Living frugal: Ideas for your entire household

Living frugal: tips for saving money on everyday household expenses: electricity, water, and cleaning.

Frugal Laundry Tips

If you have children, you undoubtedly spend a good bit of time and MONEY on laundry. Here are my laundry tips (including a recipe for making your own homemade fabric softener) for keeping your family clean while spending less!

House Cleaning Tips

Another thing you probably spend a lot of money on (and may not even realize it) is cleaning products. Learn to make your own natural and non-toxic homemade cleaning products and other frugal house cleaning tips for ways to use vinegar, borax, and other inexpensive household items for household cleaning.

Save Electricity

There are many ways to save electricity and reduce your electric bill. By being more energy-efficient, you can save money and be kind to the environment at the same time!

Green Energy Efficient Homes offers more tips on saving electricity and hot water, including their page on Energy efficient dishwashers, which gives tips for saving on both hand-washing the dishes, and using a dishwasher.

Save Water

  • Fix leaky faucets - A dripping faucet can waste over 300 gallons of water each month 
  • Install aerating, low-flow faucets These use 60% less water 
  • Install water-efficient shower heads Showers account for 20 percent of total household water usage. Choose a shower head that allows less than 2.5 gallons per minute and save 20,000 gallons of water each year.
  • Put a brick in your toilet tank This can save over 10 gallons of water a day.
  • IN some places in Australia, people make use of rainwater tanks to save rainwater for future use. Tank suppliers like http://www.rainwatertanksdirect.com.au, assists homeowners to implement this kind of system.

For under $25, you can install two low-flow shower heads, place bricks in the toilet tanks, install low-flow aerators on faucets, and repair dripping or leaky faucets and toilets. Just these few changes can save up to 30,000 gallons of water annually and will pay for themselves in under a year.


A WORD ABOUT ‘DOLLAR’ STORES AND BULK ITEM STORES

A common idea for living frugal is shopping at bulk item (warehouse) stores, or stores where everything sells for a dollar. You can find good deals at these stores, but you need to keep your eyes open. Don’t assume that just because you are in a store where everything is a dollar that everything is a good deal! I have seen many items in dollar stores for a dollar that sell for LESS than a dollar at regular grocery or variety stores. (For example, a 32 ounce bottle of Clorox bleach that I later saw that the grocery store for 89 cents or a can of White Rain hairspray that sells for 79 cents elsewhere.)

Also, be careful in those bulk stores that charge a membership fee. While they have excellent prices on many things, you need to be aware of what a good price for a particular item is, so that you can recognize a rip-off when you see it.

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