Sunny days are here again...get that laundry outside.

I covet my neighbor's clothes line. I know we are not supposed to covet anything, but I do and it is a clothes line. She has 3 lines and it has to be at least 15-20 ft long. It is in a sunny corner in her back yard and right up against my yard, so of course I have to watch her hang her sheets, towels and clothes ALL year long. I am so jealous.




Unfortunately we just don't have any sunny lawn space to give up for a clothing line. I do, however, have a sunny patio where I put two wooden racks from mid-March to mid-October depending on the weather. The only things that don't fit on the racks are our sheets. The larger rack on the right in the picture was given to me by my mother for Christmas one year...we are a twisted family. She hangs laundry year round and rarely uses her dryer. She knew I wanted to hang my laundry outdoors and found this at a farmer's market. It is huge and can hold quite a bit of laundry.

I hang about one load a day and in the summer when it is really hot I can hang two loads. It takes a little longer for clothes to dry on racks. I put the laundry in my dryer for about 10 minutes before hanging outside. I find that this helps soften the clothing, especially the towels. After the ten minutes I hang any clothing that gets hung on hangers, like my husband's dress shirts and pants, in my laundry room where we have a small clothing rack. I am able to do this all year and it saves a little bit of dryer time through out the winter.

The perks:
* I have not done any calculations, but I have noticed reduced electric bills when I don't run our dryer all of the time. It usually takes a good 45-50 minutes to dry a load of our laundry and now I use the dryer about 10 minutes a load.
* Drying outside also helps removes stains from clothing.
* A great chore for my three year old to get involved with and she usually likes to help.

Are you able to hang your laundry outside? Have you noticed a reduction in your utility bills?

In today's economy, it pays to ask for a discount.

Asking for a discount can be intimidating for many people. In my past life I would negotiate with vendors for better pricing and deliveries to help my company's bottom line. Currently the bottom line that I am responsible for is my family's, which is more precious to me than my previous employer. I have a Family Balance Sheet to maintain and by simply asking for a discount or price adjustment I can help my family's finances.

Some recent examples:

1. I was at a big box store to purchase a bridal shower gift from a registry. My budget was $25, but since the registry was pretty much filled I settled on a gift that was $30. This particular store runs occasional coupons in the Sunday paper, but unfortunately I didn't have one with me. When I got to the register I asked the sales person very kindly if she knew if there would be a coupon in the next day's paper and if so could I bring it in for a price adjustment. She wasn't sure but told me that she would give me the 20% discount on my purchase. I was thrilled that I saved $6.00 by simply asking a question and my gift ended up being within my budget.

2. We use credit cards on a lot of our purchases to earn points and to get coupons in the mail from certain stores. We pay our cards off every month. Recently, one day after a store credit bill was due I realized that I never mailed the bill. So with two kids in tow I went to the store to pay off my bill. When I got my next statement I had incurred about $30.00 in late fees. I immediately called the credit company and pleaded my case. Again in a kind manner, I told them that I was only one day late and I had paid off the balance. I also told them that this was my first offense. The customer service person had no problem reversing the $30.00.

3. We recently refinanced our mortgage and will save about $9000 over the remainder of the loan. What I failed to do when we switched companies was close our checking account with the original bank. The mortgage payment was automatically withdrawn every month and there was about $100 left in the account. When I received my statement at the end of February, I noticed that a $20 bank fee was deducted. Again with two kids in tow I went to the bank to close out the account and ask about this $20. I opened the account so long ago that I couldn't remember what the minimum rules were. The customer service person was sorry that I was closing my account and had no problem giving us back the $20. Now that is customer service!

4. Recently, my hubby received a parking ticket outside of our house. His car was parked behind our van in our driveway and the tail end was blocking part of the sidewalk. At 2:20 AM, an officer cruising our neighborhood gave him a ticket. He noticed the ticket on his way to work that morning and went to the police station over his lunch break. The officer told him that people do walk their dogs through out the night and the car cannot block the sidewalk. But he did reverse the ticket and my hubby was very grateful. (I am also grateful knowing that the police cruise our neighborhood in the middle of the night.)

The moral of these stories is to simply ask. In a nice, respectful manner you might receive an additional discount, fee reversal and maybe even a ticket reversal. Although you probably only get one chance to reverse some of these offenses. In today's economy people are more choosy on where they are spending and placing their money. They want your business and in many cases are willing to work with you to get your business.

Have you had success recently by simply asking or negotiating for a discount?

Whole Wheat Pitas

I love to cook and would much prefer to eat something homemade then made from a box. Homemade food tastes better to me and my family and a lot of the time the meals are healthier and less expensive than their store made, processed counterparts. Make It Yourself Monday gives me a chance to experiment with some recipes that I might not have tried before.

Whole Wheat Pitas
This recipe caught my eye in my latest Cooking Light magazine. I buy pitas at the grocery store occasionally, but never considered making them. I was a little intimidated at first; the thought of making my own pitas seemed daunting to me. This recipe for whole wheat pitas was incredibly easy.

I am now hooked. I don't know if I can go back to store bought pitas. The recipe calls for two types of flours: bread and white whole wheat. I didn't have either so I did have to buy both types. You could probably use regular whole wheat flour in place of the white whole wheat if you have the regular on hand. I didn't so I bought the white whole wheat. I will definitely be making these pitas again so the flour will not go to waste.

While the pitas were baking I whipped up a batch of tuna salad and the sandwiches were delicious. My 3 year old liked her pita with some cream cheese and homemade strawberry freezer jelly. She gobbled it up and asked for another.

This recipe is definitely a keeper.

If you enjoyed this article, then you might enjoy some previous "Make It Yourself Monday" articles:

Hummus
pizza dough
granola

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This post is linked to:

• October Fest Carnival of Super Foods - the un-processed foods edition at Kitchen Stewardship.
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Tuesday at the Table - All the Small Stuff

Garlic and Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus

I love to cook and would much prefer to eat something homemade then made from a box. Homemade food tastes better to me and my family and a lot of the time the meals are healthier and less expensive than their store made, processed counterparts. Make It Yourself Monday gives me a chance to experiment with some recipes that I might not have tried before.

I can't believe I have never made hummus from scratch before this past weekend. I buy it all the time, especially when it is B1G1F, and we love it with pita chips or veggies. This weekend, I made two different types: Garlic and sun-dried tomato hummus and basic hummus.

I found the garlic and sun-dried tomato hummus recipe on Cooking Light.com. I modified the recipe slightly after reading some of the reviews and it turned out delicious. The recipe calls for sun-dried tomatoes in oil, but the non-oil packed sun-dried tomatoes are cheaper so I bought those and just re-hydrated what I needed in some warm water per the instructions on the bag. I also added some extra virgin olive oil and used 3 large cloves of garlic instead of 2. I LOVE garlic so I didn't mind the extra garlicky flavor. This was very yummy and my 3 year old loved it too. I had some leftover tortillas from a taco dinner last week and I baked them in the oven at 325 degrees until slightly crispy for dipping. We also dipped lots of veggies: yellow & red peppers, celery, carrots, and broccoli.

I found this recipe for basic hummus in Good Housekeeping magazine. It was also very good and it was inhaled as well.

As far as price, I did have to buy the 3 oz bag of tomatoes and that was $3.99, but I figure I can make 2-3 batches with the one bag. I also had to buy the tahini for the basic hummus and a 16 oz jar of organic tahini was $5.25, but the recipe only calls for 2 Tbsp. so that jar will make 16 batches of basic hummus. The 15 oz can of garbanzo beans range in price from .65 - $1.19 a can. The other ingredients such as garlic, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper are usually always in my pantry. A store bought 8 oz container of hummus costs me about $3.99, but I usually only buy it when it is B1G1F. These recipes make almost twice the amount of the 8 oz container and cost less even with the sale price.

Going forward I will definitely make hummus myself instead of buying it. It is so delicious and easy to make. In my humble opinion the store bought just doesn't compare.

If you enjoyed this article, then you might enjoy some previous "Make It Yourself Monday" articles:

- Fries
- Pizza Dough
- Granola

This post is linked to Carnival of Super Foods - Beans and Legumes Edition at Kitchen Stewardship.

Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet. If you don't already receive FBS free updates, please click here to sign up.

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