I am curious what you do and what tips you have to pass along to others about how your family saves money.
As you know, I love to coupon, shop sales, and stockpile but I also save money other ways.
We do not use paper towels or paper napkins in our house. This is partly a money saving idea, but was mostly an environmentally conscience decision for me. I was sick about how much paper products we were going through and throwing away on a daily basis in our house and wanted to cut some out. I bought a couple of packages of kitchen wash clothes and use them in place of paper towels and napkins. I wash them when we are almost out and make sure to sanitize them too!
We also don't have cable! I know this is shocking to most people, but we have been cable free for almost 4 years now and really haven't missed it. My husband did go through a bit of withdrawal when he couldn't watch every NFL football game on Sundays, but he learned to cope. I grew up not having cable in our house so I wasn't super reliant on TV. I was sick of spending close to $100/month just to have cable, so we cut it and now do other things with our time.
I also don't purchase many commercial cleaners and if I do I usually splurge and buy environmentally friendly ones from BioKleen. I love their products, but mostly use baking soda and vinegar for cleaning in our house. They are super environmentally friendly and kid safe and TONS cheaper than buying commercial cleaners.
So my question again for you is, what do you do to save money? Feel free to leave a comment so that others can see what information you have to share, you can even leave them anonymously. I hope to hear from you!
Cloth diaper, BS and Vinegar to clean(with cloth of course :), Menu plan and coupon. Also, we try to maintain a "gift closet", which has saved us a ton! Just buy toys on sale/clearance, stack with a coupon if able. Lots of birthday parties this year!
ReplyDeleteWe also cloth diapered and used cloth pull ups for potty training. I also maintain a "gift closet" and will post some more details about that in the next "shopping ahead" post. Thanks for adding what you do Starla!!
ReplyDeleteAlong with doing some of things you mentioned Our biggest money saver in the summer is our veggie garden. We have already started our veggies indoors now to transfer to our garden once it gets warm enough. We also compost for our garden. And in that realm, we buy a lot of plants and outside furniture at the end of the season. It's always on clearance and you can get some great trees and bushes. Last year, I purchased $90 lounger chairs for $12.
ReplyDeleteThings that I'd like to try are the homemade cleaners, along with soap, and homemade laundry detergent. *hint, hint* :)
A bit unorthodox, but it does save $$... we have a gym membership and schedule our time there in the mornings so we use the showers at the gym to get ready for work; anywhere from 3-4 days a week. We save enough on our H20 bill every month to pay for one membership :) I also use washable kitchen cloths in lieu of sponges; as they are not only wasteful, but also germ collectors. We definitely stockpile, and I recently started the "gift closet". This winter, we lowered our heat by only 2 degrees when we are home, and it has saved us almost $50/mo - I am getting to wear the fleece I love so much and forgot I had! I try to sent post-cards, as they cost less to mail and aren't as wasteful as traditional folding cards for thank you's and greetings. Lastly, instead of ordering out for pizza; we get the Safeway Select thin crust frozen pizza's which are only $3.99 each on sale (Every Friday they seem to be on sale...I cannot remember the last time they were regular price)and crisp incredibly when cooked on the rack :)
ReplyDeleteI am VERY interested in the homemade cleaners and laundry detergent's that Carmen mentions above...anyone have words of wisdom to add????
Thanks everyone for adding what you do to save money, great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI use old dryer sheets on my swiffer and do not purchase the swiffer sheets. I use my dryer sheets several times in dryer then off to the swiffer.
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