Has anyone ever calculated about how much they save per year by...

[big brown horse]

...making their own soaps etc., lowering their bills via clothes lines etc. and growing their own food?

Can you break it down for me? I'm just curious~and trying to prove a point.

 

[BarredBuff]

Ive never broke it down and dont if you can until after the first 5 years after everything is setup good and you have hang of it and all start up stuff is payed for........

 

[FarmerDenise]

I haven't broken it down, but we live pretty well on between $200 -500 per month. I used to need $2400 a month to make ends meet. But then I got layed off and haven't gotten a job since, and not for lack of trying :/
I made lots of changes since then and we get by.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Well, I havent' calculated it, but..... I make laundry soap that costs me $8/year. As opposed to $8/month. Savings: $88

I use my clothesline from May to October. Ther is a very RARE time I use the drier during that time span--but it has to have had rained for 5 consecutive days or be an extreme fashion emergency. I run 5 loads a week, and I have an energy star drier. haven't done the math, but.....

 

[Wifezilla]

I told hubby I wanted him to keep track of the electric bill so I can see if it is worth the effort to hang out the clothes. Of course he forgot and threw out the statement But he did have a point...even if the electric bill doesn't change much we are saving major wear and tear on the dryer so it will be much longer before we have to repair it.

 

[freemotion]

Today it cost me and dh less than a dollar for all the food we ate today. And we ate gourmet, I assure you.

Yup, we have to feed the critters that produce this stuff and buy seeds and plants for the garden......hey, wait, I sold enough perennial flower divisions in the spring to pay all garden expenses, and all the critters are eating for free right now. I was wrong. It cost us nothing.

What would it cost if we'd bought what we ate today? Hmmph, you can't even find the quality anywhere in this area. All organic ingredients, all pastured animal products, all fresh....two of the eggs that went into tonight's quiche were still warm from the hens. How do you price that?

 

[Wannabefree]

I TRIED to calculate it once, and I guesstimated that we actually came out about $25K or so better off after all considered.

Here is how I came to that conclusion:

5-8K per year in organic food produced
$500+ yearly wear and tear on clothes & dryer
10-15K per year less health care costs averaged over a lifetime due to eating REAL FOOD(minimum)
$1500 saved on electric by cutting consumption via clothesline, unplugging things, CFL's, and yearly maintenance, wood heat, etc.
$1000+ a year saved by not running to the grocery store every other day and wear on vehicles due to extra mileage, extra oil changes, tires, maint. etc.
$600 yearly saved by making all our cleaning supplies
$1000 yearly saved by making our foods from scratch, breads, cheese, butter, etc.

This doesn't even get into the profits of home production through actual sales and barter, this is strictly saving.

 

[moolie]

Growing your own veggies and fruits is way cheaper than buying from any store, market, or stand--a packet of veggie seeds costs $150-$300 (depending on what you want to grow) and most seed packets contain seeds for 50-200 plants.

As a recent specific example, I purchased 3 packets of heirloom variety tomato seeds (1 each of 3 different varieties at $2.95 each) along with a bag of seed starting soil for a total of around $12. I started the seeds in 4" pots that I already had (saved from years previous but say $3.50/12 pots x 2) under fluorescent lights I already had (compact fluorescent bulbs are around $4 each x 4) in trays I already had (about $2 each x 2 trays) on a shelving unit I already had (about $15 originally) and simply watered them until it was time to plant them out. Some seeds don't sprout, but I planted as many as 2 seeds in each pot and didn't have too much attrition and I ended up with 24 tomato plants (8 of each variety) plus some seedlings to give away. My plants have flowered and set green fruit and I'm just waiting to see how many lbs I get from each plant as they ripen. Pesticide-free tomatoes are $3/lb at my local Farmer's Market at the moment, so I'm really looking forward to eating, canning, and dehydrating these babies up for the fraction of that price that I spent this year.

As BB said, you do need to factor in your set-up costs the first year for gardening, canning, dehydrating, animal husbandry etc.--but after that your costs are just to maintain and are pretty minimal compared to outright purchasing food of similar quality.

And that's just my tomato example--lettuce seeds are multitudinous in each packet and you can probably eat salad for years on just a couple packets of lettuce seeds. Add in all the other easy to grow veggies like beans, peas, radishes, carrots, onions, beets, cukes, zukes, squash etc. and you can eat very well (and healthy!) for not much cash. You do need access to at least a small plot of land to pull this off, but there are lots of options for gardening including pots/planters and community gardens.

Same goes for homemade laundry soap. A 5 gallon batch of liquid lasts my family of 4 just about 6 months and it's almost time to make more. 1 cup of borax, 1 cup of washing soda, and 1 grated home made bar soap are just a fraction of the price of a $10 jug of commercial laundry detergent that only lasts about a month--the borax and washing soda each cost me about $3.50 and the home made soap is $1.99 from my source (I don't make my own yet) and I'll get lots of buckets of laundry soap from those boxes of borax and soda plus the $1.99 each 6 months for the bar of soap. My laundry is clean and has no scent (I'm sensitive to many chemicals).

As for a clothes line, most appliances (in Canada at least) come with an instruction booklet that includes the EnerGuide number that indicates the Kilowatt-hour usage--just look at your monthly electricity (or gas if you have a gas powered dryer) bill to work out what running that thing per hour is and multiply by how many loads you wash per week and you'll get your savings by using a clothes line. We line dry everything but bed linens (my line isn't big enough) and I think we save tons of $$ each year plus also save on the wear and tear on our dryer and our clothes (lint = clothes wearing out).

As with anything in this life, there are 3 qualities everyone is looking for: cheap, easy, and good quality. With most things you can pick two, and by doing things yourself you don't save yourself any time/work but you do get the money savings and quality. You just have to put in the time/do the work

 

[FarmerChick]

WZ--doesn't your electric company have you online? I just go into my account and can track all my electric etc. I have to say my elec. co. offers a great website.

 

[FarmerChick]

No I never calculated.
I know I saved....hmmm...I know I spent alot on fencing, barns, animals, time, tractors, and all that mess lol

I mostly vetted and shots for my own animals. saved big there
produce, meat etc. --produce my own

I think tho in the end I am about even --haha--for all my farm equip cost I know I sank ALOT of money into this venture.
but I know I saved alot of money also.

I couldn't calculate after 15 years of doing this type of living. But I won in many ways having my farm.