Leta
Lovin' The Homestead
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- May 19, 2011
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I think we all know about big things that save money in the long run- solar panels, home insulation, fuel efficient cars, etc. But there are many little things I've found that are cheap to moderately priced, pay for themselves very quickly, and save a lot of money in the long run.
I am always on the lookout for more of these, so I thought I'd share and hopefully someone can teach me something.
-Bamboo ear cleaners. These are under $10 for 5 of them on Amazon. We still keep QTips around, but our total QTip use has fallen by about 90%.
-Floss holders. DH was using those Reach flossers with the proprietary refills (he has giant baker hands and can't fit them in the back of his mouth) which cost way more than regular dental floss. So I got him a floss wand, again, under $10 for a few of them. You can get them on Amazon and eBay. It's a plastic wand with a Y shape and places to wrap and draw the floss tight. So no more Reach flossers or disposable dental picks.
-Stapleless stapler. Under $10. I never have to buy staples again.
-Laser printer. These are expensive, but you can get cheap, used black and white ones on eBay. Toner is so much less expensive even than refilling ink cartridges, and lasts so much longer, that this still paid for itself quickly. We do a good bit of printing though, because DH works for a college and absolutely everything is online, so we need to print stuff off a lot.
-Soft bristled scrub brush and washboard. These get stains out far better than any chemical concoction I've tried.
-We like carbonated beverages, and DH homebrews, so set ourselves up a home carbonation system. We can force carbonate to save flat beer, plus it's like having your own soda fountain. We make carbonated fruit juice and lemonade for the kids, and they never ask for pop anymore.
-A Shmop. Uses less hot water than a mop, no refills like a swiffer. Shmop and 13 terrycloth heads costs $50 on Amazon.
-MEN SHIELD YOUR EYES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. A menstrual cup and cloth pads. These are basically zero work, since I'm doing laundry anyway, and I still have not gotten over how much more pleasant they are to use. In my case, I use a diaphragm as a menstrual cup, so with my health insurance, it was $0 OOP. The pads cost me about $75, but in hindsight I ordered too many, and anyway that was six years ago. They paid for themselves long, long ago.
-A straight razor and a strop, or a safety razor. As yet, I have been able to find a straight razor for a good price, but I spent $10 at an antique shop on a safety razor, and $2 on 20 blades over a year ago, so this paid for itself in about a month.
-Several chalkboards, mostly thrifted. I have a recipe for chalk, so this saves a lot on paper/pens/pencils/erasers.
-Automotive microfiber cloths. These are about $12 at Wallyworld for a package of 25, and work in virtually every application where you think you need a paper towel. Once we figured out how to stop using paper towels on the cast iron (wet, scrape, rinse, put back on hot stove to air dry quickly, then lightly mist with oil) and started using cloth napkins and hankies, we gave up paper towels altogether. If one of the cats puke, I pick it up with newspaper, then use vinegar and a microfiber to clean.
-Flannel wipes. We use these in addition to, not instead of, toilet paper. Girls use way more TP than boys, because we wipe for pee. Using flannel wipes cut our TP consumption down by 75%. Then, for number two, we use TP for the first swipe, followed by a wet flannel wipe, and all I can say about this is yay for cleanliness.
-This isn't really one thing, but several: By moving toward thin blankets and towels, we have saved a lot of time (fewer loads) and energy (line drying) in laundry. Our kitchen towels are now all floursack (aka birdseye). They don't look like much, but they are really absorbent and dry in a wink. For blankets, we have two crocheted blankets per bed plus a thin flannel coverlet. These dry fast- they can be line dried in an hour or two, even in the winter (albeit indoors), even though we only have one set per bed. Next stop is thin robes and bathtowels, which are shockingly tough to find, but since bathtowels and robes represent our last laundry that's dried in the dryer, I think it's a worthwhile switch.
So, any good gadgets left for me out there?
I am always on the lookout for more of these, so I thought I'd share and hopefully someone can teach me something.
-Bamboo ear cleaners. These are under $10 for 5 of them on Amazon. We still keep QTips around, but our total QTip use has fallen by about 90%.
-Floss holders. DH was using those Reach flossers with the proprietary refills (he has giant baker hands and can't fit them in the back of his mouth) which cost way more than regular dental floss. So I got him a floss wand, again, under $10 for a few of them. You can get them on Amazon and eBay. It's a plastic wand with a Y shape and places to wrap and draw the floss tight. So no more Reach flossers or disposable dental picks.
-Stapleless stapler. Under $10. I never have to buy staples again.
-Laser printer. These are expensive, but you can get cheap, used black and white ones on eBay. Toner is so much less expensive even than refilling ink cartridges, and lasts so much longer, that this still paid for itself quickly. We do a good bit of printing though, because DH works for a college and absolutely everything is online, so we need to print stuff off a lot.
-Soft bristled scrub brush and washboard. These get stains out far better than any chemical concoction I've tried.
-We like carbonated beverages, and DH homebrews, so set ourselves up a home carbonation system. We can force carbonate to save flat beer, plus it's like having your own soda fountain. We make carbonated fruit juice and lemonade for the kids, and they never ask for pop anymore.
-A Shmop. Uses less hot water than a mop, no refills like a swiffer. Shmop and 13 terrycloth heads costs $50 on Amazon.
-MEN SHIELD YOUR EYES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. A menstrual cup and cloth pads. These are basically zero work, since I'm doing laundry anyway, and I still have not gotten over how much more pleasant they are to use. In my case, I use a diaphragm as a menstrual cup, so with my health insurance, it was $0 OOP. The pads cost me about $75, but in hindsight I ordered too many, and anyway that was six years ago. They paid for themselves long, long ago.
-A straight razor and a strop, or a safety razor. As yet, I have been able to find a straight razor for a good price, but I spent $10 at an antique shop on a safety razor, and $2 on 20 blades over a year ago, so this paid for itself in about a month.
-Several chalkboards, mostly thrifted. I have a recipe for chalk, so this saves a lot on paper/pens/pencils/erasers.
-Automotive microfiber cloths. These are about $12 at Wallyworld for a package of 25, and work in virtually every application where you think you need a paper towel. Once we figured out how to stop using paper towels on the cast iron (wet, scrape, rinse, put back on hot stove to air dry quickly, then lightly mist with oil) and started using cloth napkins and hankies, we gave up paper towels altogether. If one of the cats puke, I pick it up with newspaper, then use vinegar and a microfiber to clean.
-Flannel wipes. We use these in addition to, not instead of, toilet paper. Girls use way more TP than boys, because we wipe for pee. Using flannel wipes cut our TP consumption down by 75%. Then, for number two, we use TP for the first swipe, followed by a wet flannel wipe, and all I can say about this is yay for cleanliness.
-This isn't really one thing, but several: By moving toward thin blankets and towels, we have saved a lot of time (fewer loads) and energy (line drying) in laundry. Our kitchen towels are now all floursack (aka birdseye). They don't look like much, but they are really absorbent and dry in a wink. For blankets, we have two crocheted blankets per bed plus a thin flannel coverlet. These dry fast- they can be line dried in an hour or two, even in the winter (albeit indoors), even though we only have one set per bed. Next stop is thin robes and bathtowels, which are shockingly tough to find, but since bathtowels and robes represent our last laundry that's dried in the dryer, I think it's a worthwhile switch.
So, any good gadgets left for me out there?