Am I really this cheap??? LOL

[Poohbug]

I do most of the stuff previously posted. I will re-use baggies that just had a PBJ sandwich or pretzels in them. Juice boxes are only for field trips when the kids have to throw everything away after eating. The older kids rarely drink juice but my little guy has at least one cup of (watered down) apple juice a day. It keeps him, ummm, regular and is well worth the money spent.

I do not water down my shampoo/conditioner but do use less laundry detergent then suggested on the bottle. I also rip my dryer sheets in half. Half a sheet does the same job.

I always buy the paper towels that have the smaller sheets. For some reason it kills me to use a full sheet of paper towel.

I re-use much of the kid's school supplies. If half a bottle glue comes home, I can refill it and send it back the next year.

 

[Phlip]

I am the Queen of Unit Pricing-did you know that sometimes, juice boxes are less than the bigger bottle? Compare brand to brand, you will be surprised. Same with store brand vs. national brand. Check it out next time you are at the store. The smaller sheet paper towels are more expensive than the regular size, you really do need to use about half the detergent the bottle says, shampoo, just put less on your head. Oh, and humans do not need cows milk, they need protein, calcium and fat-you and your kids can get all that elsewhere.

 

[SaraJayne]

I also agree that there is a fine line between being frugal and being ridiculous.

Ripping paper out of a spiral notebook to save a measly DOLLAR crosses that line.

 

[dfchelbay]

I reuse baggies, over and over. I store them in the refrigerator. Bread is for bread, veggies for veggies, etc. Never reuse meat, or anything that is contaminated. I repurpose a lot of things too. Crates that oranges came in, can now hold other things. I use the back side of every piece of paper for scrap/shopping lists. I rarely turn on lights at night. I often walk around the house in the dark, or with tv light only. My most embarrasing/shameful cheapness is with water. As of April of this year, once again, they raised our water rate another 20%. We bought rubbermaid trash cans to collect rain water. We hide them in the back of the yard out of sight. We just used the lawn sprinklers for the first time last week...a new record in delay for us. We have water buckets in every bathroom to catch all the water as we warm up the shower...the shameful part is that I go potty two or more times before I will flush...water is as expensive as gas and electric around here now.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Gee, now don't I feel ashamed! Apparently you all missed the fact that I was laughing at myself about the paper. And you know what, I don't really care.

I did it while watching television and it's no different than sitting there cutting out coupons to exchange with other disboards.

I'm outta here, got some more paper to rip out!

 

[TxRabbit]

We have water buckets in every bathroom to catch all the water as we warm up the shower...the shameful part is that I go potty two or more times before I will flush...water is as expensive as gas and electric around here now.

Dealt with major water conservation in CA growing up with lots of drought issues. There was an old saying...if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down.

Nothing shameful in it IMO.

 

[BoogasMom]

I am sure there are alot, but the one that popped in my head is...

My Kids are not allowed to drink juice boxes at home. They are only for school, and outings. My kids think I am a big meanie.

I do this too!!!!!!! And, yes, my kids think I'm a big meanie too!!!

 

[aceys_h0ney]

I can stretch a dollar until it breaks. It's what we have to do to keep hubby at home with the kids and live on my measly salary.

I don't buy any bath, beauty products without a coupons. I don't have to buy store brands but I never spend more then a dollar on body wash, shampoo, razors, toothbrushes ect. It stock pile when I get a good sale to last me through until the next. DH has ten bottles of the new Gillette body wash waiting for him to use that I got all for free from CVS combining store sales and coupons that will last him nearly a year and I will find another great sale before he runs out. I once had enough diapers stock piled that we did not buy any for 8 months and I believe I spent under $100 for my stockpile!

I don't pay more then $5 for shirts, $10 for pants for the kids. I shop at Belk, they have additional 50% off clearance all the time so this is very easy and we still get good quality clothes. We shop a season ahead and often get stuff for half what my cut off point is. I will spend more on hubby and myself because our things will last longer. Hubby scours the internet for great finds on presents for the kids. Last year we got the girls their new Nintendo DS buy one get one by combining coupons and cash back programs. He got me my refurbished laptop for $150 and it works great! We aim for 50% off or better for just about anything we buy from groceries to toys for the kids.

Doing this we can survive just fine on my income and still have plenty of fun money for Disney trips, trips to see hubby's family and extra stuff for the kids! We even do our outings with coupons in mind, on Sundays you can swim at our city pool cheap, adults get in free with children so we pay $4.50 instead of $8.50. Then we hit up the dollar movie theater on Mondays and watch movies for .75 each. Then we head over to the ice cream parlor across the street and get free cones with our movie tickets. Great way to entertain the kids in the summer for $10 a week!

Some of my family thinks I am cheap but then when they call me complaining that they spent $100 at the grocery store and got two days worth of food and start begging me to help them save I can chuckle on the inside. I even train the ladies at work how to save big, after you get in the mindset it takes little effort for it to pay off.

To the OP I use two of the packages of powdered Gatorade to make 1 gallon of it for the kids. I got the Gatorade dirt cheap with coupons and stretched that box out! No juice boxes here either unless it's a special occasion or they were free with coupons!

PS I love reading you guys' thrifty ideas to save I wrote some down for use in our house!

Kudos to the momma ripping out paper! A buck is a buck but I can do a lot with a dollar!

 

[Virgderon]

" also agree that there is a fine line between being frugal and being ridiculous.

Ripping paper out of a spiral notebook to save a measly DOLLAR crosses that line. "

Depends on how much you need or want to save that dollar. I bought at package of printer paper for $5.29 at Walgreens last week. This week they had it on sale for $1.99 a package. I returned the paper from last week, to save $3.29.

I love the Budget board, but sometimes we get a little judgemental here. I don't have any problem with saving a dollar, and I don't find it ridiculous at all.

 

[wbn36]

I re-use the baggie I pack my lunch sandwich in for a week.

Ok, not trying to judge but I am hoping that the sandwich you pack is something that is not overly perishible and is keep cool the whole time in your bag. If you had a ham sandwich but did didn't refrig. the empty bag on the way home there could still be a lot of bacteria growing in there. Just wouldn't want you to get ill. A PB&J wouldn't be quite as bad because it does not need to be refrigerated.

 

[ccgirl]

I am constantly on my DH when he gets gasoline for the car. He doesn't care if it is the most expensive; as long as it is convenient. He says, "it was only 10 cents more." I will tell him that the gas station across the street was 10 cents a gallon cheaper. He has a truck so it is like 25 gallons when he fills up weekly. Multiply that by the 10 cents and you have $2.50. Multiply that by the 4 weeks in the month you do it and you are now up to $10 a month or $120 for the year. So, while it may not seem like much at first it really adds up. The lightbulb went off in his head when I said, "would you take $10 and throw it out because that is what you just did."

To aceys_honey - I think I can learn something from you. I am frugal to a point but I could do SOOO much better. Wish you lived closer.

 

[apnep]

It's my birthday today and I'm so cheap, I'm not going to let my DH and kids take me to a nice restaurant, instead, we are going to Costco for dinner and dessert at their food court! Hahahahahaha!

 

[MEM]

So do I. My SIL was the gourmet foods buyer for a national upscale department store and she used to say "cheese IS mold."

That's very true - we took a tour of the Cabot creamery in Vermont and she told us that its perfectly fine to cut the mold off cheese - the cheese underneath is still good. Also, she said that yogurt doesn't spoil, it just gets more tart. I have eaten yogurt a month beyond the expiration date because of what she said, with no problem. With milk, on the other hand, its quite obvious when its spoiled.

 

[Malibustyle23]

I reuse baggies, over and over. I store them in the refrigerator. Bread is for bread, veggies for veggies, etc. Never reuse meat, or anything that is contaminated. I repurpose a lot of things too. Crates that oranges came in, can now hold other things. I use the back side of every piece of paper for scrap/shopping lists. I rarely turn on lights at night. I often walk around the house in the dark, or with tv light only. My most embarrasing/shameful cheapness is with water. As of April of this year, once again, they raised our water rate another 20%. We bought rubbermaid trash cans to collect rain water. We hide them in the back of the yard out of sight. We just used the lawn sprinklers for the first time last week...a new record in delay for us. We have water buckets in every bathroom to catch all the water as we warm up the shower...the shameful part is that I go potty two or more times before I will flush...water is as expensive as gas and electric around here now.

You should not be embarassed about your trash cans around here "rain barrells" are the biggest green fad. People put specific barrels under their gutters and reuse the water for watering and such. Too bad drought warnings are looming now though. Compost cans are getting popular too in order to make your own soil/fertilizer for your garden.

As for my frugal find I used to make bbq chicken in the oven with a bottle and a half or so of bbq sauce but I decided about a year or so ago to use one bottle and then refill the bottle about halfways with warm water and shake. That gets all of the extra sauce out and relieves the need of the second bottle of sauce. Now Ive been doing this for over a year with no one noticing but last month my dh interrupted the process and was flabbergasted at the discovery. But I still do it anyways.

 

[SaraJayne]

Depends on how much you need or want to save that dollar. I bought at package of printer paper for $5.29 at Walgreens last week. This week they had it on sale for $1.99 a package. I returned the paper from last week, to save $3.29.

I love the Budget board, but sometimes we get a little judgemental here. I don't have any problem with saving a dollar, and I don't find it ridiculous at all.

The time alone to do all that is worth more than a dollar. At least my time is.

 

[curious3069]

The previous poster ripped the paper out while watching TV. If she was going to watch TV anyway, then there is no actual time cost as the TV watching was already a "sunk" cost. In fact, her TV time is actually worth more now because of the paper ripping.


My lastest-I got a sample of Purex 3 in 1 laundry sheets in the mail today. I'm trying to decide if I can cut them in 1/3 and get 6 loads out of them instead of 2!

 

[kinntj]

Gee, now don't I feel ashamed! Apparently you all missed the fact that I was laughing at myself about the paper. And you know what, I don't really care.

I did it while watching television and it's no different than sitting there cutting out coupons to exchange with other disboards.

I'm outta here, got some more paper to rip out!

Keep it up! I knew a couple I lived with who I thought was absolutely rediculous with some of her saving techniques. Reusing paper towels by drying them out (for floor messes), saving aluminum foil to reuse, watering down shampoo and such. When I maxed my credit cards out, they loaned me the money without flinching as long as I pay them back. They bought each of their 3 kids homes in the same expensive city they lived in. Wasn't even a drop in the bucket to them and I rolled my eyes no more. She retired as an RN and her husband was a dispatch person for the local electric company. I know...huge salaries and so rich...right? After that I thought about how I had judged them so wrongly and they are such good people. I had some growing up to do...

 

[kinntj]

I can stretch a dollar until it breaks. It's what we have to do to keep hubby at home with the kids and live on my measly salary.

I don't buy any bath, beauty products without a coupons. I don't have to buy store brands but I never spend more then a dollar on body wash, shampoo, razors, toothbrushes ect. It stock pile when I get a good sale to last me through until the next. DH has ten bottles of the new Gillette body wash waiting for him to use that I got all for free from CVS combining store sales and coupons that will last him nearly a year and I will find another great sale before he runs out. I once had enough diapers stock piled that we did not buy any for 8 months and I believe I spent under $100 for my stockpile!

I don't pay more then $5 for shirts, $10 for pants for the kids. I shop at Belk, they have additional 50% off clearance all the time so this is very easy and we still get good quality clothes. We shop a season ahead and often get stuff for half what my cut off point is. I will spend more on hubby and myself because our things will last longer. Hubby scours the internet for great finds on presents for the kids. Last year we got the girls their new Nintendo DS buy one get one by combining coupons and cash back programs. He got me my refurbished laptop for $150 and it works great! We aim for 50% off or better for just about anything we buy from groceries to toys for the kids.

Doing this we can survive just fine on my income and still have plenty of fun money for Disney trips, trips to see hubby's family and extra stuff for the kids! We even do our outings with coupons in mind, on Sundays you can swim at our city pool cheap, adults get in free with children so we pay $4.50 instead of $8.50. Then we hit up the dollar movie theater on Mondays and watch movies for .75 each. Then we head over to the ice cream parlor across the street and get free cones with our movie tickets. Great way to entertain the kids in the summer for $10 a week!

Some of my family thinks I am cheap but then when they call me complaining that they spent $100 at the grocery store and got two days worth of food and start begging me to help them save I can chuckle on the inside. I even train the ladies at work how to save big, after you get in the mindset it takes little effort for it to pay off.

To the OP I use two of the packages of powdered Gatorade to make 1 gallon of it for the kids. I got the Gatorade dirt cheap with coupons and stretched that box out! No juice boxes here either unless it's a special occasion or they were free with coupons!

PS I love reading you guys' thrifty ideas to save I wrote some down for use in our house!

Kudos to the momma ripping out paper! A buck is a buck but I can do a lot with a dollar!

I can learn a lot from you. Although, there's no CVS that's close so I can't do that program, but it sounds great.

 

[michellejed]

I save all mail including envelopes and use as scratch paper and when the paper is used up then I shred it and put in the garden for mulch or save for fire starting when camping.

I also save the foam board that comes with fruit and wash it and use it to serve food on for DH and me.

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

It's my birthday today and I'm so cheap, I'm not going to let my DH and kids take me to a nice restaurant, instead, we are going to Costco for dinner and dessert at their food court! Hahahahahaha!

LOVE the Costco "food court"!!! Ya can't beat a hot dog and drink for $1.50... (and they're good hot dogs!) and the pizza is like $1.99/slice, I believe? And very good!!! Even a whole pizza is like $10... we get one to go quite often to bring home for dinner. We can EASILY feed our family of 6 for about 20 bucks there.

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!