Saving Money: Buying in Bulk and Making Homemade Cleaning Products
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I just got back from Costco; signed up for a membership. I haven’t been a member in years — mainly because I don’t buy much in the way of processed food. But I figured it would probably be a good idea to join Costco just to save money on things like toilet paper and stuff like that.
I love saving money where I can, since we spend so much on quality food. The more I save on things like toilet paper, the more money we have for raw milk, which is not cheap in California. (We pay anywhere from $11 to $14 a gallon, depending on where I buy it. It costs a whopping $20/gallon at Whole Foods.)
Anyway, like I said, I can’t buy a lot of things at Costco since almost everything there has soybean oil or high fructose corn syrup (or both). But I was pleasantly surprised at the things I did find, including:
Wild-caught Alaskan salmon for $8/pound (you always want to buy wild-caught fish, not farmed)
Wild-caught Ahi tuna for $10/pound
Wild-caught lobster, king crab, Dungeness crab, and scallops
Considering the amount of seafood we eat, it’s worth it to have a Costco membership just for the fish!
I bought some of the salmon and the tuna. I also bought giant packages of Kirkland paper towels and toilet paper, Barack Obama’s book (ha!), and some good cheese:
A giant block of Irish Kerrygold cheddar cheese for only $5.79/pound (Kerrygold pasteurizes their milk but the milk does come from grass-fed cows)
A block of Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano for only $10.89/pound (Made from raw cow’s milk. You can tell if European cheese is made from raw milk if it does not say pasteurized milk. If it just says “milk” it means they used raw milk.)
I also found white vinegar for only 1.5 cents per ounce. It’s 3 cents per ounce at the grocery store. And I found big bags of baking soda for 3 cents per ounce. (About twice that at the grocery store.)
If you are still using regular cleaning products in your home, you might think about switching to homemade products. I’ve been using nothing but vinegar, baking soda, Borax and washing soda for the past several months. And we are not exposing ourselves or Kate to a bunch of toxic chemicals.
We wipe down the counters with vinegar and water. The toilets and bathrooms are scrubbed with baking soda and vinegar. I use the Borax and washing soda and a little vinegar in water to presoak the cloth diapers. I also use Borax, washing soda and plain bar soap to make my own laundry detergent.
The best part about homemade cleaners is they are so much cheaper. My vinegar-water mixture that I use on all our counters, glass surfaces and on our hardwood floors costs only about a half a penny to a penny per ounce. On Drugstore.com, Windex costs 15 cents per ounce. Pine Sol costs 18 cents per ounce. Comet costs 19 cents per ounce.
I also have a few more plans to bulk buying in the near future. I have been talking to Rocky Canyon and I plan to buy a half a cow (or maybe just a quarter) next month. I’m going to buy a chest freezer to store it in. I have an upright freezer in the garage already but it’s packed to the gills with milk, butter, cream, cheese, chicken feet, marrow bones, among other things. By buying the meat in bulk, we’ll save a lot of money. We’ll get all the cuts for only $6/pound. That’s for organic, grass-fed beef.
He also said he would sell me a whole or half of a pig — so I’ll get a variety of sausages, bacon, and various cuts like chops and tenderloin.
The other thing I’m going to do next month is start ordering from Azure Standard. I know lots of you guys out there do it — you’re always talking about it. I got one of their catalogs in the mail and I’m excited to start ordering in bulk and saving. Many of the products that are available from Azure Standard can be had for half the price of what you pay at Whole Foods. Products like whole grains and specialty flours (the coconut flour is much cheaper) and sea salt and raw honey and rapadura sugar.
I realize that a lot of you out there probably think $6/pound is outrageous for beef. And you may think $11/gallon for milk is crazy. The average price of ground beef in the US is around $4/pound. So the fact that I am getting it for $6/pound by buying in bulk may not seem like much of a discount. Same with milk. The average cost of a gallon of milk is only $3.
But the milk most people buy is pasteurized, which means all of the enzymes are deactivated and many of the nutrients are lost. Not only that, but it comes from grain-fed cows in confinement, so it’s lacking a lot of the nutrients to begin with. On top of that, the grains the cows eat is laden with pesticides, and the cows are pumped with antibiotics and hormones. Not really such a bargain after all.
It’s quite fascinating when you do the math…
You can buy the pesticide-laden, hormone/antibiotic infested, nutrient-free milk for only 2 cents per ounce ($3/gallon).
Or buy real nutrient-dense organic grass-fed milk full of enzymes and vitamins and minerals for 9 cents per ounce ($11/gallon).
Isn’t it amazing that we don’t blink at the thought of buying Comet for 19 cents per ounce, but they can’t imagine spending 9 cents an ounce on milk. Even if you buy the raw milk at Whole Foods for $20/gallon, it’s about 16 cents per ounce, which is STILL cheaper than buying Comet.
I’m going to start keeping track of the money we save and I’ll be posting about it. And I’ll post some tutorials soon on how to make homemade cleaning products.
Photo credit: Naturally Cleaner Home
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23/09/2008 at 9:29 pm Permalink
Ann Marie,
This post really hit home. I started making my own products over the weekend. I had read that detergents can really make eczema worse so I made my own laundry powder, soap, borax and washing soda and my own dishwasher powder (borax, baking soda and salt. I already used vinegar and water on my floors. I love how clean my laundry smells and that we are not getting any toxic chemicals and of course finally telling my husband I saved money doing something natural instead of spending moer
23/09/2008 at 10:14 pm Permalink
I love your comment about how raw milk is still cheaper than Comet!
What do you use to disinfect and get rid of germs?
23/09/2008 at 10:28 pm Permalink
Yes, at .19 per ounce, if you bought Comet by the gallon it would cost $24.32!
I don’t do a lot to disinfect. I think we do way too much to try to kill germs. I find that the combination of baking soda or washing soda and vinegar is enough to kill germs.
If you want something stronger though, you can add a little diluted food grade hydrogen peroxide. I also use that for taking stains out. It’s powerful stuff!
23/09/2008 at 10:56 pm Permalink
This blog post is AWESOME! It proves that a little bit of smarts can save the planet and your wallet! I now want to make my own cleaning products! My family saves so much at the grocery store because we raise our own meat, it is nice to hear that other people think it is reasonable to buy half a steer and eat it all year!
23/09/2008 at 11:10 pm Permalink
Hi, Ulla,
Thank you!
I’m relatively new to all of this. I’ve only been eating this way for a year.
My mother-in-law and my aunt both told me that they used to buy their meat in bulk too back in the 60s/70s. It was much more common then.
It’s amazing to me that even with the cost of running a freezer, it is still cheaper to buy your meat/milk/cheese/etc. in bulk.
Likewise, even with the cost of running a washer/dryer, it’s still cheaper (a LOT cheaper) to use cloth diapers instead of disposables. I was dumbfounded to find that I would save around $1500 by switching to cloth when my baby was 6 mos old.
I think the way they price and market things makes it confusing to people. Me included! I have to get out the calculator and figure out what the real cost is.
And now that I understand how important nutrition is, I will spend a lot more for real nutrient-dense food. And I will do what I can to skimp in other areas so I can spend more on quality food. Food IS medicine.
23/09/2008 at 11:23 pm Permalink
Lauren,
I love the clean smell of laundry washed in natural detergent and dried in the sun. I now really dislike the cloying odors of Tide/Downy et al. They are just too strong!
23/09/2008 at 11:27 pm Permalink
I could not agree more. I grew up with not a lot of money but my mother was always able to provide us with a clean home and nutritious food. It is great that there are bloggers like you getting the good word out because we sure know that the cleaning companies do not want us to doing this:)
I read somewhere that back in the day when they cleaned hospitals with just water and vinegar it was far cleaner then now.
IT is scary with the staff bacteria now.
Goodness!
23/09/2008 at 11:30 pm Permalink
Food is Medicine, I truly agree with that. We spent the weekend out camping and did a lot of potluck meals. I can tell it played a huge role in us all getting sick. It’s much more cost effective to eat healthy, then eat cheaply and pay for it by being sick (time off of work, medicine, doctors visits).
I will put a few drops of Tea Tree Oil in a squirt bottle with some water if we all have the pukies. I hate throwing up, more than anything else in the world, and it’s the only time I want to sanitize my house LOL! Other than that, I normally only use soap (Dr. Bronners), water, vinegar, and baking soda to clean. We don’t seem to be any sicker than anyone else. I think those harsh chemical cleaners do much more harm than good!
I also have a post about infusing vinegar with lemons to make it smell nicer lol. Getting over the vinegar smell was the only very small hurdle I had when switching cleaners.
And you will LOVE getting your meat in bulk, it’s the only way to go. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to shop for meat every week, haha! It’s nice to go out to your freezer and pick out the cut of meat you’d like. Just having it on hand. Plus, I make tons of chicken stock and freeze it in 2 cup portions so I always have it on hand when I need it. A freezer is a great assest if you want to save money, it really is! We have two actually and it’s still much cheaper for us that way.
23/09/2008 at 11:30 pm Permalink
I forgot to add, I will be checking out the Azure Standard website more. I was really bucking it for a while, but with food prices, we have to start making some more frugal choices for us! It looks like such a great company, I hope they deliver over here
23/09/2008 at 11:39 pm Permalink
Where are you, Erica?
I’m curious to know where they deliver/ship…
24/09/2008 at 6:53 am Permalink
Love this post AM. I definitely look forward to reading more about your home made cleaning products and cost saving observations.
24/09/2008 at 8:26 am Permalink
We are in Minnesota, so I’m not sure if they make it over here or not. They are based out of Oregon, right?
24/09/2008 at 9:26 am Permalink
Wonder if (good forum question…feel free to respond there) if you all have heard/purchased from Walton Feed? They specialize in bulk grains.
Baking soda, borax, with a little water and some liquid soap (bronners) makes a lovely bathtub scrub.
24/09/2008 at 11:00 am Permalink
I know this is a personal question, but I was wondering how much you think you spend per week or month on groceries. We buy almost all organic produce, grass fed meats, raw cheeses, raw milk and bulk organic grains and beans. It is difficult to compare our monthly expenditures to others who don’t eat the way we do. We use the exact same cleaning products that you do, although with a new baby I will admit to buying laundry detergent. We go through a lot with two in cloth diapers.
I love your site, I check it everyday.
Mrs. S
24/09/2008 at 11:16 am Permalink
Erica, yes they are in Oregon. I’m not sure how far they ship/deliver. I will ask when I call.
24/09/2008 at 11:21 am Permalink
Hi, Mrs. S,
I’m working on a report right now — inputting everything into Quicken. I’ll let you know when I find out. I think we will have substantial savings once I start going through Azure Standard and buying meats in bulk.
We spend a lot more on food right now because we are eating more meats and no grains. We also spend a lot on supplements.
As we get healthier, we will be able to eat grains and spend less money on food.
I have been buying detergent sometimes too. I buy the cheapest and most environmentally friendly I can find — usually Arm & Hammer. But I prefer making it. I don’t like any scent in my laundry detergent anymore.
24/09/2008 at 1:18 pm Permalink
With all that you have/plan to put in the freezer, I would suggest a generator if you don’t already have one. Hurricane Ike knocked out power in many parts of Ohio for a week. I never would have thought a hurricane could do so much damage this far north/inland. You never know when weird weather will strike.
24/09/2008 at 2:35 pm Permalink
For a few months now, I’ve been using homemade cleaner (1c water, 1c rubbing alcohol, and 1T or more vinegar) on my windows, mirrors, and kitchen and bathroom counters, and it’s been very cheap and very effective. Love it. As often as possible (read: when I remember), I scrub with water and baking soda – it works great, and you don’t need much. I do still use the conventional powder cleansers I have, though, because I’ve already purchased them, and to throw them away unused would not be very frugal.
24/09/2008 at 3:30 pm Permalink
What does a generator cost and where do you get one?
24/09/2008 at 7:14 pm Permalink
I was wondering if you got (or saw) unbleached recycled paper towels and TP at Costco? I also saw no reason to shop at Costco (esp. as it’s just my boyfriend and I), but those fish prices are so great!
24/09/2008 at 7:26 pm Permalink
Hmm I don’t know Risa I didn’t buy recycled paper — I will look next time I go.
Yeah, I think it’s worth it to go for the fish. You can cut it up into smaller portions and freeze it.
They have an American Express card too that you get cash back for using. Which is kind of cool.
Also when I recently rented a car, they told me they had a discount available for Costco members.
I also think Costco is pretty good to their employees from what I have read. Unlike Walmart.
25/09/2008 at 2:36 am Permalink
Hi AM,
GREAT post. I echo all the others. You and I basically buy all the same things at costco—love that Dubliner cheese! I was also shocked to see how cheap Vinegar is there! I wish they had a “healthy, whole food” Costco…but that’s basically what Azure Standard is, you just have it delivered to you! It’s great and you’ll love it.
I am going to blog about this as well, but I saw some information recently showing the nutritional superiority of grass-fed pastured chicken eggs vs. factory farmed. You’d have to basically eat like 5 factory farmed eggs to equal 1 grass-fed pastured egg (or something like that). Makes the “cheap” eggs not so cheap anymore, doesn’t it? I , being the math nerd that I am, am working on coming up with a “nutrient density per dollar” sort of factor by which we can accurately assess how much we’re spending to get our daily requirement of nutrients. That’s what it’s all about!
Buying meat in bulk is just the absolute best. Speaking of, I need to pull some ribs out for tomorrow night’s supper!
25/09/2008 at 9:16 am Permalink
Lowes has generators anywhere from $400-2400. Home Depot has them too. Costco has generators and even personal wind turbines (at least on their website.)
25/09/2008 at 11:45 am Permalink
Carrie
I love this idea of the “nutrient density per dollar” factor. Excellent!
And wow, that is a great data point about the eggs. Who wants to eat five eggs???
Where did you read that?
25/09/2008 at 12:32 pm Permalink
Yes, Costco is pretty good to their employees. SIL works there. We also got a Costco discount *purchasing* a car.
25/09/2008 at 2:03 pm Permalink
AM,
Buying meat in bulk is so much cheaper and more convenient. The first time we bought a side of beef, I tried to keep track and find out how much we were paying for the actual meat (because we bought it by hanging weight) and it was somewhere around $3.25 or $3.50/lb for pastured, organic beef. We paid a little over $900 for a side.
Regarding Azure Standard, they ship all over the US via UPS, but not all items can go UPS. As far as their delivery trucks you can get anything they sell that way (including fresh produce). Their delivery trucks do go to Minnesota. Erica, you lucked out because that is as far east as they go! They are based out of Eastern Oregon. They have fabulous prices and our family wouldn’t be able to eat as healthy as we do, if it wasn’t for Azure. Our group orders every two weeks. We are able to get raw milk cheese which isn’t widely available in our town, as well as pastured butter also not available here and they sell tons of other things. Another great thing is that they have two month long sales, so it gives you an opportunity to stock up on things. I always buy Bio-Kleen laundery powder when it is on sale because I can get a 50 lb box that lasts us for more than one year for about $39. This is cheaper than I have been able to make laundry powder. Anyway, if you check out their website, they have lots of information available. Go to the catalogs and publication section and you can download the delivery brochure for specific info on where and when they deliver and a map of states on their delivery routes.
The downsides are that they are some times out of items and so they just don’t ship and you have to reorder the next time. Also on your delivery day, they can’t give you a specific time, so you kind of have to make yourself available for a large portion of the day to receive delivery, though the driver will call you when he’s on the way. Those two things are inconvenient, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives for our family.
25/09/2008 at 2:05 pm Permalink
I got so excited about Azure that I forgot to say that for people who don’t like the smell of vinegar, you can always add a few drops of essential oils to your solution to mask it. Also, oil of oregano is a potent antibacterial oil. If you are concerned about the power of vinegar to kill germs, just add a few drops of oregano oil. Tea tree is also good for disinfecting.
25/09/2008 at 2:14 pm Permalink
Hi, Lisa, thanks for all that information!
I wonder if there is a similar kind of buying club for East Coasters?
Also, when does Azure Standard have their sales?
On disinfecting — another good thing to use is H202, or food-grade hydrogen peroxide. You dilute it with water and it is awesome at disinfecting and taking out stains.
25/09/2008 at 2:23 pm Permalink
Azure always has sales going, they just change them every two months. The the next rotation is Oct.-Nov. Then they will have a new batch of sales Dec.-Jan. When you order, or even before you order, just request the sales “flyer” which is actually like a small catalog, then you can see the whole of what’s on sale. When you log in and view prices, you will also know what’s on sale, because they note 15% Off or whatever the sale percentage is, next the to price of the item. The sales are good for the date on which you place your order and not the delivery date. This doesn’t matter most of the time, but if you place an order in the last couple days of a month for delivery in the first few of another, it could matter!
26/09/2008 at 12:25 pm Permalink
Thanks so much, Lisa! I never heard back from them, so that information is good to know. I have been saving things to my cart and will check, but may wait til October since you said that’s when their sales change. I appreciate all the great info
26/09/2008 at 1:30 pm Permalink
You’re welcome Erica. It took awhile for me to learn to navigate Azure’s quirks, so I’m always glad to help others!
30/09/2008 at 10:12 pm Permalink
Ann Marie,
What brand of bar soap do you use for your laundry detergent? I used Fels Naptha per the recipe I saw online but I’m wondering if I should have used a completely unscented soap since my hands did feel a little funny when I was grating my soap.
Thanks!
08/06/2009 at 7:49 am Permalink
Hi – came over to this past posting from your latest of homemade Vanilla Extract.
Do you have recipes of the different combinations for your cleaning using, vinegar / borax, etc..?? If they are already on your site, I’ve not been able to find them.
Pamela’s last blog post..Seeds of the Word:
10/06/2009 at 11:56 am Permalink
Did you see the Kirkland brand environmentally friendly liquid dish soap and laundry detergent? Wondered what you thought of that. I hadn’t bout the fish there but will start! Thanks
Sabrina
11/06/2009 at 4:39 am Permalink
Sabrina – I did see it but I don’t think it’s very environmentally friendly since it’s in plastic. (I’m talking about the liquid one which is what I found)
I am also not so sure about the salmon. I have heard that there is a lot of fake wild salmon out there. I don’t know if I trust it…
11/06/2009 at 4:42 am Permalink
Hi, Pamela,
I am working on more recipes for other cleaning products including a glass cleaner, an all-purpose cleaner, and a tub/tile cleaner.
Check back and I’ll have them posted eventually! You might want to sign up for my email updates:
http://www.cheeseslave.com/subscribe/