Frugal Kitchen

The kitchen is one of the easiest places to save money and I'm not talking about on food!  There are some simple steps you can take to save a bit here and there.  And we all know every little bit adds up!!

1.  Rags instead of paper towels.  This one is kind of a no-brainer!  Using rags to clean up messes, counters, etc. instead of costly paper towels is pretty easy to figure out.  Now I still use paper towels.  What else are you going to drain the bacon on??  But one roll of paper towels will last my family at least a month.

2. Dishwasher vs. hand-washing.  Did that one surprise you?  Using a dishwasher saves up to 5,000 gallons of water a year over washing by hand!  The time saved by using the dishwasher adds up to 10 days per year!!  And the high temperature of a dishwasher cleans and sterilizes dishes in a way that is impossible by hand.

3.  Don't pre-rinse.  Pre-rinsing your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher not only wastes time and money...but can actually damage your dishes!  The soap in the dishwasher is formulated to attach to the food debris.  If it can't find any, it will eat away at the finish on your dishes!

4.  Re-usable containers.  This one is just common sense.  Whether freezing food or packing a lunch, using a re-usable container versus disposable saves money!  Anything you use and throw away on a regular basis costs money!

5.  Cloth napkins.  Along the same lines as the paper towels and re-usable containers...anything you don't have to throw away saves money!!  And you get the aesthetic bonus of a pretty table!

These are just a few ways of saving money in the kitchen.  Do you have more?