Friday, January 5, 2007

Reader Survey: How Frugal Are You?

I recently read a column which posted frugal tips from several of its readers. Some of them sounded too frugal, like this one:

I've been to Bangladesh where people have nothing but the clothes on their backs, one pot for cooking, all natural animal fuel, and a "botna." The botna is used to clean yourself after going to the restroom in place of toilet paper. They come in plastic or aluminum, or homemade clay. They look like teapots without handles or lids. We use it for the same purpose only using toilet paper to "dry up" after washing.
It's cut consumption in half. Plus we stay cleaner. Bangladeshi and Indian friends of mine use flowerpot watering cans (small of course) to replace their botna if it breaks. - Crystal

Others sound interesting, even though they go further then I have ever gone, like this one from Lillian,

Lillian says: We recycle our bath water, using it to flush the toilet! Instead of letting our shower water run down the drain we stand in a wash basin and dump it into a bucket to hold it until we have to flush.

So what about me? What do I do that's frugal? I tend to do some basic things like
  1. making sure I turn the lights off when I leave a room.
  2. using a tea bag a 2ND time.
  3. Re-use the empty butter/margarine tubs, for use of food storage. (great to put in the deep freeze to)
  4. Re-use old peanut butter/jelly jars (especially the plastic ones) to store nails and screws in my workshop, and for staples, thumb tacks, paperclips, etc in my home office. The smaller (15 or 16 oz) ones also make great pen/pencil holders.
  5. Save soap scraps to make my own liquid soap. (I also save the small bars of soap from the hotels, when I travel)
  6. Freebies - I pick-up pens, rulers, calenders, whatever a business maybe giving away as advertising. If there is a grand opening in your area, they will probably be a great source for give aways. I also request the free samples that can often be found online. Recently I received a free breakfast sandwich from Chick-fil-a, thanks to a website that was advertised during a recent televised ball game. (Not to mention once a month I call in and win free gift certificates for local restaurants and fast food places.
  7. I take old bath towels and use them for rags...great to clean up a spill, or to wipe your hands when changing the oil. If you wash the car in the driveway, they work great for that as well.
  8. Use the both sides of the paper in the printer.
  9. Use the plastic grocery sacks in the small trash cans around the house (bedroom and bathroom) and the paper bags in the kitchen trash can. When I lived in a rural town, I burned my paper trash, that I put in these paper bags, while the plastic sacks where used for the items that could not be recycled or burned. Those items were sent to the dump.
  10. I am in the process of switching to those newer florescent bulbs instead of the incandescents.
I remember my grandma (who grew up during the depression) re-using old bread sacks, bread ties, sandwich bags and practically everything else.

So now, how frugal are you? Please click on the comments and tell me what frugal things you do. Let's see how big of a list we can come up with. If you don't have a blogger account that's OK, just tick other and put your name in the "name box."
I will be awaiting your tips.

3 comments:

  1. I am all over the freebies! Wal Mart's website has a free sample section where you can have them mailed to you! I pick up coins off the ground all the time. I pack my lunch for work, and bring my own coffee every day. If a vendor takes me to lunch, I never finish as I have a small appetite, so I can get at least 2 meals out of it! I use coupons at the grocery, and shop for bread at my local Pepperidge Farm Bakery thrift store. You can get great deals at your local bakery's thrift store, and there is nothing wrong with the bread!

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  2. I read this article too, loved reading the frugal weirdness!!! I am definately a freebie junkie, if I go more than a week without getting something in the mail I get antsy! BTW, found you at the festival! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Thanks for sharing. I just found this blog today linked from another blog I usually read. I reuse the shopping bags (i love the paper kind, like what you get from Bath and Body Works or Victoria's Secret) and use that to carry my brown bag lunch to work. They last for weeks at a time and don't really break down unless it rains and gets wet. We also recycle christmas gift bags/tissue paper and bows for next year's gifts. I also stopped going to Starbucks (a bad habit) and instead drink green tea everyday. Much cheaper and healthier. For my toiletries, I go to Target or Walmart and select the store/generic brand substitutes over the name brand ones. Target brand bodywash for $3 smells and feels exactly the same as Dove for $6....and get this, if you wear contact lenses, get the Target brand multipurpose cleaner. It's only $2.39 compared to Renu which is almost $7. And they are the same size and do an equal job of cleaning/storing your lenses.

    If i remember more stuff I'll post it here. Looking forward to more tips in the future.

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