Confessions of a true CHEAPSKATE

freebird5825

freebird5825

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Feb 13, 2008
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East Nowhere, 43N Latitude, NY
for those of us who really can make Mr. Lincoln cry...(penny pinchers)...

what is the most off the wall thing you've ever done to be frugal?

looking for classics here...i'll go first...

I actually tear my paper towels in half for small cleanup jobs. and if it's just a plain water spill, i let the darn thing dry out and use it again.

I need help, huh ? :rolleyes:
 
Freebird.....I do the same thing!!!
I also use the meow mix wet food containers and wash them out to use as a color mixing bowl for my oil painting. I also use a set of dishes/bowls for the cat instead of using paper plates.
I use old bedsheets and cut them up for rags, crystal light tubes to soak my brushes before washing the paint off of them.
 
I can't think of any household hints, though I'm sure some might come to mind after a while.

At work, retirement dinners usually require a $30 fee for the meal at a restaurant and that is more than I am used to paying. Holiday parties at work require either a payment or bringing some food (and I don't cook). I could bring Coke or paper plates, but these too add up to more than I would usually spend for lunch at work. I don't sign up for either the holiday parties or the retirement dinners. Call me grinch.

When someone retires, I make a point of cornering them just before the party and giving them my enthusiastic congratulations as well as explaining that I am in a financial pinch and trying to be frugal and won't be at the party, but that I am still thrilled and so happy for them that they can retire. Retirees have been extremely understanding about that and have kept in touch.

As far as holiday parties go, at my work I don't think that skipping them is necessarily as non-political a move as some seem to think. I always went during my first couple of years, and it didn't help me a bit. Mostly people just sit there and eat, and don't talk, and then leave. Plenty of management skip the parties, too. I think the only person who is miffed is the secretary who sets up the parties and takes home the leftovers, and she's over in another unit so I really don't care what she thinks.

I don't even dress in a costume for Hallowe'en. I think that is childish and could cost me something. I usually just wear an orange blouse and leave it at that.
 
citrine said:
Freebird.....I do the same thing!!!
I also use the meow mix wet food containers and wash them out to use as a color mixing bowl for my oil painting. I also use a set of dishes/bowls for the cat instead of using paper plates.
I use old bedsheets and cut them up for rags, crystal light tubes to soak my brushes before washing the paint off of them.
Click to expand...
any plastic you use twice is 2 less pieces going to the landfill. use it three times, etc etc.

good for you!

i was a grade school kid when the first Earth Day happened. it left an impression on me.
 
Want2retire said:
I don't even dress in a costume for Hallowe'en. I think that is childish and could cost me something. I usually just wear an orange blouse and leave it at that.
Click to expand...
don't forget some black ribbon to go with the orange. just kidding...

ahem...i have been known to recycle halloween costumes. wear it 2 years after the first time and nobody remembers. or it drives them nutz cuz they KNOW they've seen it somewhere before...LMAO

and i hear you loud and clear about the office parties. yawn. those are best done at a restaurant. good for local business and nobody has to plan/setup/cleanup. just show up. :)
 
I also tear paper towels in half. If the weather is decent I change my own engine oil and do the grease job. Car and pickup truck have never been to a car wash, but that is more to keep the finish looking good. (Those brushes scratch the clear coat.) Also do my own car detailing. Brown-bagged lunch for decades about 90% of the time. Bought a used boat and store demonstrator outboard motor for it.

Bought the service manuals for car & pickup truck so I can do all the maintenance that doesn't need $2 million in diagnostic gear.

A funny: When we retired & moved, I bought a Bedrug as a bed liner for the new pickup truck. It's marine-grade carpet with foam backing, cost about $300, very easy on the knees (truck has a cap over the bed). At the same time, DW was wanting a rug for the living room hardwood floor and had described in detail what she wanted. Exploring the area we came across a store called "Eddie's Bargain Bin" or similar, and it had a $90 rug that fit the description. So I suggested (not serious) that we get that one. Her response "Oh, no! We're going to spend at least as much on the living room rug as you spent on the rug for your pickup truck!"

Um, Yes Dear.
 
I bought this wonderful "poncho" (actually called a "hurango") in Mexico City in 1967. It's been my Halloween costume ever since. Sort of become a standing joke among my friends.
 
Walt34 said:
I also tear paper towels in half. If the weather is decent I change my own engine oil and do the grease job. Car and pickup truck have never been to a car wash, but that is more to keep the finish looking good. (Those brushes scratch the clear coat.) Also do my own car detailing. Brown-bagged lunch for decades about 90% of the time. Bought a used boat and store demonstrator outboard motor for it.

Bought the service manuals for car & pickup truck so I can do all the maintenance that doesn't need $2 million in diagnostic gear.

A funny: When we retired & moved, I bought a Bedrug as a bed liner for the new pickup truck. It's marine-grade carpet with foam backing, cost about $300, very easy on the knees (truck has a cap over the bed). At the same time, DW was wanting a rug for the living room hardwood floor and had described in detail what she wanted. Exploring the area we came across a store called "Eddie's Bargain Bin" or similar, and it had a $90 rug that fit the description. So I suggested (not serious) that we get that one. Her response "Oh, no! We're going to spend at least as much on the living room rug as you spent on the rug for your pickup truck!"

Um, Yes Dear.
Click to expand...
LOL - she's gotcha on that one. no defense.

i enjoyed the story...
 
I actually tear my paper towels in half for small cleanup jobs. and if it's just a plain water spill, i let the darn thing dry out and use it again.
Click to expand...

We cut them in thirds before using the roll.

attachment.php
 
I once bought Top Ramen soup on sale for 9 cents a pack. I was somehow overcharged about 58 cents for 12 packs. I went back to the store and got my 58 cents back. It was the principle of the thing!
 
I'm trying to move beyond my checkered past:

ok so I'll admit to a couple -

ten years in a fish camp(New Orleans) without air conditioning/wood from the swamp(blown in) for chilly months plus never met any junk mail I couldn't burn - Sears Ben Franklin fireplace.

went six months(Colorado) without a starter in the 70's on my new/used 1954 Chevy Surburban. Carried a rock in the passenger seat in case the handbrake let go - always parked on a hill.

With my beater cars in La never drove where I wasn't afraid to hitchhike - always carried a nice pair of white fisherman's boots(WalMart) cause you could always get a ride with yer boots on.

heh heh heh - time in the market and not so frugal anymore - but I still prefer Salvation Army to Wal Mart for dressy stuff. Oh and for a while got my home brew down to 8-12 cents a quart once my capital costs were sunk.
 
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Want2retire said:
At work, retirement dinners usually require a $30 fee for the meal at a restaurant and that is more than I am used to paying. Holiday parties at work require either a payment or bringing some food (and I don't cook). I could bring Coke or paper plates, but these too add up to more than I would usually spend for lunch at work. I don't sign up for either the holiday parties or the retirement dinners. Call me grinch.
Click to expand...


Since your recent windfall don't you think it would be nice to relax these rules especially for close associates ?
 
One time when we were taking a cab to the airport in Mexico, the driver was friendly and asked us about ourselves, and DH and I were responding in our limited Spanish. When he asked how we could afford to vacation in Mexico for weeks at a time, I said in Spanish, "We eat beans and rice every day." I said this partly because those were about the only food items I knew the words for, and we did eat them a lot. He said, with a smile, "I don't believe you!". I said to DH, "He doesn't believe me because I am too fat!" and we all had a laugh because it was true, and in Mexico it's not an insult to call someone fat, just funny, even when it's true.
When we got back home I wondered why we DIDN'T eat them every day. We do now. We buy organic dried kidney beans and brown rice in 25-lb bags, and cut tomatoes at Costco in the #10 (big) can. We cook up a batch of beans in the crock-pot, and freeze it in 2-serving portions with the tomatoes. We cook up a batch of brown rice and keep that in the frig. Most every day for lunch, we dump the frozen beans and tomatoes into a Pyrex bowl and nuke it, then put it in a bowl with the precooked brown rice, and add jalapenos or salsa. Delicious, nutritious, non-fattening, and oh so very cheap!
Thank you, taxi driver.
 
Rivrider said:
I reuse plastic sandwich bags. Have a rack to hang them on to dry after washing them.
Click to expand...
me too, unless they are greasy or had meat/dairy/seafood in them.

before picking up this habit, i used to have to buy storage bags every time shopping.

this is so reassuring to read all these frugal habits. i'm not alone on the planet Cheapo. LOL
 
toofrugalformycat said:
One time when we were taking a cab to the airport in Mexico, the driver was friendly and asked us about ourselves, and DH and I were responding in our limited Spanish. When he asked how we could afford to vacation in Mexico for weeks at a time, I said in Spanish, "We eat beans and rice every day." I said this partly because those were about the only food items I knew the words for, and we did eat them a lot. He said, with a smile, "I don't believe you!". I said to DH, "He doesn't believe me because I am too fat!" and we all had a laugh because it was true, and in Mexico it's not an insult to call someone fat, just funny, even when it's true.
When we got back home I wondered why we DIDN'T eat them every day. We do now. We buy organic dried kidney beans and brown rice in 25-lb bags, and cut tomatoes at Costco in the #10 (big) can. We cook up a batch of beans in the crock-pot, and freeze it in 2-serving portions with the tomatoes. We cook up a batch of brown rice and keep that in the frig. Most every day for lunch, we dump the frozen beans and tomatoes into a Pyrex bowl and nuke it, then put it in a bowl with the precooked brown rice, and add jalapenos or salsa. Delicious, nutritious, non-fattening, and oh so very cheap!
Thank you, taxi driver.
Click to expand...
beans and beans and magical fruit
the more you eat, the more you toot
good for the soul, good for the heart
the more you eat the more you...start (haha - gotcha)
to eat your beans at every meal
 
I refuse to pay extra for sour cream for my burritos at one of my favorite restaurants. They charge 30 cents for it!
 
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