From My Frugal Side: 5 ways to cut costs in the bathroom

I don’t know where this one came from.  I was sitting there yesterday thinking (not thinking in the bathroom) and I started rattling off ways to save some money in the bathroom.  These ideas are not going to require any major design changes to your bathroom.  Sure you look at the picture above and think where can I possibly save any money.  The bathroom is probably one of the most frequented locations in the house and these simple changes can add up over the year.

Water Saver – add a water saving showerhead to your shower and this can cut up to 33% of your water consumption.  We added one of these to our rental unit and our unit and instantly began to notice our consumption go down.  With the decreased consumption that only means more money in your pocket.  I don’t know if it cut a third of the bill but it did cut a large portion, and our water bill was close to a grand last year before we installed the water saver. 

Bulk Hand soap – having little ones around the house we were constantly purchasing new pumps of soap.  Instead we were at Wal-Mart and we noticed they sold the soap in much larger quantities.  We purchased one of those containers for close to $6 dollars and they last us close to a year.  Whereas the little containers were running us a few bucks every few weeks for a new pump. 

Reuse Towels – you are coming out of the shower right?  You should be pretty clean, so hang up the towel and reuse it once or twice.  This savings is twofold.  First you will cut down on the amount of energy you use having to wash additional towels, but more importantly you will save yourself time with less laundry.  Think of a family of 4 the number of towels that you could go through on a weekly basis.

Toilet Paper – there really is no need to buy that premium brand Charmin.  We have been in the habit of purchasing Scott’s paper which runs about $16-18 dollars for a 20 pack of rolls.  After you get over the initial sticker shock, think about it this paper lasts us 2-3 months for our family of 4.  I don’t know what they put in these rolls but they never seem to end.  The premium paper runs close to a dollar a roll, but doesn’t last nearly as long as the Scott’s. 

Straight Razor – Sorry ladies this one is for the guys.  Use a straight razor to shave.  I started using one a few months ago.  What is manlier than putting a knife up to your face to shave with?  This will save big time in the wallet too.  Right now I am using the disposable safety razors which run about 20 for $7.  That is cheaper than one Gillette Mach 3 blade, which is running about 8 for $40.  Think about that over the lifetime of shaving.  Big money could be saved by switching to this, and it gets a remarkably close shave too. 

Any other ideas on how to cut costs without really spending any additional money in the bathroom?  Do you currently use any of these cost cutting tactics? 

PHOTO BY: nstop