Saving Money

A couple of years ago, I wrote up some posts about how we manage to save money. 

Snip, Snip from January 2009
How Our Family Saves Money from Sept. 2010
How We Save Money Part Two from Sept. 2010


Most of those listed are still in practice today...making our own laundry detergent & cleaners, doing our own haircuts, couponing when possible.

Since Matt quit his job to go back to school, we've been trying to watch our finances even closer. We're fine w/ savings & my job, but we still want to be as cautious as possible.

Here are some of the things we're doing more of or adding to our ways to save. Some are just plain common sense; some might seem a bit weird to others; all work for our family!

* using a previous suggestion to turn off unused appliances - Once my coffee is done in the morning, the pot goes off & gets unplugged. Same goes for the microwave & toaster.

* not turning on lights unless absolutely needed - For me, this includes showering & using the "facilities". Our master bath doesn't have a window, but there is plenty of light coming from our bedroom. I just shut the bedroom door & leave the bathroom door open. When it's time to do my hair & make-up, I just step into my bedroom & use the mirror on my dresser.

* re-reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn...an all-in-one set of three books that were a compilation of newsletters sent out in the early 1990s. Many of the suggestions are outdated, however, I am finding a few good ideas & recipes.

* sandwich bags - One of the suggestions that came from the above book is a way to reuse bread bags. I've started taking them when empty & cutting them to make sandwich bags for Matt's lunches. I just use a small piece of tape to seal them up.

* combining trips - Whenever we have to go somewhere, we make sure to visit other places w/in that area to save on gas.

* clearance at Kroger - We are blessed to have a GREAT Kroger store w/ incredible Manager's Choice specials at times & have stocked up on some great food & household items. Even though there are at least three other Kroger stores closer to our home, we will drive extra to this one for their specials & excellent customer service! The extra mileage is made up in the great deals.

* I got to the end of my make-up, but could still see foundation inside of the squeezable tube. I took scissors, snipped off the end, & store it in a zipper bag. So far, I've gotten at least 12 more uses out of it & there's still more in the tube. You know, that would probably work for toothpaste & other squeezable tubes, too!

* Along the make-up line of saving...I don't wear make-up every day. If I don't have any big plans for the day, there's no sense in wearing any. I've even gone to the library & grocery store w/out make-up. (I can hear you gasping right now! LOL)

* gardening - We've planted our own garden the past few years. It doesn't always do great, but any little bit helps.

* book reviews - We rarely buy books, preferring to borrow from the library. Unfortunately, it's tough to get some Catholic books. I was a reviewer for The Catholic Company for several years until they stopped their program & recently, I did a couple reviews for Ignatius Press Novels. These have been great ways to build our family library!

* Thrift stores have been another great way to build our family library. I've found so many great classics & Catholic books...many for less than $2.

* Thrift stores have also been wonderful for clothing. One of the local thrift stores uses colored tags on their clothing. Each day, one of those colors is 50% off & another is 75% off. Because of this & their low prices anyway, I've found some great deals!

* bandages - With four children who frequently gets scrapes & scratches, I do not purchase the brand name bandages. To appease a teary-eyed child, a bandage & Momma's kiss are all that's needed. That bandage often is removed as soon as another toy or activity catches their eye. So, no brand name bandages here...Big Lots $1 box of 100 does the trick!

* freezer meals - Just last week, I spent two days making up about a week & a half's worth of main dishes to freeze for later use. There are tons of websites & books out there if you'd like to embark on this type of meal planning.

I'm sure there are other things I'm not thinking of at this time. Do you have any great money saving tips? Please share in the comments!

Small Successes

Danielle Bean says, "It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that."

1) I've started "couponing." In the past, I never thought it was much of a benefit to us...I'd either clip coupons & forget I had them or spend more money because I'd buy something just because I had the coupon for it. Now, w/ the help of two websites (Coupon Mom & Happy Homemaker Cindy), I can actually save money w/ coupons. (Both sites have tutorials & helpful hits for saving.) They do a lot of the work for you...compiling list of sale items for local stores & telling you which Sunday's ads have corresponding coupons. It does take me a bit more time, but the savings so far has been great...esp. when you add in regular store discounts, too (like Giant Eagle's Fuel & Food Perks). Last week, I saved 59% at Meijer & 33% at Giant Eagle.

2) I've been doing little things for Casinodad to help him along in his day. One morning, when he was running behind, I got his cereal ready, I packed up his lunch, & filled his water mug for work. Most mornings, when I finish w/ The Word Among Us, I leave it out on the table so he can read the daily reading while eating breakfast. This morning, while he was still getting ready, I called the doctor & made an appt. for him. Even though they are just little gestures, they mean a lot to him.

3) The Princess turned six last week. She wanted me to make a Catholic cake for her, so I made a frosting Rosary for her. And, because she loves St. Therese of Lisieux, I added a prayer card to the center. She loved it.

How We Save Money Part Two...Including Recipes

In my last post, I detailed many of the ways our family saves money. Since then, I've thought of a few other things we do.

• We take advantage of our GREAT library system...not just for books, but also movies & CDs. We rarely pay for movie rentals at Blockbuster or other video stores & we rarely buy books, movies, or CDs. Any that we do purchase generally come from our birthday or Christmas gift money, so we're not tapping into our family accounts. This has been tough for me as I LOVE my books!
  
• I don't color my hair & at this point I really don't need to. Gray hairs didn't start to appear until after I turned 30. Only w/in the past few months have the grays started to become more visible, but still not enough to justify coloring my hair. If I follow the tradition on my mom's side of the family, I will have a nice head of white hair when I'm older...which looked great on my grandmother & her sisters. My mom's is starting to "head" (yes, pun intended!) that way also & looks great on her.
• When we use our printer, I print on the lowest setting unless it's an important document. This saves a lot of ink.
• We have not paid for haircuts for the six of us in almost three years! You can see my post from 2009 HERE about this. That post also explained why I rarely use shampoo anymore (which is another great savings for us).
  

Now for the recipes. I can't take credit for these recipes as I've collected them through various blogs, magazines, websites, etc. over the past few years.

LAUNDRY DETERGENT

1/2 bar Fels Naptha soap (grated)

8 c. water

Bring to a light boil for 5 minutes.

Add:

24 c. cold water

1/2 c. Borax

1/2 c. washing soda
Favorite essential oil - use your judgment on strength of scent
(I use sweet orange.)

Use 1/2 - 3/4 c. for full load of laundry. It becomes a thick gel as it sits, so I shake the bottle before each use. Store in air-tight container(s). It only takes about 20 minutes to make up a batch. The longest is grating the Fels Naptha.

Notes:
1) Most of the ingredients can be found in the laundry section of a grocery store, although ours has the Fels Naptha in the body soap aisle (not sure why!)

2) Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is different than baking soda.

3) I store mine in old (washed out) laundry detergent bottles & make 1/2 the recipe at a time. It fills about 3-50 oz. bottles & last about 2 months for our family of 6. Family usage will vary depending on the size of the family, amount of clothes that get dirtied, & any other factors.

4) The Fel Naptha has a very pleasant scent, but you can add any favorite essentials oils if desired. I started adding a sweet orange essential oil to ours.

5) I've been making detergent for about a year & have yet to buy more boxes of the washing soda & Borax. I still have over 1/2 left in each box. One box was $2.99 & the other was $3.99. (I can't remember which was which.) The Fels Naptha is about $1.50 & I've only had to buy three bars so far.

I don't have exact figures, but I have saved our family quite a lot in the last year. The cheapest I bought detergent was $2.99 for a 50 oz. bottle at Aldi & think they are now around $3.50.

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BABY WIPES
2 c. boiling water
2 T. baby bath
2 T. baby lotion
1/2 roll paper towels
(I've tried MANY brands over the years & my current favorite is Aldi's Boulder Ultra. They are the generic for Bounty, but in my opinion they're better.)

Boil water. Add baby bath & lotion, stirring until dissolved. This is where I separate the paper towels into individual sheets then cut them in half. (Choose a size paper towels can be used also to save this step.) Pour water over paper towels & store in airtight container.

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ALL PURPOSE DISINFECTING CLEANER
1/2 t. liquid dish soap
1 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. bleach or Borax
2 c. water

Combine ingredients in spray bottle. I add about 20 drops of Lemongrass essential oil. Use in kitchen, bathroom, etc. (A University of AZ study claims that this recipe will kill 99.9% of germs & bacteria.)

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WINDOW CLEANER
(I LOVE this cleaner! This recipe is actually for auto windshield washer fluid, but I think it works GREAT on our house windows & dries w/ NO streaks.)
9 c. water
1 c. isopropyl alcohol
1 T. liquid dish soap

Mix & store in plastic jug or spray bottle. Again, you can add an essential oil...I used Sweet Orange.

NOTE: Most people love white vinegar for windows, but in my opinion, this recipe works much better.

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DEODORANT SPRAY
All you need is isopropyl alcohol. Put it in a small spray bottle & use about 5-6 sprays under each arm in place of regular deodorant. If you want to soften the alcohol smell a bit, you can add essential oils. I use a combination of Lavender & Tea Tree oil (less of the Tea Tree oil because it is very strong & woodsy smelling).

NOTE: This is not a perfect deodorant & I found that sometimes I do need to reapply later in the day. I think this is better for cooler months, so in the summer I used regular deodorant.

There are many other homemade recipes I have that I haven't tried yet, but hope to in the near future. The one cleaning agent I absolutely WILL NOT use is ammonia. The fumes from it are so toxic & I can't stand to be near it for even a few seconds. I know bleach is not the safest to be around either, but I'm very careful w/ it, especially around the munchkins.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Also, if you have any great homemade recipes or money saving tips, please leave me a comment.

How Our Family Saves Money

A couple of weeks ago, my dear online blogging buddy Judy ran a series of posts on trenches & ruts on one of her many WONDERFUL blogs, Benmakesten. They are written from a homeschooling family's viewpoint, but can be applied to anyone! The first one, Trenches vs Ruts, focuses on recognizing the difference between the two & knowing that, as homeschooling families, we should stay in the trenches but out of the ruts. In the second one, Recognizing and Getting Out of a Rut, she lists 11 reasons/ways we can fall into those ruts & 7 things to remember in forming a strategy to get out of them.

The next two articles, Numbers 1-6 of "RUT" Inducers & #7-11 on "Ruts" break down those 11 reasons/ways with Judy's AWESOME personal comments. She has some excellent advice & suggestions in these posts & I plan on printing them off so that I can refer to them often.

In the third post, she mentions money woes as one of the ruts & some small steps that have worked for their family. This got me to thinking about things that our own family has done & I thought I'd share them w/ you. I know there are many, many resources out there, especially during these tough economic times. You've probably heard some these, but there may be some things you haven't heard before. Plus, what may work for our family may not work for yours.

I'll start with laundry:

• I've not bought laundry detergent in over a year. I found a recipe that I really like & have been using it ever since. (In an effort to save some space in this post, I'll put any recipes I mention in my next post.)
• I wash towels & sheets in hot water, but everything else gets washed in cold.
• This is a new tip I just learned last week - When washing towels, run them through the spin cycle a second time. This helps cut down on drying time in the dryer, which takes more energy than the washer.
• The previous suggestion can be avoided if you hang your laundry to dry. I'm working on getting an outdoor line for hanging clothes, but haven't done so yet.
• We do air dry about 1/2 of our clothes in the basement, especially items that have a tendency to shrink (jeans, dress pants, blouses, etc.) We either hang them on hangers or drape them across some folding chairs.
• Because of the above tip, when I have two loads of clothes that I'm washing, I will wait to run the dryer until the second load is done washing. Then I'm only running the dryer once.

Cleaning

• I make many of our household cleaners (all-purpose spray, window cleaner, baby wipes)
• I make my own deodorant.
• We don't run the dry cycle on the dishwasher. Once the dishes are washed, we open up the dishwasher so the dishes can air-dry.

Other Household

• Unplug appliances when not in use (coffee pot, toaster, etc.) This tip is new for me, so I'm still working on remembering to do this.
• I made a four week rotating meal plan which we are usually pretty good about sticking to. Having a plan helps keep us from eating a lot.
• Using that plan, I try to shop only once a week & buy generic as much as possible. Most of the generics I buy are as good as or better than the brand names.
• I don't normally use coupons unless it's something we use or need. Many people fall into the trap of thinking they're saving money w/ coupons, but end up buying extra stuff just because they have a coupon. Now, I'm not saying coupons are wrong...they just don't benefit our family often, esp. since I mostly buy generic.
• I don't make a full pot of coffee in the morning. I'm the only one to drink it (unless you count those stolen sips from the munchkins...LOL!), so I don't need to make that much. If there is a significant amount leftover, I will add the creamer & put it in the fridge for iced coffee either later in the day or the next day.
• Gardening - this is a work in progress for us. Last summer we did well, but this year was WAY TOO HOT & I just didn't tend to it like I should have.
• We do not have cable or satellite TV. There are so many stations that we wouldn't watch anyway, so why pay for 200+ channels if we'd only watch a dozen or so? If they ever offer a pick & choose service, we may think about it, but there's so much trash on TV nowadays, it's not worth it right now.
• When the munchkins need new clothes, I go through their old ones & take them to a children's consignment store. Unfortunately, during these tough economic times, many people are doing this & the stores are not buying as much as they used to. Also, whenever I do need to go shopping at other stores for their clothes, I head straight to clearance racks first. I've gotten some great deals in the past.
• We homeschool, so we save money on back-to-school clothes & supplies, fundraisers, teacher gifts, & any other things schools tend to nickel & dime you for these days.
• I recently got a raise at work. Now it's only $10 extra a month, but it goes directly to savings each time I get paid. In the meantime, we are living off what we made before the raise.
• I hung a "No Solicitor" sign on our front door. First off, we don't get bothered by those constant solicitors wanting us to buy this security system or that lawn care package. Secondly, it alleviates that "guilt buying" when kids come to the door selling their various fundraisers.

I'm sure there are other ideas that are alluding me at the moment, but this is a bulk of our money saving stuff. If you have any other great tips, please share in the comments section. And, as promised, the recipes for the homemade items will be in my next post...hopefully within the next couple of days.