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We are currently living on one modest income and have 4 children. We are avoiding all new debt and trying to pay down our last existing debt (our home) as quickly as possible while still putting aside money for retirement and college expenses. Frugal living is essential to our lifestyle! This page will list many of the things we do to keep our expenses low. Check back from time to time as I add more ideas.
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I sew our clothes from inexpensive but good quality materials. Everyone but DH right now sports homemade things. I`m working on my tailoring skills so soon DH will be homemade chic too.
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We only cook from scratch around here. Avoiding mixes, most eating out, drinks other than water, and prepared foods allows us to feed our family of 6 for $225 a month.
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We use cloth everything. Including cloth shop towels instead of paper, cloth napkins, cloth diapers, cloth wipes, and even cloth toilet paper. (Just flannel cut into 9" squares and rolled hem. Luxuriously soft.) We avoid as many disposeable products as possible.
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I do have a clorox ready mop (No affiliation) but instead of buying their refill packages, I cut an old pair of sweatpants into the same size rectangles. I wet them slightly before putting them in the mop and they scrub better than the disposeable pads do. Also I feel free to change the pad frequently for really dirty floors, because it's not costing me money! I refill the mop with my own floor cleaning solution too. I use expensive cleaner but it only takes a teaspoon a month, so I allow myself the luxury.
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Recently, I bought a Mr. Clean Scrub and Reach for the bathtub. I plan to sew cloths for this too instead of buying the refills. I will start with recycled sweatshirt fleece and heavy netting for a nice scrub.
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Another "disposeable" cleaning tool I have, is a toilet wand that clips in those flushable papery toilet cleaning refills. I wasn't very impressed with how fast the paper broke down as I tried to scrub, but when I used a washcloth folded in 8ths clipped into the wand--it was perfect. When I'm done scrubbing I just release the cleaning cloth into the trash can that holds our used washable toilet wipes waiting to be washed.
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