50 Ways To Save Money By Not Wasting
As much as I hate clutter, I also hate wasting things. Granted, I do my own fair share of wasting water, food and energy, but if I at least keep myself conscious of ways I can cut waste, then I’ll help myself, the environment AND you, my fellow earth creatures.
In the Bathroom:
- Turn off the water – When you’re shaving (men) or brushing your teeth, turn off the water when you’re not rinsing off the razor or toothbrush. If you want to know how much water you’re using by letting it run, put a container under the faucet for the amount of time you brush or save and see how much it comes out to be. For instance, if I left the water run while shaving, I use at least a gallon. That’s 365 gallons of water per year right down the drain!
- Only flush when needed – I’ve said it before to “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.” It’s a gross topic, but honestly you’re only wasting more water if you don’t really need to flush.
- Only use the minimum shampoo/conditioner/body wash – Even though I’m almost bald, I still sometimes use a glob of shampoo when all I need is a small dab. The stuff is made to foam up for a reason — to cover more area — so use less of it than you think you need and you’ll be surprised that it’s still effective.
- Use less toothpaste – Really, do you need to fill the whole toothbrush with Colgate? You can get away with half or even a fourth of the toothpaste it takes to cover the brush and still have pearly whites. Again, this stuff foams for a reason.
- Toilet paper doesn’t protect you from germs – Ok, maybe that thin sheet of Charmin might place enough of a barrier between your bottom and the seat to ease your mind, but it really doesn’t protect you from germs. Also, you have much more of a chance of contracting a cold or worse by not washing your hands than from the seat touching your butt. We’ve had to force roommates, renters and relatives to buy or bring their own TP because they’re so OCD about germs that they go through rolls of our paper in a single day or weekend! It’s not like paper grows on trees you know! Oh, wait…
- Keep your bar of soap dry – I keep my bar of soap in a soap dish out of the reach of the water stream or any splashing, and drain out any water I notice in the dish before leaving. I’m amazed at how much longer the soap lasts by keeping it dry than if it’s sitting in a half-inch of water.
- Reuse your towel the next day – Growing up, everyone in the family (5 people) tossed their used towel in the hamper every day (and they still do). Since college, though, I’ve gone from using the towel to dry off just once to at least 5-7 days. Honestly, I can’t see why my family still won’t reuse their towels when they’re complaining about the water and power bills. When you’re washing over 30 towels a week (4 adults, 2 kids), you have to wonder where that water and power is going.
- Don’t use those stupid disposable toilet brushes – That has to be the dumbest, laziest invention ever. Just spend 10 seconds brushing the toilet. Wear a rubber glove if you’re worried about cooties, or just wash your hands like any other normal person would do afterwards.
In the Kitchen
- Use dish towels, not paper towels – If you keep a towel near the sink that’s only to be used for drying hands, then you’ll find your paper towel usage diminish severely. We go through a roll of paper towels every 3 weeks at the fastest, unless we host a party. And if you use the “reuse your towel” tip from the bathroom section above, you’ll reduce your laundry pile even more!
- Use less water when washing dishes – Just like the tip to turn off the water when brushing your teeth or shaving, I advise turning off the water when you’re just scrubbing the dishes. Only use it when you actually need to rinse something off.
- Use less dish soap – Some soaps are more effective than others, but overall, if you just let your dishes soak in water longer with less soap, and throw in some more elbow grease, you’ll get the dishes just as clean (and get a little workout too). That leads me to…
- Reuse containers – Instead of using disposable baggies or styrofoam containers, get some Tupperware (or whatever the “safe plastic” of the moment is). And you can wash out those plastic baggies too!
- Recycle – Obviously this goes for anything in your life, but in our house, most of the recyclables, except for paper, come from the kitchen. In Montgomery County, MD, we’ll soon have single bin recycling where we just dump all paper, plastic, tin, etc. in one big tub and they sort it for us. I can’t see how it’s any easier than that! (oh, this isn’t exactly saving you money directly, but reinvesting those materials helps in the long-run)
- Don’t toss the leftovers – A friend of ours won’t let a single leftover in his fridge for some reason. I personally can’t see why anyone would waste perfectly good food. Even if it’s gone bad, you can…
- Compost your leftovers – Rockville, MD gives away “composting kits” to residents who ask, which makes it even easier to contain your composting pile of yard and kitchen waste. Old food is excellent for your garden or shrubbery!
- Donate unwanted food items – Growing up, I can’t count how many cans of peas and corn we gave out to the food drives because we had so many. Sometime you just buy too much of something because it’s on sale, and get tired of it, so think about donating it. You can deduct it on your taxes if you have proper documentation too!
- Run the dishwasher on the lightest setting and
- Prewash your dishes. By rinsing off the heavier gunk on your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, you can use a lighter wash setting to clean the dishes.
- Mark your food items with the purchase date – We use permanent marker to indicate when we bought the item to know how long we’ve had it on the shelves. We don’t have to wonder whether the beans have started to grow roots again.
- Use a mop and/or scrub brush on the floors, not a Swiffer. They charge an arm-and-leg for the refill bottles when you can buy tubs of Pinesol for pennies on the dollar. And you’ll find your floors are cleaner with some elbow grease too.
In the Office
- Reuse your paper – You don’t need to toss a sheet of paper after you wrote one word on it. Use every square inch of that sheet, and then recycle it when your done or…
- Shred your paper and compost it if it has personal information. Just keep any glossy paper, plastic bits or shredded credit cards/CDs out of the pile.
- Shut down your computer/fax/modems/routers/etc. – Even standby mode means it’s using power. Even better…
- Buy a Smart Power Strip
that automatically shuts off anything plugged into the marked outlets when it detects a change to lower power frequencies.
In the House
- Use natural light – When it’s daytime, you can probably do most of your chores and even read by using the daylight. No reason to waste electricity and lightbulbs when the sun is doing all the work for you for free!
- Seal your windows, doors, outlets with caulk or insulation to reduce the loss of heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. For power outlets on walls adjoining the outside, there are special, precut insulation pads you just insert behind the outlet cover. I was amazed at how drafty it was in the outlet box!
- Only run the heat or A/C when you REALLY need it! I don’t mean when you’re breaking a slight sweat or get a slight chill. If you’re cold, put on slippers or more clothes. If you’re hot, go to the library and read in THEIR air-conditioning 🙂
- Turn off those vampire electronics – Similar to the office tip above, shut off any appliances that have lights on when the unit is off, or show the time. That means the unit is sucking up power, even thought you’re not using it. For example, use a Smart Power Strip on your entertainment center to kill those energy-sucking vampire electronics. The one downside is that many older TVs. will lose their settings when you unplug them. Why can’t manufacturers build in small flash drives to store your settings longer-term?
- Use light-blocking curtains in the summer – If you want to keep your house cooler in the summer, one big way is to block out the sun during the hottest parts of the day by using light-blocking curtains or blinds. Keep the sun out and the cool air in.
- Get a water heater timer (for electric water heaters only) – We only run our water heater for 3 hours per day, right before, during and after showers. Granted, we only have one heater, but we still limit the times we’re heating water to off-peak usage times. Again, this is about both saving money and not wasting, so don’t bother with the “but it takes longer to heat up water from room temp” arguments because I’ll just say…
- Insulate your water heater so it keeps as much heat in as possible. If you touch your water heater and it’s warm, that means it’s losing heat.
- Replace leaky faucets. You’ll be amazed at how much water you’re losing each year by not replacing your leaky faucets. Stick a cup under it one day and see how much you collect. Now multiply that by 365.
- Use CFL bulbs, not incandescent – My only gripe with CFL bulbs is they seem dimmer until they warm up, but that only lasts a few seconds. Otherwise, I’m very happy with our CFL replacement bulbs. Just don’t try to use them in dimming lights.
- Don’t leave the TV on just to “have noise”. When I go home to visit family, every TV in the house seems to be on all day, even when no one is watching it. But when I turn one off, everyone’s ears perk up and ask why I shut it off. Just silly and wasteful.
- Get rid of your junk through eBay, Craigslist, Freecycle, yard sales, Goodwill/Salvation Army, etc. Even if it’s broken, there’s probably someone else who will take it for free for scrap, a weekend project, or to fix and sell.
In the Yard
- If you have room, Compost your yard waste. I used to waste money buying those big paper bags to bag up the cut grass every week, but now I just pile it behind the shed as compost. Same goes for leaves, but even though we don’t have any trees in our yard, we get enough leaves that we still need to bag some.
- Cut the grass less often. I hear some neighbors mowing their grass twice a week. C’mon, it doesn’t grow any faster than our grass! Even better…
- Get a manual push mower – Sure, it’s not very practical for big yards, but millions of townhouse or small plot owners will find that they can cut the grass in less time with a push mower than a power one because it’s easier to maneuver and requires no gas or starting mechanism. Just walk and push!
- Don’t install a pool – One of the biggest energy, water and time wasters in our household is the in-ground pool from the last owners. You’ll easily spend hundreds or thousands per year in maintenance and electricity to run the pool, plus chemicals, toys and replacement parts. Last year, we spent $400 on a new pump and this year we’ll be spending $500 on a new vacuum. Just avoid buying a pool if you can (but don’t tell prospective buyers that when it’s time for us to sell).
- Plant a tree for shade – It might take a few years to begin getting some real shade from any sapling, but not only is planting a native tree good for the environment, but it’s often nice for the landscaping when it’s time to sell!
In the Car
There are tons of fuel saving tips to be mentioned, but I’ll just speak on a few of the easier or more manageable ones:
- Drive slower – We’ve all heard the numbers that 55mph on the highway is your optimal speed, but what about local roads? You still want to
- Drive a constant speed to get more consistent gas usage
- Don’t jack-rabbit starts, which means don’t gun it when the light turns green. This is one of the biggest wastes of fuel out there. Just throttle through a nice, smooth, consistent acceleration
- Use cruise-control on the highway – If you can’t force yourself to abide by the speed limit, then let your vehicle keep you under control.
- Keep your tires properly inflated – Look on the side of your driver door or where the door meets the car for the proper pressure for your tires. If it says 30psi per tire, that means when the tire is “cold”. I tend to stick another 2-4psi in the tire above the factory level, but your tire allowances may differ.
- Drive less – plan your errands so that you can accomplish them all in a single trip, with the least amount of driving between each location. Even better,
- Use public transportation, a bike or just walk – I know not all towns support these modes of transportation well (my hometown doesn’t), but if you have the opportunity to walk a half-mile to Blockbuster for a movie, just do it. You need the exercise anyway, tubby.
- If you need one, Buy a used car. Sure, manufacturers will keep churning out shiny, new cars, but that doesn’t mean you need to overlook a perfectly good 1986 Chrysler Lebaron. You’ll save some serious cash, get more features than you could new, and utilize what’s already available (thus reducing your contribution to waste).
- Drive during less congested times – If you can get to your destination with fewer cars in the way, then you’ll save time and money. Try to go out for that bank or post office run at 11am or 2pm, not during lunch hour.
- Ditch the extra weight – How much junk’s in yo trunk? I just hauled around a 40lb bag of soil for 3 weeks without realizing it. That’s like hauling around a 4-5 year old everywhere I go! Now go clean our your car!
Now I’d like to hear what money-saving tips YOU practice around the house, in the car, at the workplace or anywhere else, but make sure to keep them related to NOT WASTING either.
Mike is the original Clever Dude, starting the site in 2006 because his wife said “you need a hobby”. Mike loves helping others to avoid the silliness and stupidity that got him into extreme debt, but also learning general life skills and hacks along the way. Mike and his wife “Clever Dudette” are DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids), travel the country in an RV from their home base in DC and are passionate about their respective careers in technology (him) and nutrition (her).
I found reading your article interesting and very stimulating to my brain. Thanks for writing it.
I also am enjoying this mandarin orange jello snack pak. Go Alltell and then tell em again.
Love, love, love these tips. I agree about paper towel waste, but do remember to be careful with leaving dish rags/cloths out in the sink for periods of time. Here’s a very handy and sanitary tip for your dishcloths: At night, put the stopper in the sink, add a bit of warm water and a capful of bleach. Place the rag in there to soak over night. The next morning, you’ll find the germs are gone and your rag is ready to use again, plus you’ll have a clean sink to boot.
Love the info about the toothpaste. The dentist even tells us it is more beneficial to use *less* toothpaste than to fill up the whole area. We squeeze and squeeze the toothpaste tubes to death at our house, in order to get every last bit out. But, even then, there’s still usually a good 5-10 brushings left in there. Solution: Just get some scissors and cut off the end of the tube. Stick your toothbrush in and you’ll find a few more brushings-worth in there. Same can be said for lipstick. A simple lipstick brush or a Q-tip will allow you to get many more applications long after the lipstick runs down.
This is a pretty awesome list.
I consider myself really frugal, but “We’ve had to force roommates, renters and relatives to buy or bring their own TP” crosses the line to cheap. I can’t imagine telling my friends and relatives to bring their own TP when they visit… though it might be a good way to get them to never visit me again. I’d much rather buy a few rolls of stupid TP than be rude to my family.
@damsel, it’s only my mother-in-law (she began bringing her own when she heard us ask each other where all the TP went) and the other was the roommate who took 3 showers per day and used 2 rolls of TP per day. I could understand more with a woman why you would go through so much TP, but not with a guy. So when we rented from us a second time, we stipulated in the contract that he had to provide “his own disposables”, and we bumped up the rent slightly to account for all the showers.
I don’t see a single problem with that. I do agree asking any overnight guests to bring their own disposables is cheap and wrong, but it wasn’t when a guy’s living with us for a month. TP isn’t cheap!
I do almost everything listed already. Another tip is that you do not have to actually wash your hair. When traveling around the world I met numerous people (mainly women) who had beautiful hair and did not wash it. I quit washing mine about 6 weeks ago because my scalp was getting really dry, yet my hair so oily. I remembered the people I had met travelling and tried it. Much better since I stopped. I do wet it and scrub it when showering. It was greasy for about a month and now looks amazing! You basically let you own hair oils do the work. I but vinegar in my hair a couple of times in the beginning to get the build up off. It’s funny because people say how do you get your hair clean, or are completely grossed out. I wonder when in the past we started judging how clean we are by the amount of chemicals we use on ourselves. If you think you have to use shampoos their are some great homemade recipes online. Great savings.
Great ideas!
I’ll add: instead of buying several expensive home cleaners use a spray bottle w/ vinegar & water (1:3 ratio) to clean and naturally disinfect. Works great on all surfaces and in all rooms (the vinegar smell disappears when it dries). Works great when mopping floors also!
Use cleaning rags instead of paper towels to clean.
Use half as much laundry soap in your wash.
Wash everything on cold on a shorter cycle (how dirty are your clothes really? Unless you’ve been playing in the mud – a short cycle will do)
NEVER use the heat dry on the diswashher! Run it and open the door at night to let the dishes air dry.
Experiment w/ your dryer – our clothes dry perfectly on a half a cycle at low heat.
Cloth diaper your baby.
If you buy frozen canned juice, instead of using 3 canfuls of water, use 4.
Collect all “leftover” water from drink cups at the end of the night and use it in your garden.
Use white vinegar in your washing machine rinse cycle instead of downy (or dryer sheets in the dryer) – it softens and disinfects.
If you do use dryer sheets, save them when you’re done – they make great static cloths when dusting.
You have lots of ideas I have heard of already. It is great you are sharing with others who don’t. Little thing add up I dropped our light bill in half in 12 months by unplugging, turning off, and using the electric stove so often. A small toater oven uses much less energy then a bigger oven.
Love your site and this post especially. Many of the suggestions you’ve made have been incorporated into a list specifically designed to help people GO GREEN, SAVE MONEY. Cheers and keep on keepin’ on.
Don’t “Use natural light” and “Use light-blocking curtains in the summer” cancel each other out?
@Perry: No, they don’t. You don’t block the light in the winter as you want to use it to warm up your house. In the summer, you can use light in rooms on cooler sides of the house and block the hot sunlight on the other sides. I probably should have been more clear there.
Did you know we are one of the only countries in the world that stores hot water? If you need to replace your water heater check out an on demand system for your house. Hotwatersource.com is a great site that tell you how they work. Huge energy and cost savings. Also energy star appliances are great. They cost more up front (your utilities company may give you a credit depending on where you live) but worth it. Front loading washers save so much water and wash twice as much. The dryer is huge which allows for clothes to dry quicker. Also, hang clothes on a line (even if in your laundry room) and then fluff for a few minutes in the dryer to get the wrinkles out. If you have a small laundry room, there are a lot of clever rack systems that expand off the wall or ones you can set up on the floor. Dryer balls work great and you can get them at places like Gaiam.com. Another tip is to keep a bucket by the shower and collect the water while you are waiting for it to heat up. Depending on how quickly your bath or shower heats this could be a lot of water. Use the water to water garden, plants, pets, ect.
As a contractor if you are looking to remodel or build a house, look for books and green contractors. Just by house you place you house on the lot can save you on energy cost. Our house was built making it passive solar. The house faces south and the sun heats it through the windows. If you are in a warm climate you would consider doing the opposite. Also make sure natural light will light the whole house during the day. If you are remodeling our want to save on electricity you can add solar tubes to bathrooms and halls to let in natural light. They are not to costly. Also places like Habitat for Humanity sell used construction items (light fixtures, doors windows, ect.) you can get great stuff there at a great price and they get the money for more houses!
You can find rainwater collection systems to put on your downspouts online or easily make your own. Great for gardens, plant, pets, car washing etc.
I love, love, love the dryer balls! Even towels will dry thoroughly on a half cycle on low heat. They sell them at Linens n Things and Bed Bath & Beyond, and with those 20% off coupons we always get they were only $8.00 for a two-pack.
How do you rinse your hair with vinegar without getting it in your eyes? I would love to try that but I fear pain.
Love this post! I am linking to it in my post for tomorrow! Thanks for your help. I am a new subscriber!!
Cath – In response to getting vinegar in your eyes, it has not been a problem with me. I use a smaller bottle of vinegar and just dump it on my head tilting it back. You can immediately feel it going to work stripping the build up. It is amazing. I had to do it once a week in the beginning but now my hair is more balanced. Also your head does not smell as bad as you think it might after the rinse.
Jan B – I know plenty of people who wash their hair less than every day, but I have never heard of someone not washing it at all!
My attempts to go more than a day without washing have always been greasy disastrous messes. No my head does not smell… but its not a viable option since I need to look presentable for work. I have gone as long as a week before.
Hair types are as varied as there are snowflakes in the sky…. have you encountered any others who never quite normalize?
FYI Hair type Thin, fine and straight as an arrow.
@CleverDude – I liked the combination of list points that led into the next as sentences. I think I’ll subscribe to you for a while.
another laundry drying tip. When the clothes are in the last rince I leave the cover up, When it stops, I fluff up the clothes to lossen then away from the sides, and respin them. They dry quicker when you put them in the dryer if you need to use it.
Hello all–I am interested in how much white vinegar do u put in your front loading Washer. I dont want to use too much or maybe will leave smell and too little is useless?? Thanks
Excellent tips all, but I just have to point out that soaps, shampoos and even toothpaste are not made to “foam up” to cover more area. They are made that way to allow consumers to believe that more is actually happening that really is.
The extra foaming action is merely meant for psychological reasons.
Add to the gas saving tips;
-Clean air filter and/or K&N. The K&N can be cleaned and re-used.
-Change your fuel filter as recommended.
-Have your breaks checked every 2 oil changes, just a slight hang up with a caliper will destroy your gas mileage.
-Coast to lights, there’s no need to race to a red.
You can also take military style showers to save water. Get wet and shut off the water, lather up and do what you need to do, then rinse. It’s a little rough to get used to, but you will take quicker showers, and save a bunch. It’s a much greater impact on the environment than your pocket, but every bit counts.
One tip for dish washing that I expected to see, but didn’t is that you should use both sinks. One sink with soapy water and the other with rinse water. And a lot of water isn’t necessary either.
Showers: (this is useful in the summer-it helps to keep you cool at night so you use less air conditioning too) We don our bathing suits and head into the back yard in the evening with a bar of soap and wash cloth each and the shampoo. We use the garden hose(yes it’s cold but feels fantastic during the hot summer) We shut it off when latering with the soap. Plus we spray each other off which can be funny-the kids love it. This will also keep you very cool in the evenings and you will be suprised at how clean you will feel because unlike the shower you won’t sweat after you are done. It is no different than playing in the hose during the day in my opinion except that you kill 2 birds with 1 stone, or hose in this case.
Save more on water
In the shower Wet your sponge under the faucet enough to get it wet add soap.Wash up Shut water off soap up and then rinse off
Do the same doing dishes .Catch the water in a milk jug until the water gets hot,soap up dishes, rinse of, air dry, I don’t know why they install water heater at one end of the house when you need the water at the other end.
Just another tip about the Swiffers: you can still use it without having to buy the expensive cloths! Just use a wetted dish rag and press it in the same way you would a swiffer cloth and you’re good to go for mopping floors. The dish rag can be washed and reused- saving you a ton of money on cloths and helping the environment too. Another cool trick I learned is cleaning the shower and tub with the Swiffer- it takes a little getting used to, but once you master the motions it’s really easy and less stressful on your back to clean the shower this way.
I also never ever buy garbage bags. I recycle my plastic grocery bags and just use them for the kitchen and bathroom garbages. with only 2 people in my house they are big enough and this way it gets taken out often enough so the garbage doesn’t get too foul before filling up.
You can also reuse takeout containers from restauraunts for lunches instead of buying special Tupperware or Gladware. They can be used several times over before they need to be tossed – just don’t put them in the dishwasher!! ( and no, they cannot be used forever as the plastics do break down over time and they are not designed to last as long as tupperware, for instance).
If you drive to work: CARPOOL!!! Make money off your co-workers by driving them to and from work, this equals less traffic on the road, more gas in your tank, easier time finding parking, and you have someone to talk to during your commute (and if you live in a big city like I do, you get to take the rarely used High Occupancy Vehicle lane and get places faster).
Put your handsoap bottle/soapdish beside the hot water handle of your fauset, makes people reach for the cold more often and saves on hot water bill.