What is one everyday thing you think is THRIFTY, but your friends/family think is CHE

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I save the extra napkins from my take out orders, Depending on the quality, they can be used in place of paper towels as cleaning wipes, for floor spills, as tissues, and for cleaning kids sticky faces.

 

[W2R]

I don't drink regular soda because of the sugar in it, but also I don't keep any diet soda in my frig. I mean gee, a chemical mix with no nutritive value at all? And I'm paying for it? Not gonna do it.

 

[travelover]

I've begun to tear the half sheets into two pieces. DW refers to me as "Old quarter sheet"

I do that , too and use both sides.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I do that , too and use both sides.

We are talking about paper towels I hope.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

DW reuses dryer sheets. Seriously.

 

[stepford]

I rotate among streaming services and don't have more than two going in any given month. We end up seeing everything on all the various services, but not necessarily the week it comes out.

I fired our overpriced yard service and bought a used mower. Paid for itself within a month.

I used to do all my own auto repair, but I've lost the taste for it a bit as I've gotten older. Still do routine stuff like brake pads and oil changes.

Speaking of cars, I buy everything used - and generally search around for a long time to find cheap private party deals. Then I drive until the wheels fall off. I've never gotten rid of a car with less than 200K miles (most between 250 and 400).


Maybe I am cheap, but I ain't changing.

PS. We do DIY travel: Pick a country, go there, rent a car and explore for a month or two. Not as efficient as a packaged tour, but you see more offbeat stuff and spend a lot less.

 

[Lucie]

When we were both young and in graduate school we used cloth diapers for our babies. We were accused of being cheap, but now that it’s ecologically beneficial, it is viewed as a “selfless act for the planet.” When my colleagues were giving me odd looks for washing and reusing my plastic silverware, their tune changed when I said “I hate to see it go into the landfill”. In actuality I was just being frugal. It’s funny how the same behaviors are judged negatively or positively based on one’s beliefs.

 

[nhcycling]

We do all our own home repairs, minor and major. Cut our lawn, all 2 acres. Snow blow the driveway. Basically there is zero hired help for anything around the house.

 

[steelyman]

I save the extra napkins from my take out orders, Depending on the quality, they can be used in place of paper towels as cleaning wipes, for floor spills, as tissues, and for cleaning kids sticky faces.

Me too. Definitely motivated by that recent period when TP, paper towels and napkins were nowhere to be found.

 

[Gumby]

When I was working, I brought my own lunch from home every day. Almost always, it was leftovers from the night before. My old, battered, coal miner's aluminum lunchbox (which had been my grandfather's) was famous in my office building. People would constantly comment on it as we were walking in from the parking lot.

 

[TimeMeasure]

I tear a tiny corner off my half-sheet paper towels when I have a drop of something to clean off the counter. Or I'll put a half sheet that's only been used to wipe up water on top of the paper towel stand to dry.

DW does exactly this!

She will also save pieces of Saran Wrap that have been used to cover dishes, if they are still clean.

If I run across one of her treasures (e.g. a used piece of string coiled into a small bundle for future use), I’ll proclaim, “Mr. and Mrs. Pack Rat!” She smiles and does not disagree. [emoji4]

 

[Gumby]

DW does exactly this!

She will also save pieces of Saran Wrap that have been used to cover dishes, if they are still clean.

If I run across one of her treasures (e.g. a used piece of string coiled into a small bundle for future use), I’ll proclaim, “Mr. and Mrs. Pack Rat!” She smiles and does not disagree. [emoji4]

You never know when you might need something. I had antique door hardware down in my cellar for 27 years before I finally used it last summer to make a new door.

 

[Markola]

Is this LBMYs Anonymous?

Hi, I'm a self-made multimillionaire and I tear a tiny corner off my half-sheet paper towels when I have a drop of something to clean off the counter. Or I'll put a half sheet that's only been used to wipe up water on top of the paper towel stand to dry.

I also spend a lot of time calculating unit price or other cost, and buy a lot of anything that will not go bad quickly, such as when our local grocery store had boxes of Whoppers half off, or a dollar each, I bought 10 boxes...each time we got groceries! I think my family got sick of hearing how for $1, each box was enough for a dessert treat for me for at least 4-5 nights.

Cosmic Avenger, you are my kind of super hero!

 

[Badger]

I don't drink soft drinks or buy bottled water. I fill my water bottles at the sink and let them sit a couple of hours with the tops off to let the chlorine gas off.


Cheers!

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I don't drink soft drinks or buy bottled water. I fill my water bottles at the sink and let them sit a couple of hours with the tops off to let the chlorine gas off.

LOL, I thought about including that. I have four one-liter bottles that I fill with water and put in the refrigerator. I feel like I should just get a cooler and service from one of those delivery services, as they're not expensive, but I can't bring myself to pay for WATER.

 

[candrew]

Can the turning the underwear inside out comment be far away?

And reusing dental floss.

 

[bolt]

I'm thrifty w/self-maintenance.
I know people that cost themselves near $40/$50 day w/personal preferences.
DDonuts, Starbucks, Cigarettes, used to be paper publications, lunches, etc. adds up. A Latte factor iirc...

A friend is a barber.
I know him outside of hair maintence.
He cut my hair once and said I should do it myself.
He's still my friend >45yrs later

Good luck & Best wishes....

 

[SecondCor521]

I do Most All The Things. I read the Tightwad Gazette all the way through once, and about half of the things she wrote in there were things that I thought were just normal because that's how my Mom did stuff when we were growing up.

The things I don't do are things I don't want to do.

I also Do The Math (tm). Stuff that I don't want to do that cost less than $X per year I definitely won't do. This includes stuff like military showers and reusing dental floss. For me it also includes price comparisons on auto gas and chasing points on purchases - I dislike both of those activities and in my case they don't save me more than $X per year because I don't spend much.

One thing I do that is a little off the beaten path is that I walk to and from the airport when I go on trips. It's only a few miles. I know how long it takes now, having done it several times, and usually it's not that big of a deal to just start getting ready an hour or so earlier than otherwise.

This fall I'm going on a two week vacation, and if I drove my car I'd have to park it at the airport. At $10 a day, that's $140. A cab is about $25 each way. (I don't have Uber because my cell phone is too old to run the app.) I could afford either of those just fine.

Walking gets me some fresh air, a light bit of exercise, and I inwardly smile at my creative weirdness. Plus I get to be self-reliant; I always get a little nervous that the cab or Uber/Lyft won't show up on time and will put me in a bind.

I just have to be a bit careful as it's not really a pedestrian mecca near the airport and getting run over would hurt my ROI. Dodging cars adds to the challenge a bit, I guess.

 

[CardsFan]

When I was working, I brought my own lunch from home every day. Almost always, it was leftovers from the night before. My old, battered, coal miner's aluminum lunchbox (which had been my grandfather's) was famous in my office building. People would constantly comment on it as we were walking in from the parking lot.

I did that years ago. A co-worker and I would compare and comment on the "left overs of the day". But, then one day, the day after DW's birthday, I brought in my home made beef wellington. Needless to say I won that day.

 

[harllee]

I get my books, DVDs, CDs etc at the library (glad it is reopened for pick up). I never buy books or music and don't subscribe to services like Netflix. The library can be a big money saver.

 

[Green Papaya]

I used to do that for sandwich bags.

 

[Scrapr]

20 posts in and no mention of dryer sheets? I'm disappointed in all of you.

edit: I see it was mentioned in #30

 

[Markola]

Aren’t YOU the billionaire next door, with your dryer sheets and all.

 

[Filetmerlot]

I wonder what the payoff time is? Well, time to Do The Math (tm).

Our most expensive water (Tier 3) is about $.012 / gallon. (Our cheapest water costs about a third of that.). Assuming you save 1 gallon per liquid waste flush, that means that each flush saves about a penny. We currently have three toilets and three people in the house. Assuming 5 flushes per day per person with a 60% "liquid only" flush rate, that means we would save about $.10 per day.

A dual flush toilet kit is $20, and I would need three of them. so $75/.1 = 750 days to payoff the valves. Not too bad, actually.

Now I need to factor in the cursing tax, the dropped a tool on my foot tax, and the multiple trips to the hardware store when I break something tax. So lets call it a 5 year payoff ;-)

Might be good eco-friendly reasons to make the change, but for me the payoff probably is not there. The equation changes dramatically if you have more people in the house, more "frequent flushers", or higher cost water!

Or you could use the saying we used at my Depression era grandmothers house and save the money. “ if its yellow, let it mellow. If its brown , send it down. “

 

[Elbata]

Use old underwear to make covid mask. This guy who I see at the library uses his old underwear as a hat.