I noticed an article in this morning's paper about frugality which naturally snagged my attention. After years of making every penny count while raising a family, frugality has become an ingrained habit and a way of life. I'm always looking for ways to save money and make do with what I have on hand. So I read through the article to find new ways to pinch pennies.
1. Dumpster diving---check
Leroy takes care of that department without assistance from me. He's brought home some very useful things--and some otherwise. Once he brought home a big box full of women's jeans in various colors that someone had thrown in the dumpster at work. Of course I don't wear jeans but I gave them to a lady who has a loom and they came back as very colorful rugs. I have one inside my front door and gave the rest of them as gifts.
2. Regifting---check
I have a box where I keep gift items in case I need something in a hurry. It has come in handy more than once. And yes, some of the items in my gift box are things that were given to me that I didn't need. For some reason people seem to like to give me hand lotion. I don't need it very often and one bottle will last for years. I had about five brand new bottles on the bathroom shelf. They got moved to the gift box and went from there to new homes. If the people I gave them to don't need them they can regift again.
3. No television---check
Never had one in the house.
4. Not buying trash bags---check
I've always done what they said---saved grocery bags and used them for trash can liners.
5. Cutting open containers--not quite
I haven't gone as far as slitting a toothpaste tube to get the last brushful out but by the time I am done flattening it I'm sure there isn't much use in slitting it. I do rinse out ketchup bottles and use that when I make barbq (sloppy joes to some of you), save margarine wrappers to use instead of foil when making baked potatoes, etc. etc.
6. Reuse towels---absolutely not
Right there my frugality stops! I've heard the other side of the argument. All your parts were just washed and are clean when you use a towel, so there's nothing wrong with air drying and using it again the next day. I don't care what it costs, I will not reuse a towel without washing it. Call me wasteful or spoiled if you want to. My mother taught me to use a clean towel and use it only once. Things will have to get much worse than they are now before I get that frugal.
2 comments:
That's funny- that last lesson didn't get passed along to the next generation. I reuse my towel and R picked up the habit from me. But might I suggest most of your towels are too thin to be reused- you are still uber-frugal! :)
I used a new towel every day until it came to my attention *ahem* that its just not necessary. Saves water and work; I use the same towel for a whole week.
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