For no more than 5 minutes of my time (that includes the time to remove the vinegar from the shelf in the store while doing my normal shopping as well as the time spent mixing the vinegar with water in my kitchen) I have saved my family 4.25 cents- nearly a nickel. And I have avoided sending MORE of my husband’s hard-earned income to the government. And we’re spending a little more time each day without our husband/father. That time is valuable to us!

While a nickel doesn’t seem like much, every time I do some small thing like this I save us a little more, and eventually that does add up. Add that to the fact that I do these things while staying home with my children, making our family healthy (and frugal) meals while giving my children an education superior to that supplied by the government, I really don’t think getting a minimum wage job and working an extra hour is worth my time or effort AT ALL.

Oh, and another tip: cleaning the microwave – take a lemon or two, squeeze out the juice into a microwave safe dish (or simply use lemon juice if this is too time consuming or too much work),
microwave for 60-90 seconds, and wipe clean. This will take away any odor or food that is stuck on your microwave.

Thank you, Jen, for your comments, as well! If we’d been able to afford our mortgage, I wouldn’t be looking for more frugal ways of living. If I hadn’t lost my job, if my husband’s overtime hours weren’t cut, if the economy didn’t suck, we probably wouldn’t have thought twice about cutting back. But the truth is, 4 years ago, when we got pregnant, we had to start making major cutbacks, and I’m glad we did! Not only are we saving so much more money (even though it doesn’t feel like it due to the economy), we are also helping out the environment, and not using any chemicals around the house!!

1. I always forget to pick up cleaners when I go shopping, so it’s such a time saver to just throw some vinegar and baking soda in an empty spray bottle. Especially when I hadn’t planned on cleaning…
2. Regular cleaners unless I purchase the all natural kind leave rashes on my hands
3. Sooooo much better for the environment, not only the lack of chemicals, but I reuse my old spray bottles, and like someone else said you save on gas and emissions
4. The cleaners I use to buy are expensive! Somewhere around $4-$5, $2 for baking soda and vinegar and that would probably make 6-10 bottles if not more? 10 bottles x $5 typical cleaner=$50, wow that’s a savings of up to $48… I don’t make that much an hour wealthman, and even if I did, I would still make my own cleaner for all of the above reasons.

On a side note, I don’t think as many people would be losing their homes, or have to cut back on medication, food, health care or even just doing the things they enjoyed if they had the option to just pick up extra hours at work, and picking up a side job is growing increasingly more difficult in this economy. For a lot of people saving the money they do have is the only way to make ends meet. And it also makes you feel like your doing something to help the situation, or it means taking that savings and using it towards something better than overpriced cleaner… for example.