Frugality Hall Of Fame

[David1961]

What is the most frugal (or cheap) thing you have either done yourself or known someone else to do?
I knew someone who would wash out those plastic sandwich bags and reuse them! I always wondered if the water and soap costs more than the bag - not to mention their time spent washing it and opening it up so it would air dry.

 

[Khan]

I knew someone who would wash out those plastic sandwich bags and reuse them!

Doesn't everybody?

 

[W2R]

Doesn't everybody?

I know I do!

 

[Moemg]

If you think that's cheap you must be a newcomer to the board !

 

[73ss454]

This is one hall that I'm not going to make it into.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Who had the story about the peanut butter jar with the broken glass? That was a good one!

My own most frugal story is the year I convinced DH to chop up a tree that a neighbor who was clearing his lot had felled, split the wood, and give it away as Christmas gifts to my sister and brother along with a little basket full of pine cones and a bundle of matches.
They thought it was weird, DH thought it was exhausting, and I thought it was frugal!

 

[mickeyd]

I knew someone who would wash out those plastic sandwich bags and reuse them! I always wondered if the water and soap costs more than the bag

Sure, good idea, dry cleaning is way too expensive.

 

[HobbyDave]

Yeah, I'm totally not going to win this, I'm not very frugal at all.

I once turned our Netflix down to 3 at a time instead of 5 because we weren't using it as much? I did turn it up again later when we kept running out..

hmmm

Oh, I bought around $80 in Lime/Lemon trees so we could grow our own limes & lemons. It later became apparent that since we never bought lemons, and only rarely limes (for Coronas & home made pico), it would take approximately 785 years before our money was made back. So I'm filing that purchase under "entertainment" rather than groceries.

Yeah, I'm totally losing this one.

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah what was with the dryer sheets?!?!

I was accused of recycling dryer sheets when I first joined this board, but I never used dryer sheets in my life!

Audrey

 

[Khan]

Who had the story about the peanut butter jar with the broken glass? That was a good one!

My own most frugal story is the year I convinced DH to chop up a tree that a neighbor who was clearing his lot had felled, split the wood, and give it away as Christmas gifts to my sister and brother along with a little basket full of pine cones and a bundle of matches.
They thought it was weird, DH thought it was exhausting, and I thought it was frugal!

I gave five trees of firewood as a wedding present (their new house had a fireplace). At the reception gift table there was a small stick with a white bow around it and a card attached.

 

[Khan]

Yeah what was with the dryer sheets?!?!

I was accused of recycling dryer sheets when I first joined this board, but I never used dryer sheets in my life!

Audrey

I've lived in the same house for 29 years and I've never had a dryer here and I HATE the stench of dryer sheets at the laudromat.

 

[Caoineag]

Hmm..well, we never use the dryer, only hang dry stuff in the house (which is great for the humidity levels since we live in a dry climate), wear clothing till it shreds (except for work clothes, I am required to look professional), and I don't own a car since its much cheaper to take mass transit and then rent a car on the weekends when I need or want one. Course, I have a lot of other habits that aren't remotely frugal but we all have to have something we like to spend on.

 

[youbet]

I gave five trees of firewood as a wedding present (their new house had a fireplace). At the reception gift table there was a small stick with a white bow around it and a card attached.

Do you mean you cut, split, delivered and stacked a bunch of firewood at their house? That's actually a pretty nice gift!

Or do you mean (and I suspect you do ) that you pointed to some down trees on your property you needed to have removed and gave them permission to cut, split and take home the wood? That would be pretty frugal........

 

[Martha]

One of my favorite frugality posts is from Justin:

Never bought a watch. I found one on the ground 10 years ago. I ripped what was left of the band off and now I keep it in my pocket. I don't like things hanging on my wrist. On occasion when I have a borrowed cellphone with me, I will leave the watch at home since the cell phone has a clock on it.

 

[Nords]

Who had the story about the peanut butter jar with the broken glass? That was a good one!

Trombone Al tracked that one down:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/showpost.php?p=317941&postcount=16

 

[Khan]

Do you mean you cut, split, delivered and stacked a bunch of firewood at their house? That's actually a pretty nice gift!

Or do you mean (and I suspect you do ) that you pointed to some down trees on your property you needed to have removed and gave them permission to cut, split and take home the wood? That would be pretty frugal........

In between.

I paid to have some trees cut, I had the cutters leave the wood in firewood size. The newlyweds to be had mentioned that their new house would have a fireplace and they were looking for firewood. I talked to them and we agreed that a mutual friend would come pick it up.

 

[dex]

Whenever I think of doing something frugal I ask myself it I could hurt myself in someway and then costing myself more money. It helps to keep the balance in.

 

[travelover]

Whenever I think of doing something frugal I ask myself it I could hurt myself in someway and then costing myself more money. It helps to keep the balance in.

Excellent point. I drywalled the ceiling in my basement myself. Ended up costing $4K in physical therapy (adhesive capsulitis), though covered by my insurance, at the time.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Trombone Al tracked that one down:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/showpost.php?p=317941&postcount=16

scary .. I thought it was a joke...
he/she wins ... I am officially a spendthrift.

 

[52andout]

One day we were canoeing at about the same time we were very focused on paying off the house. We stopped at this little island and it was full of beer cans. We picked them all up and threw them in the canoe, as we had no bags or anything. When we paddled back we redeemed them for the house fund. The best part was two late 40's people coming into the landing area with a canoe full of beer cans. Everyone was looking at us like we were nuts.

I do draw the line at expired food, food with glass shards, or doing anything that is not legal or ethical.

 

[Keim]

I'm in my mid 30's. I still drive the car I got when I was 15, and it was 10 years old then.

 

[SecondCor521]

Here's one for y'all.

In the morning, when I take my hot shower, I plug the drain. Throughout the day, the heat from the water helps heat my house. At night, I go unplug the drain and let the cold water drain out. This probably costs me 10 seconds a day and saves me maybe 10 cents a year.

The surprising thing is that my 7 year old son suggested the idea independently.

2Cor521

 

[dex]

I'm in my mid 30's. I still drive the car I got when I was 15, and it was 10 years old then.

What car make is it?

 

[dex]

Here's one for y'all.

In the morning, when I take my hot shower, I plug the drain. Throughout the day, the heat from the water helps heat my house. At night, I go unplug the drain and let the cold water drain out. This probably costs me 10 seconds a day and saves me maybe 10 cents a year.

The surprising thing is that my 7 year old son suggested the idea independently.

2Cor521

Do you get any mold from this?

 

[HFWR]

I gave five trees of firewood as a wedding present (their new house had a fireplace). At the reception gift table there was a small stick with a white bow around it and a card attached.

And two tickets to "Wrestle Mania"...