Please Share Your Frugal Ideas!
I'm always on the hunt for new, or at least new to me money saving hacks. You'd think that I'd have scraped the bottom of the barrel after 18 years of writing The Non-Consumer Advocate, but somehow I keep coming across ideas. Often from you!
HERE's the very first Non-Consumer Advocate blog post, which I wrote on May 20th, 2008. It's cringy. I'm sorry.
Today I ask you, to share an idea or two on how you're currently saving money. No rules. Extra points for both creativity and sarcasm.
Here, I'll start:
I've been moving oatmeal from a breakfast meal to lunch. It's tasty, filling and important in this context -- cheap! I top it with fun things from the Winco bulk food aisle such as chopped dates, raisins, coconut, thinly sliced almonds and brown sugar.
Now your turn!
Just curious, do you eat oatmeal for breakfast as well?
I'd say at this time of year my garden is my most frugal thing. Free compost, free rainwater barrels, free rainwater, free seeds. I picked 2 lbs of kale today and didn't even make a dent in what I have. And we've eaten kale in quantity every day for the last 3 days.
Being able to sew, and mend, is another one of my frugal superpowers.
Unless you have to leave to go to a paying job, my #1 frugal tip
is Stay Home! Gas is $4+ per gallon. You don’t need to be spending money in stores. You don’t need anything there. Eat the food you have at home. Plan carefully when you do need to leave home so you combine errands. I retired a year ago and this is what I try hard to do.
Ditto Mary.
I couldn't agree more, Mary. And since it's now May 1, I'm particularly enjoying not cooperating with the US economic system by not going out to buy anything today.
Bundling errands with emphasis on staying home makes super sense to me. I filled up last Friday (April 26) at RaceTrac at what I thought had dropped below $4 to the advertised $3.85, same as WaWa across the street. Oddly, my receipt indicates my price per gallon at the pump I picked was $3.68. Go figure. This tank will do me for most of the month of May until I head out of Florida to grandson’s graduation in N.C.
Have you ever had savory oatmeal? Onions/garlic/some type of sturdy greens along with oats (I think steel cut is best, but YMMV). Top with a little cheese or hot sauce if you want.
We LOVE steel cut oats done up with a fried egg, scallions, and hot sauce. Cook em in chicken, mushroom, or fish broth. Almost like a riff on congee, that savory rice porridge. So good!
I know it's a loaded topic, but I've been making my own laundry detergent since 2008. *And we have a front-loader.* I can only imagine how much $$ this has saved us. We wash mostly on cold, our machine is 15 years old and has been using this detergent its entire life with no issues. (I know. )
The ingredients are:
- grated bar soap (I use mostly the smithereens from the bar soap we use in the shower, which is Dial, and I have a backup pkg of Ivory as well. Cheap!)
- washing soda
- borax
- hot water
A batch is 5 gallons and I make one every 15 months or so. (We're a two-person household.)
I use my mother's 1960's cookbooks for frugal casseroles and desserts. Plus the Betty Crocker cookbook I received as a wedding present back in 1977. Good basic ingredients that I usually have on hand.
I re-use compulsively. Today I made soup from leftover salad. I wash and save plastic tubs for food storage. I use junk mail for bookmarks. I turn old clothes into rags. I wash and save tinfoil. I save old sheets to use as drop cloths. None of this is new, but it's the compulsive part I'm stressing here!
I charge everything I can & then pay off the bill each month. (I do not use the CC if there is a service fee.) If I have a big expense coming up & I can charge it, I get a new credit card w/ an opening bonus. (Personally, I don't do this often as it creates too many accounts to keep track of.) In the "Points and Miles" circles this is called churning, that is getting a new CC w/ a big bonus offer when it is available. My frequent flyer miles are waning. Soon, I will cancel one CC & open a new one w/ a big bonus when I run out of miles. I do have to pay a 99$ annual fee but I get some perks w/ the card along w/ the miles. My Am Ex card also has a annual fee. However if I spend a certain amount I get a free hotel night of my choosing which is easily worth the fee. My gal pals & I go to a resort, use the free night, and I use points to pay for another 1 or 2 nights. No tax or resort fees. It's all good! I might add, you have to research the CCs to see if the benefits they provide are worth the annual fee that is charged.
I put everything on a credit card as well (for percentages back) but I pay it off every week. The advantage for me is that I know where I am financially all the time, and don't get to thinking I have more $$ available than I actually do. I got into the habit years ago of doing accounts every Sunday morning, and if it doesn't save any money per se it gives me great peace of mind!
We miss your blog, Queen of Fifty Cents! Are you still out and about yard saling? I loved your stories and look forward to more.
A guy at work used to charge everything, including groceries, pay it all off at the end of each month, and use his cc points to take fabulous vacations.
Sometimes you can call Amex and ask them to waive the yearly fee, especially if you have a longer history with them. It depends on the card, but it worked for me!
Beyond the usual - cooking at home, a garden, investing extra cash in CD’s (now that they are paying a decent interest rate), brewing ice tea at home, using less than the suggested amount of laundry detergent, using the library (including Libby and Hoopla and WSJ) - I have found that regularly inventorying the fridge, pantry and freezer helps me minimize food waste. I have also been downsizing my wardrobe and possessions which makes it easier to find things and less maintenance.
I find that gratitude for what I have makes a huge difference. Historical fiction or history puts so many things in perspective. We have more than enough.
I sometimes eat oatmeal for dinner (and almost always for breakfast). I top it with yogurt and fruit, including avocado at times. I am 67 and take no meds and my blood work was all normal two weeks ago. I don't want to live forever I just want to be healthy while I'm alive. My big meal of the day is lunch.
Yes to everything!
I don’t want to live forever I just want to be healthy while I’m alive. You said that perfectly, and I agree 100%!
Getting rid of old appliances that use a lot of electricity. I'm looking at you second refrigerator in the garage or very old freezers!
We got rid of our chest freezer which was 27 years old and our electric bill dropped $10 a month. Yes, the older appliances are made better than today's appliances but they do use a lot of electricity. Utility companies often will pick them up for free and sometimes even pay you a small amount because you're getting rid of such an old appliance.
We did not replace the chest freezer and decided to just be prudent about what we buy and freeze since there are only two people living in our house now. Using only the freezer in the refrigerator also ensures that food does not get lost and forgotten about thus creating food waste.
I run the smallest chest freezer (5 years old) in my garage during fall, winter and spring, because I have a lot of garden produce I freeze. Every June we eat it down and turn it off so that we're not running it in the hot garage during the summer. It saves a lot of electricity, and nothing gets forgotten when it's emptied annually.
That's a great idea!
My "garage" fridge is in my den (in the far corner by the kitchen doorway); my big freezer is in the (indoor, air conditioned) laundry room. That keeps them from having to use so much electricity in hot weather. Plus it's a lot handier.
Speaking of oatmeal, I try to have a small serving of overnight oats available at all times, because it’s an excellent healthy snack when I have the munchies and am on the precipice of making a poor dietary choice. Also, it’s cheap.
Vegetarian food is frugal.
Li, my husband and I are both vegetarians and we believe we have better health and more wealth because of that.
I think the thriftiest thing I do is probably making yogurt
1 gallon of whole milk is 1.97
1 quart of active yogurt is 4.36 and last for 4 gallons of milk
each batch can be strung with a starter from the previous batch I only string 3 times or my yogurt gets thin.
I have a smoothie every day as I can't eat breakfast. Never could eat breakfast even as a child.
I garden, mend, cook at home and all the usual frugal things
Honestly staying home works best for me.
Garden. There are wonderful community gardens if you do not have room. I remember living in the city as a small child and my dad grew everything, even corn in the backyard.
Invest. Save, plan. Compounding is real.
I love being at home, so it takes something major to make me leave. I bundle errands and prefer to do them with friends.
Pack snacks to alleviate junk food purchases.
Doing your own home care, lawn care and personal care.
My favorite cookbook is a Better Homes and garden from the '40's including ration recipes.
I preserve, can, dehydrate and butcher.
Buy in bulk. Whether that be a co-op or just a few family members. We do it both ways.
I barter. My cousin has an ocean boat, I pay him a yearly subscription for fuel and maintenance. I am on a list who helps clean said boat between trips. I get all the fish and seafood that I want. He gets 2 cases of tomato sauce, salsa and a selection of pork, beef and lamb. We are both thrilled with the arrangement.
Another cousin fixes anything that has a motor, he gets a share of beef, pork and lamb. Plus I pay for parts.
Been going to Goodwill bins since the 90's.
Get plenty of sleep. Use your public library.
BGF, that fishing boat barter sounds fabulous!
Being frugal in almost every aspect of our lives includes: Almost exclusively cooking at home ( nowadays, this one is a huge moneysaver), eating a lot of poultry and beans for protein sources...I could easily make do without meat for myself but DH is quite the carnivore, so...utilizing the library for books and entertainment, batching errands and limiting outings since gasoline is quickly becoming like liquid gold, making due with the clothing we have which is fine...if it's clean and fits, it looks fine. I think there was a conversation here at one time about how much we worry about how we look and no one actually cares! Washing those clothes in cold water with minimal detergent and hanging them outside to dry 7 months out of the year, washing plastic food storage bags, baggies and aluminum foil. Heat kept down in the house, speedometer kept down on the roads. It's like a contest I have with myself to see how frugal I can get.
Re: your last sentence, Christine, Amy D once put it this way in The Tightwad Gazette: "How low can you go?"
Exactly! I reread parts of her book now and then. My son gave it to me for Christmas some years back...boy oh boy, does he ever know me. I'll look for that one. She was always full of good advice.
1) I use bread ends make breadcrumbs instead of the store bought ones, and then increase the ratio when I use it in meatballs. 2) I use whole spices to make pilaf, and take them out once the rice it done/ ready to use again. 3) I avoid both variety and quantity , for example- I won't eat octopus just because it's trending, and I won't order more than 1 food item like a burger only not a burger+ fries+ salad+ soda+ desserts etc.
I make kombucha that is so much cheaper (and I reuse bottles) than store-bought. It is so simple and the majority of the cost is the fruit I use to flavor it.
I also let friends know I will accept almost anything they have to give away. If I can’t use it I pass it along.
We live near a Spanish language school and the students (young adults to families) at the end of the year have excess food they cannot take with them. I am the person that helps pack it up and take it away for them. We both feel better that it will be used.
Repurpose furniture and other items. Remember those ginormous microwave ovens from the 1980s? They wouldn't fit on your kitchen counter, so people bought microwave oven carts for them. I use my old microwave cart as a nightstand; it is nice and large. I thrifted an identical one and now have a matching set. I've also used an old freestanding stereo cabinet as a bedside table in the guest room. If you have a really tall bed, an old sewing machine cabinet is often just the right height for a nightstand. A guy I know uses his grandparents' long 1960s record player cabinet, the kind that has sliding doors on top (the phonograph was inside), as a stand for his flat screen TV. They are the exact same width. I saw where someone used several pairs of old stereo speakers as the "bricks" in a bricks and board bookshelf....right after I'd donated my 2 to Goodwill! I also cut the warped legs off a "wooden"(partial board) bathroom space saver and attached the shelves/cabinet to the wall to make a cabinet in...you guessed it!.... our half bathroom. And once I interviewed Chip and Joanna Gaines, yes THE Gaines, in their former home in Waco. They had repurposed an old fire alarm box as their front porch mailbox.(But had to put a note on it telling the postman that's what it was for!) Their most famous repurpose, if course, was to take that old eyesore if a rusty grain silo downtown and make it into a famous and trendy tourist attraction!
Of a rusty grain silo, not if, made another typo.
As a retired mail carrier, I love the idea of the old fire alarm box as a mailbox. The post office wants customers to use postal approved mailboxes, but I would never report anyone for using an alarm box (if it safely secured the mail). I saw some interesting mailboxes, a few homemade, but the only one I couldn't allow was an empty cardboard tissue box! I spoke to the resident and he changed it.
I love your use of the microwave oven table and how you thrifted a matching one!
Thanks. It was dumb luck that I just happened upon the matching cart at a Goodwill one day.
Our electric bill went up a lot a couple of months ago. Check how old your power strip is. We had already unplugged things but still had some power strips in frequent use. Apparently, they were so old, that they were using a lot of electricity. We researched it and old power strips can cause some extra use of electricity, but for us, after we replaced the power strips, our electric bill went down approximately $50 a month. We couldn't believe it.
I do a lot of the things other commenters say they do, and I've enjoyed all the comments.
But here's one thing I now do--or, rather, don't do--that may seem extreme to some of you: I no longer travel by air for any reason. I do this partly because of air travel's negative environmental impacts; partly because I refuse to subject myself to TSA-related and other air-travel-related BS; partly because of the ever-increasing (and how!) costs; and partly because I had such a bad experience the last time I flew anywhere (in 2013, involving a passenger who was probably certifiably crazy and definitely drunk) that I still haven't gotten over it.
It helps that I don't have close family ties. My parents are long gone, as are most of DH's family members. My three siblings live in CA, FL, and AZ, and we're cordial but not close (which, in the case of the FL sister at least, is a big improvement on the "barely speaking to each other" period we went through when we were younger). I've made my position clear to them, and they're more or less OK with it. I realize that those of you with closer family relationships may not wish to give up air travel; we all gotta do what we gotta do. But the savings to me, in terms of money and peace of mind, are substantial.
I can understand your reasons for not flying. They all make lots of sense. When I see a passenger or passengers on the news or YouTube misbehaving on flights like the one you experienced, it really scares me! I mean, there's just nowhere to go when you're 35,000 feet up.
A. Marie, if I didn't have family in Sacramento I wouldn't do any flying. I recently had to cancel a flight there and received an e-credit for $700 for a future flight. Due to recent price increases, that same flight is now over $1,000!
Use only energy efficient light bulbs.
Compost veggie scraps, then use as plant fertilizer.
Wear all clothes except undies and socks twice before washing (providing they aren’t soiled)
Air out wool sweaters. They don’t need to be washed/ dry cleaned often.
I drink only water (filtered from
My fridge) and coffee (purchased in big bags from Costco)
Buy berries frozen when out of season. Who wants to eat expensive, tasteless berries in January?
I (re) started exercising… walking, light jogging and a cheap resistance band. After a year of hurting followed by 4 months of physical therapy, being healthy and having energy to do things is saving me so much money and my quality of life has improved immensely!
For us, basic self care at home is frugal. Good nutrition, plenty of water, movement and sleep keep us healthy.
I am fortunate enough to play an instrument, and get together with others to make music (a jam). Minus gas sometimes, it's a highly enjoyable and essentially free social activity.
We also date items at first use. This helps me know exactly how long it takes to use up something. It prevents over-buying and sometimes it becomes a contest to see how long I can make something last.
Nothing new, but eat vegetarian. When my husband and I were trying to save money 20 years ago, we instituted Meatless Mondays. We never stopped and soon were eating vegetarian 3-4 days a week. Now that we have kids, we continue to eat this way...sometimes we make it all 7 days! But, my spin on this to help those who don't want to give up meat or aren't sure where to start, go the library and get vegetarian cookbooks that are geared towards kids and families. The recipes tend to be simpler and can be made quickly. Some of our favs...
Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Kristen Wood
The High-Protein Vegetarian Cookbook by Katie Parker
The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook By Jenn Sebestyen
And if you find one veg cookbook that you love, buy it on Thriftbooks!
Use what you have (sometimes referred to as shopping at home) and take care of what you have. Maintenance takes a little bit of time and money, but it pays off in a big way.
Develop hobbies that pay for themselves. I get a lot of enjoyment from sewing and have probably saved thousands of dollars over the years by making curtains, throw pillows, cushion covers and slipcovers. The big savings is in mending to extend the life of clothing and household items. I also do not accumulate a huge stash of sewing stuff because it's not serving me if I'm not using it.
Purchase items second hand when practical. Use the library. Cook and eat at home, as it's way less expensive and healthier.
Ruby, as always, I am in awe of your sewing and mending skills. (As I think I mentioned in a previous comment, I almost flunked out of 7th-grade home ec over me vs. the sewing machine. For anything more complicated than sewing on a button, I rely on Ms. Bestest Neighbor.)
But I'm with you in having hobbies pay for themselves (or at least break even). Instead of having a gym membership, I rely on gardening, bottlepicking, and trashpicking for exercise. About the bottlepicking, someone once asked me, "Do you feel safe doing this?" So far, no one has ever bothered this 70-year-old woman who's picking up bottles/cans and talking to herself. It's better than Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. And this also falls under being too old to care what other people think. 😛
My health insurance keeps nagging me to join a gym, but I spend at least two to three hours every day in constant motion cleaning the house and doing yard work. There's a lot of beneficial "touch your toes" bending in pulling weeds and picking up dog poop, and moving furniture to vacuum behind it is a helluva workout.
I made the most ill-fitting dress ever in high school sewing class, which I took for an easy A when I had been sewing since I was four years old. It turned out the instructor could not sew and was teaching from some handouts.
I read something once about the difference between riding a bicycle on the street and riding a stationary bike. Being on the street means you have to pay attention, make small adjustments using more muscles to avoid hazards, and so forth, not to mention the possible pleasures of seeing your neighborhood. And no one on a stationary bike ever says "I'll just go five minutes more" or "I'll go around another block."
Sounds like your workout is much more natural than the gym.
For the kids: I buy large canisters of Gatorade for $15 that make 9 gallons. This equals out to 21 cents (!!) a bottle verses $2 a plastic bottle of premade. I make a big batch in reuseable lidded glass bottles every week for grab and go. I often do the same thing with frozen lemonade concentrate. It’s usually $1.20/can at my grocery story, but there is often a 40% off coupon in the app.
As a family of four, I only run our dishwasher 1-2 times a week. We use small appetizer plates for a lot of dry things and brush off the crumbs. We keep a stack on the counter for reuse. We also have individual cups that we rinse and reuse. I wash oversized things by hand. I wash all water bottles together in a small soapy bin. When I do use the dishwasher, I use a teaspoon of liquid dishwasher gel and a tiny drop of Dawn. I quit buying tablets years ago.
Not creative or innovative but I'm maximizing even a few days of interest by shifting "hold" funds as soon as bills are paid until they needed rather than have them sit in my easily accessible but meaningless for interest checking account. I'm also depositing any earned funds from the short and infrequent substitute teaching jobs to that account as well.
Things were tight the year I was in seventh grade. We had oatmeal for breakfast and lunch every day--and the three of us who were in school walked home for lunch every day. Eight blocks in North Dakota. The school nurse hauled me in for being underweight (those days are gone) and asked for a diet history. I lied--quite creatively--and had us eating BLTs for lunch. My biggest unknown hack is that "soap is soap." You can do hand laundry with shampoo or dish soap. You can use a tiny bit of laundry soap for dishes. You can wash your hair with bar soap and rinse with vinegar. When my dog was prescribed medicated shampoo, I had 16 oz of Buy Nothing Burt's Bees honey oat dog shampoo. It leaves me smelling and looking good with easily controllable impulses to bark at the mail carrier.
LOLOL
I'd better not try your trick with the Burt's Bees dog shampoo. I have enough impulses to bark at various people these days as it is. 😛
I wonder where the duties are drawn now for public school/public health nurses!
I was thirty miles east of you in MN, and of course we walked to school, (though we brought our own lunches. The first smell I had of bean-and-bacon soup in first grade put me off it for life).
I would say that part of being frugal is figuring out the "of course" points. Of course we walked between six and eighteen blocks to school. No way would Mom have taken the car out for that, no matter how cold. We could take the bus, which took longer and was colder.
Of course we had proper winter clothing. Of course we wore hand-me-downs. Frugal was normal.
I love the remarks about how we got to school back in the day. My elementary school sent a bus for the kids who lived more than a mile from the school. We lived...you guessed it...four houses closer to the school than the mile marker. So, we walked almost a mile to school in the morning, back home for lunch, back to school then back home after school got out. As kids, I guess we were training for a junior marathon! Well, I guess that's why we slept so good at night.
Where in Minnesota? Our tight year was in Cando, ND, but all the rest was in East Grand Forks. In EGF we lived far enough from school to ride the free bus, but as an introvert I preferred walking the mile+ home with my sisters rather than enduring the chaos of the bus. Mom arranged for us to ride to school with a neighbor whose nephew had to pick up her kids. The neighbor didn't have a washing machine and used ours.
I knew you were from EGF because we talked once about how you visited the Crookston Cathedral and were disappointed that it didn't match your idea of what a Cathedral should look like.
Small world! I grew up about 120 miles north of Crookston/EGF. Spending a day at the Winter Shows in Crookston (sometimes with my Fargo area aunt,uncle, and cousins- if both families could find someone to do at least one of the milkings that day) was our winter vacation. Went big city shopping -KMart -in Grand Forks every couple of years. Definitely learned the value of dressing for the weather, that you feel colder when you sit around - so get out and do some work, and it's better to drag the Jones' down to your level than try to keep up with them.
Ceecee-- Were you from the other side of the border? Back when crossing the border took no ID and almost no stopping? North Dakota had no sales tax on clothing, which was why my Mom bought our Carter's socks and underwear when we went to Grand Forks for eye doctor appointments at a store there.
I remember Winter Shows! The building is still there, though it doesn't get the use that it originally did.
* use motion sensor nightlights in kitchen, hallway & bathrooms, so no need for overhead lights at night
* use old fashioned razor & either dry shave (lightly & carefully!) or shave just after conditioning & rinsing hair (turn off water while shaving). Dry blade afterwards
* hypermiling where safe
* being a "bottom feeder" at the grocery...always on the lookout for rock bottom clearance buys of stuff we like, stocking up when possible. Buying only plain chips & tortilla chips, bc much less likely to overeat.
* use only 2 tbs of liquid laundry detergent per load for lightly soiled items (NYT recommended amount), 1 tbs dishwashing powder per load (manufacturer recommended amt). Never buy fabric softener...hang dry clothing after only 10 min in dryer, no wrinkles
Exchanged the measuring scoop “cup” that comes in my laundry powder for a smaller measuring scoop (closer to the actual recommended “serving”). Possibly a scoop from a protein powder container. Not completely sure whether we actually use less (because I have no control of other adults in my household) but it does remove the temptation to “default scoop” an irresponsibly enormous amount. The replacement scoop is also made from a much more durable plastic.
I do the same thing! I use a scoop from an oxyclean container, which is very small. I've yet to notice a difference in the cleanliness of my clothing.
I ran out of envelopes the other week and as I was driving to the store to buy more, I stopped and turned around. I have holiday cards with envelopes that I NEVER use. I sent something in one of those envelopes, and I'm sure it didn't matter to the recipient.
Money saved.
We brew our own wine from flowers, herbs, and fruit. We are starting dandelion and rhubarb wine this weekend. For 5 gallons of wine we spend less than $1 on wine yeast and sugar (along with a little black tea to add body). It's useful to look for old country wine recipes, as many modern recipe include expensive ingredients, like using commercial grape tannins instead of black tea. We grow or forage the flowers and fruits.
We rarely spend money in order to spend time with our community. We host potlucks and cookouts and bonfire nights, or our friends host similar, instead of meeting at bars or restaurants. Every Friday night we have a dart tournament in our home. Instead of costly prizes, my wife made bracelet-sized "champion belts" with interchangeable team names, which the winning team each week gets to display. The homemade wine gives us a lovely beverage for entertaining, as well as ensuring we have something both unique and enjoyable to bring when we are invited over to our friends' houses.
I’ve had to be around a bunch of crowds lately so I’ve amused myself with noticing people and fashion. Most all clothes and outfits are pretty ugly. Even stuff people paid a lot of money for. The most attractive clothes on everyone no matter height, width, age, or gender are simple and plain. Simple seems to win every time. My favorite is some kind of white shirt with jeans.
Save some money with a simple basic wardrobe.
And most people’s clothes look worn out. Clothes look great that first time you wear them, then each turn around the washer and dryer really takes its toll. Save some money and don’t do laundry so often. And sorry. Skinny people look better in their clothes than those of us with a little chub. So saving money by not eating win/win.
And generally young people look better than old people, so if you’re older don’t sweat it and save your money on fighting time. You’ve had your turn and nobody really expects you to keep up anyway.
I’m old, chubby, and my clothes are bought by the pound used so I can relax and put my money back in my pocket. I’m not going to fool anyone.
agreed!
Pay attention to how you drive!!! Accelerate and decelerate slowly. Anyone remember Car Talk on NPR? The fabulous mechanics on the show said that those actions are key to longevity of your car. Also, those actions save gas. And drive the speed limit or slower, which also saves gas. I can recall the fuel crisis of the 70s, and there were tv commercials promoting this.
Whenever possible, I do things counter to the flow of traffic. Buy winter clothing on clearance for next year when stores are selling spring and summer clothing. If eating in a restaurant, go for lunch instead of dinner. Travel in January instead of spring break. Buy things in the color of the year—from three or four years ago. Read a bestseller from the 1990’s. If red velvet is popular, get coconut. We are socialized to want what everybody else wants, but other options are better, cheaper, and less crowded!
There are some things I do that I haven’t seen described by others:
1) I use one cotton round 4 times for my Clinique 3-step routine”s clarifying lotion: one half of one side every evening. I let it dry on my night stand and use the next clean section the next day. After I have used all the “quarters” I let it dry and save it for later for grimy cleaning I don’t want to use a reusable cloth for: the trash bin drawer in my kitchen, my biowast e trash bin (I use it without a bag or liner), cleaning the marker off my white board with alcohol etc. I tried the reusable make up rounds made of fabric but I needed to use so much more of the clarifying lotion that it didn’t seem to be a smaller footprint overall
2) I save the wooden popsicle sticks to use as name markers for my plant seedlings and also to give away for crafts etc to other people
3) I make my own cleaner from leftover shampoo (I sometimes buy hotel size shampoo from thrift stores to use for traveling but don’t want to use the shampoo itself on my hair) and citric acid. Dirt cheap and works very well on glass shower doors, bathroom sinks etc