Funny Things You Do to Save $?

[GOTO Fashion]

When I was helping myself to chips and salsa this afternoon, I chose to use a smaller bowl that would hold salsa but not chips, since the smaller bowl would take up less room in the dishwasher. So, that got me thinking about whether other people do this, and what other funny things people might do to save money. Anyone care to share?

[kav122]

Besides the *normal* frugal things:

We used to have fun seeing how long we could go without turning on the heat. Now that we have a baby we don't but I'm sure we will see if we can make it all summer again without the a/c (open the right windows, turn on some ceiling fans and you'd never know the difference here).

We rarely wash towels with soap, because how *dirty* are they anyway? And I hear that they hold soap for a long time anyway.

We also compete to see who can throw out the least. It is amazing that if you really sit and try to think about how you can reuse something, you can usually come up with something.

We're Catholic, so we already have meatless Fridays, but we try to have meatless dinner some other dinner during the week, too.

We brush our teeth in the shower to get it all done at once. We also try to take the coldest shower we can muster. My husband does "navy showers" but showers are my therapy

We don't drink soda.

I have to say, after reading some of this stuff I wrote, I think of sometimes when friends see us "being frugal" and they say stuff like "life is too short" or "have some fun, live a little" but we honestly have fun trying to save money and resources. Everyone has their line in the sand, but I guess ours is just a little further out. I don't think that we are fanatical, just competive and have an ultimate goal that is more important that buying stuff.

[lpkitten]

I don't know how funny they are though.

One thing that is kinda funny is that I try to cut back on water cost by collecting water from cooking and the shower to use in my garden. I just put a bucket in the shower while the water is heating up and save it or save the water that I drain from pasta, etc. Not sure how much it saves but it's good for the environment too!

[GOTO Fashion]

kav122: I do the heat thing, too - but living in such a warm climate means that you need it for 3 months max, if that, and even then only sparingly. I really hate it when i finally do wimp out and turn it on, although I think my husband is even wimpier than I am since he's usually begging me to turn the heat on.

We also brush our teeth in the shower and usually my husband showers our 21 month old at the same time - saving both time and money. They have lots of fun, and it's pretty funny to witness too We have done this basically from the time he was born.

lpkitten - that's a good idea (and it made me chuckle). Thanks for sharing!

[gt0163c]

I try to wait as long as possible to turn on my heat and air conditioning each year. Lots of strategic use of curtains and opening/closing windows helps out with that.

In the warmer months, I regularly do navy showers.

I save the scraps from bar soap and the ends of solid deoderant and mold them into new bars of soap/deoderant sticks (this is two separate things using the same idea).

I try to help clean up the kitchen at church functions and almost always get leftovers to take home. It's not the reason I help, but it's a nice side benefit. Many of my friends know that I welcome just about any leftovers, so I often go home with a "doggy bag" from events or dinners at their house. Sweets or snacks and such that I don't want to eat myself I take in to work to share with my coworkers.

I scour clearance racks and excellent sales (especially Target) to find things useful items at steep discounts. I find a lot of gifts for friends and family as well as many things to donate to various charities this way. My church has a silent auction to raise money for the summer mission trip each year. I put together a group of similarly themed items to create baskets or packages and donate those. This year there's a lot of summer and beach toys because I hit the Target summer clearance sale at just the right time. And, I end up getting most of the money back as deductions on my taxes each year.

[yourbeginnings]

I do similar things with the heat and ac. Fortunately in the southern summers, I have a ground floor condo (partly underground) so it naturally stays pretty cool. Just by opening some window and ceiling fans, I rarely have to use the AC. In the winter, I keep the gas furnace at 65 and use the electric heater in whatever room I am using.

I also hit the target end caps. I probably have enough body wash and deodorant for a years to come.

When I used to travel for work, i would pack the hotel soap and shampoo each day so the cleaning service would place new soap and shampoo in the room.

Rather than buying trash bags, I just use the plastic bags from the grocery store. Not environmentally sound, but I do return the excess bags I have back to the store for recycling.

[GOTO Fashion]

I do the hotel soap and shampoo thing, too. It's kind of a fun game, since you know that they know you couldn't possibly have used an entire container of lotion in one day. I even make sure I take the lotion out of the room entirely if I want another one, so the maid won't see it and put the old one back in place of a new one.

I use the bar soaps to wash my dogs, and I pack the the shampoo and conditioners in my gym bag. If there's a plastic-wrapped toothbrush, loofah, etc., I take that and keep it in my guest bathroom medicine cabinet for guests to use.

I just thought of two more:

I buy potatoes in bulk, and if any really start to bud on me I cut those off when I cook the potato and plant them in the back yard - they grow really well and one plant can yield 7 or more potatoes. Friends laugh when they see my sprouted potatoes and ask why we don't throw them away - they laugh even more when I tell them I'm going to plant them.

We also save the seeds from fruits we eat and plant them. Once, we lucked out and got a case of mangoes that had sprouted seeds inside - the mangoes were delicious, and the seeds (which are usually notoriously difficult to sprout) quickly grew into small trees. Once, I actually brought home seeds from an heirloom tomato salad that I ate in Vegas on a trip.

[khorrell]

GOTO...the tomato seeds are so funny!

We don't do nearly enough to save money but hopefully you'll inspire me.

Does not vacuuming because you don't want to count as being frugal?

[lpkitten]

Originally Posted by khorrell

GOTO...

Does not vacuuming because you don't want to count as being frugal?

I like that one! I actually thought of including it too! hehe

[hermione]

Something sort of dumb I do, or used to do, was to spend tons of time shopping online to find the best deal. Sometimes it paid off and saved me five dollars here or there, but sometimes I wondered if all that time spent looking for a better deal could've been better spent to make more money since I'm self-employed.

I've sort of stopped doing that now and settled with Amazon. I got the Amazon credit last month because we started shopping there for most things after finding their prices to be competitive and service very reliable. Phew!