Every week I cook up a pound of bacon. With the help of my utility company I have found out that it is just as cheap to cook it in a skillet on my natural gas stove than it is to cook it in an electric fry pan. So yesterday morning, I chose to use this skillet. I cook it until it is almost the way we eat it. That way we have a couple of strips with our eggs every morning without overcooking it in the microwave to reheat it. A few seconds is all it needs. I have given up cooking it on a sheet pan in my big oven. It takes way too much energy and time. I do save the bacon grease to cook or flavor other items. Strain it into a clean reused salsa or pickle jar. Our ancestors wasted nothing and neither do we.
We use very few paper towels every year. The only time we use them is to drain bacon. I use just one paper towel folded over on the bottom and then one on the top. When I am done draining it and put it away in the fridge for the week, I reuse those paper towels to wipe out the little bit of grease that is left in the pan after straining it into the jar. Never let any grease go down your kitchen sink drain. It will clog your pipes and cost you a fortune for a plumber to unclog them. I am amazed at the people that don’t know this.
We haven’t gotten newspaper delivery in a very long time. But I used to use a sheet of newspaper with one paper towel on it instead of dirtying a plate to drain bacon. Paper bags worked well too. Once in a while, my Walmart grocery delivery comes in a paper bag. So I have started saving them for this purpose.
In place of paper towels, we use microfiber cloths or rags that we use over and over again for everything else. I wash them in our washer and hang them to dry. Never put the microfiber cloths in the dryer. It will destroy them because they are made of polyester which is plastic and they won’t work the way they should. A package of 12 Bounty double rolls will cost me $ 22.18 that I have to buy over and over again. I would much rather buy some good quality microfiber cloths that I will get years of use out of than throw my money away on paper towels. We use less than 1 roll a year.
After cooking all of that bacon, we enjoyed 2 eggs and 2 strips of bacon for breakfast. This is our go to breakfast most days. It’s Keto and keeps us full until dinner.
Today is garbage day. The above pictured bag is an example of how we use fewer tall kitchen garbage bags. This is an Amazon shipping bag. It is the perfect size to put in my kitchen garbage container. I don’t get one of these very often but when I do I save them for this purpose. However I will reuse any plastic bag( from large packages of toilet paper or paper towels, etc.) that a product comes in for my garbage.
Our state went to reusable bags for groceries the year before Covid. We knew it was coming for months so I saved every plastic bag from any kind of shopping for almost a year. I just put them in empty tissue boxes inside of a large shipping carton. I store them in the basement and just bring up a tissue box full when I need them. Even if they are small, they can be used for garbage and that will save money on buying kitchen garbage bags. I probably have a couple of years worth of bags right now.
Do you have any small things that you do to save a little money? Please share.
10 replies on “Little Things That Save Money”
Hi Precious. Good post today, I learned a few things. Didn’t know that microfiber cloths needed to be air dried. Also, I loved your tip and picture about reusing the big bags. I do save the smaller plastic ones in tissue boxes like you do for the used kitty litter.
I was trying to think of small things I do to save money. A lot of people may do the same, but I will mention a few. We keep one of those office type paper clips on our toothpaste to roll it up and use everything. At the end of a bottle of shampoo, laundry soap, etc, I put a little water in it to get every drop. I use vinegar instead of fabric softener in the washer. We use bar soap and affix the slivers to a new bar when we need one. When the little girls play in the kiddie pool or water table in the summer, I don’t dump the water, hubby puts it on his garden. I say “yes” to any hand me downs people offer for them, and have gotten some good toys. I will pass along the things they outgrow when I am sure there won’t be any more grandchildren and will offer on our local buy nothing group.
A big thing I try to do to save money is faithfully look at the clearance section at the grocery. Hubby is trained to do the same. Today I was able to get some of the Puffs Plus tissues for .40 ea for the cube box. The box doesn’t have as many as the regular size box, but when I did the math, it was still a decent deal. So I picked up 10 boxes of them. I don’t always find things in the clearance section, but always look. I was happy I found my tissue deal so soon. 🙂
Hi Chris,
Thanks. If just one person learns something then my time wasn’t wasted. Yeah on that tissue clearance. I have never seen a price that low.
You have great clearance deals at Kroger. We did at Fry’s(a Kroger store) in AZ and I miss that store. The only clearance I see here is occasionally meat and bread(only at Walmart). The clearance meat is very infrequent; sometimes I won’t see a package for months. The clearance prices on bread at Walmart are much higher for bread than I see people post for their Walmart’s. It is cheaper to make bread at home.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi. I drain my bacon (and any other fried food) on brown paper bags. Some stores still use paper bags, which I get, for free, and then I cut them up to fit over a large dinner plate and drain my bacon etc. on them. Then toss the greasy bag in the trash.
I don’t get many big bags like what you got from Amazon etc to substitute for a garbage bag. I just buy the cheapest 13 gallon plastic trash bag and crumble my garbage tightly before it goes into the bag (saves on storage space inside the bag so I can load it up with more trash).
I use bread bags to store my home made bread crumbs in the freezer. Or as a sandwich wrap for lunch. I just learned about placing dryer lint inside an empty toilet tissue tube and using the concoction as a perfect fire starter! I took an old but still bright table cloth, cut it up into perfect squares, hemmed all four sides and made 8 cloth napkins out of it. No more paper napkins (or paper towels either).
We used to qualify for the Age 65+ Property Tax Reduction (annual salary $37,500 and below) but with the rise in Social Security and hubby working I thought we wouldn’t qualify for it anymore. As you know Gov Hochul passed a new law raising the 65+ Property Tax reduction to an annual salary of $50,000. That made me happy. Till I submitted my app and was declined. When I inquired why, the assessor said that Hochul’s new law was voluntary not mandatory. The municipalities didn’t have to comply. The original $37,500 was set in stone, regardless of rising inflation and cost of living increases. What a crock of shit. Our property taxes now are going to go up substantially. One thing it made clear to me is that New York is not kind too its Senior Citizen. There’s a reason why the older generations moves out of NY and down to Florida (which BTW, their cost of living expenses are exploding too!). I have no idea what’s to become of us. But I am taking this as the first red flag. The first of many, I am sure. So, I understand your own pain over your own property taxes. Ugh!
PS: we normally spend $25 a month on our EZ Pass. This month we got hit with $70!!!! in tolls. Hubby had to make a few doctor visits (about an hour away) and got hit with unbelievable tolls. Another reason why “I Hate New York”. Another red flag.
PSS: The senior citizen pool rate went up 50% this season from $50 to $75. From $100 for the both of us to $150 now. Make this the 3rd red flag.
Hi Cindi,
I am so happy to hear from you. I hope you and Hubby are well. You are lucky to get the free bags to drain the bacon. Our stores charge for them. I love that you crumble your garbage. Never thought to do that. I will try to see if it makes a difference here. Thanks for that tip!
I have been using old saved bread bags for when we do make bread. Yeah on the dryer lint. We have been doing that the since the 1960’s. We have always had either a fireplace inside or outside or a fire pit. Those work so well. I keep a small metal pail on my dryer to collect the lint. Hubby knows to never throw a toilet paper tube out. We just purchased a bidet for our master bath that heats the water and has a dryer that blows you dry. Hubby has to install the electrical and then we can use it. This should save us on a lot of toilet paper.
We don’t qualify for the senior reduction in property taxes nor the Enhanced Star reduction on school taxes. I am so sorry that your town did not raise the limit to the state’s limit. That sucks! You are so right that this is the reason why most seniors move out of NYS. They make it so hard to stay. I just looked at my town and it is up to each town to set any reduction. I don’t know if our town allows it but we wouldn’t qualify anyhow. But thank you for mentioning it. Some of my readers might and I let a relative know who may qualify if their town is allowing it. I am really sick of the increases in our assessment. $206,000 increase since January 1 of 2022 ridiculous. If it stands we will pay nearly $ 15,000. in property and school taxes. Fingers crossed they lower it. Time will tell.
I knew the Thruway tolls went up. But I would check on those tolls. They do make mistakes. One of those trips may have registered incorrectly. Yikes! I will let you know when we go to celebrate our granddaughter’s sweet 16 birthday what we pay. That is on the other side of the state and I know what we have been paying for that trip. Our EZ pass is just automatically refilled when we go below $ 25. They always want at least $25. sitting on it.
Wow. That is a huge increase for the pool fee.
Precious, when we visit our daughter in NYC (90 miles. 1.5 hours away) we pay $60 in tolls and bridge fees. Ridiculous. Our EZ pass used to be $25 per month. Now it’s $40 and sometimes if we drive a lot we get charged twice. That’s $80. Ugh.
Hi Cindi,
Yikes.
We live on the east side of the Hudson River. To go shopping, there’s a complex on the west side of the Hudson River, with a toll bridge. At first it was $1.00 (round trip). Yesterday in our way back from food shopping, they were raising the toll to $1.65. Almost double!! Needless to say, we have to limit our trips to this particular shopping plaza. We used to go 3X a week, then 1X a week, now we’re going twice a month. UGH is all I can say. UGH!
Hi Cindi,
Yikes. That is quite an increase!
Hi Precious,
My fails this week was I burned part of the bacon I was cooking. I was on a conference call at the same time and couldn’t get to the bacon in time. Not a complete lose. I gave the burnt ends to my two dogs and they were happy-I ate the middle that did not burn. But on the other hand, I got to work from home that day and it saved gas and travel time.
Small ways I saved money. Hummmm let’s see. I stopped by the grocery store on the way home from work instead of a special Saturday trip. I had 3 containers of HWC from Aldis that was spoiled so I returned and replaced them instead of pouring them out. I have to travel to Colorado Springs for work week and started to buy new clothes because it is with high level management, but decided to wear what I have after talking to to organizer. It is warm enugh at night now that I can sleep without my heated mattress pad – just added another blanket. Threw some beef hort ribs in the crock pot and pulled the meat off. I don’t like them very much because it takes so much effort to pick the meat off, but I am trying to eat all meat that came with the 1/2 cow. Didn’t water my little raised garden because rain was coming. Got a free work polo because special guest were coming! It is an active wear type of material and will be great in the summer. (It just dawned on me I can wear it during CS trip.) Went morel hunting and found a good mess of them on my property – free food and they were so good in my keto garlic cream sauce. Shower drain was stopped up (been here for 17 tears and never had an issue). I tried plunging it but no deal. The next day I decided to pour hot water down it to see if it would open up. Luckily that worked. And luckily I have more than one bathroom to shower in so I didn’t have to knee jerk and call a plumber.
I am glad you are feeling better and have started posting again. I have followed you since Arizona days.
Hi Wendy,
So sorry about your bacon. It is so easy to do that. I can burn it even when I am paying attention. The bacon does not seem to cook like it used toi. I often wonder what has changed about it. I love that you got to work from home and save some gas.
Nice job shopping on the way home from work. I am so happy that you took the time to make the return. I also wonder why things are spoiling faster. I am finding that happens with milk lately.
New clothes are so expensive so that was a real win! Nice on the extra blanket. We are doing the same.
Your beef ribs brought back memories. I haven’t had them in years. However when we were first married, I bought them a lot because they were so cheap and inflation was worse than it is now. I think I used to throw BBQ sauce on them and bake them. They were so good.
We too are having rain so it is nice not to have to water anything for now.
Yeah on the free polo! You have to love the free morels We have none here. Enjoy them.
I am glad that you unclogged your own drain. $$$ saved
Thanks for your kind words.