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5 Ways to Save More Green and Achieve Financial Freedom

May 11, 2015 By NextGen MilSpouse Staff Writer Leave a Comment

by Thea Pitzen, Guest Contributor

Working full time to supplement your service member’s income? I’ve been there. Unemployed after a PCS and can’t find a job? Been there. Stay-a-home parent trying to make the household run on a single income? Been there too! But no matter where you currently are, there are ways to save money and achieve financial freedom for your family.

5 Ways Military Couples Can Save More Green and Achieve Financial Freedom

5 Ways to Save More Green and Achieve Financial Freedom

Pay Off Debt First

Before you plan a vacation, splurge on a night out, get that new car you’ve been eyeing or even upgrade your wardrobe, pay down debt. When I first got married, I had student loan debt–and plenty of it. When I was looking for work, my husband and I made the minimum payments. But as soon as I found a job, when asked what I was most excited to do with my new income, I answered: accelerate my student loan payments.

We continued to “live” off my husband’s income–renting within our BAH and paying our bills out of his salary–and my salary went almost entirely to paying my student loans. Instead of paying them off 25 years after graduation, I paid them off in 3.

And let me tell you: the day I paid off my student loans, I felt like a physical weight had been lifted off me. Mortgage debt is different in my book (that’s doing good things like building equity and a long history of timely mortgage payments can really help your credit score), but things like student loan debt and consumer debt aren’t doing you any favors.

If you find yourself with a little extra money–be it from a second income, a tax refund or a recent pay raise–consider paying extra on any debt first.

Don’t Adjust Your Standard of Living Every Time Your Income Increases

This may be the thing that has given my family the most financial freedom. When my husband and I got married, even though I was employed at the time, we decided to live off of his salary. We knew that I would soon be leaving my job and relocating to be with him and since we didn’t know how long it would take me to find work again, it made the most sense for us.

When I did find a job, we suddenly had a big boost in income. However, instead of upgrading things like our home or cars, we continued to live off his salary. We used my salary to first pay off my student loans and then to build up our savings, contribute to retirement accounts and then, yes, reward ourselves with the occasional vacation or shopping spree.

We treated my salary as a nice extra, but not as a constant.

We knew all along that another PCS was coming. When it did, I once again left my job and was without an income. Because we had never adjusted our standard of living, we did not have to panic and continued to live as comfortably as we had been.

This is a strategy that works well for us: when we find ourselves with extra income–be it from my job, a deployment, etc.–we generally put that money toward paying off any debt early or into savings or investment accounts. That way it puts us in a better financial spot for days when we don’t have that extra income.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t reward yourself. I’m a big fan of family vacations, the occasional fancy dinner or even just a pick-me-up drink at Starbucks from time to time. But while I am a military spouse whose employment status and income seems to shift with every PCS, keeping our standard of living constant based on my husband’s income has allowed us to live without much financial worry.

Treat your salary as an extra. But don’t bank on it in your budget. #military #financialfreedom

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And all those “extra” treats are a lot easier to enjoy when you know that your family is financially stable!

Don’t Carry Credit Card Debt

This one is short and sweet: just don’t carry credit card debt. Notice that I didn’t say don’t carry credit cards; I said don’t carry credit card debt. I don’t mean that you shouldn’t use credit. I use credit. In fact, I’ve had a credit card since I was a teenager that I made very small purchases on and paid in full every month for the purpose of building credit. You need credit to get credit and there’s nothing wrong with the responsible use of credit cards.

However, when you use your credit card to buy something you really can’t afford with the mindset that you’ll just make the minimum monthly payments, you can get into trouble quickly.

Look at your credit card like you look at your debit card: you need to have the funds available and pay the bill in full every month. The interest you can be charged on credit card debt can be shocking and there is just no need to be handing all of that money over to the credit card company. If you are already in credit card debt, focus on paying that off before you do anything else. Your credit score and your bank account will thank you.

Look for the Little Ways to Save

When I first became a stay-at-home mom, I quickly noticed that our income was down and our expenses were way up (that baby stuff really adds up). So, I set about finding little ways to save my family money. Of course, shopping wisely at the commissary and the exchange can be a huge help.

Related: Are Your Friends Making You Broke? Build a Smart Money Tribe

Also, despite being intimidated by the “extreme couponers” of the world, I started to coupon. After a few months of clipping coupons I would get in the mail, I branched out into the world of online couponing. Some of my favorite sites are Yes We Coupon and Become A Coupon Queen.

Also, check out store loyalty programs. My family shops a lot at Target, and at first I was wary of the Target Red Card because I didn’t want another credit card. But, I did a little research and learned that we could set it up as a debit card. It was free to sign up, and now we save 5% on virtually all of our purchases there.

If you look for all the little ways to save, they really add up to big savings over time.

Make Saving a Priority

Don’t treat putting money in savings as something you do if you happen to find yourself with some extra cash one month. Make it a priority. Treat it like paying your bills. Make a budget that accounts for saving a little each month and stick with it.

Does your service member have a TSP? If you don’t know, have the conversation.

Consider speaking with a financial advisor about other accounts you might use–like Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) or other investment accounts–to maximize your savings for retirement. If you bank with USAA, take advantage of the opportunity to speak with a financial advisor there.

And aim to set aside enough money that you don’t have to stress about things like an unanticipated home or auto repair, or even the loss of income for several months.

Is your military family debt free? What steps are you taking toward financial freedom? 

Thea head shotThea Pitzen is a lawyer and a military spouse who currently spends her days as a sometimes-blogger and full-time mom of an energetic toddler. She also serves on the Board of the Military Spouse JD Network and as a Navy Family Ombudsman. Connect with her on Twitter at @TheaPitzen.

Filed Under: Articles, Money, Slider Tagged With: budgeting, debt, Green is the New Black, money, retirement, saving money, working milspouse

5 Ways Every Military Family Can Go Green

April 22, 2015 By Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

by Raleigh Duttweiler, Guest Contributor

When you think of words to describe military spouses, “hippy” generally isn’t on the list. Hippies don’t tend to marry service members. We fall for guys with overgrown beards and Passion Pit T-shirts and big chunky black glasses. Hippy, green-obsessed girls really don’t fall for Marines.

But the Universe has a great sense of humor.

By the time I met my husband, I had already traded in a car for a bike, prided myself on growing whatever veggies I couldn’t acquire from local farmers in my tiny community garden plot and purchased eggs from the world’s crunchiest guy who kept chickens (illegally) on the rooftop of a nearby building. I stopped eating beef and turned to beans and quinoa for most of my protein needs. I was in my early twenties and as everyone I knew became wrapped up in their years of magical thinking or living dangerously, I was going carbon neutral.

I was one step away from being obnoxiously granola. Ironically, I hate granola.

My husband, on the other hand, was never interested in greening the planet. The proud owner of a gas-guzzling Wrangler, the only green he’s ever been concerned with is the color of his skivvy shorts and maybe, if pressed, the shade of his camouflage when he hunts. In truth, hunting is the greenest thing he does. But even if he’s never been concerned about greening the planet, he’s always interested in ways to green his wallet and as it happens, the two frequently go hand-in-hand.

So even if you have no interest in greening your military life this Earth Day, consider the opportunity to green your wallet. With these 5 easy steps, you’ll find yourself doing both.

5 Ways Every Military Family Can Go Green

1. Reinvent the Victory Garden

The Obamas have done it and written a book about it and every restaurant kitchen worth its salt does it now too. Fad aside, kitchen gardens have long been a part of military life–only they used to be called Victory Gardens. Long used as a way to cut down on the public food supply, victory gardens were considered an important part of the war effort.

Today, they offer a great alternative to the produce at the commissary.

Kitchen gardens are also easy to start. Take your handy-dandy gardening self to Lowe’s or Home Depot and get them to help you get started on what’s the best to plant where you are. Tomatoes are pretty hardy. Mushrooms can grow in a windowless room. We’ve managed to have plentiful peppers wherever we’ve been.

Whatever it is you love, chances are high you’ll be able to grow it at home–even if you don’t have a green thumb.

If you want to start small, try growing some herbs. They are criminally expensive in-store and they’re incredibly inexpensive to grow. Plus, they can really dress up your kitchen.

2. Compost

Don’t act grossed out! I swear to you, composting isn’t as nasty as it sounds. Composting prevents pollution, cuts down on your waste and even remediates soil. Coincidentally, it has the added bonus of greening your yard. And if you’re going to get your own victory garden going, composting will really help.

Because military families move so much, there’s not a lot of sense in investing in a fancy-schmancy composter (no matter how nice they look). Your movers aren’t going to move it. Options like these come in everything from a more-reasonable plastic to galvanized steel with fancy self-turners, but a plastic trash can you’ve poked some holes into can do just as well. Just get a big trash bin at the hardware store and using a knife or the sharp end of a spade, cut 1” holes every foot or so on the bin. Throw in your scraps and you’ve got yourself a $10 composting system.

The trick to composting is to make sure you provide some space for aeration. The holes will let in compost’s best friend–worms–and they’ll do most of the work for you. Once every month or so, go (or make someone go) turn the compost around with a garden shovel, just to give it a good mix. This helps everything settle and decompose correctly. It can be helpful to keep a small tin in the kitchen to store up the day’s odds and ends so you only do one compost trip a day, but in truth, we use a paper bag and it works just as well. It’s just not as pretty.

3. Switch to Cloth

Did you know switching to cloth napkins can seriously cut down on your greenhouse gas emissions? It may sound crazy, but it’s true. Check out the math. See? You’re doing a good thing for the world if you indulge in a set of truly fabulous napkins…it’s selfless! And so much fun.

If you want to go whole hog, swap out your paper towels for a good sponge and the perfect dish cloth. There’s also cloth diapering, which can be a hands-down plus for both the environment and your wallet, but I draw the line at “family cloth.” Eww.

4. Meatless Mondays

Despite our very different upbringings, my husband and I agreed on two things from the start: Collard greens must be made with ham hock and bacon is delicious. So you can see how I was never going to be a good vegetarian. Still, we’re both pretty cost-conscious and eating meat every night of the week is expensive. Even when you buy it from the commissary.

The UN estimates that one-fifth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions come from the meat industry–a number that really boggles my mind. Add to that the huge water needs of livestock and the carbon footprint of meat industry and you have yourself one nasty environmental problem. Going meatless one day a week can make a huge stab at reducing your personal share of that. Moreover, reducing your meat intake one day a week can reduce your risk of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Sign me up, please.

If that’s not enough to sway you, Deborah Madison makes an insanely delicious vegetarian cookbook that is worth an entire entree plate at least 52 times a year. And that’s really what did it for my husband. He wasn’t swayed by the environment (although slightly guilted). He wasn’t sold on the whole carbon footprint thing (as he drank a beer trucked in from Chicago). But with taste-reigning king, I won him over with a chickpea burger and harissa yogurt sauce that even his mother wanted the recipe for. Now he knows that beans are on the menu at least once a week and with our vegetarian meals clocking in at under $5 total, he, our wallet and our world say thank you.

5. Don’t Buy the Hype

Oh, fellow pinners, I know you know my problem. You see a gorgeously designed pin for fabulous DIY home hacks. The ingredients all seem pretty simple–vinegar, a little bleach, some baking soda– surely this is all better than what you can get at Target? Not so fast, my friend. Just because a blogger with decent graphic design skills tells you something is better for the environment, do you have any reason to believe it? (I have no graphic design skills, so you can listen to me.)

While baking soda, white vinegar and lemon can clean a majority of items in your home, they can also do a fair amount of damage. Baking soda can ruin corian countertops and porcelain sinks, lemon can draw every ant in a 30-mile radius and vinegar, however great, may not be enough to tackle the dirty uniforms in your hamper.

Instead of stocking up on mammoth-sized white vinegar containers to which you’ll add half a lemon, 3 tablespoons of baking soda, half a newt eye, some essential oils and a sprinkle of rain dance, consider instead that you’ve probably got some perfectly usable cleaners in your home. Use them—with restraint. To green your cleaning routine, you don’t need to do a total overhaul, you just need to streamline and add in some personal power.

There are some fabulous eco-friendly cleaning brands that won’t break the bank and you can rely on to do a good job. Honest, Dr. Bonner’s, and Better Life are all wonderful, non-toxic cleaners that will actually leave your home sparkling, and Method and Mrs. Meyers are great alternatives too (although Mrs. Meyers sometimes uses non-plant-based ingredients and Method uses artificial coloring).

No matter what your cleaning spray is made of, the No. 1 thing you can do to green your cleaning routine is to up the ante with some elbow grease. For every job you do, expect to do most of it yourself. Let the cleaner be there to help you, not vice-versa. We’ve gotten so used to spray-and-walk-away that we’ve made the terrible mistake of remembering that the cleaning product is there to help you get the job done not the other way around.

The wonderful thing about greening your life is that it’s pretty contagious. After awhile you start doing the math: Instead of forking out $1,400 (minimum) on diapers over the course of 2 and a half years, you could spend $200 on a stash of super fun cloth diapers and then $1.34 three times a week to clean them. You’ll save $800 right there.

And produce–it’s almost criminal what you can pay for a tomato these days. Your wallet and your belly will thank you for that fresh one that’s growing outside and it’ll smell so nice your nose will rejoice too. Even the biggest omnivore will agree that a well-prepared plate of fresh veggies can make as delicious a meal as a cut of beef and with each meatless meal, you’re making your body and the planet a healthier place. When you start to think about it, greening your life isn’t just about doing something good for the planet. It’s about doing something good for every part of your life too.

Do you have any favorite tips for greening your military life?

Raleigh mugRaleigh Duttweiler is a writer and social media expert living just outside the gates of MacDill in sunny Saint Petersburg, Fla. A Marine Corps wife, she has navigated the stress of Active Duty moves, trainings, and deployments, and now that her family has transitioned to the Reserves, she’s experiencing the “weekend warrior” side of military life. (NB: It’s not quite as part-time as advertised.) When not writing about benefits and military families for Military.com, Raleigh posts about truly life-altering, important issues like What Not to Wear to a Military Ball (visible thongs) and Military Halloween Costumes We Love to Hate (ones that generally resemble both military uniforms AND thongs) on SpouseBUZZ.com. She is passionate about spouse employment, higher education, and helping families navigate the often-bumpy transition back into civilian life. Raleigh also manages the SpouseBUZZ and Military.com Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest pages, so be sure to say hi!

Filed Under: Articles, Living, Slider Tagged With: Earth Day, granola milspouse, Green is the New Black, living on-base, tips and tricks, vegetarian

5 Ways to Save (or Even Earn) Money While Shopping Online

April 17, 2015 By Lila Quintiliani Leave a Comment

Even before we were stationed overseas, I was more of an online shopper than a bricks and mortar type of gal. The Black Friday rush and the big box store Sunday crush are just not my scene. Now that we live in Germany, I have come to rely almost exclusively on the Internet for items that I cannot buy locally.

Here are some tips and tricks for saving money (and even making some!) when you shop online.

5 Ways to Save (or Even Earn) Money While Shopping Online

1. Let’s make a deal. Find the deals with bargain-tracking websites that do the work for you. One of the biggest and best discount-gathering sites is Brad’s Deals, where “real life human(s)” cull deals from 4,000 different retailers for their 12 million email subscribers. They even have a military discount section.

Deal News is very similar, scouring 2,000 retailers to deliver more than 200 deals each day. Groupon and Living Social have one or more daily deals that are delivered right to your inbox. Groupon does have a presence in some foreign countries (Groupon.de and Groupon.co.uk).

Signing up for your favorite sites’ newsletters and emails is another way to score great deals and special promotions. I typically use a special “junk” email address that I have set up exactly for these types of situations, because once you have signed up with one company, it’s not that unusual for them to sell or give your email address to another vendor.

2. Sometimes comparisons are nice. Always check prices with sites like Pricegrabber, Google Shopping or even Amazon to make sure that bargain is truly a deal. ShopSavvy is an app that keeps an eye on items you are looking for and lets you know when they are being discounted.

3. Get snippy. Even when you shop online, you can clip coupons. I never hit the “order” button without first checking to see whether there is a promo code for an additional percentage off. RetailMeNot is the king of such coupon sites, but it’s also worth checking Coupon Cabin and PromotionalCodes. Amazon has its own coupon section that you can often use in conjunction with sales.

And while you can’t use the popular Target coupon app Cartwheel on their website, Target sometimes has coupon codes that can be used in their online store as well as a list of their current promotions.

4. Give a ship. Check to see which retailers are offering free shipping on FreeShipping.org. For those of us living overseas, it is important to figure out which retailers will not only ship free but will also ship via USPS priority mail to FPOs.

If you purchase from a store that uses Fedex or UPS ground shipping, your Christmas present may become a Valentine’s present as your package literally takes the slow boat. (This may or may not have happened to me).

Amazon Prime members and Target credit card holders can get free shipping, and many other sites such as Old Navy, Lands’ End and The Children’s Place offer free shipping when you order a certain amount of merchandise. Make sure you are aware of the return policy, though, because a deal isn’t such a great deal if it doesn’t fit and you pay $10 to ship it back. Zappos, certain Amazon items, Target and Old Navy are among the retailers who offer free return shipping.

5. Get paid to shop. Once you’ve located a deal, a coupon for it and free shipping, don’t just stop there. There are several what I like to call “portal” sites that will pay you for using them to do your shopping. Ebates is one of my favorites; if I know that I want to purchase something from a particular retailer, I will first go to Ebates and then search for, say, Target. Right now Target is offering 2.0% cash back on all purchases made through Ebates. Ebates tracks your purchases and every three months sends you a Big Fat Check. I got $12 just from purchases right before Christmas.

MyPoints is similar, but the site rewards you in gift cards. I have earned more than $200 in gift cards to Amazon, Walmart and Target on the site, and you can also get points by printing out their grocery coupons or by clicking on websites.

With all this e-commerce, don’t forget to play it safe.

While it’s fun to find bargains, the online world can be a scary place. Make sure you guard yourself against fraud and identity theft. Don’t shop when you are on public WiFi. And it’s best to type the store’s URL in yourself rather than follow a link you might find online. You may also want to consider using a credit card rather than a debit card to make purchases, since the federal government limits the possible loss due to fraudulent use of a credit card to $50.

The Better Business Bureau and the FBI provide tips on protecting oneself from online scams. But it’s also good to keep in mind the old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

How do you save money when buying your favorite items online?

 

Filed Under: Articles, Money, Slider Tagged With: ecommerce, Green is the New Black, OCONUS, saving money, shopping online, spending less, tips and tricks

7 Ways to Make Your Military Family’s Next PCS a Lean and Green Move #OperationInTouch

April 10, 2015 By Michelle Volkmann Leave a Comment

This NextGen MilSpouse piece is proudly sponsored by Operation In Touch. Visit Operation In Touch for great savings, recipes and more from your favorite Unilever brands!Operation In Touch ad

Each time I unpack from a PCS, I cringe. All. That. Packing. Paper. I wonder how many trees died so that my glass bottle of paprika would arrive in one piece. (Is it really necessary to wrap pack every single bottle in my spice rack? Even the plastic ones?)

Yes, I offer up my cardboard boxes on Craigslist and Freecycle after my children have used them as trains and tunnels. Yes, I recycle 90 percent of the packing paper and shouted obscenities at my trash man if he tries to combine it with the landfill waste. The other 10 percent of packing paper is flattened smoothly while I binge-watch How I Met Your Mother so that my little ones can use it for wrapping paper for neighbor birthday parties and welcome signs for our guests.

Yet, I can’t help but feel like I should be doing more.

I should make my next PCS a little more lean, a little more green and a whole lot more Earth-friendly. Do you feel the same way?

I turned to my favorite granola-crunchin’ group, our NextGen MilSpouse readers, for suggestions. The answers had me smacking my head saying “Why didn’t I think of that?” Their tips are easy and smart. Like Earth-saving smart.

7 Smart Ways You Can Make Your Next PCS a Lean and Green PCS

7 Ways to Make Your Military Family’s Next PCS a Lean and Green Move

Use towels, blankets, bedding, linens, decorative pillows, stuffed animals and out of season clothing as packing material.

Genius. One reader said she piles all this stuff together so that it’s accessible to the packers when they need to wrap an item. Finally a purpose for those very-thoughtful-but-not-so-useful hand stitched quilts from Great Grandma. (No need to snuggle under a blanket in the 115-degree heat of Arizona.)

Forget the packing paper. Wrap that vase in a Elsa bath towel instead.

If you don’t think the packers will use this fabric instead of packing paper, don’t be afraid to pack as much stuff as possible using these green materials prior to your pack-out date. In my experience the moving company will simply note on their inventory that these boxes were packed by the customer.

Compost your packing paper. Yes, you can.

Invest in long-lasting reusable storage totes.

Don’t let the movers repack these items. Again, it’s as simple as verbally agreeing that you pack these items yourself. Later you can admire your organizational skills when these storage totes are stacked neatly in your garage.

Get creative. Reuse other containers to pack items for your PCS.

If you want to pack some smaller items, you could buy plastic containers specifically for this purpose. OR if you want to be a lean and green (and like my mother), you could wash out those empty Country Crock containers and creatively give them a second life. Simply scrub out that 45-ounce container and use it to contain small items.

For example, my daughters have a whole colony of My Littlest Pet Shop creatures. If I don’t consolidate them into a central moving vehicle (like a Country Crock container), the packers (bless their hearts) will individually wrap each tiny kitty, frog and fox in packing paper. Then with all that paper, it’s more likely that these tiny toys will get lost in the rapid upacking process too. Unite any small items (think measuring spoons, hair accessories, rock collections, etc.) to save time and packing materials during your pack-out.

Be a cardboard do-gooder; give away those boxes.

Post a “100 Free Moving Boxes to the First Person” message on your base’s spouse Facebook group. It will be your cardboard box good deed of the day. You can also donate them to Goodwill and any local thrift store (think Airman’s Attic) that may be able to reuse these boxes.

Another option is to donate the packing materials to a local business that ships goods. Or better yet, donate them to a local milspouse-owned company that ships her goods around the world. Your neighbor has an Etsy shop? She needs boxes. Your green choice could save her business some serious green.

Save the paper and reuse those boxes.

Now I admit that I don’t have the space to do this, but if I was living in a large home for a short period of time, I would definitely try it. And if I was a DITY PCS’er, I would DEFINITELY try to do this.

Downsize. Sell, donate and purge, baby, purge.

Having less can save you money and the Earth. Fewer household goods means less packing paper, fewer boxes and less weight on the moving truck. This is one of my favorite tips. One Facebook reader wrote “You can fit in a smaller home saving rent/mortgage (if) you have less ‘stuff’ to pack. You may be more comfortable doing a DITY(or partial DITY) if you own less. There is something to be said for the minimalist movement.”

There’s also something to be said for a minimalist military family move.

What Earth-saving measures have you incorporated into your PCS?

Operation In Touch provides tips and resources for members of the military community. Check them out on Facebook or Pinterest.

Filed Under: Articles, Military Lifestyle, PCS, Slider Tagged With: DITY tips, granola milspouse, Green is the New Black, Operation In Touch, PCS tips, smartie stuff

Easy Peasy Ways to Save Big on Your Monthly Utility Bill

April 3, 2015 By Lila Quintiliani 1 Comment

This month marks the 46th anniversary of Earth Day. But you don’t have to be a granola-eating tree hugger to want to go green– let’s face it,

utility costs eat up a significant chunk of the average person’s income and it makes financial sense to reduce those costs wherever possible.

While there are plenty of big ticket items that one could purchase to help with long-term energy costs (installing solar panels, buying a tankless water heater), there are lots of small changes that anyone can easily make to save bucks in the here and now. Here are some green tips to help you save money on your energy bill.

pin save big on utility bill

Turn Down for What?

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, water heating can account for 14% to 25% of the energy consumed in your home. They recommend turning the water heater temperature down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. As a side benefit, this can also help prevent children from getting scalded. Adding insulation to your water heater can reduce standby heat loss by 25% up to 45%. Wrapping your water heater is an easy DIY project that even someone as unhandy as me can do.

When washing clothes, use cold water. If you’re concerned about killing germs, use bleach or a non-chlorine bleach like Chlorox 2, which has hydrogen peroxide in it. And skipping the dryer and hanging clothes outside in the sun isn’t just eco-friendly; it can also kill bacteria on clothing as effectively as bleach. Plus, it smells great.

You’ll also want to turn down the thermostat in winter and turn it up as high as you can bear it in summer. If you have a programmable thermostat and set it back for 10 to 15 degrees while you are out of the house or sleeping, you can save between 5% and 15% per year on your heating or cooling bills. Even if installing a new thermostat isn’t an option and you have to make manual adjustments, it’s worth it to turn the thermostat up or down (depending on the season) when you’re not going to be home for an extended period of time. Using fans while you’re home during the summer can help you set the temperature 4 degrees higher with the same comfort level. Just make sure to turn them off when you leave the room.

Vampires Suck. Power, that is.

Energy vampires are electronic devices that continue to draw power even when they are turned off. One of the biggest energy hogs is gaming consoles, which when left in standby mode can consume even more power than if they were turned on. In fact, a study by the nonprofit National Resources Defense Council estimates that each year American gaming consoles alone consume as much power as all the households in the city of Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States. Much of the energy consumed is in the middle of the night, in standby mode, when the console is “listening” for a voice command and using power to keep USB ports active. So turn off gaming systems when not in use.

Cable boxes are another major offender. If you turned your cable box with DVR capability off for a year but kept it plugged in, it would consume almost $45 in electricity. According to Energy.gov, unplugging unused devices can save you 10% a year on your energy bill.

If unplugging is difficult (who wants to crawl behind the entertainment center?) consider getting a “smart” power strip. There are surge protectors that are timer equipped to turn off or on at a specific time. There are power strips that have a motion detector and can sense whether the room is occupied and turn off accordingly. And there are also current sensing strips that will detect whether an electronic item is in sleep mode, turned off or turned on and adjust power appropriately.

Laptops are more energy efficient than desktops, but if you do leave your computer on all day, consider setting it up to actually go into sleep mode after a period of inactivity rather than simply hibernating. According to Energystar.gov, by having your computer go into low-power sleep mode, you can save up to $50 per computer per year.

If You Can’t Stand the Heat…

With the weather warming up (or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part), it helps to have a plan when it comes to cooking. Oven and stovetop cooking methods use more energy and heat up the house more than using a slow cooker, microwave or toaster oven. Choosing the right cookware is important too– copper-bottomed pans heat up faster and using a warped pan to boil water for pasta can use 50% more energy than a flat-bottomed pan. Using a smaller pan on a too-large burner can waste up to 40% of the heat produced by the burner.

Using the right lighting can also make a big difference. Traditional incandescent bulbs, which are no longer sold, gave off 90% of their energy as heat rather than light. Newer, more efficient bulb choices include halogen, compact fluorescent and LED. LED bulbs are by far the most energy efficient, but they are also the most expensive.

Buy Smart

When it’s time to replace appliances and electronic items, it is worth it to shop for a model that has earned the EPA’s Energy Star label. Some local governments even give rebates for buying certain energy efficient products.

Not sure where to start? Some utility companies offer free energy audits. The Department of Energy offers the Home Energy Saver, a DIY online energy audit. The Earth Day Network has the Energy Center with free tools to help people save money on energy, and custom tips targeted to your specific living situation.

You don’t have to make a big investment in order to reduce your energy costs. Little changes can add up to big savings on your utility bill.

What tips do you have for reducing your utility bills?

Filed Under: Articles, Money, Slider Tagged With: Earth Day, Energy Conservation, Green is the New Black, Home Energy Saver, Monthly Utility Bills, Reduce Your Energy Costs

Why Green Looks Good on Military Families

April 1, 2015 By NextGen MilSpouse Staff Writer Leave a Comment

by Kara Rajchel, Guest Contributor

From droughts in California to the lowest level of sea ice at the North Pole yet there’s no escaping the need to carefully consider how we use our resources. For military families struggling with daily life, deployments, training and,of course, PCSing this can seem like a far away issue that doesn’t really impact our daily lives.

The ongoing drought in California is one of the most vivid examples of why, now more than ever going green is everyone’s responsibility. That responsibility comes with some amazing benefits and fits right in with military life. Here are 4 reasons why green looks good on military families.

Why Green Looks Good on Military Families

The military is already green.

From solar panels on base housing to farmers markets to biofuels the DoD is going green. Going green isn’t just for hippies anymore, it’s for everyone, even the military. Shrinking defense budgets means less money to go around, so saving money with renewable energy sources means there is less money spent on things like energy and more money to go elsewhere.

Being green is mandatory (at least in some places).

Many states have mandatory recycling and even composting laws. Will your new duty station make you recycle? The same goes for overseas or OCONUS orders.

Here in Korea recycling is mandatory, as is composting. Japan has similar strict recycling rules. Getting in the habit of recycling now not only makes adjustment easier when you encounter new ways of doing it, but it will also decrease your trash output. Would you believe we only have one small, plastic shopping bag of trash every 2 WEEKS? It’s true! That’s the power of recycling!

Why Green Looks Good on Military Families

Separating our Korean “trash” between recycling, trash and compost.

Going green saves money.

It’s no secret that military families might be in for an unpleasant increase in costs with shrinking BAH and potential price increases at the commissary. Will this impact your bottom line? It certainly will with my family. We need to account for those costs somewhere else, that “somewhere else” is in our utilities and in what we consume.

Using energy efficient light bulbs, unplugging “energy vampires” and using less water will help you save money on your utilities. Smart shopping at the commissary and using up your leftovers and reducing food waste will help you save money on your food.

Protip: While you might be lucky enough not to worry about utility costs at your current duty station, that’s not always the case! Overseas utilities can be very expensive. Like 2 or 3 times what you are used to paying for the same usage. Here in Korea if you were to use your utilities like you do stateside you can easily go above the allowance you get for utilities.

Why Green Looks Good on Military Families

Going green makes you a better neighbor.

It’s a love-hate relationship military towns have with the military bases and people that live there. Be a good neighbor, support your local businesses and farmers. By buying local produce and products you make sure your money stays in your military community. It helps the community and the environment. Every good we buy is shipped from somewhere. All that shipping creates a lot of pollution and takes a lot of energy. Buying local helps prevent that while at the same time, helping small businesses in your community grow.

Going green will help your military family reduce its expenses, waste and improve your local communities. It’s win-win! Every small step matters and makes an impact, from choosing to use a reusable bag over a disposable one, choosing organic foods when you can, to eating less meat or buying locally grown produce.

Earth Day is recognized this month but, no matter what day it is, today is the perfect time to start being a little more green.

How is your military family going green?

Kara Rajchel GreenMtnGirlKara Rajchel is a freelance web designer & blogger and self-confessed hippy chick. She writes about life in Korea and eco-friendly/green living at GreenMtnGirl.com. Connect with her on Twitter @thegreenmtngirl or Facebook.

Filed Under: Articles, Monthly Theme, Slider Tagged With: Earth Day, granola milspouse, Green is the New Black

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