Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
We live in a convenience-driven society. Fast food businesses thrive while home cooking flounders. Trips to the pharmacy can now be undertaken without getting out of your car, using the handy drive-through. Standard cleaning products are quickly being overtaken by disposable items you toss in the trash after one use. We’ve been brainwashed by the marketing companies to believe that the simplest things are wildly inconvenient, and that in our time-crunched society we must pay for shortcuts.
All of this convenience has a high price tag. Not only are you spending money unnecessarily at the check-out counter for all of that convenience, but the planet is getting buried under mountains of rubbish. The average American produces 1600 pounds of garbage per year.
Did you ever stop to think about how many disposable things you buy? We do our shopping monthly instead of weekly, and this makes it a lot more noticeable on our bill when we load up with things that will be thrown out. I just checked the price, and a 6-pack of good-quality paper towels would add about $15 to my bill. If you’re in a position in which every penny counts, that $15 could be buying you a necessity like food. Even if you have no concern about the landfills, you probably want to save money, right? Pennies each week add up to dollars each month, and hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
From a preparedness point of view, having items that don’t have to be replaced on a weekly basis only makes sense. If you are unable to go to the store for a long period of time due to a personal financial crisis or some other type of upheaval, you won’t have to worry about running out of paper towels or diapers if you don’t use them. On the other hand, for power outages, I do stock a stash of some convenience items to make my life easier. However, they’re for emergency use only, and are rarely pulled out of the stockpile.
A dozen things you’ll never have to buy again
It probably goes without saying that if you’re on a strict budget, you should not be buying silly things like cleaning wipes for the counters, paper plates, disposable dusters, and, for crying out loud, disposable toilet brushes. However, there are lots of other conveniences that can be just as easily replaced with reusable items.
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Here are 12 things that you don’t need to spend money on during your regular shopping trips. Once you make the initial purchase, you won’t need to replace these items for a very long time. Trust me, you won’t even miss the throwaway version once you get used to the higher quality reusable products.
- Coffee filters We love coffee in our family. There’s a pot on for most of the day every day. Not only do we have a conventional drip coffee maker, but we also have a Keurig for a quick cup in the afternoon. Here’s the awesome thing: you can get reusable filters for both for well under $10. We’ve replaced the throwaway paper filters for our coffee pot with a little mesh basket like this. They also have a pointy version if your coffee maker uses the cone type of filter. For the Keurig, you can get a stainless steel reusable pods. This saves money by allowing you to use your own high quality coffee at a fraction of the cost of k-cups.
- Napkins This is a no-brainer. We have a lovely collection of cloth napkins, many of which have been purchased at yard sales or thrift stores. I don’t get fabrics that require ironing (made that mistake before!) and we simply toss them in the hamper just off the kitchen when they need to be washed. I think they look so much prettier on the table than the paper kind. If it isn’t yard sale season, you can start out with a dozen for just over $1 apiece. Some people like to stick to white so that stains can easily be bleached out.
- Paper towels At the brokest point of my life, I decided that paper towels were completely unnecessary when they meant the difference between buying a roast that would feed my family for several days or not. I use – gasp – towels. I’m a big fan of the barmop type of towels for cleaning. They’re very absorbent and soak up big spills quickly and easily. You can also use this easy tutorial to make your own unpaper towels for an even lower cost.
- Feminine hygiene products Avert your eyes, gentleman readers. Breaking news: tampons and disposable pads are actually not necessary for life as a woman. Women had monthly cycles well before Tampax formed a company to convince them that a disposable product was imperative. There are lots of different options, including fabric pads, feminine cups, and natural sea sponges that just get rinsed out and reinserted. You can get washable, waterproof bags for storing the used pads if you are away from home that are designed to keep moisture and odor contained. These are all actually much healthier than commercial tampons and pads that contain all sorts of toxic “absorbent” materials. If you are a DIY kind of person, here are instructions to make your own pads.
- Diapers With baby number 1 we lived in a tiny second story walk-up with no washer and dryer, so I used disposable diapers. With baby number 2, our circumstances had improved and I cheerfully embraced cloth diapers. The cloth diapers today are so much better than the ones our grandparent used. They have liners, snaps, different sizes, and all sorts of conveniences to make a mama’s life easier. In fact, they look a lot like disposables. You can often pick these up secondhand since they can’t be used for other purposes like the old-fashioned foldable diapers. While the initial purchase is an investment, if you’re committed to using cloth, you will save hundreds of dollar throughout your child’s diaper days.
- Baby/Cosmetic wipes Umm….use washcloths. I don’t have any links or snazzy how-tos or advice, except that we have black washcloths specifically for removing makeup so that you don’t see any mascara stains.
- Dryer sheets Replace dryer sheets but still have soft clothing with those nifty dryer balls, or even tennis balls. Even a crumpled piece of aluminum foil can be tossed in to remove static cling, and that same piece of foil will be good for up to 6 months. You can make your own dryer balls using 100% wool yarn. I like to scent them with a little bit of essential oil so that I get a lovely clean smell without the nasty dryer sheet chemicals. (My favorites are a mix of Basil and Lavender – trust me, it’s fresh and delightful!
- Lunch bags Everyone is enamored with the pretty lunch bags that almost look like purses, but you can take it a step further. Get rid of the plastic sandwich and snack baggies and use fabric ones that can be tossed in the wash. You can even make your own in about 15 minutes. Of course, only you can judge whether or not these will make it home. If your kids toss them in the trash or lose them, the fabric version will be exponentially more expensive.
- Shopping bags In our area, many of the stores now charge for shopping bags. At 10 cents a pop, this can add up over the course of a year to well over $50. (It could be far more depending on how much you buy). Stash some reusable bags in your car so that you always have them available. You can buy 10 of them for less than $20. Making your own from old t-shirts can be a fun (and free) project to do with kids.
- Swiffer covers We live on a farm. A dusty, dirty farm. With a cat and dog that come in the house. This means our floors need to be dust-mopped every single day. I like the convenience of a Swiffer, but not the expense of the disposable covers for it. With these machine-washable covers, I can use a fresh one each time I dust-mop. Also, check out this super-easy-peasy version you can make from a sock. (Finally a way to make use of those lonely, single socks!)
- Water bottles Did you know how many water bottles get thrown out each year? More than 22 billion!!!!! That is almost an unfathomable amount. Purchasing water in individual bottles is awfully hard on the budget, too. If it isn’t too toxic, you can filter your tapwater and fill your own bottles. If you must purchase your water, go with the 5-gallon refillable jugs, and dispense it into your own, BPA-free bottles.
- Batteries With flashlights, remotes, and other gadgets, we go through about a kajillion batteries a year, although less than when my kids were little and had battery operated toys. We use almost exclusively rechargeable batteries. These have to be purchased far less frequently, need a simple recharging device, and can save you a bundle over time. This charger works for everything from AAA to 9V and even works on non-rechargeable batteries.
When every penny counts, don’t throw away money
If your budget is tight like mine, every penny counts. Be sure to spend your money wisely by investing in reusable items, making the ones you can, and hitting the thrift stores to channel our frugal grannies.
What reusable products do you use in your household in place of disposable ones? Please share in the comments section.
5 Responses
Canning jar lids, sold by Lehmans, are reusable. They have a separate rubber ring. Just make sure that if you are canning you don’t give those as gifts!
Clothes pins! Buy good quality ones, and you can use them for years if you don’t leave them outside in the winter. The dollar store ones are pretty cheap wood, but the spring part can be reused if they break, so start whittling!
Tea strainers, I have a very fine one that keeps most of the “crumbs” out. You can also make muslin tea bags, and just wash them out after use.
Soap shards can be remelted and formed into a new bar if you want to, of just stick them into a muslin bag, or old thin sock, and hang in the shower.
I personally LOVE those glass containers with the snap on lids! I make up lunches for my DH, and he can remove the lid and microwave his meal for a hot lunch.
You can also use beeswax cloth squares instead of wax paper to fold over sandwiches, but I still like my zip bags for those. I suppose if you put a tie of some kind, they wouldn’t fall apart in the lunch bag, and they can be washed with cool water and a little soap.
Hi, I use Toilet Paper rolls around home for cleaning and drying.
2x rolls can fit on a standard Paper towel dispenser with one in use, the other ready (without unsealing the join) to go when 1st empty.
This may seem crass,but works very well with smal sections easily dispensed due to perforations.
Also a LOT cheaper than towels.
I bought several hundred blue shop towels 5 years ago. They look like paper towels but don’t leave much lint. I have been using them for a few years as a towel to dry my hands in the bathroom. Best of all, because they are so durable, they last about a week. I also cut them into quarters and leave 20-30 in a plastic bag in the truck. Very useful. We use cotton kitchen towels too, although my wife buys new when she gets the urge. Unbleached cotton shop rags are also almost indestructible.
My favorite reusable items in our household are stasher bags. They replace ziplocks and are freezer, microwave and dishwasher safe. I use them for my son’s school lunch, storing cut veggies and leftovers. It’s an initial investment of course but they have great sales throughout the year directly on their site. I use canvas bags for groceries. They wash well and can hold the equivalent of about 3 plastic bags and are extremely durable. I’ve been using the same ones for several years.
I use a bidet and a bunch of Walmart baby washcloths. They are smallish and thin. They go into a covered trash can in my bathroom. Once in awhile, I’ll ,”check” my bum wt.p. Practice makes perfect. I use almost no t.p. and have been able to ditch wipes.