I am poor. I am not going to say that I am ashamed or that I want pity, because I’m not, and I don’t. There were and are many different factors that have played their parts in causing me to have little to no money. Life happens, and it is not always within the realm of your control. In my case physical medical issues have played a massive role in limiting my funds. I had to quit working full time and medical bills on top of my new car payment at the time and I was newly moved out into my own place. All of those things combined, drained me of all of my savings… I was pretty proud of my savings account. At that time in my life I was extremely comfortable and had over $15,000 saved back. I planned on buying a house when I found one I loved.
But life had other plans for me. My full time job was cut to only 5 hours a day because my hip pain was so severe I could hardly walk (and I only made minimum wage which was $10.50 an hour then, and I never made more than $13.). I was 20 years old at the time. And my job was and always had been a job where you were on your feet all day every day. That type of work showed no mercy for my pain.
I spent thousands trying to get help, only to be told (by a sports medicine specialist) that he couldn’t help me. I went on limping for over a year more thinking “this is my life now”. Well I couldn’t take the pain anymore, I found a different doctor who said it was a simple surgery needed and it could be fixed no problem.
Well all this time I was spending more on bills than I was making and my funds were declining quickly.
After my surgery on my hip I had to spend extra on a device that I had to use to keep my hip moving, and couldn’t work for over 2 months. Even when I went back, I was still only on part time because it could take a year or so to be back to 100%.
At the end of that same year I found out I was pregnant with my son! Needless to say, I never did go back to working full time. And while that was the best thing for me and my son, it was not the best thing for my money situation. In just a few years I ran completely (and I mean completely) out of money twice. I was so poor at times that I was digging through my car and corners of the apartment for enough change to buy eggs. (Eggs were .99-$1.99 then).
I tell you all of this because I want you to know that, yes, I do know what it is actually like to be poor. I am not just giving you a random list of things to do or implement into life that I haven’t tried and done myself!
So on that note, let’s dive right into the things that I have done and still do to save money while also being a mother of two young children!
- Dryer balls. This may sound simple but I use dryer balls now instead of using dryer sheets. And while I honestly miss the smell of a dryer sheet, this will save you paying a few unnecessary dollars. You pay once for the wool balls and throw them in the dryer, and then forget that they are even in there!
- Menstrual cup (if you have periods of course) I’ve been using a period cup for years now and it has saved me from buying a $7 box (or more) of tampons for a heavy period. Period underwear are an alternative if you don’t like the cup! I used the underwear for postpartum and postpartum periods until my period cup was able to be used again. But highly recommend!! And the cups can last 5+ years, think of all that money you’ll be saving!
- Washable swiffer pads: I got mine from Grove but any would probably work. My next thing to buy is a refillable swiffer bottle!
- Make your coffee at home, and if you have some left in the pot, save it for tomorrow! Just think, sometimes you can buy a fairly big tub of ground coffee for like $10 and it lasts for quite a while, and if you compare that to buying a $5 dollar coffee every day… we’ll you can see that it is way cheaper from home in the long run. Now I’m not saying you can’t treat yourself, it just be mindful and use moderation.
- Powdered laundry detergent: it lasts longer, smells better, and works better too in my opinion. Plus most come in cardboard boxes which recycle better! Win, win.
- Powdered dishwasher detergent: for the same reasons as listed below but also, if you have an older dishwasher like mine, you for sure don’t want to use pods as the lining can get lodged in places as cause issues (take it from experience.)
- Clean with vinegar: now I don’t clean everything with vinegar but, that being said, it is a very powerful odor eliminator and I use it to clean our Guinea pig cage (which smells….bad, Guinea pigs stink) When cleaning in the house though you can add some lemon to make it smell nice and citrusy! Use essential oils or after using a lemon, just drop the peels in the vinegar and water mixture in your spray bottle and viola!
- This is pretty obvious but watch prices of items you buy, most price tags will have somewhere in small print a spot that tells you the price per ounce, so compare your tags! Sometimes smaller cans of food are cheaper per oz than the big can or vice versa!
- Eat your leftovers!
- Get a few chickens: chickens lay eggs obviously, so they feed you, and you can throw them your scraps and they in turn leave wonderful fertilizer in your yard that you can also put in your garden! And the 50lb bag of feed lasts about 2 months or so and it’s only around $25.
- Use rain water for your outdoor plants when you can, and even fill your chicken water with the rain runoff!
- As my father would say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” in other words, don’t replace something if it’s still working. I know that I’d love nothing more than to get rid of my kitchen cups and plates to have more aesthetic, but I’m poor and I can’t afford that luxury!
- If you have children, try to get clothes from others who have kids that have just grown out of their clothes. It helps a ton to get nice hand-me-downs.
- Washable diapers: yes it sounds daunting and maybe gross but honestly it’s not, I personally never found ones that worked great for us but I know they can! Also potty training of course will get rid of your diaper bill!!
- Yard sales and thrift stores: both are wonderful ways to find things for cheap, and you can even repaint or stain furniture to make it your own, and there’s always a plethora of kid and baby things like bouncers, swings, and toys!
- Run that dishwasher! Your dishwasher (especially newer ones) will use less water to clean your dishes than you doing it by hand.
So basically, use things that can be washed and reused, keep clean spaces, as it will be easier to maintain and use less cleaning products, and use concentrated cleaners when possible! And as a side note, using Dawn dish soap original, is by far the most effective soap that I’ve used on dishes!
I hope my tips here were helpful to you! Stay happy, and healthy, and save that money!
~A
Ink & Embers 