Silly Frugality?

[athena53]

I've been know to go dry for 2 or 3 days in a row (!) while traveling, due to overpriced booze.

I BYOB when I can. On short hops with carry-on only, the mini-bottles of wine and spirits are small enough to go into my Freedom Baggie. If I'm headed to an international destination, I buy a bottle or two for when I get there. Duty-Free isn't the bargain it used to be, but can still be cheaper than local hotels or restaurants.

 

[gerntz]

I suspect we all have at least one thing that we know is overly-frugal, but we don't (or can't) stop doing anyway.

For me, I have a hard time throwing out leftover food.

Growing up, we were never hungry, but couldn't afford to eat food that wasn't on sale. We never ate out. We cooked large batches of inexpensive foods and ate it all.

My wife and I are financially independent. We don't need to scrimp. So now, I might make a nice soup - but I find that I still can't throw extras away. If I cook too much chicken, I find it hard not to have leftover chicken for lunch the next day or two.

Now we try to cook smaller amounts, but we haven't quite mastered that skill yet. I don't mind eating leftovers. But I know that I can afford to throw them out, yet don't. Crazy, I know.

Anyone else do something overly-frugal?

Frugality of energy to me. Much easier to prepare leftovers than starting over from scratch. Besides, am not a foodie. If it doesn't have an offensive taste, it's fine.

 

[Nemo2]

Frugality of energy to me. Much easier to prepare leftovers than starting over from scratch. Besides, am not a foodie. If it doesn't have an offensive taste, it's fine.

This!

 

[Free bird]

We're in the era of excess. Embrace it.

 

[harley]

Similarly, when I used chocolate syrup to make chocolate milk (my pre-diabetes days), I would pour a small amount of milk into the syrup bottle when it was near the end to get the last bit out for a glass of choco milk. And more like your example, when I am near the end of my liquid dishwashing soap, I add a little bit of water to it to get the last bit out - only when I use some to soak used dishes in soapy water.

If you like to be frugal and would also like to mess with people, start drinking water from an empty Hershey's Chocolate Syrup bottle. Then laugh at the judging looks you get.

As a woodworker-ish sort of guy, I've also got a lot of never to be used scrap wood. But I've started hauling the scraps to my mountain camping trips. It's a good way to thin the pile, and that nice dried pine or even plywood burns really fast and bright. I do tend to still keep my better hardwood pieces, though.

 

[O2Bfree]

We often get cake at work, and it's usually very good cake with superb frosting. People typically avoid excess frosting, so there's usually a thick border of the stuff left on the serving board. I'll often scrape it up and take it home, especially if it's cream cheese frosting. Then I use it on my homemade zucchini bread or cookies.

I don't consider this silly, but my coworkers might, so I feel a little silly doing it. But dang it's good and I hate to see it wasted!

 

[ivinsfan]

We often get cake at work, and it's usually very good cake with superb frosting. People typically avoid excess frosting, so there's usually a thick border of the stuff left on the serving board. I'll often scrape it up and take it home, especially if it's cream cheese frosting. Then I use it on my homemade zucchini bread or cookies.

I don't consider this silly, but my coworkers might, so I feel a little silly doing it. But dang it's good and I hate to see it wasted!

Germ fest.. I think you win this thread.

 

[O2Bfree]

Germ fest.. I think you win this thread.

Really? How so? No one touches it, it just gets left on the board when the cake is removed.

 

[athena53]

We often get cake at work, and it's usually very good cake with superb frosting. People typically avoid excess frosting, so there's usually a thick border of the stuff left on the serving board. I'll often scrape it up and take it home.

Frosting is one of my few dietary downfalls. I scrape some up and put it on my plate and eat it! Cake and cookies, after all, are little but vehicles for frosting.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

These posts remind me of the old Tightwad Gazette - anyone else remember that? I recall reading about how they wrote about things like using the dregs of jellies and jams to make popsicles, extending the lives of children's shoes by applying bottlecaps to the soles, etc., but I drew the line after I read about saving the dried ketchup rings from the tops of ketchup bottles until there was enough to make tomato soup! Ick!

 

[Choices]

When it looks as though the toothpaste tube is empty, we snip off the bottom and get another 6 or so “ servings”. We also keep the downstairs at 65 and the upstairs bedrooms at 55. As we say, a buck is a buck...

 

[FrugalMcDougal]

Leftovers are great. DW and I both grew up in large families where the food budget was tight. We saw and learned from our parents how to stretch it.

It is a common thing for us to cook enough food that will last 2-3 days. As was mentioned above, some food is better after a day or two. And we are also guilt of making soup stock from the bones. Tastes delicious!

So many restaurants now serve so much food that we regularly bring enough for another meal. No reason to waste perfectly good food.

My silliest frugal action is probably reusing teabags - I saw my parents do this regularly. While I rarely do it these days, I still feel funny throwing out a tea bag after using it for just a small amount of tea.

I use every teabag twice. That’s how I grew up. I’m not yet 50 so we can’t blame it on the depression! I don’t buy pens. I use hotel pens! I travel every week for work so pens and notepads are plentiful.

 

[FrugalMcDougal]

I hand wash underwear because my stupid water saver washer with an agitator chews them up.



On the heat, we've started going to 69-70 during the day in winter. We finally figured out it was stupid spending big hunks of money going somewhere warm for a week and them being cold inside our own home for the entire winter.

I used to run the thermostat at 58 in winter and 80 in summer. Now I run 64 and 78.

 

[ikubak]

A few things I don't like to spend $ on unnecessarily...

• Razors - I bought a device to extend the life of the blade and I care for the blades like a mamma bear cares for her cubs. I can get 9 months of good use out of a Gillette mach III razor.
• Paper towels - I use them but cut usage down significantly by using cloth towels quite a bit.
• Soil for my garden - I compost a lot! Now that I'm retired I'm going to build bigger compost bins. I'm all in now.
• My favorite fruits and veggies - I grow my own...blueberries, garlic, tomatoes, lettuce, kale, chard, peppers (jalapeno, poblano, tabasco, bell), carrots, cilantro, parsley, radish, asparagus, spinach, cucumber, squash, scallion, arugula, strawberries, pomegranate, lemons.

 

[Cayman]

Dishwasher packs cut in half for each load. Can't see a difference vs full pack. DH runs his car oil through a kitchen sieve and puts it back in. (just kidding about the oil)

 

[socca]

For 2018, I'm saving about $2,600 in health insurance premiums by purchasing a non-Obamacare-compliant (medically underwritten) policy. This calculation includes the probable $2,500 Obamacare tax I'll have to pay. However, my max annual out-of-pocket is $102k instead of around $13k for a Bronze policy - pretty nasty. There were major non-financial considerations involved in my decision not to purchase an Obamacare policy this year, but if I get sick or injured during 2018 I might experience some regret over my 'frugality'. Hopefully by 2019 the max term for a short-term policy will be back to 364 days, which will lower my max annual OOP to a more reasonable $27k.

(Edit: I forgot to mention the $1M payout cap, but the probability that I would suffer a health issue that would blow through this cap is rather small, so I don't worry about it.)

 

[HadEnuff]

What’s an “unfinished beer?”

Unfinished Beer

Unicorns

Leftover wine

Leprechauns

 

[ikubak]

I’m guilty of several of these habits, but one I didn’t see mentioned is that I hate to pay for parking. I’ll park several blocks away from my destination and walk rather than pay to park. DH makes fun of me but it’s not just about the parking cost. It’s also about not having to worry about staying longer than I planned and having a parking ticket when I get back.

I also always pick up coins when I see them. DH teases me about that too, says one day I’m going to get sick picking up some filthy penny. But I consider it good luck!

I don't like to pay for parking either. I usually don't have to go far to find free parking, since most people aren't willing to walk very far for anything. I was driving around looking for some free parking one day and I explained to my son my distaste for paying the parking meter. He asked me how much gas was I willing to burn to save 25 or 50 cents. I'm still working on him. He'll see the light one day.

Like Scuba, I also find lots of change on the ground. It's almost like a sport for me, and why wouldn't you pick up the change? Squats are good exercise. I've had my best results in WalMart parking lots and grocery store parking lots.

 

[athena53]

A few things I don't like to spend $ on unnecessarily...

• Razors - I bought a device to extend the life of the blade and I care for the blades like a mamma bear cares for her cubs. I can get 9 months of good use out of a Gillette mach III razor.
• Paper towels - I use them but cut usage down significantly by using cloth towels quite a bit.
• Soil for my garden - I compost a lot!

I compost a lot, too- I have 2 compost piles going.

Definitely use worn-out towels and T-shirts for cleaning rather than paper towels.

I make vegetable broth from all the fibrous ends of veggies- I store them in the freezer till I'm ready to make a batch, and add in spices that are getting too old to use.

And I know how to shave my legs with just the blade only- so I can buy whatever blades are in sale.

 

[Sunset]

.....
Like Scuba, I also find lots of change on the ground. It's almost like a sport for me, and why wouldn't you pick up the change? Squats are good exercise. I've had my best results in WalMart parking lots and grocery store parking lots.

My record was in shopping mall parking lot, and about 30 feet away I saw what looked like a $2 bill folded up. I changed direction and walked over to pick it up.
To my surprise it was a $50.00 bill.
No idea how long it has sat there or was blown along by the wind as people passed it by.

 

[Music Lover]

I used to run the thermostat at 58 in winter and 80 in summer. Now I run 64 and 78.

I live in a winter climate and get enough cold when I have to go out so there's no way I'm compromising on comfort when indoors.

The house is normally at 20 or 21C (68- 70F) in winter and 23 - 24C (73 - 75F) in summer.

 

[scrabbler1]

My record was in shopping mall parking lot, and about 30 feet away I saw what looked like a $2 bill folded up. I changed direction and walked over to pick it up.
To my surprise it was a $50.00 bill.
No idea how long it has sat there or was blown along by the wind as people passed it by.

I had a stretch of a few months in 2008 when I was finding money everywhere, it seemed. I found several dollars on the sidewalk outside my apartment building. I found several dollars and an automated fare card on a PATH train (like a subway, for those of you unfamiliar). I saw an unused LIRR ticket being used as a bookmark in a book my dad had taken out of the library (it wasn't his). That ticket was worth about $8 toward my own future LIRR ticket purchase (I was still working at the time and used the LIRR frequently). Also on the LIRR, the conductor forgot to punch my ticket so I was able to use it again, saving me $9. That's about $30 in found money in a few months.

 

[HillCountry]

It will cost almost 1000 on propane per month to keep my house at 68 all the time. So each bedroom got its own electric heater to keep warm at night.

 

[mpeirce]

When it looks as though the toothpaste tube is empty, we snip off the bottom and get another 6 or so “ servings”. We also keep the downstairs at 65 and the upstairs bedrooms at 55. As we say, a buck is a buck...

We switched to this style of toothpaste

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UB775XC/

I store the container upside down (cap side down) and I can use up the entire contents of it without jumping through any hoops.

 

[mpeirce]

Oh yeah, I always use up a bar of soap down to a sliver, then press that sliver into the next bar of soap.

You have to get the old sliver pretty small or it won't "stick" to the new bar.

It's an art form