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Things You Buy Every Week That I Don’t!

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Have you ever looked at your shopping list and thought “why am I buying the same stuff every week?”  Each time we shop, we buy items that we think we need.

Well, YOU do!  I stopped buying many of these items because I realised they were expensive and unnecessary purchases.  If you want to save money, take a look at these things to stop buying.

1. Bin liners

This is the most recent item to be removed from our shopping list.  The day I realised I was buying these bags just to throw them away was the day I vowed to stop buying them.  And we did.

Now we just throw our rubbish straight into the bin.  At first, I thought this was going to be hideously messy and be a pain to clean up.  Then I thought about it and discovered that it is not as bad as I thought.

Firstly we hardly throw anything away anyway.  We recycle or reuse.  Food waste goes or goes on the vegetable patch.  And secondly what does get thrown away is fairly clean.

It’s the plastic seals from the mayonnaise jar or the lids from yoghurt pots.  Anything that is a bit dirty I just give it a quick rinse first.

Plus it’s not as though I love my bin so much that I don’t want it to get dirty and therefore need a bin liner to protect it.  If it gets dirty I spray it with a bit of anti-bac and then squirt it with the hose.  Easy peasy!

2.  Laundry detergent

OK, this one I still do buy but I don’t buy anywhere near as much as you probably do.  We traded laundry detergent for an Ecoegg a couple of years ago and haven’t looked back.

With an Ecoegg you just chuck it in with your dirty clothes and it cleans them just like your powder, tablet, liquid or gel would.  But the best thing is they last ages!!

I’ve replaced the inside bits of my Ecoegg once, maybe twice in the 2-3 years that I’ve had it.  And during that time my clothes have come out clean every time.

Ecoegg comes with the added bonus of being great for sensitive skin so I love using it for my kids’ clothes.  It is also fragrance-free, so clean things just smell clean and not like anything else.  AND it doesn’t dump a load of toxic chemicals into the environment.  Love it!

3.  Fresh herbs

I started a herb garden two or three summers ago and I adore it!  Not only was a great introduction to growing your own food and a great project for my daughter, but I am saving so much money.

I sourced my herbs from various places.  A few I grew from seeds in cut-down milk bottles on my windowsill.  Some were cuttings from a friend.  And one or two I bought as established plants.  All in all, it was fairly inexpensive to set up with just the cost of soil and a few pots on top.

We now have a great selection of herbs at our disposal.  I love sending my daughter out into the garden to collect fresh thyme for dinner or to get a sprig of mint for my tea.

Plus when the colder months set in, I take a load of cuttings and dry them out indoors to use throughout winter.  It really is quite a lovely way to save money.

4. Aluminium foil

You just don’t need it!  Honestly, think hard about when you use it, and then try to think of a way to not use it.  For nearly every situation I could come up with a better solution.

For example, wrapping your sandwiches in it.  Just get a lunch box or a reusable sandwich wrap.  What about cooking with it?  Use a Pyrex dish with a lid if you are looking to keep in the heat.

I’ve not bought foil in a long time and I cannot say that I miss it.  Yeah, you might have to be a bit creative at the start but once you’ve figured it out you find it is easy to give up.

5. Shampoo and conditioner

I’ve mentioned this before here.  But I don’t buy shampoo or conditioner.  At least not the normal versions that come in bottles from the supermarket.  I instead buy shampoo bars.  These last for ages and make your hair feel great.

I paid £6 including delivery for my last shampoo bar.  I fully expect that to last me 6 months and that is with washing my hair every other day.  The great thing about shampoo bars is that they are zero waste.  No plastic bottle.  And they don’t contain anything nasty that coats your hair in plastic or whatever.  They just let your lovely hair do its thing.

For conditioner, I just use a little apple cider vinegar mixed with water.  It detangles and makes hair so shiny.  Until you try it you probably won’t believe me but it is just as good as “normal” conditioner.

6.  Some cosmetics and toiletries

Yeah, I don’t really do make-up or fancy moisturisers or toners.  They scare me really.  I worry about what is in them and whether I want that stuff all over my face, plus I mostly just don’t have a clue what to do with half of it.

This said there are increasingly some great products available that are great for your skin and don’t contain all the horrible stuff that I try to avoid, but they are also expensive.  I don’t like spending money.  But you knew that already.

There are so many tutorials out there for making your own cosmetics from very few ingredients.  I personally am happy to go without most of the time.  I’ve got a charcoal eyeliner, some natural eye shadow and lippy that I can whip out for a special occasion.  The rest of the time I just use coconut oil.  And I get that as cheap as I can too.

7.  Baby products

I’ve mentioned before that we use cloth nappies so I won’t go on about those again.  But I want to mention here that I don’t buy anything from the “baby” section when I do my grocery shopping.  Literally nothing.  To me, it’s all unnecessary.  (You might be interested in:  Must Have Parenting Hacks to Save Money)

We don’t buy nappies. Or wipes.  We make all our own food so we don’t need purees or special baby crisps and crackers.  I breastfeed so we don’t need formula.  We don’t use shampoos, soaps or creams on our kids.  They get water and the odd bit of coconut oil (again) for most things.

When I walk around a supermarket, which is rare, I actually feel quite proud that there is a whole aisle that I don’t need to go down.

I turn it into a game now.  I try to find more aisles in the supermarket that I don’t need to go down by making switches in my home.  It is amazing what you can eliminate.

8.  Food bags

Again, I don’t really understand these.  They’re a bit like bin bags.  They serve a purpose for such a short period of time then they get thrown away.  It doesn’t make sense to me.  Plus I can buy reusable food bags in so many pretty patterns, so why wouldn’t I?

This one is like foil.  It won’t take you long to come up with ways to replace all the things that you use food bags for.

Storing food can be switched into reusable bags and boxes.  Putting your lunch in them?  You can use a lunch box again.  What else could you possibly use them for?  If you think you have a use for them that you absolutely cannot live without, let me know.  I’d really enjoy convincing you otherwise.

9.  Kitchen roll

Yeah, we don’t have kitchen roll.  I don’t miss it either.  Visitors that come to my house seem to miss it more than me.  They will look around my kitchen and go “where’s your kitchen roll?”  I actually think it is quite funny now.

We stopped using kitchen roll when we decided that it could be replaced by a cloth and a towel.  Both of these things we can wash and reuse.  A cloth wipe can be used to clean anything.  And a towel will absorb any spills.  You can even get them in loads of gorgeous patterns.  Check out these ones on Esty.

I’ve seen a few people say “what about things that you don’t want to use a reusable wipe for?”  Well if it really is something so disgusting that I don’t want to put it in my washing machine, then I have old scraps of fabric that I save from really worn-out clothes and bedding.  I can use those and then throw away.  You don’t need kitchen roll.

What unnecessary purchases are you making?

If you eliminated all these items from your weekly/monthly shop, how much would you save?  Then work that out over the year?  Then the next ten years?  At what point would you consider it a worthwhile saving?

For me, it’s easy.  These items are bad for my budget, bad for the environment and some of them are bad for our health.  Therefore it is easy to let them go.

Disclaimer:  Remember the information you read here does not represent financial advice.  Any ideas or suggestions are just that and may not work for you.  Read the full disclaimer here.

34 thoughts on “Things You Buy Every Week That I Don’t!”

    1. Charlotte Jessop

      Hi Mary! When I want to freeze food I will place it in a reusable container either a plastic tub or a jar. This has the added benefit that you can label it easily or see through it to see what is inside. 🙂

  1. Catherine Peters

    Love this article. I was looking into getting soap nuts as an alternative to laundry detergent but they are still expensive on the initial buy but the eco egg looks like a much better investment. Thank you.

  2. This was so interesting and put a different perspective on items I wouldn’t dream of not buying! Great post, very informative!

  3. Jen @ The Frozen Mind

    I commend you for this! There are several on the list that I do use on occasion such as aluminum foil when baking a ham. But i but a tiny roll and it lasts me a really long time.

    My biggest issue is sending my husband to the store for 2-3 things and he comes back with 10 bags! Lol

  4. Interesting ideas to consider when I make purchases. I do buy sandwich baggies, aluminum foil, and paper plates but I reuse all of these things. Foil and baggies can be rinsed. When my paper plates get yucky, I reuse them again with my cats to serve some canned food or my tortoise for a salad.

    1. Charlotte Jessop

      Glad to hear that you are reusing so much stuff. Many people throw things away after the first use and there is still so much life left in them. Thanks for commenting.

  5. This is great. A few things you have listed here I don’t buy or rarely buy myself. I have never heard of an Ecoegg before but it definitely sounds like something that would handy. I really want to switch to shampoo bars, they sounds like they last a long time and are as effective as bottled shampoo. Need to use up the shampoo that I do have and then make the switch.

    1. Charlotte Jessop

      You will love shampoo bars. Plus there are so many choices around now that you can get exactly what you want from them. Such as fragrance and hair type etc. Thank you for commenting.

  6. I have heard about Shampoo bars before, and I would love to try it! I could see how that would save money in the long run:)

  7. Tracy @ Cleland Clan

    I am definitely going to look for an Ecoegg! Baby food, to me, is just an unnecessary expense. Whatever happened to mashing up a banana or making applesauce? I didn’t buy any baby food at all with my youngest. He wouldn’t take a bottle and went right to a cup and table food (pureed, of course).

    1. Charlotte Jessop

      We didn’t even puree stuff with our kids. They just eat what we eat. And you are right baby food is a waste of money. I mean my youngest will eat twigs and rocks that she finds in the garden and that’s free! Haha!

  8. You are right on every point. We use things we really don’t know way too much. Thanks for indpiring me to think about how I can save and use other things that are more beneficial.

  9. I love this, You’ve definitely got me curious about how much money we could be saving without buying these products all of the time!

  10. Really awesome and eye-opening post Charlotte! So true about kitchen roll and bin bags, also really like the idea of a shampoo bar! x

  11. These are great tips thanks. I’ve never heard of Ecoeggs, will have a look at those. I mix Washing soda in with my normal washing powder and that makes it go further.
    Yes it makes no sense at all buying bin bags now you mention it. I have a lot of microfibre cloths which I could use instead of kitchen roll. Lots to think about!

  12. Ecoegg?! Um WHY have I never heard of that before! That is amazing & I will for sure be buying it to replace my detergent! Thank you so much for sharing. I’m also going to look into shampoo bars.

  13. rosemary wayre

    i have made some cotton squares to wrap my packed lunch in. they make a useful serviette as well while eating. i think you can actually buy them now [some enterprising person]. when i go out i always take a flask, and something to eat for a free lunch eaten where you like. i do eat out with friends now and again. i freeze bread and use one slice at a time. i dry everything on hangers to save on ironing. i turn the cooker off a few minutes early and the food cooks in its own heat.
    soak porridge overnight – takes half the time to cook. and so many more!!

  14. Hi,
    What can you suggest to use instead of foil when cooking in a gas oven? I’ve tried turning tge oven down, or moving the item around the oven. But it always burns. So I use foil to stop the burning.

    1. When we made a rich fruit cake for christmas we were told to wrap bands of greaseproof paper around the tin outsides. they can be paper clipped to hold in place or string was once used. I know we got the cake to set first and then turned the heat down a bit. But I imagine the worry is will it catch alight in a gas oven. Maybe you can try using the pyrex dishes as mentioned earlier with lids but use that as a mini oven on the shelf. I have used then a lot over the years, but you will obviously need a large one for the food dish to fit into it or maybe a large saucepan that is fully oven safe as in no glass lid or plastic handles that could get ruined. Maybe serve same purpose. I use all steel pans like chefs use ( great life time investment, must be about 36 years old and i burn them, soda soak clean boiled up and fit to go again) so they can be used where needed and not just for a hob. I need to fill a normal oven to make it worth the cost so in go the whole dinner each in it’s own pan. I paid about £95 for 5 piece set I have recently jumped aboard the air fryer hype with our fuels going up manic but can’t say i like it much, too little info and nonUk types and seems most want fried foods only. However i also got a slow cooker and that is used a lot, but I do need to brown the meal at the end in the normal oven. I have seen cake recipes cooked in slow cookers but No idea what cup measures are as i am in Uk with imperial and metric. I may have to try hit and miss with one of our own recipes. Oh apparently we have been using the wrong side of the foil anyway, it is shiny next to foods.

    2. I get high quality foil and reuse it over and over. Once it can’t be used any more, I wash it, then toss in my metal recycling (I have to take to the metal recycler about 1x a year). Some things just need foil.

  15. I have been making my own panty liners using a sort of white flannel cloth. I cut out the shape of them with side flaps, making them bigger then the well known sticky back type which are about 6″ long then with 3 layers they are sewn from the middle area out and all over to flatten them. Trim edges and over sew to stop fraying. I then sew in plastic popper tape on the opposite sides that can be bought by the yard to fasten around and hold in place on the outside of my knickers. They last years. I have made 2 lots as in weekly supply need of 1 a day and most have reached nearly 10 years. The popper tape may not be so lasting as I am inclined to wash them in a 60f load. but it can be replaced. Sadly many who are told i make these, look at me as if I must be mad but these items saved a lot of money over the 15 years I have not bought any.

    1. The panty liners are also much better for your genital area. You have cotton next to your very delicate area not a plastic panty liner. Cotton helps to prevent infections in this area.
      I have also made washable pads to remove make up .
      I am loving your tips.

  16. Hubby and I started weighing our trash each week and made a spreadsheet to track. I had already worked toward no plastic by then. Moving to a plant-based diet helped A LOT! The average American tosses 4# (1814g) of trash a week–we tossed 5# (2268g) a week. We are down to 2# (907g) of garbage a week–it fits in our empty 2-quart (1.9L) container of soy milk. Eating meat and dairy is super bad for the environment, as well as one’s health. There are some great documentaries I’d encourage ppl to watch. It changed our lives.

  17. Thanks for your tips. I am going to try the eco egg when I’ve finished the laundry soap that I have in stock. I don’t like detergent that has a strong smell anyway and I usually buy some in the”green “ shop. It sound very useful. A different kind of Easter egg for me! Lol. I am going to stop using shower gel too. I think a bar of soap will last longer and do the job well. I don’t know why we were all persuaded that soap has to be liquid anyway.

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