An Affordable Cooking Shortcut, a Trick for Protecting Good Clothing — Plus 3 More Budget Protectors for This Week

Saving money doesn’t have to mean doing everything from scratch or squeezing every last penny out of every purchase. Sometimes the better approach is finding a practical middle ground—saving money where it’s easy while protecting the things you’ve already paid for.

Here are five practical ways to save money this week.

1. Combine Convenience Foods With From-Scratch Cooking

Frugal cooking doesn’t have to be all convenience food or everything made from scratch. Sometimes combining the two is the best way to get an inexpensive meal on the table quickly.

Take spaghetti sauce. Start with an inexpensive jar of store-brand sauce, then dress it up with ingredients you have on hand. Sauté some onion, garlic or peppers and add them to the sauce. Toss in basil, oregano or other seasonings you like and let everything simmer together for 10 or 15 minutes.

You get much of the convenience of jarred sauce without paying extra for a premium variety, and you don’t have to spend the time required to make sauce completely from scratch.

Look for other opportunities to use this strategy, too. A basic frozen pizza can get extra vegetables from the fridge. Boxed rice can become a side dish with leftover vegetables and seasonings.

Convenience can have value, especially when it keeps you from resorting to takeout.

2. Protect Good Clothes With Old Clothes

Using older clothes for messy jobs helps protect your nicer clothing so it lasts longer.

For each family member, designate old clothing as “chore clothes” that can handle dirt, stains and wear without worry.

To make this clothing easy to identify in the closet, wrap a twist tie around each hanger or designate a bureau drawer for each person’s chore clothes. That prevents someone from accidentally grabbing a stained work shirt when they’re trying to get dressed for school or work. And it helps kids avoid throwing on a nice shirt for chores or outside play.

3. Consider Surge Protection for Expensive Appliances

Today’s kitchen appliances often contain sensitive and costly electronic components.

A power surge can damage those components, potentially leaving you with an expensive repair even though the rest of the appliance is perfectly usable.

For plug-in appliances where the manufacturer permits it, an appropriately rated surge protector may offer additional protection. Larger or dedicated appliances may require a different solution, such as whole-home surge protection installed by an electrician, so don’t simply plug a major appliance into an ordinary power strip.

It’s worth checking the appliance manual or asking a qualified electrician what type of surge protection is appropriate for your setup.

A little prevention may help protect appliances that cost hundreds—or thousands—of dollars to replace.

4. Trap Fruit Flies With What You Already Have

You don’t necessarily need to buy a special product when fruit flies invade the kitchen.

Try putting a small amount of fruit juice in the bottom of a cup. Place a coffee filter over the top and make a small opening in the center. The sweet smell attracts the flies through the opening, while the funnel-like setup makes it harder for them to find their way back out.

You can make similar traps with other household supplies, so there’s little reason to buy a commercial fruit-fly trap if you already have what you need.

Of course, trapping the flies is only part of the solution. Remove overripe produce, clean up spills and check drains and trash cans for possible breeding sources so you aren’t continually attracting more.

5. Protect Your Phone Before It Needs Repair

Replacing a cracked phone screen—or the phone itself—is far more expensive than preventing the damage in the first place.

A sturdy case and a quality screen protector are inexpensive compared with repair costs.

It’s also worth taking a minute every few months to check your charging port for visible lint or debris and inspect your charging cable for damage. If the port needs more than superficial cleaning, follow the phone manufacturer’s instructions rather than inserting metal or sharp objects that could damage the contacts.

Small maintenance habits can help your phone last longer and reduce frustrating charging problems.

Protecting what you already own is often one of the best money-saving habits.