Do you have a few minutes? Would you like to save a few dollars a day (which adds up to a lot in a year)?

Here are some of our favorite tricks that can be done in a few minutes that you (and your wallet) will thank yourself taking the time out to do.

Seal food tightly with just water to keep them fresh longer

You may already know to buy in bulk to save the cost per unit of your groceries - but how do we keep them so they don't turn bad too quickly?

Many of us will store raw ingredients in plastic zipper bags in freezers. Squeezing the air out of the bag, however, is always the hardest part. Here's how to do it with minimal effort:

  1. Prepare a basin of water big enough to submerge your ingredients in water (don't actually do that yet).
  2. Put your ingredient in zipper bags and submerge the bottom half taking care not to let water flow into the bag. The water pressure will push against the ingredient regardless of shape and force air out no matter how uneven the surfaces/shapes are.
  3. Simply push air out of the part above water with your hands (or two rulers!) and zip the bag up. Perfect!

Now you might be thinking: what about the water? As the water only came into contact with the outside of zipper bags, you can use it to mop the floor or simply flush your toilet with it! Or use it for the next trick...

Cut about 10-20% of your water bills with a do-and-forget trick

A little bit goes a long way, and this trick is more than just "a little bit".

Fill up a 1 litre or 1.5 litre bottle with water and put it inside your toilet bowl's reservoir! This saves about 1-1.5 litres of water per flush, which can add up to around 5-7.5 litres of water per day taking an average of 5 flushes in a household.

Advantages? Easy and can be done within a short time by most people. It is also better than some "hacky" flush system modding methods which require more technical expertise and also result in lowering water pressure (this means your toilet will not flush as well).

Remember to check the bottle once in a while to make sure it is not broken/leaking or growing/breeding weird stuff in the bottle!

 
 

Clean your kitchen with your own simple, safe and organic cleaning spray

Sometimes you cannot be sure what you are spraying on kitchen surfaces with commercial cleaning sprays, and it is especially important when spraying on items such as chopping boards.

Items needed:

  • 1 spray bottle (basic gardening ones would do)
  • 2 teaspoons (about 1/3oz or 8g) baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon (about 1/6oz or 4g) dish soap
  • 3 tablespoon (about 1 1/2oz or 36g) vinegar
  • warm water (around  120°F or 50°C)

3 quick steps:

  1. Pour the baking soda, dish soap and vinegar into the bottle
  2. Fill the spray bottle with warm water
  3. Close the bottle, have some fun shaking it vigorously and it's done!

Have some leftover baking soda? Good! The next trick requires baking soda too so it's not gone to waste!

Smell good with your home-made clothes freshener

During cloudy and rainy days, your clothes will most likely not have the "sun-fresh" smell. Here's how to save some money by not buying commercial clothes fresheners.

Items needed:

  • 1 spray bottle (basic gardening ones would do - same as above!)
  • 1 teaspoon (about 1/6oz or 4g) baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon (about 1/2oz or 12g) fabric softener
  • about 1 cup warm water (around  120°F or 50°C)

3 quick steps:

  1. Pour the warm water into the spray bottle
  2. Pour the baking soda, then the fabric softener
  3. Close the bottle, shake a little and let it set for a few minutes and you're ready to use it!
 
 

Like these tips? Share them with your family and friends and help them save money easily!

If you want to keep track of how much you are saving from these simple tricks, you can easily do that with the help of Expense IQ, which helps you organize your expense tracking as well as generate beautiful reports for easy reviewing of your finances.