Every month I get a delivery from Amazon of stuff I need to reorder. Every month. One month it occurred to me: Do I really need all this disposable stuff? The answer is easy. No. So I found easy, eco friendly substitutions for almost all of the items, and started saving upwards of $100 a month.
Every little step we take trying to be more frugal, and to throw fewer things away, ultimately saves us money and helps the environment just a little bit. It’s a matter of changing our minds, our habits, and teaching our children to do the same.
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Here are the items I dropped from my monthly purchase list and what I replaced them with (most replacements are a one time purchase):
1) Dryer Sheets- $5.98 a month
Replace with wool dryer balls and essential oils. That’s a one time purchase of like eight bucks for the dryer balls, and you can stop buying boxes of dryer sheets. Less packaging waste, cardboard, money saved! Plus I get to use all those essential oils I bought and haven’t used, so now I’m in there mixing scents like a boss. Boom.
Speaking of essential oils, we also stopped buying plug-in scents, because we already have the essential oils and diffusers. Free up your outlets and get a healthier option with WAY less waste and cost by using an essential oils diffuser/humidifier.
2) Paper towels (or drastically reduce their use)- $38.84 a month (big families use a lot of these!!!)
At the dining table: Replace with cloth napkins. Dude, you’re doing laundry, anyway. My laundry is always moving, so throwing these in with an existing load costs you nothing (plus, my kids think we’re all fancy now eating with cloth napkins at dinner). They’re inexpensive and hold up well to frequent washing. I went with black for everyday use to best hide stains.
For kitchen clean-up: Replace with bar towels. I get that there are some things you don’t want to put into your washing machine. I’m not cleaning up dog mess or cat vomit with these, but I figured out that most messes I was using paper towels to clean up, I could totally use bar towels (and they can be washed quickly with existing loads just like the cloth napkins). These are rough, inexpensive flour sack towels and I love them.
3) Ziploc bags $9.48 a month, gallon size $19.20 a month
Left-overs and refridgerator items: Replace with Glass Pyrex Containers. I have two sets of these and they are one of my favorite things in the kitchen. YOU DON’T NEED THOSE BAGGIES! (I cringe thinking of how many baggies I’ve used over the years that should’ve gone into a covered glass container). I love that all my little leftovers are super easy to see and they stack nicely in the fridge. I also send them to work with Rainman and the containers don’t get ruined by spaghetti sauce because they’re glass.
For pantry storage (dried goods) I use salvaged (re-used) jars.
For freezer bags: Replace with reusable silicone bags or other containers. It doesn’t take any more effort to use these for pre-prepped freezer meals, and it’s so worth it. And I don’t have to buy the disposable bags anymore. This was one of the things I worried about MOST with transitioning away from baggies: RE-storing my meat, premade meals, soups, etc in the freezer, but they work GREAT, and seal well also. The baggy below is the medium sized silicone bag with frozen tomoto soup stored in it. I have never had a leak and they are top rack dishwasher safe.
Below is a collection of my jars ready to hold odds and ends that would normally go in plastic baggies. We use them for everything from chocolate chips, to nuts, to leftover sauces.
4) Plastic bags for your produce at the grocery store and grocery shopping bags
These are the WORST! They can’t be recycled! Replace with green produce bags, you can bring them to the store with you to get your produce: win, win. They really, for real make your produce last longer. That saves you even more money. And you don’t have to throw those non-recyclable produce bags in the trash.
Disposable bags are easily replaced with buying Reusable Grocery Bags one time (many areas are banning single use plastic bags altogether). These are inexpensive, washable, and foldable so they store nicely.
5) Disposable Spaghetti Sauce Containers
Replace with Classico Sauces… But, dude. Did you know that Classico Sauces are intentionally made in reusable containers? It is actually our favorite sauce anyway, but I keep all of the containers and use them for storing nuts, etc. Why buy containers when these are basically free? After we use them, I soak the label off, run them through the dishwasher, and voila, free storage container. By the way, this is one of the items that I buy in Prime Pantry that is quite a bit cheaper than my local grocery store.
In other news, my son just got home from school and busted me taking pictures of spaghetti sauce.
By the way, I definitely think that re-claimed glass jars make for Pinterest-worthy pantries and they’re FREE.
One of the most important parts of the DIY process for us is trying to find ways to reuse items and make our home as self-sustaining as possible. It’s a long journey but I’m happy to share so we can work toward helping our wallets and our planet!
For more on where to find free jars and the best oversized pantry jars for all your dried goods, check out our post on The Best Upcycled and New Jars For Your Farmhouse Pantry!
As a bonus to helping out your wallet, one of the most important steps in reducing your household waste (less carbon going to the landfill), is composting. My compost container sits right in front of my chopping board, and it gets emptied into it’s bigger partner that lives outside when it’s full. And what do I get? Free fertilizer! This one is super cool because it has charcoal filters that prevent the smell from escaping, which is fairly important.
I have two of these, different brands, but I’m pretty sure they’re all the same manufacturer:
And the big compost bin for outside (I like mine enclosed so it doesn’t stink up the backyard but a bin that you stir occasionally works just as well):
Cheers to taking steps toward saving money and creating a sustainable household! Check out more of our DIY, project, and inspiration posts over on our blog. Cheers!
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