11 Wasteful Practices Costing You Hundreds Of Dollars
Last Updated on by Bree
Are you aware of how our wasteful practices are costing us more money?
I’m talking about how we use laundry supplies, basic hygiene products, and all that.
While wasteful habits appear normal to some of us, we may not realize how much money we’re flushing down the drains.
So in this post, we’ll talk about how to get your money’s worth from every product you buy, and hopefully, improve your wasteful habits.
Let’s dive in.
11 Wasteful Practices Costing You Dollars
Wasteful practices with cleaning supplies
Cleaning supplies seem to be one of the things we waste the most.
1. Dish soap
The way some of us use dish soap is out of this world. Once the soap isn’t running out as much as it did when it was full, we’d toss the bottle in the trash.
Of which we can see there’s still some soap left because dish soap bottles are usually clear – thankfully.
What if I told you that the soap left in that container would wash your dishes about two more times?
Here’s what you’d do:
Unscrew the dish soap bottle top, then run some water into it, and shake the bottle vigorously.
This would rinse the inside of the bottle and collect all the leftover soap.
You can either pour that into your water to wash dishes or leave it for the bubbles to settle, then use it the next day.
This is what I do for every dish soap bottle that runs out.
Now you’ve got your money’s worth from that product.
2. Liquid laundry detergent
Use the same method suggested for your dish soap for liquid laundry detergent.
If you’ve poured out what’s left in your laundry detergent gallon, and you’re tempted to open a new one, try rinsing the gallon and see how much soap is left there.
Still, if you feel it’s not enough, then you can add more from a new gallon.
But I doubt it because we only use half of the detergent measuring cup, if not less.
So rinsing out the gallon plus the last bit you poured out should wash your clothes clean.
I hope this makes sense.
3. Hand soap
This one may be tricky because hand soap containers are usually small, and we tend to throw them away.
But what if you have one good (and cute) hand soap pump bottle, then buy a big size bottle of hand soap to refill when you run out?
That’s what I do in my house, and it works.
You may also love 13 Things You Need To Stop Buying To Save Money.
Wasteful Food Practices
Now you can’t do anything when your milk gallon is empty, but there are some food products you can still suck your dollars out of.
4. Vegetable oil
We all know how vegetable oil moves when the bottle is almost empty.
And while it may seem empty, there’s still some product collected on the insides of the bottle.
So instead of throwing it away, do this:
Here’s what you do:
Replace the cap on the vegetable oil bottle, and stand it upside down on your counter where nothing or anything would knock it down.
And whatever oil is left in the bottle would collect in the bottleneck.
It should be enough to fry eggs or make a small meal that requires very little oil.
5. Can foods pasta sauce
While pasta sauce is not usually on my grocery list, I sometimes get them as gifts from family and friends.
And I’ve noticed how thick and rich this precious sauce is.
So whenever I pour it into the pot, I always add a little water to rinse out the can. And I’d tell you that it doesn’t make the sauce any less thick than it would normally be.
Also, if you add the right seasoning, I’m certain your sauce would still taste great.
So don’t go tossing about one tablespoon of pasta sauce in the bin.
Have you considered making your own pasta sauce?
Check out 5 Foods You Are Wasting Your Money On.
6. Cooked foods
Some of us always cook more than we need, and freshly cooked leftovers always end up in the trash.
That’s just wasteful and indisciplined.
Try your hardest to cut recipes to the smallest portion, and freeze leftovers.
You don’t have to eat them tomorrow, but you can eat them the day or week after.
It hurts me to see people cook food today, eat some, and throw the rest away.
Why are you throwing your money away?
7. Raw vegetables
Another wasteful practice some of us are guilty of is tossing fresh vegetables in the bin, for no reason.
For instance, you cut a tomato, and use only some of it, don’t throw the rest away.
Put that half tomato in a ziplock, and add it to your omelet or salad bowl tomorrow.
I’m sure you can find other ways to eat that tomato instead of throwing it away.
Wasteful habits with personal hygiene products
8. Toothpaste
You don’t need as much toothpaste as the ads portray. Less than half of that is enough to clean your mouth.
Also, when using your toothpaste and it looks like it’s almost empty, make sure to squeeze out every lump you see on the tube.
You’d get enough toothpaste to brush your teeth two or three more times.
Then you can toss it in the trash.
9. Bath soap
Do you throw away your soap bar once it’s small and flat?
Here’s my hack for small soap: squeeze it into your bathing gloves or washcloth, and wash your body with it.
Then if that’s not enough, you can go ahead and use a new soap bar.
And yes, it would break into tiny bits, but the waste wouldn’t be as much as the piece you were going to throw away before.
10. Shower gel, body wash, bath foam
As for shower gel and the likes, make sure you’re rinsing out the container when it’s almost empty.
Run water into the container, shake it up and pour it onto your bath sponge or washcloth.
It would be foamy enough to clean your body.
Don’t waste that product, girl.
11. Body lotions & creams
Those tall lotion bottles with a pump top (Gold bond, Olay, and the likes) are very convenient to use until they don’t pump anymore.
And the thing is, when you lift the bottle it feels heavy but it just won’t pump out.
Here’s what you do:
Get a knife and cut the lotion bottle in half, then scoop all that product into a wide-mouth body cream container with a lid.
Then use it as you would a body cream or keep it on your bathroom countertop as your go-to hand cream after hand washing.
Take-out containers
One more wasteful practice I want to talk about before we wrap this up is the way we handle take-out containers.
If you order takeout and they come in good plastic bowls with lids, eat the food, but wash and keep those containers.
You can reuse them for meal prepping instead of buying new sets of containers for that.
Conclusion on 11 Wasteful Practices To Stop Today!
Boom! 11 wasteful practices that are costing you more money than you realize.
I understand that sometimes we do these things unconsciously, so it doesn’t mean we’re bad people, but it messes up our budget.
And if we can make little adjustments as suggested in this post, we would be getting our money’s worth from the products we purchase.
I hope you found a couple of tips to curb your wasteful habits.
Do you have any tips to share with us?
Please leave them in the comments.
Thanks for reading.
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