Ways we are saving money

Since March, my husband and I have really been trying to spend less/save more money. We have done the usual:

• coupons
• deals
• not eating out
• menu planning
• growing a garden
• and more...

But there are also some more "outside of the box" things we have been working on that have really helped. I know I am not the first to come up with these, but they are simple and small things that can easily be overlooked, but can make a big impact!

• homemade dish detergent
• using the dishwasher less. it has been easy in the past to just throw everything in. and it has been easy in the past to run 2 loads a day. with just 2 of us! that had to stop! we are better about washing bigger things and things that were hardly used, things that are just easier to wipe clean in the same amount of time as rinsing and loading.
  
• using washcloths instead of paper towels to clean messes
• recycling (this saves money because we do not have to take our trash to the curb as often)
• composting (same as above, as well as both being environmentally friendly)
• using a deep freezer to cook in bulk and stockpile foods when they are on special.
  
• reusing paper towels. we do still have them on hand, and I like to wash and dry fresh lettuce before making a salad. then I dry the towels and use them a few days later when I get more lettuce from the garden.
• reusing dryer sheets for dusting
• making my own baby food

Things I have thought about doing to save money, but am not totally convinced yet to do (I do believe that time and effort equal money too):

• cloth diapering
• drying clothes outside on lines
• making all my food from scratch
  

WFMW - Dusting

I am not one for hard-core cleaning.

I am especially not one for dusting. To me, this is hard-core cleaning. I prefer the shove-under-the-bed or in-a-closet technique. When we have people coming over. I would like to think that anyone could stop by my house at any moment and I would be comfortable with how it looks, but I would be fooling myself with that thought!

But I have found recently that I do enjoy dusting. Just a little bit. I don't know if it is so much the act of dusting I am enjoying. Or maybe I am enjoying that I am killing two birds with one stone (or, more accurately, I am making two uses out of one thing) and I am not spending hours doing it!

I would normally take the laundry out of the dryer, fold the clothes/towels/sheets/etc. and throw the used dryer sheet away. (I know I make it sound like I do this all in a very timely fashion, but I would be fooling you if you thought this was true. It's more like do the laundry, remember a couple days later it is in the dryer, bring it upstairs the following day, walk around it in the living room for a few days, get items out as I need them, and then maybe fold it when we are going to have someone over.)

Back to the dryer sheet. It begs to be used more, so I have given in to it's loud cries of agony over wanting to be used to it's fullest potential.

Why not take that sheet and dust a little. I don't try to do the whole house. This would be hard-core if I did. I try to pick a different room each time I have a sheet ready. And that's all I do. This keeps it from overwhelming me, but also keeps the dust from overtaking my house. One small step at a time. One room at a time. One dryer sheet at a time. And over time, my house stays cleaner!

This is what works for me. Check out other great tips over at We Are THAT Family.