8 Multi-Use Kitchen Items to Save Money and Space

Get the most bang for your buck for your small space and employ the power of mult-use items.

1. Silicone Sponges

Pros:

• • Great for first pass scrub on really dirty dishes

  • Does not get cruddy as fast as normal sponges

  • Can wash in dishwasher and reuse

  • Can scrub other things, not just dishes

Cons:

• Not good for grease, or fine cleaning

• Best with use in conjunction with a dishwasher

• Still need some form of fibre sponge

The best quality silicone sponge that allows you to save money is the Kuhn Rikon Silicon Sponge with a scraper, several of my friends have purchased these and agree these are the best quality. I have tried a few others and this will save you the most money by reducing your expenses on normal sponges that you have to throw out all the time because they get gross. These can take the bulk of the waste off and then be thrown in the dishwasher for a cleaning. 

2. Spray Bottles

Pros:

• Good for plants seedlings, pets  (cats specifically), cooking for spraying seasonings and adding moisture, making cleaning solutions, etc.

Cons:

• May need multiple bottles for most common uses

Spray bottles have many uses around the home, kitchen, and even yard. I recommend getting various sizes. I like smaller sizes for quick homeade insect repellents and larger sizes for water for my seedlings. However, if you only can have one for space reasons, I would recommend a larger size to middle size quality spray bottle and spray nozzle. Do not cheap out so it can last for long and actually get multiple uses that save you money and has it pay for itself.

3. Bell Jars (preferrably wide-mouthed)

Pros:

• Common component & common sizes, can easily replace lids or if broken

• Cheaper than most other designed Tupperware

• Useful for lunches, leftovers, storage containers, canning, and other crafts

• Not plastic

• Gold or Silver lids for aesthetics matching

Cons:

• May need multiple sizes

• Can mix up different lid sizes, lids may need replacing frequently

Mason jars are great for storing anything. They are great to have in the kitchen for storing herbs, storing non-perishables like nuts and oats in the pantry, and you can even use them for organizers bits in the garage. They can even be used as a substitute for Tupperware, or used as glasses. Larger Mason jars can be used as tea or juice containers. Definitely recommend this item for any starting kitchen as a huge money saving and empowering multi-use item.

4. Dr. Bronner's Soap

Pros:

• Can be used in the outdoors

• Non-toxic, environmentally friendly multi-use product

• Great space saver as a product consolidator

• Cheaper than most eco-friendly alternative soap products

• Good entry-level eco-friendly item

Cons:

• Not the "best" product at every advertised task

If you don’t have this item or know what it is, you need to. I will not tout this item to be the best of the best product, because to be frank it isn’t, but what it is great at is being a multi-use item! I use this as a pre-rinse on my dishes with the silicone sponges. This is eco friendly and much cheaper than most eco friendly dish soap alternatives. I also use it to clean my floors, counter tops, and making handsoap. For covid times and over flu season, I prefer using the Tea Tree soap variety. I usually mix it with the Almond variety,  however people really like the Peppermint variety.

5. Microfiber Cloths

Pros:

• Can be used for cleaning kitchen, cleaning electronics, and other items

• Can be used for drying hands as an ad-hoc dish towel

• Better at cleaning than normal washcloths

• Can be a Swiffer or mop swap

• Can reduce paper towel usage

Cons:

• A little more expensive option

• Doesn't get a lot of bang for the buck, but does enable more cleaning uses

These are great to have in addition to paper towels. Once you have enough of them, you can reuse them on your floors with your Swiffer, just clip the cloth into the slits and Swiffer away! No more disposable Swiffer wipes, no more unnessary added expenses.  I also recommend these recycled paper towels in bulk to have around in addition to the cloths. You need both to maximize savings to have the paper towels around for spills that need something to throw away with the cleanup. 

6. Binder Clips

Pros:

• Can be used for bundling hardcopies of mail, notes, or clipping up your bag of chips for later

• A bunch is cheaper than some magnetic chip clamps

Cons:

• Not magnetic, cannot stick to the fridge, will need to go in a drawer and be pulled out later

• No other decorative or custom selections

Binder clips are a simple thing that can be reused for most people in school. They may have these somewhere and can easily reuse them for papers or projects, as well as the healthy snacks they are trying to eat while studying. I recommend buying a pack of different sizes to have for various things around the house. These are a general multi-use item to have that can save you money over time, especially if you have a large family with lots of snacks open at once.

7. Paper Bags

Pros:

• Most commonly, best for simple sack lunches

• Useful for popping popcorn

• Useful for quick storage or transport, i.e. shopping vendors or baked goods

• Can make variety of crafts or make more decorative bags

Cons:

• One time use item with multiple uses

Paper bags are great for simple sack lunches or meals. I think most people will do this at one point in their life. They are also good for popping popcorn, or distributing some baked goods to your friends as gifts in lieu of a container. As an example, bread bakers will often put loaves in paper bags. 

8. Cheesecloth

Pros:

• Can make bulk tea for parties or catering with cheesecloth

• Can make unique homemade cheeses

• Can be used as an ad hoc strainer, in some cases

Cons:

• Delicate, difficult to work with at times

Obviously, cheesecloth is used for making cheese, but it can also be used for making teas in bulk. This will really only save you money if you are making a bulk quantity of tea by not replacing so many filters, at that point a strainer should probably be used.