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Welcome to 31 Days:The No Spend Month. If you are joining me for the first time, you may want to start on Day 1.
If you read Our Budget for No Spend Month, you’ll know that our budget for personal care items in October is just $5. This budget includes items such as tampons, toothbrushes, band aids, vitamins, soap, razors, makeup and more.
Honestly, I regularly spend about $10-15 per month on personal care items so it’s not that big of a stretch for us. In fact, I could probably do $0 spend this month because of the stash of personal care items we have on hand.
2 years ago, I was spending $35 per month on personal care items and have, over time, figured out several ways to get the products we need much cheaper. Here’s a few tips:
Go Homemade
My favorite way we save money on personal care products is to make them at home. I’ve made natural hair detangler, cleaned my face with olive oil, scrubbed my body with brown sugar and used both coconut and olive oil for different personal care purposes. I’ve got a long way to go as recipes for homemade toothpaste, shaving cream, hand soap and others abound.
Use Less
I’ve saved money over previous years by using less product or in some cases, no products. An example? I stopped using shampoo and I honestly don’t miss it a bit. In fact, we don’t even have a bottle of shampoo in our house because we all use conditioner to scrub and condition.
I can’t believe I’m sharing this with the world but I rarely use deodorant. Once I stopped using it regularly, my body stopped sweating much. I occasionally need it for a tight fitting shirt or ones made from specific fabrics but I only put it on about once a week.
I found that wearing socks keeps my feet softer than a slathering with lotion and my toe nails look fine with a home pedicure and clear gloss. I dry my razor and keep it in a drawer because the moisture from the shower was dulling it, shortening it’s life span. In fact Clark Howard says that he can use one razor for an entire year with this method.
Shop Daily Deals
You’ll probably see me mention daily deal sites often as a method to save money because I regularly use them to get 50% or more off items we use. This year, I purchased two Plum District deals for Yes To – a company that makes natural and organic skin, hair and baby care products. Together, I spent just $30 for $70 worth of products.
Today, Groupon had a deal for Alice.com for $40 worth of product for just $20. Alice.com carries a wide variety of household and personal care products, including natural ones that I like for our house. It was another way to get the products I like at a great discount.
Look For Online Deals
When I first heard about Vitacost.com, I told all my friends. In turn, we both got a $10 credit. Those credits netted me many free items this year such as sunscreen, vitamins, castile soap and face lotion. (You can get your own $10 credit here and then share with your friends.)
I keep my eye on online deals. Last weekend, Abe’s Market had a $5 off coupon code and free shipping. That scored me a bottle of natural baby shampoo for $3.99, shipped to my front door.
Clip Coupons
I admit, I’ve become a shopper with coupons – not an extreme couponer – but one that clips, cuts and prints coupons to use for substantial discounts and many freebies. Some of the personal care freebies include: ibuprofen, toothpaste, toothbrushes, makeup, nail polish, vitamins, razors and more.
Similar to how I grocery shop, I also save money by stocking up on products when I get a good deal. When I find a great price on conditioner, I might buy 2 or more.
I rely on several blogs to point out great deals, tell me where to get coupons and put together a list of freebies. Coupon shopping is an art of it’s own and these blogs can educate you far more than my purpose here. Here are a few of my favorites:
What is your personal care spending like? Share your favorite tips to save!
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