As always, this is a list of ideas, not absolutes.
1. Credit card
interest. Although
we have credit cards, we always pay off the balance in full when the
bill is due. By paying off
the balance in full each month, we avoid paying any interest charges.
2. Some commercial cleaners.I make a few of
my cleaners. I know exactly what is in them and my house has never
been cleaner!
Scouring powder – baking soda. When I change the box
in the refrigerator, I use the old box to scrub the kitchen sink.
Counter cleaner– I still use vinegar and water in my kitchen, but it could potentially damage the stone counter tops I installed in my
bathrooms. I use a portable steam cleaner similar to this onewhich practically pressure washes and autoclaves as it cleans.(Disclosure:
I am including affiliate links for your convenience.)
Dusting Spray – This
one is new. According to my allergist, a light spritz of water on a
dust cloth works much better than scented dusting spray and is
better for my allergies. He’s right!
3. Furnace filters – My
Husband bought
an allergy blocking reusable furnace filter (this is the exact one we
have) because we change our furnace filter on the
first of the month (in theory.) The only change is we now have two
reusable furnace filters because it takes awhile for the filter to
dry after rinsing it with water. Delaying the use of the HVAC in the
is not huge deal in the summer but not something we want to delay
during the winter!
4. Land line – This one
transitioned from being a house that only used cell phones to having
a required landline for my husband’s job and back to being a cell
phone only house when my husband changed jobs.
5. Wrapping paper –I
continue to use paper and cloth reusable gift bags in order to
maintain my sanity. In fact, my sister-in-law liked the idea so much
that I made her a set from fabric I bought during after-Christmas
sales. I still use wrapping paper if I have to ship something but most
of the time I use a reusable gift bag.
6. Dryer sheets and
fabric softener –
I use vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser in the washing
machine, which doesn't damage it like traditional fabric softeners
do, and it doesn't affect the performance of workout clothes and
towels.I still use a couple of dryer
balls (these dryer balls look like cacti!) in the dryer and now add several
cloth squares with a safety pin attached to fight static cling
without any damage to my dryer.
7. Bottles of
carbonated water – We still make our own carbonated water with
a Sodastream
carbonated water maker (learn more about it here,)
which not only allows us to have plain fizzy water whenever we want,
but also helps reduce plastic waste from store-bought bottles. My
husband likes to drink plain fizzy water all day every day while I
stick to filtered tap water and the occasional DIY club soda and lime
juice. Sodastream offers a discount on new CO2 cartridges when you
recycle the old ones
8.Coffee filters –I
still use this exact reusable cone coffee
filter It’s supposed to make a better
cup of coffee. I don’t know because I used a French Press like this one
with this cloth coffee filter
in my single gal life. I never used disposable coffee filters so I
can’t compare. They have basket style reusable coffee filters (learn more here)and
they even have reusable
K cup cups here too.
9. Laundry detergent – I still make powdered
laundry detergent because it is the only kind that doesn’t make my
washing machine stink. This was another controversial item because
folks claimed it took too long to make. Nope. I timed it. It takes me
around 15 minutes to make several double batches of DIY laundry
detergent to fill this repurposed protein powder container once every
six months. As always, your mileage may vary depending upon the type
of water, washing machine, and family size you have as compared to
mine.
10.Razors – I still use this Panasonic Wet & Dry
Women's Electric Razor for touch ups.
I bounced back to disposable razors and then to a
safety razor. After slicing my legs too many times I was ready to
ditch it and go back to the disposable razors that cost stupid money,
until I learned about the Leaf razor here.
The Leaf razor uses a pivoting head, unlike my disposable razors, and
it has 3 safety razor blades (you can choose to use less) that don't
slice my skin like the safety razor did. It is more expensive one
time purchase for the razor but I probably would have spent that
amount in a year on disposable cartridge razor blades so The Leaf
will eventually pay for itself since safety razor blades cost
pennies.
The Leaf comes in different colors. I chose a rose gold razor because I'm a girlie girl.
Not shaving at all would be even cheaper but that is. Never.
Going. To. Happen. Ever.
8 New Things I Do Not Buy to Save Money and
Reduce Waste
1.
Most bottled water and soft drinks – My husband likes to drink
plain carbonated water all day every day. I learned most sodas have
an ingredient I’m allergic to so it was easy to give up. I keep
several sports bottles of filtered tap water in the refrigerator to
drink all day everyday. We might have a soda hen we are out and about
but truthfully, we will probably have an adult beverage instead.
12. Disposable batteries – We use this set of rechargeable batteriesand never run out because we
also have this exact battery charger that charges from AAA to D size batteries.
13.
Soap (for now) – I made big batches when I was learning and
experimenting with different hot and cold process soap recipes when I
should have been making half or quarter the amount of soap. Oops!
Well, at least we'll stay clean for a long time.
1>4.Disposable sandwich bags – I recently switched to
using these exact reusable silicone zipper baggies for lunches. They
are sturdy, leak proof, and easy to clean in the top rack of the
dishwasher.
15.
Plastic wrap – I hate that plastic wrap doesn’t stick to
anything but itself so it wasn’t a hardship to use the storage
containers we already had for leftovers in the refrigerator. If you
have containers that didn’t come with a lid, you can use these silicone stretch and seal bowl covers
instead.
16.
Paper napkins – I found out we were going through tons of paper
napkins every month because my husband used to grab a stack to clean
the kitchen counters. That’s when we switched to using cloth
napkins. I pop the dirty napkins into a separate laundry basket that
is also used for towels. When the basket is full I do a load of
laundry.
17.
Disposable straws – When we started as
historical entertainers, we couldn’t use disposable straws when we
were performing (although now many of our fellow performers now use
reusable straws like these) At home we used
crazy straws like the mature adults we are until we fell out of the
habit. We still have reusable straws, we rarely use them.
18.Kitchen
sponges and scrubbies– I switched to using these reusable Skoy Swedish Dishcloths and Scrubbies to wash dishes because they are plastic free. Both the dishcloths and
the scrubbers are made to be washed in the dishwasher or washing
machine after use.
4 Things I Started Buying Again
1Paper
towels. Our
rescue dog is older and sometimes has accidents. Depending on where
and what, I use paper towels or my Bissell SpotBot Pet Handsfree Spot
and Stain Portable Deep Cleaner, which I can set and forget until it
beeps(you can learn more about one of the best things I ever bought here.
To clean counter tops, I use old bath
towels that I've cut to the size of a paper towel and sewed a quick
stitch at the edges to prevent raveling. I keep them under the
kitchen sink. I use them once and pop them in a basket in the
laundry room. When the basket is full, I do a load of laundry.
2.
Shower cleaner –
The vinegar in my DIY shower cleaner ate away some of the tile grout
and had to stop using it. I now use The Pink Stuff Miracle Cleaner here
and completely understand why
it has a cult following!
3.Jet Dry – Using vinegar in the Jet Dry dispenser in
my dishwasher ate away at a thankfully easily replaceable part. I
tried going without but my dishwasher said No
Way!
I’m back to the any brand that is on sale stuff.
4.
Gym
membership – My
husband’s new job has a gym he uses on his lunch hour or after work
that has a small fee. It is totally worth it because it has probably
paid for itself many times over in the health benefits because there
are exercises (especially if it is injury prevention or recovery)
that he can’t do at home.
What’s
on your list?
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