As architecture and design legend Le Corbusier said, “a house is a machine for living in.” Like a machine, an efficient and well-run house is clean, functional and “well-oiled.”
Almost everyone I know is strapped for cash. A lot of guys in New York – guys who often complain about having no money – splurge unnecessarily on ostensibly inexpensive services that can add up over time. Sure, it’s nice to indulge once in a while. In fact, it’s actually good to treat ourselves every now and then. But there are some things we 99 percenters can do to ease the burden on our wallets and lift the quality of life at home. If we dare to do these simple things ourselves, we run the risk of cutting costs, having a better home and… wait for it… helping the environment.
But first, did you know that one of the easiest ways to save money is by switching utility providers? A surprising number of people can make huge savings by seeking out a more competitive electricity rate for example. You can learn more about switching energy policies and find a Cirro Energy promotion code to get your savings off to an excellent start on the Home Energy Club website. So, what else can you do to make savings at home?
Here we go…
1. Make your own damn coffee.
I know many people who drop $4.00 each day for coffee at Starbucks or wherever. I’ve heard these same people complain about money. It may not seem like a lot at the time, but $4.00/day = $120/month = $1,440/year. One can get an iPhone 4S and a new MacBook Air for that, or a really nice new suit, or two nice suits, or almost three pairs of Grenson brogues… you get my point.
Whether you use one of those sage espresso coffee machines, a fancy Krups with a timer, a French Press, or a Chemex (my method), the amount of money saved by making the brew at home is substantial over time. I’ve been making my own coffee since college. Sure, I’ve gone through phases of fancy, making regular trips to Starbucks and paying with the swipe of a credit card, which makes it seem like no big deal at the point of purchase. But over the last few years, I’ve really perfected my homebrew. When I get my beans, I either buy local from Empire Coffee & Tea or Porto Rico, or I order online from Hyper Hound Coffee in Houston, TX, which features delicious organic fair-trade beans and donates 15% of their profits to no-kill animal shelters.
What I don’t drink from the Chemex beaker in the morning, I reheat in the afternoon for my “p.m. perk.” (Since a Chemex isn’t heated and burned from underneath, a reheated cup tastes fresh brewed.) And when I want to take my coffee with me, I pour it into my reusable Copco travel mug and take it with me to the dog run or wherever I’m walking.
Sure, I like to occasionally get a good cup to-go when I’m at Amy’s Bread or Sullivan Street Bakery, but it’s hardly a regular thing. To steal a concept from Sarah Silverman, I “make it a treat.” But as a rule, I stick to my home brew. If we all stuck to this, we’d save a nice chunk of change and also help the environment by generating less trash with all those discarded to-go cups and lids. A lot of people also enjoy having their own homebrew in the morning but just don’t have the time to make one that is up to their standards. That is why I’ve been told by friends on so many occasions to get a coffee machine from https://greatcoffeebrewers.com to help start my day right. That way when people see me with a to-go cup and lid, I can tell them that it tastes as good as it looks.
2. Do your own laundry.
How many socks and pairs of underwear have you lost after dropping your laundry off? How much does the fluff & fold drop-off cost? I haven’t dropped my laundry off in years, but at the time, I think I remember blowing around $30 per week. $30/week = $120/month = $1,440/year. You can get the latest iPhone and an iPad, another nice new suit and few pairs of Cambridges from Allen Edmonds.
If you have laundry in your own home or apartment, you kinda have no excuse. If you have laundry somewhere in your apartment building, you still kinda have no excuse. But if you don’t have laundry in your building, it’s a wonderful excuse to get the hell out of the house for a while. Bring a thermos of that home brew, along with the latest New Yorker, Vanity Fair or that copy of Catch-22 you’ve been meaning to re-read. Listen to David Lynch’s new album on your iPod (it’s awesome). While your whites are in the dryer, you can get that phone call to mom out of the way.
Just remember: wash your whites with whites only, and darks and colors with darks and colors only. If you have delicates, keep them separate, too. If you want to use bleach on your whites, only do it occasionally, as it literally eats the fabric. I use Seventh Generation Laundry Detergent, which is formulated for use with cold water. I wash all my clothes in cold water, which uses less energy and is, therefore, better for the environs. I dry everything (still separated by color) in medium heat, except items that need to be line-dried and my dress shirts, which I’ll explain.
Follow all directions on your own detergents and specialty garments.
3. Iron your own shirts.
I know. It seems like this is pushing it. But seriously, once you get the swing of it, your trust in the dry cleaners with your shirts will be forever shaken. I, myself, find ironing very therapeutic and calming. (I know… it’s weird.)
After taking your dress shirts out of the washer, don’t put them in the dryer. Iron them damp. Start with the back of the shirt, then rotate it around the ironing board to get to one side of the front, then the other side of the front. Added bonus here: your buttons won’t pop off or crack like they do at the cleaners!
Flatten each arm, creasing them at the seam under the arm, and iron. Flatten the cuffs, too, and iron around the buttons for a barrel cuff shirt (again, no cracked or broken ones). If you’re ironing a French cuff shirt, leave the cuffs flat after you iron them.
Iron all parts of the shirt until they’re pressed and dry.
The collar is the trickiest for me, but it’s easy after a while. Flatten the collar face-up and iron it flat, including the inside part of the collar that touches your neck. Don’t fold the collar down and iron. Instead, once the collar is pressed and dry, delicately fold it into place before hanging it. You don’t want it to look folded over then ironed.
Never use starch. Ultimately, you want to look clean and pressed, not uptight.
4. Shine your own shoes.
Then, using a polish like Kiwi or a creme like Meltonian, wipe a thin coat all over the shoe, including the sides of the sole. To be extra thorough, don’t forget to dig into the crevice where the upper meets the sole. When the polish or creme is completely dry (a couple of minutes), buff the shoe with a clean soft cloth. This should give you a nice preliminary shine. Once all the polish is buffed off, go for an extra coat by spritzing water or spitting onto the shoe and applying another thin coat of polish. Let it dry then buff again. If you have a buffer or shoe brush, use it here as the last step. Your prized puppies should shine like a new car.
Between formal shines, you can use one of those “instant shine” buffs as a touch up, but don’t let it be a substitute for a real shine described above.
Keep your heels and soles well-tended, but leave that to the pros.
5. Clean your own house.
I was fortunate to grow up with a mother who assigned us weekly chores that had to be complete before we went out on the weekend. I know how to make my bed, turn a bathroom hospital-clean, give a kitchen a clean that would please Jean Georges, do windows, sweep, vacuum, dust, scrub and polish. Lynda didn’t raise a mama’s boy. You can automate the vacuuming of your home’s floors with Bissell’s top robot vacuum.
Thing is, cleaning day on one’s own can be overwhelming. To overcome that, I clean and maintain pieces of my apartment as they occur to me. This morning, for instance, after I did my morning groom ritual, I grabbed the sponge and Ajax from under the sink and cleaned the sink area. It took less than two minutes. Done. The kitchen is constant regular maintenance, wiping off surfaces whenever I’m done doing whatever. I probably sweep a little bit every day. Because of this and other now habitual touch-ups here and there, my official cleaning day (usually Saturday) is a breeze.
Though I have a dishwasher, I rarely use it as a single guy living alone. I never dirty enough dishes to justify an energy-efficient automatic wash. I generally stay on top of that, washing dishes, bowls, glasses, cups and utensils right after I use them. Washing by hand also helps out with the electric bill.
For cleaning rags, I use old t-shirts or towels stolen from the gym, and I keep a stock of cleaning basics: Ajax powder scrub, Murphy’s Oil Soap, Windex, Pledge, paper towels, sponges and a scrub brush (for the tub). Another great cleaning staple is Dr. Bronner’s SAL SUDS.
And so…
Mastery of these five simple things not only saves us money, but it also gives us a true sense of ownership of our home and its efficient functioning. I’ve worked in enough restaurants to know if the owner never did time as a waiter, busser, runner or maitre ‘d, because he usually was a dick to the staff. He was out of touch.
In better financial times, I can pay someone to do this stuff. When that time comes, I can have a clear understanding of the hard work involved, and pay people more appropriately. Until then, I can take pride in how good my home looks, knowing that I was fully responsible for it.
In the end, it’s not just good for the wallet and the house, it’s good for the soul.
5 Comments
Loved it & yes I do all you mentioned, except I’m a tea drinker.
There ya go…
That’s what kids are for 😉
Great piece George, I particularly agree with the coffee point, especially since I find it much easier to consistently buy a bag of fair trade coffee in the supermarket and it is rarely available by the cup at coffee chains…but I digress. I do, however, have my dress shirts dry-cleaned. I teach high school and so I need dress shirts for work, but am also the father of two young children, so finding ironing time is not always easy. Don’t get me wrong, I too find it therapeutic, however after getting the kids to bed, I’d rather read for a while, catch up on sports scores, or start grading that ridiculous stack of papers from work. That said, there is a locally owned dry cleaners around the corner from my house that does men’s dress shirt for $1 each, and they do a great job. And I usually, brace yourself, get two day’s wear out of a shirt, especially in the Winter, so it breaks down to $.50/day, $2.50/week, $10/month, $100/year (not counting July & August.) Sure, it’s $100 that I didn’t have to spend this year, but it saves me a good bit of time, and supports a well-run local business. As my kids get older, and they become more independent, I’ll probably go back to ironing my own shirts, but for now, to me, it’s worth the splurge.
Thanks, Lee! I hear you about the shirts. I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford having my shirts cleaned & pressed regularly, but I pressed my own shirts for years. In fact I still do one or two on my own on occasion. Knowing how to iron one’s own shirts is an important skill to have in one’s pocket.