You know the saying “You have to spend money to make money”? I think it mostly pertains to business and marketing, but I like to employ that technique in my household as well. There are a few changes we’ve made that save us anywhere from a few dollars a month, to hundreds. I’m especially proud of #3.

When you are living on as tight of a budget as we were, literally every dollar saved each month counts. But even now that we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, we continue to do these things below, and I’m always looking for more. The best part is, many have such a positive environmental impact that we’re also contributing to the future generations… you know, being green and all.

This post contains affiliate links, but I found, purchased, and used these items completely on my own.

5 Things to Buy That Will Save You Money

1. Buy an espresso machine

It does not need to be fancy, in fact we had one sitting in our cabinet that we hadn’t used in years. I dusted it off, brought it in to work, and make myself a peppermint latte every afternoon instead of going to a coffee shop (or begging someone else to go for me, but same idea). Not only are you saving money, but instead of filling the landfills with paper cups, plastic lids, and cardboard sleeves… you can use your favorite coffee mug and feel a little greener.

2. Replace all your disposable hand soap with refillable soap dispensers.

This falls in the category of only saving a few dollars per month, but again, you’re not throwing away plastic bottles left and right so you can feel a little better about the environment. They even make mason jar adapters if you’re into that whole mason jar thing.

3. Buy a Roku Box!

I absolutely love this one for so many reasons. We were spending a CRAZY amount of money on satellite tv, and we didn’t even have any of the movie or sports packages. Not only were we spending money on it, there was never anything good on its hundreds of channels. We’d find ourselves wasting so much time just looking for something to watch, when we could’ve been outside playing, or doing something else productive. Not once have we regretted getting rid of the satellite.

4. Get a soap sudser.

I found one through the Honest Company (which I’m obsessed with). I don’t use the brush it comes with often, but just the sudser part is great! My husband is the cook in the house, so I am the lucky one that does the dishes. If I’m not using this gadget I’ll squirt soap on my sponge at least every other time. But with this thing I just put 3 pumps of soap and a touch of water into it and that’s all I’ll need for an entire day of dishes. Again, this rates on the lower end of the savings scale, but is so much less wasteful.

5. Last but not least, use rags instead of paper towels.

Don’t get me wrong, we still keep paper towels around. But I only have to buy them once every few months. We use rags for EVERYTHING. I’ll just keep one under the sink on top of the cleaning bottle, that way it’s always handy for a quick wipe down. This one also has a huge environmental impact. I know, I’ve been there, paper towels are super convenient (and let’s not even talk about the wipes… awesome but so wasteful), but you kind of get addicted to using them, and again, they just fill the landfills.

Well there you have it folks. 5 easy switches to make that will make both your wallet, and the environment happier. And in some cases you might even find more time to spend hanging out with your family and friends.