I am always talking about ways to save money, but I am not perfect. There are plenty of ways that I could be saving money and I just don't do them. Some of them are just to time consuming and some of them I just haven't tried. I don't see anything wrong with doing these things, it's just I don't personally do them. So, for fun this week I thought I would put together the 7 things I don't do to save money.
Make My Own Bread
I have made bread a couple of times just for fun, but I don't make my own bread on a regular basis. I can almost always pick up a loaf of bread at Kroger on clearance for under $.50. If they don't have a good deal on bread I can go to the outlet and pick up some for $.60. For me, at that price I would rather just buy the bread instead of make it.
DIY Laundry Detergent
I have wanted to try to make my own laundry detergent for years. I love making all of my own household cleaners. I feel like not only is it cheaper, but they also have far less chemicals. However, I have noticed some people say the homemade cleaners don't get the clothes really clean. With a sweaty, smelling teenager in the house I am not willing to make a big batch only to realize his clothes still smell. DIY laundry detergent is still on my maybe someday list, but I am not doing it now.
Alter My Husband's Clothes
When we were first married I altered all of my husband's clothes. I would often find a great deal on pants and alter them. However, although I can do sew, it's not always the prettiest job. So when we bought him a suit a couple of years ago we took it to a seamstress. I was shocked at how cheap it was. She will alter his pants for around $5 and does a way better job than me. Since then I have handed all of our alterations over to her.
Eat Expired Meats
I admit, I eat lots of expired foods. If it is a bread product, I will eat it way past the expiration date. Veggies and fruits I often just cut out the bad parts and serve the rest. But eating expired meats just makes me nervous. I have a very weak stomach, so I just don't want to chance it. So, expired meats gets tossed in our house.
Get Rid Of Netflix
I dumped cable about 3 years ago. Cable is so overpriced for what you get. But, I love Netflix. I definitely think it is worth the $8 that we pay each month. I love staying in and having a movie night every Saturday night. Plus, we don't have to watch all the commercials that are on t.v. I am a huge chicken, so not having to watch scary commercials around Halloween is easily worth $8 to me! 😉
Dye or Color My Hair
Years ago I thought I would darken my hair a little. It turned green. Not just kind of green, but St. Patty's day green. It was not pretty. I spent about a week trying to get it out. I tried again and ended up with purple hair. I finally just gave up. I would love to have highlights in my hair, but it is way too expensive to pay for at the salon. Since, I have learned my lesson about trying to do it myself I just keep my natural color.
Use Reusable Toilet Wipes
I try to pick up deals on toilet paper so it's not so expensive. Even if I had to pay more for toilet paper I just couldn't do this one. I am the worst at laundry. When desperation hits I finally start doing laundry. Desperation is usually me pulling my workout pants from the dirty clothes. Gross, I know! Which is why I will just stick to my disposable toilet paper.
I would love to hear from you. What things don't you or won't you do to save money?
Sarah@TheOrthodoxMama says
I love lists like these! I think that I would like to make bread for our family, but I really don't have the time. As a work outside the home mom, any time I get with my kids is pretty precious. I don't dye or highlight my hair either. I think I'm too scared 🙂 I just get my hair cut once a year, so my total hair care budget for the year is pretty low.
Julie says
I love the idea of just getting your hair cut once a year. That would be a huge savings.
Jim says
I've made bread before, it's kind of fun, but it's not cheaper... especially when you're bad at it like me. 🙂
Some of the other things on the list make me cringe just reading them!
Kristy as Giftie Etcetera says
I am about to start going to a salon to dye my hair. I just can't do it at home, and it's really turning gray. I'm usually really frugal, so I warned my husband. Eek.
Erin says
We haven't been able to downsize to one car to save money. It just doesn't work for us!
Savannah @ The Budget Prepper says
We are lucky enough to live in a city/township with its own electricity and cable co-op. Our city bill runs around $175 per month and this includes electricity, trash, water, storm water, sewage, wireless internet AND cable. We also have Hulu and Netflix, but at that price (our cable is less than $40 of that bill) it's a good enough savings for us to keep it! 🙂
Julie says
That is awesome! What a great deal.
Carolyn says
OK, a
Carolyn says
Sorry about post above, keyboard froze 🙁
We dumped cable three years ago, now internet only and my guy put up an antenna that gets 21 local stations with better picture quality than cable. Those 21 channels are free over the air. We get Amazon prime, free 2 day shipping, music and the television programs and movies, all for under $10 a month.
We did a garden, got a lot of vegetables out of it and believe it or not, I picked fresh kale and parsley for a salad last night. Very cold hardy vegetables. I have been eating that kale since the middle of MAY! 10 months producing tasty, nutritious greens.
While you may think I am either very brave or crazy, but I have my hair care bill under $100 a year including shampoo, conditioner, etc. I have my guy trim my hair at home every other month to keeps the ends neat and remove any splits or damage (FREE) and while I won't color my own hair, I told him coloring my hair is part of the job description being he wields the shears. I do henna every three month (he applies it) and the leftover amount I freeze for him to touch up my roots at the 6 week mark. The color comes out great, I have received a lot of compliments on it, even from a lady who runs a salon that stopped me in the grocery store to ask where I had it done. She was surprised yet impressed when I told her it was henna at home. Last month my neighbor stopped over to visit when it was time for my guy to do my hair. I prefer the one on one time having him do it, but we had blocked out the time and I hated to ask my friend to leave, so I told him go ahead. We chatted and she watched as he sectioned and trimmed my hair followed by applying the henna to my roots. She complimented him on his work and said she had just paid $150 including tip to have her hair cut and colored a week earlier. She told me I was very lucky that he will do it for me as he does fantastic work as good as any stylist she has had and better than many. Yikes! that would be well over $1100 a year if I had to go to the salon, and they won't do the henna that leaves my hair so soft, shiny and healthy, let alone have my ends trimmed without losing my hard earned length.
This last couple weeks, we finished up drying fruits and vegetables in the dehydrator. We put them in jars for gifts for family and friends. My cost per jar making the jam was under $3 each including the jar and I saw smaller jars of jam at the farmer's market for $6 each. So teachers, bus drivers, mailman, etc. get a welcome gift and I save some money 🙂