Thrifty Tips

Each week, I will put up a thrifty tip of the week. When I put a new one up, I'll put the old one in here so people can access it!

Thrifty Tip #1 (03/06)
Buy a foaming soap dispenser. This will make your handsoap stretch 3 times longer. You only need 1 part soap 2 parts water and it still cleans your hands. Don't buy the fancy foaming soap from Bath and Body Works (and if you do, only buy it once for the dispenser!!). Buy your own and just use any old soap. I personally use this one, but anything works of course!


Thrifty Tip #2 (03/15)
When you use dryer sheets, rip or cut them in thirds. They still do the job just as well, and last 3 times as long!! And keep in mind that the cheap dryer sheets do the exact same thing as the fancy, expensive Snuggle or Bounce ones!


Thrifty Tip #3 (03/22)
Buy a pack of wash cloths and keep them in the kitchen for messes, instead of using paper towels. The term for this is "Unpaper Towels" and you can actually purchase them at various places such as here, but I personally just bought 2 packs of a dozen wash cloths at Target for $2.99 each. You could get rid of paper towels all together, or at least drastically cut down on purchasing them!


Thrifty Tip #4 (03/29)
Make your own household cleaners. Not only is this a super thrifty way to save on the high cost of store bought cleaners, but it's also MUCH better for you and the environment. Vinegar and baking soda are amazing and extremely versatile. Other ingrediants can include borax, ammonia and lemon juice (and more!). Check out this website for some great cleaner recipes.


Thrifty Tip #5 (04/05)
Use every part of that animal! If it's a ham, take the hambone and make soup. You can also make broth or stock from leftover turkey and chicken bone. Use every part of it that you can. Leftover meat works great in eggs, casseroles, toppings for pizza, etc. If we wanted to eat ham for a long time, I could easily make a 5 pound ham feed our family for more then a week!


Thrifty Tip # 6 (04/20)

Make a grocery list and meal plan based off of sales and stick to it. You can make a grocery list, no problem. In fact, I'm sure that the majority of people do. Where it gets tricky? Sticking to the list while you're shopping. Same thing with your meal plan. Very easy to make it, trickier to stick to it. Get your Sunday paper and read the ads. Make your meal plan and grocery list based on the sales that are going on. This will literally save youhundreds of dollars. I'm not exaggerating. We used to spend well over $600 a month on groceries and now we spend $260 a month on groceries and health and beauty items.


Thrifty Tip #7 (04/26)
Unplug and shut it off! Look around your house. What is plugged in? Everything? What lights are turned on? As I write this I'm guilty of my kitchen light being on and my cell phone charger being plugged in and my phone is not being charged. Shut off the lights when you leave the room. Unplug stuff that sucks electricity when you're not using it. You could even unplug your microwave...it's constantly sucking electricity to tell you the time (or in our case, show us a blinking light). This could save you quite a bit each month and over the year on your electricity bill. It seems oversimplified, but truly DOES make a huge difference!


Thrifty Tip #8 (05/04)
Replace your light bulbs with CFL bulbs. I know, you've heard this a million times but it really does make a huge difference. CFL bulbs take about a quarter of the electricity AND you don't have to replace them nearly as often. I still have some CFL light bulbs from 4 years ago that I bring with us when we move! They are on sale constantly. I even got 2 for free a few weeks ago because I had a double coupon and they were on sale!


Thrifty Tip #9 (05/18)
When you're taking a trip or leaving the house, bring a reusable bottle with a drink and a snack. Do not buy soda or snacks at the gas station. Believe me, I know how tempting it is. In fact, I just did it yesterday on my way to the doctor. The markup on gas station food is 30-40% above grocery store prices. On this note, don't buy those bottles of soda, the 12 ounce ones. They cost almost $2 these days. You can go to the grocery store and buy two 2-liters of soda for that price if you catch a good sale or buy the store brand. Once my husband and I stopped doing this, I kid you not we saved well over $100 a month!