Thrifty Thursday

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but myself personally, I'm like a kid in the candy store when packages arrive. I'm pretty sure Nyla almost missed her bus this morning because of this issue I have. We opend the door at 7:40am and there was a small package on the ground from fed-ex(I heard them this morning, but ignored it because it was too early). Yes, fed-ex was at my house before 8am, shocked me too. I knew immediately what it was and NEEDED to open it right then and there to confirm. YES! My 2 packages of food product I am supposed to test are here. Well, at least I know what Nigel will have for desert/snack today.

Anyway, today is thrifty Thursday, so lets begin.

Today I will talk about 5 things I do to stretch my dollar. Some may be obvious to many, while there may be other things that make you say "now why didn't I think of that".

1. Save all leftover foods. Vegetables get used in stews, soups, or cassaroles. We mainly use the steamfresh veggies and only use a half bag. I food saver the remaining portions and use them at a later date. Now, that 30 cent bag of veggies was just turned into 2 or more meals. The same with left over meats, juices from baked meats, etc. If there is only one serving of food left it gets sealed up as well. This will make for a quick "tv dinner" type meal on days I'm unable (or too lazy) to cook.

2. Use less laundry soap. Two years ago Walmart ran a special, All Small and Mighty and Snuggle liquid fabric softener for $2 a bottle. Many people got in on the All, but not many on the Snuggle. Luckily, I was a Walmart employee at the time and could scan items to see if they should be marked down. When I read about that tip I checked that night and sure enough they were so I marked them down(if you ever read about a walmart deal don't be afraid to find a friendly employee and ask them to check for you...most will and mark it down if it should be), and changed the sign. We had coupons for $1 off each making them $1 a bottle. I picked up 20 of each. Today, I have 4 bottles of each left over. But, I gave a friend 2 sets, and my mother 4 sets. So, technically, over 2 years I've only used 10 bottles of laundry soap. Granted, I'm only doing laundry for 3 people now, but my son was an infant, his father was still in the home, I nursed and used a few cloth diapers so we did laundry like a larger family. But, I used very little detergent and our clothes were just as clean. I use 1/3 of the recommended amount.

3. Speaking of laundry, use additives. What I mean by additives is substitutes. Out of fabric softener and no coupons or good sale, or just can't get to the store for whatever reason? Use vinegar in the rinse. No, your clothes will not smell like vinegar, but they will be soft and non-clingy. Want to cut your laundry soap even more? Use a dish washer tab(in addition to a little soap). Don't look at me like I'm crazy, I'm serious. Think about it, the soap is good enough to clean dishes you'll eat off, so why not your clothing? I personally use dawn to cut grease stains on clothing. Same concept, only you are using dish washer tabs/powder. If you're like me, then you have plenty electrasol/finish tablets and packets and this is a good way to use up some of them as well as saving your detergent. They also work in HE machines. HE detergent is simply formulated to produce less bubbles, the same thing a dish washer tab is formulated to do. I have recently started doing this due to being "low" in my eyes on laundry products. Try it and let me know what you think.

4. I live in North Carolina. It stays warm for most of the year. Thus, I like to line dry my clothes. They smell great, save electricity, and keep the house cool in the summer since I'm not running the dryer. I line dry everything except socks/under garment type things. Towels and jeans are tossed in the try for about 5 minutes after line drying so they're not stiff.

5. Let your dishes in the dish washer air dry. This little tip will save you more than you think on your electric bill. Yes, even if your appliance is energy efficient. When the machine turns off at night I open it and pull the bottom rack out. This is so the water from the top rack isn't dripping on the dishes. Dishes are dry in a few hours and there are no water spots on the dishes either.

So, there you have it. My 5 ideas for this weeks Thrifty Thursday.