Make everything last longer
Dishwashing soap: Think when you get down to the last few squeezes, you need to buy new soap? Think again. Fill the soap bottle halfway with water and shake it up. The soapy water should work just fine for washing dishes. You'll need to use more of it than you would straight dish soap of course.
Lipgloss: When you're down to the dregs of your favorite tube of lipgloss, fill a mug with hot water and let the tightly closed tube sit in it for about ten minutes. When you take it out, all the gloss sticking to the sides will have run down, and you'll have a nearly full tube again.
Ziploc bags: It amazes me that this generation doesn't seem to know this, but Ziploc bags are very reusable. If they're not totally gross and horrible, and don't have any holes, just rinse them in the sink with a little soap and hot water, and they'll be good as new. Let them dry by hanging them on the sink faucet, or placing them over up-side-down glasses, to keep them open.
Paper Towels: Don't become a Disposable Delancy and use paper towels indiscriminately for everything. Here are the things you should use paper towels for: Awful, bloody meat messes, massive amounts of sticky things that will gum up the washing machine, or liquids possibly mixed with glass shards (a smashed bottle of molasses, for example), animal or toddler accidents. In other words, Super Gross emergencies are what paper towels should be used for.
Dishtowels should be used for: Drying clean dishes, counter-tops, sinks and tables.
Dishrags should be used for: cleaning counters, spills, tables and sinks.
Rags should be used for: Cleaning windows, chrome, dusting and polishing.
Sponges should be used for cleaning counters, tables and just about every other hard surface except windows and wood.
Got it?
Clothes: Wash all colors inside out, in cold water. They will be slower to fade.
Meat: Remember that you are actually an omnivore, and not a carnivore. You really don't nutritionally need meat more than 3 times a week, and in small portions at that. When you buy meat, buy the less expensive per-pound larger cuts, cut them into small pieces and freeze them in several containers. When you use your thawed meat, think of using dishes that spread the meat out, like stir fries, tacos and soups, rather than big hunks of meat, like roasts, wings and legs. Eat more vegetarian meals in between.
I especially endorse that last piece of advice. I buy one package of chicken (usually thighs or legs and thighs because it's the cheapest cut) and a one pound package of ground beef for the whole week.
ReplyDeleteI bake (or boil and save the broth for soup) the chicken at the beginning of the week, pull it off the bones and I have enough for two, possibly three meals of soups, casseroles or tacos. And I usually make two meals out of the ground beef by using it in sauces or casseroles.
A week's worth of meat costs roughly 8 dollars if you know how to use it efficiently!