He is so frugal he......

[NW-Bound]

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Originally Posted by Bestwifeever Your grandfather makes the rest of our "he's so frugal...." Stories look like extravagances.

That is cheap or miserly, not frugal. Again, Andrew Tobias pinpoints the difference.

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Originally Posted by NW-Bound "Frugal is how you treat yourself. Cheap is how you treat others." -- Andrew Tobias

[Live And Learn]

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Originally Posted by rodi Anyone else make their own cleaning supplies. I make a spray cleaner that's vinegar, a few drops of liquid soap, and a few drops of tea tree oil (anti fungal). I use that as a kitchen cleaner, bathroom cleaner, all purpose de-gunker. The soap helps degunk, the vinegar shines up surfaces like appliances and counters and porcelain fixtures... It's less toxic than the stuff you buy at the store (the reason I started doing this) and significantly cheaper. - As mentioned earlier - reusable shop rags purchased in bulk from costco. I don't care if their stained, so I don't bother to bleach them.... I must wash 20 or more of them a week. I've found the more I try to be "green" the more money I save. A win win.

I'd love to know more about the homemade cleaners. I have a parakeet and am paranoid about using cleaners. I generally stick with vinegar or dish soap (but never thought of putting the two together). Do you have a reputable website or book recommendation ?

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi Anyone else make their own cleaning supplies. I make a spray cleaner that's vinegar, a few drops of liquid soap, and a few drops of tea tree oil (anti fungal). I use that as a kitchen cleaner, bathroom cleaner, all purpose de-gunker. The soap helps degunk, the vinegar shines up surfaces like appliances and counters and porcelain fixtures... It's less toxic than the stuff you buy at the store (the reason I started doing this) and significantly cheaper. - As mentioned earlier - reusable shop rags purchased in bulk from costco. I don't care if their stained, so I don't bother to bleach them.... I must wash 20 or more of them a week. I've found the more I try to be "green" the more money I save. A win win.

I do. I have a cleaning box with vinegar, baking soda, essential oils, tea tree oil, Castille soap and some other items. I bought a big package of rags from Sam's Club to cut down on paper towels.

I found some foaming soap pumps on Amazon that use 75% less soap and I fill them with water and Dr. Bronner's Castile when it goes on sale at Sprouts. I buy glycerin bar soap in a bulk once a year or so from a warehouse near our house.

I agree on the green living being frugal as well as reducing chemical and landfill use.

[freebird5825]

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Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort I sign up for all sorts of email sales letters and have them go to a disposable email address. Most are 20% off kind of emails or coupons for stuff you can buy cheaper on Amazon without any coupons, but every now and then I'll get flat out free gift cards or equivalents of $10 or so worth of merchandise with no minimum spend. If these are from a clothing or department store, I use them to stockpile socks for the family. Usually stores in financial trouble will do this out of desperation. I am really going to miss Sears when they go under. I'm might have to start paying for socks some day.

Same here. JC Penney is my favorite one. Mr B buys his Mom stuff there for birthdays and holidays, so I use my JC Penney rewards card. Next thing you know, I have a $10 freebie in my mailbox, with no minimum spend amount required. I use it towards a great brand of jeggings that fit me perfectly. All done online.
PayPal sends some pretty decent offers to my email also. I delete most but once in a while a good one arrives.

[mystang52]

I just gotta say this is the best thread I've seen since I joined this Forum.

[LitGal]

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Originally Posted by mystang52 I just gotta say this is the best thread I've seen since I joined this Forum.

It sure is fun. I thought I was raised frugal; guess not! Some of these ideas would have never occurred to me.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi - As mentioned earlier - reusable shop rags purchased in bulk from costco. I don't care if their stained, so I don't bother to bleach them.... I must wash 20 or more of them a week.

I am picky, so the stains bother me. But the bleach also kills the germs that may be growing in the dirty towels, particularly as we do not wash them right away but wait for the next laundry load.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I am picky, so the stains bother me. But the bleach also kills the germs that may be growing in the dirty towels, particularly as we do not wash them right away but wait for the next laundry load.

I don't worry about that - we have a bucket next to the washer in our garage. Then when I wash them - I used vinegar as a rinse agent (in the fabric softener cup of the washer)... that kills 98% of the germs, and I line dry them - so the sun does the rest. The vinegar acts as a fabric softener - an added bonus.

[daylatedollarshort]

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Originally Posted by freebird5825 Same here. JC Penney is my favorite one. Mr B buys his Mom stuff there for birthdays and holidays, so I use my JC Penney rewards card. Next thing you know, I have a $10 freebie in my mailbox, with no minimum spend amount required. I use it towards a great brand of jeggings that fit me perfectly. All done online. PayPal sends some pretty decent offers to my email also. I delete most but once in a while a good one arrives.

I just signed up for the Penny's email. Thanks for the tip. I also went through a few more freebies on your birthday signups this morning. That is going to be a fun day.

[iac1003]

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Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort I do. I have a cleaning box with vinegar, baking soda, essential oils, tea tree oil, Castille soap and some other items. I bought a big package of rags from Sam's Club to cut down on paper towels. I found some foaming soap pumps on Amazon that use 75% less soap and I fill them with water and Dr. Bronner's Castile when it goes on sale at Sprouts. I buy glycerin bar soap in a bulk once a year or so from a warehouse near our house. I agree on the green living being frugal as well as reducing chemical and landfill use.

Anyone have a natural carpet/upholstery cleaner? DH cleans and uses vinegar/water, etc. on the wood floors, bathrooms and counters but he just cleaned the bedroom carpets by hand (not machine) with a commercially-bought cleaner and when I walked into the house from w*rk I nearly had an asthma attack. I had to sleep in the living room for 2 nights and he darn near froze airing out the house with the windows open, fans blowing and trying to use baking powder to vacuum the stuff out of the carpets. Thanks!


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[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

Not me, but my hubby worked with a guy that would ask for extra rolls at restaurants, take everything home, including all the butter, salt, pepper, sugar packets, every time they ate out, several times a week. And he would clean out the free pepper mints at the counter.

[Bamaman]

After my parents moved to assisted living, I had to clean out their house. They were known to sometimes make pickles and jams, and saved old jelly jars to place their wares in.

I took about 1000 lbs. of glass jelly jars to the city dump. I'd just hate to think how many loaves of bread they bought to use that much jelly.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi Anyone else make their own cleaning supplies. I make a spray cleaner that's vinegar, a few drops of liquid soap, and a few drops of tea tree oil (anti fungal). ...

We use vinegar/water mix in a spray bottle for lots of cleaning. Works well, cheap. I haven't tried adding any liquid soap.

I have to wonder if tea tree oil diluted at that rate really has any ant-fungal properties?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Live And Learn I'd love to know more about the homemade cleaners. I have a parakeet and am paranoid about using cleaners. I generally stick with vinegar or dish soap (but never thought of putting the two together). Do you have a reputable website or book recommendation ?

I'd be careful with the tea tree oil around pets. Just because it is 'natural' doesn't mean it isn't toxic. From wiki:

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Tea tree oil is toxic when swallowed.[15] According to the American Cancer Society, ingesting tea tree oil has been reported to cause drowsiness, confusion, hallucinations, coma, unsteadiness, weakness, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach upset, blood cell abnormalities, and severe rashes. It should be kept away from pets and children.[3] Tea tree oil should not be used in or around the mouth. .... In dogs and cats, death[20][21] or transient signs of toxicity (lasting 2 to 3 days), such as depression, weakness, incoordination and muscle tremors, have been reported after external application at high doses.[22] In rats the LD50 is 1.9-2.4 ml/kg.[23]

-ERD50

[ArkTinkerer]

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Originally Posted by rodi - As mentioned earlier - reusable shop rags purchased in bulk from costco. I don't care if their stained, so I don't bother to bleach them.... I must wash 20 or more of them a week.

Got to ask--anyone use shop rags in the shop? If so do you wash them for reuse? I use them until they are so full of dirt, grease, and oil that I have to toss them out. Can't put them in the regular washer. If I had space and room I might put in a washer (old used one of course!) just for the shop towels. Don't think its worth the labor to try and clean them in a bucket by hand. Maybe that'll change when I RE...

[NW-Bound]

I use good thick disposable blue towels when working on my cars. I do not do enough work on cars to try to save money in this area. The towels I buy at Costco are white cotton wash cloths, and I do not use them for dirty greasy cleanup jobs. A disposable towel is more practical for my garage.

[aja8888]

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Originally Posted by ArkTinkerer Got to ask--anyone use shop rags in the shop? If so do you wash them for reuse? I use them until they are so full of dirt, grease, and oil that I have to toss them out. Can't put them in the regular washer. If I had space and room I might put in a washer (old used one of course!) just for the shop towels. Don't think its worth the labor to try and clean them in a bucket by hand. Maybe that'll change when I RE...

I do. Really greasy ones get chucked. Just soiled and mildly stained from oil, etc. get washed with other rags and old towels we use for washing cars and other things.

I buy a big stack of them every so often at Harbor Freight when they are on sale.

(washing cars by hand..I do that rather than pay $12.99 at the local car wash).

[Ronstar]

I don't reuse my cotton shop rags. I use them for stain, shellac, varnish, wax on woodworking projects and that stuff won't come out by cleaning them. I also have disposable paper shop cloths for the rest of the stuff and I toss those as well.

[Amethyst]

The reused-condom story nearly made me sick. Definitely falls into the "how you treat others" category! What a horrible man; I hope it dried up and fell off one day! Or at least stopped working.

Amethyst

[LitGal]

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Originally Posted by Amethyst The reused-condom story nearly made me sick. Definitely falls into the "how you treat others" category! What a horrible man; I hope it dried up and fell off one day! Or at least stopped working. Amethyst

+1

[REWahoo]

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Originally Posted by Amethyst The reused-condom story nearly made me sick. Definitely falls into the "how you treat others" category! What a horrible man; I hope it dried up and fell off one day! Or at least stopped working. Amethyst

Wow. That's some serious hostility towards a hapless condom...