Sneaky Household solutions for a bad economy

I have some Sneaky solutions for a bad economy to share with you . We all like out modern conveniences, the problem is some of them can cost a fortune to keep up .For today I'm focusing on a few tricks I have implemented to save me a bit more money on my cleaning and grocery bills. I warn you these are a bit radical and you might even laugh but I found the really work nicely.

First we all know and love our neat convenience floor mops, I'm not sure if I can name names, But you know the ones with the bottle of fluid that snaps into the apparatus that uses pads to clean the floor . you pull a trigger and floor cleaning solution comes out. Yep those kind :)

we all know that it can really get mighty expensive buying refills for the cleaning solutions , but I fixed up a nice alternative to buying these that works very well and here it is.

First ,once the plastic bottle is empty, you use a sharp knife to cut a small hole in the very top (please see photo) using a funnel add you favorite floor cleaning solution to the bottle . I use a mixture of fabuloso and water, I like the lavender . Now you may be thinking, Lori thats fine but what about the hole in the top of my container! well what you do is get an old wine cork and fit it in, I had a really nice one from an old vodka bottle that also has a metal top, as you can see, it fits in snugly and will not leak out even if the mop is accidentally dropped or falls down. Now you don't want to store the mop lying down, but than who would lol . you can refill your bottle as many times as you like saving a boat load of money . Here is a picture of what mine looks like now.

As you can see this is not only cost effective but you get to use the cleaner you like, make your own, or just use water and your not forever throwing out plastic bottles .

Next on my list are dryer-sheets do you know that after these are used they will literally suck the dog and cat hair off a floor or table. I have both a long haired dog and cat . it is a constant battle to keep that hair off stuff, In stead of throwing out these used dryer sheets I use them like dusters and believe me they work a lot better than the kind made for this job.These are really good for touch ups and gives you a option to get 2 kinds of uses out of one product .

one of my favorite products but also mighty expensive, are the no spill wood diffusers from a really great company they look like this

Unfortunately these puppies cost a literal fortune but you can keep the diffuser and refill it with scented oils from walmart . These oils are found in the candle area NOT in cleaning products. Go over to where they have picture frames , look around that area for the candles, tea-light refills and popuri isle. These come in big bottles with lots of great scents and one bottle will refill your fancy wood diffuser a whole lot of time saving you 14.99 per refill. I really love these diffusers but the company does not make a refill so you have to keep buying the whole thing all the time. These cost about 12.99 to 14.99 depending on where you buy them .I have this one and I refill it with regular popuri oil and it works just fine .

Next- have you ever been to late to snag one of the many free coupons offered on facebook or other promos , I know I have! Its so annoying to be told sorry your to late to get this awesome free coupon for a free pizza !. Well here is a solution. I Discovered that you can bid on free coupons on Listia

I found this out one day fooling around, I typed in coupons in the search box and low and behold, all the free coupons I missed out on are there up for bids. Sometimes people get free coupons they cant use or maybe like me the stuff is just not available in our local area . Listia members list Free coupons they cant use so they can get points to bid on free coupons they can use.

For instance I received a coupon for some Juice, My stores do not stock this kind of juice. I listed the coupon and someone who can find this item bid and got it . They got their Juice and I got the points so I can bid on that pizza I missed out on . It really is a win win situation.This way I save on my grocery bill with lots of free coupons and my Husband is very happy. You cant list cents off coupons though only free product coupons.But their are tons to choose from. Listia also has things like coke rewards, stouffers codes and other really neat stuff for very little points.

OK thats my Short list of Very Sneaky ways to get by in this bad economy. Do you have any you can add, leave me a sneaky solution comment :) Thanks for reading :)