In my efforts to economize so I don't have to downsize and lose the townhouse, I've already gotten a roommate to alleviate the monthly expenses that I have with the mortgage payments.
In my other blog I wrote down how surprised I was to find out that Vinegar of all things can help you economize in the daily household routine of cleaning and washing clothes.  Also it was good for medical purposes...like helping to burn fat and lose weight (Apple Vinegar) and helping your skin cure itself from dandruff.  Not to mention sun burn and gargling with vinegar will take away that feeling that you're coming down with a sore throat and cooking with vinegar will help keep rice fluffy and add a dandy flavor to dishes in general.  
Cleaning the dishes with 50% vinegar and mild soap and water will give extra life to the sponge, keeping the greasy feeling out of it and making it last longer.

But I needed to keep searching and find other means to be frugal and make my paycheck stretch longer.  I Googled Baking Soda and got the same surprise...although it was kind of expected.   There are many uses for Baking Soda other than cooking.  It works great for cleaning and you should Google it also to find out all the uses that it has.  Not as much as Vinegar but certainly it has lots of uses.....even into the hundreds also.

Again, that was good but not enough to satisfy me.    I mean, when you want to improve something, you have to look at all the angles.  Big and small and it's usually the small things that fall through the cracks right? The big things always attract attention but the small things are important too if you add them up.  A boat can sink just as fast from too many small leaks as from a big one I figure.
So I start looking at my other expenses.  One that was worrying me was the Hurricane Insurance policy.  This year it went down because I personally went down and made some changes (I increased the theft deductible (?) but don't remember all the details) and by doing that I brought the price down by several hundred dollars (400 approx).
Next I looked at the car Insurance that I had with my ex-to-be....yes we still share some things..... and I decided that the cars are already paid for and although still in almost new condition (2005 both) with the exception that mine is usually pretty messy on the inside..... the insurance could be brought down to what was only required by law.
 I had pretty good coverage (and still do) but getting rid of all the extras like reimbursement for rentals in case of accident....and I had the roadside protection with the towing etc. which was extra but minimal and a one time payment a year. I mean only a about a hundred a year and it was the feature that over the years I've used the most whenever something happened, like a flat tire, towing, etc.
By cutting out the other items I cut down expenses by a bit more than $700 every 6 months and that's with keeping roadside assistance.
 
Now we're talking.

I still felt that there was more that could be done, specially with the house insurance. So I called the insurance agency and asked them to change my insurance again but this time to a renters policy.....
Now I knew that they wouldn't give me a change without a good reason but I was prepared with my story that I was renting the house and moving in with a relative not too far away.
The estimated savings would be more than $1500 a year. 
Even though I was robbed not too long ago...of the storm shutters that were in the backyard of all things....they didn't break into the house as that would've been real obvious you know...  the robbers taking out furniture and stuff out of the house would certainly have looked different enough to attract attention.      But the storm shutters was a quick in and out of the backyard and when I talked to the cops they said there's been a rash of those lately in the area....and it was just before Hurricane Season.   It's not hard to do the math as the area has a proliferation of gardeners and contractors always moving in and out and somebody wanted some extra storm shutters to sell I figure. 
My next ones are going to be the accordion shutters which are better anyway and those are bolted to every window and besides they're not a pain in the neck to put up (and I got it easy compared to other houses) like the old shutters were....the accordion you just shut and lock and you're set....2 seconds and that's it.

So technically I saved myself $1500 yearly on one thing and $1400 yearly on another. On the robbery that I had the deductible was much higher than the cost of the stolen merchandise so when you think about it that's 7 years of paying premium for protection that you can use only once in a blue moon and taking theft out of the policy was a big discount.

I hear renters insurance is kinda cheap when you get just that.  At least that's what apartment dwellers tell me and what really gets me is the fact that insurance companies won't sell you renters insurance unless you prove that you are renting the house.
It seems like a racket to me and heck I'm only renting one room really but I can stretch that a bit and get the discount that I need.
As soon as I get the lease agreement to the agency I can make the change in policy and I can take care of that by next week.
It still feels like I'm learning how to swim in shark infested waters....even after all these years.

I'll be putting up more links that I found later on.

God Bless
Rc