Cost Saving Tips

Products and house hold items can add up quickly especially if you're on a budget or perhaps spent a little to much over the holidays.  So I thought it would be the perfect time to pass on some cost saving tips I regularly use around my house.
Hopefully you might find a few new ideas that you can use in your own home.

When it comes to creams, lotions, and even some hair care products that come in tubes it can be a challenge to get that last little bit out of the tube.  Sometimes these products are not inexpensive and I don't think anyone likes wasting money by throwing it away.

So what can you do?
Simply cut the tube in half and scoop out the top portion into the bottom portion. I find that the easiest way to cut it (especially if you don't have the sharpest scissors) is to poke a whole into the center and cut around it.
Then you can use the top half as the lid, and by folding in one side of the bottom (just use your thumb to fold it in slightly) you can then slide it over the bottom half.  You will be surprised at how much product is actually still left. I can easily get another couple of weeks out of my facial moisturizer when I do this.

                 

Do you use cosmetic makeup pads?  You can cut them in half if you don't need to use the whole thing all at once.  Some brands you can actually pull apart when they are wet so you can get double the use out of them.

The same thing goes for Q-tips, if you're only using one side you can cut off one end or cut them in half.  Once cut in half you can put a bunch of them in a small container to use as needed.

Re-use and re-purpose food containers, things like yogurt, sour cream and coffee containers. Glass jars are also ideal to reuse (just remember to remove the labels) to help organize drawers and cabinets. Glass jars are especially nice because you can see whats in them and even add your own labels.

Shoebox storage with
receipt storage in Kleenex box

Shoeboxes and other small boxes you might have around the house along with toilet paper rolls can be helpful free organizing tools.  The toilet paper rolls work really well for things like pens, pencils or storing cables and cords. You can easily cut the toilet paper rolls down in size if they are to tall to fit in a drawer.

Empty Kleenex boxes and gift bags are both great for organizing or storing extra plastic bags, receipts and other paper work.

If you have a nice small box and some thicker fabric you can make your own ring and earrings holder.  You just need to fold the fabric back and forth like a fan and place it inside the box.

For rings and earrings

 Do you ever have some nice white cardboard pieces left over from packaging?  You can reuse that too.
I used it in my makeup drawer to hold my small round eye shadows in place so that I could easily see them.
They are also great to use as dividers in drawers because they can be folded or cut to fit.


 

Reusing white cardboard packaging to help organize makeup.

As many of us already know the dollar store can be a great place to save money on things like microfiber cloths, wax paper, paper and office supplies, small storage solutions and craft supplies.
Sometimes you really need to get creative and look at things not just for what they are typically used for but what else they could be used for. For example when I was looking for something that would look nice but not take up a lot of space to store some earrings I spotted this trivet in the kitchen section. It works perfectly for me.

Using a Dollar Store trivet to hang earrings.