Frugal Fridays

One easy way to be frugal is (drum-roll please) don’t buy disposable! You pay for the convenience of being able to use & toss- so just choose not to! Some items that are easy to switch:

Plates-Disposable plates are handy and we keep some in the pantry for super busy days. Many use them all the time, thinking they save a lot of work. If you clear your regular plate straight to the DW, though, it is just as easy as tossing a paper one in the trash! Dishes seem to be a big task for families if you let them pile up on counters or in the sink. With a little training, though, children can load their own dishes in the DW and help unload as well! If you don’t have enough dishes, or if you cringe at the thought of a 1 year old carrying your china, check out Correll plates. These are virtually indestructible and are very inexpensive at Wal-Mart - you can purchase them instead of paper over the course of a few weeks or months and not incur any additional expense. Besides the savings, it just feels nicer eating off “real” dinnerware.

Napkins-Cloth napkins can be purchased inexpensively- check TJ Maxx, Target and thrift stores. I bought 15 at a yard sale that had never been used for $2.

Dish Cloths-Keeping a stack of dishcloths handy keeps me from reaching for paper towels when I have a spill on the counter. Paper towels are great for use on floors or cleaning dirty bathroom spots, but when it’s a light mess (kitchen counter, breakfast table, the front of the fridge), reach for cloth.

Diapers-For those of you with little ones, cloth diapers can save you a fortune!! A quick Google search for “savings cloth diapers” revealed many helpful sites, including one that will calculate your specific savings depending on the size of your child & the up front investment you’re considering (depending on type of diaper). If you use the basic prefold diaper and cloth wipes from birth, you can save $1117.40-$1478.60 if your child potty trains at 2 ½ years! We have reaped additional savings as we’re still using the same cloth diapers now that we purchased when Lauren was born- they have lasted through 3 (or more, we bought most used) little ones so far! Cloth diapers create one extra load of laundry every 3 days. They’re super easy to fold and are the first things our little ones learn to fold, so the extra work for me is negligible.

These are some easy ways that our family has saved over the years. You can wash the cloth napkins & dish cloths with your regular laundry, so they don’t create more work. And it also creates less trash, which means fewer trash bags (those are expensive!) and less work for your hubby or eldest son. ~ Allie Olsen