These reusable products save me hundreds of dollars every month

When I started my journey toward simplifying all the things in my life so that I could be the best mom and wife that I could possibly be, one of the places I started was our finances. This was actually out of necessity, because that stay-at-home-mom-on-one-income-life is no joke. Neither is that working-mom-but-daycare-costs-more-than-my-mortgage life. Let’s face it. Motherhood is EXPENSIVE. And when I was taking a desperate look at my budget trying to figure out how I can cut costs without cutting corners, I was lead to discovering reusable products that have not only cut down my costs but have literally changed my life. #hellosustainability 

I haaatteee wasting time, so let’s get to it, mama. 

My period products

You’ve probably heard of a few different options for reusable period products by now, but if you haven’t let me briefly explain. Period cups, period panties, cloth pads, and even reusable tampons are taking the period world by storm. Not only are these products often more comfortable, they are way more hygienic for our lady bits and they save us tons of money.  

Organic pads and tampons are increasing in popularity, which is great, and way better for our feminine area than the generic brands. However, disposable period products still contribute to our growing waste problem in the world and they definitely do not save you any money in your wallet. 

A girl will have approximately 500 periods in their lifetime. If you spend $25-$30 on period products every month, that’s $12,500-$15,000 on pads and tampons just to menstruate each month. Wow. Just, wow.

Switching to a menstrual cup, a few period panties, and a pack of reusable pads may run you $150-$200 total and then you’re done. Think about how much you just simplified your budget by eliminating that monthly expense. You’ve also just freed so much space in your brain because you no longer have to run to the store in an emergency because you’re out of tampons. From now on, you have your products at your disposal and you can grab them when you know that time of the month is near without having to add that additional errand to your already growing to-do list. 

Btw, I love this menstrual cup and these period panties. These cloth pads are amazing too. [links here]

Cloth diapers

Stop! Don’t just scroll past this one because you’re thinking, “eww gross!”, or, “good for you, girl, but I could never cloth diaper!” 

Hear me out. It’s not as hard or as gross as it sounds. Cloth diapers have serious changed my motherhood game. Imagine only having 25-35 diapers TOTAL. Imagine never having to run out to the store for diapers and wipes again. Imagine giving your babes the gift of the softest thing you could ever put on their bums. 

With cloth diapering, you significantly reduce waste in your household, reduce the amount of space boxes and boxes of diapers take up, and save thousands of dollars over the course of your diapering years. Plus, if you get the brands that have the best quality, like these [Grovia link], you’ll be able to pass down diapers for several years to all your little ones. 

More: how cloth diapering changed the way I do motherhood [hyperlink - blog post]

Straws 

Probably one of the simplest switches I’ve ever made - stainless steel straws. 

I wasn’t a huge straw person to begin with, but having kids changed that for me. When my toddler began transitioning out of bottles and sippy cups, straws became our best friend. Soon, we were buying boxes of plastic straws from Target every few weeks. Its not the largest expense, but it is an expense nonetheless. And, last time I checked, plastic isn’t helping the environment any.

A simple pack of stainless steel straws immediately solves this problem. Perfect for toddlers and your afternoon iced coffee. Thank me later. 

Grocery Bags 

I have to admit, it took me a long time to join this bandwagon. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I was lazy. (I know, I know). But, every weekend I went to the store and brought home tons of grocery bags, the more I was struggling with all of the clutter and trash they created. 

Shopping at Aldi forced me to make this switch and I’m so glad I did. It costs very little money, as I’m sure you know. And while we don’t have to purchase our disposable grocery bags, you’ll probably find that when you start reducing your disposable products in your house overall, you’ll begin spending less on trash bags since you’ll be using them less often. So, it’s still a win-win. 

Paper Towels 

This is my most recent switch and I am LOVING it so far. My family and I used to purchase a huge thing of double paper towels from Costco every other month and I thought we were saving all kinds of money by doing it this way. While that’s cheaper to buy paper towels in bulk than it is to get them from traditional grocery stores, they’re still rather expensive. And, if your family goes through paper towels as quickly as my family did, chances are you’re running out often. (That’s life when you have little ones - lots of spills). 

One pack of paper towels at Costco runs about $25. If you’re buying those every month, you’re spending about $300 a year. That may not seem like a ton, but that’s $300 that can be used elsewhere one you make the switch to cloth “paper towels.” 

Here’s the hack - get a few packs of white flour sack towels from Amazon. [link here] Why white? Because you can bleach them and, if needed, hang them to dry in the sun to prevent staining. No dingy towels over here! Plus, you can display the white towels in your kitchen in a super cute way and you have instant minimalism decor. 

When you think of simplifying motherhood, you may not be thinking about switching to reusable products. Reusable products almost always make people think “more work” and “no one has time for extra laundry.” 

I promise - doing this has made motherhood so much simpler for me. ESPECIALLY managing a household.

I’m no longer running to the store at the last minute with kids in tow because I didn’t realize I was out of paper towels or tampons. I’ve NEVER had an “oh no, these diapers no longer fit!” emergency. Removing these simple things from my grocery list has freed up space in my brain because I don’t have to think about them anymore. I don’t have to remember to add them to my grocery list, remember to budget for them in the monthly budget, or remember to make sure I get them when I’m actually at the store. 

Freed up brain space = much less stressed mama. Much less stressed mama = happier mama. Happier mama = happier kids. 

Tell me, mama - What reusable products would you consider using to simplify motherhood?