Pinching Your Pennies has ROCKIN’ forums where you can find out all sorts of awesome tips. The One Penny at a Time forum has lots of ideas on little ways to save and pinch your pennies! Go check it out. Maybe you can find a new idea.
Here are some of those ideas on how to pinch your pennies, all from different PYP members in the PYP forums. If you have any penny pinching ideas for saving money around your house, leave a comment and share!
I pull out all the pages in magazines that have perfume samples and keep them in my dresser. Whenever I want to smell good, I rub one on my wrists and neck. I get to wear Dior, DKNY, and a bunch of expensive perfumes that I could never buy. I keep the men’s scents for my DH. It’s fun…just don’t get a paper cut.
Only wash laundry when you have a full load. With most shirts I put them in the dryer for just a few minutes to get the wrinkles out and then hang them to dry. For jeans they dry a few minutes and then get thrown over the top of the shower bars to dry the rest of the way. Always reuse the dryer sheets 2 or 3 times.
Keep your heat turned down to 68 and just put on a long sleeved shirt and socks.
I wash out bags from bread and veggies anything but meat really and reuse them for everything. My kids favorite is the veggie bags because they will fit over a plate that way they do not have to transfer there extra dinner into a Tupperware making it easier and faster to pick at later… and less dishes for mom.
Make your own homemade cleaners instead of buying them. It is much much cheaper. Vinegar is the staple for homemade cleaners. It is so cheap and it disinfects and sanitizes. Here is a post on how to make your own window cleaner.
I only use dryer sheets in the winter when the static gets bad and then i use only a 1/2 a sheet and will use that for as many loads as i can I think 6 is about the limit. I just use it until a load comes out a bit statistic and then toss in a new one. I also slide them under the flaps that are inside the drum to break up the clothes that way it dose not get lost in the load.
Any paper that comes into our house with only one side printed on (mostly school notices) go’s into a drawer by the printer and is used as scrap or mostly for the printer for printable coupons, test prints for digital scrapbook stuff etc.
I keep a funnel in the bathroom drawer so that when a bottle of whatever is on its last few drops i can put it upside down on the new jar to transfer all the last goodness out of it. I also do this with stuff in the kitchen as well. Anything that is runny gets this treatment.
Unplug everything you possibly can ~ In addition to turning off lights, if you unplug everything not in use, it can really add up. Our electric bill was consistently $110-$130 up until we started unplugging everything. We are now consistently between $58-75 simply from unplugging things that aren’t in use.
We keep a bucket in the bathroom so when we’re running the water trying to get it to the right temp for a shower, we collect the too-cold water (that would usually go down the drain) in the bucket and then dump it on the unwatered plants outside or in the clothes washer for when I do laundry so the washer doesn’t have as much to fill. We turn the shower faucet all the way to the hottest setting so that it is much faster for the water to get hot and that saves on the amount of water that goes into the bucket, too.
Have heard that stepping on the toilet paper (when it’s still in the package) so that it goes a little flatter can keep kids from using as much since it won’t roll as freely and they are more likely to grab what they need when it stops a little sooner. I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard from several other moms who swear it works.