Affordable Solar Power: Looking Beyond Panels
Lately I’ve been thinking about what I can do to lower our energy consumption at home. We don’t have many appliances, but if there’s a way I can lower my bill and lessen my home’s negative impact on the environment, I’d love to try it. This made me consider using solar energy.
When people think about harnessing solar energy, the first thing that comes to mind are photovoltaic panels — but this is hardly the best choice.
Here’s the problem: First of all, most solar panels are not that environment-friendly. Some use a very rare metal called indium, and if we continue to use indium at our current rate, we’ll only have a 10-year supply of it left.
Using solar panels to power your home can also be impractical. You’ll need several modules or panels to produce a workable amount of electricity, not to mention the space to hold them. Plus, they are just too expensive for the average Filipino consumer.
We have to look at solar energy from a different angle, then.
Solar Ovens
One way to utilize solar energy for your home is to build a solar oven. Basically, these ovens run on nothing but the light and heat of the sun. Here are the advantages of doing this:
Read More5 Things You Can Do to Save an Extra P1,000 or More This Month
It’s a new month again, which means that it’s a new opportunity for you to find other ways to save money. If you don’t know where you can get extra money for your savings, check out these five tips and see if they apply to you:
Have a daily quota for using cellphone credits. If you find yourself calling and texting often, exercise a bit of discrimination when sending out messages. Avoid sending out forwarded messages the entire month. My cousin once asked me to be honest about how much I load my cellphone each week, expecting that I’d tell him a large amount. He was shocked to find out that I usually just spend P30 per month, and I almost never spend more than P90.
While I understand that there are some professionals that may find this difficult, at least try to cut back on using your cellphone for texting or calling friends and relatives. Opt for free ways to communicate instead, such as via instant messaging, landline-to-landline calls, Facebook, or email. (Of course, this isn’t applicable if you don’t have easy access to the internet, or if you need to call long distance.)
Don’t buy new clothes this month. Unless your house was accidentally set on fire or your clothes were stolen as you left them hanging out on the clothesline, don’t buy any new clothes this month. I know quite a few people whose monthly income is mostly spent on clothes shopping, and as they tell me they can’t find any money to save, I just want to slap my forehead in disappointment. Just eliminate shopping for clothes or shoes this month. It won’t kill you, I promise.
Discontinue newspaper and magazine subscriptions. I don’t subscribe to any newspapers, mostly because I just read them online. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, and The Manila Times all have online editions. Apart from the subscription savings, you’ll also have access to breaking news, and you won’t have old newspapers cluttering up your house.
I also don’t subscribe to magazines, but this doesn’t mean I won’t buy the occasional magazine that catches my eye. I just happen to be very choosy and I make sure that the content and value that I get from the magazine won’t be found for free elsewhere.
Cut dining and drinking out by half. If you find yourself going out often, such as more than once a week, cut this by half. This includes going out for coffee or lunch during the regular workday. Brew your own coffee or pack your own lunch instead. If friends invite you out and you don’t want to let them down, try my suggestions for making a gimik more affordable.
Automatically send at least P500 to your savings account as soon as you receive your paycheck. It’s wise to keep a separate account for your savings, apart from your payroll account (as I’ve mentioned in a previous post). By setting aside your savings as soon as you receive your income, you have a lower chance of spending it.
Do you have additional money saving tips? Please share them in the comments.
Image by asterisco from sxc.hu
Read MoreTip: Old Newspapers as Seedling Pots
Instead of buying seed starter pots or seedling pots from the garden supply store, I just make my own out of old newspapers*. It only took me less than 30 minutes to make the entire batch you see below. Apart form newspapers, I also used old kraft paper.
*I don’t subscribe to any newspapers. I get all my news online. If you do the same, you can just do what I did and get old newspapers from your neighbors.
These homemade pots have the following advantages:
- You’re recycling old materials.
- It doesn’t cost anything to make.
- You don’t have to worry about root trauma when transplanting your seedlings. Just put these into the soil (or unwrap them gently) when you are ready to transplant, and the paper will eventually disintegrate.This comes in handy for plants that don’t transplant well, such as cilantro.
Here’s a video I found which shows how to make them:
Read More7 Ways to Save on Groceries
Don’t buy everything from one grocery. For my family, I usually buy from a nearby SaveMore supermarket, a Parco supermarket, and Makro. Since I visit these places regularly, I have an idea about which items are cheaper when bought at a specific grocery.
Of course, this only makes sense if all the supermarkets you buy from aren’t out of the way. Otherwise, transportation costs might make your overall grocery expenses the same, or even more expensive, than if you shopped at the grocery nearest your home.
Go on fewer grocery trips. Since I visit 3 groceries, it might sound like I do my grocery shopping too often. The truth is, I only make 2 major grocery trips each month, and probably an additional 2 trips if I want to cook something special that I didn’t plan for. But for these additional trips, I only buy the ingredients I need. Generally, though, I prefer to plan for everything ahead of time so I can visit the grocery less often.
How will this save you money? If you go to the grocery less, there’s less temptation for you to buy unnecessary items that you weren’t planning to buy in the first place. Also, your transportation costs will be lower.
Compare and test different brands. Since I want to choose the brands that give me the best value for my money, I test different brands until I find “the one”. Sometimes “the one” turns out to be the cheapest brand or a generic product (such as the Savepak dishwashing liquid), sometimes it’s the most expensive brand, and sometimes it’s somewhere in the middle. But you can never know which brands give you the best value unless you try them out.
Buy in bulk, if it makes sense. In a previous post, I wrote about how to buy in bulk wisely (click here to read it). Usually, if you buy items in bulk you can save a bit of money – but only if you maintain your usual consumption rate of the bulk products you buy. See, some people tend to overuse items that they bought in bulk because “Marami pa naman eh”. Know your own habits and do the math to ensure that bulk purchases really save you money.
Stick to your list. It helps to have a list of items to buy before you go to the grocery, and to stick to buying only the items that are on your list. This prevents you from buying unexpected items on a whim. But if you find yourself looking at an item that isn’t in your list…
…apply the 10-second rule. This means that before you buy an item that isn’t on your list, think about it for 10 solid seconds before deciding to put it in your shopping cart. This will allow you to evaluate your purchase more thoroughly, rather than automatically chucking items in your cart without thought.
Use a rewards card. This is for those groceries that you’re often visiting. Savemore, Parco, Shopwise, and Rustan’s all offer their own rewards cards to customers. The rewards card will allow you to earn points for your purchases, which you can redeem in the future.
Do you have any tips to share about saving money on groceries? Please share them to the other readers via the comments section.
Image by Davide Guglielmo
Read MoreMore Frugal and Inexpensive Valentine's Day Ideas
Around this time last year I wrote a post about some frugal Valentine’s day ideas. I pointed out that this day should be a day of relaxation and fun, instead of a stressful day where lovers are fussing about dinner reservations and expensive out of town trips. 
Here were some of my suggestions:
- Cook a meal together.
- Handpick and arrange flowers yourself.
- Take a walk together.
- Watch DVDs.
To read the entire post, click here.
This year, I’m adding more tips to that list. After all, given today’s economic climate, most people can’t afford to splurge on Valentine’s Day. Here are some other frugal things you can do with that special someone:
Moonlit stroll. This is an offshoot of my “take a walk together” suggestion. The twist is that you drive somewhere peaceful with a romantic view, such as in Antipolo or Tagaytay, and take a walk at night. You can end the stroll with a bottle of wine, or even a picnic. I won’t be a full moon on the 14th, but it will still be bright nonetheless.
Have a DIY spa date. You can both get a romantic spa date in the comfort of your own home. Get your massage oils ready, light some scented candles, and play relaxing music. Here are some additional resources that can help you out:
- Yummy body scrub recipes (you can use brown sugar and oatmeal with vegetable oil to make your own body scrub)
- How to massage (instructions)
- How to have your own spa day
Give a scrapbook or memory box. Look for the mementos that are relevant to your relationship, such as old theater tickets, wrapping paper from your partner’s Christmas gift to you, etc. Put these into a scrapbook, and be sure to include some photos. If you don’t want the trouble of gluing things and laying them out, you can just look for a nice box and put all the mementos in there. Feel free to include small chocolates and petals in the mix.
Go on a group date. If you have other friends who have significant others, or if you’re single and want to go out with your other single friends, then you can go on a group date. If done right, it will be cheaper than a one-on-one date, especially if the group orders dishes meant to be shared.
Do you have other frugal Valentine’s day suggestions? Go ahead and share them in the comments section 
Photo by G & A Scholiers
Read MoreFrugal alternatives to more expensive ingredients
If you enjoy cooking as much as I do, then there are always those recipes that you’re dying to try. The downside is that you might not have the ingredients on hand, or the recipe might include expensive ingredients. If you only need a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, for example, it doesn’t make sense to buy an entire bottle if you don’t think you’ll use it in everyday cooking anyway.
This is where substitution comes in. Sometimes, expensive ingredients can be replaced with cheaper, easy-to-find alternatives. Here are some examples:
Sour cream. This costs around P75 if you buy it from a store. If you just get the regular cream (P35) and gradually add vinegar or lemon juice as you stir it, you’ll get the same effect. Just use your taste buds to judge the quantity, but 2 to 3 tablespoons of vinegar to one cup of cream should do the trick. Sometimes I add a bit of mayonnaise if I’ll be using the sour cream in a dip.
If you don’t want to do all this mixing, you can also use yogurt in the same amount as the sour cream.
Cream cheese. It’s P115 a block, so if you’re only going to use small quantities, you can use these suggestions from AllRecipes: the same amount of yogurt, strained with a cheesecloth overnight. I haven’t tried this yet, though.
According to the article I mentioned earlier, you can puree some cottage cheese (same as the needed amount of cream cheese), but the price difference would be smaller, because the last time I checked, cottage cheese was P95/cup. I generally just buy cream cheese rather than do substitutions, since it goes well with almost anything. If for some reason you can’t find it (they don’t have it in the grocery nearest my house), then by all means try these substitutes.
Parmesan cheese. If you have some leftover queso de bola from the holidays, you can grate that and use it instead of buying parmesan.
White/red wine vinegar. The substitution depends on what you need the wine vinegar for. If it’s the acidity that’s needed, then you can simply use any vinegar you have – just add it gradually and judge it with your tastebuds until it has the level of acidity or sourness you need. Since red wine vinegar is generally milder, you can halve the quantity required in the recipe.
White/red wine. For white wine, you can substitute chicken or fish broth (depending on what you’re cooking). According to an article I found at About.com, you can also use ginger ale, or canned mushroom liquid. If you’ll use it as a marinade, you can mix 1/4 cup vinegar with 1 tbsp sugar and 1/4 cup water.
For red wine, you can substitute grape juice. If you’re using tetrapack or powdered juices, they might be too sweet, so diluting them with broth or water might help.
Here are some additional ingredient substitute lists I found online:
- from E-cookbooks.net
- That’s My Home substitution list
- FoodSubs.com (this one is the most comprehensive, as it even lists substitutes for kitchen tools)
Do you use substitutes for expensive ingredients? Are there any tips you’d like to share with us?
Image by Steve Woods from Sxc.hu
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