In my house, the ice cube trays are used constantly, but rarely for ice cubes. I use them to freeze a ton of other things, though. Here are 4 Ways To Use Ice Cube Trays:
That last one is great for other herbs too, by the way. They’re great to throw an ice cube in soups, sauces, and other dishes.
The other day, I boiled some pasta in water. The next day, I put a basket in the same pot and reused the water to steam vegetables. Then the next day, I dumped the remaining water on my nasturtium plant. One pot of water was used three times.
I live in California and have a big garden, so I end up thinking about my water usage. A dozen little water-wise habits here and there seems to save a fair amount on my bill. I’ve become “water frugal,” I guess you might say.
Here are 10 Easy Ways To Save Water:
1. Turn Off Water Between Tasks. For example: when you’re brushing your teeth, only use the water to rinse. When you’re washing your face, only wet your washcloth. When you’re shaving, fill the sink with water and dip the razor in instead of running it under a tap. Changing these little habits can save you money throughout the year.
2. Put A Bucket In The Shower. While you’re waiting for the water to heat up, gallons of water are flowing down the drain. Catch the water with a bucket and use it in the garden.
3. Take Shorter/Fewer Showers. I take short showers (about 5-7 minutes) every two days, and it works fine. In fact, hair stylists are always comment on how healthy my hair is. Bonus: this not only saves me water, it saves me money on bath and hair cleaners too.
4. Reuse Pasta or Boiling Water. Any water used for boiling, cooking, or rinsing can be used in the garden. In fact, some people say that the nutrients from vegetables/pasta/etc. that leeches into the water acts like a fertilizer. Just make sure to let the water cool completely before using.
5. Compost Instead Using Of Garbage Disposal. The garbage disposal uses a lot of water and energy. I use mine as a last resort, usually after I’ve composted what I can.
6. Run Full Loads In Dish/Clothes Washers. Make sure that your appliances are full so you get the most out of every wash. This saves on energy too.
7. Water The Garden Early or Late. If you water in the full heat of the day, half the water will evaporate into the air. Instead, water when it’s barely light and you’ll make sure the water gets on your plant, not the air.
8. Wash In A Bowl, Not A Tap. This is a new thing I’ve been doing: when you wash vegetables, fruit, or other food, fill a bowl with water instead of cleaning under a running tap. Then dump the water in the garden. No wasted water.
9. Don’t Water Your Concrete. When you use sprinklers, wash your car, or otherwise use a hose, don’t let the water run needlessly onto the sidewalk or driveway, where it will just end up in the gutter. A hose nozzle is your friend.
10. Reuse Linens/Dishes. Reduce the number of loads you run by rewearing gently used clothes or drinking out of a water glass more than once. Bonus: this will save on your energy bill and reduce clutter too.
How do you save water?
On Friday, I was making baby food by running bananas through a blender and freezing them. It was feeling tedious and I started wondering, why not just buy pureed bananas and be done with it?
Then I calculated how much money I was saving by making the bananas instead of buying them. I came up with about $28.
(I paid $3.99 for 10 pounds of bananas. Removing the skin, let’s say that ended up being 9 pounds (144 ounces) of pureed banana for my son. That’s $.03 an ounce. If I buy the same standard baby food at $1.09 for 5 ounces of banana, that’s $.22 an ounce. For the same 144 ounces of baby food, I would pay $31.68. $31.68-$3.99=$27.69.)
That set me thinking: I have dozens of frugal habits that I do throughout the day. These are small things that are part of my daily life, like eating from my garden, using rags instead of paper towels, or using homemade cleaner and homemade hand soap. What do they end up saving me in a day?
So I made an informal tally throughout the day. Here’s what I came up with:
* I filled another bottle with homemade liquid hand soap. Approximate savings $3.
* Throughout the day, I usually used rags instead of paper towels. Say I used 6 rags, that’s 6 paper towels. This is a little difficult to calculate, but let’s say, approximate savings: $.05.
* Then I had some errands. Instead of driving downtown, I walked. Approximate savings in gas: $.23.
* On the way, I stopped at a thrift store. I bought a new pair of sunglasses for $1.50. Approximate savings: $8.50.
* I also bought a new colander for $1.50. (“New.”) Approximate savings: $5.50.
* That night, I wanted to get pizza delivered, but I did not do it! Instead, I made it for $3. Approximate savings: $17.
Total Savings: $39.23
Of course, this is a sampling of a day. It’s not every day. I don’t buy sunglasses every day and I don’t always make pizza. Still, the point is, these frugal habits add up.
If I save $40 a day, that’s $14,600 that’s still sitting in my bank account at the end of the year.
That’s why frugality works.
You get used to it. You don’t even feel how you’re not spending money.
It’s your habit to do things that save. To get there, it’s just a matter of cultivating those habits.
I’ve got to try this. According to One Hundred Dollars A Month, making your own buttermilk is a simple matter of letting 1 Tablespoon of vinegar sit in a cup of milk for five minutes. I’ve got to try this next time Mr. Savvy makes Buttermilk Biscuits.
The Frugal Find has a great post on saving money by buying bulk canned foods at Costco. I do this too, and can vouch for the savings.
The idea is that instead of buying individual-sized servings, like 4 ounce fruit cups, you buy a giant 106 ounce can of the fruit for much cheaper and divide into freezer-safe containers for when you’re ready to use them.
For example, a can of pears costs $4.59 for 106 ounces, or $.04/oz. The fruit cups cost $.50 per 4-ounce-portion, or $.12.5 /oz. Buying the large can of pears costs 75% less, and all you have to do is spend 5 minutes dividing the pears up into smaller portions.
I’ve been doing this with beans lately, and estimate they are even cheaper than buying dried beans and cooking them myself. Tomatoes are a good deal too, although not as good as planting your own, of course.
This has happened to me before: your new compact of make-up falls on the floor and shatters into powder. What I didn’t know is that this is a fixable situation. According to The Beauty Department, it’s just a matter of adding a few drops of alcohol to the powder and smoothing it out again. Click here to learn how.
I don’t eat that much yogurt, but if I did, I would definitely look into making my own, especially with an heirloom yogurt starter. This is a bacterial culture that you can use over and over to make yogurt. Amazingly, these bacterial cultures originated years ago in countries like Finland and Bulgaria, according to NPR. They have “been around for a very long time and has been passed down for hundreds of years.”
To make the yogurt, you add freeze-dried starter or a spoonful of yogurt to milk.
The only catch is that you have to continually make a new batch of yogurt every week to keep the culture going. If you don’t, it dies. So to make this worth it, you could have to be someone who eats that much yogurt every week.
The Frugal Girl estimates that she saves hundreds by making her own yogurt: “Four quarts of grocery store yogurt per week would cost me between $416 and $624 a year, and this yogurt (from milk purchased at $2/gallon) costs me a measly $52 a year.”
ETA: In the comments, Ralph Lowd explains that he freezes his yogurt starter:
I take a piece of plastic wrap and place it over two egg cartons creating 24 depressions. into each of these I spoon 1 – 2 tablespoons of yogurt and put in freezer. When frozen I individually wrap each ball of yogurt putting all in a zip-loc baggie and put back in freezer. I now can use one yogurt ball to make a batch of yogurt if I don’t currently have live yogurt in the fridge. I also can use some of my starter for recipes that require only a small amount of yogurt.
Deodorant. It doesn’t exactly break the bank. I probably spend under $10 a year on deodorant, so I have often wondered if making it is a good use of time. Yes, you might save a few pennies, but is it worth it to bother?
Wise Bread asked the same question. Marla Walters made her own deodorant using this recipe, which includes coconut oil, cornstarch, baking soda, and essential oils for smell. She tried it out in several high-pressure situations and found that it worked well:
The final test? I strode into my husband’s man-cave, holding up my arm, and said, “Wanna sniff my pit?” (Bear in mind that we have been married for thirty years.) After giving me a look, and actually not laughing, he said, “Sure, why not?” His proclamation? “All I smell is lemon.” He’s a real sport.
The price comparison is a little confusing here, but it sounds like homemade deodorant is cheaper than the store-bought “natural” deodorant, although she doesn’t say by how much. Walters also thought the homemade deodorant smelled better and had the health benefit of using all natural ingredients.
The downside is that while this recipe keeps you from smelling, this is not an antiperspirant and will not keep your armpits dry.
I would also like to hear more about how the homemade deodorant is applied. In the recipe, it looks like it is in a jar, which means you put it on like lotion? I’m not sure.
I’m still skeptical. The last time I bought deodorant it was around $2, and it lasts me a long time. Sometimes it’s worth it to pay for convenience.
But what do you think? Have you made your own deodorant?
Amy Dacyczyn from The Tightwad Gazette:
Some people won’t abandon cable TV [when trying to get out of debt]. This may seem like a small point, but to me, cable TV is a sort of barometer. Anyone who is deep in debt and spends $25 a month for cable clearly hasn’t “gotten it.” A frequent excuse is that “we can’t afford any other entertainment, so we feel this one expense is justified.” Deeply indebted families should not only cancel cable, but might also sell their TV and use the time they free up for frugal activities or a money-making hobby. They must maximize their use of time to get ahead.
I love what Dacyczyn is saying here. Some people have come to see certain luxuries, like cable TV, as a necessity. Even in desperate financial situations, where people can’t pay bills or have huge debts, TV is one of the last things they cut from their budget.
Or, another example, the other day I was on a frugal blog and the woman writing it listed the gym under her necessities. “Health is important,” she explained. And she’s right, except that there are many ways to excercise without paying for a gym membership–take a walk, get weights from the thrift store, buy a jump rope, etc. The gym is not necessary for good health.
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with luxuries. I have plenty of them myself–we all do. But if you’re deep in debt, or can’t pay your bills, or just want to buck up savings, the first thing you have to do is divide necessities (food, shelter, water) from extras. And the problem is that some people don’t seem to know what is and is not a luxury. We are so used to seeing extras as part of life that when it comes to getting finances under control, we keep paying for them even when we can’t afford them.
Here are a few luxuries people sometimes confuse with necessities:
Cell Phones–Sometimes cell phones are a necessity, but judging by how much people pay for their iPhones, there are data plans and other extras that can be cut.
Pets–I would never tell someone to give up their pet, but some people take on animals when they can barely pay their bills. Even a little furry creature can be a luxury.
Soda/Junk Food–These things, while fun, are not part of the nutrition we need to live, and so are extras in the food bill.
Alcohol–Much like soda/junk food, alcohol is far, far from a necessity in life.
Gym Membership–As I mentioned, there are free ways to exercise.
Cars–Paying for two cars when you can get by with one, buying a gas-guzzler because it’s more fun or convenient, or leasing an expensive luxury car are all ways that a car (often a necessity) turns into a luxury.
What other luxuries do people confuse with necessities?
Last week, Mr. Savvy and I went to Target to buy diapers. Here is a picture of the sales tag.
As Advertised! For One Penny Less Than The Regular Price!
You’ll notice they don’t claim the prices are reduced or that this is a sale. It’s just “as advertised.” They are hoping you will see it, assume it’s a good deal, and stock up on diapers.
All the diapers were “as advertised” like this. None of the diapers were actually reduced more than a penny off.
It’s a shame they are allowed to be so deliberately misleading. But it goes to show, you always have to read the fine print.
