Afford Quality Products Without Blowing Your Budget

Often the natural/nontoxic space can seem overwhelming, between the many things you want to research and the amount of money it costs to replace mainstream products. If you’re struggling to figure out how to afford quality products on a budget, we want to share a few tips!

1. Buy LESS. For example, do you need an entire set of cooking pots, or would one or two do the job? Can you share your baby gear with a friend, so you don’t both buy the same items? Do you really need a whole wardrobe full of clothes, or could you trim it down to a smaller selection of quality items? Avoid impulse purchases and save the money for something you really need or want.

This mindset also helps you minimize clutter in your home! We love tallow because it’s a multi-use product that can replace so many other bottles of moisturizers that clog up our bathroom cupboards.

2. Buy higher quality, so you aren’t constantly replacing junky items! Hannah has been a cheapskate most of her life, but Stephen has gradually won her over to the idea of spending more money up front. If we have to buy something twice, it’s usually more expensive than buying one quality thing! We love the old-school mindset of caring for what you have, and repairing it until it’s completely worn out. It’s also much better for our world than the cycle of cheap junk going to the landfill!

3. Shop used whenever possible. We save a lot of money by buying secondhand items, whether it’s furniture on Facebook Marketplace, or kids clothes at consignment stores or Just Between Friends sales. This frees up money in our budget to spend on healthier food or other items we can’t buy used.

4. Make what you can. This one varies a lot by your capacity! And sometimes it costs more to invest in the supplies than the savings you get. If you do have the time, though, you can cook more from scratch, create your own home decor, grow your produce (or even just a few herb pots), or make gifts for friends & family. Another possibility is to trade with someone, whether it’s bartering homemade bread for their chicken eggs, or each making a giant batch of freezer meals and swapping half with each other.

5. Prioritize the impact of products. Some products matter more to our health than others. In our home, we’ve chosen less toxic alternatives for many products, but if something doesn’t get consumed or left on our skin to be absorbed, it usually isn’t worth spending a lot of extra money on. Don’t be overcome by a fear-based mindset that literally everything might kill you.

6. Remember that we are all going to die eventually, so if the pursuit of natural, nontoxic products is causing you to live beyond your means, take a step back and refocus on all the gifts that God has given you, rather than what you can’t afford.