Speaking of frugal-are you a wadder or a wrapper? Some wad the toilet paper in the hand and some wrap the paper around the hand. Unless you are using it double sided, seems a waste of paper . And I do drain the last bit of whatever into the new one. Don't reuse foil or ziplocks tho.

I try to be very economical and cut hand cream tubes open, add water to dish soap and shampoo bottles, etc. It really bugs me when products are designed so that it is impossible to use the last bit! I don't wash and reuse freezer bags, although it is a great money saver.

I do that with my shampoo too!

After I just poured oil into the car, drain the residue from the bottle into the next one.

I did cut open a tube of ointment for a problem on my legs, a few years ago ... but haven't treated toothpaste tubes that way, though I did squeeze them pretty hard. Don't need 'em any more: no teeth.

Throwing bacon grease out is something akin to a crime, isn't it? Great for frying potatoes, eggs, etc.

Saving typewriter(?) paper, used one side, for writing letters in selective circumstances, making notes, grocery lists, etc.

Folding four sheet strip of toilet paper twice .... (dare I admit that, during the winter when I was seated about 25 - 30 times a day, I'd check the ones where I wasn't sure whether there'd been a deposit, or open one fold of some minimally used ones, hang them over the side of the bathtub, fold the other way ... and re-use?)!

I'll probably think of some more, later: memory seems to be deteriorating. What's that you say, buddy, ... " ... *seems* to be ..." ... you wouldn't be willing to label that "self-deception", would you?

ole joyfuelled

Anne, your dishwasher water story...I can understand why your plants thrived it was probably the phosphates in the detergent. Worked very well I'm sure.

I've done most except for the eggs at one time or another. My dh likes to throw the toothpaste tube out so I rarely cut it open. He doesn't like messing with small detail stuff like that. Even he will add water to a shampoo bottle. Eggshells go into a container outside. Eventually, I crunch them up and throw them in my flowerbeds. It provides nutrients for the soil and deters some of the bugs like roly polys and slugs. Coffee grounds go out in the flower beds too. I noticed I had a lot of thriving earthworms when I was pulling out old plants out the other day.

The other thing I try to do is not to buy too much. All that packaging has to go someplace.

Found a solution for "too short" pump thingies. I cut a plastic drink size straw (almost to the bottom of the container) and thread it onto the "too short" one. Presto - gets every drop out.

justlinda, I am so going to try that! It's not about money; it just irks me that the manufacturers don't make the pump thingies long enough! It wouldn't be a big deal if it was one or two applications of lotion, but a quarter - third of a container is a lot of lotion.

I usually add water to the shampoo bottle when it's just about done and won't pour out anymore. I love that shampoo! The suds are great.

My thing- I'm a bowl scraper. When I'm making something, I dig in and try not to let anything be left behind in the pot or bowl.

Funny anecdote- A guy I worked with would have a cup of yogurt for lunch every day. I think he scraped around the damn thing 20 times to make sure he got every single last bit.

Used to drive.me.nuts.

scrape

scrape

scrape

scrape

SCRAPE!!!!

I realized why I scrape the bowl when cooking. I gently, carefully, measure it by weighing out each ingredient, to the decimal. After all that caution, only to throw any of it out?!

MANY of the things already mentioned.

One that comes t mind is meatballs, of all things. I'm cooking for one so less than a lb of ground beef makes a LOT of meatballs, once you add all the other ingredients. I like to brown them first and then let them simmer a LONG time in the sauce. If I hve spaghetti for dinner will make enough to have either next day or for lunch or for both. Maybe meatball sandwiches. BUT getting tired of MB after a few days, so into the freezer... no matter how few meatballs or how little sauce are left. The next time, if it's really not a lot in freezer, will just add what's frozen to new batch of sauce. Guess there's really no telling how old a meatball might be?!?

From Wikipedia, for the meatball:

Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon (14
C), a radioactive isotope of carbon.

Add me to the list of doing all of the above! I even dump my dishwater ( I was in a dish pan) in to a watering can, and I take that out and water what ever I feel needs it most.

I also have a bucket in the bathtub, to catch the cold water, before starting my shower. It also goes outside to plants.

I grew up in a very frugal household, and I turned out the same. LOL

Moni

And once you finish with the bottle upside down, next time you take a shower put it a little water in it, swish it around and use it.

Oklamoni, that is a really good way to use that cold water.

all of the above here too!

I used to go to some extremes on frugality but now I served my time, did my part and enjoy other things so I'm not as I was at one time. I still do basic common sense stuff. All bottles go upside down if they can and the top-down style of condiment bottle gets its top replaced with a standard one since they waste so much product and are too messy, I can't tolerate using those top-down caps.

I still put limits on what I'll spend for certain things. If green or red grapes are over $1.50 a pound, I pass. I don't use the amount of ground beef I used to consume since the price is not what I'm willing to pay. It's a quirk. I can afford to buy it, just don't want to pay that much. Paper products need to be at a certain price point. And I quit stocking up as much as I used to.

Mimipadv, my husband used to do the same thing with any plate bowl or whatever, the fork or spoon would screech, it was so irritating! Now he can not do that. I just put water in my shampoo or conditioner bottle and also just turn the ketchup and barbecue sauce bottles upside down. I don't use hand lotion much at all, never have had the need for it. I scrape my batter bowls and such out as well as possible, but that is about it.

Sue

OklaMoni... bucket for cold water in shower... brilliant! At the least, bucket full to do next toilet flush. There's a LOT of water that just goes down the drain before it's hot enough... and not much to be done about it... unless you're frugal and masochistic enough to start your shower COLD!?!

I have a bucket beside the sink that I pour running water into, while waiting for it to get to temperature. I use that water to water plants, rinse pots, dishes, and rinsing containers for recycling. It's amazing how much water would go down the drain otherwise.

I capture cold water too from the shower and kitchen, but compared to most of you I am pretty wasteful.

If it's too much trouble to get that last bit of barbecue sauce, mustard or ketchup, I rinse the bottle and out it goes to recycling. I do mix water in shampoo and conditioner to get the last out of the bottle. Lotions are annoyingly difficult to get the last bit out. I turn it over and pound and pound on my poor hand to get it out and end up throwing it away in frustration.

I do a lot of those things, turn ketchup or salad dressing bottle upside down in the refrig. But then DH keeps turn them right side up, afraid of messy leaks. I add water to empty shampoo bottles and use that as bubble bath.

My Mom was so frugal that she had tiny Tupperwear (1 oz or less) containers with leftovers in the refrig. But she would forget about them and there would be about a dozen in the refrig with moldy food. I would clean them out when I visited, knowing it would start all over again.

Those who are waiting for their shower water to get hot should get a recirculation system. Our MB is on the opposite end of the house from the water heater and would have to wait several minutes (10+) for the water to get hot until we put this in. Now it only takes a minute or two.

Jasdip - the part about TV cooks not scaping the bowl drives me crazy too. I thought I was the only one!

caflowerluver - I keep a coffee mug in the door of my fridge for upside down bottles - any messy leaks are contained!

For me, someone who is conservative in use because of limited income or money is understandably frugal. On the other hand, people who follow such habits when they don't need to, and who do it to an extreme, compulsively, and with time and effort disproportionate to the savings involved, are obsessive.

I believe that penny pinching of this sort becomes a good habit that continues even when you have enough money that you can afford to waste food or water or other supplies. Sadly, it is not a trait that some people comprehend, even those who could benefit from this mindset.

I'll second caflowerluver about the hot water circulator. We have an electric pump on our water heaters. Hot water flows out of any hot water faucet in our one-story house within two seconds of turning it on. Yes, we had to buy the pump and have it installed. (Fifteen years ago.) Yes, it uses a small amount of electricity. It is so, so *worth it*!

If you have a multi-level house, I think there is a gravity system that does the same thing.

We have an on demand tankless water heater in the laundry room which is next to the bathroom, so there is very little waiting for cold water to clear the pipes. It's a long distance from the laundry room to the kitchen, so we have a five gallon electric water heater under the kitchen sink that is for the sink and dishwasher.

Of course, much of the water savings is moot because with the tankless heater one never runs out of hot water so I sometimes tend to take longer showers especially in the winter when it's cold out.

Elmer, you are right that this kind of thing can become obsessive if taken to an extreme. But we tend to be such a wasteful society that doing these little things to prevent waste can be satisfying even though they are but a drop in the bucket when one looks at the big picture.

I'm a believer in the thoughts contained in the book "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff And It's All Small Stuff."

We are a wasteful society but focusing on little stuff doesn't accomplish much and will never amount to the big things that other countries deal with but that we choose (as a country and society) to do nothing about.

When your toothpaste tube is about half used up , hold it tight to the edge of your sink and pull end toward floor. Do it carefully, the paste moves toward the working end fast. Works on plastc or metal tubes right to last bit. Funny how I am frugal with some things and sort of wasteful somewhere else.

At one time I did my part in the name of being frugal. But except for getting the most out of my shampoo and a fairly expensive foot cream I use, I don't go to extremes. I do cut up the foot cream tube and get every drop. The condiments? No, I don't even use most of them, DH does, so when he's done he trashes them. Toothpaste? I squeeze and roll as much as I can and then forget it.

Well...I'll be darned, Fudd. Contrary to the unsolicited and critical comment you threw at me when I gave a book review on a book I was currently reading...

[quoted in part]...Haha, anne, there are also uncouth slobs around like me who don't enjoy books containing life messages or profound insights."

...you actually do read..."life message and profound insight"...books.

Having read a few of Dr. Carlson's books...I fail to see why you think this particular publication has anything to effectively contribute to this conversation. As a matter of fact, I think he might support the frugal exercises mentioned here if they contributed to a lesser stress filled life of those of us who participate in these practices...whether we do it out of need...or a just to satisfy a consumer challenge. There are many of us who don't...and would not...intentionally contribute to world waste on any level. Often habits formed through small acts become established practices where larger and more important world contributions are carried out.

There is good reason to be careful with the water usage in my city. Unexplained extreme water bills in one month.

high water bills for no reason

I do sometimes stand my bottles on end to get a final use out of them but that's as far as I'l go. I don't like the idea of marrying old products with new, even non food products.

Opened condiments get tossed by the expiration date.

I turn off the water while sudsing or shampooing up in the shower but I like a long hot relaxing rinse and refuse to feel guilty over it. Our water bills have doubled since cutting back use by 30%. Sorry If I going to pay for it I am using it. I won't waste it unnecessarily but I am not going to bathe like I am on a ship or a 3rd world country.

Same with electricity. We still use good old incandescent light bulbs. We also have larger fixtures on dimmers. Not one low energy bulb in the house except for the old florescent fixture in the kitchen. Our PG&E bill has remained stable and even gone down. The report they send says we are doing a good job of conserving in relation to our neighborhood and size of household. Well we actually turn of lights as we leave rooms. I don't leave a porch light on all night (never use it unless to see someone who knocks on the door at night) and I don't have security lights going on and off or on all night. The low energy light bulb people on the other hand light their homes up like Xmas trees from the time the sun sets and leave out door lights on all night. Duh.

anne, I'm sorry to perhaps disappoint you. I've given this book as a gift several times, to people who seemed to me in need of help for dealing with life's challenges and learning how not to dwell on small irrelevancies not worthy of their time or attention. Who had trouble not spending disproportionate focus on minor matters. I haven't read it because, as you've quoted, I don't read motivational or "profoundly thought provoking" books. I've; yet to find one interesting or worth my time. (Sorry for the irony).

Those who focus on earning and saving dollars will accumulate dollars. Focusing on pennies will only lead to accumulating pennies, something hardly worth anyone's time. Unless, as I said, one's limited income or means requires that.

(Few comments in quickly written forum threads are worthy of remembering. Put anythiing I say at the top of that list of things deserving being lost with the passage of time)

How very odd to think that people who watch their pennies are not also watching their dollars.

graywings, many of the pennypinchers I've known over the years have been overly fixated on small, immaterial matters and have missed the big picture things in their lives over and over again. If those you've known are different, great.

Justlinda , that's a great idea about adding the straw. I use Vaseline Intensive Care everyday and it is frustrating when the pump stops working and there is so much left.

What I have started though as soon as I begin even a new one is turn it upside down and shake it. I think part of the problem is that the lotion starts to thicken at the bottom.

But, I am going to buy straws!.

I miss Grainlady too. Once we had a discussion about the difference between frugal and cheap. Frugal is when you lower the heat and wear a sweater, but cheap is when you invite someone over and make them wear a sweater.

I think it's obsessive if you push your ideas on others, especially if they are a guest in your home. But who cares if it's only you and your family?

I have the toothpaste squeegee that gets all the toothpaste out. I have the tiny spatula that can scrape out make up. For me, I am obsessed with using things up.

Once again Elmer, I wonder if this is a "girl" thing?

I stay on budget, but I am not a penny pincher. In fact, I don't know prices and really couldn't tell you how much I pay for milk. So, small differences don't matter to me.

I've been poor, and I have had money. When I was poor, did most of the things mentioned so as to not waste anything. Once I became more affluent, those old habits kind of stuck with me. When I splurge, it's usually for something really special.

In addition to adding to the list of little ways to be thrifty, let's make a list of the bigger scale ways to save money. This is my list off the top of my head:

-- checking interest rates trying to decide if and when to refinance my house;

-- comparing insurance company rates on the house and car;

-- having routine maintenance done on mechanicals so they last longer - car, heating system, cooling system, water heater, washer, dryer, refrigerator;

-- well visits to the doctor, watching my weight, exercising;

-- taking prudent risk with investments;

-- DIY-ing when possible.

Yes! It's important to review your finances. We just cashed in an insurance policy as it no longer made sense for us.

I realized that I don't always need a haircut when I have my hair colored.

Pay yourself first - invest towards your financial future each month.

Know your own risk tolerance. A high risk investment with a potential for a high rate of return isn't worth it if it causes one to fret and lose sleep worrying about it.

Don't go into debt.

Pay off credit cards every month and don't pay annual fees. Take advantage of reward points such as those for airfare, hotels and rental cars.

Live within your means.

I found this today, a mini spatula to scrape the last little bit. Gotta love it, spend

Hey now, that $0.10 adds up over time. I actually, I do love it. That is the cutest spatula ever.

Tuesday Morning 2.99

i have to laugh, the exact same thing happened in my shower this week except the brand names of the shampoo were different and the funnel was yellow and dh does not read gardenweb.....

I was taught to live below my means and to save 25% of my income in anticipation of retirement. My dad taught me to never buy anything insignificant if I had to finance it. A car was ok as long as payments did not exceed 3 years and 15% of my income. I only paid interest for one car, and kept it until I saved enough extra to pay cash. I paid cash for my little home and added to it as I could. I am tight with a buck, but I do take care of myself and my furkids and our needs are met.

I bought the lotion saver at BBB and it wasn't worth a cr@p.

I made a bottle coupler of an old 35 mm film canister. I cut it open, and I put it around the two necks of bottles, holding it in place with a rubber band. :)