Silly Frugality?

[Palmtree]

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

After living frugally for all of our lives, me and the wife have recently decided that we can now throw the micro thin soap slivers away. Since we are retired and living below our our conservative withdrawal rate, we have decided is our new single nod to "extravagance."

 

[NW-Bound]

I switched to liquid soap long ago. Soap bars tend to melt and what I scrape away from the soap holder when cleaning the tub is more than what I use on my body. Less work when cleaning the bathroom too.

 

[Nemo2]

Soap? You people can afford SOAP!!

 

[NW-Bound]

Soap? You people can afford SOAP!!

Julian Assange, is that you?

Strange. I thought Nemo2 was a lot older, plus he was free to travel too.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...e-sparks-complaints-embassy-article-1.3753234

 

[Nemo2]

Julian Assange, is that you?

Strange. I thought Nemo2 was a lot older, plus he was free to travel too.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...e-sparks-complaints-embassy-article-1.3753234

Yabbut...this way I don't have to worry about someone sitting next to me on a 'plane and contaminating me with flu bugs and other disease like ailments.

 

[SecondCor521]

Yabbut...this way I don't have to worry about someone sitting next to me on a 'plane and contaminating me with flu bugs and other disease like ailments.

Flying to Ecuador soon, are we?

 

[atmsmshr]

Like many, I hate paying mechanics and repair men. Usually I take 2-3 times as long but save a bundle. Every once in awhile Murphy bites me.

This week I was replacing the motor in the clothes dryer and pulled the palm of my right hand across sharp edge sheet metal. A trip to the ER and four stitches made this silly frugality a clear Fail.

The PA said the stitches should be removed in 10 days by my primary care doc. Humph, a $50 visit. He whispered that maybe nail clippers would do the trick. Heck yes! Then he asked if I wanted the hemostats from the stitch kit for my tool chest - now we're talking! Even wrapped it in a towel that I can use as a shop rag.

Dilly Dilly.

 

[Marita40]

I must be the queen of leftovers. I don't really like to cook, so I force myself to make a big pot of something--soup, chili, stew, etc--on Sundays, portion it out, and eat it all week for dinner. This week it is red beans and rice. Yum! I live alone so I can eat left overs to my heart's content.
I try very hard not to waste food. The only thing that is hard not to waste at times is salad--greens often go back before I can use them. Otherwise I'm quite frugal with food.

 

[MarieIG]

DW and I usually save straws when we dine out and us them at home. But worse still, we often wash the straws and reuse them. How's that for frugal?

I'm impressed!

 

[RobbieB]

No leftovers for me. Leftovers = dog food.

 

[MRG]

No leftovers for me. Leftovers = dog food.

Most of our leftovers come from a local Mexican restaurant. Besides being too delicious for the dogs, their systems don't seem to like peppers, onions. Ours do.

 

[Choices]

This morning my DH is using up a heel of bread that is almost too hard to cut, I offered up my chop saw. DH is making cheese toast in the micro, is proud that he does not need to pop the mess into the toaster first. Guess this is one reason we have been the millionaires next door for years.

 

[joeea]

I try very hard not to waste food. The only thing that is hard not to waste at times is salad--greens often go back before I can use them.

The greens can go in the soup.

 

[MarieIG]

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.

This one I did see growing up.

 

[Dawg52]

I find golf balls on the course when walking my dog in the mornings and run them through the ball washer. Most are good as new. Old one's and off brands I hit into the practice range. Can't remember the last time I purchased a golf ball. Am I frugal or what?

 

[MarieIG]

Food waste is a real problem, but that was simply an example by the OP to illustrate a question.

DW more than me, but she keeps:
- saving partially used paper towels to wipe up water splashed from the sink
- saving plastic ice cream containers to store food in (see my post on new food containers under the amazon thread; I ditched these dang things while she wasn’t looking!)
- saving little packets of jelly, ketchup, etc. from eating out
- saving chopsticks from takeout even though she doesn’t use them and we’ll get more in the next order anyway

1 & 2 for us. We almost never eat our and don't get takeout with chopsticks so for now can cross the last two off the list. (DF ALWAYS took the packets, even butter, from the diner.)

 

[MarieIG]

Parents grew up in the depression and was brought up never throwing out food and didn't get past that. To get tossed, it has to be growing some serious mold . . .

Do turn over the bottles;

Do reuse containers from cheese, etc. to store soup;

Don't like throwing out wood;

Do use a part of a paper towel (although my grandmother would not have been impressed as a reusable rag would do);

Do seek to recycle or donate - hate waste.

 

[kcowan]

Most of our leftovers come from a local Mexican restaurant. Besides being too delicious for the dogs, their systems don't seem to like peppers, onions. Ours do.

They do if they are Mexican dogs or cats!

 

[kcowan]

I find golf balls on the course when walking my dog in the mornings and run them through the ball washer. Most are good as new. Old one's and off brands I hit into the practice range. Can't remember the last time I purchased a golf ball. Am I frugal or what?

My Dad did that all the time and he was not a golfer. Never pruchased a golf ball!

 

[kcowan]

This morning my DH is using up a heel of bread that is almost too hard to cut, I offered up my chop saw. DH is making cheese toast in the micro, is proud that he does not need to pop the mess into the toaster first. Guess this is one reason we have been the millionaires next door for years.

Wrap the heels in a soaked newspaper and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds.

 

[harley]

No leftovers for me. Leftovers = dog food.

You're missing out. Many meals are better the second time. Pretty much anything Italian or tomato sauce based tastes much better after sitting in the fridge for a day. Add fresh pasta and yum!

I find golf balls on the course when walking my dog in the mornings and run them through the ball washer. Most are good as new. Old one's and off brands I hit into the practice range. Can't remember the last time I purchased a golf ball. Am I frugal or what?

I don't play golf, but I've got a couple of plastic crates full of balls that I've picked up walking the course in our neighborhood. But I've got a question. The little beach on the bay where I sometimes swim is next to the hole behind my house. It has dozens (hundreds?) of balls in it. Are golf balls that have gotten wet then dried out any good? If so, I'll start pulling them out. They're a twisted ankle hazard anyway when I'm walking out to the deeper water.

 

[scrabbler1]

I reuse lots of food storage containers I have bought over the years. When I ate peanut butter a lot, I kept the plastic and glass jars they came in, and they make excellent containers for liquids. Another favorite are the smaller containers which held frosting when I baked cakes a lot. They have different colored lids which helps me to remember what's in them when I reuse them. And they very rarely crack from use and washing them out, so my supply remains intact.

 

[W2R]

But I've got a question. The little beach on the bay where I sometimes swim is next to the hole behind my house. It has dozens (hundreds?) of balls in it. Are golf balls that have gotten wet then dried out any good? If so, I'll start pulling them out. They're a twisted ankle hazard anyway when I'm walking out to the deeper water.

I'm not a golfer, but used to golf back in high school in Hawaii in the 1960's. Some of my teenaged friends back then were hired by the golf course to retrieve balls from the lakes on the course. They were paid very little but didn't care. These golf balls were then sold by the pro shop at a highly discounted price.

I would assume they were still perfectly good or the pro shop wouldn't have been able to sell them. Golfers were forbidden to take any balls they might see in shallow waters of those lakes, I suppose since the pro shop wanted their cut.

 

[Meadbh]

I don't play golf, but I've got a couple of plastic crates full of balls that I've picked up walking the course in our neighborhood. But I've got a question. The little beach on the bay where I sometimes swim is next to the hole behind my house. It has dozens (hundreds?) of balls in it. Are golf balls that have gotten wet then dried out any good? If so, I'll start pulling them out. They're a twisted ankle hazard anyway when I'm walking out to the deeper water.

I think it depends on the golf balls and the environment. I’ve heard pros say that exposure to water doesn’t damage the golf ball, but I have fished some awful looking specimens out of the water hazards!

 

[MRG]

I think it depends on the golf balls and the environment. I’ve heard pros say that exposure to water doesn’t damage the golf ball, but I have fished some awful looking specimens out of the water hazards!

As DF got older he spent more time hawking balls than golfing, many snatched from the months of gators. I played with a bunch of them. I certainly can't tell the difference.