Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without.
-Amish quote
- Home made laundry detergent - 1 cup washing soda; 1 cup Borax, 1 hand grated bar of Fels Naptha. Add essential oils as desired.
- Refill hand soap containers with left over shampoo and conditioner. Makes for great smelling and soft hand soap
- Cut dryer sheets in half - I use Suavitel. It smells great!
- Use pre-paid cell service - For $45/mo through Straight Talk, you get unlimited talk/text/web/411. Straight Talk is an offspin of Verizon Wireless, so the service is virtually the same. Many of the main cellular service carriers stick you with a two-year contract and charge double the amount for the same services.
- Wash dishes by hand - my children and I work together to get the dishes done after every meal. This instills teamwork and saves money! We enjoy each other's company while we stand together at the sink, and the extra splashing makes for a wet floor! With that extra water on the floor, I am ahead on my mopping!
- My kids are still young yet, so (as gross as this sounds) they use the same bath water. They're young kids, therefore they don't get as dirty as grown adults.
- I have moderate/severe facial acne. I wash my face twice daily with generic brand baby soap. It is hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic. It removes eye makeup nicely, is easy on the eyes, and has no harsh chemicals. In the evening, after washing my face with baby soap, I also use apple cider vinegar as an astringent. It doesn't smell the best, but it is natural and inexpensive. It leaves my skin feeling refreshed and soft. A price comparison is as follows: A 28-ounce bottle of generic baby soap is roughly $2.00, whereas an 8-ounce bottle of Neutrogena Facial Cleanser is $6.99 at Target. A gallon of Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar costs $3.83 at Walmart, whereas an 8-ounce bottle of Clean and Clear Astringent is $3.67. The Clean and Clear Astringent may cost pennies less, but the quantity is significantly less as well.
- Since we live in an apartment, we have to go off-site for laundry purposes. It is economically sensable to wash our personal under-garments in the tub to save money. Let's face it... I'm not privy on displaying our under-garments in a public laundromat, and the amount of under clothes we'd have per wash week isn't enough to justify an entire load's worth of quarters. Two cups of apple cider vinegar, one cup of borax, one cup of washing soda, and a tub full of hot water... A little mixing, and voila! You have clean under-garments. Our family also saves money by hanging our laundry out to dry. The sunshine is a well-known disinfectant and leaves clothes smelling sunkissed! This also serves as play time for my children. They enjoy hanging clothes out to dry. Especially in the summertime. The hot air makes cold air drying sheets fun and refreshing to play in.
- Take your lunch to work! Does this really deserve an explanation people, really?
- RE-USE! Re-use everything you can! A recent discovery: after my dish soap bottle is completely empty, I fill it with one part water and one part white vinegar. I use it as a shower spray. Helps to combat hard water stains.
- Make a list of errands and important places to go. Run all of these errands in one day. For example: Today after church, I mailed my Netflix movie back, returned my library book, and paid my rent. Since I was already out anyhow, it was easier for me to run all of my errands at once.
~Amber
