressures many of us to live above our means. The good news is that making a personal and household commitment to a more frugal lifestyle can be a fulfilling, healthy choice and the following tips to save money can start you on that journey. Imagine what your life will be like when you slash your grocery or utility bills in half, or when youre able to pay down your mortgage.

Weve assembled the following tips to save money from you, our readers, and from our Amazin Archive 44 years worth of articles about living on less and loving it.

After you read our selections, find more details for how to implement the tips that interest you by clicking on the links that follow each tip.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average U.S. home built in 2012 was 2,505 square feet. For many families, thats much larger than necessary. Sizable homes are more expensive to build, heat, cool and maintain. If youre able to reduce your home size to a cozier and more practical fit that still meets your needs, savings will follow. No matter the size of your house, here are ways to keep your construction, living and maintenance costs down.

1. Learn how to be your own plumber and electrician. Check out how-to books from the library or invest in a class at a vocational school. Read more: Be Your Own Plumber.

2. Join or start a tool-lending library. Power tools are expensive and often only needed for a short time to complete a single project. Read more: Start Your Own Tool-Sharing Program.

3. Build with salvaged materials or scrap materials reclaimed from construction sites. Visit Habitat for Humanity ReStores, search your nearest citys Craigslist posts, or check with the owners of demolition companies. Read more: Save Money With Used Building Materials.

4. Barter construction labor with friends or neighbors. Read more: Successful Swaps and Barter Agreements.

5. If youre not ready to own a house, seek an arrangement to provide your labor in exchange for room and board. This is common on farms or in households in need of nannying services. Read more: Volunteer for Sustainable Organic Farming Opportunities.

6. When shopping for land, save on a real estate agents commission by browsing for homes listed for sale on the Internet or talking with neighbors and landowners directly. You may even discover an owner willing to sell a plot thats never been listed. Read more: How to Buy Farmland, Even If You Think You Cant.

7. Scour thrift stores and consignment shops for unique and affordable clothes.

8. Knit, crochet or sew your own clothes. At the least, sew on new buttons, darn socks, patch jeans and learn how to repair clothing you already own before buying new. Read more: How to Knit and Crochet.

9. Forgo the cost of running a clothes dryer and instead string a clothesline in your yard or on a porch or patio. Put up a line in a greenhouse or sunroom in order to air-dry garments during cold or wet weather, or invest in fold-up clothes-drying racks for indoor use. Read more: The Convenient, Sturdy Outdoor Clothesline.

10. Organize a group clothing swap to trade your gently used threads for new-to-you apparel.

11. Cut your family members hair yourself. A quality set of clippers will cost less than $50. Read more: The Tao of Cutting Your Hair.

12. Make your own body care products. Most store-bought options can be replaced by some combo of just three ingredients: water, beeswax, and various edible and essential oils. Read more: Herbal Skin Care Basics: Tools, Ingredients, Recipes.

Hold on to your grocery and restaurant receipts for one month to track where your food dollars are going you might be surprised by what you learn. Many North Americans spend nearly half of their food budgets on restaurants and fast food. Avoid most of that expense by cooking at home: Home-cooked meals cost less, and youll cultivate a closer relationship with your food because youll know exactly what goes into it.

13. Prepare big batches of food on weekends and refrigerate or freeze leftovers for use throughout the week. Take your own lunch and snacks to work.

14. Forgo pricey coffee-shop lattes by drinking coffee at home and filling your to-go cup for the road.

15. Buy raw ingredients in bulk rather than prepackaged or prepared foods. Start or join a bulk food co-op and place orders directly with food companies to further cut costs. Read more: Save Money on Groceries.

16. Make your own food staples. For example, home-baked bread can cost about 50 cents per loaf, and homemade cheeses cost about one-third of what youd pay at the store. Read more: Delicious and Easy Homemade Bread; Easy Cheesy: 4 Super-Simple Recipes.

17. Buy dry beans in bulk at a fraction of the cost of canned products, and pressure-cook them to save time. Pressure cooking also tenderizes inexpensive, tougher cuts of meat in a fraction of the time that conventional cooking requires. Read more: Pressure Cooking Basics (Video).

18. Avoid supermarket prices by organizing a larder swap where you and your friends can trade dried, frozen and canned goods or ready-made meals. Read more: Local Homesteading Groups: Why You Need One.

19. Purchase in-season fruits and vegetables at your farmers market and preserve them to eat year-round. Read more: Collection of Food Preservation Techniques.

20. Cold frames, hoop houses, cloches and other cold-weather gardening devices can help you stretch your home food production further into winter and start up again earlier in spring. Read more: Year-Round Gardening: Our Best Plans for Greenhouses, Hoop Houses, Cold Frames and More.

21. Commercial organic fertilizers tend to be overpriced. Instead, you can use grass clippings from herbicide-free lawns they contain about 2 to 5 percent free nitrogen. Read more: Build Better Soil With Free Organic Fertilizer!

22. Start vegetables from seeds rather than buying seedlings. Save seeds from your heartiest plants and attend (or organize) a seed swap to trade with other local gardeners. Read more: Best Tips for Starting Seeds Indoors; How to Organize a Community Seed Swap.

23. Learn how to hunt and fish. Deer and other wild game will stock your freezer with delicious, lean meat for the price of a hunting license and initial equipment purchases. Read more: Why I Eat Wild Meat.

24. Even in urban and suburban areas, ordinances often allow you to keep a few backyard chickens for egg or meat production. Super-fresh eggs from backyard hens will cost as little as $1.40 per dozen for feed, and you can raise meat birds for about $3 per pound. Read more: How to Raise Chickens in Your Backyard; Raising Chickens for Meat: Do-It-Yourself Pastured Poultry.

25. Do you have children and go through a lot of milk? Love cheese and yogurt? Keep a couple of goats or a home dairy cow, which can produce more than $3,000 worth of milk each year. Read more: Raising Dairy Goats and the Benefits of Goat Milk; Keep a Family Cow and Enjoy Delicious Milk, Cream, Cheese and More.