“Marie — cutting your grocery bill from $700 to $500 in three months is awesome! How many are in your family?
I have managed to cut my grocery bill down to $100 a week, including cleaning supplies and toiletries, but not pet food and supplies. I make my own laundry detergent out of Fels Naphtha soap, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, and 20 Mule Team Borax. It costs 1 to 2 cents a load, depending on whether you have a front loader or a top loader. It works better than Tide. (There are many websites where you can get the exact recipe, so I won’t post the details here.) As far as the Dawn, do you have a CVS in your area? Check out the website www.moneysavingmom.com (sorry I don’t know how to do the linky thing) and learn how to use the CVS discount system to your advantage. I have 18 bottles of Dawn under my kitchen sink that I got either free or for pennies at CVS. Also, if you have an Aldi in your area, check it out! I paid $1.99 a gallon for milk this week!”
There are four of us and one of them is a teenage boy! ;-)
I don’t know if there’s a CVS, but I haven’t looked.
I *love* the link! I’ll be playing with that all weekend. Have you heard of the Tightwad Gazette? Those three books are like bibles to me. TONS of inspiration.
What has me mad is that I was really being good and had it down to $350 a year ago and that included everything.
I know. Part of the problem is that it’s summer and the kids are home all the time. I forgot how much of an effect that has. I’ll see how low I can get it next month.
And would you mind posting the recipe for the laundry soap here? A link like the one you sent before would be fine.
Sorry for the late reply, Marie. I had to go out for a few hours. I’m familiar with the Tightwad Gazette — own the complete set! I find them inspirational as well.
Most recipes for laundry soap make a huge batch that you have to store in a five-gallon bucket. I’ve scaled it down to a quantity that you should be able to fit into one of your empty Tide bottles. Here’s what I do:
Grate one fourth of a bar of Fels Naphtha soap. Heat one cup of water in a pan until it is almost boiling, and stir in the soap. Keep stirring until the soap is completely dissolved. This may take 10 to 15 minutes. Then fill a stockpot with 3 quarts of water. It doesn’t have to be hot. Add your very soapy cup of water to the water in the stockpot. Then, stir in 1/4 cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (not Baking Soda) and 2 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax. If you have very hard water, you may want to double up on the Borax. Stir for a couple of minutes, and let the mixture sit overnight. In the morning you will have a stockpot full of gelatinous slime, the consistency of egg drop soup. Don’t worry — it’s supposed to look this way. Funnel it all into an empty detergent bottle. You may have to give it a little shake before pouring it out.
I use 1/4 cup of white vinegar in my fabric softener dispenser instead of Downy. It’s cheaper, softens the fabric, and helps break up soap scum that can build up in the washer. Your clothes won’t smell like vinegar. (If you use this recipe, they will smell like nothing. Some people add a little essential oil to the detergent recipe for fragrance, but I’m trying to be frugal, so I don’t see the point!)