When you are trying to cut costs from the more obvious areas of your budget, you may not think about the potential savings you can gain from small changes to common tasks. Here are a few ideas to consider.
Make Local Food Choices. Local businesses can give back to the community through wages, municipal taxes and purchases from other neighborhood businesses. If you shop at farmer’s markets or stores that sell locally-grown produce, meat and poultry, you’re not only helping local farmers, you’re also saving the gas costs required to transport fruits and vegetables to larger stores.
Home Canning. It is possible to turn fresh tomatoes and fruit from your garden or local farmer’s market into a year’s worth of home-canned tomato sauce or jam.
Use Your Leftovers. Remember the old saying, “Waste not, want not”? Use your leftovers creatively! You could add leftover vegetables to soups, toss them into a stew, make a stir fry, or take them to work for lunch. If you dine out, some restaurant portions can be large. Ask for a carryout container and turn one meal into two!
Home Baking. Consider baking in bulk and freezing what you can’t eat now. Watch for sales on cooking staples such as whole wheat, white and barley flour, corn meal, baking powder and other items which can keep for longer periods when properly stored. Yeast should always be used when fresh. Try thrift stores for inexpensive baking tools and storage supplies. Find recipes and information at HomeBaking.org.
Laundry. Try using less detergent or consider skipping detergent completely for less-soiled loads. In addition, try to use the cold water setting as often as possible. According to the National Resources Defense Council you could save up to $100 a year on electricity by hang drying your clothes. If you do use your dryer, try not to let your loads run with dry clothes in it for too long and make sure you remove dryer lint regularly.
Doing Dishes. Consider hand-washing dishes and letting them air dry. If you have a dishwasher, you might save money, water and electricity by selectively using the pre-rinse cycle or other special settings. Instead, hand wash larger pots and pans and rinse off any food from dishes prior to putting them in the machine.
Save Paper. Instead of using paper towels, try using rags for dusting. Also, try to avoid the cost of using paper plates.
Cleaning Supplies. Simple, inexpensive and nontoxic ingredients can help you save money and the environment. For example, clean stainless steel sinks and other surfaces with a baking-soda paste or by sprinkling baking soda directly onto a sponge or clean cloth. For a light, gentle scent put the baking soda on half of a lemon, scrub and rinse.