Incospicuous, Pioneering Money Saving Solutions Part 2

Understanding of Frugality

This is typically not an easy concept to grasp, especially if you have no experience in budgeting, living beneath your means, and/ or you just may not be interested in it.

I really want to encourage all of my readers (and anyone you may share this with!) to stretch yourselves and try to understand the operational definition of the word, "Frugality." It's not to be confused with the word, "Cheap."

The Wikipedia definition of frugality is as follows:
"Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the use of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance.
In behavioral science, frugality has been defined as the tendency to acquire goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourceful use of already owned economic goods and services, to achieve a longer term goal." 

This is vastly different than the definition of "cheap," (choose your own; none of them are pleasing), and cheap is a close relative to "Miser." Trust me; this association does nothing good for anyone! The reference in the Wikipedia definition of miser includes a reference to a Scrooge! If you've ever read Charles Dickens'
"A Christmas Carol," you know that a "cheap" person isn't respected or honored in society - as portrayed in the movie, of course.



(For further study on this, check out Proverbs 31:10-31.) 

When I was working at my old company several years ago, a man I used to work with was sharing an anecdote in which he declared, "I am not cheap; I'm value-oriented!" I laughed, but really - that's true. He is not cheap. He is a generous person who is always on the lookout for a great deal. Truthfully, that's the day I started to pray about how I might better use my time and budget/ resources!!


On to the good stuff....

Some of you may remember my post last year  in April that featured my Homemade Laundry Soap recipe. This is going to be my first tip for this post! :)

3) Make your own laundry soap. I really love making my own laundry soap! I saw the tip years ago on 19 Kids & Counting, and thought, "That might be a good way to save money....but I doubt it works." I waited quite awhile before I decided to try it. Despite many nay-sayers' opinions, after I made it and we tried it out for ourselves, I have to say that this is an awesome recipe, and it really does work. I have come to the conclusion that if you make it and you don't think it works, you might have done something wrong along the way. (As I have previously!) There are many recipes out there, but we use this one: 

4  Cups - hot tap water
1  Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda - Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

We still use buy our fabric softener, but because the homemade laundry soap isn't nearly as sudsy, we use far less than we did previously. Thus, we saved a lot of money on it, and stretched our dollars much further than we would have using highly-concentrated laundry soap! See details about this in my post from last month. 

Today, we went to Winco, and I found all the items needed to make the laundry soap there. The price breakdown is as follows:

20 Mule Team Borax (4lb. 12oz. box) $3.38
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (3lb. 7oz. box) $3.17
Fels-Naptha Bar Soap $0.97 each

This breaks down to approximately the following cost per batch: (remember that each bar of soap yields one whole batch, each box of Borax yields 19 whole batches, and each box of Super Washing Soda yields 6 whole batches).
Borax: $0.18
Super Washing soda: $0.46
Fels-Naptha Soap: $0.97                              Total cost = $1.61 per batch!!!

This next tip is related to convenience and money leaving your wallet before you even realize it. Brace yourselves...  

4) When banking, only use the institution's ATM/ Debit card machines. Quite frankly, I know many people who just run to the nearest ATM when they need cash. This can get very expensive, and the fees range anywhere from $0.50-$5.00 per transaction! Stop and think about it before you make that decision: Can you really afford to do that even once a month? If you only get cash out of a random ATM once a month, but the fee is $2.00, that's still $24.00 per year! For many of us, that's at least a half of a tank of gas now. If you do it every week, it's $96.00 per year. That's money that you are literally giving away to banking institutions for convenience. You wouldn't want them charging you fees on your checking/ savings accounts, so why give them money to pocket in another realm? Plan your trips accordingly, and stop to get cash from your banking institutions' ATMs only.

A little anecdote on being open-minded about saving money. 

I could never do any of this without my sweet husband! He's so supportive of me, and always respects my jurisdictions as my own. I try to do the same for him! Today, when we were at Winco, though, he made the comment, "Sweetheart, I am making an executive decision. From now on, when we purchase cheese, it will be from Winco." I smiled and whole-heartedly agreed! Generally, we do not shop at Winco, because I struggle with big crowds (slightly claustrophobic), and we don't generally have time to do that kind of shopping when it's the least crowded in there. However, because my husband requested it - and because he had our best interests at heart - being frugal and responsible, good stewards of our resources - I will make the effort to get up early on my days off, or stay up late one night every other week to go at a quiet time. :)

The moral of this little story is to be open. God will provide the resources, if we are good stewards - that has always been my motto! I do not have all the answers, and neither does my wonderful husband. But if we pray for and with each other, help each other, and strive for common goals, we can accomplish anything with the Lord!!