Cutting your own lawn is one way to trim home costs. (Photo: iStockphoto)
With Americans' personal incomes down sharply, many of us will be looking to reduce expenses at home. Here are a few tips on how you can spend less on your house and save more: iwuhs29m37
-- Trim your lawn service. If you fire your lawn service and cut your own grass instead, you can expect to save at least $20 to $40 a week.
Better yet -- get a manual mower, mow your lawn yourself and don't pay for gas, either. (I bought a manual mower this summer. I have to say, though, after using it religiously for the first few weeks, I haven't been quite as diligent about it lately.)
-- Clean your own windows. Coming home to a sparkling clean house (that you didn't clean) sure is nice, but if you mop those floors and dust those knickknacks yourself instead, you could save about $80 a week or more. (That may be enough for dinner and a movie for two -- not a fancy dinner, of course.)
I don't pay for a cleaning service, but sad to say, I don't get around to cleaning my place as often as I'd like. I guess you could say I've gotten used to the dust on my desk.
-- Cool and heat efficiently. Install a programmable thermostat so you turn down the A.C. and the heat when you're not at home and at night, and you could save $180 a year in energy costs, according to EnergyStar.gov. If the heat gets too much for you at night, install a ceiling fan, and in the winter, pile on the covers. There's a ceiling fan in my room at night, and it's plenty cool for me. (But not for my husband, who likes chillier temps.)
--- Replace old HVAC equipment. If your heating and cooling equipment is outdated, consider replacing them. Doing so could save you nearly $200 a year if you replace your old equipment with Energy Star -qualified ones.) I have to say, though, replacing your old equipment comes at a significant cost.
When the air conditioning broke down in my home this summer, we called in a repairman who suggested replacing the entire system -- at a cost of about $8,000. (An estimate that nearly knocked me off my feet!)
I would have loved to install an energy-efficient system, but at the much lower cost for the repair (which was a few hundred dollars), we could pay to fix the system several times before we reached the cost of a brand-new system. (And we do have two college educations to save for.) Alas, we'll have to cool our house while wasting energy. :( —Lauren Baier Kim