Everyone needs to buy (or make!) supplies to clean their house. But if you are anything like me, cleaning is not not your favorite past time, it truly can be a chore. Pun intended! 🙂

I took a recent took another look at my cleaning costs. I am always looking for ways to cut my costs and save money but not at the expense of quality or efficiency. Frankly, I was surprised to see what I was spending on certain products I used day in and day out. I looked at two major stores (Walmart and Target) as well as Amazon. I was shocked to see that these items were similarly priced at each.

So I set about to find a few products that would replace these items, the big winner in my book is #2 and #5. I have saved at least $75 this year alone using these products in place of the name brand / store brand version.

Besides finding products that cost less and work just as effectively. I also make some cleaning products like Homemade Orange Vinegar Cleaning Solution or Homemade Spider Deterrent. Or use Baking Soda or Vodka to clean. There are plenty of ways to stretch your cleaning budget.

5 Dollar Store Home Cleaning Hacks

1. Bleach

Bleach is great for disinfecting and of course brightening laundry. But it will cost you double to purchase even the off brand at the least expensive option I researched. Since Bleach loses its effectiveness at 6 months, it is better to buy it in smaller quantities and use it relatively quickly.

The Home Store Bleach, 96-oz jugs – $1.00 (0.0104 / oz)

Off Brand (Walmart), 128-oz jugs – $2.60 (0.0202 / oz)

2. Dry Dust Cloth

Dusting is always a part of the weekly cleaning routine. The counters, tabletops, knickknacks, and of course the floors. With these dry floor clothes, 20 in a pack, your money will stretch even farther. One tip is to use the vacuum tool to clean off the major fuzzies and use it again to pick up more. Then flip to the other side of the cloth.

Scrub Buddies Dry Floor Cleaning Cloths, 20 count pack – $1.00 (0.05 / cloth)

Off Brand (Walmart), 32 count pack – $6.97 (0.218 / cloth)

3. Cleaning Gloves

There are some jobs that are just ICK. For me a house with boys means the bathroom can be pretty gross. So I love this high cuffed gloves. They do the job and I do not feel back tossing them when they are used up since they are only a buck. Better than the other guys!

Brillo Basics Fashion Long-Cuff Reusable Latex Gloves, 1 pair – $1.00 (1.00 / pair)

Casiella Waterstop Premium Rubber Gloves, Large, 1 pair – $4.99 (4.99 / pair)

4. Bucket

Simple, but totally useful. I have several of these buckets, one for the plunger, one for the basement in case of emergencies, and of course one for mopping.

Black Plastic Buckets with Handle, 9-qt – $1.00 (1.00 / bucket)

Sterilite bucket, 10-qt – $1.86 (1.86 / bucket)

5. Quick Erasers

With kids the one thing that is for sure, someone has written on the walls and the dog did it! 🙂 So these scrubbers help get rid of unwanted crayon or scuff marks on your wall. Just make sure to test it first somewhere before you use all over.

Scrub Buddies Quick Eraser Sponges, 2-ct pack – $1.00 (0.50 / eraser)

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, 2-ct pack – $1.97 (0.985 / eraser)

Savings

Switching just the dry cloths (we have 90% hard woods in our home) and the quick erasers, saved our family a huge chunk of money. Just incorporating these small changes and stocking up on them when you go, is a great idea. I purchased 20 dry cloths and 10 quick erasers.

After 6 months I still have 17 bags of dry cloths and 7 boxes of quick erasers. Not bad!

They even sell the wet scrubbing versions too. You can save a ton of dough, just using these in place of the name brand. Just make sure to spot test the wet ones on your floor first!!

The other items are just a decent quality product that you do not have to pay so much for. It is a win win for you and your budget.

Why should you clean your house?

Cleaning is a necessity, but why? There are several great reasons to keep your home clean and tidy.

• To keep your environment safe from germs and therefore illness
• Cleaning removes
  • dust,
  • allergens,
  • pet hair,
  • dander etc
• Helps allergy and asthma sufferers
• lowers fatigue / stress- look at de-cluttering if you cannot keep your home this way
• Better for kids that tend to play on the floor and put toys that reside there in their mouth
• Keeps pests from having somewhere to hide

Cleaning schedule

While I am a huge proponent of cleaning my house at least one a week, it really depends on you, your family, if you have pets, and it anyone has allergies or asthma that will dictate how often you should clean. One thing I do believe you should do, is a good quarterly cleaning. Kind of like spring cleaning, but once every few months.

Good luck and happ(ier) cleaning!

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