Summer, summer, summertime! I love this time of year! I love the warmth, the carefree days, the outings, and the expenses. Wait….not that last one. I HATE the added expenses that summer can sometimes bring. You know what I mean…road trips, fair grounds, visits to the zoo..the list goes on. Money troubles can really put a damper on summer fun! Never fear, my good buddies! I have a few easy tips to save some pennies this summer so you can concentrate on having some serious FUN!
1. Laundry: This is a 2-part tip, so you are already getting more for your money 😉 a) Use less detergent. The label says use a full cup; but I use only half a cup and my clothes come out clean. b) Wash All Your Clothes in Cold Water! Did you also know that over 90% of energy used in doing laundry comes from heating the water? That’s crazy!! Just wash all your clothes on “cold” and save on your electricity bill. Cold water gets the smell out just as well as hot water.
2. Let it mellow: Flush the toilet only after you use it 2-3 times. Have you heard the saying “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down”? Well, now you know and aren’t you so happy I shared it? I bet you’re going to be reciting this little ditty all day now. You can thank me later 😉 Oh, and I didn’t think you needed a visual on this one. You’re welcome.
3. Battery Life: Use rechargeable batteries for electronics and toys. Store batteries in the refrigerator. They last longer. Yes, it means a bit of an investment initially, but it pays for itself and FAST! Oh, one more tidbit…if your battery life is getting low – try transferring it over to a low-power appliance (eg. alarm clock, remote control etc.) to stretch out the life even more! Just don’t mix old and new batteries, okay?
4. FREEZE! Fill empty soda 2-liter bottles 3/4 full of water and stick in your freezer, one to a shelf. If the electricity should go off; it helps save all your food. When the family goes on a trip or picnic, we place them into the cooler. No buying ice and everything stays cold.
5. Accept hand-me-downs. You can donate them if you can’t use them. Besides, you will look so much cooler when your kids aren’t dressed in the cookie-cutter clothes all of their friends are in 🙂 Kids grow so fast, there is nothing wrong with doing the second-hand thing. Thrift stores are also great to check out – talk about eclectic! LOVE!
6. Use WHAT on my WHERE? Instead of facial tissues, use toilet paper, which costs less. Remove the cardboard core from a roll and throw away. Then place the roll inside an empty square tissue box and pull from the center of the roll through the opening. Reuse the same box over and over! Nice.
7. Reuse things. An example: Plastic grocery bags can be reused as lunch bags, shoe bags, liners for a small trash can or wastebasket or laundry bags on vacation. And just because I LOVE you, I’m going to share one of my favorite tricks for plastic bags. Watch and learn my young padawan.
8. Return it: If you’ve bought stuff that you haven’t used, see if you can return it. Get honest with yourself. Haven’t used something in 6 months? You won’t miss it. Not only can you get some bucks back, but your house will feel so much lighter and open with all of the useless clutter gone. Right? Right.
9. Wash and re-use Ziplock bags. Too much? I think not! We are saving pennies, people!
10. Use water from boiling eggs or pasta to water your plants. Make sure it’s cooled off first. Your plants aren’t as fond of hot tubs as we are 🙂
This is just the tip of the penny-pinching iceberg. I know you all have amazing money saving tips that you are just ITCHING to share, right? Leave a comment and share your best tip or trick. Let’s start a HowDoesShe SAVE movement, okay? I know we can do it!
{We’re sharing these tips at these parties!}
Stacy W. says
Great ideas! TFS Here are some things I do to save money and reuse things around the house. 1. When I don’t have my reusable shopping bags(most stores where I live give a 5 cent discount for every bag you bring in) with me at the grocery store I ask for paper bags (we don’t have to sort recyclables where I live…they all can go into one container which is great). We use the paper bags to hold our recyclables in. When the bag is full it gets walked out to the recycle bin. 2. Before I recycle a cereal or cracker (or any kind of) box, I open it up and let my boys draw all over the inside of it. Free drawing paper…who doesn’t love that 🙂 3. Boxes in general rarely make it to the recycle bin. I cut them down to hold books in, I make 2,4,6,8 boxes with them to hold markers and pencils in in my classroom as well as using laundry detergent caps to house crayons in or to put in the sand and water table. I use the boxes for most of my scrapping and card making projects too, it’s free chipboard 🙂 4. My husband works 12 hr days so he keeps 20 oz and smaller plastic bottles and fills them and puts them in his cooler to not only keep food cold but to also have plenty of drinking water too! 5. During the summer I rarely spend money on gift wrapping. I wash and save all my strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry (and any other kind of plastic food) containers. Then I wrap the gift in a piece of tissue paper or newspaper (depending on the gift) and stick it inside the plastic container. I then pull out the stamping supplies and decorate a piece of paper to fit the container. Often times I save money by not using an envelope and I just attach the card to the top of the container…card and decoration all in one 😉
Missy says
Nice! My kids would LOVE drawing on or building spaceships out of cardboard boxes – I will have to try that. And I am always looking for more scoops for the water table that my toddler can’t get enough of so now I am thinking lids – perfect. Thanks for taking the time to share your ideas with us!
Lyndee says
Great ideas!
Brenda says
I hit a thrift store yesterday and they were having a sale. All books were $0.25! I got $60+ worth of books for $1.61!
LaShelle G says
My husband found these amazing batteries created by Sanyo called “eneloop” batteries. They have a longer life than most and do last quite a while. The COOLEST part about them is that they also make adapters for bigger sized batteries (C, D) that can be powered by a rechargeable AA battery! We use these ALL the time for our baby swing, bouncer etc. We didn’t even buy the eneloop brand batteries for the adapters and they still work awesome! We buy the cheapest batteries at Walmart (Rayovac rechargeables). You have to get the pre-charged rechargeable batteries, which are a little more at first, but then you can just keep re-charging them over and over! It’s already saved us a ton! Here’s a link to their site http://www.eneloop.info/products/accessories/adapter.html
Heather says
Thanks for all the great tips! I have one that I just did the other day… Although I realize that there is a bit of issue over the usage of dryer sheets (aka fabric softener sheets), but we use them on some of our laundry items. I always hate it though when I open the box up and over time the sheets start to dry out and get hard because the lid doesn’t really seal back up well. To counter this I took them out of the box and put them in a pop-up baby wipes box and they stay “fresh” and I can take one out at a time though the pop-up. I love your tissue box idea too and have seen on the market “tubeless” TP which have the center cardboard piece missing already so this would be perfect for this! Will have to check that out soon! 😉
Andrea says
These are great tips! My boys will love the mellow yellow one. I am always getting after them for not flushing. And great laundry tips. I’ll have to switch to cold water.
I have been taking advantage of free school lunch this year.(although with gas it might not save much if you have to drive far)
Great post though—-I’ve feeling the pinch this summer.
Wendy Fugal says
I really like washing my laundry in warm/hot water, call me crazy, but I feel like it helps. I totally agree with using less detergent though! I actually read an article that said using less detergent might actually help your clothes stay cleaner because the material gets gummed up with extra soap (especially towels).
Julie says
I love the tp idea. We use it but how much cuter will it be in a box? I finally got around to making my own laundry detergent. I was a bit hesitant (my husband was even more so) but we all really like it.
lindsey grace says
great tips— EXCEPT- i can NOT do the “let it mellow!” my hubby has been trying to break me of this since we got married and it is just TOO gross!!! plus i have a one year old who L.O.V.E.S. to play in the potty and unfortunately i have caught him more than once playing in it after my hubby has “let it mellow” overnight…YUCK. parent of the year award over here, folks!
annie says
eewwwwwhhhh! I’m with you on this one. I have dropped stuff in the mellowed toilet and let me tell you. . .
. . .eeeewwwhhh, well, you can imagine. ick
Heather - Chickabug says
Another great perk of putting full soda bottles in the freezer is that a FULL fridge is an ENERGY-EFFICIENT fridge. : ) The fuller it is, the less energy it takes to keep everything cold, apparently!
You can also use much less laundry soap if you add vinegar to your wash – it costs next to nothing and makes clothes smell really fresh. Also makes your towels extra-fluffy! : )
marla says
i’ve heard this too. growing up my parents would put bowls of water in the fridge when it wasn’t full of food to keep it filled.
a parker says
If you fill the soda bottle only about 7/8 full, then lay it on its side after freezing, you will be able to tell if things in the freezer have thawed during a power outage while you were away from home.
a parker says
Sorry, I meant 3/4 full
Kaycee says
Love the ideas! Well, except the mellow one! We’ve been battling with this forever around here! Another tip is to make your own glass cleaner. 2/3 water to 1/3 vinegar. Works WAY better than store bought and much cheaper!!!
Karen says
Sorry, I can’t let it “mellow” either. That’s nasty. I have cats and dogs who like to drink out of the toilet…which is gross in itself, but to think they’d do it with it dirty is even grosser! My water bill is always low and manageable…it’s the electric bill I wish I could make a dent in! Thanks for the other tips, though. I’m already doing most of them!! 🙂
Lyndee says
Ways to save on electricity-leave windows/blinds closed/mostly closed during the day. Put the ac thermostat higher in the summer and lower in the winter. Do your laundry early in the morning or in the late evening (same with running the dishwasher). Water your yard in the early morning in late evening.
Laura says
Thanks for sharing all of these great ideas! Please stop by http://www.laughloveandcraft.com and link up to my Share the Wealth Wednesday Link Party!
Carol says
Another way to re-use empty kleenex box: fill them with plastic bags. I normally fold up clean plastic bags from the grocery, Target, etc. that don’t have holes, and put them in a bag in the closet on a hook. I tried both ways with the kleenex box, since I already had the folded ones. I found out by folding my bags up before putting them in the kleenex box, I could get a bizillion bags in one oblong kleenex box. Nice! Much better than a bulging bag full of bags. And the boxes are square or rectangular, which make them modular for storage. Now instead of keeping bags in the trunk, I keep one kleenex box full of bags there, another beneath the kitchen sink, bath sink, in the closet, etc.
annie says
oooo, good one. The keeping a kleenex box in the trunk. good one!!!!
Lyndee says
Love this idea!
Cheryl says
I travel frequently in the summer to our house at the lake, A 2 hour trip. We pack a cooler both ways w/drinks and a snack for each child. The convenience store stops are outragious, Also you only need one tablespoon of dishwasher detergent to clean dishes, you can experiment and see what works w/your machine. Just start using a little less each time and see how clean they get. I save old clothes that are beyond mending to give to my granddaughter, she makes collars and clothes for her stuffed animals. Also, when school supplies are cheap (crayons 25 cents) stock up for stocking stuffers and goodie bags for school or birthday parties. Check out the dollar store for bread, hamburger adn hot dog rolls. They have all types of bread but you need to go early. That’s enough for now.
RazMaTaz says
Here in our house we save the water from showers and baths and use the water to refill the toilet tank after we have flushed. Where I live we are in a drought so finding ways to conserve water is a must. I figure I get two uses out of the shower and bathing water and I get my monies worth from it.
Debbie Wood says
How do you capture your shower water?
Lyndee says
If you’re in a tub, you just put the stopper in. Also, there are “drainer stoppers” you can purchase to prevent water from going down a drain. This all takes a lot of extra work, but what a good way to conserve resources!
Stephanie says
To save on every flush of the toilet, fill a water bottle or 2 litter pop bottle, whichever fits, with water and stick it in the corner inside the tank. It makes it so that less water fills up in the tank so it is using less water to flush. And if there is a big job that needs more water, just lift up the bottle so that it will fill up the tank and flush away.
Lyndee says
I so need to try this!
Gina says
Our #1 rule for summer: All the laundry gets hung to dry – no exceptions. The dryer stays OFF, as does the oven. Crock pots can go on the patio to avoid heating up the kitchen. We rarely get plastic grocery sacks – we use re-useable ones – but when we do, they function as kitty litter scooper sacks. We are also using coupons like craaaazy and limiting sodas, beer, and other non-essentials. It’s all about frugal here as we’ve had a reduction in pay ): What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
annie says
our laundry hangs outside as well. And we barbecue summer and winter. One of those propane tanks for the barbecue lasts us 6 months!
annie says
dryer sheets: I save them, iron and use them to sew scraps together left over from other quilting projects. You can “paper piece” using dryer sheets. A tutorial using paper triangles is here
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2011/04/living-up-to-my-blog-name.html
Instead of paper, I cut my dryer sheets into squares and proceed from one corner to the next. You don’t dull your needle as you do with paper. Plus it really smells great.
~a
Elaine Moore says
Someone mentioned in the comments today that they make their own laundry soap – does anyone know where I can find how to do that??? Thx
Debbie Wood says
Here is a link with recipes to get you started. http://gardenberger.blogspot.com/2011/05/stocking-up-on-cleaning-supplies.html
you could google it as well and get lots more.
Deborah Robson says
If you google it, it should show you different recipes to use. there are so many different recipes to choose from. You can even do powder or liquid. I do powder.
Laundry Soap
1 bar soap, finely grated (i plan to use fels naptha)
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup oxy clean
Use 1-2 Tbsp per load. (1 batch lasts me about a month.)
As softener, use 1 cup vinegar per load as needed in a rinse cycle.
I haven’t made this yet, but my friend that gave me this recipe sent a sample for me to use and I have liked it so far. She did recommend pre-treating stains before washing. I have to do that a lot anyway with babies:) hope this helps!
Julie says
“If it’s yellow, let it mellow,” has been a mantra that I have heard most of my life. We used to practice it too, but I have to admit that I think it’s disgusting. Over time there can be a nasty odor & I find myself cleaning my toilet bowl rather frequently. SOOooo I have a little tip for those who don’t like this money saver 🙂 You can put a brick or even a water filled soda bottle inside the toilet tank. This way you’re using less water when you DO flush! 🙂
Other money savers that I’m practicing? Here are FIVE:
1. Couponing paired with bargain shopping!
2. Installed dimmer-light-switches in several of our rooms to use less energy with our lights when they don’t really NEED to be on at their brightest.
3. Mowing our lawn with a REEL mower. It’s the old school kind. It doesn’t require any gas, only lubing with WD40 ever now & then…and since we have a small yard it’s awesome. We still get a reasonable workout, we can hear our kids playing & it’s costing us next to nothing & saving us SO MUCH MONEY!!! (we got ours at Wal Mart 3 years ago & it cost us $80)
4. Keeping curtains & blinds closed during the HOT days to help maintain the cool temp in my house & preventing the a/c from kicking ON so much. This has made a HUGE difference for us!
5. Getting on a budget & STICKING TO IT! We’re huge Dave Ramsey fans & his advice has changed our lives. “Live like no one else so that later you can LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE” We’ve swallowed our pride in a lot of areas so that we’ve been able to become debt free! That alone saves us money! Even is someone can eliminate their credit card debt or school loans, THAT’S HUGE! Goodbye monthly payments & interest & HELLO CASH & SAVINGS!!! (sorry if I sound a little excited…I’m nuts about this now that we’re debt free!)
*Love your post & many of the suggestions from other readers! I’m totally snagging the T/P idea & the ice in the freezer idea, & using less detergent idea too! Thank you!!!! So awesome! Keep posting more ideas! I love this!
Cyaine says
I had heard dimmer switches can actually shorten the life of your light bulbs. Have you heard anything on this, or found that your bulbs last the same?
I am not sure, but I think it was with the CFL and LED bulbs that the person said it would kill the bulbs faster as they were not meant to be used with dimmer switches.
I am curious now.
Lisa says
I ALWAYS wash out my ziploc bags and re-use them! I spent $18 a couple years ago for a cool ziploc “drying rack”, which has paid for itself several times over, and makes an orderly place for the bags to dry. I end up buying approximately 1 1/2 boxes of each size per year – lots of $$ saved since we use baggies for ALL kinds of things.
Lyndee says
If you find you have a lot of plastic grocery bags, I have found that stores DO let you reuse them for your next batch of groceries. Many stores even offer discounts (5 cents per bag) when you reuse a bag. LOVE all the tips. For me, finding ways to save money is a fun game. My kids don’t think it’s as fun, but I’m hoping to change their minds.
cookiemomma says
LOVE the tissue idea! Duh why did I not think of that
THE IslandGirl...Sharon says
I have an HE washer, so all you need to really need for most loads of wash is roughly a tablespoon. For myself, I don’t see myself washing only in cold water. Body oils are an issue and have a tendency to make clothing dingy…sort of like washing a frying pan in cold water.
Shrapnel says
I already do most of this, but the tissue box one is brilliant! (I was recently thinking about how the toilet paper rolls around my house look a little lame)
Some more tips:
1) Save the unused, edible vegetable bits after you chop them for dinner! We save ours and freeze them, then boil them to make soup stock. Not only does this save money, you’re getting more out of the food you buy! So long as the food itself is edible (like carrot peels from a washed carrot – you don’t want the dirt) then it will make good stock.
2) Save your orange peels to make candy! Make sure you wash your fruit before you eat it, but save any peels and freeze them. When you get a whole batch, blanch them (boil for a couple of minutes to soften and sweeten), cut out the pith (the white part inside the peel), then boil them with sugar to infuse. Once they’re done, roll them in sugar, let them dry out overnight and then bathe them in melted chocolate and allow to harden. I’ve made these a few times and they taste like Terry’s Chocolate oranges. People love getting these as gifts and ask me about them all the time.
3) While there are some things you don’t want to buy expired, there is plenty that you can take out of the discount bin of a grocery store. I recently bought 16 cartons of organic soy milk for 99 cents a piece. Some of them came out a little clumpy, but I just used those ones for baking. Unless the containers are BPA free, you want to stay away from expired or dented cans, as BPA will leach into the food after awhile. I always grab up outdated cereal or chips though.
4) Throw stale chips into the oven. The oil heats up in the chip and it basically re-fries them… leaving them delicious and back to the way they should be.
5) VINEGAR IS THE BEST CLEANER EVER HOLY MOLY. I use white vinegar to clean everything. Not only is it cheap, but the acidity makes an uninhabitable environment for bacteria. Spray your shower down after every use to avoid soap scum, use on your mirror with newspaper for a lint-free shine, mix with essential oils for a fabric/carpet spray (lavender and mint work well to repel fleas, as they hate the smell). While you may smell vinegar at first, the smell goes away once it dries. It works really well as a fabric softener too, since it takes the soap residue out of the clothes (mix it with some essential oils to make your clothes smell nice).
6) As with most soaps, you can actually cut your dryer sheets in half and get the same effect. An even better alternative is to make your own by putting dried flowers in a cloth bag. Make sure the bag has a draw string pulled tightly shut and you won’t have any escapees.
7) Buy in bulk and make your own…. everything. This is especially important if you strive to be organic, but making your own pancake mix, soups, breads, cereal mixes, everything is much more cost efficient. It doesn’t actually take much time, since you can mix dry ingredients and store them in airtight containers (like pancake mix). I always buy things like sugar and oatmeal in bulk, as it’s cheaper and they actually use the same brand you normally buy – I once saw a grocery worker pouring Roger’s White Sugar into the bulk bin… from the bags available for you to buy. The cool thing is if you reuse your bags, then you’re also saving packaging! Also, making your own mac and cheese is much healthier and cheaper than using the Kraft Crap.. just make a white sauce instead(google).
8) I buy crap tons of everything when it’s on sale and either freeze it, or save it until I want to use it. It’s also handy if you’re trying to save up grocery store points. Generally store sales last a week and have a start and finish day – Monday to Sunday is pretty standard, with strip ads lasting Friday to Tuesday. I work in a grocery store and this is how it is for mine, just ask the manager what their sale routine is.
9) Meat doesn’t need to be the star of the meal. Meat is expensive and terrible for the environment.. so try to keep it as a guest on the plate and maybe go for Meatless Mondays. Meat has been proven to be a bigger source of greenhouse gases than cars. For every pound of meat an animal provides to us, they have to eat 10 pounds of feed.. just think about how that feed had to get to them too!
10) Invest in the right items. There are some things you can buy the cheaper thing and get away with it (kitty litter box, for instance) but try to invest in the better quality things that you use a lot. We always buy great kitchen supplies, as they will wear down over time and this way I avoid having to re-buy them. Also, make sure you treat your things with care. Read the instructions for use and don’t use things for the wrong purpose. Teflon pans, for instance, are great for cooking eggs but terrible for frying pretty much anything else because teflon breaks down at a relatively low heat (don’t heat them over 4). If you use the right amount of heat and oil, you don’t need non-stick pans. Sharpening your knives is another example of taking care of your things, and you’ll really notice a difference. Not only are sharper knives safer, but they make cleaner cuts in the food, resulting in it taking longer to spoil. Make sure you check this site out though, or you could kill your knives instead!!! http://lifehacker.com/5903770/the-right-ways-to-sharpen-a-knife
You can get by without these items, but when you need a replacement, buy the better quality one (look for sales!) and you won’t have to replace it next time. This takes me to the next one…
11) If you don’t need a good quality item, or if you’re pressed for cash, try fixing it. There are plenty of ways to fix or even re-purpose broken things. Find solutions to most problems through google.
12) Don’t shampoo everyday. Not only is it better for your hair, but you won’t use as much and thus, save money. Do a hair rinse every once in awhile with apple cider vinegar to remove shampoo residue.
13) Cheap methods to keep warm… Line the insides of your boots with the shiny side of aluminum foil pointing in, and the heat will stay in your boots. You can buy window plastic from any hardware store and you cover your window with it (pin it on the frame, since you want to leave an inch or so in between) and it will cut your heating bill in half. It’s similar to the draft-blocker that was posted on here, but works better for cooler climates like Canada. Also, bundling up instead of turning the heater on is much more pocket-friendly. Make sure to use thick curtains to keep even more heat inside, but open them during the day to let the light in and save even more energy!
Bobbi says
Holy moly – these are AMAZING tips! Thanks for taking the time to share these. Hmmmm….maybe you need to do a guest post for us, and share these in their very own post! (hint, hint).
DebbieZ says
what temp do you put the stale chips in at and for how long??
Shannon says
You should add a disclaimer that people with young children who may put things in the toilet should just skip the “let it mellow” tip for a few years!
Danijela says
I love your tips (and your DIY detergent). I just can’t agree on one thing. Cold water is not always a good choice because it doesn’t kill germs. According to some studies, we need water that’s between 140 and 150 degrees if we want to keep our laundry clean and safe. Everything else sounds great. Thanks
RachelJL says
Love this post! Thought I’d better mention, though, a caution regarding reusing ziploc bags. Years ago, we used to do this, until a friend with a Ph.D. in home ec who did her dissertation on safe food preparation said that it was a bad. idea. I imagine that could depend on what was in the bags, but if there was meat or eggs or mayonnaise etc., I would pass. Later, my sister in law who has a degree in chemistry from U.C. Berkeley and hobbies and interests in both home economic (frugality especially) issues and safe food prep told us the same thing. I’d rather be safe than sorry, particularly if you’re feeding young children or the elderly.
Julie says
I know this post is an old one, but it is new to me 🙂 Thanks for all of the tips – and here is one more! I got from the dollar store: a plastic ‘kookaid’ type of container with a lid, sponges and fabric softener. I cut the sponges in half, put them in the container and filled it with half water/half fabric softener. Throw one (or two) in your dryer. When your clothes are dry, the sponges will be tiny, throw them back in the container (I flip upside down every now and then to make sure all the sponges are fully submerged) and then reuse away! I will NEVER buy a dryer sheet again. Thanks, Pinterest 🙂
Marissa N says
My saving tip: I have one of those 5GAL home depot buckets that I put in the shower to catch the water while I wait for it to warm up. Then take it out and jump in! I use that water to water the grass and plants in our backyard. It fills up about 1-2 gallons of water so don’t worry about it getting too heavy. It’s worth it to me tho instead of it going down the drain and being wasteful. I do the same with water bottles that are being left open around the house, they either get used to water grass/plants, boil pasta or in dogs water dish.