My Frugal Life: How I Save Money By Keeping a Clean House
True, I am a SAHM, but I do have other activities that keep me busy throughout the day, such as running a farm, and being a home schooling teaching mom. I find that I can clean our home in about 45 minutes a day. My children also take part in cleaning; as each is responsible for their own room and bathroom. They share laundry and kitchen chores. We don't buy fancy cleaners or air fresheners. We do a lot of our cleaning with lemon juice and salt, vinegar, baking soda, some bleach, and soap and water. For air freshener, we usually burn a candle or use a match. I will go through the typical home, room by room, and point out the ways that keeping it clean is saving us money.
Entryway or Doorway
I keep our entrances clean and free of clutter. First off, I don't want a guest (or anyone else) tripping over clutter and getting hurt or suing me. I keep a rug by each door for dirty or wet shoes to go onto. By encouraging people to take their shoes off at the door, it saves the life of the carpet and my carpet cleaner. I also make sure that once the shoes are cleaned and dried, that they then go into their proper closet.Living room, Family room, Hallways and Bedrooms
I vacuum or sweep daily. I also vacuum the heat registers and cold exchange ducts weekly. This keeps dust out of the air and makes it easier for those with allergies so that they do not have to take their allergy medicine as often, making it last longer. It also helps the furnace not to work as hard so the motor will last longer.Weekly (or more often if we use the fireplace), I wipe down the light bulbs with a damp rag, while the light bulbs are cold. Dusty lights do not put out as much light, which makes a person unnecessarily use a higher watt bulb, or turn on more lights than necessary. I also clean the globes on the ceiling light fixtures every month or more often. It only takes a couple of minutes for nice bright results.
I hit the windows once a week on the inside with a vinegar and water solution. The outside I get about once a month. I do have newer windows and I can get the outside from the inside. This allows more light into the house, keeping the lights off.
I wipe down the TV screen and electronics every few days. This keeps dirt and dust from collecting on them and making them last longer.
Once a day, I take a rag damp with vinegar water or bleach water (diluted) and wipe surfaces down to help prevent the passing on of germs. These surfaces include the remote controls, telephones, door and cabinet knobs. It only takes me about 5 minutes to do the entire house.
I don't like clutter in the house. I have been in houses where it is cold, and I see that they have boxes and stuff stacked up over the heat registers. I make sure ours are uncovered while the A/C or heat are on. I also make sure that clutter or shoes do not block doorways. This ensures that doors can be completely shut. I keep our closet doors closed so that we are not paying to heat or cool the inside of the closet.
Twice a year, I rotate and flip the mattresses and then vacuum them. This extends the life of the mattress. If you have a larger/heavier person in your home, you would probably want to flip and rotate them more often.
I wash the curtains every few months and rehang them in the opposite window. This allows them to sun fade more evenly and be replaced less often. I just throw them in with the regular laundry and line dry.
Kitchen and dining room
I keep my kitchen cabinets and pantry clean and organized. Why pay to go buy a spice or can of something you already have just because you can't find it? I run through the cabinets and pantry weekly, and rotate foods according to the dates on them. I do the same with the refrigerator. This prevents food waste and spoilage. Why spend money buying food to rot away? That's gross. When I do dishes, either in the dishwasher or the sink, I add several tablespoons of bleach or vinegar. This helps to kill germs and prevent colds from being passed on. I regularly clean the coils of the refrigerator and freezer, so that the motor doesn't have to work so hard and overheat. My trash is emptied daily, and my wastebasket is washed out at least once a week with soapy water to prevent it from smelling bad. This also helps to not attract bugs and other creatures into the house. (Anything that is a food item, I try to feed to the chickens or dog to cut down on feed costs.)Bathroom
The bathrooms get wiped down daily with vinegar water or bleach water. I keep lots of cheap toothbrushes on hand and change them frequently. This helps to cut down on colds and sore throats. The bathroom trash is emptied daily. I make sure wet towels are hung up to dry and not sitting aro und to mildew. This increases the life of the towels. Often you will find our bathroom windows open about 1/2 inch at both the top and bottom for air circulation.In the Basement
We keep a clean filter on our furnace and A/C unit. This prevents dust and dirt from being blown through out the house and also helps with allergies and to prevent sicknesses.Laundry
I stay on top of our laundry. I try to do a load daily. This way, we aren't buying more socks or underwear because it's all dirty . I can also have time to line dry it by doing a load a day. We use cloth napkins in our house at mealtime, and this also ensures they are always clean, so no one is using disposable ones. (The cloth napkins just go into the next load of laundry, regardless of the color).Office
You must stay organized in the office. If you don't, you misplace bills and get charged late fees. I keep all the office supplies in one area. I have found since I organized the office two years ago, that we have not had to buy any pens or pencils since. Any free ones we get from businesses or vendor shows go into the pen and pencil bin. I also keep our coupons organized in a bin in the office. We have a special file for warranty information. That keeps us from paying for repair calls that we may not need to.Yard, Garage, Barn
Keep these areas clutter free! Put items, tools and toys back away when you are finished using them. This prevents garden hoses and toys from being lost, run over with the mower (causing you to buy new and pay for mower repairs). Why does my brother have 4 snow shovels? Because he keeps forgetting where he left them. Ours are hung on nails in the garage and barn. Our hoses are kept rolled up to prevent them from being run over, mowed over, frozen or chewed up by a dog. When we buy motor oil, or wiper fluid, it ALWAYS goes on the same shelf in the garage. If it isn't there, we know we are out. We are not buying more when there is a case of it laying all spread out in the barn, basement and garage. Tools need to be put back where they belong so they are not lost and needlessly replaced, or allowed to get rusty and broken. Make sure everything has its own home, and gets returned to it. Keeping tools picked up also prevents someone from having an accident, such a stepping on a pitchfork. Above all, stay organized. Always keep items in the same spot. That way you are not buying what you don't need.Declutter! Turn unwanted items into cash. Sell them; get them out of the way. If it's trash, then put it out with the trash. Otherwise, you are basically storing garbage, paying yourself to heat and cool it, and to clean around it. Also, you can donate items and get a receipt for your taxes.
By Mom-from-Missouri
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