Sometimes, extending the life of items you have at home is a great way to save money. There are a ton of things that you can make last longer, which means less money spent!
Sponges:
- When your sponge gets gross, wet it and throw it in the the microwave for a minute. Now its sanitized and has a little more perk!
Razor Blade:
- Dry your blade right after use or use a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol on it, which sucks up moisture quick.
Produce:
- When Lettuce, Celery or Spinach begin to wilt, pop them in a Ice cold water bath for 10 minutes, then dry well.
- Do not keep onions and garlic in plastic–they last longer when left out to breathe
- Produce that should be kept in the fridge, to preserve it’s freshness: grapes, cherries, apricots, broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, mushrooms, sweet corn.
Candles:
- Freeze Candles a couple of hours before you use them, the wax will burn slower
Clothes:
- Hang them out to dry instead of throwing them in the dryer. The dryer makes them fade and eats away at them.
Printer Ink:
- Go down to “Grey Scale” on your printer. I’ve been doing this for a very long time and print my coupons in mostly all black, in grey scale You can do this:
- select Devices and Printers. Right click on your printer and select Printing Preferences.
Add water to household items
- Dish soap: When the bottle is 1/3 empty, fill with water
- Shampoo or Conditioner: When the bottle is half empty, fill with water and shake– does the same job!
What do you do to stretch the life of your house hold items?
My Name is Josie and I live in sunny Southern California and I am a stay at home mom to three beautiful boys. We all know that living in California is a task of it's own and saving in California IS possible! I started this blog mainly to share all the awesome deals out there and show others how to save in any area of life. Even though you may make the commitment to be frugal and pinch your pennies doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice!
Unwrap bars of soap! When you get home from the store take them out of the packaging and let them dry out; we stick them under the bathroom sink on a washcloth. The soap will lose some of it’s water content and last longer; we also feel that they’re not as slimy this way. Another tip is to save the left over slivers of soap and re-purpose them into a new bar. liquid hand soap or body wash.
I do the same thing
Love this
I’ve got nothing….lol. Thanks for the tips though.
Never mind I do have one.
I have 2 girls an 8 yr old and a 7 yr who have a tendancy of ripping the knees of their jeans when this happens make shorts or a purse. Okay so the purse is a little more time consuming but what you do is cut the jeans like booty shorts (yeah really short) and sew the legs closed then use the legs as straps and sew those to the sides. Wala a cute purse. And they can decorate them with buttons, patches or just use a sharpie to doodle on them.
All great hints that I didn’t know! Thanks! One I tell everyone is: buy a cheap spray bottle, fill with rubbing alcohol and spray on ants! Kills them and doesn’t poison the kitchen! Yes you have to wipe them up, but I hate spraying bug spray in the house.
Oh that’s a good one. I hate the bug spray smell in the house so I usually use Windex or Fantastic but this would be cheaper!
I’m having an ANT problem in my kitchen and I hate using bug spray on my counters. This a great Idea!!! I’m heading down to the Dollar Tree to get a bottle & alcohol. Thanks for a great tip!!!!
Thank you much!!!! I’m trying this one today. I hate spraying chemicals in my kitchen.
I know we normally get free toothpaste but I am still frugal about it. Once you’ve squeezed out as much toothpaste as you can, cut the tube open and you’ll have enough for several more brushings. Store the cut tube in a plastic bag between uses to prevent dry out.
I add water to juice as soon as I pour it. If I add it to the bottle, it spoils faster. I also cut my lotion bottles that have a pump. It’s the only way to finish the bottle. Instead of spending cash for “detangling spray”, I fill a spray bottle with water and add a quarter size worth of conditioner. My daughter loves that!
I’m going to try this!!! Thanks
im going to try this too.
insread of throwing away my sons diper boxes i go to a 99¢ store buy a cute wall paper and decorade the box reuse it as a toy box :]
I use the back of some of my kids school papers and flyers to print coupons!
Me, too! I just about always use recycled paper to print my coupons.
Great idea! We save all of the left over pieces of paper, big and small, then we shred it and use as bedding for our bunny.
I have small boys under age 5 and we wash our hands a lot!! They are still learning the concept on how MUCH soap to use. I USED to pour 1/2 water and 1/2 handsoap in a dispenser and swish it a round. That made it last a little bit longer….NOW I have started using a foam soap dispenser!! Now I only use about 2 TB and fill up with water till 2/3 full (to save room for lather). Use hot water too. So happy my discounted soap is lasting so much longer!!
Im going to try the candle thing I just bought a bunch of new candles
I use iron on patches on the inside of my boys pants to prevent holes in the knees.
I always split my windex or whatever window cleaner in half and fill with water! you can even split it three or more times it still works great and ta-dah you now have 2 or more
bottles of cleaner! Love the candle idea!
For kitchen sponges, it also works to stick them in the top rack of the diswasher when you’re running a load of dishes.
When using spaghetti sauce, after I pour it in, I add a few tbls of water to the jar, cap it and swish it around and pour it in the pasta pot. For Alfredo a little milk does the same thing, the pasta absorbs the extra water. I do the same for salad dressing as well.
We like the Black Box wine. Just when you think it’s empty, open the box, and you can squeeze out two more glasses.
That’s if wine qualifies as a household item… teeheehee….
Glad you asked! I add water to our laundry softener. You don’t need the thick concentrate to get your clothes smelling good. I buy fruit that is on sale in bulk, cut it up and freeze it for smoothies. If we have excess lemons from the tree, I squeeze them and freeze them in ice cube trays and keep a ziploc of lemon juice in the freezer; great for lemonade or cooking. Last but not least, I use the Gas Buddy app to find the cheapest gas in the area. One more thing: we have a produce garden! and yes, I work full time so it can be done!
I have a garden too and love it. This last year we added two chickens too. They eat all our scraps and left overs & we suppliment w/ some chicken mash which is cheap. They keep bugs out of the garden and give us eggs.
Are your chickens able to stay outside all winter (in their coop)? Do they need a light to keep warm? I have been considering getting a couple of chickens for a while but haven’t done it yet. You probably have to keep them in a coop of some sort to prevent the cats from getting them, right? I wanted to let mine out during the day but now I’m worried someone’s cat will get them.
I have three daughters between ages 4 and 8. I make sure to use pump style bottles for shampoo, conditioner, body soap and hand soap. I add water like the rest of us do, but I tie a rubberband around the neck so when they pump, it doesn’t use as much as a normal pump would. You know how kids like to over pump!
Thanks I can finally print black ink only coupons i wasting money always buying color ink I couldnt figure out how not to… ty
All this summer I have been buying Minute Maid Lemonade (too sweet for me) and divided it half and half with water, it doesn’t go bad because with this weather we finish it right away. Also, lately I have been matching prices at Walmart, I get my ads on Tuesday and check all of them then I circle all the produce that is cheap that week and head to Walmart, usually the hispanic markets give cheap prices for produce but when you go there the quality is not so good. My youngest loves grapes (He eats them everyday, lol) so I’m always on the lookout for a great price, this week I grabbed some .69 a lb(reg $1.98), bananas for 4lb for $1, red tomatoes 5lb for $1, white onions 7lb for $1, nectarines 2lb for $1, I never liked Walmart before but now I always go there for my produce, because, believe it or not, their produce has great quality, plus even more important, their service has gotten way better.
You can also freeze grapes. Eat them frozen don’t thaw them because then they get mushy
Take a wet paper towel and wrap the stem of your lettuce, put in the fridge and it will save longer. Also store your potatoes in a dark, dry area.
One thing I love is buying laundry softer and pouring some inside a spray bottle less than half ways and the rest with water and viola a cheap febreeze that I spray my carpet and bed and every where I could
I’ve got that one coming up soon!