The internet is full of money saving tips, to which I’ve added quite a few! From washing your hair with baking soda and vinegar, to hanging your wet clothes out to dry, to making your own laundry detergent, to putting those $4 you didn’t spend on coffee into your savings account, the suggestions for savings abound!
But what common tips for saving money do you actually use in your own life?
(Today I made a bunch of bread crumbs from a stale baguette. I’m going to use half for tomorrow’s meatloaf and I put half into the freezer.)
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{ 17 comments }
Just for starters:
*Wash and reuse Ziploc bags.
*Cut my husband’s and child’s hair at home.
*Make my own laundry soap.
*Make my own all-purpose cleaner.
*Re-using school papers, etc. in the printer if it’s still blank on one side.
.-= Annie Jones´s last blog ..Lost Weekend =-.
Used the last of the toothpaste from a cut apart tube
Turned off shower before soaping washcloth, washing body & hair
A few here: I plan my meals each week, make coffee at home, pack my lunch, trim my own hair, shop at thrift stores, use public transportation, use old clothes for rags, unravel sweaters for knitting, etc.
Also, I recently learned to do threading/khite, which I am very excited about!
.-= Kayla K@Kayla K’s Thrifty Ways´s last blog ..The Power of “Ask” =-.
Despite being pathetically poor all my life, I’ve never really got the hang of being frugal. I did once make soup from nettles but as nobody would even taste it, the object of the exercise was somewhat defeated.
I do water down my washing-up liquid so it lasts twice as long…and I don’t seem to use twice as much, so I suppose that’s a bit of a saving.
I always use a bar of soap to shower rather than shower gel – soap lasts forever!
I sometimes use olive oil on my face as night cream but usually I use facial oil that you can buy in health food shops. You only need a tiny bit – I’ve still got the bottle I bought in November and it only cost 7 euros. Otherwise, Palmer’s cocoa butter comes in a huge pot and you only need to use a tiny bit of that too.
I’ve never tried washing my hair with vinegar and baking soda though – have you posted the recipe somewhere?
.-= Gigi´s last blog ..Living in an Acronym =-.
– Baking soda and vinegar for burned food on the ceramic stovetop, plain vinegar for every other spray cleaning need (besides the toilets) and to clean wood floors
– Regularly make chicken stock so that we have sodium-free chicken stock and shredded chicken (frozen in dinner-sized portions) at all times
– stock up meat on sale and repackage to smaller portions at home
– use a price book to recognize the best coupon and sale combination
– save bacon fat for future cooking
– use newspapers to clean windows before recycling
– line dry approximately a third of our clothes
– like Kayla, old clothes that can’t be donated or sold become rags — I also felt holey sweaters to make into craft projects/children’s gifts
It’s not right for all but I shaved my head and saved tons on haircuts over the years.
We are making more and more from scratch.
Stopped buying bottled drinks, Ice tea and water are the norm at home.
Take the time to do a comprehensive price comparison among all your local grocers.
Set your printer on low quality, auto greyscale and double sided printing has reduced our ink use to less than half of the default settings.
.-= LeanLifeCoach´s last blog ..Combat The Closing Techniques – The Puppy Dog Close =-.
-Needed fleece for padding on a sewing project so I cut up a fleece shirt that was in my give away pile and used that fabric instead. Together with fabric given to my awhile back, I made a lap top case for $0 instead of buying the $80 one my husband was looking at at Office Max.
-I made a crock pot of split pea soup for lunch this week so that each day my lunch only costs $.33 and it is great.
-I always use reusable bags at the store because not only am I not wasting plastic grocery bags but the store gives me $0.05/bag of mine that I use off of my total bill. I figure I have paid for my homemade bags about 20 times each already.
.-= Kathleen´s last blog ..My Library Bag Is Full =-.
I’ve been forced into a more frugal lifestyle as my husband’s last day of work is Friday and I haven’t worked since our son was born almost two years ago. Some things I do:
Meal planning, batch cooking, and freezing – there’s a great recipe book about warehouse cooking called Fix, Freeze, Feast. Very helpful!
Entertainment Book – it’s a one-time cost, but saves more than it costs in coupons. Plus we get to try new places we wouldn’t try otherwise, like museums and restaurants.
I shave my legs with shampoo instead of shaving gel or cream. I lather my hair, soap up my legs, shave and rinse. It’s smooth and gives a clean shave, and the soap is there anyway.
I made reusable sandwich wraps for my husband to take his lunch to work.
I have a pretty large crafting supply stash. When disaster hit Haiti, my husband and I wanted to give but found ourselves strapped for cash. So I found organizations that were accepting crafted donations. For example, Craft Hope opened an Etsy shop so we could sell our items for Doctors Without Borders. I was able to raise about $200 for them without spending a penny, as I already had the materials on hand.
When I am home during the winter months, I am always cold so I used to ask for higher and higher temperatures. One day, I decided to lower the temperature ( – 3°C) and I do not feel colder than before !
I hope it will be quite a change on next bill.
*We’ve installed a digital thermostat on the central unit.
*I make my own detergent and I’m line drying more and more clothes each week.
*Fix broken objects around the house and keep maintenance up-to-date on our appliances. Today I cleaned my printer/copier/scanner with mineral spirits that kept sticking. Hubster replaced the flotation device in the toilet to stop the hissing. I’m also planning on cleaning the dishwasher to ensure efficient operation.
*I enter giveaways and contest for things I can actually use. My son’s birthday gifts didn’t cost me a penny earlier this month since I gave him two gift cards I won through online contests. He was so excited to pay for dinner with a Pizza Hut card and loved picking out a few toys at Target.com with an e-card. Both were prizes for contests I entered last month.
*Cook from scratch more versus buying lots of convenience foods. Mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, cakes, cookies, candy and other yummy dishes are easy to make from scratch and are way cheaper when done from scratch.
*Use a universal cleaner like Vinegar instead of a specialized cleaner for different projects.
*I also cut the kids and hubster’s hair at home.
*Take care of illness and dental issues before they become larger (more expensive) problems. Don’t let cavities cause a chipped or broken tooth or sinuses flair into full blown infections. Medications can get expensive and having a tooth extracted or root canal is more costly than getting a simple cavity filled! Plus it’s way more painful!
.-= Jenn´s last blog ..The Trick to Luxurious Soft Line Dried Clothes is…. =-.
*We cook and eat most of our meals at home and the leftovers are often lunch. We also use less meat in our meals and bulk up on veggies
*We don’t buy coffee on the way to work
*We make work lunches at home
*Line dry everything unless it is pouring with rain and we are desperate
*We learnt to use smaller amounts of shampoo, washing detergent and similar items and discovered the results are the same, but we have to replace much less often
-plan weekly meals & buy only items on my shopping list
-buy food & household items on sale with coupons
-buy dog & cat food at Costco
-turn the temp down during the day in the winter; don’t use A/C during the summer unless the temp is unbearable
-buy bulk service plan for cable, internet, phone
.-= Random Thoughts of a Jersey Mom´s last blog ..My $50 Wedding =-.
Menu Plan
Take advantage of sale items on regularly used products (stockpile)
Installed a programmable thermostat
Cash Only (recently went to a cash only budget for groceries, gas & entertainment; plan to do the same with other categories soon)
Pack a Lunch, Snacks and Drinks to work
.-= Nancy´s last blog ..frittata: a very forgiving recipe =-.
Most of our meals are homecooked and using the vegetables from the season that are always cheapest. Eating healthy so we don’t have to go to the doctor even though we have insurance. Using baking soda with my laundry detergent to stretch it.
But, after reading some of the others, it may lead to washing out my ziploc bags! I haven’t done that one yet! And, it’s better for environment.
We try to find discounts or coupons for everything we do whether it be dining out, going to the movies or on vacation. This is on top of planning meals, taking my lunch every day to work and swapping paperbooks.
We’ll never be as frugal as some of the other commenters but we’re more frugal than a lot of people. It’s a continually moving target.
.-= Bucksome Boomer´s last blog ..Is a Phased Retirement for You? =-.
We are on the cash only “diet”.We stopped eating out.Buy only the necessities for one week at a time,plan all meals,and run all errands on Saturday.Such as the grocery shopping,mail the bills and gas up the car.We also track our spending.I use up and repurpose anything I can to save money.
-Unplug/power strip-If it has a remote then it uses power in stand by-unplug or use a power strip to totally cut the power to TVs/DVD/CD/VCR/computer/modem/
printer-I’m saving about $10/month
-Go to the library-I don’t buy books anymore (& I LOVE books)-can request books to check out online and DVD’s/CD’s
-Cheapest cable TV plan & NO box to tempt me with pay per view
-Pay as you go cell phone $15/month-Net Ten
-Cheapest DSL for internet-way faster than dial up & cheaper than cable internet
-Veggies/fruit not so fresh? Get out the juicer and juice ’em-super healthy & no waste!
-And….turn off the lights when out of the room