What do you do to cut expenses down?

[tortoise]

I use Amazon for bulk spices.

brilliant! thank you for sharing!

 

[Hinotori]

Check out restaurant supply stores as well. I like the asian stores too for spices.

I pick up wet packs of meats at the restaurant supply. They usually have weekly deals at the one i frequent. I picked up 18 lbs of beef tri-tips for $2.99/lb last week and will be smoking it tomorrow. They will be individually packed and frozen for future meals. I may slice some up for lunch meat as well.

 

[Marianne]

I see a need for a new thread. DIY cleaning products. @Marianne : I'm guessing you have a lot of recipes to share. Perhaps there is already a thread where some cleaning product recipes are already posted, and we just need to revive it? I like the idea of a thread where many recipes of like products are stored, instead of a single thread for each and every recipe!

What do you all think about different threads in cleaning supplies where we all post our recipes? One thread could be Homemade Kitchen Cleaners, and so on?
That might be the place to post a few 'different' cleaning tips... I read one the other day, to get rid of hard water and soap scum in your shower, spray Pam on it, wait 10 minutes and rub off. Hmmmm. Then we could post results. I do have knock-off Pam on my grocery list to try it.

 

[Marianne]

brilliant! thank you for sharing!

Our oldest clued me into this. We also buy big jugs of soy sauce, olive oil, things that last forever and things we use a lot of. Usually they're a lot cheaper than smaller packages.
My biggest surprise lately? Tomato Powder. When son was going to move up on the mountain, he didn't want to have to deal with a lot of trash. He uses a lot of tomato sauce, tomato paste, etc in his recipes. The tomato powder is great! Just a couple of spoons of it when you want a bit of tomato pop in your recipes without having to deal with half a can of paste. I buy a pound at a time on Azure, but Amazon also carries various brands.
https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/.../tomato-powder-dehydrated/11327?package=HS562

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Tomato Powder.

Awesome - who knew? I'm going to have to get me some of that!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

What do you all think about different threads in cleaning supplies where we all post our recipes? One thread could be Homemade Kitchen Cleaners, and so on?
That might be the place to post a few 'different' cleaning tips... I read one the other day, to get rid of hard water and soap scum in your shower, spray Pam on it, wait 10 minutes and rub off. Hmmmm. Then we could post results. I do have knock-off Pam on my grocery list to try it.

What other topics or categories? Agreed, cleaning tips should also be posted, along with results. I'd be concerned about increased fall risk using an oil type of spray in the bath tub. Let me know how that works.

 

[Marianne]

What other topics or categories? Agreed, cleaning tips should also be posted, along with results. I'd be concerned about increased fall risk using an oil type of spray in the bath tub. Let me know how that works.

Yes, I agree. DH and I talked about that. Even on the shower pan.... hmmm. You would just HAVE to use some type of oil-removing cleaner after it. I'm dealing with hard water deposits on the shower walls that vinegar won't budge. I'm trying not to use some creepy chemical stuff.

Categories
Kitchen Cleaners
Bathroom Cleaners
Floor and Furniture Cleaners
In the Laundry Room
All Purpose Cleaners
??????
Anyone else want to throw out a few ideas? Maybe have specific rooms like 'In the Bathroom', then all recipes with cleaners and pamper items could go there? Bath bombs, homemade toothpastes, that kind of stuff?

What'cha think?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

My "go to" for that really tough job is a tub and tile cleaner produced by Melaleuca. It's expensive, but purchased as a concentrate, so the overall cost is not that great. Plus... it works VERY well. I find that I'd rather spend a little bit of extra money for a product that gets the job done with less elbow grease on my part. I still have to scrub. But, this product is the best I've ever found. If using home made, I've found that my home made laundry detergent (full strength) works fairly well. We have hard water with high manganese and sulphur levels and I consider cleaning the tub to be the toughest, nastiest job in the house! So... I'll pay extra to get it done!!!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I tend to use the same cleaners in every room of the house... so wonder if the extra categories would be redundant? What ever folks think would be most useful/helpful to organize. Perhaps a single category with those topic search words? ...

 

[Marianne]

It's a conundrum. There is a lot of crossover.

The things I use in my living room when I get down to business: Window cleaner, anti static spray on the dust rag, dust mop treatment on the dust mop and laminate cleaner.
In the dining room, the same stuff.
In the kitchen, I use a countertop cleaner/disinfectant/degreaser stuff, homemade liquid dish soap, finally had to ditch the dishwasher pods, dang it, that was a real money saver. I use the same laminate cleaner and once in a blue moon I'll use the homemade oven cleaner, don't need the sink scrub since the countertop cleaner really works well and is easier. So, my kitchen cleaners have some things that wouldn't be used in most of the other rooms.

Search words certainly would be helpful. If we had to use just three basic categories, what would you suggest?