3 Year Plan

Today I made a new batch of dishwasher detergent.  I have been doing this for about a year and haven’t yet shared on any of my blogs so I’ll be sharing on Fun Family Tips soon as well.

Many of the recipes that you will find online call for washing soda instead of baking soda.  I had trouble finding washing soda when I first started this, so I looked it up and found out that there is a difference between the two, but it is in the manufacturing.  From what I read if you combine baking soda with boiling water, it will chemically change to the same product as washing soda when it is dehydrated. (Does anyone know where to find this article? I’d love to properly cite it but can’t remember where I read it.)

Now, I admit–I’m too lazy to do that.  So I decided to give baking soda a try instead (knowing that it is going to get to be at least 120 degrees inside my dishwasher anyway).  It worked perfectly–and has been working perfectly for months.  A word of caution: don’t expect miracles–you can’t toss baked-on crusted-on dishes in the dishwasher with this stuff and expect it to come out sparkling (or for your dishwasher to keep running for very long for that matter).  However, if you rinse your dishes lightly before placing them in this dishwasher, this is a super easy way to save.  It takes me about 2 minutes to make several months worth of detergent and a side benefit: I never have to worry about running out!

To make:

Mix 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup borax, and 1 package of lemonade or lemon-lime flavored kool-aid packet (this helps to cut grease – DO NOT use a red or dark colored kool-aid! Your dishes WILL stain!).  Store in your old detergent box or a plastic container will do.  I store mine in the last dishwasher detergent box that I bought sometime last year for now.

One of the strategies that has worked well for cutting down on our grocery costs has been stockpiling.  I stockpile based on sales and the coupons that I have.

Basically, if it isn’t on sale, I’m probably not buying when it comes to groceries and toiletries.  Now this definitely wasn’t always the case–there was a time when I was younger and married that we blew $150-200 on groceries every two weeks.  After my son was born, I started to cut costs down a little bit, but didn’t really know what I was doing yet.  Now, my grocery bill is usually between $25-50 a week and we’re often able to skip grocery shopping for several weeks at a time.

When I began stockpiling, I actually spent more money on groceries than I had before.  This was because we still needed food and things that weren’t on sale while I was stocking up on the things that were.  This is pretty typical, but the long-term savings makes it SO worthwhile! Now, by stockpiling and planning my meals (I’ll post about that later), I almost never need anything that isn’t on sale.

I most frequently shop at Publix because they offer great Buy 1 Get 1 Free (BOGO) deals.  I love the way that Publix does this because instead of making 1 item truly “free” they make both items half price (Harris Teeter does as well).  They also accept coupons for EACH of the two BOGO items which leads to AMAZING savings and I often get food for free as a result (see the 3 French’s mustard and the Helluva Good Dip in the picture below-all were free).  Publix also doubles coupons up to .50 face value everyday.  Oh–and if you’ve ever been in a Publix, it’s almost a surreal experience compared to other grocery stores because their stores and clean, well stocked, and their employees are pleasant.

Harris Teeter doubles coupons up to .99 face value everyday and often has super double coupons (double coupons up to 1.98 face value) or triple coupons.  I do enjoy shopping at Harris Teeter but it is about 45 minutes away from my home.. There is a Publix 5 minutes from my home and another 5 minutes from my office.  BUT–I hear that they are building a Harris Teeter closer to my home, so we’ll have to see how it goes!

I cut and collect coupons like crazy.  I get the Sunday paper, get mailers with coupons, and print coupons from places like CoolSavings, Coupons.com, Redplum, and Smartsource. Then I compare the weekly sales ads to the coupons that I have and put the item on my list only if I can buy at a rockbottom price. This often means that I end up buying multiples of an item.  I have shelves in my garage dedicated to nonperishable food storage and this method has really been working out well for us.  The savings is incredible and it is allowing me to save cash so much quicker than before!

What my shopping trips are like: Look at the photo above.  This is this week’s shopping trip.  (There were actually 2 more cans of Chef Boyardee but they got snagged before I took the photo).  What I paid for all of this? $26.33.  My total savings for this shopping trip was $58.32.

Not bad!

Clearly, if you read my post from last night, they’re still not working Hopefully I get that figured out soon..