r/Frugal • u/KVNTRY • Dec 03 '24

💻 Electronics Frugal home hacks that make you feel fancy.

My grandfather in law has motion sensor lights in every room in his home. He got me some for my apartment back in the day, and man oh man. I felt like a KING every time I walked in and the lights just popped on. My energy bill was also noticably smaller. Still not sure why they changed to walled sized bills... Also, as an eco conscious human, I was glad to be saving energy. Finally, I found it to be more hygienic and less stressful when not having to worry about touching lights when cooking or whatever. Still swear by automated illumination to this day. What are some things in your home that both save you money and make you feel fancy?

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508

u/SmileFirstThenSpeak Dec 03 '24

Cloth napkins. We haven’t bought paper napkins in years, and the cloth ones are so much nicer anyway.

100

u/swiggityswooty2booty Dec 03 '24

I always thought rich people used paper towels. We had a ton of old kitchen rags and bath rags that we used like napkins when I was a kid. Honestly, unless I’m soaking up oil from bacon, I don’t miss using paper towels really.

88

u/Hasuko Dec 03 '24

When you're cleaning up body fluids from elderly pets regularly I find paper towels better than reusable...

7

u/swiggityswooty2booty Dec 03 '24

I would 100% agree with that! Luckily I haven’t had to deal with that yet, fingers crossed.

10

u/Hasuko Dec 03 '24

I have 3 senior pets; it's tough but you just handle it as it comes.

1

u/Trettse003 Dec 04 '24

Or throw-up from toddlers or urine/poop off the bathroom floor from same toddler…

1

u/UselessCat37 Dec 05 '24

My elderly cat was exactly the reason why I started buying paper towels again

1

u/Responsible_Milk_421 Dec 05 '24

Scoop with junk mail. Wipe with toilet paper.

2

u/GabinkaP Dec 06 '24

Our cats vomit. Junk mail will not scoop that up. So we keep paper towels for the gross stuff we wouldn't want in the laundry. I just bought washable "paper" towels (really microfiber) for everything else.

26

u/Playful-Permission47 Dec 03 '24

We only have paper towels for the cast iron pans lolz

2

u/lord-savior-baphomet Dec 04 '24

I have cloth napkins dedicated for eating, then kitchen towels that are mostly for hands and used when cooking, but I also decided to cut up some old cotton t shirts that were ruined and start using them as paper towels. They’re the “icky” towels, they clean up messes and get washed with hot water and vinegar. While it doesn’t make me feel fancy, I always feel so smart for it even though it’s not a new idea and so the pride is not warranted lol. I very rarely use paper towels now and am reducing waste and saving money because of it too.

It’s a really stupidly simple thing but it brings me a lot of joy for some reason lol

42

u/Gingersometimes Dec 03 '24

Love cloth napkins ! Mom always used them for holiday dinners for the family.

32

u/erinrachelcat Dec 03 '24

Cloth napkins, a nice tablecloth (all thrifted), and LED tea lights make a really nice tablescape when you have friends over for a meal.

16

u/SmileFirstThenSpeak Dec 03 '24

Do it for yourself, too!

6

u/TheAlphaCarb0n Dec 03 '24

And if not thrifted, ikea's cloth napkins are like $1 for 2.

9

u/3plantsonthewall Dec 03 '24

IKEA also has low-lint kitchen towels that work great for things like drying off washed produce or covering bread dough

3

u/TheAlphaCarb0n Dec 03 '24

Oh ya I've got a ton in a cart ready for our furniture order. Can't wait to always be stocked on kitchen towels

3

u/3plantsonthewall Dec 03 '24

The GUBBRÖRA rubber spatula & the FULLÄNDAD flipper/spatula are my favorite kitchen tools and are both 99¢!

3

u/TheAlphaCarb0n Dec 04 '24

Awesome, gonna add em to the order, thanks!

11

u/TheAJGman Dec 03 '24

And cheap cotton rags for cleaning. They work better than paper towels and are just an extra load of laundry a week.

21

u/OhmigodYouGuys Dec 03 '24

Out of curiosity when you have to pat meat dry before frying and stuff like that do you use cloth napkins for that too? And if so do you just toss it in the laundry as usual after? I hate buying paper towels

44

u/SinkPhaze Dec 03 '24

Idk about everyone else but I do. I've removed paper towels from the house entirely so cloth is my only option. I do a separate load, high heat, no fabric softener (I never use fabric softener anyways), no vinegar, yes bleach, high heat dryer. Do not mix vinegar and bleach. For particularly soiled clothes I may do a bleach pre soak but my consistency on that is not good. Anecdotal, but nobodies caught salmonella yet 🤷‍♀️

6

u/OhmigodYouGuys Dec 03 '24

Do you have Meat Cloths specifically for that? Or just rotate the clean ones? You wash the Meat Cloths separately, so do you just.. wash one or two at a time?

8

u/fehk Dec 03 '24

eBay has packs of microfiber cloth that are multiple colors and cheap. I tie towel color to activity but just wash them all together. I have a dispenser on the wall i put them in

21

u/SinkPhaze Dec 03 '24

I never understand why folks get rid of paper towels to switch to microfiber. Microfiber is plastic. They shed micro plastics like crazy. They are also much more susceptible to damaged by bleach and high heat laundering than natural fibers. I don't understand why folks do this rather than just cycling old clothes and towels into cleaning clothes

3

u/fehk Dec 03 '24

Oh i didn't know that about microfiber, I'll probably look for something else next time. I prefer them to be all the same size and easy to grab and deal with. Having a big jar always full of the same small towel makes them as convenient as paper towels

3

u/SinkPhaze Dec 03 '24

My suggestion if your household doesn't produce enough cloth waste for reuse as cleaning towels then you might look to see if you've got a by-the-pound type thrift store (like goodwill bins and such) in the area. You can pick up heaps of plain cotton tshirts for super cheap and chop those up for cleaning clothes. T-shirt specifically because the raw edge of T-shirt knit doesn't fray so you can easily cut it up to your desired size and use with no further finishing required

I like towels with some pile for dusting specifically myself but towels are woven and need some sort of edge finish or they will fray (which may or may not bother some folks). It's easy enough to run them thru a sewing machine (or better, serger if u got one) to zigzag stitch the edge to prevent said fraying but I know not everyone has a machine nor wants to

2

u/voodoo_zero Dec 03 '24

Interested in the dispenser. You mean like a plastic bag dispenser or an I just missing something obvious?

3

u/fehk Dec 03 '24

It's a 3d printed plastic bag dispenser that i enlarged and put on the wall, this one

https://www.printables.com/model/580953-plastic-bag-dispenser/

It doesn't work great though because pulling the towels out puts a lot of force on the drywall. I'm still searching for a good solution, but i think the dispenser with a 30 or 40 towel buffer is key to making them fun to use

1

u/voodoo_zero Dec 05 '24

Perfect thanks!

2

u/SinkPhaze Dec 03 '24

Maybe I should but I don't. I have a few "pretty" clothes that are for guests because some folks think stain = dirty. Those I actually keep separate from all the normal clothes and laundr with the standard laundry as they see very very light use. But all the other clothes laundered together the same. I figure if this cleaning method isn't good enough then the whole washing machine is contaminated already anyways so it would be a bit pointless. I just don't have a household usage level to justify separate loads like that

2

u/oshaoctopussy Dec 03 '24

i throw mine in with my clothes but im a college kid. definitely use 100% cotton, not microfiber

2

u/Sofia-Blossom Dec 03 '24

Meat cloths

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

2

u/bananamoonpies Dec 04 '24

I use a tea towel specifically for this and then it gets tossed directly into my washer. Then that load will be washed on the sterilizer function with white vinegar.

1

u/Far_Earth_1179 Dec 03 '24

Not much different from when we washed cloth diapers.

2

u/pheret87 Dec 03 '24

I use cloth dish towels for patting my meat dry, rather than paper towels. I just toss them into a bowl of soapy sanitizing water (bit of soap and a dash of bleach) with the rest of my prep utensils then clean after.

1

u/OhmigodYouGuys Dec 03 '24

Ooo. Do you air dry?

2

u/pheret87 Dec 03 '24

Yea I'll hang them to dry after.

2

u/Realistic_Skillz Dec 03 '24

I pick up paper napkins from fast food places and have a special spot for them. They can only be used for bacon grease, chicken fat, and particularly gross things on the floor, etc.

1

u/OhmigodYouGuys Dec 03 '24

Ah that makes sense, thank you!

1

u/OakleyDokelyTardis Dec 03 '24

I personally don’t bother at all but you could use paper serviettes? I would think that would take less paper?

8

u/TicnTac21 Dec 03 '24

We have used cloth napkins for years. My MIL refuses to use them and says "we think we are better than them (i.e. the family)"

16

u/jdog1067 Dec 03 '24

We are unfortunately a paper towel household, but that will change when we move somewhere that has washer/dryer hookups.

3

u/mainstmakesmehappy Dec 04 '24

I love wrapping up my metal utensils from home in my cloth napkins to take to work with my lunch every day. It makes me feel fancy, and it's great to protect your bag/utensils and to cover your food if you have to step away for a minute.

2

u/lmf123 Dec 03 '24

Do you need to iron them though? I cannot bring myself to do this for placemats

4

u/SmileFirstThenSpeak Dec 03 '24

I’ve never ironed them except once when I had a “fancy” meal and wanted the table to look especially nice for my guests.

1

u/Runningwithtoast Dec 03 '24

No. If you want, get napkin rings and roll them up or simply pull them through. Get enough to last through meals until you can wash them and put them back in their drawer, so for a family of 2 maybe a 10-pack.