Where do you draw the line at being too cheap?

[pamlet]

Warning...sensitive issue coming up... I just recently ran across a website where it is explained how to make your own sanitary napkins. Plenty of info also on how to store and launder used ones for reuse. Man, the things only cost about $3 a bag, I can surely spare that on myself once a month.

That's TOO THRIFTY for me...

I haven't read through the entire thread... but I think for gals that use the washable ones are it's more of an environmental issue than thriftyness... Kinda like disposable diapers vs cloth...

No WAY I would have used them when I had to though - but when you think about it ... that's what they used not THAT long ago ... I know my mom said when she first "started" that they used ones that had to be washed...

 

[PaulaSue]

I had three teenage girls at home....and me....well - we went through napkins at an amazing rate....seems like I was always buying them...one day the cashier who always checked me out....said....What in the blazes do you do with all these things? I told her we were insulating our attic!
Barb

I hope you got in on the GREAT CVS deals in October. I got a TON of tampons and pads free after ECBs. I have 2 big boxes of them packed away and I am sure my girls will still be seeing them in a few years. (My oldest is only 8)

 

[PaulaSue]

Another party-related gripe of mine--sending home party invitations in kids backpacks to save the stamp! There again, if you can't afford the stamp, maybe you should reconsider if you can afford the party! It also makes extra work for the teacher. Unless the entire class is invited, its a slight to those who aren't invited.

I wanted to add another view. Some parents don't put their address in the school directory but we don't want not to include new friends. Maybe your school is like this too? It is not to save a stamp.

 

[GraysMom]

Let's see, I reuse baggies (the heavier freezer kind) and foil, garden (and can, freeze and dehyrdrate the results), dress my kids in hand-me-downs and thrifted finds, trash pick, drive used cars, buy used books, used furniture, etc., etc., etc. QUOTE]

What do you gardeners recommend for beginners? I know it can be an expensive initial investment but organic groceries are really expensive. Help me out!!

The other day I was reading about victory gardens from the Depression. I want to grow a victory garden. I am so impressed by how a nation stayed strong and resilient during such a tumultuous time.

What books do you guys recommend?

Rodale has a lot of good gardening books, some of them are for organic gardens and pest management as well. Check your local library for gardening books, our small library has a couple hundred (of course Rodale is a local company, so I think they donate one of each of the books they publish to the library). There are some other gardening books I've found useful, but I don't know the names without checking with the library. I really like HGTV's Paul James, The Gardening Guy (he usually speaks at the Flower and Garden Festival each year), but I don't know offhand if he's written any books. You could also check on HGTV's website and there is also a magazine called Organic Gardening (I think). Before you plan what you are going to plant, figure out what gardening zone you are in (most gardening books and magazine have a map/table to help you figure it out). It will give you a starting point and might eliminate some things that would be difficult to grow in your climate. I actually was so impressed with the Behind the Seeds tour at The Land a few years ago that I bought the vertical garden system they display (from Verti-Gro) and I love it. Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy Gardening!

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

I have well water so we don't pay a fee for water, but just for the heck of it, I tried the "Yellow is mellow" idea. It didn't last very. long. For those who do it,#1 are you concerned that the toilet paper will clog it and #2, how do you stand the smell?

I can't even beleive that i am saying this.

 

[swilshire]

They do not tip when they go out to eat.

This is the first example I've read that I think is definitely over the line. If you can't afford to tip in a restaurant where it's customary, you should eat at home or a fast food joint. Tip only according to the service, of course, but unless it's just awful, one should leave a reasonable tip.

Sheila

 

[swilshire]

I don't know... if you're going to a Latin person's home, you better have paper plates because everyone is wrapping some food to go! sigh... I love my family!

Not Latin, but the same is true in both my birth family and the one I married into. We always exchange leftovers at the end of a pot luck meal.

Sheila

 

[jkmmah]

I have well water so we don't pay a fee for water, but just for the heck of it, I tried the "Yellow is mellow" idea. It didn't last very. long. For those who do it,#1 are you concerned that the toilet paper will clog it and #2, how do you stand the smell?

I was raised in a household where #1's mellowed and I've continued it in my family now. I have to say, though, if it stinks it gets flushed pronto. That's the case with dh and both dd's. They just don't drink enough water so their #1's have to be flushed pretty much every time. Me, on the other hand, I drink so much blasted water all day long that odor isn't a problem. It's clear as day (TMI). So after two or three times then I'll flush to avoid the paper from clogging. Does that make sense?

 

[Tiggerific711]

I would never buy chunk light tuna. It looks too much like cat food to me!

 

[meandtheguys2]

I would never buy chunk light tuna. It looks too much like cat food to me!

But it has less mercury potential than the albacore.

 

[kaysmommie]

wow the things on this thread are just shocking to me. I guess I'm not that cheap after all. I love sales and saving $ but some of these things are just . I would never wash plastice bags and I'm certainly going to buy myself some pads and tampoons once a month. We flush every time too. Frugal is not even the word for this.

 

[patsal]

Wow! I thought I was frugal, but some of these things . Maybe I'm not so thrifty afterall

 

[meandtheguys2]

just don't pop it into the microwave...I did that and my micro caught on fire. That was a $100 sponge.... I was lucky my house didn't catch on fire but the wall behind the micro is still burnt black as is the butchers block it was sitting on. Anyway just a warning. I walked away from it for just a min....

Was your sponge wet? Mine always are. We buy them all of the time, but with 3 boys, who sometimes lack common sense, I feel better nuking them before each use!

We keep plenty of hand towels in the drawer, and bounty papertowel (we have big messes!) but they've been known to use a sponge on the floor. Which happens to be where the kitties walk, also!

 

[ProudMomTo3Boys]

I bought a color book at Target once and gave it to my nephew - and some of the pages were colored on. So it happened at the store. Don't automatically assume the person who gave it to you knew...... (and now when I buy books, I flip thru them at the store to make sure they are ok....)

The shape the book was in more than gave it away that it was used and not bought like that.

 

[macfamily]

Where do draw the line with being cheap?

This was actually something I was thinking about just this morning; the fact that after I get home from work I hang up my clothes and don't wash them again until I've worn 'em a couple of times. Since I work in an office, sitting down all day, it's not like they end up all sweaty and stinky. Underwear and gym clothes are, of course, the exception!! Not to mention, I use my shower towel twice before washing as well.

Is that too cheap? Or too gross? My husband would NEVER wear something more than once before washing it; I think he's silly. (He's an office person too)

 

[fan_of_small_world]

On the kitchen sponge topic, you have to make sure the sponge is wet. I do nuke mine regularly (at least once or twice a day) to kill any germs. But, I get it soaking wet, don't squeeze it any more than I have to to keep it from dripping while I transfer it to the microwave, and then nuke it for 2 minutes. Just a germ thing for me, not a thrifty thing. I still replace them frequently.

As for sending b-day invites to school, around here that it the norm, with the following stipulation: you have to invite either the whole class or all of boys/girls. Otherwise you mail them. It never occurred to me that this would be considered cheap...it's how everyone here does it. As for them getting lost, they usually get put in the home-folder, along with all the other stuff the school sends home. I don't think I've heard any other parents say they didn't get one.

Cheap to me is when one person's cost-saving methods adversely affect someone else. I know someone who returned unused potato salad from a party after it had sat out the whole afternoon (I still can't believe the store took it back - I just hope they didn't resell it ). She also had a house that used window AC units. I visited once in the summer and the one for the room I was staying is was not in place yet. She said I couldn't put it in. Then we discovered that she had her running in her own bedroom. I could go on and on.

 

[macfamily]

Another party-related gripe of mine--sending home party invitations in kids backpacks to save the stamp!

I must admit I'm guilty of this one! Not to save money on a stamp, but because I just don't have addresses for the kids that DD wants to invite. I do, however, make it her responsibility to hand them to her chosen guests, and if some don't show up because she didn't hand them out, well that's her responsibility! I would certainly not expect the teacher to take on that type of responsibility

Well, considering she's a 200# wonder, she probably could do justice to it!

This comment made me really sad, considering I myself am a 200# wonder, wherever that little term of endearment came from, and I certainly wouldn't try taking home food from a party that wasn't offered to me. Nor would I "do justice to it" all by myself. *sigh*

 

[ducklite]

I draw the line in a lot of places.

I won't turn my thermostat to 62, 65, 68, or even 70. I get very cold and can't shake it, even if I'm wearing two sweatshirts. I keep the house at a toasty 73 in the winter and 79 in the summer. My A/C bill is generally a lot more expensive than my heat bill. I normally only have to heat for three or four weeks of the year, but the A/C is needed six months or more of the year.

I won't buy clothes that look cheap or buy them if I don't really like them, no matter how good of a sale it is. I also won't shop thrift stores.

When we vacation we won't stay at budget places. If it's not as least as nice as my home (or close to it) then I would rather just stay home. One of the reason we put a lot of $$ into creature comforts in our house was to be able to cut back on vacations. I really don't have the urge to travel like I used to, I'm very content in my home. Our travel budget has dropped by probably $10K in the past year!

I don't care how good the prices are, I won't shop at Wal-Mart.

I won't not flush after every use. Gross! And making my own mothly supplies the luandering them--ew, yuck, gross, ish, gag.

I won't not get something I'd like in a restaurant--an appetizer, alcohol, dessert, etc. If I want it, I order it.

Anne

 

[jsmla]

Oh, thought of a few more:

I hang the laundry to dry whenever possible. The only laundry I always put in the dryer are towels and undies. They get too scratchy in the dryer. Back in the day I put the cloth diapers in the dryer for the same reason.

I cut up scrap paper to use for notepads. Learned this one when I worked. I have an old paper cutter (family donation) so I just let the paper pile up and then spend a few minutes every now and then cutting the sheets into quarters.

Sometimes I put a pot of soup or chlli on the wood stove. That's more for fun than anything though. In the summers I try to cook in the crock-pot or on the grill to keep the house cooler. Like I said before, during the summer we only use the upstairs AC and that only at night. Not using the oven keeps the place cooler. We never run our heat or downstairs AC unless we have company. My kids grew up this way and now they both hate heated rooms, especially to sleep in. BTW our gas and electric average around $110 year round, a bit more in the summer, a bit less in winter.

I always travel with some sort of ice chest. We keep drinks, snacks, breakfast stuff and sandwich fixings in the room. Eating out can kill your budget on vacation.

Jennifer

 

[pjlla]

[\QUOTE]
What do you gardeners recommend for beginners? I know it can be an expensive initial investment but organic groceries are really expensive. Help me out!!

The other day I was reading about victory gardens from the Depression. I want to grow a victory garden. I am so impressed by how a nation stayed strong and resilient during such a tumultuous time.

What books do you guys recommend?[/QUOTE]
Who gave you the impression that gardening can be expensive? I would say the biggest expense in the beginning might be if you had to bring in some good loam... otherwise gardening (ESPECIALLY organic gardening) can be very cheap. YOu know how many zucchini and tomatoes you can get from a 50 cent package of seeds? And if you are gardening organically you don't spend money on artificial fertilizers or bug sprays. Start making your own compost NOW... during the winter..... then you'll have some ready in the spring!

My biggest suggestion would be to start small. Find a good sunny spot in your yard that would be good for a garden (quick access to the house is helpful too). If you don't own a tiller (which WOULD be an expensive piece of equipment), remove the sod by hand and turn over the the soil by a method known as "double digging" (find the info in lots of books). Add compost and/or loam if your soil is lacking. PLant most of your plants after danger of frost has passed (not true for a few things like peas, lettuce, and brussel sprouts... they can be planted earlier). Keep well watered during the summer, keep an eye out for bugs (remove by hand or traps), trellis or tie up if necessary (simple sticks and rags tie up tomatoes just fine), harvest when ready!

Starting your seeds yourself is cheaper than buying plants, but does require some great windows or grow-lites, as well as attention every day.

I know I sort of "over simplified" things, but it really is very basic. To me, the hardest part of gardening was learning the proper canning and freezing methods for the produce. Start small. Good luck..........P