Super Thrifty Ways To Lower My Spending

 

There are so many ways I have done things to lower my spending over the years and now it feels even more important that I continue to do these things.  The more I reduce, recycle and reuse items the better I feel overall about the impact I have on this planet and the reward for those actions it that I buy a whole lot less and thereby spend a whole lot less.

 

Reuse Bags 

Even though I shop with reusable shopping bags somehow I still end up acquiring plastic grocery bags.  That’s okay because I use them to line the mop bucket I keep under my kitchen sink to collect my trash.  They are the perfect size for this application and because I’m super mindful about waste and trash (most of my waste ends up composted or in the recycling bin for curbside pickup) I typically only need one bag a week.  Plastic produce bags are the perfect size to line my bathroom trash bins I keep in the cabinet under the sinks.  Ziploc bags of all sizes get washed, rinsed, dried and reused.  Only the ones that held meat or have worn out get disposed of.

 

Food Storage 

I use glass containers and mason jars to store my food whether it be pantry staples, home canned items or leftovers.  They last longer than plastic, clean up better and best of all they don’t leach any harmful toxins into my food.  I use glass juice bottles to hold filtered water or iced tea.  Snapple bottles are used whenever I make pancake syrup or vanilla extract.  Plastic water jugs or juice bottles get refilled with tap water and stored in the garage to use to flush toilets or wash hands in the event of an emergency.  I also take them camping or traveling.  The plastic juice bottles freeze well and can be used as ice in my cooler.  Whipped topping containers get saved and used to send home leftovers with guests.  I have a couple of them set aside to use as molds to make my suet cakes (rendered fat, scratch grains & meal worms) for the chickens.

 

Fat 

To maximize the longevity of oils I purchase at the store I use rendered fats like bacon grease, pork fat (lard), chicken fat (schmaltz) or beef fat (tallow) that I keep in a mason jar in the refrigerator and use that for cooking.  This is a byproduct that otherwise would be tossed out and I’m not willing to throw away perfectly good cooking fat when it can be used.  Instead I use my oils to make dressings, marinades and other applications where using my rendered fats isn’t appropriate.  Butter is used for breads, some baking and for vegetables.  I find however, that I use my rendered fats the most.

 

Soap 

Soap is an easy one to economize with as most liquid soaps, including shampoos and conditioners, are highly concentrated.  I am able to cut most of my liquid soaps, especially my shampoo and conditioner (using pump dispensers) as well as laundry detergent (save an empty detergent bottle, fill it half with liquid detergent and the rest with water, give it a good shake) easily in half by cutting it 50/50 with water.  I make my foaming hand soap solution by stirring in 1 to 2 Tbs of shower gel into a cup of warm water and refill my dispensers.  I use bar soap in the shower instead of shower gels and I use a small amount of shower gel to shave my legs with instead of purchasing shave gel.  With all of these various uses one bottle of shower gel typically will last me a year.  Two jugs of 50 load size laundry detergent lasts me over a year.  I put my concentrated dish soap in a pump dispenser and find one pump is plenty to wash a sink full of dishes.  I typically only refill the dispenser about twice a year so a refill size jug of dish soap lasts about two years or longer.

 

Cooking 

These days I find it is much easier to economize in the kitchen when I am cooking.  I typically make two or three meals per week for supper and it feeds me all week.  Leftovers are reheated in the microwave and eaten for suppers and lunches and I supplement with simple meals like eggs on toast, soup or a sandwich.  I try to be mindful of portion sizes and not cook more than I can eat in a reasonable time.  If I find I do overcook or that I’m getting tired of eating something I freeze it which comes in very handy when I’m feeling lazy after a busy day to pull something out and heat it up.  When I turn the oven on to bake I try to make a few things (like granola, a cake and cornbread, rolls, biscuits or bread) rather than just one so I only have to heat the oven once and mess up the kitchen once too.  It feels like a more efficient use of the oven and my time if I make a few things.  Then I can divide, wrap and freeze my baked goods in meal size portions for the freezer.  I don’t cook or bake nearly as much as I used to, but in this stage of my life I’m okay with that.

 

As a rule, I think we tend to way overuse most products and are often too quick to toss things into the trash.  That is simply wasteful and not a good use of our money or the time we spent earning that money or even the time spent purchasing that item.  By focusing on being a good steward and lessening my impact on this earth with better and more mindful practices I’m able to spend a lot less money and time because I need to purchase far fewer items.  By purchasing less stuff I feel much freer too.