Little Efforts that Bring Big Change to Save Money at Home

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Today's topic is about some of the little things that you can do at home that would result in big savings in the long run.

You see if we are determined in our search for ways on how to save money, we should always use objects in our household with the money-saving approach in our mind.

As we use or consume objects in our home, it's best to ingrain in our minds how we're going to maximize. The trick is to look at each item by the microgram and not by a single quantity of an object.

If we look at a house item as a single unit, we tend to take for granted what is left in the package of, for example, toothpaste or shampoo, and we are ready to throw them away as soon as the container is giving a sign that it is already empty when in reality it is not.

Purchasing power increased by being frugal

Purchasing power is greatly affected by how we handle our money.

Now instead of throwing tone of preaching like — do this or do that, I just lay to you little things that I do myself to maximize each of the items that I use at my household.

By stretching the uses of these items to the max, I save a considerable amount in terms of the purchasing power of my money in buying stuff that involved these products.

Not only do I save, but I also develop the discipline of being fastidious, which is one of the ingredients of being frugal, in using bought items. So, let me start my enumeration by a question, in our next headline.

Are you doing any of these to save?

1. Cutting open toiletries' tubes & bottles to get the remaining content out

We save money considerably when we make sure that nothing left in the containers of toiletries before we discard them.

The tube of shampoo or conditioner doesn't squirt liquid any longer however I squeeze it. Before I throw it out, I use a scissor and cut it open in the middle and then I scrape all remaining content at the bottom.

Then with the cap on, I cut the top of the tube and scrape all the leftovers there. It always turns out that I can have 3-more applications from the scraped content of the tube that doesn't squirt content anymore.

That translates to three more baths. The same thing goes for toothpaste and other toiletries that I get to use from time to time like lotion speaking of which leads us to a tip.

You can convert a bottle of lotion, those with pump into an awesome holder. I cut them near the top, and after polishing the cut area, I installed them into walls and voila I've got myself holders of uniform size for combs, brushes, shave, etc. for free.

2. Swabbing bread inside spread container to prevent waste & save on dish soap

When we do not consume all spread left in a bottle before washing them, we contribute to food waste, which constitutes wasting money.

Margarine and peanut butter — Each packs a punch in nutritional value. But also a handful in washing the containers because of high oil concentration.

Even small containers of margarine can be used as extra holders of foods. Once empty, both containers of these spreads go straight to my washstand as they serve me myriad usages.

But not until I do these: If it's a small margarine container, I will get a slice of bread and swab inside it until the container is wiped clean. The bread becomes covered with the butter, and I enjoy eating it.

If it's a large jar of peanut butter, I pierce a fork in a bread and swab remaining residue of the spread. Once the containers have no tidbits of oily spreads, I easily wash them with only small drops of liquid soap. I save on water and soap, and I totally avoid food waste.

3. Frying rice using the residue of any sauteed dish in the pot before washing it

Using the residue of any dish in a pot by frying the rice in it saves money on dish soap, and we get the most out of the food in terms of nutrients.

I fry cooked rice in the pot where I just fried or sauteed a dish. Other times I put the cooked rice in the pot and simply stir it up until the savory oil in the pot has clung to the sticky rice.

With a small portion of the dish, I already have the main course of a meal. I don't have a reservation as for the oil intake because in most part I don't use cooking oil.

A good example is fried pork chops which I cook in 2 quick steps:

1. Boil the pork chops in a little amount of water until they produce oil.
2. Fry the chops in their own oil while seasoning them with a little bit of salt and pepper.

For me, that plain fried pork chops taste like no other. In this case, I put steamed rice (leftover) in frying pot after removing fried meats and fry the rice right there after which my version of a scrumptious meal is ready to serve.

4. Using stalks of some vegetables instead of throwing them away

Stalks of some vegetables are highly nutritious, that throwing them away is equivalent to wasting money.

Ever since I came to learn about the nutrition content of vegetables in the deepest level of my cognizant, I always feel uncomfortable throwing their stems and stalks.

I am sure that if the main parts have nutrients, those nutrients are also found in the stems. So I peel the stalks of broccoli and chop them in small pieces then put them together with florets in cooking.

As for spinach, the lower parts of the stems would be thrown away by many. But I cut them off and either boil them or steam them separately. I don't throw away any parts of these wonder vegetables except for those patches that I have peeled off and the dried tips of the stems.

Broccoli and spinach are superfoods, and I can imagine lots of vitamins and minerals would go down the drain if I throw just a small bit of them. And it's money I would be throwing away.

5. Reusing and recycling grey water at all times

When we reuse greywater to such things as watering plants, we conserve it considerably, and we save a great deal of money.

It's funny because this idea always pops up in my mind.

Every time I machine wash clothes, I imagine that I will build a system where the last rinse water would go directly to a big tank which is connected to my toilet bowl tank which in turn I could use in flushing.

When it comes to water, I always have this guilt feeling of conserving it. So while my funny idea hasn't even reached the drawing board, I just find peace of mind by making sure that all greywater is utilized and reused in my own home — washing rags, flushing toilet with the bucket, cleaning up the floor, etc.

Greywater refers to the water already used such as the used wash, or rinse water which can be recycled for other purposes.

Final thoughts

Little efforts that we do to maximize every item we buy and every resource that we use effect big savings as they take the place of other pieces of stuff that cost money, thereby, we save money, significantly.

How about you? Are you doing any money-saving trick? Do you have a money-saving tip for us? Please share it with us in the comment box below.

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Vernie Mallorca

Vernie Mallorca is an entrepreneur and blogger with years of experience in selling to institutional accounts. He gradually shifted to blogging when he found out that it is his calling to write timely and helpful articles online that can help others to save money, make money, and secure their future by handling their income smartly. In this blog, he shares both managing your finances, however small it is and valuable information on running a small business.