Top Four Things we DIY to tighten our grocery budget

When looking at the monthly budget, it seems that food and toiletries are the most difficult categories to cut. Couponing is great and buying in bulk does pay off but I am always looking for ways to save even more on my grocery budget.

Here are the top 4 things that we make ourselves to save money in this area.  None of them take too much time or effort because, lets face it, I'm not a big fan of wasting time. There is a small cost to making it yourself but it is still fractions of what it would cost to buy.

1) Baby Wipes (also used as multi-purpose wipes)

With two little ones we go through a TON of wipes. You can buy bulk store brand wipes for fairly cheap but when we were going through thousands a month, we had to come up with a cheaper (and more convenient solution). I looked up how to make baby wipes myself and we have been doing it since. Here is a link to DIY baby wipes.

A couple tips: I use the Sam's Club brand paper towels and they work great! You can add other things like witch hazel or essential oils but I like to keep things simple. Oh, and these wipes worked great for camping! We used them for sponge baths, clean ups and hand washing.

2) Baby Food Pouches

You know those handy baby food pouches that cost you about $1.00 a piece? Well, you can make them yourself at home for about 20-30 cents a piece and put whatever you have on hand in them. I bought an Infantino Fresh Squeezed and extra packets. We mostly use them for yogurt and smoothies but you can fill them with whatever you want.

A couple tips: These work great for camping because you can freeze them and throw them in your cooler for the next few days. Be careful to not put anything too thick in them, it will be very hard to fill the pouches.

3) Foam Soap (Oh, yes, we gotta have it)

We love foam soap and go through it like milk so we started making our own. This is probably the simplest household item we make. You just use your old Dial foam soap dispensers, fill it about halfway with regular liquid soap (we buy bulk antibacterial soap from Sam's), fill the rest with water, and shake it up.

A couple tips: We replace our Dial soap dispensers yearly just because they start getting gunky and dirty. It will take a few tries to get the consistency correct and each liquid soap will need a different ratio. Just dump a little out and add more soap or water

4) Houshold cleaner using white vinegar

Instead of buying a bunch of floor, window, or other cleaners we just add white vinegar to water. It is safe for the kids to use, disinfects really well, and doesn't have a bunch of weird chemicals in it. You can find a ton of websites showing you how to use vinegar as a cleaning agent and many other things.


***I know these ideas don't have HUGE savings but they can save a lot of money over time and get you in the right mindset. If you can save a few dollars here and there, how much more will you be willing to save on the big things?***