Today, I’m excited to share a guest post from Heather of Golden Reflections Blog. Please give her a warm welcome!
Thank you Sarah for having me today!
I was recently blessed to attend a large homeschool conference and hear a talk by Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom. My husband and I have been looking for ways to save money as I recently became a stay at home mom to take care of our 11 month old daughter. I have been trying to keep up with couponing for groceries and we have also been looking at cutting large bills out, such as recently discontinuing our satellite TV. So I knew this talk from Crystal would be exactly what I needed to get some more ideas of ways to save money!
Crystal outlined 25 ways that she has learned to save money over the years with groceries. Some of the ideas I have already done such as using coupons, shopping the sales, etc… Then she said one thing that stuck out at me: cutting out all paper products! My family is notorious for using a lot of paper plates and cups. To be honest, most of the reason is so I didn’t have to do dishes (yes I know, the lazy answer!). With a young daughter and trying to work and everything else on top of it, we had just gone overboard with it.
So I told my husband after the meeting, okay, so maybe I blogged about it and he found out that way! 😉 Anyways… we did end up talking about it and decided to try to cut out all paper products except for paper towels/napkins.
I was then on the hunt for some actual plates to replace our addicting paper ones. Yes, we do have regular plates, but they are heavy glass one and with our daughter’s reach getting a longer reach and stronger, we decided investing in some plastic, yet nice looking plates would be more reasonable for ever day eating.
I decided to try two stores in my search; Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Target. Bed, Bath, & Beyond’s selection was nice, but all the colors were solids, nothing eye catchy or “cute!” And I have to have cute every day plates! 😉 The price was $2.99 each for a large dinner plate, so I went to Target to see what they had!
Enter, the cute durable, dinner plates from Target! Also $2.99
I was much happier with the designs at Target. So I bought 8 of them; in two separate trips because there were only 4 each time I went!
So now let’s get to the nitty-gritty of how much I am saving by using reusable plates as opposed to paper.
All numbers are based on 1 year of use for a family of 2:
| # Used Each Day | Replace every… | Cost for 1 purchase | Cost for 1 year | Total Savings | |
| Paper | 6 (2 each meal) | 17.5 days | $4.39 (105 plates total) |
$52.68 |
|
| Reusable | 6 (2 each meal) | N/A | $2.99 each
|
$23.92 for 8 plates |
$28.76 |
So just in one year, I am saving $28.76 dollars just in cutting out paper plates! Can you imagine how much you would save if you were a larger family, say 4 or 8?
I am also cutting out disposable cups and going to glass or plastic cups. I am guessing I will be saving at least $50 a year, just by cutting out these two paper products. That may not seem like much, but it could give you extra gas money or to put towards a credit card bill or a house payment! Once my daughter becomes older I plan on cutting out napkins too! And every little bit helps! Add this to your other ways you are saving money and it will all add up!
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Heather is a wife and mother striving to be the Proverbs 31 woman raising a Proverbs 31 daughter! She prays that her word is fitly spoken like apples of Gold in setting of silver.” Proverbs 25:11. She enjoys blogging, photography, cooking, homemaking (including organizing and gardening), homeschooling (she is a homeschool grad also!) and sharing tips from her professional field of Occupational Therapy. You can join her on her journey at her blog Golden Reflections Blog and also on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, Instagram, Youtube, and Bloglovin’.[/box]
Dianna says
We cut out paper products (except toilet paper and paper towels for greasy items) a couple years ago when I became a stay at home mom and it has been a great savings for our family of 5. We don't even miss those things anymore and we actually use our pretty dishes.
For paper towels I use the prefolded diapers that I used as burp rags for my now 5 year old. We keep them folded in a small basket in the kitchen window. I buy about 4-6 rolls of paper towels a year at the most for things like draining the grease from bacon and other really messy things I don't want in my washer.
For napkins we use cloth napkins. I bought 2 packages for cheap one year at Target after Christmas. People really do think your just fancy!
For the little ones I just got a pack of cheap washcloths for their napkins. I keep them in the drawer with the fabric napkins and we use them when we need wet napkins for messy faces and hands.
You did a great job on the plates, they are very cute!
Heather G. says
Great ideas Dianna! Thanks for sharing!!
Jenny says
Cloth napkins are a great idea to cut out the paper usage. We also use wash cloths as a cloth napkin alternative. We chose some dark colored wash cloths & displayed them in a cute little basket in the center of our table. You could find some that would color coordinate with your awesome Target plates! 🙂
Heather G. says
That is an awesome idea Jenny! Will have to look for some!
Tammy says
Don't you love great deals like that? When I started couponing I figured I saved about $5000 a year in food!! I do a lot of cooking and freezing servings for the 2 of us and having dinners down the road. Even though hubby and I are not in the 9 to 5 work force anymore, cooking isn't one of my favorite things to do.
Heather G. says
Wow, $5000 savings a year is amazing!! Great job! I need to get into the habit of doing freezer meals more often! When I make soups and things I usually do because I tend to make way more than 2 people can ever eat! After 7 years of marriage, I still have trouble just cooking for only 2 people, lol!
Kadee says
Can I challenge you to start using cloth napkins now instead of when your daughter is older? I found I went through so many paper napkins with my little ones, even the baby, because my kids were very messy and paper napkins don’t do much before falling apart. When I switched to cloth, I used only one per meal per child instead of 5 or 6 for esch one simply because the cloth ones are so much better at cleaning up messes and they just hold more without falling apart.
Heather G. says
Yes, I am finding the napkin thing true, especially when my daughter doesn't want her face cleaned and tries to grab at the napkin! 😉 Thanks for the encouragement!!
Dawn says
I found a set of 24 at Sam's that I think were $9.00. I do use them quite a bit but I also buy paper (we are a family of 6 w/o a dishwasher). When I can find a free or cheap dishwasher you can bet I will go back to my pretty solid plastic plates!
Heather G. says
Yes, I understand with not having a dishwasher, I think if we didn't have one I probably wouldn't have gone to solid plastic either. We don't have a Sam's membership, but I need to look out for some good sales where I go.
Finding the Path says
Good for you! I have never been one to use paper plates or cups but you will see a savings. Keep an eye out for sales on cloth napkins, I have been using them for years & love them. They don't create that much wash, I promise! I have had some of my for over 20 yrs, used regularly and still looking pretty good! Plus my guests think I'm fancy. 🙂
Heather G. says
Thanks for the tip! I will have to be on the look out for them!