Friday, August 3, 2012

Another BIG Cost "Cutter"

I just love sharing ways I am learning to limit our expenses. We have had less money to work with lately, so I am really looking for ways to cut our costs and God is so faithful to show me ways to do it.
I have been blessed by other women's blogs and especially This Beautiful Life, where Paula shares how to give yourself a haircut! I only get to the hairdresser about once a year, because I don't seem to find time and it seems like we can never afford it. I don't take Rebekah very often either. With Paula's super easy instructions and step by step pictures, I was able to cut my hair and Rebekah's. It was so easy and has nice style to it.  Larry shaves the boys hair and now I can do mine and Rebekah's. That should save us quite a lot of money each year.

Here is a recap of other cost cutters we do;
  • Make our own liquid laundry soap (estimated cost - less than $1/year)
  • I no longer use plastic wrap for opened packages of cheese. I just put them in used bun bags.
  • I grind up my own bread crumbs from stale homemade bread in our coffee grinder.
  • I hang our clothes out to dry.
  • I have found the the fast cycle on our dishwasher (20 mins) works just a good as the full cycle I have always used (60 mins) and it doesn't have a dry cycle, which I don't like to use anyway. I think this would be a huge savings.
  • I haven't been buying extras like canned mushrooms. Nobody really notices them in a dish anyway.
  • I buy our meat on clearance and freeze it right away.
  • Of course, I buy our milk at Shoppers Drugmart, where I earn rewards points towards free groceries.
  • I usually only buy anything if it is on sale.
  • Preserve our own jams and pickles.

That is a few of the things we do here at our home to cut costs.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for sharing, Crystal!

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  2. Thanks for sharing all those tips. I really need to try some of them, especially the fast wash on the dishwasher! Things are really tight around here right now as well, so I appreciate these helful ideas!!

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    1. Hi Shannon
      I hope your dishwasher will work the same.
      Another thing I have done, is start washing our clothes in cold water and a big one, is just staying away from stores. We also hardly ever eat out.
      God is good! He looks after us all the same.
      Take care,
      Crystal

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