Lately there seems to be a plethora of articles out in the interwebs about saving money. Most articles offer the same tips and advice dressed up in different fonts. Many of these tips are repeated for a reason-they work! Unfortunately, there are so many ‘tips’ that are a waste of time. Here are some that either saved me real $, cost me real $, or are just becoming pet peeves due to their pointless continued existence.
The Good:
-Use less detergent. Unless you roll around in the mud, live at the gym, or are a seriously messy eater you can get by very easily by using 50% less detergent. I have been doing this for years and it has saved me tons of money as well as skin irritation. My clothes come out clean, soft, and have a longer life span. Pay special attention to concentrated detergents-they are easy to overuse.
-You just don’t need fabric softener. If your clothes are stiff coming out of the dryer its because you are using too much detergent (see above). Fabric ‘softener’ is oil and perfume. You are coating your clothes with oil, chemicals, and perfume. I first became sensitive to the perfume so I switched to the fragrance- free types. Then, became sensitive to the chemicals and oil so I just stopped using it. My clothes are never stiff, rarely have static (my gym shorts and some polyester-based items only). Any static disappears with a good shaking. Most things are soft and comfortable, nothing is ever stiff because I don’t over use detergents. You will not believe how absorbent your towels are when they are not covered with oil. Your clothing will last longer. ** No, towels are not scratchy. ** I highlight this because it is the main concern. This tip plus my previous tip about detergent use will yield happy clothes I promise.
-Make your own cleansers. I haven’t spent money on cleansers in years. There is nothing you can’t clean with one or two of these items: Baking soda, Borax, washing soda, bleach, hydrogen peroxide, and vinegar. You don’t have to be a chemical engineer to create these cleaners and they take less than a minute to make. Use an empty spray bottle for the liquids and be sure to clearly mark the contents.
-I work in a lab and as a result the 10% bleach solution has become my favorite bathroom cleanser. Kills everything, I never have mold and all I have to do is spray it. Also works great in the kitchen sink.
-1:1 solution of vinegar and water is an effective all purpose cleaner.
-A 1:1:1 bleach borax and water mix plus scrubby brush cleans the worst grime 100%.
-Blood stains disappear with hydrogen peroxide.
-Acclimate yourself to the season. This means becoming more comfortable in the temperature spectrum of the current season. I never said these would be easy! As winter approaches and temps drop, don’t be so quick to grab for that sweater or jacket. In spring, don’t crank up the AC the second temps hit 72 degrees. You will suffer a little during the process but in the end you will be more comfortable in your home at money saving HVAC levels. In the winter I am comfortable at home and don’t need to turn my heat on until the temp reaches 57. In the summer, I live comfortable up to 79/80 degrees. I don’t suffer-I have become acclimated to the seasonal temperatures and I am comfortable. It took work and discomfort at the beginning of the season to get that way but my electricity bill is always HALF that of my neighbors.
-Change your diet. I am NOT a fan of diets. Diet is a four letter word. It takes an invasive health issue for me to make a dietary change. After suffering from IBS symptoms I saw a doctor that told me to eat more fiber. First I used supplements but eventually started eating more legumes and less processed foods. Dried legumes are very affordable and don’t have to be eaten all at once. Store opened bags or just the beans in reusable jars (see next tip). BTW everything tastes better with cheese. Shredded store brand cheese on top of beans and rice is great. No more IBS, I lost 10 pounds, and I save lots of money not purchasing processed foods. I will admit that I don’t have the number one digestive issue with beans (gas) so there is no downside for me but I hear if you do you and your diet change is gradual enough the symptoms are minimal. Now it is the processed foods that make me sick.
-Reuse instead of buying tupperware. Glass pasta sauce jars, cream cheese tubs, and the 24 oz yogurt tub make great food storage options. Rinse them out, toss in the washer, there you go. Labels come off easily after being wet down with vinegar and allowed to sit for a while.
-Find your sinkhole. Everyone has at least one. Popular sinkholes are shoes, electronics, jewelry, $4 coffees, entertainment, or a hobby. It is the sinkhole that breaks your budget and is the hardest habit to control. Don’t even think about trying the cold-turkey approach. It won’t work, you’ll binge, and your sinkhole will get deeper. This is my same theory with losing weight. If you love something, have it when you fell you need it but don’t go crazy. You won’t binge on shoe shopping if you know you have allocated money to buy a pair every few months. Set money aside, a little here and there, to feed your sinkhole. Now you can spend money you have on what you love. For me, my hole is good food. I allow myself a bi-annual trip to the gourmet food place. I don’t feel deprived and I only buy what I truly desire making the whole experience rewarding without breaking my budget. For you, this may be a visit to the coffee shop on Sunday morning rather than every morning on the way to work.
-Do not add healthcare or veterinary care to any save-money list. Pay a little now or a lot later. Your choice.
-Watch those vices. If I smoked I would quit. I rarely drink alcoholic beverages anymore. Fortunately, my other two vices are cheap: Diet Coke and chocolate. I get the DC on sale and I prefer Hershey’s level chocolate so no qualm there. You don’t have to give up everything-this isn’t prison. Give up the ones that will save the most.
The Bad:
-Ebay your debt away. Go through your closets. Your home is loaded with junk someone will want to pay tons of money for. The truth is, most people go to Ebay to save money, not overpay for tag sale items. You will hear stories of some lucky soul finding a vintage masterpiece in their cellar or found a profitable niche to dig into-and good for them! Unfortunately, most of you will not make it big selling your crafts, clothes, and bric-a-brac. If you already have a successful brick and mortar business it may indeed succeed in the Ebay marketplace.
-Turn down the temperature in your water heater and/or turn off water heater during the day or overnight. If you are willing to take cold showers in the winter then please go ahead. I found turning the temperature of my water heater down only lead me to turn my dial all the way to hot. This empties the water heater faster causing the water heater to work at heating up more water than it would have had I just left it alone. There is also no point to turning off most modern water heaters. I turned mine off one night, forgot to turn it back on in the morning, and still had a pleasant shower that evening. Point is, it kept the water warm by passive means so had I left it on the amount of electricity used to keep the water warm would have been minimal. I tried the water heater dance for a month and saved no money. Maybe it works with older, less efficient heaters. Maybe.
The Ugly:
-My absolute biggest pet peeve ‘tip’: Use baking soda instead of toothpaste. Toothpaste is affordable and necessary. This is a need so treat it accordingly. Saving a few pennies on toothpaste now guarantee a mouth full of cavities and periodontal disease in the future.
-Start a web business. Really? Its that easy? Okay I will just pull a brilliant idea out of the ether, take my nonexistent coding skills and develop my website. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this before.
-Stop spending money. Sure it is smart to stop spending on things you don’t need but to not spend for a month is not practical.
-Eat out of your pantry for a month. I’ve debated trying the pantry-only diet but my pantry is full of food I don’t really eat anymore, expired foods, stuff I’m just not in the mood for, and there just isn’t a well rounded nutritional balance in there. Most of us have pantries full of canned goods, pastas, cereal, rice, dried legumes, and junk food. I’ve read in a few places that canned vegetables are as nutritious as fresh and frozen. So very not true. All the vitamins have been boiled out of them. Canned foods are boiled for long periods of time to kill off bacterial spores that cause botulism.
- The ‘boring diet’. I would rather not thx. I don’t mind making a big pot of something and eating it over the week, and I do this quite often, but not for a whole month.
-Debt consolidation. This is a last-ditch option in the face of impending bankruptcy. Not only does it add THOUSANDS of dollars in interest to your debt, it extends the life of all your consolidated loans. If you do this please avoid those ‘debt-consolidation’ services. You don’t need them, its in THEIR best interest to ‘help’ you, and it may cost you more than you might expect. Take the time to do the research, think through your options, and just do it yourself. Once you pay off your debt maybe you can start an honest debt consolidation business on the internet!