Three Money-Saving 'Home Hacks' for the Winter

I've been thinking of several little small gadgets or swaps that I've been wanting to share that I use that make life a little more convenient and save money.  They're sort of random, but somewhat related, but hopefully you'll find one that's helpful!

It's gotten cold here lately which made me think of my heated mattress pad.  I've had it for years and originally found it on clearance at Walmart.  It goes underneath your sheet and mattress protector, it's washable, and has dual controls.  I love that you can turn it on and it keeps your bed nice and toasty for 10 hours and automatically shuts off.  At night, you're not walking around your house, or at least I hope you're not!  So why keep the heat up high in the entire house overnight when you're only in your bed?  And it works really well too.  They generally have about 5-10 different temperature settings, although I usually can't take anything over 1 or 2.  But you can adjust the heat to whatever works best for you.  I'm including a few links below to different ones, but both the Amazon and Walmart links are for the Sunbeam brand that I have.  

Heated Mattress Pad
Amazon | Kohls | Walmart

The second thing I wanted to share was discounted refrigerator filters.  Sleeping in a heated bed makes you wake up feeling like an overcooked turkey if you're not properly hydrated.  Don't ask me how I know!  But drinking more water has also been a goal of mine for a while, and I don't really like buying bottled water.  I tried drinking tap water, but...not so great either.  I considered a tap filter, and a refillable fridge pitcher, but ultimately settled on using my refrigerator filter.  It promises 300gals of filtered water per cartridge.  But the manufacturer ones cost nearly $50 each.  So my search led me to Clear Choice brand water filters. I could get three for roughly the cost of ONE of the brand name ones.  And I am coming up on six months of using the Clear Choice brand and it has been great. (I'm linking to the brand on Amazon, but of course you have to look for the model compatible to your actual fridge. Another source to purchase them is DiscountFilters.com.  This is the exact one I needed for my fridge.)

Finally to help with efficiency, we've also installed this Honeywell programmable thermostats, because while I don't mind dropping the temperature in the house overnight, remembering to actually DO it every night can be cumbersome. Now with the programmable one, I set it to drop to 62 degrees overnight, and then to heat up the house about thirty minutes before we start getting up, because no one wants to wake up to a cold house!  And I realize I'm probably a little behind the latest technology, because there's also smart thermostats like the Nest or Ecobee, and even Honeywell too.  They cost a bit more, but they're great options too because they can learn your patterns or be voice/phone controlled.  As we've updated our heating and cooling systems, we changed out our original thermostats, and having them be programmable has been nice.

 

So those are just a few money saving home hacks that I use. What items have you found to save money or make things a little easier?

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Monday Musings

Because we're home most of the time now, the kitchen is in a constant state of disarray. Scratch that, the whole downstairs is in a state of disarray. I snapped this pic to remind myself that there's beauty even in a bit of disarray, and a freshly folded stack of towels makes life feel a little sweeter.

Even before the pandemic, I was already trying to cut down my paper towel usage, but for months they have been nearly impossible to find.  So now I have fully switched to cloth towels and napkins.  I thought I'd round up a few styles that caught my eye, in case you're unexpectantly making the switch too.  I'm forever partial to a timeless blue and white stripe.  But a good neutral will also stand the test of time.  Of course you can go bold too; the point is to find something you love.

1. Blue Stripe Turkish Dish Towel | 2. Meema Stripe Towel Set | 3. Blue French Ticking Stripe Napkin | 4.Blue Chambray Napkins | 5. Blue Wide Stripe Napkins | 6. Gray Wide Stripe Napkins | 7. Brown French Ticking Stripe Napkins | 8. Red Chambray Stripe Napkins

Since it's Monday, that also means it's time to think about what to cook for the week.  Over the weekend, I made a coconut cake, so that put coconut flavor on my mind for meals. I've never had it, but I searched for 'coconut chicken curry' and found a recipe by Averie Cooks called Thai Chicken Coconut Curry.  The idea of coconut milk, ginger, and lime paired with a spicy curry paste sounds so good to me.  I'll also be reusing a recipe my friend Maria shared with me, called Sticky & Crispy Sesame Cauliflower Recipe from The First Mess. Now, I'm going to be honest...I'll be making it with chicken and not caulifower so my crew will eat it, and because the sauce is amazing. I'll be serving it with rice and veggies.  Then we'll be falling back on a few basics like Lemon Pepper Tilapia (with a veggie and rolls) and tacos.

So tell me, do you meal plan?  If so, what's on your menu for the week?

I'll be back this week to continue with the Kitchen Reno Series.

(Post contains some affiliate links.  They are provided at no cost to you, but allow me to make a small commission to help support this blog,)

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