By Amanda Claypool / October 14, 2021
I recently moved into an apartment after spending about two years living first at my parents’ house and then in my car. When I left my last apartment I sold anything and everything I could. I didn’t need it anymore, why hold onto it?
I’m starting from scratch which means I need to buy everything from furniture to household cleaning supplies. Perusing the aisles of Target one day it dawned on me just how expensive continually buying single-use household items is. Constantly buying things like toilet paper is literally flushing money down the drain.
In this article, I’m going to share a few simple sustainable household swaps you can make to save money on bathroom products, cleaning supplies, and general household items. You might not realize it, but single-use items are eroding your ability to generate wealth.
Affiliate Disclosure: MBNY participates in a number of affiliate programs including the Amazon Associates affiliate program. Some of the links below are affiliate links and MBNY may be compensated for any purchases made through those links. You can read more about thathere.
Kitchen Swaps
1. Use a water bottle instead of buying bottled water
Ditching plastic water bottles is the easiest sustainable household swap you can make. A 35-bottle case of water costs $3.29 at my local grocery store. That’s cheap right? If you drink two bottles of water per day you’ll spend $68.62 per year. If you’re a family of four and everyone drinks two bottles per day, that’s $274.48 per year.
Get a durable water bottle like a Nalgene. You can purify the water in your bottle with a charcoal filter. If the grab and go convenience of bottled water appeals to you, consider going to the thrift store and picking up a few plastic water bottles that you can pre-fill and store at home.
2. Reusable paper towels
Paper towels are convenient for tidying up the kitchen but they are an extra cost that fills up your garbage can real quick. The average family goes through two paper towel rolls per week. A family pack of 12 paper towel rolls costs $15.99. At a usage rate of two rolls per week, paper towels cost $138.58 per year.
Instead of single-use paper towels, opt for reusable paper towels. You can buy ones like these for $26.50 on Etsy or you can just buy some simple kitchen towels to use instead. I did this in my last apartment and kept a basket in my kitchen for the dirty towels. Once the basket filled up I threw them in the wash. I can honestly say in the decade I’ve been living on my own, I’ve never once bought paper towels just by using this method.
3. Use a Silpat silicone tray liner
I cannot tell you how much I LOVE Silpat silicone tray liners. These are life-changing.
I used to go through rolls of parchment paper to line my baking trays when making cookies. You might use parchment paper, aluminum foil, or both in your kitchen. If you buy the generic stuff you’re looking at $2.99 per roll, more if you opt-for the name brand. A Silpat silicone tray liner is washable and reusable so you never have to use a disposable tray liner ever again.
4. Stop buying k-cups for your Keurig
K-cups are kind of bad for the environment. Even the guy who invented k-cups says so. A box of 10 Starbucks k-cups at the store will run you $8.49 which is about $0.85 per cup of coffee. If you’re like me and drink multiple cups of coffee per day, you’ll go through k-cups quickly.
Get a reusable k-cup and fill it with your own coffee instead. If you buy your coffee in bulk from Costco you can refill your reusable k-cup over and over again, saving you tons of money in the long run.
Alternatively, consider ditching your Keurig altogether. I personally use a french press which allows me to brew stronger coffee. From a convenience standpoint, a french press is on par with a Keurig and costs a fraction of the price.
5. Use Stasher bags
How many different sizes and types of Ziploc bags do you keep in your kitchen? If you’re like my mom I’m going to wager no less than five. Ziploc bags are convenient but buying multiple sizes with special features like the slider top adds up. A box of Ziploc bags will run you anywhere from $3 to $7.
Swap your single-use Ziploc bags for silicone Stasher bags. I like Stasher bags because they are durable and dishwasher safe. I’ve been known to store everything from sandwiches to lentil soup in mine.
A fair warning: Stasher bags are a bit of an up front investment. A bundle of 4 will run you $55, and individual ones will vary depending on the size. Start with one or two and gradually substitute them as long-term sustainable household swaps for single-use Ziploc bags.
6. Use Bee’s Wrap instead of plastic cling wrap
Cling wrap is great for wrapping uneaten food in but it can add up over time. The average family uses 24 rolls per year. With Glad Cling Wrap costing $4.99 per roll that’s $119.76 in disposable plastic costs each year.
Bee’s Wrap is a great alternative to single-use cling wrap. You can wash it after each use and reuse it over and over again. If you’re adventurous, consider making some sheets of beeswax wrap for yourself with this DIY tutorial.
Bathroom Swaps
7. Get a bidet for your toilet
I’ve lived overseas where I’ve experienced other types of bathroom culture. Can I just say Americans are dirty? We think we practice good bathroom hygiene but we really don’t. I mean think about it: we spend money on a bleached paper product to wipe our tushies with. Gross right?
Every year the average American spends $40-72 on toilet paper. That’s money you’re quite literally flushing down the toilet. Meanwhile using a bidet costs around $37 and can decrease toilet paper consumption by 75%! Installing this one simple device under your toilet seat will save you money and will leave you feeling cleaner.
8. Use family cloth to replace toilet paper
If you followed the swap above and installed a bidet then family cloth is an easy substitute you can make to almost eliminate your need for toilet paper altogether. Family cloth are pieces of fabric that you use just like toilet paper to clean yourself. Instead of flushing it you just toss it into a bin. When the bin is full, you simply wash it.
I know what you’re probably thinking: ewww Amanda that’s gross. When you use a bidet you use water to do most of the dirty work for you. Once you try it you’ll realize it’s not as dirty as you think. You can still keep toilet paper stocked in your bathroom in case of emergencies and for house guests to use. The goal here is to reduce the amount you need to buy, eliminating one thing from your regular shopping list.
9. Ditch shampoo and conditioner for an all-in-one bar
How much do you pay for shampoo and conditioner? Depending on your hair needs it could range anywhere from a few bucks each month to hundreds of dollars. A lot of hair products are deliberately overpriced, and most shampoo and conditioner products marketed to women cost significantly more than the same products marketed towards men.
I switched to a shampoo and conditioner bar a few years ago and haven’t looked back. I personally use bars that are coconut oil-based because I find that leaves my hair feeling soft and nourished. I stumbled upon this all-in-one bar recently and absolutely love it. While bars might seem a tad bit more expensive, they last longer, simplify your morning routine, and are TSA compliant.
10. Make your own toiletries
Similar to hair care, how much do you spend on everything else? Health and beauty products are a multi-billion dollar business. Believe it or not, most of the stuff that is sold in stores can be easily made at home.
Check out these recipes:
I’ve personally made and still use a lot of these. I like making my own products because I can control what ingredients are put in them. There’s a lot of preservatives that are put into products to increase their shelf-life. While that’s great for the manufacturer it’s not so great for our bodies.
If you don’t have the time to create your own products, look for natural products on Etsy. At least that way your consumer dollars will be going towards a person rather than a giant corporation.
11. Ladies, get a menstrual cup
Gone are the days of buying tampons! Before I swapped to a menstrual cup I used o.b. tampons which ran me around $10 a box or $60 a year. I swapped out my tampons for a cup about six years ago and it is probably the best swap I’ve ever made.
12. Swap a safety razor for disposable ones
The average American spends $24 per year on disposable razor cartridges that they throw away after just a few uses. Women can expect to pay 11% more for pretty pink razors.
Instead of constantly buying new razors just to throw them away, invest in a gender-neutral, high-quality safety razor. This will last you years eliminating the need to constantly buy new razors.
Cleaning Swaps
13. Make your own laundry detergent
Laundry detergent is a stupid simple sustainable household swap. The average American family can expect to do 8-10 loads of laundry per week with detergent costing 21 cents per load. That means every year families spend $87-$109 just in detergent costs.
You can make a batch of detergent by throwing two cups of washing soda, two cups of borax, and a fels naptha bar into a food processor. Pulverize it into a powder and you’re done. These three ingredients cost less than $15. For a single gal like me (who only does one load of laundry per week) a batch lasts the entire year.
And yes, I use homemade laundry detergent in cold water. It cleans my clothes nicely and always leaves them smelling fresh.
14. Swap wool dryer balls for dryer sheets
Dryer sheets are another invention that is really unnecessary. A box of 80-count dryer sheets costs about $2.99. If you also dry 8-10 loads per week, you’ll be spending $15-20 per year on dryer sheets.
Get a set of wool dryer balls to use instead. You can use a drop or two of the essential oil of your choice on your dryer balls to give your laundry whatever scent tickles your fancy.
15. Make an all-purpose cleaner
Cleaning products is another consumer product category that steals your money. Every year Americans spend $600+ on cleaning products that seem to fill every nook and cranny of their cupboards and storage closets.
Why not just make a simple cleaner you can use on everything? Mix vinegar and water together with a peel from a lemon or orange. Let it sit for a day or two then dump it in a glass spray bottle. That’s it. You get the antibacterial benefit of using vinegar combined with the fresh scent of citrus.
I also keep a large bottle of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap on hand at all times. You can use this for literally everything. The bottle even has recommendations on how to best use castile soap for different cleaning tasks.
16. Use microfiber pads on your Swiffer
I recently helped an elderly woman clean her home and I was shocked at how many Swiffer products she had. From dry mops to dusters, this woman could have been her own Swiffer retail store. If you use Swiffer products, you’ll have to constantly buy new refills which can cost 30 cents per cleaning. If you clean your home three times a week, that adds up to $46.80 per year.
Instead of buying disposable pads use microfiber pads instead. These are great for dusting and you can attach them to the Swiffer dry mop you already have. Microfiber pads are inexpensive and can be washed with your reusable paper towels and family cloth.
Final Thoughts
If you make all of these swaps you’ll be able to save thousands of dollars. I did a quick calculation of 14 of the swaps made above and found you could save $4,280 over a 3 year period. That’s not all though.
Every time you go into a store to “quickly pick something up,” you put yourself at risk of making an impulse purchase, spending more money than you intended to.
Buying durable, reusable home products reduces the amount of time you need to spend in a store and thus, opportunities for impulse spending.
You know the thing people say about going to Target? You walk in to buy a roll of paper towels and you walk out with a cart full of stuff. Well it’s true! Americans, on average, spend $5,400 each year on impulse purchases, most of which are in the food category. It’s not an accident that you wind up throwing a bunch of stuff into your cart everytime you go to Target.
Making simple sustainable household swaps like making your own toiletries or buying washable paper towels will actually save you money in the long run because it reduces your need to go to a physical store. The less time you spend in a store — or on the Target app — the less likely you’ll buy something you hadn’t intended on purchasing.
Assuming you make all of these swaps and avoid impulse purchases, you could save more than $20,000 over a 3-year period.
But wait, there’s more!
After you make the initial investment of purchasing reusable swaps, you’ll spend around $228 per year maintaining those swaps. This is compared to a $1,907 annual expense continuing to buy single-use consumer products. Guess what happens when you take the difference and invest it?
If you invested the cost savings you’d wind up having $68,000! Every time you purchase Tide laundry pods, cling wrap, and k-cups, you’re actually throwing away tens of thousands of dollars in future money.
This is where the real cost savings lie. If you eliminate impulse purchases and make all of these swaps, you could free up a significant amount of cash to grow your nest egg. It all comes down to making the decision to stop giving clever consumer product marketers your money.
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