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

[Boose]

I learned about the value of used clothing as a teen, when my parents agreed that I could choose my own clothes if I paid for 1/2 of them through chores and birthday money. I used to find pretty good name-brand stuff at Building #19 closeout stores, too, if any New Englanders are reading this thread. :-D

 

[O2Bfree]

We regularly shop at Goodwill. Some of our friends are skeeved out about the prospect.

Maybe your friends don't realize that thrift stores have come up in the world. They use to be pretty grungy and disorganized, with grimy shelves and bins you had to paw through to find things. Now days most thrifts stores are much cleaner and better organized. Some don't even have much of that thrift store smell anymore.

Of course the prices have come up too, but they're still a great deal and provide training and jobs for many people.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I am not surprised this thread is 7 pages. Most of us are thrifty by nature and due to Covid many of us have some time on our hands.

I am surprised that this thread is ONLY seven pages!

 

[O2Bfree]

I don't think I have seen anyone else mention--I still have a flip phone with a cheap grandfathered plan. DH has an iPhone and I have an iPad so I just use the flip phone for actual talking--I can hear on it much better than the iPhone. I have been told they my old phone is being made obsolete but as of today it still works.

DH and I also still have flip phones. I see our model, the Samsung T129, being sold on eBay for more, sometimes way more, than the $20 we paid for them. We'll probably switch to smartphones when we start traveling more, and I know I'll miss my little communicator for its ruggedness, small size, and the way it just sits there quietly much of the time, not beckoning me for attention.

 

[JoeWras]

I don't waste the water waiting for the shower to heat up...I shower in it (exercising my endothelial cells through cold exposure).

What a bad idea!



Can't stand cold showers.

 

[Sunset]

....

I don't think I have seen anyone else mention--I still have a flip phone with a cheap grandfathered plan. DH has an iPhone and I have an iPad so I just use the flip phone for actual talking--I can hear on it much better than the iPhone. I have been told they my old phone is being made obsolete but as of today it still works.

I have a grandfathered plan as well.

I found I could upgrade to an unlocked smart phone I bought on sale, then just move the SIM card over to the new phone.
Once I had to bring the old phone and new phone into a t-mobile store to get a new SIM card with the same number (same account was most important to stay grandfathered), as the physical card was not the right size.

 

[LRDave]

We are not as thrifty as some of you folks, but we are rigorous about turning off lights and generally not wasting electricity. We do a lot of clothes drying outside. We keep our thermostats at levels (summer & winter) that our sons say is a way to ensure they don't visit long. (They might have a point... )

We also turn our water off at the meter if we go out of town for a night or more. That means turning off the electric water heater at the breaker.

 

[O2Bfree]

We also turn our water off at the meter if we go out of town for a night or more. That means turning off the electric water heater at the breaker.

Always a good idea, especially if you've been cheap like us and not replaced your water heater for 17 years.

 

[geeky_grrl]

DW reuses dryer sheets. Seriously.

I used to cut my dryer sheets up into halves or quarters and reuse them. Then I just stopped using them entirely. My laundry may have a little more static but I can live with that.

 

[travelover]

What a bad idea!



Can't stand cold showers.

It is cheap birth control.

 

[Lewis Clark]

I still use a flip phone with an inexpensive legacy prepaid plan. I rarely use it. Just had to replace it with a new flip phone a few months ago, and was told the old phone was so old I had missed 3 or 4 upgrades.

My wife has a smart phone.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We replaced our flip phone and even upgraded our smart phone to have enough storage for Uber and Lyft, in case of emergencies. I still have my iPods, though. I use them for listening to music on the train. I've haven't seen another iPod on the train for over 5 years now, but I feel like there are low odds anyone would want to steal my iPod compare to someone with a fancy smart phone.

 

[audreyh1]

Wow, 92 posts and no one has yet admitted that they strain the broken glass out of a dropped peanut butter jar?

Well, we did on a jar of rare tamarind chutney brought as a gift from overseas. The glass rim had a chip.

 

[Amethyst]

In the 70's, as he watched inflation shrink his non-COLA pension, my dad (always a skinflint) became so cheap, he would turn off the water heater when he was done taking a shower. Then not turn it back on until just before dinner, so dishes could be washed at night. Mom and I had to use whatever hot water was left in the tank and pipes. It was the 70's, remember - my hair was practically down to my waist. I learned to wash it in cold water.

 

[ckelly78z]

My son uses shop towels like kleenex, one use, and done. I try to fully use them until they start falling apart. I also re-use zippy bags for sandwiches in my lunch.

 

[athena53]

I still use a flip phone with an inexpensive legacy prepaid plan. I rarely use it. Just had to replace it with a new flip phone a few months ago, and was told the old phone was so old I had missed 3 or 4 upgrades.

My wife has a smart phone.

I have a smartphone but I use Ting (which I learned about here). My bill is usually $17/month. It KILLS me to go over 100 mb of data usage or 100 minutes of talk time because then it goes up by $6 or $7.

 

[calmloki]

In the 70's, as he watched inflation shrink his non-COLA pension, my dad (always a skinflint) became so cheap, he would turn off the water heater when he was done taking a shower. Then not turn it back on until just before dinner, so dishes could be washed at night. Mom and I had to use whatever hot water was left in the tank and pipes. It was the 70's, remember - my hair was practically down to my waist. I learned to wash it in cold water.

Hey! Back in the dim and distant I routed our water heater wiring through a pool pump timer and had it set to come on just before we got up for work and for an hour in the evening. Worked pretty well with little privation. AIR it saved us about $10/month. Just the two of us though.

 

[DAYDREAMER]

I wear clothes completely out. Example: My wholy underwear are good until I pull them up and the elastic band tears off. Then and only then do they go in the trash. They are darn near see through by then anyway!

 

[FreeBear]

Yikes! We resemble these comments!!

My friend waters down the Soft Soap he puts in his bathroom soap dispenser because he thinks the kids use too much. CHEAP!

I prefer it watered down because too much concentrated soap comes out if we don't. Wastes soap and you need more water and time to rinse clean!

I've been known to do that too, especially in the last few months when I had a hard time finding liquid hand soap!!

I have washed and re used zip lock bags, which has gotten me looks from my kids.

DTW (Dear Trophy Wife) has cleaned and reused ziplocks for years. Her Fancy Friend made fun of her too. Well, DW and I have been FIRE'd for 6 years while Fancy Friend is upside down in his Fancy Neighborhood house and will have to w*rk past 70 to avoid foreclosure.

I cut my own hair (did it even before the pandemic). I never could find a stylist who would cut it the way I like so I figured it was just a waste of money.

DW is my stylist and she now colors here own hair. Saves Megabucks! I can actually get a cut when my hair grows too long instead going Shaggy because I can't bear the hassle and blowing dough.

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.

+1 I hear you! Can't bear paying and shlepping water. I do pay for decent water filters though, for the fridge water supply. Store brand Amazon basics, though...

BJs brand napkins are way cheaper than name brands, and just as good. My thrifty way is to buy the smaller luncheon napkins. We don't make a big mess when eating, and the smaller napkins sometimes are not even soiled. Then I use them to wipe the kitchen counters!

You guys must have been spying on DW in the kitchen for years.
When I'm feeling rich, I secretly toss the gathering pile of increasingly crusty countertop napkins.

Yeah, that was my first reaction to this forum - I don’t even use dryer sheets!

What's a dryer sheet Haven't seen one since the 1980's. Is it related to fabric softener? Haven't bought fabric softener as an adult. Got used to the slight skin exfoliation. Quite nice actually, plus no "fragrance" odor!

 

[rodi]

What kind of terry rags do you use rodi? I don’t like the way the microfiber cloths feel for cleaning in the kitchen, but something like this sounds like it might be a better option.

They are from Costco near the automotive area... I think the package says shop towels. A loose terry, that is washcloth sized. I don't bother to bleach then y so they are no longer white. But they are clean.

We also have the yellow micro fiber cloths from Costco. I use those for dusting, and wiping down car surfaces, cleaning the window blinds.

 

[harllee]

I wear clothes completely out. Example: My wholy underwear are good until I pull them up and the elastic band tears off. Then and only then do they go in the trash. They are darn near see through by then anyway!

Now that's going too far! I can wear socks with a hole but I just can't wear underwear with a hole! My mother always use to say "what if you were in an accident and you had to go to the hospital with holey underwear"? Today I guess it would be --"what if you were struck down with Covid and you had to go the hospital with holey underwear."

 

[JoeWras]

I wear clothes completely out. Example: My wholy underwear are good until I pull them up and the elastic band tears off. Then and only then do they go in the trash. They are darn near see through by then anyway!

I've seen this at the lap pool too. Suits that are paper thin and completely faded. Uh, it is not good when this happens. If you are a lap swimmer, switch out your suit before it is see thru. The real thrifty wear 2 or three thinned out suits over each other. That works for the frugal types.

 

[Walt34]

What kind of terry rags do you use rodi

They are from Costco near the automotive area... I think the package says shop towels. A loose terry, that is washcloth sized.

Both Home Depot and Lowes sell these, and "t-shirt tails", in the paint sections as painter's rags. To get the t-shirt tails to washcloth size you may have to cut them in half or thirds. Since they're the cut-offs from making t-shirts the sizes can vary quite a bit but for rag use that's a feature, not a bug.

 

[KB]

I have bought a few sets of Wash cloths at Walmart to use as cleaning cloths. They have a set of 12 x 12 white washcloths, each pack has 12 cloths. They bleach when needed. I wash them with my towels each week. I only use about a roll of paper towel every three months or so, mostly use cloth.

 

[Amethyst]

Let's hope biodegradable underwear, made from fungal mycelium, doesn't catch on!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/clim...shion-musrhooms-mycelium-climate/?arc404=true

I wear clothes completely out. Example: My wholy underwear are good until I pull them up and the elastic band tears off. Then and only then do they go in the trash. They are darn near see through by then anyway!