New month, new you
Last month, I switched to cloth diapers and homemade laundry soap. Both were surprisingly smooth changes, especially since we had several inglorious blowouts in disposable diapers during the changeover process. If we weren't convinced when we started out, we were convinced by the time we finished cleaning up.
I'm trying several new things this month, and plan to post about them one by one. On my list are homemade deoderant to replace commercial anti-perspirant, baking soda and vinegar to replace shampoo, and a garden.
It's a new month. What change did you tackle last month? Did it stick? Why or why not? What new thing are you doing this month? Even if you decide the change is not right for you or your household, try something new every month!
Grab the banner and post about it on your blog, or just tell us in the comments!
Want more like this post? Read on!
- Poll: cloth diapers Now that you know why I made the switch from...
- Various and Sundry Wonderfully frugal way to get clean, soft, lovely skin- I...
- Cheerful Frugality Goes Once A Month This Saturday a friend and I will tackle our first...
- January Is The Hardest Month, Or Is It? January is all about facing the cold, hard truth--financially speaking....
- Frugal Hair I recently made the final switch from shampoo to...
9 Responses to “New month, new you”
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
[...] you trying something new this month? Hop over to Frugal Hacks and tell about it. Or just go see what others are [...]
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
i tried to not grocery shop for the month. i ended up spending $60 so i was a little disappointed with myself.
i’m going to attempt homemade fabric softner this month.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I am sorry – I try to save as much as I can when I can – but why try to eliminate shampoo when a big bottle of Suave can be bought at the dollar store? I mean – that comes down to a quarter a week if you use the bottle in a month – how much do you think you are really saving? Ditto for the deodorant. I guess you can find something to take it’s place, but WHY? It isn’t that expensive and if you do the CVS thing – it can be had for free! I can see some effort to replace, reuse, repurpose, etc – but some things are just silly. JMHO
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Brooke,
I think it’s great that you tried – and $60 for the whole month sounds more like a triumph! You set your goal very high and went a long way toward it!
Gail,
I wasn’t making either change to save the cost of the product. I want to try washing my hair w/baking soda and vinegar because I think my scalp is much oilier than it should be. I’m hoping to restore a healthy balance. And anti-perspirants contain aluminum which is believed to cause Parkinson’s disease, not a nice way to die. I would love to switch to deoderant rather than anti-perspirant but none of them work for me. I’m hoping my friend’s concoction with baking soda, cornstarch and tea tree oil will do the trick.
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I switched over to homemade laundry soap this month. I also went and got a wooden clothes drying rack and am using that and a hanging clothes rack to dry my clothes instead of my energy-sucking clothes dryer. We haven’t gotten our latest utility bill yet, but I’m hoping to see a definite change since I’m doing everything I can to cut back.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Anita,
We’ve done without our electric dryer for several months now, even with our switch to cloth diapers. God blessed us with a mild, dry winter so it was really very easy and it can only get easier when the weather gets hotter.
I was disappointed that our electric bill didn’t plummet, but I think rates went up steeply. I shudder to think what we would have paid if we were still using the dryer!
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
We made the switch to homemade laundry detergent many weeks ago, and we love it. We have 7 children and there is not anything we have had to wash over because the detergent left dirt on the item. Last week, I found recipes for spray stain remover and fabric softener and those are my next items to try. I have everyone make a mark on the paper for every load they wash to see how much this detergent saved us…right now we are at .01 a load and still have detergent left (.76 to make the detergent). I also have a clothes line and use it on sunny days.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Kim,
I just came over from your other site to add my 2 cents. I started last summer with baking soda for brushing my teeth. It took awhile to get used to it, but the children are on board with me & my teeth feel so clean. I need to find a way to make it taste better for my husband though. As for the deodorant, this past fall my husband and I switched over to baking soda & cornstarch. It works great! We also don’t have worry about the dangers. Have you read the back of the store bought stuff, look out kidneys. You just use equal parts of both & your good to go. I was raised to use a clothes line so I’ve done that all my married life. My Granny told me that hanging out the laundry on a cold day makes them softer after they freeze. I found out she was right. I have folding racks inside for the rainy days. As for the cloth diapers, I have used them for 5 1/2yrs now & truly enjoy the savings from that. Itsn’t add to my laundry either like some people may think. Thanks for letting me share!
January 5th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Not something new, been using momma cloth the past 6 months, but am now offering it to others moms who want to make the switch and save money to boot.
Leave a Comment