Tips to Save on Household Essentials (+Free Inventory Sheet!)
Have you ever looked under your bathroom sink and seen that you have 27 tubes of toothpaste but no mouthwash? That you have 12 bottles of shampoo but only 3 bottles of conditioner?
The first major step in saving money on household items, is to know how much you use of each item. Once you know how long it takes you to use a tube a toothpaste, a container of laundry soap, a roll of paper towels, etc you can then plan ahead and buy these items on sale or at their lowest price.
It seems like every time I run out of something, it is never on sale or at a decent price. I decided to change this coincidence from happening, and I work on a 3-6 month plan now.
Most retail stores are on a constant 12 week cycle for their sales. So, if something goes on sale this week, in about 3 months it will go on sale again.
How to save money on household items
Most Americans go grocery shopping 1-2 times a week and they do this at traditional food stores. This is a grocery store that offers not only food but also a couple of aisles of household items like laundry soap, cleaners, and paper goods.
Since you are already there picking up stuff for dinner and lunches, you might as well pick up your toothpaste and hair conditioner here too, right?
In most areas, grocery stores actually make more money off of non-food items. They know it is more convenient to buy these items at the same time that you pick up milk and eggs, so they charge a premium price for the convenience.
I am always comparing prices on my household goods by using 2 apps on my phone: Walmart and Dollar General. Both apps are free and they give you real time information on pricing and if an item is in stock.
I have found that 90% of the time, my household basics like toilet paper and paper towels are cheaper at Dollar General or Walmart compared to the grocery store. This is on any given day, but if I shop on Saturday, I can get an extra $5 off my $25 purchase at Dollar General and save even more.
When I dedicate only Saturdays to household item shopping, I find that not only do I save money, but I also stick to my list of things that I need and not buy on autopilot.
Autopilot buying is when you automatically buy hair conditioner because you bought shampoo. Or if you buy a toothbrush, you automatically buy toothpaste. You might not even need these items but since you use them together, your brain tells you to go ahead and buy both.
Use Wise Buying to Save on Household Items
If you have read my article on Wise Buying, you know that by using 3 simple principles you can save a ton of money on your purchases. The 3 principles when deciding which item to purchase is price per unit, cost to use/store, and is the price in your budget?
Let’s do some examples of wise buying on household items as well as compare prices between three stores: grocery store, Walmart, and Dollar General.
In most areas, you will have access to a Walmart or Dollar General, so that is why I am using them as examples. You will need to comparison shop in your area based on what stores are nearby.
Example #1 – Tide Laundry Soap
Here are screen shots from my local Ingles Grocery Store ad, Dollar General and Walmart for the same size 138 fluid ounce bottle of Tide Laundry soap with the same scent.
The local grocery store is on sale for $18.98, Dollar General is regular price $15.95 and Walmart is regular price $17.94. In this case, it is $3.03 cheaper to just buy the laundry soap at Dollar General.
If I bought this item at its normal price of $21.98 at the grocery store, it would be a savings of $6.03 to instead buy it at Dollar General!!!
If you wanted to go further, Dollar General usually has coupons on major brands that are super easy to digitally clip and use at the register. I usually do my comparison shopping without any additional coupons, so any coupons I use are truly just extra money in my pocket!
Example # 2- Tampax Pearl Tampons
Here are screenshots from the Kroger grocery store ad, Walmart, and Dollar General stores for the same size box of Tampax Pearl Tampons.
The Kroger sale price is $6.99 (have to buy 5 participating items to get this price) but they are normally $7.99. Walmart regular price is $6.97 and Dollar General is regular price of $7.50.
Now you may think that $3 here and $1 there is not that big of a savings, but you will be surprised how quickly that adds up every week. If you save $1 on 20 different items, that is $20 that could be used for something else and that is a big chunk of my budget for household items.
If you are trying to save money on your household items, a huge pro tip is to stop shopping at the grocery store for household items!
Household Items Inventory
Now that we have figured out good alternative places to shop for household items to save money, we can get into the nitty gritty of really stretching our money.
Most of us are on auto-pilot when it comes to buying household items, because we know that we will eventually use them.
Now, we know that most sale prices come around every 3 months, so in order to maximize my savings on household items, I am going to want to keep 3-6 months’ worth of all of my must have household items.
Before we go out and spend a ton of money stocking up on household supplies, we need to take an inventory of what we have already, so we don’t buy more than we need.
Here is a free downloadable printable that you can use to do a household item inventory. Everyone stores their items differently, so I have broken them down by room and by category, with a miscellaneous section of anything else.
You can also just do pen and paper, but I find having a structured page ready to go helps me get committed to the task.
Household Item Inventory- Free Printable Download
This printable inventory list will print on standard 8.5 x 11 paper so you can print on any home printer.
Now that you have your list, go through your house and write down all the items in every room/ category that you use on a regular basis. Ideally you want to keep track of things that you will use 1 or more of in a 3-6 month period.
How long does it take to use up different household items?
If you’re not sure how long it takes for you to use up certain items, then the next time you open a new bottle of shampoo/deodorant/whatever, I want you to write the date on the item when you open it.
This way when you go to throw away the item after it is all used up, you will know how long it took you to use it and that will give you a baseline.
Estimated Length of Use on Household Items Per Person
| 10 oz shampoo and conditioner | last about 1 month on average |
| toothbrush | 3-4 months |
| 5 oz tube of toothpaste | 3 months |
| deodorant | 3 months |
| mascara | 3-6 months |
| 1000 sheet roll of toilet paper | 18 days (this is based on one person’s use, so if you have a family of 4 that would mean it is closer to 4.5 days) |
Once I have my inventory completed, I will know exactly what I have and what I need to buy. Then I can start looking for these items and find a good deal on price.
Once I find a good deal on price, I can stock up on enough to cover the next 3-6 months of use and then I don’t have to think about it for the next couple months.
If you have kids, especially teenagers you know the dreaded “Mom I am out of (blank)” and I need it right now. As if they had no clue that they were almost out of deodorant until there was not a speck of deodorant left.
Being the good mom that you are and not wanting to smell teenager funk, you will rush out and pay full price for a good smelling kid. Now we can break this cycle, and save money in the process!
5 Tips to Saving Money on Household Items
Here are my top 5 tips to save a ton of money on household items.
- Don’t buy household goods at the grocery store without price comparing with another store like Walmart or Dollar General.
- Skip the name brand and buy the store brand. So many studies have shown that store brand is just as good as name brand, but it costs less due to less packaging and advertising costs.
- If you can’t give up your name brands, look into digital coupons that are available at places like Dollar General. Most name brands will have coupons, and if you pair that with an already less than grocery store prices, you can save a lot!
- Use wise buying methods by looking at the price per unit, cost to store/use, and if you can afford the price. This will keep you from buying a 12-year supply of toothpaste in one trip just because it was a good deal.
- Stop shopping on autopilot. If you are not out of an item and the item is not on sale, just wait to buy it. Just because you are at the store today and you will eventually run out of laundry soap doesn’t mean you need to pay full price right now. Wait for sales! If you are completely out of something and nothing is on sale, consider buying a small amount to hold you over until you can get a better deal.
Hopefully by shifting your mind set and getting off of autopilot, you can make huge shifts in your budget for household goods.
We currently budget $50-75 a month for household goods, and rarely spend the full amount. I let any extra roll over to the next month in case I have to spend a little more later.
Ideally, I will just go to a store like Dollar General on a Saturday twice a month and pick up what I need and snag my extra $5 discount. In reality, I sometimes have to run into the store in the middle of week, because we ran out of diapers.
Give yourself grace and patience with your budget. If you currently spend $250 a month on household items, try reducing that by 10% next month to be only $225. Then the following month lower your budget by 10% again so it is $202.50.
Making small changes is easier to maintain than making drastic cuts all at once. Slowly build up your 3-6 months of supplies, and then keep an eye out for things that you need as you need them.
Keep checking you inventory every 2 months and before you know it, you will never run out of these must have supplies unexpectedly and have to pay full price!
