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Things that mysteriously made their way in to my trolley uninvited this week:

2 x Double Choc Tim Tams

1 x 10pk Bulla Splits

1 x 8pk Bulla Double Choc Ice Creams

1 whole pineapple (at least that’s 1 healthy “extra”)

In my defense, they were all on special!!!

Grocery spend for the week: $57.30

Amount now in grocery “kitty”: $157.40

I was going to wait until the end of the year to transfer my accumulated savings into my BHAG account but I think I might empty it at the end of this month (or maybe most of it) and start again. I don’t really like carrying too much cash around with me.

Menu Plan For This Week:

Monday - Homemade Pasties with potato wedges and vegetables

Tuesday - Chicken Pieces (haven’t decided exactly how I’ll cook them yet)

Wednesday - Fried Rice

Thursday - Roast Lamb in the Slow Cooker

Friday - Hamburgers

Saturday - Quiche

Sunday - Leftover quiche

Shopping List so far:

bread

milk

fruit & veg

margarine

I think I’m going to like Mondays for the next 2 months. It’s kind of exciting using cash for groceries when I’m used to using plastic. I usually use plastic for a number of reasons - one of them being I find it hard to track various amounts of cash in my purse. However, I’ve been using a plastic zip lock bag and just throwing that in my handbag when I go into town and that’s working well (so far - it has only been 1 week).

Week One Progress

Total Spent: $45.30 leaving me $84.70 in the “kitty”. Yah!!!

I did deviate from my shopping list a little and bought damper rolls (on special), yoghurt (on special - MUST get back to making my own), garlic bread to have with the pizza (yum!) and some pastry sheets.

Didn’t buy any of the salad items (didn’t need) so other than that it was milk, bread and bananas.

We did deviate from the menu plan a little (which is pretty normal and not really a problem). Spag bol sauce ended up feeding us for 3 meals instead of 2 so we had lasagne one night (with enough left over for lunch the next day - yum!!!!)

Week Two Menu Plan

Monday - Lamb Chops

Tuesday - Steak and Mushroom Soup in Slow Cooker

Wednesday - Fried Rice

Thursday - Chicken Pieces

Friday - Hot Dogs with cheese and bacon (Lleyton’s favourite)

Saturday - Meat Pie

Sunday - Quiche

All served with veg/salad depending on whether and my mood.

Week Two Shopping List

Fruit & Veg

(Bananas are getting expensive again - hope that doesn’t last too long.)

Milk

Bread

Anything else that jumps into my trolley Good specials if I think we’ll use them in the next couple of weeks.

Image via WikipediaI have $130 in my newly labelled “Grocery Money” snap lock bag. The Challenge? To see how much of that I can hold onto between now and next Monday.

Including today, there are 9 Mondays left this year. That gives me $1170 in Grocery Money in total. I wonder how much of that I can hold on to? Quarter? Half? None? LOL. Better NOT be none!!!!

Bear in mind I have not been tracking my grocery spending over the past few months so I have NO idea how far $130 will go, even with my pantry/freezer challenge.

The Plan?

1. Menu Plan (see below)

2. Avoid Specials Brochures that encourage me to buy stuff we don’t really need anyway

3. Shop with a list and STICK to it

4. Don’t let DH loose in the supermarket!

5. Blog it to keep me accountable.

This Week’s Menu Plan

Monday - Spaghetti Bolognese (already in slow cooker)

Tuesday - Tuna Patties (have 12 tins of tuna I bought at $1 each to use up)

Wednesday - Tacos (makes use of the leftover spag bol sauce)

Thursday - Chicken Patties (no idea how I’ll make these yet - have chicken mince, will experiment)

Friday - Homemade Pizza

Saturday - Chops and Vegies (chops in the slow cooker with french onion soup mix)

Sunday - Pasties

Shopping List

lettuce

tomato

bread

milk

fruit

Already have: meat, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, frozen veg, pasta, cheese, taco shells, pastry, swedes

Quite the opposite in fact. I wonder if there is an opposite to Mother Hubbard? Someone who’s cupboard is so full that you can’t fit the shopping in when you get home?

When we moved to this house I promised myself I’d NEVER fill up the pantry. I saw how empty it looked with 4 boxes of food packed into it and KNEW that if I ever filled it up it would be a LOT of food.

Now in my defence, the cupboard isn’t entirely dedicated to food. The top shelves hold containers, party supplies etc and one shelf is dedicated to plates, cups and glasses.

BUT….

I’ll admit that we have TOO MUCH FOOD.

The fridge is full. The freezers (we have 2) are full and the cupboard is full.

This is what happens when I throw the budget out the window.

I buy stuff.

Too much stuff.

So, now I need to have a pantry (and fridge and freezer) challenge.

The best way to do that is menu plan.

Blah!

Can’t say as I really feel like menu planning.

But I really DO need to buy less food and let us use up what we have.

It’s been a very full on weekend. Netball Saturday then off to Whyalla for some family time and shopping (which is why the cupboards are now overflowing). I had to go to Whyalla in my netball uniform because I left my bag with my change of clothes at home. Doh! First thing I did was buy a pair of pants (I had a shirt over my netball uniform so that was okay). Came home and got the worst migraine I’ve had in quite a long time.

Then Farmboy’s sister and her family were here for lunch Sunday (which was a lovely time).

Followed by Father’s Day stuff and me collapsing in a heap Sunday afternoon/evening.

So today I’m tired and *should* be menu planning as well as some other stuff. But won’t be.

As soon as I feel better, I’m going to tackle the issue of “too much food”.

Please tell me I’m not the only one guilty of hoarding food.

Image via Wikipedia One thing I really HATE to do is throw food into the rubbish bin. It’s a waste on many levels.

• A waste of money spent buying the food in the first place.
• A waste of my time shopping for the food.
• A waste of valuable resources tied up in growing/making, packaging and shipping that food.
• A waste of space when it gets added to landfill (not to mention the methane gas that is produced as a result of rotting food).

According to an article put together by Notebook magazine, “Australians are throwing out three million tonnes of food every year. That’s equivalent to 145 kilograms of food waste for each Australian.” I suspect figures in other western countries would reflect a similar level of wastage.

I find it positively scary the amount of rubbish going to landfill as a result of the food we eat (or don’t eat as the case may be).

Here are a few more staggering statistics when it comes to food wastage*:

• In Victoria and South Australia, 40 per cent of what people throw out is food.
• In Sydney, some bins contain up to 50 per cent food waste.
• Every single day, Britons throws away five million potatoes; one million slices of ham; four million apples; and seven million slices of bread.
• Australians are wasting $6 billion worth of food each year!!!!

* source: Notebook magazine

What Can We Do To Stop The Waste?

1. The Buck Stops Here

A global issue like this still comes down to the individual. I know I can do better when it comes to reducing how much food wastage we have. What about you?

2. Spread the Word

Notebook Magazine are having an ongoing campaign to encourage people to cut back on their own food wastage.

Those of us who are bloggers can do our bit by writing about this issue and sharing our ideas on how we can all reduce our food waste.

3. Share your ideas here

I’d like to write a follow up article next week sharing as many ideas as we can come up with. So place your ideas in the comments section here and I’ll compile them together into what could become a very handy resource for saving us all a few dollars as well as helping the environment.

If you have any good recipes for using up leftovers, I hope you’ll share those too. Feel free to email them to me (lightening at lighteningonline dot com) or share them on your own blog and let me know the link so I can link to it in my follow up post.

All recipes and tips shared will go into a draw for a free Notebook magazine. And if you submit them here as well, you might win some free Tupperware.

To Get You Started

Here are a few ideas from me to get those creative thinking caps working:

1. Menu Plan. This is possibly the most logical step when it comes to reducing waste. Menu plans help you use up what you have as well as making grocery shopping easier. You tend to buy what you actually need rather than guessing at what you’ll need. As much as I hate doing it, menu planning is an excellent way to cut costs in the grocery department.
2. Adequate Storage. Understand what foods need to be refrigerated or frozen, what foods should be kept out of the light and so forth. I LOVE my Tupperware for reducing my food spoilage rates (and yes, you can still order through my party although only in the next 24 hours).
3. Planned leftovers. We actually don’t have a lot of meal leftovers, other than when I’m choosing to stretch meat to a second (and sometimes 3rd) meal. On the occasions when we do, Farmboy and I tend to eat them for lunch (in fact, I don’t think we have enough leftovers for Farmboy’s liking at times).

I will post a couple of my own recipes when I write my follow-up article.

POLL: What Happens To Food Waste In Your Household?

Please take a moment to participate in the following poll on food waste:

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Let’s all do our bit to help reduce food wastage. Don’t forget to leave your tips in the comments section below.

Image via WikipediaI have to admit that I have been suffering from a LOT of denial in regard to our spending habits of late. My budget/spending book is an absolute MESS!

I think denial right now is my way of coping. Particularly with the rapid rise in prices at the supermarket (grocery store).

I’ve been feeling kinda ill doing the grocery shopping of late.

My coping technique is to kind of close my eyes (not physically but mentally) to the final tally at the checkout, hand over a wad of cash and then get out of there as fast as possible.

So it’s not surprising that my enthusiasm for updating the spending book is waning a little.

The problem is that denial is causing me more anxiety that facing up to the truth.

WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

Drought, rising interest rates, rising fuel prices and no doubt other factors ARE having an impact on the prices we are paying at the checkout.

BUT

We need to be careful how we view rising grocery prices. As I’ve said before, news of rising grocery prices can actually cause us to spend MORE than we actually need to.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

1. Dig our heads out of the sand

NOT knowing really is WORSE than knowing. Knowledge gives us power to implement change. Lack of knowledge can result in more stress and going on my experience, stress = more spending.

2. Continue Our Education

If you’ve yet to read my series on “Reducing the Grocery Budget”, the links are in the sidebar. I’m a firm believer in never having enough knowledge. There are ALWAYS new ways we can learn to trim things here and there. Of course, time and interest both factor into this as well. I’m not saying we HAVE to find new ways to cut spending. Just that we CAN if we NEED or WANT to.

3. Celebrate our Successes

One of the great things about being frugal is that you’re already ahead of the game when it comes to spending. Generally costs rise as an overall percentage. 15% of $1000 is a LOT less than 15% of $3000 for example.

I always try to begin my year with some “wiggle room” in my budget. Particularly when it comes to groceries. My growing children are eating more and more as time goes on and prices are nearly always going to increase. I know this increase is a little more than we normally get but I’m grateful I have at least a little “wiggle room” to help absorb the impact.

4. Time For a Reality Check

Just after my “I feel sick at these prices” grocery shop, I picked up our mail. Inside was a letter from one of our sponsored children. How’s that for a timely reality check? Here I am worried about the cost of fruit & veg rising as it might mean I can’t afford to buy CHOCOLATE or my favourite magazine. While so many people in the world don’t even have ACCESS to healthy foods, let alone a way of paying for them.

5. Don’t Give Up

One of the biggest problems with dieting is that slipping up causes people to give up. Rather than accepting a small slip-up and getting back to it, they decide they’re no good at it and forget about trying. Budgeting can be the same. Slip-ups WILL happen (at least to MOST people). The important thing is to get back on track and do the best you can with what you have. I’m in the process of sorting things out with my budget book in an attempt to get back on track. Starting over is also an option.

The main thing here is NOT to GIVE UP. Every small step we take towards a better handle on our budgets brings us closer to our own goals and dreams.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Anyone else paddling up the river of denial and getting nowhere right now? Pleeeeaaaasssseee tell me I’m not the only one who’s been living in denial.

(Note to my regular readers: I have deviated away from my series on The Complete Tightwad Gazette discussion over the past couple of Fridays. I do intend to come back to them. Please bear with me.)

* For those not living in Australia, I’m not sure if “generic” is a familiar term. It basically refers to the “stores own brand” of product. Here you might also hear terms like “homebrand”, “black and gold” and other variations of two colours (eg “blue and white” and so one).

I remember as a child when generic brands began appearing in the stores. I’m not sure if this was their first appearance or whether they were just becoming more widespread at this time. What I do remember is that there was a certain stigma attached to the generic type items. They were considered “poor people’s” food.

For a teenager at the time it was considered “social suicide” to be seen with homebrand or other generic items in your possession. I wonder if perhaps this “social conditioning” has stuck with some people. I’m surprised at how many people still seem reluctant to even give generic products a try.

There are a few common objections to using generic products.

My Husband/Children Object

Honestly, I think this is often more about mind over matter than anything. Yes, some things do taste different but different isn’t always bad. It’s about what you’re used to.

I’m not saying that EVERY generic product is a winner. Just that too often they get discounted as no good without being given a fair go.

My tip? Remove the contents from their packaging and either add them to the old packaging (the brand name stuff) or put them into another container. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.

OR. Try mixing half generic with half label brand.

They Are an Inferior Product

I think these days it’s a fairly well-known fact that most generic products are manufactured in the SAME place that label brand products are made. Often you’re looking at purchasing an item that is identical with a different packaging. Which means that with the label brand product, the extra you are paying for is advertising, cost of shelf space (I assume supermarkets don’t charge THEMSELVES for shelf space) and pretty packaging.

Now I KNOW that not ALL generic products are exactly the same. You do need to pick and choose a bit.

But lots of them are REALLY good and I think it’s worth giving them a try just to find the good ones.

People Will Think I’m Cheap (or Poor)

GREAT!!!! So let them!

Okay, I’ll be honest here, occasionally this still bothers me.

BUT, we all make choices in life.

If I spend $100 less than others on groceries per week for 10 years that’s $50,000. AFTER tax!

Now, we don’t save $100 a week using generic but it certainly does make a BIG difference to our final grocery tally.

Hence leaving us money to spend on more funner stuff! Like saving up to do our BIG trip next year!

They Dilute the Products

Maybe in some products.

1. Check the labels. I was looking at tinned tuna the other day. Tinned (canned) products are great because they give your percentages on the labelling. The cheapest generic (Australia now seem to have supermarkets carrying different “levels” of generic product) had 1% MORE tuna than the other tins of the same size.

2. Ask yourself, does it matter? I have noticed that tomato sauce is one product that is a little runnier in the generic brands than in the label brands. The thing is, my children like to cover their food with tomato sauce. Being a little less thick doesn’t actually matter in this case. In fact, it means they use LESS sauce overall - do a double saving!

Where Do I Start?

If you’ve never used generic products before, the best place to start is with basic items like flour and sugar (I DON’T recommend cocoa). Once you get beyond those, it is a bit of trial and error of trying products to see what they’re like.

Honestly

Some generic products are duds! BUT, I would have to say in my experience that there are a LOT of wonderful generic products out there, far outnumbering the duds.

Lightening’s Generic Products Love-Fest

Remember the Zucchini Love-Fest we had a few weeks back? Well, now I’d like to host a “generic” love fest. What do you need to do? Write a post outlining the products that you like (and those you definitely DON’T like) when it comes to generic/store brand grocery products. Make sure you mention which store they come from so people don’t get confused. You can post it anytime between now and next Friday and send me the link. Or if you’ve already written a post on this topic in the past, sending me the link to that post is fine too.

Next Friday (or Thursday for some of you) I’m going to post my own list of products we particularly like. I’ll also post any links that get sent in to other posts on this topic. Hopefully this way we can cover a good range of products AND a range of other countries too (c’mon my international readers, I need you to help me out some here)

Likes and dislikes vary but it’s always nice to be able to start with products that others have found to be good value.

It’s going to be a big generic link-love fest! If you’d like to be included, I’ll add a contact form right here to make it nice and easy for you to send me your link.

OR, if you don’t have a blog - you can send a review or two of your favourite generic products and I’ll add those to my post as well.

Happy Shopping (and Saving) Everybody!!!!

P.S. Feel free to pass the word around to your blogging buddies. The more participants we have, the better for all!

cforms contact form by delicious:days

I always find tips hard to write. It can be rather laborious to wade through tip upon tip that you’ve already heard or read. The best tip I can offer you is to take a look at 1 item you buy regularly and really think hard about how you might go about reducing spending on that item.

Having said that, this week I’m going to go through the list of non food items that I include with our grocery budget and explain what I do/have done to reduce spending in that area. Hopefully there is something here that will help most of you.

For those not familiar with the term “generic”, it is simply a reference to a stores own brand. We have many different generic “brands” now in Australia.

TOILET PAPER

This is one item where I tend to be rather fussy. I have a limit of 50c per roll and stock up big when a good special is on. Our personal preference is Kleenex Cottonelle. For some reason most people like Quilton these days but I really don’t like it much at all. It all comes down to personal preference.

I did find a great recycled, made in Australia pack that was more like 35c a roll in Bi-Lo one time but when I went back they no longer stocked it and I haven’t seen it since. I also didn’t write down the name of it.

TISSUES

Everyone in our family has hankies. The kids don’t use them as much as DH and I. I don’t push this one way or another. DH and I just happen to prefer hankies. I buy generic branded tissues (usually Coles) and then I purchase the Aloe Vera tissues if someone has a cold. We’re lucky to go through a box of tissues a month.

CLEANING CLOTHS

As I mentioned last week, I use old face washers and cut up towels for cleaning cloths. I do occasionally buy cleaning cloths and when I do I tend to buy generic and wash them many times. We’re hardly ever use the “chux” style of cloth.

For dishes I do buy those yellow sponges with the green scourer on one side - again, generic branded. We also have a dishmop (although they’re getting harder and harder to source these days) and occasionally use plastic and metal scourers (which don’t need replacing very often).

My biggest expense with cleaning are those George Foreman Grill cleaning cloths. DH loves them and who am I to deny him if he’s happy to do the cleaning up?

PAPER TOWEL

We don’t tend to use a LOT of paper towel. Most spills get wiped up with an old cloth nappy (if you see any of these in op shops - they make AWESOME mop-up-spills cloths).

When I do buy it, I tend to go with a generic brand. It’s usually just used for grease based spills or stuff that we really want to throw in the bin rather than wash a cloth from.

SOAP

I’m not a big user of soap (and no I don’t STINK!). DH on the other hand tends to need quite a bit of it. He’s quite limited in what he can use due to my sensitivity to perfumes so we tend to stick with Velvet which just happens to be about the cheapest soap there is.

I seem to accumulate a never ending supply of liquid body washes so that’s what the kids will often have in their bath (if anything).

For handsoap at the basins I prefer a liquid soap and most commonly I use a very cheap shampoo (watered down) for this. It’s also a great way to use up bits of shampoo that I’ve bought to try and haven’t liked.

SHAMPOO AND OTHER HAIR PRODUCTS

My biggest money saving tip? Cut everyone’s hair short! Since Farmboy has decided he likes his hair razor cut, we’ve used nowhere near the shampoo we used to! The kids hair gets washed once a week (or less often for Leighton if I forget to remind him ). I wash mine whenever I’m going out (which is 2-3 times a week at the moment).

Most people use TOO MUCH shampoo. Try cutting back how much you use. You can also put it into a pump pack to prevent other family members overusing. You can also use either soap or bicarb soda for washing your hair.

I used bicarb for quite some time but apparently it can strip any colour (artificially added that is) from your hair so I haven’t used it for a while. Must try it again one of these days. My hair was amazingly soft and silky when I was using bicarb.

We use very little in the way of conditioner. I use apple cider vinegar to condition my hair. I have it mixed in a spray bottle with a little Rosemary essential oil and about 3/4’s water to 1/4 vinegar.

For the kids I have a bottle of water with a small amount of conditioner in it that gets sprayed onto their hair before brushing. It gives them more than enough conditioning treatment for their hair and in fact has solved the problem of trying to wash all of the conditioner out of their hair. The diluted amount from the spray bottle seems to be enough to get rid of tangles and leave their hair shiny and manageable (well, mostly).

HAIR REMOVAL EQUIPMENT

Farmboy uses an electric razor so this tends to come out of a different budget (his first one was a birthday present). That requires no other products so I’m not constantly buying shaving foam or anything else for his shaving requirements.

I use a reusable razor with heads that have their own product for shaving. I also use some Nair but one tube lasts me the whole summer quite easily.

TOOTHBRUSHES, TOOTHPASTE AND FLOSS

I prefer to use Colgate Total Gel so look out for this on special. I will sometimes alternate with a generic brand. One of these days I’ll get around to trying a more natural toothpaste.

We mostly use pretty basic toothbrushes. The kids get fun ones in their Christmas stockings and the rest of the year just have plain coloured ones. I’ve found the Coles generic brand quite good in terms of the kids toothbrushes and tend to buy whatever is on special for Farmboy and I (Colgate do a reasonably priced multipack).

CLEANING PRODUCTS

As I mentioned last week, I use a LOT of water for cleaning. Then a mixture of bicarb, vinegar and Tri Nature natural cleaning products as needed. Tri Nature products are highly concentrated and last me ages (it’s been over 12 months since I’ve bought any).

DISHWASHING

I use Tri Nature Chamomile for handwashing and Tri Nature Citrus Dishwashing Powder in the Dishwasher. Both of these are concentrates and last us a long time. As a member of Tri Nature I get a 15% discount on these items when I order.

LAUNDRY DETERGENTS

I’m currently using up Tri Nature laundry products that I have always used in the laundry. When they are gone I want to try some different ideas I’ve read about natural alternatives (such as soap nuts).

One thing I have found with the laundry is that we need much LESS detergent than we were using. This is one of the reasons I still have product to use up - it’s taking a lot longer to go through now we’re using LESS. Keep cutting back until you notice a difference in how clean clothes are getting.

I very rarely use a fabric softener and when I do I use a natural one. When that is used up I intend to try vinegar as a fabric softener.

PEGS

I use a mixture of more expensive pegs and generic branded pegs. I always bring them inside when not in use as the sunlight ruins them very quickly.

In a pinch you can actually use bread tags as pegs (for thinner fabrics). We get plenty of wind and they seem to stay on the line!

GARBAGE BAGS AND BIN LINERS

I try to reuse grocery bags and fruit and veg bags (which fit our toilet bins perfectly) for rubbish as much as possible.

Garbage bags is one item where I have found generic to be inadequate so we tend to use Glad. I try to stock up when on special and buy the larger packs as they end up being cheaper per bag.

For white bin liner bags (yes, I do buy some) I can’t remember the name of the brand (and we currently don’t have any). It’s not generic and it’s not Glad but a brand that is somewhere in between in terms of cost. I *think* it might be Hercules.

WRAPS AND BAGS

I try to avoid using throw away wrapping where possible. We still use more than I’d like. I know it’s an area we could cut back on but it’s also an area out of my control at this time.

When we do use plastic wrap, I tend to buy generic. You do need to shop around a little to find the generic brands that work well. I’m not a big fan of much in the Black and Gold brand but have found a lot of the Coles Brand quite good.

I use generic brand freezer bags but up until recently preferred to use Hercules Snap Lock Bags (cheaper than the top brand but dearer than generic). For Princess Singstars birthday party I bought some Coles brand snap lock bags and found them to be great. I don’t reuse freezer bags but I do wash and reuse snap lock bags (unless they’ve had raw meat in them).

I also reuse bread bags for freezing items in. Not so much for the actual “savings” as for environmental reasons. Still, a few cents here and there can add up.

Items like alfoil and baking paper I tend to use generic brands as well.

But I generally work on the principle that if I can use something reusable rather than throw away, I will.

Now I’m going to throw it over to you. Do you have a tip or two that have saved you money when buying non food grocery items? Feel free to share in the comments section so we can all learn together.

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When it comes to clever marketing, I think cleaning products would have to rate right up there in terms of products that have created a market for themselves.

I mean, we all HATE to clean and LOVE to play, right? We are perfect sitting ducks for ruthless entrepreneurs who want to make their riches from us.

“Here, buy my product, it’ll make cleaning a breeze”

“Buy this and you won’t even know you’re cleaning”

“Life getting you down? This product will solve ALL your problems”

Don’t feel bad if you think you’ve been “sucked in” by these kind of advertisements. The fact of the matter is that companies employ psychological research when it comes to how to market their products.

They KNOW how to play on our weaknesses and fears. IT STINKS!!!

When you go down the cleaning aisle of your supermarket, do you KNOW what you are paying for? You are paying for the advertisement that convinced you you need that cleaning product in the first place!!!!

I’ll just repeat that last sentence in case you didn’t get it the first time….

You are paying for the advertisement that convinced you you need that cleaning product in the first place.

When that concept really sinks in, it’s a real DOH! kind of moment. I know because I’ve been there.

Want to know what I use when cleaning?

WATER

If you exclude washing dishes and clothing, around 80% of my cleaning is done with a wet cloth.

Guess how much that costs me a week? ZERO DOLLARS

And for cleaning with? Old face washers and cut up towels. I do also have a microfibre mop, a couple of microfibre cloths and a brush that I use on our tiles to scrub the grout.

Anyone Been to an Enjo Party?

I went to one a few years ago that really turned my thinking around when it came to cleaning. The demonstrator was cleaning the bathroom and mentioned that all you need to do is give is a wipe over with the bathroom mitt each day.

EACH DAY?

I was looking for the miracle that would lead me to need to clean LESS. Not MORE.

The sceptic in me couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if I wiped over our bathroom each day with just an old rag of some description.

So I tried it. It worked no problems. Without a fancy $40 microfibre cloth.

Do I wipe over our shower every day? No. But I do try to do it reasonably often and very rarely do I need to use any cleaning products at all.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not really anti-Enjo. I do use *some* of their products although it’s unlikely I’ll replace them as they wear out.

My point here is that Enjo promote cleaning with less effort but more often. It’s a great tip. It just doesn’t necessarily require their products in order to work. They also promote drying with a cloth as you go - another great cleaning tip!

Do I Really Use ONLY Water to Clean?

No. Just for the majority of my cleaning tasks.

When I get behind, I need the help of cleaning products to help me “catch up”.

For some tasks I’ll use vinegar or bicarb. Plain old soap is a great and frugal cleaning agent as well.

I do also use some commercial cleaning products.

I just think that too many people use a “product” as a FIRST resort rather than a LAST resort.

More Does Not Equal Better Cleaning Ability

When you do use commercial cleaning products, are you pouring your hard earned money down the drain?

Cut back on the amount you’re using. Remember that manufacturers are going to put a MAXIMUM reasonable measurement on their packaging instructions. To find out how much you *really* need, just cut back a little each time until you notice it doesn’t do the same job anymore (this is what I’ve done with my washing powder - although I also know someone who washes simply in water).

Cleaning isn’t Only Costing us the Earth, It’s Costing us the EARTH

The cleaning products I do use are almost all naturally based and considered safe for the environment. This is doubly important now that we recycle ALL of our household water onto the garden (via a proper system so that it’s treated etc).

Now more than ever we need to be very aware of what we’re putting down our drains. The great thing about green cleaning is that it is often more frugal than chemical cleaning. Of course, now that we have an established market for green cleaning products, caution still needs to be had so that we aren’t talked into parting with our money unecessarily.

Summary For Reducing How Much You Spend on Cleaning

1. Try Water first
2. Recycle old facewashers, towels and other fabric to use as cleaning cloths. Throw through the washing machine and reuse (it’s best to edge cut up towels etc to reduce fraying)
3. Use soap, vinegar & bicarb soda as cleaning agents
4. Where you do choose to use a cleaning product, consider purchasing from an environmentally aware company and use SPARINGLY
5. Avoid getting taking in by bright and cheerful advertisements promising you the world

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From time to time, I get asked whether my $100 a week average grocery spend includes non food items.  To give you a bit of an idea, I’ll summarise below.

Items I DO Include Under Groceries 

• Toilet Paper
• Tissues
• Some cleaning cloths (such as for washing up dishes)
• Soap
• Shampoo’s etc
• Toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss
• Cleaning Products
• Dishwashing Liquid and Dishwasher Powder etc
• Laundry Detergents, Fabric Softeners etc
• Pegs
• Garbage Bags & Bin Liners
• Glad Wrap, Alfoil, Snap Lock Bags, Freezer Bags, Baking Paper etc

Items I DON’T Include Under Groceries

• Make Up and Skin Care - I have a personal care category for these and also use my own spending money
• Nappies &  Wipes - I used to have a “baby” category for these (and dummies etc) but now we only have a few dry nites to buy so these also come under “personal care”
• Houehold items like mops, mop heads, toilet brushes etc - these come out of our “household” budget
• Bandaids, Panadol and other “medical” type items come out of our medical budget
• Stationery items also come under “household”
• Toys and stickers for the kids - the kids have their own budget category which covers sporting activities, music lessons, tennis coaching and a few little bits and pieces that I buy from time to time (toys, stickers, craft supplies etc)

I hope that helps to clarify things for you.  One of the dangers of comparing your spending to someone else’s is that the term “groceries” is rather broad and while some people will include anything that can be bought in a grocery store, others will divide off certain items.

There is no RIGHT or WRONG way to organise things here.  It’s just a personal preference.  I find the larger costing items can throw both my budget and my tracking out and make it harder to see where we’re up to from week to week.

What I do works for ME and while you are more than welcome to do the same, please don’t feel that my way is the ONLY way.  This is also why I encourage you to compete with yourself when it comes to reducing the grocery budget.

The real victory comes not when you manage to achieve the same grocery figure as me.  The real victory is when you realise that once upon a time you spent $X and now you’re spending $10 (insert whatever figure you like here) less. 

No doubt there are some items that I’ve failed to include on either of these lists.  If you have a question about where I include certain items in my budget, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll endeavour to answer it.

Next week, I’ll go through those items that I DO include and explain ways that I’ve found to reduce our spending in the area of non-food items.  I *was* planning to include of all this in todays post but I’m rather tired after being away so you’ll have to forgive me for making you wait another week.