Small Frugal Habits That Save Money Around the House

Join us for this fun, fast-paced video where show you ways we are saving money in each room of our house. People consistently ignore habits that they feel “aren’t worth their time”, because they aren’t saving enough money by doing them. But, when it comes to frugal-living, it’s the small amounts of money that add up to big money over time. Let’s talk about it.

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We're Hope and Larry and we love practical frugality. We raised our four sons, debt-free, including paying cash for our home when our income was well under the national average. For tips on saving money, budgeting, paying off debt, and setting goals (while living with a spirit of joy and abundance), subscribe to us here on YouTube and visit us at our website and on social media.

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[anamindrescu]

Hi, Larry and Hope I have a video idea.
A home tour.
I've seen a lot of people do them, but I feel they are all the same. Yours seems so fascinating from the clips you post .
I hope this comment hits more likes so we will see a home tour in the future.
Sending love to your family.

[Midwestmomvolunteer]

This should be a must watch for like 80% of the population. I often speak to people complaining about costs and ugh, its so frustrating to see their habits. Sharing this video, hoping to start a cascade of education on how simple things can really make an impact!

[sophianachtigall]

For some people, things that you just showed are common sense. For others, it is revolutionary discovery. My husband and I are both raised in frugal families. So, responsible usage of resources is in our genes. But I see people struggling with things that are common sense to me. For example, our dear friends had some plans for kitchen renovations and had enough money for that. Then they realized it would be great that the rest of the house is nice as kitchen would be. So they took a loan from the bank to renovate complete house. That is on top of mortgage they took 2 years ago so interest rates on such a behavior is unbelievable. And the hause is in good condition as it is. Not too old. Would it look better after renovation? Absolutely!
And mind you, our friends are highly educated people. They work well payed jobs. What I try to say is: financial common sense has nothing to do with education. You get those habits elsewhere.

[brg]

When a tub of watermelon cut up is $10, and a whole melon is $3.99 on sale, it is easy to choose a cheaper way. Shocking to me how many people buy the $10 tub. It isn't that difficult to cut up a melon.

[rochellethundercloud]

Keep everything properly maintained.
Clean vents, fans, under and behind appliances.soak faucets in white vinegar to clean hard water and calcium deposits.
Make sure your winter gear is ready now, in mid July.
Sounds crazy .why would I use the heater in 100 degree heat.
To see what works, what needs to be replaced or repaired.
Getting that done off season saves thousands of dollars and a lot of stress

[sstephens]

Outlets…the UK has on and off switches on their outlets. Is that something we can even buy and install in America? That would be so much nicer than having to install power strips everywhere.

[Maililnajul]

We have 39 year old toilets but for probably 35 of their years we have had sealed plastic containers with rocks and water to displace some of the water the tank needs. Plus we don’t always flush the liquid. We live in the desert where water is precious.

[ObiMomKenobi]

My mom used to cook Sloppy Joes, leftovers became chili, leftover chili became chili-mac, And she pretty much added macaroni and tomatoes to that until someone got food poisoning or she saw mold. My dad spent the savings on beer.
I was going for the joke, but now I'm seeing it wasn't funny at all.

[annm.]

Just installed a turn-off switch for the shower. You use water for a minute, then turn the switch and soap up. Then turn on the water again. No need to let the water run while you are soaping up or adding shampoo!

[als]

I like using Cast Iron when cooking. I can shut off the gas burner and it will still keep cooking for a good five to seven minutes. We all like non stick but you'll find out that buying a good set of stainless steel pots and pans as well as cast Iron skillets will last you a lifetime. When you're gone your kids can use them for the rest of their lives. I started out with non stick cookware and found out that I had to replace them every five to seven years because over time the Teflon coatings would start to chip. Had I started out with stainless and cast Iron cookware I figured that I could have saved over two hundred dollars, that I spent replacing non stick cookware over a thirty year period. I've had a couple people chime in on different social media platforms that they're using their grandparents stainless steel cookware that was bought back in the nineteen fifties and sixties. A lot of guys over on Reddit on the Cast Iron Subreddit are always trying to find old cast Iron cookware at yard sales, Goodwill, thrift stores and even flea markets.

[leahmccurdy]

The aluminium foil on the crock pot is one I haven’t heard of before. Great idea!

[MegaBpop]

I am so excited for this start tonight! Boy, did I learn a lot from getting my 85 y o mom from
Houston, hurricane last week. After 11.5 days she now has power. I recommend getting a quiet generator. Ppl were stealing generators at night.

[terryhenderson]

We hand wash our dishes. I use a dish pan. I begin with enough soap for a full dish pan's worth but put very little water in to begin with. I wash a bunch of dishes in that concentrated dish water then rinse them over the dish pan until the dish pan is about half full. Mean while stacked dishes sit to the side of the soap water dish pan and asnimrinse dishes, I do them over dirty dishes so as to rinse them off as I go.

[marilynrybak]

I have been using my small plastic grocery bags that I saved before using the reusable bags- for not only the kitty litter cleaning when I scoop the poop, but also now for my kitchen trash - instead of buying the tall kitchen trash bags. I ran out of the tall kitchen bags over a month ago and have not purchased a new box of bags because the small grocery store plastic bags actually work just fine! I still have about 100 previously saved grocery store bags - so, I expect I have a few more months before I have to purchase trash bags again. So- likely about a $30 savings. I agree- any bit of small savings helps especially when working on paying off credit cart debt. The small savings (money you do not spend) can then be added to your monthly credit card payment to help pay off the balance faster.

[Joce]

We put a shower curtain rod in the center of the bath tub area.(no tall family members, lol) It is so easy to put clothes to drip dry on a hanger there
for our daily hand washed laundry.

[eattapringle]

WARNING!!! Please do NOT use those CF bulbs at all. I saw online where a lady's house caught fire because the bulb heated up. I thought "Ok, whatever. That doesn't happen, and brushed it off." And then one day the bulb in our bathroom started smoking! It was overheating. If my child wouldn't have seen it, our house would have caught fire. They are DANGEROUS! We are totally LED now.

[susanmclachlan]

Your home is so real. It looks comfortable and achievable. In another way, it looks as if you need to save the money (I mean that in a complimentary way) and you don't use up money on modernization or updates. I hope this comes across as I mean it to; I mean it to say you are an inspiration.

[DawnieRotten]

Tap water really grosses me out (for cooking/drinking/brushing teeth), so I filter mine. When I brush my heat up water to almost warm in my teapot, to pour into my 'bathroom cup'....and return to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Running water used to rinse toothbrush clean, only.

And speaking of brushing have not bought (TOXIC) toothpaste in YEARS! I make my own! There are 3 types that I make....1) Baking Soda & Peroxide w/ a few drops of Mint Essential Oil. 2) Baking Soda and Organic Coconut Oil w/mint oil (do NOT spit the coconut OIL down your DRAINS!). 3) Baking Soda and Organic ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar, such as Bragg); NO mint. All of this stuff is 'FREE", from your kitchen!

Wasting water showering is not a problem for me since I take 1-2 showers a week. 'WASHING UP' DAILY is perfectly fine unless one is doing something that gets you filthy!
I also wear clothes more than once before they go in the laundry; and therefore, I mostly have ONE load per month. Also saves 'wear & tear' on your clothes, not washing them so often.

I ALWAYS wash/re-use zip bags!! Bags with meats/greasy stuff get used as 'mini garbage' bags. I throw NOTHING away in my kitchen garbage 'can' that will STINK. And food scraps/un-eaten wet cat food, sink drain catcher/basket crap, ect, gets thrown in the 'mini garbage' (which could also be bread/roll bags, produce plastic bags. newspaper delivery [when it rains] bags), which gets thrown in the outside garbage every 3 days. My kitchen garbage bag I have for FOUR MONTHS before I take it to the outside garbage bin and get a new garbage bag!! lol Veg/Fruit scraps, coffee grounds/tea bags go into my garden compost; and eggshells get saved to turn into Calcium Powder for the garden. And, of course....recycle goes into the recycle bin. (I SAVE a lot of store-bought glass jars to reuse for other things)


That's one thing that I do NOT plan. I shop the SALES and am well stocked, so I have a 'mini grocery store' in my apartment and can eat whatever I'm in the mood for. Obviously, the FRESH stuff (veg/fruit/dairy) gets eaten before it goes bad. But if one knows how to 'STORE' these things, they last quite a while! I can get my 3 pk of Organic Romaine to last a whole month w/o going 'off'. Potatoes should be stored in a DARK, COOL place (like in a bottom kitchen cabinet). Potatoes can also be turned into (cooked) MANY things, and then FREEZE them (DEHYDRATE potatoes, be turned into 'instant' potato 'flakes' or sliced). HOW to store food is really important!


All good tips, Hope & Larry!!

[nurseallie]

I go around the house turning off the lights and unplug everything, I do it so much that I’m starting to do it at work! People must think I’m nuts but it’s amazing how wasteful people are. I wonder what their electric bills are 😂😂

[janetstonerook]

I usually avoid using my washer/dryer or my stove or oven on hot days. Last week on those 90°+ days I had a bunch of fresh produce I needed to work up. I froze what I could. But then I canned two turns of vegetable soup base and a turn of blueberry jam. Arrgh! It was miserable and I was so overheated! 🔥 🔥 🔥 It took me at least 24 hours to cool the house back down to liveable! It was a hard call but I'm glad I sweltered through. I have a good supply of home canned food for the coming months for very little cost. It was worth the misery! 😊