Cutting The Cleaning Supply Costs

We have been trying to cut costs here and there in an effort to not break the bank every time I need to head out grocery shopping.  We were able to cut our food costs drastically thanks to planting more quantity and variety in our gardens and raising some of our own meat but we were still spending way too much.  I go grocery shopping every two weeks for a family of five so my grocery bill will be more then someone how shops every week but it was getting to be outrageous.   It was time to figure out what was taking so much of my grocery money yet we seemed to run out of groceries all the time.  You guessed it, the largest expense of grocery shopping wasn't the groceries but the cleaning supplies.  I needed to keep things (laundry, dishes, house) clean so how could I cut those costs?  It was time to do something, but what could I do.  I loved my household/laundry supplies and bought only the brand that I had the best success with.  Yes they worked great but were they really worth the investment.  I liked the effectiveness of each of my cleaners and didn't want to have to start buying less effective cleaners because they were cheaper.  I would not be saving if I was buying double just to get the same effect.  I will admit it was a tough decision for me.

I had been Pintrest or as I like to call it my "Idea Site" and notice a lot of people pinning cleaning and laundry supplies saying it was costing them less then the store brands and how much safer it was.  I decided to "Pin" them and wondered if that would that be the answer I was looking for to cut the grocery bill?  Should I make my own cleaning supplies?   Did they really work as well as that person said or were they just too happy with the savings that they didn't really care about the effectiveness?  I pondered over the idea for a while before I decided to give making my own a try.  Okay, honestly the real reason I decided to try was I ran out of Jetdry one day and remembered someone saying use vinegar instead of Jetdry so I gave it a try.  Yup it worked just like they said it would and there was definitely a major saving between the vinegar and Jetdry.  That was all it took and I am now making my own cleaning supplies.  I have made my own orange cleaner, Clorox Wipes, laundry detergent.  I used vinegar as both Jetdry and fabric softener now and it works great.  It has been a slow go for me because I'm always thinking of the what how tos and what ifs involved with all the different cleaners. 

I just got back from my first grocery shopping trip where I did not purchase any cleaning supplies.  Yahoo!!  First let me say that it is strange not going into the cleaning supplies isles at all.  It just seemed like I was forgetting something while I was shopping but I wasn't.... This might take some getting used to but its well worth it.  This shopping trip alone I saved around $50.00 on my grocery bill for 2weeks which means I was spending approximately $100.00 a month on just cleaning supplies! I should mention that this savings is also considering I shopped at the discounted stores (family dollar/dollar general).  I couldn't imagine what the savings would be if I was buying them at our regular grocery stores I would probably double that savings. 

With all that savings plus the realization of how easy and effective making my own cleaning supplies work I should be one happy person right now.  I am actually a little uncomfortable knowing that I was basically "washing" money down the drain all that time.... I say this often but I will just consider it another lesson learned.   I will however move on knowing I will be saving all that money from here on out!