I keep getting reminded daily on how we need to be wise in our purchases as well as being wise in taking care of what we have. If you are like me, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Cooking, cleaning, eating, socializing, etc. I was looking around at the things that I do in the kitchen and realized that there were areas that I could save money and cut the cost of running my household.
- Cut down on the energy and water bill.
- Don’t run the dishwasher unless it is full. If I know I am going to have to let the dishes sit overnight without being ran, I will take some vinegar and water and spray on the dishes. This seems to help with the food to where it is not stuck on the dishes and also cuts the smell.
- In the summer, I try not to use the oven, especially if it is just for one dish. I have a toaster oven that works great. I picked it up at a good will for $5 and it cooks our bread or a 9X9 dish easy and fast. The great thing is that is doesn’t heat up the kitchen like the oven would.
- Keep a gallon or two of water in your refrigerator. This serves as a two fold purpose, it encourages your family to drink more water, and the cold water helps keep the refrigerator cold and it causes it not to work as hard to keep the temp at the right level.
- Stop buying paper towels and napkins.
- It has taken my family a long time to get use to me not having paper towels or napkins in the kitchen. I only buy napkins if we are having a big gathering of 20 or more in our home. I have increased my cloth kitchen towel supply and also made some cute cloth napkins for us to use. I love it. I love the fact that we are not wiping our hands on a paper towel and then it is in the trash. We are throwing money away.
- If you don’t have the money to buy an extra set of dish towels at the moment, here is an idea. Old t shirts can be cut into towel sizes or even napkin sizes. Just think, put a cute binding around a t shirt napkin and it will become a conversation piece. Soft and obsorbant with maybe a cute logo from the t shirt showing.
- Saving the left over veggies
- Are you like me and when you cook veggies you have a serving or two left over? Keep a gallon size zip lock bag in your freezer and just toss the left overs in there. Once it is full, use the veggies to make soup. Add some chicken stock, veggie stock or beef stock and you will have a wonder tasting soup.
- Extend the life of your sponge
- I put my sponges in the dishwasher. It cleans them and you can use them longer. If you didn’t clean them then most likely you would end up tossing them before they really needed to be tossed.
Hopefully this helps a little and gives you a few ideas on how to save money in the kitchen other than cutting those coupons.
