We try to live frugally around here, but that doesn’t mean we never spend money. In fact, there have been times where we’ve made rather large investments that save money. In some cases they quickly pay for themselves monetarily, in other cases, the side benefits help pay for them too.
When you want to save money, it can be hard to “let” yourself spend a lot of money on an item when maybe you could get something else a little cheaper. I’ve learned the hard way that many times it’s worth it to get a higher quality item and pay more, than to buy something cheaper and have to replace it in a couple years.
Below I have listed simple investments that save money in our house. For many of these items we actually had to save up for a several months to get them, but they were very much so worth it.
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Investments that Save Money:
#1 Washer and Dryer. If you have the hookups for a washer and dryer, then by all means look into getting them. You don’t have to go to some store and buy new. We found a guy on guy on Craigslist who sold repossessed machines, the bent-and-dent models and display models from stores. He also bought and resold gently used machines. We were able to get a 2 year old Whirlpool washer and an older Roper dryer for a total of $350 from him. Only once has the washer had a problem which I fixed, and the dryer still works too.
When our washer went out that one time, I had to take the load out of it, and go to the laundromat. To wash one load it cost me $3.50. To dry that load it would’ve cost me $2.50. For 2 people we do an average of 5 loads a week, that would cost us $30 a week and $1,560 a year. I would say our washer and dryer have truly paid for themselves.
#2 Pressure Cooker canning: Canned foods have a long self life. In fact we canned beef 3 years ago and it’s still fine. Now I would suggest you use your own judgement, on eating home canned foods older than 2 years, but I will say we have ate many canned foods far older than that with no issue.
I own a Presto canner and an All American canner, the All American is my favorite, but I like and use them both. Your canner will cost $100 – $200, then you will need some canning supplies, plus jars, lids and rings. Jars can get expensive, and it’s possible that you could spend an average of $200 just getting your jars and stuff. You could also look into buying used.
Benefits of canning. Your food lasts a long time. If you garden, your canned goods will be really cheap. Or if you have to buy produce, (we have to buy some) you can buy locally in bulk. Our favorite foods to grow and can: Green beans, tomatoes, apples, peaches, pears, jams/jellies, pie fillings, and salsa. The way we go through it, I’m sure we save a couple hundred dollars a year, just by making and canning our own salsa.
#3 Dehydrator: I saved for several months and bought an Excalibur dehydrator. I had many reasons for that, and I share a full review of my Excalibur dehydrator here. Dehydrating foods are a great way to preserve them. In fact, some would say dehydrating is even better than canning.
I also use my Excalibur to raise bread, make yogurt (big savings there!) and other things. I can even make my own spices using it!
#4 Large Freezer: When Jason and I were engaged and buying things for our home, there was one thing I was determined to have. We ended up buying it new because we could find a used one that would suit us. That was our large chest freezer.
Being able to have extra freezer space allows us to do things like buy a 1/4 cow, 1/2 hog, and several dozen chickens, from local farmers. We can buy non-gmo, organic and even grass fed animals for a fraction of the price you would pay in the store for comparable meat. It also allows us to freeze certain fruits and veggies. We grow a huge corn crop and freeze it. I buy fruits when they are in season and freeze them. In fact fruits are crazy easy to freeze, check out how we freeze blueberries for example.
Frozen foods maintain more nutrients than canned foods as well.
The downfalls to freezing foods, is that foods can freezer burn. There is also the possibility of the electric going out. Which is why I would like to invest in a generator.
#5 Vacuum Sealer: I found a great vacuum sealer at a garage sale for pretty cheap. My mother has that one as well, and we use them all the time. Vacuum sealing foods that go into the freezer prevent freezer burn; and vacuum sealing dry foods like fresh ground flours, coffee, rice and other stuff keep it fresh for so much longer.
As well, it has attachments that allow you to seal glass canning jars, so when I dehydrate tomatoes and stuff like that I can seal them up in jars, and the dehydrated foods stay fresh that much longer.
*note: Vacuum sealing dried foods in jars is not to be confused with canning. Vacuum sealed foods in jars that are going on the shelf, MUST BE shelf stable already.
#6 Sewing Machine: It won’t always save you money, as I have learned that many times it’s cheaper to buy already made than it is to buy the supplies. However, having a sewing machine can enable you to mend clothes, and make modest clothing for you and your daughters, and all sorts of other things. As well, you can easily save lots if you make your own curtains. 🙂
Smaller Investments that Save Money:
#7 Cloth Napkins: These are easy to make yourself. Buy flannel from the bargain bin at a fabric store, cut into 10″x10″ and serge the edges. For a family of 2, make 15-20, for each additional member add 10 more to your stash. Or, just wash them twice a week. 🙂
#8 Flannel Paper Towels: Just like with the napkins use flannel and cut them into paper towel sized shapes. Use two pieces this time and serge them together for a double thickness. I roll mine up on an old paper towel roll. I do still use regular paper towels for pet messes, and greasy foods.
#9 Cloth Diapers: Maybe not a smaller investment, I found a good deal on used ones, so got them pretty cheap. $150 for my stash, and I will need a special soap… but, I would go through $150 worth of disposable diapers pretty quickly, so it’s a good investment for me.
#10 Your suggestions in the comments 🙂 Tell us something that you’ve invested in and never regretted for how it saves you money!
Another big one is skip the dryer and use drying racks instead. I like the drying racks from The Homestead Store: http://www.homesteaddryingracks.com/
Very true. We don’t have room to store a drying rack or I would have one already 🙂 I want a clothesline, but we really don’t have a good place for it in our back yard either….
One of these days, when we get our dream home and all….. 🙂
We live in a teeny tiny apartment, and we have a drying rack, it folds flat when not in use and I keep it in a closet. I love it and wouldn’t give it up.for anything!
Sounds great! I love my drying rack.
I love hanging my clothes outside, they dry quickly and smell great.
My husband purchased a Keurig coffee pot, and purchased a additional non disposable k cup to make the coffee we drink. We only drink one cup a day,so it keeps us from making a pot of coffee.
That’s a great list.
The thing that I HAVE to splurge on are good shoes. Not the cute, fashionable ones, more like the orthopoedic ugly ones. If I don’t buy good shoes, my feet kill me. I had gotten plantar fasciitis once and, believe me, you only need to get it once to realize the importance of buying well-made comfortable shoes.
Good shoes are important for sure!
I also have suffered from plantar fasciitis and it was because I bought cheep sneakers and all the rest of the time was wearing ballet flats. NEVER AGAIN! I will not gladly pay the $60 or more for good sturdy sneakers (that don’t bend) for when I am gardening and running around the house or grocery store.
I think that nice knives are a great investment. They motivate me to eat more fresh foods because the chopping is a breeze. I have slowly saved and added to my collection over the years. (I really like open stock Wustof classic knives.) It saves money on prepared /convenience foods and gives the health benefit too.
I was also thinking my clothes line- we have an inexpensive retractable line that works great. I dry my husband’s golf/polo shirts and our cloth diapers on the line. (BTW, you don’t necessarily need expensive soap for cloth diapers. Lots of folks say Tide works great for them!)
Finally, this a silly little thing but I recently bought rubber gloves for washing dishes (I wash lots of baby bottles, breast pump parts, plus food dishes that don’t fit in the dishwasher). It is saving my hands from having to lather on special lotions and neosporin.
Rubber gloves are amazing 🙂
I also agree with you on the knives. Hubby bought me a chef knife for my birthday that cost around $100. It seemed like a lot at the time, but I have used it so much and it’s still super nice. Probably my favorite gift I’ve ever gotten from him 🙂
I make my own laundry detergent and find that I no longer have problems with my sensitive skin, plus it works better than Tide on getting my clothes clean and keeping my brights bright.
That’s awesome!!!
In out apartment we don’t have washer/dryer hookups. So we bought The Laundry Pod. It looks like a big salad spinner with a hose to drain water. I was all my cloth diapers in there and then hang dry them. I try to wash the kids clothes and kitchen rags as well. Pretty much anything small goes in there. We have a hand crank one so it doesn’t even use electricity. Plus it’s like a bonus work out!
I love that idea! Would be great for living off the grid. (if we could ever make that happen 🙂
Bread machine, I cannot stand for long periods so my bread machine has been a life saver. I bought mine for $20 at the thrift store so was not a big investment but I use it almost daily. My family likes it so much it was the first thing my daughter asked for when registering for her wedding.
My mom loves her bread machine!!! I use my bosch to make and kneed our bread, the only thing with it, is I do have to be home the whole time I’m making bread instead of tossing it into a machine and forgetting about it. 🙂
I have tried to invest in a larger supply of canning jars then I need. I buy them from garage sales and whenever they are on sale or a good price in the stores. Then I have what I need if we get a bumper crop of something or if a relative happens to bring over 5 grocery bags full of tomatoes (yes that happened.) also, I have found that I cannot expect to get a jar back if I give the contents as a gift. Many people return them, but not everyone does.
I crochet my own dish rags. The cotton is not very expensive and the bumps give you good scrubbing power in a non abrasive way. While i still like to use sponges that will eventually get thrown away if the item is very greasy and dirty, the dish rags are great for normal dishwashing. Make a lot, skip the pretty colored cotton yarn in favor of white, and bleach them regularly to keep them from getting that yucky smell.
Yup, canning jars are something I’m not sure you can have too many of. Especially since I tend to vaccuum seal dehydrated stuff in canning jars too. 🙂
I used to knit dishrags, but I don’t have time anymore. What I tend to use are the double flannel squares that I use for my washable paper towels. If I need some rubbing power, I use scratchers that I crochetted years ago 🙂
Thank you for this post, I am just starting out with my family, we couldn’t afford a canner this year and unfortunatly alot in our garden went to waste 🙁 I tried using a stock pot but it wouldn’t work, I hope to catch a good deal on a canner when they start putting them on sale! I must say I got lucky, I found tons of canning jars at goodwill they were 49 cents each I asked the lady behind the counter if she would cut me a discount if I took them all (there were atleast four boxes full with 10 in each box) she let me take them for 12 dollars I checked first to make sure I was doing ok with the deal and there was no chips or cracks 🙂
Awesome deal on the jars!!!
And check Craigslist for canners. I found one of mine that way and got a bunch of canning supplies with it! 🙂
If you have freezer space, a great deal of your produce can be frozen as well.
I don’t have a pressure cooker but my family always just uses a canner to do all our canning. pizza sauce, soups, pie filling, grape juice, pickles, green beans, red beets & the list goes on 🙂 Its amazing how much money you can save by canning & freezing food that you raise or buy in season! And the feeling of satisfaction when you put your food on shelves knowing you are providing for your family…. I would have to agree that a vacuum sealer is one of the better investments we have made. We love it for all sorts of things but esp meat. No freezer burn!
absolutely! I don’t have a pressure cooker, but I do have a pressure canner and love it. I also use the hot water bath canners for some stuff.
Food processor – I am not sure what I ever did without one. We have to eat gluten free and I use it to make gluten free flours. It saves a ton of money and time!