Saving money by doing it yourself

[Christian]

Do any of your families try to save money by making things you use around the house yourselves? Things like making your own laundry detergent or other cleaning products? We haven't tried making laundry detergent yet, but we did find a way to do our own dryer sheets and antibacterial cloths for wiping down counters and such.

 

[Miller]

We tried a long time ago and found that saving coupons, watching when stores put things we use on special and taking advantage of specials helped us more than trying to do it ourselves. We do keep a stockpile that saves us money.

 

[Kost]

Besides learning how to do something (teach a man to fish comes to mind) its cheaper and sometimes its fun. We ended up setting up a mini sized landing for our BBQ this past year and the wood working time along with just spending time together outside of grounding kids, feeding pets or paying bills was great!

 

[CHenne]

Nope, we don't make our own laundry detergent. We do make other things but nothing like that. My wife uses coupons and buys things when they are on sale. She is a great saver!

 

[Mack]

Baking soda and vinegar in various combinations or with water really can clean a lot of things very well. Rubbing alcohol or a little bleach in water is great for sanitizing.

 

[Paul1960]

We never tried making anything like laundry detergent ourselves, but we do make our own toothpaste, simply because baking soda and hydrogen peroxide whiten your teeth better than store bought toothpaste. However, we did grow a garden for several years, in an effort to reduce our grocery bill. (It worked, too!)

 

[Dad Brad]

We try at times, but it's a trade-off of time versus money most times. We've had people in the church give us homemade detergents and soaps, but we've never tried to make our own on basics like that. I applaud those who do.

 

[SoontoBe]

We did this when we had to, mostly when we were living in apartments and as college students. We're both out working now, so it's easier to trade part of our paychecks for basic necessities. Still, I remember those days of making do. We raided Mom's pantry, too.

 

[Babar]

We just use the store brand stuff for most things, which saves loads. When it comes to cleaning liquid, we use pure white vinegar, which is an all-natural disinfectant, and only $2 or so for a giant jug.