One way to save big through the year is to ditch the disposable products that you use on a daily basis. (Or reuse them.) While our household hasn’t 100% ditched the disposables, we’re still pretty good at reusing the stuff we can!
Here are some ideas to help eliminate or reduce paper/plastic products that you may purchase on a regular basis. I wouldn’t try to eliminate all of these products all at once, just slowly reduce and eliminate them one at a time.
Paper Towels
I still purchase paper towel, but maybe once a year? It’s honestly for my husband. Ha! For big wet messes I like to use beach towels (or any dirty towel I have laying around.) Washcloths work great for cleaning windows or small messes.
Napkins
Well, we don’t really use cloth napkins, but those little baby washcloths sure come in handy for cleaning up my daughter. We also have a pile of napkins from restaurants in the drawer and car that come in handy. (since they’d be thrown out at the restaurant anyways, we take them home.)
Plastic shopping bags
I try to have my own reusable shopping bags on hand at all times, but sometimes I forget! Plus, if I’m being honest, I like to bring home plastic shopping bags once in a while to use in our garbage cans.
Sandwich/freezer bags
I’m the crazy lady who washes and reuses sandwich and freezer bags. (I can’t be the only one?) I’ll have them drying out all over the place in the kitchen. I don’t wash the really yucky ones though or the ones that had meat in them. Those get tossed. I actually had to purchase sandwich bags the other day and I was surprised at the cost! (I didn’t even have a coupon!)
Aluminum foil
We don’t use aluminum foil very often, but sometimes when we do, I can reuse it because it wasn’t touching any food. I just fold it up gently then pull it out next time I need some for grilling veggies or covering a cheesy lasagna!
Straws
I have switched from plastic straws to stainless steel straws over the last few years and we have been loving them! Most of them come with cleaning brushes so they’re really easy to keep clean.
I think by eliminating or reducing the amount that you use these items, you can save big through the year.
What disposable products have you eliminated from your home? What items would you like to eliminate?
See the other articles in this series, here.
We usually save plasticware to use when we have a large group of people over and it just makes it so much simpler. For every day use, it s not a big deal to use normal non-disposable plates, cups, and silverware especially now that we have a dishwasher and the kids can help with loading and unloading it!
I love your tips to ditch disposable products. I also haven’t been using paper towels much(purchase about 1x year too) unless absolutely necessary.
Be careful about re-using the zipper/Ziploc bags though. I will often re-use them once but that’s it, as the plastic will degrade and can go into your food/be consumed, which is dangerous as can then contribute to health issues. (also of course never heat food in a Ziploc-type container. I take the item out of the freezer, run warm water on the outside of the container until it will pop into a regular bowl for heating. I’m trying to wean myself off of the Ziploc-type disposable containers as the plastics will transfer into your foods.
I’m happy to find out I’m not the only one who re-uses the ziplock bags!
Karen, I thought that those baggies were made with food-safe plastic?