The biggest way we are going to save on cleaning products is by using up what we already have and not replacing them. Most cleaning can be done with vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda. NEVER EVER mix the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. That is dangerous! Research online or on you tube how to use them and what they clean.
We use very little paper towels in this house. That will continue. We have rags made from old towels to clean up cat puke and other messes. We own microfiber cloths for cleaning. They can be used over and over again for years without having to replace them. Paper towels are very expensive and get thrown out after one use. We probably go through less than 1 roll a year to drain bacon. We have enough right now to last a few years because we bought a package at a great price at our warehouse club. I save the grocery ad papers to wash windows. We do not have a newspaper delivery service. But the ads work just as well.
Our usage of paper napkins has decreased in the past year or so since Hubby does not prick his fingers anymore to check his sugars. He uses Libre 3 which goes in his arm and stays on for 2 weeks. Because of this we use cloth napkins at most meals. I just throw them in with the regular week’s wash. So I probably have enough paper napkins for picnics on our patio to last me years. I suppose in a pinch we could use them like tissues.
We have two bathrooms in our home. One is just for guests so not much toilet paper gets used in there. Our master bathroom toilet has a bidet with a dryer so we use very little toilet paper in that one. A big box of toilet paper lasts us years. If you go through a lot of toilet paper, it may save you quite a bit of money to put in a bidet. There is a huge price range for them so you can go cheaper or more expensive for what you need.
We do buy Kleenex for when we are out and about. But in the house, we use cloth hankies and just throw them in the weekly wash. I just put out Kleenex for guests. We have about 10 boxes so we will not buy any in 2027.
Plastic garbage bags have gotten ridiculously expensive. We use way too many 13 gallon tall kitchen garbage bags not only for trash but to bring bottles and cans back to the store to redeem them for the deposits. Our garbage company requires bagging all garbage. I stuff mine so I don’t use as many. I also use the garbage disposal to get rid of food scraps except for potato skins. Above is a picture of the loaded garbage bags with the bottle returns in my garage. We have a lot right now because of all the medical issues we had this summer. So they have piled up. You can see how many of these bags normally get thrown away. I have decided to keep these bags after I empty them at the store. I rinse my cans really well so they might be a little wet when they are emptied. But I can hang them up to dry when I get them home. I will reuse them for trash. From now on I will use the paper bags that I get my groceries in from Walmart to return them. By doing it this way, I will save a lot of money on these plastic bags.
I reuse plastic baggies. I wash them out with dish soap and water and put them on my bag stand to dry that I use to fill them up with food. If you don’t have a bag stand, put a large cooking spoon in a jar and hang the bags on it to dry. By doing this I cut my cost to buy plastic baggies. The only bags I will not reuse are ones that had meat in them. Those get tossed.
Our friends came to dinner on Saturday night while Hubby’s sister was here. Our friend is a wonderful baker and is always surprising me with goodies. She brought me these three pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for our breakfast the next day. They were so delicious. The plastic baggie was over the muffins that were on this paper plate. The only thing that got thrown away was the muffins wrappers. The large baggie got washed and dried and the paper plate got wiped off and is now ready in my stash of paper plates to use when I am too tired to wash dishes.
There are many other ways that you can save on household products too like clipping paper or digital coupons, researching where to get the cheapest prices, watching for sales, etc. Right now I am watching for a sale on water softener salt and furnace filters. I will eventually find good prices before my stash of these runs out.
Feel free to share with all of us how you save on household products.