EASY Saving Money Tips (Guest Post)

Replace Paper Towels with Cloth

This was one of the best and easiest switches for us. I used paper towels for EVERYTHING — cleaning, as napkins, etc. Between my husband, myself, and our 6 kiddos we were spending a FORTUNE on paper towels. I heard of a family who made the switch so decided to try it myself. There were 3 ways I made the switch.

• I went out to a couple of thrift stores & bought every cloth napkin I could find. Some matched, some didn’t, but that’s okay- because my goal was to save money & not making a fashion statement. Hubby loved this & prefers cloth napkins now over paper.

• I purchased a couple of packs of cheap washcloths from Wal-Mart. These work much better than cloth napkins or paper towels for little sticky hands.

• I also got a pack of Microfiber cloths from Sam’s Club for around $8. You can also get them in Automotive at Wal-Mart. These cloths are amazing for cleaning. In my opinion they work so much better than Paper Towels!

I probably spent less than $20 on my purchases total and have saved SO MUCH MORE than that!

Use Cloth Diapers

If you have a baby I don’t have to tell you that diapers are EXPENSIVE. At one point in my mothering career, I had 3 in diapers and 1 in pull-ups at night. Diaper costs were KILLING us. We had to do something, and potty training my 9 month old twins & 1 yr old was not an option. I started researching cloth diapers and found that they are a lot different than what I had expected. Jillian’s Drawers has a GREAT tutorial here about how awesome the newer styles of cloth diapers are. They also have a super sweet Try Cloth for $10 program that allows folks to try it before they make such a huge investment.

Reuse those Ziploc Bags

Now this won’t work if you’ve had meat or something like that in it. However, if you stuck some bread, chips, muffins, cookies, or anything else fairly non-messy you can rinse them out, let them dry & reuse them. Use a little dish soap if necessary.

Cut back on Paper Waste

We have so much paper waste around here between junk mail & things I’ve printed, but don’t need anymore. It’s a shame to waste all that clean space on the back, especially when my little budding artists are always begging for paper to draw on. There are a couple of things you can do to re-use that paper.

• The easiest thing is just to put it in a file folder/drawer/whatever you have available & just dole it out when you have a request.

• Another cute, fun thing to do is to cut it up into equal sized pieces, stack it together & staple on top. You then have a cute little tablet to use for scratch paper, give to the kids, etc.
  

Reuse Packaging and Containers

There are so many things that come in great plastic or glass reusable containers like those tubs of butter or lunchmeat or spray bottles or anything else that’s in a fairly sturdy container. You can reuse them for leftovers or to hold crayons or other small items. You can also reuse old spray bottles to make your own cleaning solutions. A little Vinegar, Essential Oil, & water can go a long way in making fabric and the air smell fresh! There’s a great guide here on making your own household cleaners.