This post is brought to you by my dad, who is a follower of this blog.  He reminded me a while back that you can save a lot of money just by using less of the things you already use.  It’s great that you can get shampoo for pennies using coupons, but the longer you use that same bottle of shampoo, the less you spend overall.  The classic example is the “lather, rinse, repeat” slogan on shampoo, and how it was added as a marketing ploy to sell twice as much rather than because you actually need to wash your hair twice.

Laundry detergent is something that I personally always use less of than I’m supposed to.  I used to use cloth diapers for my daughter, and one of the ‘rules’ of using cloth is that you cannot under any circumstances use as much detergent as recommended.  Soap residue  affects how well the diapers work.  When you see half the recommended amount remove poop from the diapers with no trouble, it’s hard to justify using the full amount to clean clothes that aren’t as dirty.

This attitude will save you a lot of money in the long run.  It won’t seem like much, but when you apply it to ziplock bags and paper towels and toilet paper and body wash and toothpaste and dishwashing detergent and milk for your cereal and paper and everything else, it will save you tons.

What do you use less of? What do you think is going “too far”?  I have seen frugal internet communities speaking seriously about using less water and therefore saving money by not showering very often.  I personally think that is going TOO FAR.  ;)

Now that I think about it, this post is totally an endorsement for not cleaning your house very often. Save on cleaning supplies! :) Do it for your wallet.