Family of 3 (sort of) toiletries and cleaning stuff budget?

[amo_mea_filiis.]

What do you spend on toiletries and cleaning supplies monthly? I'm trying to create a budget, but really don't know what I "should" be spending regularly.

 

We're very low income, but it's recently changed, though still in the very low range. So things like Clorox wipes can run out and not be refilled for months. However, I'd like to now keep some on hand (2 kids, 6 extra kids in and out, lots of germs! But also easy to teach a little extra kid to wipe the table with a wipe). Laundry detergent; I have preferred brands, but if we were low and absolutely broke, I'd get the cheapest price (not necessarily cheap per unit) to get us through. 

 

I'm going to track spending November and December, but we will not need laundry detergent or toilet paper. We may or may not need shampoo or soap, etc.

 

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is how much per month should I add to the envelope for these things.

 

We are officially a family of 3. But I do keep a little extra on hand for my extra kids (6 of them). I could go a month with minimal needs for the extras, or I could have a month where I have 1 or more with me every day of the month. 

[school17777]

There was a thread on here years ago about things you splurge on to make your life easier when you homeschool and Clorox wipes were one of things that was mentioned. It made sense and changed the way I thought about them. They do cost more than a spray and paper towel, or reuseable wipe, but the convenience is worth the cost.

 

I find them cheaper at a warehouse store, than buying individual containers. Although, I think the dollar store has some too, and that might bring the cost down.

[Kalmia]

My cleaning supply budget just went up as our house is on the market. Prior to this financial and plastic bottle shock, I cleaned with:

 

Gallon jug of cleaning vinegar (or regular vinegar will do) from Walmart $4.50? (you mix it with water in a spray bottle) lasts ages, kills germs on counters, washes windows and mirrors, removes odor from stinky laundry

Half gallon jug of hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach $9 (toilets, laundry, disinfects). This will bleach colors so use caution around fabrics.

Natural (plant based soap) dish detergent regular size bottle Seventh Generation $3 (use for dishes and cleaning counters etc.)

Murphy's Oil Soap for cleaning floors $4 (mix with water, lasts a long time)

Cloth bar mops instead of paper towels (except for bacon grease and cat messes) from Walmart 6/$6. I bought 48 but start with 24.

Laundry Detergent. the cheapest natural oil based one in our store, Seventh Generation (NO SAVINGS HERE). $9/50 oz.

Steel wool pads for cleaning stuck on food and yes, my shower! $3

Trash bags 56/$13.

 

Vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and Murphys Oil Soap lasts at least 2 months. Brillo and laundry detergent 2 per month. Dish detergent lasts a month. We use a trash bag every two days, there are 56 in the bag, but I will just half that price to calculate the monthly expense.

So with a one time purchase of bar mops for $24 the rest of the cleaning supplies are approximately $ 32.25 per month. ymmv

 

I like the lower expense, our house is just as clean, and no fewer horrible scents. I can barely walk down the cleaning aisle without choking now.

 

Edited October 28, 2017 by Kalmia

[Kassia]

I buy the Great Value (Walmart brand) disinfecting wipes in a big value pack of three large containers.  I love them!  They are much thicker than the name brands and not saturated with liquid either.  I might actually give them as gifts to my adult sons for Christmas - that's how much I love them!  

[PeachyDoodle]

Tracking your spending for a couple of months is the best way to do this. It can vary so much between families, and even more so in a situation like yours with multiple kids in and out.

 

Even if you do not need to *buy* items like laundry detergent and toilet paper you can keep track of your average usage. If you know you go through, say, 1 roll of toilet tissue per person per week, you can determine how much you will need to spend.

 

While you're tracking, also try to keep up with sales cycles and see if you can determine the rock-bottom price of you preferred brand. If you can get on the same cycle as your store and stock up when prices bottom out, it can help you keep from having to buy the cheapest thing available in a pinch.

 

I do buy Clorox wipes and the like, but mostly we try to make our own cleaners when possible and use washable rags instead of disposable products. Most surfaces can be adequately cleaned with a mix of vinegar and liquid dish soap. I save Clorox for the very germiest of messes. A large container can last us 6 months.

[SereneHome]

I don't budget anything monthly, I do it annually.  I buy more expensive personal care products for us and the kids bc I like "cleaner" ingredients.  I buy cleaning supplies at BJ with their and manufacturing coupons.  I stock up on laundry detergent when it's on sale in regular grocery stores and use coupons. 

 

I budgeted $1400 for the year, so far we spent $922.40.  That includes all the soaps, hand and body, shampoos, all my lotions and a little bit of make up, all my husband's shaving stuff, bug sprays and sunscreens, toothpastes and toothbrushes and floss sticks.  That also includes ALL cleaning supplies, paper products and anything that is consumable around the house

[Ottakee]

For general cleaning I buy Lysol disinfectant concentrate and then put that in a spray bottle with water to dilute it to the proper strength. It lasts a very long time and kills germs.

 

For rags I use the 12 packs of super cheap washcloths from Walmart.

[MEmama]

Not using disposable or paper items saves a lot. I honestly don't buy much for household cleaning: I use one bottle of laundry detergent a year at most; same with a bottle of Method granite cleaner (maybe every two years). Floor cleaner lasts me years; I sweep regularly and mop infrequently. One microfiber dust cloth will last decades. My vacuum doesn't use disposable filters.

 

I buy bags of hand soap to refill containers and large bottles of shampoo and body soap that probably last 2-3 months each. I bought my dish detergent last Christmas and I'm 2/3 of the way out. I do use those dishwasher pods as they seem to best for my dishwasher.

 

There's no reason to use much soap or cleaners in general, so I don't. It saves money, but also environmental impact and it's just totally unnecessary. I promise we are clean and healthy, our clothes last forever and my house is clean and smells good. ;).

[foxbridgeacademy]

For my family of 4-6 

 

For all purpose cleaning solution I use Lysol.  It's concentrated so I fill a spray bottle mostly with water and add in the solution to fill it up.  We go through a couple diluted spray bottles a month.  The big bottle usually lasts me 3-4 months but I can make it stretch longer.  

 

We use anywhere from 4-8 rolls of paper towels per month and I've found Brawny to be just as good as Bounty, whose quality has suffered in the last few years IMO.  Otherwise I have a TON of white washcloths from walmart that I use for cleaning.

 

I used to buy dawn dish soap but I like the 7th generation better and it seems to actually last longer, I don't use dish soap often so the extra expense is minor.

 

We go through almost 1 big tub of Cascade Complete per month.  I've tried the cheaper brands (don't work) and the boxes of powder (costs just as much in the end since I over pour).

 

1 bottle of ECOS rinse aid is less than $4.

 

TP is where we spend a lot of $$ about 1 per month but we're still adjusting since 2 of the teens move back up North... I have surplus and I may not need to buy as much.

 

Laundry soap has been ALL pods $9.00 because it's cheap and DH usually buys the "sundries".  We go through about 1 per month and 1-2 bottles of gain fabric softener.  I had been using Persil laundry detergent last year (then we got extra kids) and couldn't afford it (price has gone down on it).  But I unpacked some sweaters from February and they still smelled amazing so we're switching back. 

 

Toilet wand refills run about $5

 

I will occasionally throw a dryer sheet in with a load if I think about it but for the most part that's not a real big cost.

 

So...

$  1.50 all purpose cleaner (diluted)

$  7.00  paper towels

$  3.00 dish soap

$17.00 Dishwasher soap

$  4.00 Rinse aid

$ 19.00 TP

$ 10.00 Laundry soap

$  5.00  Fabric softener

$  5.00 Wand refills

 

IMO this is a lot but I'm not sure where to cut back.  We don't do Clorox wipes or things like that and in all reality there is enough surplus of most things that every 6 months or so I get to skip buying it all (never the same month though) so I'm obviously over estimating what's needed, still $70 a month is a lot to spend on paper and soap.

 

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Since I don't need to run out and get anything, I guess I'll start with $50 for November. Maybe put $30-$40 a month (or maybe $100 for December) in the stash. Then as long as I write down what I buy and spend, I'll have an idea going forward. I'll take the newspaper money out of this category since any coupons would be used here.

[Deb in NZ]

I would take inventory of what you have on hand now.  If you need to stock up during the month because you ran out, add what you buy to the inventory.  At the end of the month note what you have left.  This will give you a more accurate idea of what you normally use each month.  From that you can try to stock up when your preferred brands are on sale, saving you $$ without dropping in the quality.  Remember some things (i.e. toilet paper, dish soap, etc.) spending a bit more ends up saving in the long run as you end up using more with cheap brands.  I ended up doing this a few months back after ds#1 went overseas as it was just dh & I at home now.  I found that that month we used 7 rolls of TP, 7 bars of hand/bath soap, 1 tube of toothpaste, 1kg of laundry detergent, 1 litre of dish soap, & 3 boxes of tissues.  I use vinegar for most cleaning & add to the rinse cycle of my laundry.  I use laundry powder to scrub my shower.  We use very little disposable paper products (other than TP & tissues) so any I have will last for months, if not years.  A roll of paper towels will last for most of the year as I normally use them only to drain greasy items (i.e. bacon, donuts, etc.) & even then I put one paper towel on top of some newspaper.  My shampoo / conditioner / face soap lasts for months, so when I open my spare I will add that item to my shopping list to pick up another when it is next on sale.  When our kitchen renovations are finished we will again have a dishwasher to use, so I will need to stock up on dishwasher tablets, but our dish liquid will last heaps longer, so the costs will even out in the end.  For trash bags, we reuse shopping bags in the bins in the house & those go into our wheelie bin outside.  We recycle most paper products & most plastics, as well as composting all veggie scraps.  Any other food scraps go to a friend's dog.  

 

So take inventory this month to see what you normally use.  See where you can switch to reusables without adversely affecting your daily routine.  It will either cost time or money.  

Edited October 28, 2017 by Deb in NZ