How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » Saving Money

An Experienced Mom Prepares for a Baby

Guest Post — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:00:04 +0000

New is always nice, but gently used furniture, clothing, and baby gear can really ease the strain on your pocketbook when you are expecting. With my first baby, everything had to be new, and perfect. Yes, I was that first time mom! If it was made for newborns, I absolutely had to have it! I spent way more than I ever intended on preparing for my first son’s arrival. I learned a lot very quickly, as I saw firsthand how quickly he outgrew or lost interest in things. We thankfully received a lot as gifts, but I still spent a good amount personally on what my husband calls “my baby impulse buys,” which was usually a nursery decor items or an outfit that he just had to have.

My second son’s arrival finally made the money spent on pregnancy #1 worthwhile. It was like a light bulb went off in my head, and I suddenly realized that I could save so much on my second son’s needs. I was getting two kids’ usage for the price of one, and I knew I could do more!

I did really well on my savings plan, and my son was flourishing and developing as great as my first, but without all the money spent on our end. As soon as my littlest outgrew the toddler clothes and items, I got rid of everything! I sold some items, and others I gave away. I felt like I needed to pay it “forward” in a sense, and help some other new mom meet their new baby’s needs.

Then, the unexpected happened with the surprise of round three! This was an unplanned surprise that came nearly eight years later, and it was a girl! After the shock of pregnancy settled, the realization that I didn’t have anything hit me like a ton of bricks. I had no clothes, no furniture, no baby gear, no car seat, no stroller. Nothing! I was determined to not break the bank this time around and saving became my obsession! We had to start from scratch, and there was so much to get! Things had changed so much in eight years and it almost made me wonder how I ever raised two children without these items. I fought the temptation to buy everything cute and girly, and I am so happy with what I was able to achieve. I want to share how you can prepare for baby on a budget, while not sacrificing any of the cuteness you desire!

Ask, Ask, Ask!

Hand-me-downs are the way to go! Talk to friends and family who recently had babies to see if they want to get rid of anything. When mentioning the new arrival and the need for nursery items, a co-worker offered an adorable changing table. If any of the things they have are a bit dated, or you aren’t sure that they meet current safety regulations, you can take part in the Babies R Us Great Trade In events that are held a few times a year. Through the event, you can trade in the items that you aren’t sure about for new baby gear items and get 25% off! The boy’s drop side crib didn’t meet safety regulations and although the manufacturer offered a part to lock the drop side, I chose to take advantage of the Great Trade In event and scored a crib for $160!

Besides baby gear, clothing can be another costly area. When you think about it, babies grow so much in their first year, and only wear outfits for a few months at a time. I learned my lesson with my first two sons, and didn’t go crazy stocking my baby girl’s closet with oh-so-cute garments. I instead asked friends with toddler girls for their gently-used items. I picked out the items that weren’t faded or stained and gave them new life for my little angel!

I even planned ahead for toys. We received some through the baby showers, but I was able to get even more through garage sales, friends, and Craigslist. I didn’t get certain things like teething toys, breastfeeding pump attachments, potties, or even baby baths for sanitary reasons.

Stock Up

Some things you know that you will always need are diapers, diapers and more diapers! For my two baby showers, I offered free show tickets (found online) to everyone who brought a pack of diapers. During my pregnancy, I also became quite the coupon clipper/user and was able to create a diaper stockpile for a fraction of the original cost. This coupled with the shower diapers I received meant that I didn’t need to buy diapers until my daughter was seven months old! If you are brave and have the time, cloth diapers may be an option for you a well.

I also found that I could save money by making my own baby food. By starting while I was pregnant (towards the end), I was able to take advantage of produce sales and promotions at my local grocer. After running through my food processor, I loaded the freezer with nutritious meals for baby.

Obviously breastfeeding is another fantastic cost savings, but it isn’t something that everyone is able to or wants to do. Other than the cost for a decent pump and storage bags/bottles, the savings off of traditional formula can be astounding! I breastfed all of my kids, but due to medical reasons had to stop around seven months with my third. For a period of time, I was spending upwards of $80/ month on formula! If you already know that you won’t be breastfeeding, you can prepare to save now. Formula is another one of those costly items that you can stock up on ahead of time. Coupons on certain formulas like Similac aren’t offered frequently so when you see them, snatch them up!

Swap!

Join the swapping revolution! www.WhatToExpect.com offers a swap where you can list the items that you have to trade and what you would like in exchange. I’ve traded baby items for gift cards that I used towards baby supplies. As your little one grows, you can swap little by little and keep him/her in adorable clothing through www.ThredUp.com and .

Wait for Clearances

I have always done this with my boys, and have recently started this with the baby as well. I shop at the end of the season, just as stores are putting the current merchandise on clearance and putting out the new season’s clothing. An example of what I do is shop for spring/summer clothing at the end of summer. Stores are changing over the merchandise to feature the fall/winter clothing and move all of the lighter-weight items to clearance. I buy these clearance items in bigger sizes for $1, $2 and $3 for next year!

Get Crafty

For my daughter’s room, I decided to do everything homemade to save on nursery decor costs. Other than $160 for the crib and a hand-me-down changing table (which I painted) and hand-me-down shelves, there was nothing in the room. With $75 and a day of DIY work (gallon of paint, bead board, chair rail and crown moulding), it started to look like a little girl’s room. I made a trip to a dollar store for frames, printed images on my color printer, and used coordinating ribbon for some cute wall art. Lastly, I cut vinyl adhesive lettering for her name. She had a cute, one-of-a-kind nursery for less than $250, including furniture!

I have even turned my DIY hobby to baby’s clothes and accessories. I have added bling, new buttons, and appliques to give hand-me-downs new life. I’ve also gotten a bag of alligator clips and adhered silk flowers and handmade bows to create fun hair clips.

Statistics from an article in the “New York Times” say that the average cost to raise a child to age 18 is over $220,000 (not including college). With three kids, I am determined to fall below this estimate! You don’t have to let the scary costs associated with child rearing freak you out. Start little by little, making small changes, and before you know it, it will become a way of life. If I can do it, so can you!

Deidra R. is a wife and work-from-home mother of three, dedicated to finding ways stretch her family’s dollar. Courtesy of The Dollar Stretcher.com a site dedicated to frugal living. Source: An Experienced Mom Preparing for Baby 

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Cutting Power Consumption Even Further – The Dryer Goes Silent.

Steve Rhode — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:05:33 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

In my quest to reduce our energy consumption to help save money, we’ve done a lot of work on the house and installed solar panels to generate power. You can see the list of posts on this topic here.

This weekend we decided to try another technique to reduce our power consumption even further. We wanted to see if we could slow down or stop using the clothes dryer as much by using a clothes line or an “outdoor dryer” as some call it.

Research into the topic lead me into a number of points of view about drying clothes outside. on the plus side it does cut down on energy consumption and it can leave your clothes smelling fresher and feeling crisp.

And apparently it is a wide open subject with a lot of different contraptions to use. Drying apparatuses can range from $20 to $200 for the top end clotheslines.

To test if we would actually be motivated to dry clothes outside we opted for a trial approach with a less permanent installation. One post I read somewhere suggested using an pipe for your clothesline pole that would also accommodate an outdoor umbrella if you want to use one some time.

Ding! I took the idea one step further and purchased a portable umbrella stand for the $39 aluminum clothesline we purchased at Home Depot. The clothesline has 197 feet of useable space on it so it was among the least expensive but largest capacity units. The only other item to purchase were clothespins. We got those at target for $1.54 for a pack of 50. We got a couple of packs.

And here is what the clothesline looks like all loaded up with clothes and towels.

Yesterday we only used a total of 8 kWh of power which is low even for us. I can only attribute the low consumption to the use of the fans in the house and the fact that we did not use the dryer at all. As a side note we produced the equivalent of 22 kWh of solar power. So we actually got money back from the power company.

A typical clothes dryer uses between 1,800 to 5,000 watts of power when it runs. From using our Energy Detective unit I know that our dryer uses around 2,900 watts when in use.

Considering that we do about five loads of clothes a week for Pam and I and the average load takes about an hour to dry, our dryer was consuming about 728 kWh per year. If we had kids in the house the consumption would be more like 1,500 kWh a year.

In my neck of the woods that would mean that to run the dryer costs between $86 to $177 a year, and our cost of power is cheap compared to other parts of the country. Depending on where you live that same level of usage would cost between $400 to $800 a year.

Today the forecast was for rain and thunderstorms so we moved the portable clothesline inside our covered porch. Luckily it has a celling fan on the porch on it so the fan would help to dry another load of towels and blankets even faster. The ceiling fan only uses 30 watts of power. That’s a huge difference from 2,800 watts used by the clothes dryer. The fan helps to circulate air to dry things even faster.

Here is a short video I made this morning to show you the clothesline in operation on the porch.

Some Related Videos

If you can’t see the videos above, click here.

The bottom line is that hanging clothes on a clothesline can save money, preserve clothes, help clothes to smell fresher, keep the house cooler, reduce energy consumption, and lower your cost of dryer products.

If you want to try the approach of using a pole in the ground to place your outdoor clothes dryer in, consider making sure that it can also handle a portable umbrella. If you place the pole adjacent to a patio, then not only will you avoid having to walk across potentially wet or dewey grass to get to your clothesline, but it makes it the perfect place for a portable umbrella when sitting outside.

You can even find clothesline covers that can turn the clothesline into a protected environment but can give you shade when you want to turn it into an umbrella.

If you have a deck, you might want to try my portable approach. Just make sure you get an umbrella stand that will support your clothesline and not be so heavy that you can’t move it.

The best online resource I found to give you an overview of all your non-dryer drying options is this page on air dry washing.

An expensive but interesting model is one made by BreezeCatcher. And the BreezeDryer site has a number of top-end units.

@GetOutOfDebtGuy

I’m Saving $20,000 in Electricity Because I Don’t Want to Work to Pay the Bill

Steve Rhode — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:16:06 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

This morning I had to wake early to greet the electrician. He was kind enough to come over to help me install my latest gadget, the TED, the electricity detective.

It was advertised as a DIY kit, and for some homes I’m sure it is a breeze to install. But for some unexplained reason, my house does not have a main breaker to the primary breaker panel. After carefully considering the situation I called the electrician and told them I’d rather be the guy that calls the ambulance, than the guy in the ambulance.

Well Brian showed up this morning with his big rubber gloves to play around the live power panel and with some drilling, swearing, and a lost screwdriver tip, he got the transmitting part of the device installed. The install cost me $125.

I ran inside to see if the monitor was working, and it was. I can now measure the realtime electricity consumption of my house. Now that might sound a little geeky but the only way to cut back on usage is to be able to measure the usage and track the progress. It’s exactly like trying to get a grip on where your money is going, you’ve got to track the cash to find your stash.

My goal is to cut my electricity usage by 59%. Over the past year we’ve been using 2,800 kilowatt hours a month and that sure seems like a lot. So recently we’ve done a bunch of home improvements to help reduce our heating and cooling needs. The crawl space has been closed in and insulated, new insulation was added to the attic space, and our whole house fan is going to be installed soon. The whole house fan will significantly reduce our running the air conditioning.

We are also going to have a solar panel system added to the roof of the house so we can generate our own power. I know, it’s a big expense to put the panels in but we get 65% back and it will pay for itself over time.

So for now, Pam and I are running around like idiots, turning stuff on and off to measure it’s power usage. We turned on both A/C zones, the washer and dryer and watched the meter spin like crazy. Cha-ching.

Latter we’ll start going around and measuring the power consumption of all those little chargers and see how much we save just keeping those unplugged.

The goal here is not to live in the dark, but to be able to make educated and informed decisions about what we want to spend money on running.

With some power awareness and generating our own power I will be thrilled to get out consumption down to 1,150 KWh a month, a reduction of 59%. Our panels should produce about 550 KWh a month so our total consumption would be around 600 KWh. I think we can do it and if we can, our electric bill will only be around $31 dollars a month. Why so low, well the power company buys our generated power from us at a higher rate than they sell it to us.

Currently our power bill is about $333 a month so if the plan works, over the next ten years, and not counting for an increase in power costs, we should save $36,240 in electricity bills. And the solar panels are costing us $16,000 after rebates and tax credits to install so that will reduce our expenses by about $20,000.

Now the key factor here is that by reducing my cost of power by $20,000 it just means that I can spend some more time goofing off and having fun and less time having to work to just pay the power company.

I like this plan.

@GetOutOfDebtGuy

One Million Free Airline Tickets

Steve Rhode — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:48:24 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

One of the things I loved to hate when I lived in the UK recently was the airline Ryanair. The flight were mostly on time but at outlying airports. The cabin staff was not great but always managed to get their little cart with sandwiches you could buy down the aisle. Ryanair was the first airline I ever flew on that sold lottery tickets in flight and had advertising on the baggage bins above the seats.

But all of those shortcomings were easily forgiven because you could often get free or one penny flights to many destinations in europe. All you had to pay for was the tax. I’m serious!

U.S. airlines could learn a thing or two from Ryanair. That is if they actually wanted to push more people around the sky for reasonable rates.

I just heard that Ryanair is now giving away one million free tickets, you pay the government tax on that, and I had to take a snapshot of the offer, otherwise you’d never believe me.

Where to Buy Really Cheap Bread

Steve Rhode — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:32:00 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

So with all the shopping I did recently for my two stories about price comparing between grocery stores and warehouse clubs, I was curious about what the cost for bread would be that this discount bread store I pass from time to time. The store is tucked off the main drag but I’ve caught a glimpse of it as I passed.

This morning I pulled in to check some prices and walked out with bags of bread. I asked the kind woman helping me if it’s gotten busier with the economy the way it is and she said that they are normally packed and can’t keep stuff on the shelves. “Honey, it’s busy all the time.”

I asked her why the store was empty now and she reminded me that they just opened for the day and I was the first one in the door. She assured me that the crowds were coming.

I started my trolling for bread prices and noticed they did not carry the same white sandwich bread that I had used in my comparison surveys but a same sized loaf of white sandwich bread (24 oz) rather than the smaller grocery store 20 oz loafs was available.

Between the grocery stores and warehouse clubs the least expensive loaf of bread was $3.32 for a double pack. Here at the discount bread store, a loaf of bread that had a sell by date 4 days from now was $0.99 for a similar sized loaf. That’s a huge price savings.

But not only was the bread less expensive and the selection broad but I got free bread as well. The store had a special on some items that were buy one and get one free. On top of that since I spent over $5 I got another loaf of bread for free. All together I spent $5.67, including tax, and purchased all the stuff below that my dog wanted to badly examine.

In these uncertain economic times the ability for us to increase what we earn may be difficult so we can instead turn to spending what we do make more wisely. For me that will mean stopping at the discount bread store on my way home from the warehouse club. I would imagine that by doing that we will be able to trim 25% of our food budget and still be able to eat all the things we normally enjoy.

In case you are wondering what I;m going to do with all that bread, I already put it in the freezer. I’m not going to have to buy bread for a month now and that makes me feel good.

Note:
On the way to the bread store I was behind a car that had a personalized license plate that read NANEPOOH. I’m sure there is a pretty good story behind that. It made me laugh.

I Hunted Down The Cheapest Warehouse Store For You

Steve Rhode — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:46:32 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

Recently I wrote an article titled Sam’s Club, CVS, Walmart, Lowes Food & Food Lion – Who Has The Best Prices?

The winner of that survey was the warehouse store, Sam’s Club and that got me wondering how Sam’s Club prices compared to other warehouse stores. So I got back in the car and went shopping and Costco and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

In case you are not familiar with a warehouse store it is a store where people have to usually pay a membership fee to gain entrance (unless you just ask for a one day pass – shhh). These stores look like giant warehouses with rows and rows of tall steel shelves that are loaded with good on pallets by forklift. Usually on the floor level or first shelf are items consumers can place into their shopping cart. Merchandise usually includes everything you would find at a typical grocery store or mega store like Walmart, Super Target or, you know.

I realize that I’m publishing this article five days after the first one but I did gather these prices the very next day. I just needed a break from writing about bread again.

Costco

Bread
No Wonder bread
Gallon of Milk
Whole – $3.29
Skim – $2.79
Large Eggs
18 Count – $4.39 for 36. Only sells in two 18 packs wrapped together. ($2.20)
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 rolls, 880 square feet $18.39 ($1.53 per roll) ($0.020/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 937.5 square feet 30 rolls $20.59 ($0.67 per roll) ($0.022/sq ft)

BJ’s

Bread
No Wonder bread
Gallon of Milk
Whole – $3.39
Skim – $2.98
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.49
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 rolls, 704 square feet $18.99 ($1.59 per roll) ($0.027/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 889.5 square feet 30 rolls $18.99 ($0.66 per roll) ($0.021/sq ft)

Sam’s Club

Bread
Wonder Bread 2 pack of 24oz loaves – $3.32
Gallon of Milk
Whole $3.29
Skim $2.79
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.15
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 pack, 880 square feet – $17.58 ($1.45 per roll) ($0.019/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 36 rolls 854 square feet – $18.32 ($0.51 per roll)($0.021/sq ft)

Results

The results got a bit complicated since two of the warehouse stores did not sell Wonder sandwich bread so in this survey I’ll have to declare Sam’s the winner. I’m going to include Costco and even though they only sell double packs of 18 count eggs, I’ll divide the 36 count price.

I agree that this is a comparison of a select brand of goods. I chose these items for two reasons, they are things we have to use in our everyday lives and I picked widely known name brands that would be available, hopefully everywhere.

The square feet per pack is also an important factor to consider when shopping. If you looked only at the number of rolls in a pack of paper towels rather than the overall square feet in a similar count of rolls, you really can’t make a good comparison. Just look at the price difference per square feet of paper towels between BJ’s and Sam’s, that is a significant difference. In fact, BJ’s was the second most expensive store for paper towels when you add in all the stores I shopped at in this article and the first article.

The Least Expensive Place:
Bread – Sam’s Club
Milk – Sam’s Club – Costco
Eggs – Sam’s Club
Paper Towels – Sam’s Club
Toilet Paper – Sam’s Club – BJ’s

The Most Expensive Place:
Milk – BJ’s
Eggs – BJ’s
Paper Towels – BJ’s
Toilet Paper – Costco

So based on the results of this survey and my comparison of grocery stores, I’m shopping at Sam’s Club to save the most amount of money.

Sam’s Club, CVS, Walmart, Lowes Food & Food Lion – Who Has The Best Prices?

Steve Rhode — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:16:31 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

So Pam and I were talking about where to shop for the best prices and rather than guess, we got in the car and went price comparing.

To get a wide comparison of prices we went to Sam’s Club for wholesale prices, Walmart for bragging cheap prices, Lowes Food for your typical grocery store, Food Lion for a discount grocery store, and CVS drug store. We added CVS to the mix because I had heard that paper products were often cheaper at CVS.

We tried to compare the same products from store to store but where we couldn’t we did our best to find good comparisons.

SAM’s Club

Bread
Wonder Bread 2 pack of 24oz loaves – $3.32
Gallon of Milk
Whole $3.29
Skim $2.79
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.15
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 pack, 880 square feet – $17.58 ($1.45 per roll) ($0.019/sq ft)
Generic Members Mark 12 pack 907.2 square feet – $13.86 ($1.15 per roll) ($0.015/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Generic Members Mark 36 rolls 860 square feet – $15.68 ($0.44 per roll)($0.018/sq ft)
Charmin Ultra Soft 36 rolls 854 square feet – $18.32 ($0.51 per roll)($0.021/sq ft)

Lowes Food

Bread
Wonder Bread 20oz Loaf – $2.49
Gallon of Milk
Whole – $3.89
Skim – $3.89
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.99
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 pack, 704 square feet – $16.99 ($1.42 per roll)($0.024/sq ft)
Generic 8 pack 376.4 square feet – $7.99 ($0.99 per roll)($0.021/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Chairman Ultra Soft 24 rolls 569.3 square feet – $15.35 ($0.64 per roll)($0.027/sq ft)
Generic 12 rolls 300 square feet – $7.99 ($0.66 per roll)($0.027/sq ft)

Walmart

Bread
Wonder Bread 20 oz loaf – $2.33
Wonder Bread 24 oz loaf – $2.42
Gallon of Milk
Whole $3.98
Skim $3.84
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.28
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 6 rolls 484 square feet – $11.64 ($1.94 per roll)($0.024/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 24 rolls 569.3 square feet – $14.24 ($0.59 per roll)($0.025 sq/ft)

CVS Drug Store

Bread
None
Milk
None
Eggs
None
Paper Towels
Bounty 1 roll 63.2 square feet $2.19 ($2.19 per roll)($0.034/sq ft)
CVS Generic 3 rolls 151.2 sq ft $2.99 ($1.03 per roll)($0.019/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin 12 rolls 284.6 square feet – $10.99 ($0.92 per roll)($0.038/sq ft)
Generic 12 rolls 1311.5 square feet (single ply) – $8.99 ($0.75 per roll)($0.014/double ply/sq ft)

Food Lion

Bread
Wonder 20oz Loaf – $2.49
Generic Bread 20oz Loaf – $1.74
Gallon of Milk
Whole – $3.79
Skim – $3.79
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.49
Paper Towels
Generic Select-a-Size 1 roll 75.6 square feet – $1.78 ($1.78 per roll)($0.023/sq ft)
Bounty Select-a-Size 1 roll 63.2 square feet – $2.23($2.23 per roll)($0.035/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 427 square feet 18 rolls – $11.61 ($0.65 per roll)($0.027/sq ft)

Results

So after all that data gathering, what are the results?

The Least Expensive Place:
Bread – Sam’s Club
Milk – Sam’s Club
Eggs – Sam’s Club
Paper Towels – Sam’s Club
Toilet Paper – Sam’s Club

The Most Expensive Place:
Bread – Food Lion
Milk – Walmart
Eggs – Lowes Food
Paper Towels – Food Lion
Toilet Paper – Food Lion

Biggest Surprise

The biggest surprise was that even if you turn your single ply toilet paper from CVS into double ply, the CVS generic toilet paper is the least expensive. It was only because the name brand toilet paper was more expensive that I did not give CVS the least expensive rating. After all it is a bit less desirable as single ply paper.

I was under the impression that Food Lion was a lower cost grocery store but from the data gathered tonight, that’s not the case. The warehouse store was a better deal but what if you don’t have room to store all the stuff? And I guess Pam and I should compare the different warehouse clubs next to see what the differences are there.

I was very surprised to see Bounty paper towels sold in an 18 pack at both Sam’s Club and Lowes Food but if you look the Lowes 18 pack is 176 square feet smaller so it would be wrong to compare the 18 pack price. If you did that then you’d say that Lowes Food was cheaper and you’d be wrong.

Be Frugal and Clean. Make Your Own Homemade Laundry Detergent and Save Money

Steve Rhode — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:39:40 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

Trent over at the Simple Dollar posted an article about how to making laundry detergent and enjoying the benefits of homemade laundry detergent, namely saving money. So let’s bump frugality up a notch today and learn how to save money with home made laundry soap.

Trent said he’s been experimenting with making lots of cleaning supplies at home, but this one is by far the craziest – and the most successful. Basically, he made a giant bucket of slime that works incredibly well as laundry detergent at a cost of about three cents a load. For comparisonâ€™s sake, a jumbo container of Tide at Amazon.com costs $28.99 for 96 loads, or a cost of $0.30 a load. Thus, with each load of this stuff, he’s saving more than a quarter. Even better – he got to make a giant bucket of slime in the kitchen and his wife approved of it.

Hereâ€™s what you need:

- 1 bar of soap (whatever kind you like; Trent uses Lever 2000 because he has a ton of bars of it from a case he bought a while back)

- 1 box of washing soda (look for it in the laundry detergent aisle at your local department store – it comes in an Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for six batches of this stuff)

- 1 box of borax (this is not necessary, but Trent says he’s found it really kicks the cleaning up a notch – one box of borax will contain more than enough for tons of batches of this homemade detergent – if you decide to use this, be careful)

- A five gallon bucket with a lid (or a bucket that will hold more than 15 liters – ask around – these arenâ€™t too tough to acquire)

- Three gallons of tap water

- A big spoon to stir the mixture with

- A measuring cup

- A knife

Step One: Put about four cups of water into a pan on your stove and turn the heat up on high until itâ€™s almost boiling. Always an interesting way to make your own detergent. While youâ€™re waiting, whip out a knife and start shaving strips off of the bar of soap into the water, whittling it down. Keep the heat below a boil and keep shaving the soap. Eventually, youâ€™ll shave up the whole bar, then stir the hot water until the soap is dissolved and you have some highly soapy water.

Step Two: Put three gallons of hot water (11 liters or so) into the five gallon bucket – the easiest way is to fill up three gallon milk jugs worth of it. Then mix in the hot soapy water from step one, stir it for a while, then add a cup of the washing soda. Keep stirring it for another minute or two, then add a half cup of borax if you are using borax. Stir for another couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool.

And youâ€™re done. When you wake up in the morning, youâ€™ll have a bucket of gelatinous slime thatâ€™s a paler shade of the soap that you used (in our case, itâ€™s a very pale greenish blue). One measuring cup full of this slime will be roughly what you need to do a load of laundry – and the ingredients are basically the same as laundry detergent. Thus, out of three gallons, youâ€™ll get about 48 loads of laundry. If you do this six times, youâ€™ll have used six bars of soap ($0.99 each), one box of washing soda ($2.49 at our store), and about half a box of borax ($2.49 at our store, so $1.25) and make 288 loads of laundry. This comes up to a cost of right around three cents a gallon, or a savings of $70.

Plus, you can make slime in the kitchen – and have a legitimate reason for doing so!

See the original of this article here.

How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » Saving Money

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