In the current economic hard times most of us are already cutting back on household expenditure to try and save money. It’s an uphill struggle at times. If you’ve already employed the usual measures such as brown bagging your lunch, car sharing, knocking Starbucks on the head and entertaining at home rather than going out and you’re still finding things are a little tight, you may want to try some other, more extreme money saving tactics. Here are some ideas for your consideration.
Make your own cleaning supplies. White vinegar is brilliant for household cleaning and it’s cheap, readily available and safe for you and the environment. Vinegar can polish surfaces an also remove grease. It can also be used to remove lime scale around taps. You can also use it to freshen up clothing or other garments, such as curtains, that have picked up strong smells of tobacco or grease.
Bicarbonate of soda can be used to clean and deodorise your fridge. Add some to your wash to remove dirt and grease from clothing. Use it to remove burned food from the bottoms of saucepans. Mix it with vinegar to clean drains. Lemon juice is a natural bleaching agent and stain remover. Use it to remove crusted bits of food and debris from inside your microwave. To remove any nasty whiffs from your garbage disposal unit squeeze lemon juice down it.
Reusing your teabags could save you a packet. And you can do it without even thinking too much about it. Simply place a saucer or other receptacle beside the kettle. Once you’ve made your brew, simply squeeze out the teabag and pop it in aforementioned receptacle ready to be used again! It may sound a bit gross, but if your household drinks a lot of tea then it could save you a substantial amount of money. It will probably only work for those who like their tea weak, however!
Now, there is a school of thought that subscribes to the idea that you can save money on petrol by avoiding right hand turns! This probably does work, but only because, when you turn right it usually involves waiting until the other cars have passed, with your engine running all the while. So, if you can plan your route to minimise right hand turns then you will save a little on petrol. This will obviously work in reverse for countries that drive on the opposite side of the road.
I could go on and on – but these ideas give you a flavour of some of the more radical money saving ideas that you could try.