Earth Day Special: The Fun-Vampire Saves The Day!
It’s no secret – I’m cheap. I’ve been (lovingly) called a “fun-vampire” cause I suck the fun out of spending money ;). It’s true. I’ve eased up a bit as I’ve aged, but if it’s not in the budget, it ain’t happening – sorry family. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, just not a popular thing when there’s a full amazon cart ;).
My Fun-Vampire persona has been especially helpful in times when life has been “tight” financially. Dual-Entrepreneur households can make for a precarious cashflow situation, and over the years, we’ve had to double down on our spending cuts. Most of the time, beyond the obvious cuts, this meant I would DIY many of the things that I would normally just go buy.
I wanted to share some of my DIY go-to’s that not only saved us some serious coin when we needed it for things like mortgage and heat, but also helps to be a little more Earth-conscious. It’s Earth Day after all, so it’s good to do our part.
Reduce Plastic Packaging with Refills and Buying in Bulk:
Anyone else HATE over packaging?? It drives me insane. I’ve been loving the refilleries in Calgary - DYP Refillery is now online and they’re my go-to for replenishing my supplies. Shampoo/conditioner bars, dry shampoo, shower steamers, magnesium spray’s – they hook me up with all the goods.
I do this at the grocery store too – dish detergent, rice, quinoa – if they can last to the apocalypse, I’m buying them in bulk to save $$; things are (almost) always cheaper when you buy more, and as long as you use it, it’s worth it. My favourite feature at grocery stores is on the price label they show you the cost per gram (or whatever unit). This way you can compare the TRUE price of the product.
DIY Laundry Detergent
I love my homemade laundry soap! I made it for YEARS…until I became a Go Clean Co fangirl and switched to using Tide for everything ;P
There are lots of simple recipes online using ingredients like baking soda, citric acid, and essential oils. My go to recipe has:
Washing soda
Borax
Sunlight laundry soap bars
Baking Soda
Fabric Softner pellet things (I’m sure there’s a technical name for it, but you get the idea…its to make it smell pretty)
Not only will you reduce your plastic consumption, but you'll also save money by buying these ingredients in bulk and making your own cleaning products at home.
With my Go Clean Co love, I now use her cleaning recipes (you can get them here), and most of her stuff is pretty DIY too. I swear there is no shower glass cleaner out there that works HALF as good as hers and its 3 ingredients.
Thrifting & Mending Versus Fast Fashion:
Fun fact – I hate shopping. This likely doesn’t come as a surprise given my “fun-vampire” status, but truly, I hate shopping for clothes. So, this trend against fast fashion was one that I was more than ready to jump on the bandwagon for!
Thrifting for clothes started when I was a teenager and I’m proud to say that my kids are thrift-a-holics too. I also have a love for sewing, and while I don’t really have the time anymore to sew my own clothes, mending or modifying clothes has been a true money-saver.
Whether it's sewing on a button, patching a hole, or fixing a zipper, there’s lots of ways you can extend the life of your clothes. Not only does this save you money by avoiding unnecessary purchases, but it also reduces the environmental impact of the fashion industry.
Other Repairs
On the whole idea of mending your clothes, what about tackling other repairs yourself? This is one of my passions. After the annoyance of it all, I honestly get excited when an appliance breaks cause I get to crack open the YouTube vault and try to figure out how to fix it! I’ve basically rebuilt my dryer at this point, done a few repairs on the fridge, dishwasher, washing machine (though it finally got the best of me last month and we had to get a new one), and tried my hand at fixes and upgrades to my Jeep!
Honestly – I’m no savant; I’m just cheap, and the idea of paying someone to do a repair that I can try to figure out with the help of YouTube is something I just couldn’t stomach. Don’t be scared! What’s the worst thing that could happen? You’ll break it? It’s already broken! So best case, you fix it; worst case you have to buy a new one. Give it a try – it’s pretty fun!
Conserve Energy
Who else is completely OVER the cost of utilities these days?! I get the whole thing about reducing energy to help the environment, but let’s be real…I’m only sitting here with cold feet and a blanket on my lap because the cost of running the furnace while everyone (except me) is at work/school is too much! I can’t afford the cost of warm feet!!
And so it is…we have a programable thermostat, and from 8:30 am – 3:30 pm its set to “barely warm”, and then gets a welcomed boost for when everyone starts coming home. I drop it again at bedtime and raise it in time for us to get out of bed in the morning.
As we replace appliances, I’m also looking for energy efficient ones to help keep the operating costs lower. We just had to get a new washing machine and this was on the “must have” checklist. I also took advantage of the government program that came in and replaced all our lightbulbs with energy efficient ones, as well as our showerheads. Hopefully these things have helped with our bills?! Who knows – it’s still way too expensive.
There you have it! Saving money and saving the planet can often go hand in hand. I hope some of my DIY hacks inspire you to try some DIY’s of your own. Embrace your inner fun-vampire and save some money for truly FUN things!
Happy Earth Day! 🌎💚