My second tip for today would be to wash your clothes in cold water. This will save you energy. I also turn my dark colored clothes inside out, especially, my dark blue and black clothes. If you have some items that are stained or dirty with oil or grease then try pre-soaking those items in a warm water and then wash on cold. My husband can get dirty from his job but this works for our family.

A couple of years ago my computer was so infested with spyware and viruses that I had to wipe it and start over. I thought I had saved all my pictures but when I tried to restore them then nothing happened. I was very upset so I decided then it was time to buy a flash memory of some sort. I finally decided on a USB flash pen drive that could hold 2GB of memory. I got it for under $25 and it works great. I love that I can download my pics onto my friends/relatives computers. I don’t even have a 1GB used yet so it holds lots of pictures.

I decided to post a series of frugal living tips daily. TMR is an abbreviation for Thrifty Momma Ramblings. I will try to post a new tip everyday except for weekends, since I get busy with my husband home. There are literally thousands of ways to cut costs in all areas of our lives. I don’t do every tip but I do apply many of them to our budget.

My first tip for today is to hang your clothes on a clothesline. The weather has been very unpredictable so I have a chain that runs the length of my washroom. I can hang a good bit of clothing on the line. I do have a dryer that runs on natural gas but I like hanging sheets outside on a nice sunny day. An inside line would be better for those that have snow or allergies. I also wash a load every other to every 2 days instead of waiting for the weekend.

Nope not a horror story, unless you consider shaving your head one, but a story on hair. My son was begging me to shave his head so I did with a pair of clippers we have. I do have a couple of different size guards so I used a one. It was super easy to do and my hubby was impressed and asked for me to do his without a guard. He loves it and has told me it keeps him much cooler when working. He wanted to accept his fate since his hair is receding, but it really didn’t look bad.

A good pair of clippers from a box store is about $30-40. They both got their hair cut every 4 months so 4 cuts a year each. I’m still letting our son have a cut for Christmas time but most of the year it will be kept around a size 2 guard and a 1 for the summer. His cuts were $11 each so that saves me $33 a year. My husband’s cuts were $14 each, and he wants to keep his clipped all year so that saves $56 for a total of $89 per year! The clippers paid for themselves in 3 cuts. I have had these clippers for well over a year so hopefully they won’t need to be replaced for several years. I wasn’t good at actually cutting hair but this is something anyone can do.

My dad’s birthday is coming up next month, and he is making the big 65! I have been trying to think of something special to buy him. I keep thinking of a great pocket watch for him. There is something nostalgic about them, and he used to tell us stories about his grandfather’s watch. I think this will be a great memento that would be great for him to pass on to his grandchildren one day.