Scrubbers

When I'm not crocheting my dish scrubber I buy them from the dollar store.  To make these last longer I cut them in half (because really, how much of it are you using at one time?).  Makes my $0.50 scrubber a $0.25 scrubber and I end up with 4 scrubbers instead of 2.  Yeah!

Your Ideas - Laundry Soap

I know you all have great ideas, you're just checking out this blog to get more good ideas.  So I want to hear your creative tips too.

Here's one I got from a friend of mine for homemade laundry soap/detergent.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap-Front or Top Load Machine

4 cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar 
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax

-Grate or shred the bar of Fels-Naptha soap. Add it to the saucepan with 4 cups of hot tap water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5-gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda, and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover, and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use (will gel). (This is optional. I do not do this). 

Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons or 5 gallons if you do not dilute it.

Top Load Machine- 5/8 cup per load (approx 180 loads)

Front Load Machine- 1/2 to 1 cup per load (approx 640 loads)

Keep it Full

Keeping your appliances such as refrigerator, freezer, and loads of laundry will help with your utilities bill.  They will operate at optimum efficiency when they are more full.  You can "artificially" do that for your fridge and freezer by putting gallons of water in them if you are for some reason unable to keep them full.

I know, we've all been there, your husband needs a shirt for work, your only clean pair of pants just got sticky little hands all over them, etc.  So you want to wash that one item.  If you can at all avoid it, don't wash just that item.  Chances are you'll find enough laundry around the house to make a full load.  Or at least a load bigger than just one item.

Freezing Food

I don't like to cook.  I can bake all day long but dislike cooking.  Which is odd for a person who likes food but that's just how things are.

So I make double batches for certain items when I cook.  Then I can freeze them for a quick meal later, usually when we're rushing about and need an "instant" meal.  Instead of grabbing a highly processed frozen meal of some sorts I can grab my home cooked instant meal.

Works great for all sorts of things.  Casseroles, waffles, pancakes, bars, bread, etc.

Coupons

I used to get the paper for the coupons.  BLAH!  Waste of money.  I was getting lots of use out of the coupons sure but I had all that paper piling up, the cost of which kept going up, and I was clipping coupons to pay for my paper!  Arg!

So I canceled the paper and use the Red Plum flyers instead.  They are free, they come in my mail, what's not to like?

You can also go to their website and print them out.

If you like a particular brand, company, etc. you can go to their website and print coupons or get their free e-news and get coupons that way.  I have a "junk" email account that I use just for these sign ups so that my regular email doesn't get bogged down with tons of newsletters and spam.

You can also "like" a company or brand on Facebook and get the "inside scoop" on deals and coupons there.

Rummage Sales

My mom is the queen of rummage sales.  She can spot a sign for one a mile away!  She can haggle a price down like a pro.  I have my kitchen table is thanks to my mom who not only haggled the man down on the price but got him to deliver it as well!!

I love rummage sale season.  You never know what you will find.  I usually have some general items that I keep an eye out for when I go rummaging but they're rummage sales, you never know what you'll find.

Clothes for kids are a big one.  I love to stock up with I find a great place that's selling clothes for ten cents a piece.  I pick up clothes for my nephews and nieces at that price! (I'm so generous, I know. ^_~)  I have gotten both of my jogging strollers at rummage sales.  They cost $200 and $400 new (single and double) and I paid a max of $25/piece for them.

And by the way, many rummage items make good gifts.  Sometimes they are in the original packaging too yet.  Growing up we would get many items for Christmas or birthday that were from rummage sales.  (What? Doesn't everyone do that? ^_~)  That's not to say we never got anything new but much was from my mom's thrifty finds.  There were many years where things were extremely tight for my parents and my mom made sure that no one was without presents on special occasions.  I never felt like I had to do without because my mom was a frugal shopper.  In fact, one year I was surprised that our family was picked by the church for the annual "Family Charity Christmas box" as I have never felt poor (and we had, in fact, contributed items to that exact same box).  That was mostly due to my mom who could pinch pennies so hard they screamed!  Valuable skills she picked up from her Grandma, Grammy A.  Grammy A could find awesome gifts at rummage sales.  I have in my living-room, a reproduction of DaVinci's "Last Supper" that my Grammy A got as a wedding gift for my parents that she found at *drum roll* a rummage sale! 

So that just goes to show that you don't have to spend a lot of money to make it look like you've spent a lot of money.

Online Banking and Bill Pay

Many banks are offering free online banking and bill pay.  What a great idea!  One would hope that a bank's website is secure as they have a large stake in it if it isn't.  And you save on paper, envelopes, checks, and stamps!  What a wonderful thing!  Many banks also have the option where you can see where your money is going easily, have e-copies of the canceled check, etc.  If you have multiple accounts with the same bank you can transfer funds between them all online.  It is easy to balance your checkbook as you can see everything as it goes through your account almost instantly.  If you don't take advantage of this, check it out!

Conserving Water

Save water.  That's what your mom always told you right?  Well now you may be a little older, wiser, and the one paying the water bill.  We had a situation where the faucet in the tub was dripping.  First of all, all drips should be fixed, that adds up.  But until that plummer gets there, what to do with all that water?  Only so many times you can water you plants right?

Put a bucket under that drip and collect the water to flush your toilet.  You may be surprised how quickly that bucket fills up!  (And how much your water bill goes back down.)