Yahoo Finance Creative Ways to Save Around the House
When you are living a frugal lifestyle, sometimes the best place to save money is inside your home. You can clip coupons and bargain shop in an effort to save money. You can also find simple ways to repurpose items in your home to save money. Here are a number of ways that do not require a lot of time but will help you stick to that frugal budget:
1. After you have boiled pasta for dinner and you're cleaning up the pots and pans, use that water for your plants and flowers. Plants can actually benefit from the starch in the water. So you can skip the pricey plant food and use your old water instead. Water used for boiling eggs is also great for plants, especially tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
2. Another great way to save money in the kitchen is to make your own broth. You can make vegetable broth by simmering vegetable scraps that you have saved. Every time you chop veggies for dinner, save them in a freezer bag and freeze them until they are needed. Broccoli stalks, onion skins, asparagus ends and cucumber peels all work great in a broth.
Meat flavored broths can be made using the bones from dinner. Roast a chicken or turkey and save the carcass for use as broth. These broths cost nothing and can save you a lot of money at the store.
3. Cereal bags make a great substitution for wax paper. Once that bag is empty of cereal, cut it open along the seams and wipe out all the cereal residue. Pieces of the bags can be used in the microwave to protect it from splatters, when freezing things like meat or bread products and when putting baked goods in a container. It's also perfect to use between pancakes when you freeze extras!
4. Reuse old clothes. So many of our clothes are made cheaply these days. They just don't seem to last as long as they use to. That means that socks get holes faster and shirts start to fall apart sooner than we'd like. Instead of tossing them in the trash, repurpose them to save yourself some money.
There are many uses for old socks that have either lost their mate or have holes in the toes. I like using old socks in place of Swiffer cleaning pads. One sock alone could save you a great deal of money. Simply cut the toes off and slide the sock on. (Thicker socks work best for this.) Throw them into the washer with your other rags when finished and they'll be ready for the next round.
Old T-shirts cut into smaller rectangles are great for dusting and cleaning windows. Towels that are falling apart also work great for cleaning things that need to be scrubbed like floors, tubs or even cars. Stick to T-shirts for dusting as towels can leave behind tiny fibers. Cut-up sheets can work great on windows, too!
With a little crafting, those stained or too small T-shirts will make great grocery bags or backpacks. A quick look at Pinterest will give you plenty of ideas on how to turn those shirts you will no longer need into something useful while also saving you money.
Pantyhose and tights that have a snag in them may seem like they are headed straight for the trash can. However, both tights and pantyhose work great for storing onions. Onions last longer when they are not in contact with each other or a surface. Use the tights to hold each onion separately by sliding the onion in and tying a knot before sliding in the next one. Then hang the entire group of onions in a cool, dry place like your pantry.
5. Get creative with old linens, too. Many different types of linens can be repurposed to save you money. Bath towels that are starting to rip can be cut up into smaller pieces and used for baby wipes, washcloths or even napkins. Flannel is a great alternative to paper towels. Cloth placemats make great coasters when cut up into smaller pieces. And table cloths can be cut down to become placemats or napkins.
If you have shower curtains that have seen better days, save them to be used as drop cloths. They will keep liquids off the surface below much like they keep water out during a shower. And they will save you money, and protect your floor or carpet, during your next messy DIY project.
Saving money doesn't mean doing without nice things or sacrificing your guilty pleasures. Sometimes, the best way to save money is to think outside the box. Before you throw anything away, consider what else it could become, and you just might find a new way to save your family even more money.
Lauren Greutman is a frugal living expert who focuses on teaching people how to enjoy life on a budget. She is an author, public speaker and professional writer on her websites iamthatlady.com and markandlaureng.com.
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