Saving Money In the Bathroom

As most of you know, I have a book called, How To Spend Less and have been running some articles based on this subject here on this blog. Today's article is a guest post by Alyssa Johnson and will be joined to my other saving-tips articles on A Blogger's Books.

The bathroom is second only to the kitchen as the room in your house that needs the most restocking. Cutting down on your costs in this one room of your house can really add up over the years. The key is to combine an air of frugality with ingenuity. Employing various preventive measures can also go a long way in reducing the need to purchase/restock certain items. The following outlines just a few tips I've learned along the way to reduce expenditures in the bathroom. Some will be pretty obvious, while others have likely escaped your intermittent toilet ponderings.

Ways to save money in the bathroom

Turn off the water - Seems simple enough. It's estimated that by simply turning off your water during things such as shaving, brushing your teeth, and attempting to induce urination you can save yourself as much as $80 over a six month period. Other ways to conserve water include taking a shower instead of a bath and fixing any running facets or toilets immediately.

Keep Your Soap  Dry - Soap has about half the life expectancy if kept in a constantly moist environment such as a small puddle of water.

Limit the use of Tooth Paste - The picture on the tube indicates that the proper amount of toothpaste to be used is enough to cover every bristle at a height capable of touching your teeth from your chin. A quick quiz of your dentist will tell you that about a pea sized portion of toothpaste is all that's needed to be effective. It only took me approximately twenty years of brushing for thirty seconds and spitting out ¾ of the foam in my mouth before I started choking to come to this enlightening realization.

Acne Cream/Cover Up - While some of us lose the genetic possibility of clear skin lottery, most of us can prevent acne (and thus all the various acne creams and expensive make-up used to hide our grotesque skin imperfections) by simply adjusting our diet. A number of different research ventures have turned up evidence that vitamins C and E, along with Biotin (a B vitamin) all play an active role in preventing and treating acne naturally. These vitamins can be found in foods such as olives, spinach, nuts, seeds, eggs, and bananas.

Opt for natural cleaners - Cleaning products are expensive. The lesson to be learned here is that you can probably forgo purchasing these products as there are likely a number of suitable substitutes to found throughout your house. Vinegar is something of a do-all in the bathroom. Undiluted vinegar can be used to clean your toilet, sink, bathtub, and floor. Just be sure to light a candle afterwards. Lemon can be used to effectively remove hard water deposits and soap scum.