75 Ways to Save on Household Expenses
Free Online Workshop

75 Ways to Save on Household Expenses Video Transcript

0:01
Hi, everybody. Welcome and thank you so much for joining me for our workshop on 75 Ways to Save on Household Expenses. This workshop is being offered by the Credit Counselling Society. My name is Catherine Lopez. I’m a financial education specialist with the organization, and I’ll be the facilitator today for the workshop.

0:21
Before we move into the topic, I want to share a little bit about our organization and what it is that we do at the Credit Counselling Society.

0:28
We have a mission statement where we help, we educate, and we give hope. We help by providing free and confidential credit and debt counselling for Canadians across the country. We also provide education in the form of these webinars as well as offering workshops for different organizations and employers. So let’s move into the topic for today, 75 Ways to Save on Household Expenses. What will you learn and take away?

0:53
The first part in the agenda, we’re going to talk about utilities and communication. The second part we’re going to talk about food. The third part we’re going to talk about transportation. And very lastly, we’re going to move into entertainment and some other miscellaneous categories

1:07
by the end of the session today, I want everyone to be able to walk away with the ability to add to your list of cost saving strategies. Secondly, you supply different tips to save money

1:18
and very lastly is to identify areas of further cost savings.

1:23
Let’s move into the first part of utilities and communications.

1:28
Electricity will be the first topic. So the first tip we want to offer you today is turning off your lights. It does seem like a very simple idea, but it is something that can save you money in the long run. Whenever you’re not in a room or different parts of the home, make sure you turn off your lights to save some power.

1:45
The second tip is to unplug unused chargers and electronics. When you leave chargers and electronics plugged into the outlets within your home and they’re on standby mode or any electronics may still be flashing or letting you know they’re somewhat on or somewhat charging, all of that is still drawing energy. In order to reduce that cost, you want to make sure you unplug any sort of unused chargers and electronics.

2:10
It may not always be possible to go around the house and pull out everything in each and every single different outlets.

2:17
However, if you buy something like a power bar that can turn off multiple devices at the same time or a smart power bar that can be linked towards your phone and you can turn off different devices and power bars simply by activating the app or the function on your phone.

2:35
The third tip here with electricity is to use smaller appliances and use LED bulbs. These LED light bulbs have definitely come and increased in popularity over in the market over the last number of years. It used to be pretty expensive to buy an LED bulb. Nowadays it’s pretty much the basic go to.

2:56
The next piece we’re going to move into is talking about heating.

3:00
The first tip on the heating side is to set up an equal payment plan. Now this tip doesn’t necessarily save you money, but it can absolutely help with organizing your budget and when you can organize your budget. You may not save in the area of heating, but it can help you save and organize in different parts of your budget.

3:18
Set up an equal payment plan can be done through your energy provider or your heating provider. You can chat with them and what they’ll do is take your average use from the previous year, average out the cost of it over a 12 month period and you’re paying a consistent amount over 12 months regardless of how your usage in the winter time.

3:40
The second tip here is to install a programmable thermostat. These can be bought at your local home improvement store and a main range from something very simple all the way to a smart programmable thermostat which may be higher on the price point scale.

3:56
It’s up to you which one you would like to buy, but the programmable thermostat can help you control the temperature within your home during certain times of the day as well as certain days of the week.

4:08
The third tip here is to turn down your heat or air conditioning when you go out.

4:14
The 4th tip is use window covering strategically and draft proof your doors and windows.

4:19
Even if you’ve draft proved them once before in the past, it’s a good idea to check on them at least once a year to make sure there’s no leaks or breaks within your draft proof insulation.

4:31
The very last tip here is to check your water heater temperature.

4:35
It’s recommended that your water heater temperature should be between 60 to 65°C.

4:41
If you’re unsure on your water heater temperature, I would highly recommend reaching out to your respective heating company and discuss with them what would be an ideal temperature for the water heater in your home.

4:54
The next piece we’re going to move into is talking about water. Turn off the water when you’re brushing your teeth or shaving. Water your lawn 30 minutes per week.

5:04
Always abide by your municipal water restrictions during the summer time.

5:10
Install a low flow shower head

5:13
and use your dishwasher fully loaded.

5:17
The next set of tips moves into TV and Internet heading into the telecommunications category.

5:25
First tip here is to cancel your cable and share streaming services.

5:29
Always keep in mind that by sharing streaming services, you may want to double check with your provider if that’s something that you can do.

5:38
Second tip is to reduce your size, speed and/or bundling your packages.

5:44
Call your provider regularly to check on new packages and pricing.

5:49
All of this falls under the TV and Internet category.

5:54
The next set of tips is talking about communication.

5:57
Use a mobile or a landline.

6:02
Reduce your plan to what you use.

6:04
There are always providers out there. He may try to convince you to get onto a plan with better features, more data, but take a look and ask them in return. Is this what I will actually use? And is there instead a plan that is more affordable that actually is suitable for what I will use it for?

6:24
Looking to share it or family plans? By bundling communication plans together, you may be able to save and get some discounts through your provider.

6:34
Use free video chat and Wi-Fi instead of data.

6:39
The next piece we’re moving into is saving on the food category,

6:44
and the first set of tips I want to share with you is organizing your food,

6:49
Organizing your food. You want to take an inventory of what’s in your pantry, in your fridge, in your freezer. You don’t want to allow food to go bad or spoil before you have a chance to use it. This can reduce on food waste.

7:05
Create a meal plan. AI can help with this. You can put in your food restrictions, dietary restrictions, what is available within your fridge, what is on sale that week all into AI. Tell them to help you create a meal plan for the next few days or even for the next week. It will pop out some ideas for you and you can modify and adjust as necessary.

7:29
Creating a meal plan can also help you create a shopping list so that when you go to the store, you don’t have to aimlessly buy or grab something off the shelf.

7:39
Instead, you have a list with you. You can keep on track with how much you are supposed to spend and not grab things you don’t necessarily need.

7:49
In addition to using a shopping list, you can also think about pre-shopping and picking up your groceries.

7:55
This reduces the time that you’re physically in a store so that you won’t be tempted to buy things that you don’t need.

8:03
You always want to shop on a full stomach.

8:07
The next part is talking about food prep. First tip here is make your own smoothies. You can make a big batch in advance, freeze parts of it, and then defrost them when you need to drink them.

8:20
Second tip is to pack your own snack packs instead of buying prepackaged food. You can also pack and create your own snack packs using Ziploc baggies.

8:31
The third tip here is to avoid pre-cut veggies.

8:37
Fourth is to batch cook your meals. Make something large in advance and split it up into several meals

8:43
Number five is to freeze summer harvest foods because typically during certain times of the year there may be fruits and vegetables that are cheaper to buy than other times of the year.

8:56
Number six is store your foods properly.

8:59
You don’t want your fruit to spoil before you get a chance to use it.

9:04
Next set of tips falls under the category of grocery shopping request manufacturer coupons,

9:10
shop with cash or debit. This helps reduce the opportunities for you to spend that little bit more.

9:17
Shopping with cash or debit will help you keep their reins on your spending so that if you go to the store with $100 bill, you can only walk out of the store with $100 worth of groceries.

9:29
You can think about going to the dollar store for canned goods and cleaning supplies

9:34
and remember to shop price per unit.

9:37
Different foods come in different sizes and different types of packaging.

9:41
You want to break things down by volume or by weight so you know you’re getting the best value for your money.

9:48
The next part in the food category is talking about smartphone apps

9:53
and there’s a variety of different apps out there including Flip,

9:57
Reebee, Save.ca, FlashFood, Food Hero, and different customer loyalty apps.

10:04
One example I want to show you today is the Flip app. The good thing about the Flip app is it also comes in a desktop version. And as you can see from the desktop version, you can look at all the different Flyers within your local area, alas for your postal code. And from that point on, you can now see all the Flyers for the different stores in your jurisdiction and you can take a look and click on different Flyers and view it in an electronic format.

10:33
You can expand on certain items so that you can see what you’re purchasing. You can add the different items to your shopping list. It puts it onto your shopping list so that you can take this list and print it out if you would like to take it to the store.

10:48
If you have the app on your phone, it will get LinkedIn to the account that you have on your phone, so you can take it with you to the store as well.

10:57
If you don’t like going on to the fireside, you can just create a list from here and you can put in what you would like onto your list and it will search out all the different things for you under the oranges category. So I’ve clicked on oranges. It’s now looked up 18 different deals for me. I can click on the deals option here. It brings up all the different flyers in my area that may have deals on oranges. And again, this list goes with me whenever I would like to go to the store.

11:27
So Flip is a fantastic tool for you to keep on hand as you think about different options to save.

11:35
There are other apps as well that may help like rebate apps, Checkout51, Caddle, Rakuten. All of these are considered rebate as because you have to make the purchase first alley for a discount and then that’s where they’ll give you the rebate in return.

11:51
You can combine these different types of apps to maximize your savings.

11:57
The next part we’re going to move into is eating out or in.

12:01
You want to limit meals to one to two times per month. This helps with the budget as well as it keeps things exciting. At those times when you do want to eat out,

12:09
drink water because it’s free.

12:12
Have a dessert at home, or maybe reverse the eating out and justice Go out for dessert.

12:18
Make your own coffee and lunches.

12:22
Let’s move into the next part about transportation.

12:26
Consider all options. Walking, cycling, carpooling. Consider car or ride sharing services, public transportation, e-bikes and micro mobility.

12:39
Hybrid commuting where you dry for certain days and then consider taking one of the other options on other days of the week.

12:49
See whether or not your work has remote or flexible work days where you may not have to drive or go into work to save on some costs.

12:57
Regardless of what decision you decide to take, this chart here shows a quick comparison of three different scenarios where someone could be a daily driver, a hybrid, commuter or mostly transit, or have no car.

13:11
Starting with the first row daily driver. If this person drives her most days for errands and appointments, the typical cost would include a vehicle payment, insurance cost, fuel charging, vehicle maintenance, and parking cost.

13:26
Generally speaking, this is going to be the option where it’s going to result in the highest ongoing cost.

13:33
The 2nd row here talks about a hybrid commuter where they drive some days and uses a mix of other options on other days.

13:41
In this case, the typical costs would have reduced fuel and parking compared to a daily driver. There may be transit fares involved and the occasional car sharing costs depending on what they choose to do for the other days.

13:55
The budget impact for the second row for a hybrid commuter would be moderate or a flexible cost.

14:02
The very last option here is mostly transit or no car. The transportation options in this third row

14:09
has this person relying on mainly public transit with the occasional car sharing or ride hailing options.

14:16
The typical costs in this scenario would include transit fairs or pay per use trips through the ride sharing or car hailing opportunities which results in minimal vehicle costs.

14:27
The budget impact for this third scenario would be the lowest ongoing cost. Keep in mind as we discuss these three scenarios, this is not a just choose one and stick with that one type of example.

14:41
This is a spectrum. You can be a daily driver all the way up to no car and then can you find a balance in between. There may be periods in a in a year where you may be more of a daily driver. You want to factor in costs associated with that scenario

14:58
in comparison where there may be times of the year where you don’t have to use your vehicle, then you can save and put some money aside as well.

15:05
So something to consider as you think about all the different options for transportation.

15:11
If you really do need to purchase a vehicle, here are some things to consider.

15:16
First is buy or reliable used car.

15:19
Second is to make sure you budget for maintenance items. You don’t want things to get out of hand where you don’t have the money to fix your vehicle.

15:29
Ask about insurance discounts in respect to whichever province you may be coming from

15:35
and considering gas versus electric. There is no immediate cost savings buying either vehicle.

15:42
You have to consider the distance you’re going. Is it feasible for you to charge your car? How are you using the vehicle? All of these things need to be put into consideration when considering buying gas versus electric or maybe a hybrid vehicle.

15:59
Let’s move into the next section, talking about clothing and well-being.

16:05
When it comes to clothing shops, secondhand or thrift stores,

16:08
choose timeless over fashionable or trendy. Pull old things out of your closet and see whether or not you can reuse and pair them with new things in your closet

16:19
buy quality, not quantity and repair instead of throwing out.

16:23
Use reward portals when shopping online. Rakuten is under the rebate apps category where you make that purchase and it will give you a rebate in return.

16:32
Care for your clothes properly, following washing instructions and drying instructions to extend the life of your clothing.

16:40
Laundry. Wash clothes less often.

16:43
Wash clothes with cold water.

16:46
Use less detergent

16:49
hanging clothes to dry.

16:52
Use dryer balls or a dry towel to dry your clothes quicker.

16:58
Personal care

16:59
by multi use products. If there are products that you can use for more than one purpose, that could be a way to save money.

17:07
Finish what you already have,

17:10
do it yourself where possible. Consider the cost on how much it would cost for you to make it yourself or make that purchase. And then of course, time is also a factor.

17:22
Buy in bulk or use refill options.

17:26
Minimize professional services.

17:29
Instead of going every month, can you reduce it to once every two months or once every three months to help you budget accordingly?

17:37
Fitness. Cancel gym memberships that you’re not using by use equipment instead.

17:43
You can look up YouTube videos instead of going to a professional gym. Consider resistant pans, chores or dancing at home. Consider your local Parks and Recreation fitness centre instead of a private gym,

17:56
asked gyms about discounts, and see whether or not your work may offer a discount as well. And consider group and family rates.

18:04
The last piece we’re moving into is Lifestyle and Celebrations

18:08
Entertainment.

18:10
Think about creating an at home spa instead of going out. Change your routine. Start putting in different activities in your schedule to keep things exciting.

18:20
Go to the movies on cheap nights

18:23
and libraries are way more than books. They have e-readers, movies, TV shows, video games, all these different things that you could potentially borrow from. Instead of buying,

18:32
check out deal websites like Groupon and LivingSocial to take advantage of date nights.

18:39
Look up free community events.

18:42
Home Decorations.

18:44
Create your own decorations at home. Shop second-hand instead of buying new. Shop off-season. Keep an eye out for discounts that happen after certain holidays.

18:55
Opt for flat pack furniture and consider full plans.

19:00
Travel

19:02
Monitor seat sales.

19:03
You can sign up for different mailing lists to see whether or not you may be able to take advantage of coupons or discount code throughout the course of the year. If you have flexible travel dates, you can also take advantage of those two.

19:16
Inquire on insurance, medical insurance, trip cancellation, baggage coverage, car insurance.

19:22
Think about getting different quotes from various companies and compare the cost.

19:29
Use your points sign up for loyalty programs.

19:31
Do your research and find your favourite sites.

19:35
Children’s parties. Consider birthday parties at home or the park.

19:40
Find free days at the zoos and museums,

19:44
hose and sprinkler to entertain the kids

19:47
and sign up for the birthday rewards.

19:51
Very lastly is Gifts and Special Occasions.

19:54
Opt for a gift exchange instead of buying a gift for every single person. You can exchange gifts within a work or a family unit.

20:03
Create digital gifts.

20:05
Give the gift of time or skills.

20:08
Bundle smaller items,

20:10
re-purpose and up-cycle

20:13
plant experiences instead of buying stuff,

20:17
and cash in on your loyalty points.

20:21
So those are the different 75 Ways to Save on Household Expenses. Regardless of what direction or different tips you want to take today, start with three. Pick three different tips that you can apply to your day-to-day life and that you can incorporate within your budget to try and save money.

20:38
Some final tips I want to leave you with, Don’t let convenience costs eat away at your savings. Look for free or low cost entertainment in your town and create a weekly meal plan and stick to it.

20:49
If you want more tools and resources, please visit us on our website, mymoneycoach.ca.

20:56
So I’m hoping now you’re able to add to your list of cost saving strategies, apply different tips to save money and identify areas of further cost savings.

21:06
This is our contact information.

21:08
If you want to book a free and financial consultation with a credit counsellor, please give us a call at 1-855-232-2888.

21:18
If you want to reach our Education Department and contact a Community Engagement and Education Specialist, you can e-mail us at education @ nomoredebts.org.

21:28
If you want to find out more about our organization, please visit us at nomoredebts.org.

21:40
Thank you so much for joining me today on our 75 Ways to Save on Household Expenses. We hope to see you again soon.