Money Monday: Stretching Products

I am trying to become a wise consumer and not purchase as many one-time use products. For example, when I need to wipe up the kitchen counters, I know that I should get out a clean dishrag and add a little soap and water and wipe away. And despite the fact that the rag drawer is 100% reachable from where I keep the disinfecting wipes next to the sink, I am way more likely to reach for a wipe. I'm not a monster, I sometimes do opt for the rag, but usually not.

My bad.

I also use too many paper towels, but I now only purchase the make-a-size kind and use a half of a regular sheet to wipe my mouth when I'm eating spaghetti. 

But I do try my best to stretch these products. If I pull out a wipe to clean up a small spill, I will continue to use the entire surface area of the wipe until it is all used up. So if there are a few drops of milk I want to clean off the counter, I would wipe those up and then possibly wipe up the kitchen sink until it's shiny. 

Here is another I stretch my disinfecting wipes: If you use these products with any regularity, you may notice that there tends to be quite a bit of fluid remaining after the wipes are used up. So I don't let that go to waste. I will usually rip off five half-sheet paper towels, ball them up individually, drop them into the container, and shake. The fluid saturates the paper towels and you have bonus wipes! It's so simple and that buys me about another week of use.  

Of course, you could just pour that fluid onto a cloth rag and wipe away, but if you do you are a better person than me.