Image Source: Frugal Living

When it comes to being frugal and eco-friendly, many people may not realize the amount of laundry that they do can have a significant impact on their expenses and their energy-consumption. The average size household will do at least 7 loads of laundry per week, which totals around 400 loads of laundry per year. A load of laundry can use 20-40 gallons of water meaning a year’s worth of laundry will use 16,000 gallons of water.

That is not to mention the amount of electricity that will be used to wash and dry 400 loads of clothes, towels, and blankets.

When you are looking for ways to save money and reduce your family’s carbon footprint, the laundry room and your washer dryer is the perfect place to start.

Pro Tip 1: Wash in Cold Water

By washing your clothes in cold water, you can cut the amount of electricity you use by more than half! The average load of laundry washed in hot or warm water, uses 4.5kWh of electricity (about $0.68 per load-$265/year) whereas a load washed in cold water uses a mere 0.3kWh ($.04 per load- $16/year). [Source]

Pro Tip 2: Use Other Drying Methods

The clothes dryer is a major culprit in raising electric bills. Any item that generates heat uses more electricity to operate. Use a clothesline to dry your clothes or hang them from hangers on the shower rod in the bathroom. Clothes will take longer to dry; however, you will save a great deal of money on your energy bill.

Pro Tip 3: Avoid Expensive Detergents

Yes, expensive detergents smell great and will leave you with the impression that your laundry is clean because of the way it smells. However, cheaper, economy-sized laundry detergents contain the same basic ingredients and will work just as well.
For half the price, you can purchase larger containers of laundry detergent and your clothes will be just as clean. Furthermore, there will be less packaging to recycle or toss out. You can also choose eco-friendly detergents. Environmentally-friendly ingredients to look for include grain alcohol, coconut plant oils, rosemary and sage.

Pro Tip 4: Top Load Versus the Front Loading Washer

If you are still using the outdated washing machine that you bought ten years ago, chances are you are wasting a lot of water. The average top load washer uses almost 40 gallons for one single load of clothes. A front-load washer only uses about 20 gallons per load.
Upgrading to a new washer can dramatically reduce the amount of water that you use in your home and is an eco-friendly choice.

Pro Tip 5: If It’s Not Dirty, Don’t Wash It!

Okay, this does not mean that you and your family should wear dirty clothes just because you are trying to reduce the amount of money you spend on laundry. Just make sure that you are not washing clothes that are not dirty. If you wear your nice dress slacks for an hour and then change, they most likely will be fine to fold up and put back in the drawer.
Some other tips to try:
- Cut your dryer sheets in half (or omit them altogether). This way you can cut these dryer sheet costs by half!
- Dilute your laundry detergent. By keeping an extra detergent bottle aside, you can fill it half way with detergent and the other half with water.
- Use vinegar instead of fabric softener. ¼ cup of fabric softener (for big loads) saves money and does just the trick.

By paying a bit more attention to how, and when, you do your laundry, it will be completely possible for you to save hundreds of dollars each year. This will help reduce the impact that your family has on the environment by cutting water and energy usage as well. Everyone likes to have clean clothes to wear, but this should not come at such an expensive cost and it really does not have to.

Looking back to my life before living in Canada makes me smile - because never would I have thought I was so passionate about supporting our local businesses and online shopping. Where I come from - we have shopping centers 8 stories high in department stores. Where I am now in a remote area in Canada, it’s really hard to shop for everything in town. I’m passionate about buying local because the spouse owns his own business - a small one - and without the support of the local community - we could never have a comfortable life. Therefore, whenever I can - I will only shop locally or within Canada - it’s smart move to shop within Canada because shipping is cheaper and in a lot of cases it’s even free. Most importantly, I don’t have to pay for brokerage fees. If I needed to buy a big item like a painting (made the mistake once and paid as much for the brokerage and shipping fees as the painting itself).

Since I can’t head to the city every time I need something (because of the store and Chloe at school), shopping online at places like Centrsource or Roots are my best options. I like to shop for everything under one roof, so it’s great when you find an online shop that carries most of the things I need. And I never shop for anything that is not on sale or has a deal/great offer, for I get a little carried away when I shop - don’t you? I’m checking out Centrsource as I write and it’s very unique, it brings you to the site the offer is on - and you deal directly with the seller/shop - pretty neat. And I can shop after Chloe has gone to bed so I can read up on the things I love and get the best deals. Now if only they carried Asian groceries I’d be all set.

So I finally settled for a Wicker’s emporium Maize 3 drawers storage for a bedside table and plus it was 50% off - so I bought it for my bedroom. I had wanted it in a different color - but they only had this color or the multi-colored ones - so I settled for this color since our bedroom’s furniture are almost all brownish in color. Looking kinda gloomy I know you are gonna say - but not to worry because I ordered a painting from Etsy - and am looking forward to getting it - that way I can add a splash of color to our bedroom. I feel that it is time to dress up our bedroom since we haven’t for this long. We’ve been in this house for almost 7 years now and as surely as I am trying to dress it up - everything seems desperately slow - because I just can’t find anything I really liked. And I won’t settle for less or just an item - that I mediocrely liked. Like for my tv room/living room I would really like to get some calligraphy work for the living room - but of course to do so - I would have to go home for it - because you need to be quite selective - as to who write the calligraphy for you. Oh well - we’ll just have to wait then.

The photo doesn’t do it justice because the A-Frame houses that is near the lake - looked really cute from far away. I don’t really know who lives in these A-Frame houses - or if they are for sale but i found on the internet that they are for rent at $500/month - doubt they have heats and lights included though. But it’s such a unique place - great for bachelors or single ladies - who works near the hospital - it has a great view that’s for sure. If I were single - i would definitely rent something like that - back home rental for a room alone is about $500 - if not more for just a HDB house. Rent is a lot cheaper here in Canada - but of course - the standard of living is also lower as compared to back home. So will you survived in Canada ? for sure - but make sure you have some money saved up and run your little business. Working for someone unless you are a professional yourself - can be harder.

If any of you decides to move to Canada and migrate here permanently - like buying a house and all - there are some things you need to have for winter. Why? winter is wicked in most part in Canada and to survive winter - and make life less miserable for you - these are the two things you have to have. The garage door opener and a car starter for the winter. Why? because you don’t want to be stuck outside while you unload your groceries in the middle of winter and you don’t want to freeze in your car - while you wait for it to warm up or when you are shuffling. We learned this the hard way - and like i said - the garage door open and the car self starter to warm up the car - before you need to put your children into the car - to send them to school early in the morning. Trust me! you will thank me for this info - later.

So we started the new year - with some new furniture for our home. We finally broke down and bought chairs for our dining table - because the ones we had - were not color co-ordinated. So while eating at a local restaurant in town - we were kinda inspired - they had the kind of sturdy chairs we wanted - so after a late lunch one afternoon - we headed to get the chairs. Chairs are expensive here ! at $70 a chair! we bought 3 new ones. Then we bought a new chest of drawer for Chloe - since she is still using her old one - that is too small for her now. And next we bought a new kitchen faucet for our kitchen - and the only thing we are looking out for - when the price is right - is a front load washing machine and dryer. We needed a new kitchen faucet - because our current one was leaking and rusty looking as well. As for the washing machine and dryer - it’s because we want an energy and water saving machine - our old one works well - but it’s an top load one - and it’s time to change. I can’t wait to do other little things for our home - so that we can start having friends and family over for visits.

Having a store like ours is pretty awesome because we sometimes do come across really good and cheap stuff. You see people don’t know how to budget or manage their money here - they have no money for emergencies and neither friends nor family can help them out. So what they do? they sell whatever things they bought recently for half of what they paid for - and sometimes even less. Of course, we get first dips on things like that. So recently we acquired a 40″ plasma for only $100 - so now we are looking around for tv stands - because it’s for our bedroom - so we need something that isn’t too bulky nor expensive. We weren’t keen on putting a tv in our bedroom but since it came so cheap - we just can’t resist it. Our tv stand would probably end up being more than the plasma itself… hahahah!

When I first came to Canada - I saw an Ocean Front home in Pembroke that I fell in love with. At that time - we couldn’t afford it - and bought a smaller home instead. My g/f who migrated to United States and married there - bought an Ocean Front home thru’ Buxton foreclosures and when she sent some pictures to me - I’m envious! There is one in Buxton Oceanside with 6 bedrooms - just awesome for a bed and breakfast if you asked me. The price is even than the Pembroke house that we saw! $226K only!! a steal! if you asked me. My dream is to have my own bed and breakfast at an Ocean Front to retire in - with all my best girlfriends. Dreams can come true eh.

It had been a really busy summer for us - in fact - so busy I had to cancel my pedicure a few times now in the last 2 months. The store is doing some revamping with new fixtures and our home ? we are getting our patio all fixed up with mosquito nets - so that we can enjoy sitting outside without the buzzing of mosquitoes and bugs. The zapper that we had bought a few years ago - didn’t seems to help - so I told PB that we really needed to get the mosquito nets up. Afterall, what is good with having a patio and a golf course for scenery when one don’t get to enjoy it. So off we went looking for some Baldwin hardware for door knobs and other accessories. As for the store - we got new fixtures for the movies and games and cabinets as well. The store is beginning to look “proper” now and most of the handmade shelving by PB were taken down. I think he is a little nostalgic about them - hahahha!! for they had followed him for 11 yrs now. So yes! if i haven’t answered your emails or gone on Facebook - it’s because we are busy running around looking and shopping for stuff to fix up our house and store.

Living in Canada for the last 10 yrs doesn’t mean that I want to lose touch with family and friends - in fact - i think we are a lot more closer now that we don’t get to see each other that often. But it is sad when the nieces/nephews or the best friends celebrates a special occasion and you can’t attend. But like all Chinese, we believe that we have to show that we think and care about them. Asked Barb who started work this year in January after taking a long break looking after her daughter. But what was most awesome was - all our friends from all over the world came together and used Proflwers to send her a bouquet of roses - to boost her confidence -she was thrilled i am pretty sure.

So the niece who got married last week was very touched to receive this from us all the way from Canada - we couldn’t be there you see - too long a flight - but we wanted her to know we care for her and loved her. Thank God for services like these eh - but it’s not new to me.. because some 15 yrs ago - i was using this service to send flowers to PB while i was in Singapore and he in Canada - i even have pictures of them to proof it.. hahahha!! Ahhh.. love.. what better way to show it then with flowers eh. Did you send flowers to your spouse lately??? or someone you miss ..?? I did received some from PB not too, too long ago - but that’s another story for another day.

I have officially become a yard sale junkie.. hahahahah!! before coming to Canada.. i would imagine myself to buy things from a yard sale.. not that there is anything wrong with it.. but you know us Chinese right..?? so many superstition .. and feng shui reasons. But our latest purchase of a mini fridge.. because our 3 months old mini fridge broke down a few months ago.. and we refused to pay for the same brand and get stuck with it because the warranty insist that we mail it back to them. For the postage, I might as well get a new one eh.

We also managed to buy a scooter for a friend of the store .. his son is so cute.. we just adore him. So when we found out he loved chloe’s scooter so much..i just had to get him one. And guess what..?? one came up in the yard sale online.. and we got it for him.. muahahah!!

We also bought the bed frame from the yard sale.. but of course.. the mattress is new lah. But had we bought something new like that.. it would have cost us a good $300 .. and we paid really cheap for this one. But course, we did our fengshui cleansing with sea salt .. and holy water.. and only had good thoughts while cleaning it. Plus we bought another coffee table on the yard sale.. a round one.. because the one we had .. has sharp corners. So yes.. ! i admit.. i’m officially a yard sale junkie .. muahahha!!!

So we finally bought our patio set from my favorite store in town. It was on sale.. and it was a no tax day. For those who are not aware of this, in Canada - taxes are like 13% - pretty high in my opinion.. for a place where one can get a new landed property for as low as $125K as compared to home of $1.3 million. Back home where the standard of living is higher.. the GST we paid were mostly included in the price that we see .. and only at 3%.

Why did we wait so long to get the patio set..?? because we are pretty el cheapo.. and only feel that we will only buy things at the right price.. and not necessary the right time. So PB put it together.. one evening when it was really hot in the house. Glad the man is very handy .. and can do stuff like this on his own. Oh.. and special thanks to Uncle Jerry for helping us bring the patio set home from Superstore.

Yes.. ! i still want a dream basement for the spouse. Granted that would means . .more basement time alone for him.. but that would also mean .. more living room for me.. where i can pretty it up . .muahhahaha!! that’s my big plan. Afterall, my house is finally taking shape. We’ve again talked about it this afternoon.. and although i know we can afford a basic basement.. i want also a fire place. So that would mean an outdoor chimney as well. .which can cost us a few more thousands .. if we are not careful. So like any sensible adult.. we are gonna hold .. and wait till we pay some more on what we owe on the house first.. therefore those ball lock pins have to wait for abit still.

I wrote about some awesome “xiao” neighbours i have right..?? just a few weeks ago.. who rode on his lawn mower .. at midnite..?? Yes.. !! that ultra “xiao” one.. who cannot seems to get enough of mowing their lawn .. during the summer. .and now winter. So this year’s summer project.. we hope to get some fence installation done. In fact, we had wanted to do it .. a few years ago.. but decided not to.. because we didn’t wanna appear to be hostile. But seeing that they are getting more and more “xiao” every year.. i think we have to protect ourselves.. and our property.. plus our privacy. Wish us luck!!

After a month of caring for a sick kid.. and sending her to the hospital for countless of times.. we finally had a weekend.. whereby .. we can clean the whole house. Chloe was still sick .. but some cleaning had to be done.. but we ended up doing more.. because i was on the go.

The “ang moh” help with washing the toilet.. and the rest i did .. and then he cooked for the kid.. and kept her busy.. so that i can continue doing my cleaning. Afterwhich, we finally hung up stuff.. that we had bought years ago.. to decorate the house. Finally, after living in the house for 4 yrs.. we finally got to decorate the house.

This was actually meant for the living room.. but the brat claimed it… for her own.. so this is in her room right now.

We are really forward to getting our basement all renovated and insulated before winter this year. There is just so much potential for our basement .. since it is the size of our house itself. So whenever we go shopping like we did today.. we look out for stuff that we could use in our basement when it is completed. At wicker emporium there were some very lovely candle stand at $16.99 that i was tempted to by and we are looking out for a TV wall mount for a tv for the brat in her corner at the basement.

I was at the Bank of Montreal this afternoon and met a Chinese couple and their son from New Jersey (I kid you not). They were originally from Malaysia and it is always good to see an Asian face in town because you get to chat in Chinese and it’s great to somewhat connect to home. According to the couple, there are quite a few Chinese families where they come from. Now that’s comforting to know if I was thinking of re-locating or doing business there.

Real Estate New Jersey has more information on the population and it is good know that it is the second wealthiest state in the US. One can also learn a little bit more about the community on this site, and of course you can find a Realtor on their website as well as see homes for sale. From pricing to a brief description and pictures to help you narrow down your dream house thus making it easier for your re-location. You can even schedule a viewing time online as well as get a pre-qualified loan for your mortgage. You can just value up a house and be on top of things too if that’s your preference. In other words, your search begins and ends here, stress free because you get all the information you need and more. Here you have people who are ready to assist and help you make the right decision.

I have an infection on my laporoscopic surgery .. and one of the wounds just wouldn’t heal properly. On antibiotics .. and was told not to shower.. but sponge bath instead. But what about my hair..?? The shower faucets in all our bathrooms are those that are non removable.. so i’ll have to stand inside the shower.. and get myself wet.. if i wanted to wash my hair. Luckily, we managed to get hold of my hair dresser .. and she took me in immediately. I had a hair cut.. and a great hair wash.. awesome..! felt so good after that.

Since I”ve been so ill for the last two weeks.. it means.. that we weren’t making as much money.. in the stores.. as much as we would like to.. and employees salaries were higher too. Our dream basement with home theater and the works.. just have to take a backseat for now.