Here are five frugal things that we have done recently:
1. Using liquid hand soap is so much more expensive than using bar soap. The bottle of hand soap pictured above cost me $ 1.19 on sale. The bar of soap below cost me about $.25 after a sale and coupon.
We use the bar soap at both of our sinks in our master bathroom. A bar lasts each of us a little over 2 months. We use liquid hand soap in our guest bathroom and at the kitchen sink. I buy huge refill bottles of it at either Super Walmart or our warehouse club where it is so much cheaper than anywhere else. I refill empty soap bottles with the soap and water. The one in the guest bathroom lasts a long, long time because we rarely have company except for family once a week and a few times a year for an extended period. The one at the kitchen sink gets a lot of use so I refill a foaming bottle there to save us money.
2. I borrowed two relatively recent Danielle Steel books from our local library which I proceeded to read over a two day period in my spare time. I now have 4 recent books on hold at the library so I will return these and pick those up next week. I no longer buy books unless we need them for gifts. We either borrow them from the library or read free ones on our kindles.
3. Changing up the way we do seasonal clothing storage has caused me to need some more hangers. I have always stored my seasonal clothing in the basement. Right now fall clothes are starting to be worn and summer ones would be boxed up and put down there. However the boxes are getting too much for me to carry and I hate to rely on my son bringing them up and down for me. So I am going to do what Hubby does with his. He stores both seasons in our master closet. I have decided that we have the closet space for me to do the same. That way in January when I need summer clothes for a Florida trip, they will be right where I need them to pack. This will also save me from washing them extra times before the seasonal changeover. All of our hangers are Joy Mangano from HSN. I only needed 20 so I went to Walmart and purchased the ones above. They are not the same color but will co-ordinate. I bought two packages of 10 that cost me $ 10.54 for all including tax. A 24 pack at HSN would have cost me $21.59 including tax. The Walmart ones are as sturdy and unslippable as Joy’s.
4. My recent fresh pineapple purchase with a store coupon was $.99 which is a super price for this area.
5. Tap water with ice is our every day drink. Other than that it is just one cup of coffee a day. We have given up soda and juice. We never were milk drinkers. Sometimes we make iced tea.
12 replies on “Frugal Things In Our Home”
Hi Liz, this is Chris. Interesting thoughts about the soap. I use some of the liquid soap refill with water also for the foaming bottle. I will have to look and see how much the refills are at Costco, the last ones I bought were on a 50% off flash sale at Kroger.
Hubby keeps all his clothes out, I have some of my seasonal clothes under our bed in those long boxes you can get. Most of the time I just wear t shirts and jeans or shorts anyway, so it works for us.
Hi Chris,
You are so lucky to have a Costco there. I miss Costco.
My wardrobe is similar to yours.
Liz
I stumbled over here by a fellow blogger's recommendation (sluggy). One tip I have is to wait until I can get body wash on sale, then I stack a large coupon (doubled up to 99 cents so a 75 cent coupon is $1.50 off for me), selecting the bonus size if available,and often Suave. I pay about $0-$0.50 cents for 18 or so ounces. I also water it down. I keep pump soap at 3 sinks (kitchen, powder room, hall bath). I must buy 3-4 bottles of it a year. Dollar stores are also a good source-just pick up body wash or bubble bath-both will work fine.
Hi CTMOM,
Sluggy is the best!
Thanks for sharing those tips.
I only use body wash or shampoo that is free or a few cents with coupon and sales for the pump bottle in the bathroom. In the past I have used shampoo bought for $0.37/bottle. My hair no longer liked the shampoo, so I had lots for the pump spray.
Hi Practical Parsimnoy,
That is a great way to do the liquid soap. Thanks for sharing.
Liz
i there, I am over from Sluggy's blog. I too use bar soap in the baths, and liquid in the kitchen. As we have chickens I like the liquid with bacteria killer in it, for when we come in from the coop. There is a reason we call them foul. I mean fowl. I love to save money so I can spend money on things I want. I also have had to learn out of necessity. I did not grow up with frugal skills but developed them as a means to get by having spent about 36 of my 40 years of marriage far below the national middle income level. I am going to enjoy your blog.
Thanks for sharing Out My Window!
Liz
Hi Liz, So Glad you are back. I was shocked when you closed down blog. But will be looking forward for lots of great savings from you. Have a good day. Joyce
Hi Joyce,
Thank you. It's good to be back!
When it comes to storing 4 seasons in one closet I can relate living in Illinois with 4 seasons in one day. You are in simplifying mode when you end up cutting the storing and packing and keeping it in one place. Great job! When it comes to hand soap I try to buy glycerine based soap those are the transparent ones they dont grime up the sink and you dont have to clean the sink as often.I also borrow all reading from library but your suggestion for kindle is great I wonder if I could download e books through my library account.That would save me trips and gas to the library. I really enjoy your blog!
Hi Sylvia,
Thanks. And thanks for the tip on the glycerine soap. I hope you find out that you can download books from your library. We donot have that capability here. But I would love it.