Just last months ago, I had a stockpile garage sale – for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a garage sale with alllll my extra items that I’ve accumulated with coupons. During that sale I sold almost 90% of all the stuff I had. I then bagged up health and beauty and gave to my Mother-in-Law to give to some folks at the church.
But then after that saleI realized I had one tiny little problem: I SOLD ALL MY MR. CLEAN!
Uh-oh. I usually mop my floors with Vinegar/water, or if I have it, Mr. Clean. But I was out of both, and I did not want to go back to the store just for Vinegar – I mean, ya go in for vinegar and ya come out with a TON of stuff you don’t need. Right? For me anyways.
So frugal living here I come. What can I use to mop my floors…………hmmm…………….scouring the house. Listerine! AHA! Yes, I’m serious…..Listerine. And that’s the only thing I really kept back …because Dear Hubby goes thru that stuff like crazy.
Add a capful of listerine to a gallon of water and mop vinyl or tile floors. The same product that kills your bad breath and mouth germs also zaps the nasty gunk that you walk on in your house. Bet ya didn’t know that huh?
That leads me to identify some other “frugal” living tips:
Freshen your toilet bowl with denture or antacid tablets in between scourings – then let it sit 20 min, brush, and flush. OR…(this may sound weird but it works) dump a can of cola in the toilet for one hour and leave it sit. The acid in the coke removes the rust and mineral deposits in your toilet. (Wow…I wonder what it does to my teeth??)
Fill a spray bottle with a vinegar/water mixture and spray your shower/shower curtain, fixtures, etc after you take a shower. It will help prevent mildew and mold and …best of all…it’s cheap!
Use lemons to clean your microwave! I know I have a big lemon tree…and I’m always wondering what to do with allll those lemons. Cut them in half, squeeze the juice into a bowl, and put the bowl and the squeezed lemons in the microwave and zap them for 5 min. The fresh scent will eliminate odors, and the condensation will loosen all the gunk that may be sitting in your microwave. Wipe the inside of the microwave with a damp cloth after the five minutes and whoola! Brand spankin’ new!
Want a cheap alternative to fabric softener? Use vinegar. Add 1 C. of white vinegar to the rinse cycle…works fantastic. Removes odors and residue, and helps keep the washer clean and the hoses clean too. I have been using Vinegar in lieu of fabric softener for going on five years. Yes, Vinegar smells, but the smell dissipates! Trust me! If it didn’t, my 16 month old wouldn’t cling to me so much :)
For those of you who prefer smelly fabric softener, try this out: Buy 1 container of name-brand fabric softener, and buy 4 inexpensive sponges (cut them in half). Pour the softener into a bucket, and then fill the empty fabric softener container twice with water (two parts water to one part softener). Mix it well. Put the sponges in the softener/water mix. When you are ready to use, ring out the extra mixture from the sponge and add the dryer just like you would a dryer sheet. When the load is dry, take the sponge and put back in the bucket for next time!
Any frugal living tips you want to share with us? For those of you who haven’t yet gone into the “Frugal Living” portion of my site, there is a plethora of info there…. go HERE to see all the topics!
Ahhhh, you never cease to amaze me Ms Freapiness!!! New things I’d never heard of- except vinegar for EVERYTHING?? idk, idk!
Do you do decent at your garage sales? I was thinking about that awhile back.
email me and ill tell u all about it ;)
Someone once told me to use fine grit sand paper in lieu of a pumice stone on the mineral ring on my toilets. I already had some in the garage and so it didn’t cost me anything and works great! Also works on sinks near the drain where mineral build up occurs.
I heart the sponge fabric softener!
I just heard last week about using vinegar for fabric softener, I cannot wait to try it! I’m on my last bottle of softener!
You can also take an empty fabric softener bottle, pour equal amounts of the name brand softener, water and vinegar into the empty and use like normal softener. It works great, and saves on the cost of the softener. I like some sent on my clothes but ALWAYS forget to add dryer sheets!
I do the vinegar for fabric softener and the lemon in the microwave think too – love it!
Another idea for lemons for cleaning your sink….cut the lemon in half and squeeze each side the lemon all over your sink. Then sprinkle baking soda in your sink (it fizzes, it’s kind of cool) then use the lemon rind as a ‘sponge’ and scrub your sink out. Rinse completely. It’s eco-friendly, it smells good and your sink looks new!
Lemons and sea salt also work grea to clean wood cutting boards, and putting cut citurs in your garbage disposal gets rid of the stench!!
Re your garage sale: how did you price your stockpile items?