Debt Free

More is great if you're talking about money, sex, Ferraris, or football, but not for how much you use when it comes to consumer products. Okay, so the title of this post is slightly misleading, but there is a way you can get a 50%, or even greater discount on many consumer products you use everyday.

It may seem self evident, but you only need use less of them. Many people tend to use way more than the manufacturer's recommended amount, and sometimes even the recommended amount is too much. Every time you use two dryer sheets instead of one, or use twice the amount of toothpaste, it is exactly the same as if you paid twice the store price for that item. You don't need to make the toothpaste look on your brush like it does on that pretty picture on the outside of the tube. Shampoo is another product people tend to use way too much of. If you're trying to provide jobs to those at the factories that make this stuff, well, more power to you.

Many products don't work any better when you increase the quantity you use past the effective amount. In fact, there are some that actually don't work as well. So, you're really not saving any money. If your floor cleaner says 4 ounces per gallon of water, follow the directions. Don't use eight ounces because you think it'll get your floor twice as clean in half the time! In fact, maybe you should try two ounces first. Many times, using less than the recommended amount works great for certain applications. Some of the people that complain the loudest about the price of things at the supermarket are the worst offenders when it comes to over using them in the home. I know some of these consumers well. These types of consumer products don't constitute anywhere near the largest budget category for most people, but they are significant nonetheless.

Medicine is another area where overuse is not only far more expensive, it can actually be dangerous. Acetaminophen, the pain reliever in Tylenol, is actually highly toxic to the liver if taken in excessive doses. Lest you think that's not very easy to do, the number of cases of Acetaminophen poisoning is actually on the rise. As a safety note, it is especially important to avoid overdosing small children and infants with the drug. If your asthma inhaler says one puff, it doesn't mean you should cause yourself arrhythmia by taking three. In addition, over use of medicines could cause you to run out before your insurance plan will cover a new prescription, and you know how expensive medicines can be these days if you're not covered by insurance, or on the Wal-Mart $4.00 medicine plan.

In addition to the financial cost to over use of various products, there is an environmental cost. You are using more, and thus throwing away more, and at a more rapid rate. Beyond that, you are causing greater quantities of resources to be consumed in the production of these products than is necessary. Let the Green Party member in you reflect on that for just a moment. Earlier this year, a California Air Resources Board (Yes, those same people that require special, California emissions standards for your cars) study done at UC Berkeley, found that the over use of household cleaning products and air fresheners posed a health risk. The study examined products containing ethylene-based glycol ethers, found in many cleaning products. It found the ethers reacted with the ozone to produce toxic materials. I could reprint the study for your edification, but it's 330 pages of abject boredom.

So, let your frugality kick in, even if it goes against your nature. Crack yourself in the hand with a ruler next time you catch yourself pouring, dumping, or popping in too much of something, and start saving more money.