Five Creative Ways to Save Money on Everyday Expenses

Are you aware of the many uses of coffee grounds? Coffee grounds are extremely versatile, and can help you save hundreds of dollars on other expenses, such as fertilizer, skin care products and more!

Here are just some of the many uses for your used coffee grounds:

• Sprinkle it on the gound to repel ants
• Add it to your soil to fertilize your lawn and plants
• Attract earth worms, which aerate the soil, by adding it fertilizer
• Exfoliate your skin by adding grounds into face wash or lotion
• Remove pesky odors from your hands by massaging coffee grounds into the skin
• Repel fleas by sprinkling coffee grounds on your pets or carpet

Next time you make a cup of coffee, think twice before throwing out your used coffee grounds!

Laundry detergent can be extremely expensive, with the average cost of a bottle of detergent ranging from $9 (for store brand) to $15, even $20 for brand name bottles. Depending on the size of your family, this cost can add up quickly, and I don't foresee a future where dirty laundry doesn't exist, so we need to find a way to wash everything without flushing our hard earned money down the toilet!

Luckily, there is a better way to keep your clothes clean without emptying your bank account. Homemade laundry detergent is easy to make and inexpensive. By making large batches at a time, you can have enough detergent to last weeks, if not months, and you can end up saving hundreds of dollars a year. Costing only $10 to $20 a batch, this detergent gets the job done and saves you money. Once you make your first batch of homemade laundry detergent, you will be wondering why on earth you haven't started doing it sooner!

Do you enjoy fruits and vegetables? Well, even if you don't, you should be eating them because they are extremely nutritious - unfortunately, produce at the grocery store or at the farmer's market can be quite pricey. Don't even get me started on the prices for organic produce, which we know we should be eating.

By growing your own produce, you can save tons of money on your grocery bill every week, and you will know that your food is free from harmful chemicals and pesticides.

From herbs to fruits to vegetables, you can grow it all! And honestly, it isn't as hard as many people think.

You can grow a vegetable garden in a simple pot on your patio or in an acre large vegetable patch. The best place to plant a vegetable garden is any place where you will take care of it!

Vegetable gardens aren't hard to grow, they are just easy to neglect. Find a spot where you know that you will be constantly reminded to care for your plants before beginning your vegetable garden. By doing a little research, you can find out what produce is easiest to care for, and you can start with that. Once you get the hang of it, you can move on to harder fruits and vegetables.

Herb gardens are also great ideas - they are fresher than herbs you find in the grocery store and herb gardens are actually extremely easy to maintain. Certain herbs prefer shady, moist settings. These herbs include mint and sweet woodruff. Herbs like lavender and oregano prefer plenty of sun, and annual herbs like basil, coriander and dill like a combination of sunshine and moist soil.

Preserving food isn't just for the Amish and the doomsday prepper. Preserving and canning food is a great way to save money! Canned food can be stored for ages.

The process of canning foods involves placing the foods in mason jars, heating them at a very high temperature to destroy the micro-organisms that make food go bad, and vacuum sealing the jar so it lasts for a much longer time than it would otherwise.

If you are preserving foods that have a low acidity, such as vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood, the best method of canning the foods is to use a method called pressure canning. A microorganism called Clostridium botulinum is the main reason why pressure processing is necessary. This microorganism can have deadly consequences if consumed.

Highly acidic foods, such as fruits, tomatoes, jams and pickled vegetables are easier to preserve. These foods can be kept fresh using the boiling bathwater method of canning.

By preserving food through canning, you can buy in bulk without having to worry about throwing out uneaten food because it has spoiled.

Almost everything you throw in the garbage can be used in some other way to help you save money. I am not saying that you should never throw out anything, because somethings certainly do belong in your trash, but before chucking something because its torn, stained or just worn out, think about whether the items can be repurposed.

Old clothes, towels and linens are great items that can be repurposed in a variety of unique ways. I never buy things like carpets, drapes, or throw rugs. Not only can they be costly, but if you have even basic sewing skills, these are all things you can make on your own!

I repurpose old bed sheets into curtains, raggedy old clothes can make great rags for cleaning up around the house, and if you are really creative, you can sew together a mixture of your old linens and clothes and create really cool bedspreads, carpets, and throws.

• Lipstick stains on clothes? Use hairspray to remove the stain! Spray hairspray over the stain and allow it to sit for 10-20 minutes. Then put the clothes through the wash like you would normally.
• Have your new suede shoes already gotten stained? An emery board can remove stains from suede!
• Q-tips are great ways to clean your laptop. Dab them in alcohol, then wipe down the keys and all the tiny nooks and crannies between the keys.
• Erasers that look worn out can become new again by scrubbing them down with emery boards.
• Grout can be cleaned easily with electric toothburshes. Apply a cleaning solution to the brush and then scrub away stains!
• Toothpaste has a duel purpose - yes it can clean your teeth, but it can also make linoleum tiles sparkle like they are brand new!
• Have kids that like to draw on the walls? Rubbing alcohol can remove marker stains, crayon stains, and even permanent marker!