Money's tight and you're desperate -- Part V of V: Laundry, toiletries, cleaning, and pet care

Part 5 of 5: Laundry, toiletries, cleaning, and pet care

This post is the last in my five part series on steps you can take when you are desperately broke. I talked in my first post about a time in my life, or a season as some might say, when I was desperately broke. My son was very young and we were trapped in an abusive relationship in large part because of money--I had none. Even though I worked and my ex worked, there was never enough. It seemed like the harder I tried to get a handle on our financial situation, the harder my ex tried to prevent me from doing that. It was a round-and-round battle. That was merely one aspect to the abusive nature of our relationship, but I am mentioning it because often money is a reason why abused people stay in relationships and it is often a tool used by the abuser to keep the the person being abused from leaving. Looking back, I can see that was the case for me, but at the time, I was so deeply into just trying to survive that I couldn't see this reality. 

If money--or lack of it--is keeping you from leaving an abuser, take heart. Leaving is not easy, even if you do have money or support from friends or loved ones, but I know it can be so much harder without those things. But, there are resources out there. Your local community likely has shelters, crisis centers, and much more available to you, including free or sliding scale legal resources. Please seek help from these places. If you don't know where to turn to, try your local church, temple, synagogue, mosque, or other community based organization. 

I've been thinking a lot about that time in my life and lessons I learned from it since watching a video recently in which the speaker talked about using the power of forgiveness as a way to attract positive energy and positive things into your life. At one point she said something along the lines of, "Forgive your abuser and thank them for the lessons you learned that made you the strong person that you are today." 

WOW! 

Powerful stuff!

Forgive my abuser??? HOW???

I think forgiving him is something I will always struggle with. I can, however, see the many lessons I learned because of that relationship and I truly appreciate how those lessons have built upon one another to turn me into the strong woman that I am today. That experience, and leaving it, has taught me to be strong, independent, and to stand up for myself and my son, even in the face of great adversity, but that is all a story for another time. 

The point today is that during that relationship, we were constantly broke and I was constantly struggling to find ways to save money or make the little money available stretch as far as possible. So let's get on with it, shall we?

Save on your laundry

Several years ago, I came across an article about jeans and how frequently they should be washed. The article did not give a definitive answer, but instead, the author asked many famous people how often they wash their jeans. The singer Jessica Simpson reportedly hardly ever washed her jeans unless they were visibly dirty. I remember that many people thought this was rather gross. But, really, is it? If you are wearing underwear and not really getting dirty or sweating or doing anything overly active, how gross is it?

So, consider things like jeans, outerwear, and your bra if you are a woman. How often do you really need to wash these? What about your bath towels or kitchen towels or cloth napkins? First of all, they are all likely to last a lot longer if you don't wash them every time you wear them. Instead, carefully fold or hang them up immediately after wearing them. Learning to take care of your clothes will go a long way towards saving you money on laundry and will save you even more money on the cost of replacing your clothes.

As mentioned in THIS post, air drying is a great way to save on utilities. Hang dry everything that you can. It might take time to get used to the texture of air dried sheets, towels, and jeans, but my son and I really don't even notice anymore.

Take a look at your laundry detergent and fabric softener. Do you really need to use the full measure as directed? Experiment with using less. Due to skin sensitivities, we use a "free and clear" variety of laundry detergent, and I've found that the ideal amount is actually HALF of the recommended measure of detergent. Our clothes get clean and there is no soap residue left behind. I also DUMPED the fabric softener and instead add a half cup to a cup of vinegar to the dryer. The vinegar both helps soften and to deodorize our laundry--it's especially great when washing your bedding or towels!

If you notice a stain on your clothes, take steps to treat it immediately and inexpensively. Non-grease, non-oil, non-fat stains may be removable with simply a little soap and water. Oil or fat based stains might come up with a sprinkling of cornstarch. Natural substances like blood often can be removed with hydrogen peroxide. Just be sure that you understand your fabric and the type of stain you are treating--not every solution works on every fabric or every stain. For example, hydrogen peroxide can cause some colors or patterns to bleed and it can also cause material to break down if you aren't careful. Do your research first!

And, be sure you wash your laundry during OFF peak hours if your utilities company regulates high and low usage times of day with different rate schedules for each. Also, do ONLY full loads of laundry (but not overloaded), unless you really have no choice but to do a smaller load, in which case use the appropriate load size setting on your machine.

Also, consider cutting back on the number of clothing items you have. Do you NEED 10 pairs of jeans and 20 t-shirts? Does your child need 15 sun dresses or 12 pairs of shorts?  The more clothes you have, the more likely you are to do lots and lots of laundry. Scale back to a wardrobe of basics for work and basics for everyday, and ideally items that can be used for both. Less clothing = less laundry = savings on detergent, water, and electricity or gas. It also may mean saving time.

Save on toiletries
As mentioned in THIS post, as a woman, a part of my monthly budget goes towards feminine hygiene items and they are EXPENSIVE! Even the cheapest tampons, pads, and so on are on the spendy side! Most toiletries are, in fact. And, if you have any sort of special needs, the costs can break the budget. I have a couple of different skin conditions and require special shampoo and have to be very careful about soaps, shaving lotions, and so on.

I save on our toiletries by:

• Contacting manufacturers for coupons and samples--if you have a special need, be sure to explain it when you call, email, or write. They may be sympathetic and willing to send you more coupons or samples than they normally would.
• Figure out how much you can dilute liquid products--one of my shampoos works great when diluted to 50% with water, but the other only works at 25% dilution. 
• Use the smallest amount possible to get the job done--you really do only need a pea sized amount of toothpaste to clean your entire mouth and anywhere from a dime to a quarter sized amount of shampoo for your hair, depending on your hair's length.
• Experiment with time between shampoos, shaves, etc--if I was my hair daily, it feels clean but looks limp. I can go two days between shampooings before my hair starts to look and feel like it needs washed. 
• Find multi-use products (including by accident!)--I discovered by accident that my body wash makes a better shave lotion than my actual shave lotion! It also costs a lot less!
• Add water to some products to make them work better--my shampoo and body wash turned shave lotion work a lot better with a lot of water after I lather up. I can't dilute them too much in the bottle, but once they are on my body, both work best if I then carefully increase the water on my head or if I use my cupped palm to add a little water as I lather body wash on my legs to shave. Don't use more product! Try using more water!
• Treat your razors with care--make sure the blade is dry and not in contact with anything when you are done shaving. If it has a moisture strip, periodically add some lotion or petroleum jelly to the strip to keep it working. Rinse the blade carefully between uses so it doesn't get all gros and gunked up.
• Selectively buy your toilet paper--you could go fully frugal and use "family cloth" instead of toilet paper (ew...not for us!), or you could very carefully and strategically buy your toilet paper. Where we live, Angel Soft brand is frequently on sale and there are routinely coupons available. At least twice per year, I can buy several 4-roll packages for ONLY the cost of tax by combining the sale price + coupons. Now that I use Saving Star and Ibotta, I'm also saving even more throughout the year. Recently, I was able to buy $25 worth of toilet paper for less than $5 after sale prices + a store coupon + a manufacturer's coupon + a Saving Star rebate.
• Skip makeup--when you start to run out of makeup, experiment with going without. I know for some makeup feels like a necessity, but really, unless your job is somehow makeup dependent, makeup is a luxury. If you don't feel that you can go without, look for less expensive alternatives, possibly even look into making your own cosmetics. 
• Try the "no poo" method of washing your hair--I haven't had a lot of success with "no shampoo" hair washing, but I have had GREAT success with NOT using hair conditioner. My hair is not colored or treated, but if yours is, this might not be ideal for you. Instead of conditioner, I use diluted apple cider vinegar three times per week after washing my hair. My hair is silky, clean, and super easy to brush afterwards and looks great for the next few days! I no longer need conditioner in the shower and I don't need detangler after the shower either! It's so inexpensive, especially if you buy the generic store brand. 

Save on cleaning
As with diluting your toiletries up to 50% with water, try doing the same with your liquid cleaning products. Or, better yet, stop buying cleaning products and start using basic vinegar and water, baking soda and water, and even salt and water to clean your house. Check out THIS infographic on my friend Dr. Andrea Rosario's blog--it's all about natural household cleaning. If you skip the essential oils, you can clean your house for almost pennies! For most of the cleaning recipes, the essential oils aren't actually essential...keep the cost down by skipping them.  I spend less than $2 per month on cleaning supplies by only using baking soda, vinegar, water, old dish towels, a scrub brush, and a toilet brush to clean our house. And, bonus, I don't have residue from icky chemicals hanging out in our home.

If you do feel the need to use regular cleaning products, pare back to only the essentials, ideally to multipurpose products, and dilute them whenever possible so they still perform their job but last a bit longer. And, whatever you do, ditch the paper towels and use old rags, torn up old t-shirts, and other fabric scraps instead. Just throw them in the laundry when you wash your towels or bedding.

Save on pet care
A lot of people will suggest that if you are truly financially strapped, then you should not have pets. However, pets bring all kinds of joy to our lives. If we didn't have our two dog, my son and I would probably spend a lot less time at home which would translate the a lot more financial temptations when away from the house. Of course, that doesn't mean our pets are cheap! I save money on our dogs by:

• Buying the cheapest dog food they will eat and that will allow them to stay healthy--one of our dogs only does well with two varieties of canned wet dog food. The other one does well with a dry kibble that I can buy in bulk at WinCo for 39-cent per pound. For both of our dogs, I compared brands and packages at the store as I looked for cheaper and cheaper dog food. I now spend about $5 per week on dog food to feed a 25 pound terrier and a 55 pound boxer-bulldog-mutt. Both are quite healthy!
• Brush their fur and use baking power dissolved in water with just a drop or two of Dawn dish soap to bath them--brushing my terrier's fur regularly helps keep her odor free and looking nice. But, both dogs do need baths on occasion. Be sure you understand your dog's breed and their fur coat well. Our boxer-bulldog-mutt has very short, wiry, oily fur and does best with every other month baths. The terrier has longer, shaggier fur and needs monthly baths. Research your pets and their fur so you understand how much and in what ways you should bathe them--it could save you time and money and could also keep your dog's coat healthy.
• Learn to brush their teeth and clip their nails--Our terrier is a pill with nail clipping, so I do pay someone to do that, but I just found a BETTER groomer that will do the clipping for HALF what the many places around us charge! And, she's mobile and will come to us! Be sure you are comparing prices! Our other dog loves the attention showered on her when we brush her teeth but her nails are extremely thick and hard to cut, even after learning to do it myself so I also pay the groomer to do this, but taking her for regular walks helps to keep the nails from growing excessively long so I don't have to get this done as often as with our terrier. 
• Walk your dogs (or cats or bunnies or whatever...)--walking your pets is great for them and for you and by extension for your wallet. It's FREE, it can be entertaining, the whole family can make it a regular outing, and as mentioned above, for some pets it can help with their nail-trimming needs. It keeps you and your pet healthy too. Unless the weather is rotten, walking might be the most perfect activity there is!
• Consider if your pet and your wallet would benefit from a pet insurance plan--I used to think these were total scams until our mutt had to go to the vet SIX TIMES in one year because she kept eating things she shouldn't be eating (Legos, half of a very long garden hose, a rock) and because she is prone to impacted anal glands resulting in abscesses. Most of the time I can head off the anal gland-abscess problems, but not always. The eating-things-she-shouldn't was totally unexpected. Both are expensive problems. Our other dog is a senior citizen and has some minor but chronic health problems. Last year, those problems led to some dental issues. I calculated the cost of the pet plans I purchased for both dogs just prior to last year and compared it to the costs of not having the plans--between the two dogs, I saved $650 dollars in one year on veterinary care just by having those plans. It hurt to see that money leave my bank account every month, but knowing that it did save me in the long run and protected my dogs' health made it worth it. Of course, this is a case of spending money to save money. You'll have to figure out if you can manage this or if you are too broke for even that, in which case see if there is a veterinary school in your area that might provide services for less. Look for free clinics, free or low cost vaccination events, and so on.
• Ask for samples and coupons--samples and coupons aren't just for humans. I recently got a sample of dog food from PinchMe.com that my dogs LOVED and it was big enough to replace two meals. It was FREE! My vet periodically has samples as well, and some companies will send you samples or coupons if you just ask. This works for dog food, cat food, rabbit food, guinea pig bedding, and a lot more! Some companies will also send you samples and coupons for non-food items too.
• Learn to make your own dog food and how to handle upset doggy tummies--ask your vet about cottage cheese, boiled chicken or ground beef (gross but it worked for my dog...ask YOUR VET first though!), plain rice, and so on. After consulting with our vet, I discovered some really cheap ways to make our dog's food stretch, but you really MUST consult your vet before altering your pet's food or treating upset tummies or other health issues at home. For our dogs' particular needs, we've stretched their diet both when they've been sick and when we've been broke by adding some plain boiled rice, diced carrot, a little leftover pumpkin puree and so on in with their regular food--NEVER give pumpkin pie MIX to a dog though! The spices in the mix can be deadly to your dog!
• Skip a bunch of toy--your pet probably only needs one or two toys if you are careful. Don't let your pet play with toys unattended and be sure to pick up the toys after they are done playing or when you need to leave your pet alone. Inspect the toys regularly to make sure they are in good condition and don't pose a choking or other health hazard to your pet--I've seen many people in the Emergency Department where I work come in with injuries sustained while trying to rescue a choking pet. The cause of the choking is almost always an old, worn out, or damaged pet toy. It's emotionally horrible as often the pets die, but it's also very expensive to have an Emergency Department visit on top of costs associated with any veterinary visits in an attempt to save the pet and/or arrangements when the pet dies.

 As, I mentioned in THIS post, you MUST get the book Tightwad Gazette from your library! It is a wealth of information about how to live on less and make a penny really stretch. If it’s not available, see if your library participates in OverDrive so you can get it as a digital loan. It has amazing ideas and resources that really saved us when money was so tight I was in utter despair at how to make ends meet.

I hope you enjoyed this series on what to do when you are desperately broke! Come back again to see what else we are up to in order to save a penny and pay down some debt!