Money saving ideas
 

Anyone got any ?

I just started making my own washing powder.

1 cup of washing soda crystals
1 cup of borax
1 cup grated tablet soap

all mixed together
2 tbs per wash.

Really really cheap and I am actually not allergic to it cos I can use unperfumed soap

Some of the best things I've done long term to save money are:

- make breakfast, dinner & lunches at home... only eat out 2-3 times a week
- fix my own coffee at home (cut down on Starbucks big time)
- shop for clothes at the thrift store, yard sales, and clearance racks
- buy seasonal produce

That's what I use, as well - however I don't use it on my whites. I've found, over time, it greys my whites, so I use normal soap for them, only, but it really works well. I also add about 1/4 C of baking soda for a boy wash when it's stinky clothes - helps freshen the load.

I also use a Downy Fabric Softener ball with vinegar for softening clothes and a better rinse out of soap residue (I don't use fabric softeners of any kind).

I use regular detergent, although it's a more natural brand without optical brighteners, dyes, perfumes, and all that junk - so no money savings there. I use vinegar as a rinse, though, so no fabric softener. I'll put a few drops of essential oil on a washcloth in the dryer to give a bit of a scent to the clothes. I also use vinegar in my carpet cleaner. I do a lot of other cleaning with vinegar and baking soda.

I use coconut oil for a lot of things. Facial cleanser (just switched from olive/castor oil), moisturizer, deodorant, hair conditioner when needed.

Not only did those changes save money and are (IMO) healthier, but they cut down on a lot of clutter because I'm using the same product for several things.

Do you use dryer sheets? I've been looking into some alternatives, but I really worry about the static because it drives me crazy.

I use Molly's Suds for laundry. No dryer sheets here because I don't have a clothes dryer - I either hang it outside or on a drying rack inside.

Other money saving tips are the following, which most would probably find too restrictive - LOL.
No eating out - maybe twice a month, if that.
No processed foods - make my own everything from granola to baked goods (we eat very few baked goods though so that helps too :D).
Very little meat - 1 meat meal per week, sometimes none.

And the biggest saver - if I don't absolutely need it, I don't buy it.

Never - but we also don't wear many clothes where static is an issue. And like Marie, I hang my laundry most of the year, so except for jeans/towels that get a quick swirl in the dryer to knock out a bit of lint, things hang.

I don't use dryer sheets, either. And, unfortunately, I use my dryer because we don't have a good place to hang a clothesline. I find that I don't have an issue with static as long as I take the clothes out when they're dry, but not over dry.

I dont use dryer sheets either. The static drives hubby a little nuts, so I started using a cloth with fabric softener on it in the dryer, tossed in with the clothes. Just need a little bit, and only need to put more on every few loads. It makes your fabric softener last WAYYYYY longer.

Also for laundry detergent I use Soap Nuts (http://www.buysoapnuts.com/ - this isnt where I have gotten them, I got them locally, but this site has lots of good info). I make liquid detergent out of them too - and that lasts even longer. I think I have spent $40 on them, in the last two years, total, if not longer.

Other things I am doing/want to do to save money:
-switch our cell phone company (as soon as our contracts are up, we are switching to a carrier that is HALF the price)
-use coupons, and only buy things I dont HAVE to have unless they are on sale. Pretty much the only things I dont buy on sale are produce and milk. I try and stock up on things when they ARE on sale so I dont have to buy anything at full price.
-shop for clothes a season ahead, shop the clearance section, and use lots of hand-me-downs for the kids. We are lucky to have friends with older girls. I just bought my 3yr old dress shoes yesterday for 2.94. :)

Use white vinegar for cleaning. Half vinegar, half water, put it in a spray bottle and use that to clean bathrooms, kitchen etc.

My SIL meal plans all her meals, then only buys enough food for those meals. E.g. if she needs 2 potatoes and 3 carrots, that's all she buys, rather than a whole bag.

I used to make my own detergent but my super hard water didn't jive. I do the ball with vinegar instead of fabric softener. I actually use a ton of vinegar for laundry, cleaning, in the rinse aid section of my dishwasher. I swear by homemade cleaning products, they work great, are inexpensive and you know exactly what goes in them. I do a lot of homemade beauty stuff too, removers, scrubs, masks etc.

Aside from the other stuff that's been mentioned. Don't go where you spend money. Seriously. Take advantage of cheap entertainment, local productions, fairs, events. Redbox does free, discounted movies all the time. Utilize your library.

I make my own laundry detergent as well. I also make my own liquid fabric softener. It can be put on a cloth, allowed to dry and then used in the dryer as a dryer sheet. I use vinegar in a downy ball as well. I don't hang clothes to dry because we have no clothes line, but that is something we have in the plan. Of course, days like today it wouldn't work. It's iced over outside. I also make most of my own cleaning supplies. I buy bleach and clorox wipes. The wipes are pricey but I use them for everything all the time and it's one of my splurges.

I use coupons and combine with sales. I look for deals online. I buy 2nd hand. I upcycle whenever possible and make do with what we have.

I plan meals but also stock up when I find a good price on something we use a lot. This allows us to eat from the freezer/cabinets about one week a month saving me grocery money then. I cut corners on things when ever I can. I add extra pasta to some of our dishes to make them stretch farther. I buy a gallon of whole milk and divide it between two gallon jugs and then add water to it. It tastes just like the 2% that we used to buy. My kids pack meals for lunches, DH takes snacks to work, so none of us is eating out when we could be eating at home. I eat dinner leftovers for lunch the next day since I'm the only one home at lunch time. I have a soda habit so I take a 2 liter bottle to work with me and use it instead of buying drinks from the vending machine at $1 a bottle. One 2 liter lasts me over a week at work or I could go through a bottle from the vending machine every day.

We borrow books, movies and music from the library. I wait for Amazon credits for music too. There is always some promotion going on to get free mp3 credits. I mostly read free Kindle books too. We rarely go out to the movies. When we do rent movies we use RedBox and usually use a code for a free movie so we rarely pay for movie rentals. We don't buy movies and rarely buy books. When I do buy books it is discounted through Scholastic for the kids.

Unplug everything electronic that is not being used. Appliances take up a lot of energy even when they are not turned on. We put things on those surge protector strips that have the on/off toggle and just toggle it off at night or when not in use. We keep our heater set to 67 degrees during the times the family is home and awake. We set it to 65 when we are asleep or gone. I'd go lower but we have pets to think about and if we go too low our auxiliary heat kicks to natural gas and gas costs more than electric so we like our heat pump to be more efficient and use electric only as much as possible. When I bake I usually bake everything that needs to be done for a few days at once. If the oven is going to be on and pre-heated I may as well make use of that and get all the baking out of the way rather than heat up a cold oven a few different times. We got programmable thermostats for both upstairs and downstairs (upstairs is a separate heating unit). That makes a big difference in our bill.

We dropped our cell phone plans and went to a $25/mo plan where we get 300 minutes and unlimited text and data. We still have 2 cell phones in the family but we are saving over $70 a month by dropping our plan. When I want to use my tablet and I can't get free WiFi somewhere, I turn my cell phone into a hot spot and connect my tablet through that. Saves me having to have some kind of wireless plan for my tablet. We do the same for the kids' iPods. We use Vonage for our home phone. It isn't necessary but my daughter is 10 now and likes to chat with her friends so it saves her using up all of our minutes... especially since she isn't getting a cell phone for a while. ;)

I do lots of other things to save money. Some things people might find a little extreme but I don't do anything that seems crazy to me.

Found a good link here today about saving money: http://dailysavings.allyou.com/2012/...saving-advice/

I do use dryer sheets because it's so dry and staticky here in Arizona. But to save money (and reduce chemicals), I take scissors to the Bounce unscented sheets and cut them into thirds. A third of a sheet is plenty for a normal load of laundry.

I use dryer sheets sometimes (I get coupons that make them free now and then and I definitely get them then) and I always cut them into quarters. My MIL uses whole sheets but uses the same sheet for a few loads.

Since this thread is quite old, I would ask you how do you save your money or make some extra ones? I still use many ideas from this topic and recently found some online ways to make money. My husband is interested in cryptocurencies but that's a bit complex for me. I use simple apps to save some money, for e.g. Honeygain or swagbuc.

We do this too!

I use the vinegar for loads of things as well! Had not heard of alot of these but intend to give them a try for sure! I also am a coupon and sales fanatic!

My brother is big in to cryptocurrencies and has made quite the paycheck off of his investments! Every year I say I'm going to invest in it, but then every year I say "it's too much", followed with the next year of me kicking myself at what I could have invested in that year! :blink:

I saw money with bulk buying at the natural organic store. Lucky for me, they have a big selection of organics and the cost of buying bulk there is less than pkg prices at the grocery store chains around here.

I buy the ingredients to make my own gluten free flour mix so I don't have to pay the ridiculous price our stores charge for it. There blend might be a bit more tasty or fluffier but mine works just fine at a significant price savings.

I buy Dr. Bronner's liquid bath soap and dilute it twice as much as they recommend. One bottle will last me for months. I love that stuff.

I use rubbing alcohol to clean my eraser boards rather than buying the cleaner that Michaels sells.

My biggest savings is hitting our local dollar stores for post-its, legal pads/notebooks, storage containers, napkins, baking paper, wax paper, and more.

I had a long post towards the beginning of this thread. These days I save the most money by not buying stuff! I've realized that we were buying a lot of things that we really didn't need. I wait as long as possible between shopping trips (grocery) and that helps minimize the 'saw it and couldn't resist'. Of course, there are always things you just have to buy. For those things I research and look for the best possible price, use coupons, buy packages that cost less per ounce, etc.