There are some things I do to save money that are kind of weird. You may judge me if you choose.
1. I wear my clothes more than one day. If I don't get really dirty or sweaty. I will wear jeans or pants for 2 days and the same with shirts or sweaters. I do change socks and undies however. :)
2. Americans wash our clothes way too much and this causes them to wear out faster.
3. I don't change the towels in my bath more than once a week. I remember a girl friend of mine who stayed with me, had to have a fresh towel every time she bathed which could be twice a day.
4. I cut makeup remover pads in 1/2 as I only use them on my eyes and they are exspensive
5. I can make a jar of face cream last a year
6. I refuse to buy makeup (which I rarely buy) if it is in a container that I can't get into. Some makeup will leave 1/4 of the product and you can't open it to get it out.
7. If I ruin a piece of printer paper, I cut it up for tags for my shop.
8. I remove all the zipper heads from the zippers I replace if they are in good condition and reuse them when someone comes in with a zipper head that needs to be replaced. I make $5.00.
9.I rewash large plastic bags
10. I only use cloth napkins unless on a picnic
11. I will turn the collars of hubby's shirts to get longer wear out of them
12. I do not use fabric sheets or softeners as they keep your towels from absorbing water and what is a towel for?
13. If clothes are not super dirty I use 1/2 the detergent needed.
14.If I need to replace a pan in the kitchen I will look for it at a second hand store first.
15. I often take home things my sisters buy and do not want. They are a great source of good stuff. Same goes for my kids.
16. I like and do eat the heels of the bread, it is my favorite piece.
17. I am the queen of spray paint. Ask my sister she will agree.
18.Any meal can be made special with 5 ingredients. Flour, salt, water, yeast.sugar. Make popovers, a biscuit, quick bread, or bread and I can guarantee they won't care what else they eat.
19. Always cook a big breakfast for family, hotcakes, waffles, hash browns, biscuits and gravy it will be the reason they stay over and costs very little. This will allow you to skip making lunch for them.
20. Eat two meals a day, saves on cooking, helps keep your weight down. I don't always do this, but I would say most days we only eat lunch and dinner. Hubs does intermittent fasting.
What weird tings do you do to save money?
Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.
Kim
I think I do just about all of those things - my difference is ONE meal a day. Then maybe a piece of fruit or something. As long as I am full that is all that matters.
ReplyDeleteI could easily live on one meal a day, and usually do but for Hubs it is two meals so I support that and my backside proves it!
DeleteI do many things that save money but I don't do them because of that. Like I do not wear make up, at all - my job means I go to food production factories, bakeries forests, tips, sewage treatment plants etc so most of the time I either wear a mask, goggles or both, and my eyes are really sensitive, so most make ups don't suit me anyway. I don' go to hairdresser (my hair does't grow, at all),
ReplyDeleteI read that jeans should be washed only once or twice a year if they are not truly dirty ( like mud or grease etc). I wash jeans when they no longer look fresh, so it could be weeks between washes - but I don't wear them every day, I let them air between uses just like jumpers and other knitted items.
We don't eat out, or take away, or ready meals. Being allergic to both onions and poltry does that. So I make most our food from scratch,but I don't usually bake bread, my mother brings us bread.
When my parents would go to Sweden my mother's sister in laws would always comment on how unnecessary the cleanliness of Americans was.
DeleteI had ordered a pair of Levi jeans from Levi for a Christmas gift and in the package it recommended that the jeans only be washed I think every 7 or 8 days of wearing. I was surprised! (I don’t really wear jeans.
DeleteI know I am just aiding your addiction but check out this Youtuber-Fabulessly Frugal. She has a recipe for a really good from scratch air fryer donut here https://youtu.be/K50NM6-ck4U . She also has a quick fix 2 ingredient donut without sugar(the sugar comes in with the topping)here https://youtu.be/9uuRDALw-lY
ReplyDeleteBTW-the cookies finally arrived on Wednesday this week. ;-)
Thanks needed that. I hope they were edible. Dang post office I mailed them on the 15th.
DeleteWe love cloth napkins, & do many of these things as well. One suggestion. I moved over from makeup remover cloths to the re-usable kind & love them. I'm such a fan that I bought a set for my mom & sister as well.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of those, but my skin is so thin I just use it on my eyes.
DeleteAn excellent list, Kim.
ReplyDeleteThanks Belinda.
DeleteI am one who wouldn't chase all your little $ saving and tracking strategies. I would put $250/month in savings and live off the rest. Too much time and energy that can be used elsewhere. But I've lived "pay yourself first" for many decades and dipped into savings only for critical needs.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on all these little strategies. I use organic detergent and have never needed a softener and I wear clothes until they have a stain or odor-sometimes a week! Why not?
To each our own. Happy Saturday!
Now my husband is a dirty stinky guy and must bathe everyday and change everything.
DeleteI would too if I were him. I worked in the operating room for 39 years. I showered every day then out of safety and caution.
DeleteI do a lot of these, but wanted to add that I buy clearance christmas napkins for the next year. I use them as filler in cookie and candy tins. Then we use them for the big 4 dinners during the season. We go to my in laws and I have used them for transporting foods there. Then we finish them off. it usually takes until February. I am pointing all of this out to say even when we buy conventential things we seem to not do conventential things with them.
ReplyDeleteI do buy some paper seasonal napkins after the holidays for .25 or .10 but my mother left me so many I may not use them all by the time I pass.:)
DeleteIt took me 6 years to work through my moms stash. The same is true for wrapping paper and bows.
DeleteIt is not weird, but maybe it is. I buy dishtowels and potholders after the holiday for half price or a third of the price. I give them as an additional little gift the next year or just use them all year long. I really don't care if I dry dishes with a Halloween dishtowel or take out a Valentine meal with a Christmas pot holder. I just try to buy what I need for less, always.
ReplyDeleteI make most of my potholders, but I also will buy after a holiday.
DeleteI agree with the heel of bread. I love to toast it with some pizza sauce and cheese. I still use fabric sheets, but only 1/2 per load along with wool balls. I use less detergent and cooler temps for water to keep clothes. And I use a lower temp for dryers.
ReplyDeleteI also use those wool balls.
DeleteI like your examples of saving money and I don't think any of them as weird.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
d
thanks D
DeleteI do all that you do except I change shirts daily because I live in a hot, humid climate. I also eat a lot of beans and greens because I was raised on them. I do odd stuff like I seldom eat out but I live in the boonies....lol. I also heat/cool one room basically. I also buy cheaper cars, buy cheaper houses in non fancy places because I just do not care. Other than going to see my daughter, 2000 miles a way, and going to the coast, which is a couple of hours away, or going to see my oldest who is about 3,5 to 4 hours away, I do not travel much because it is hard to get off work. Plus, I just want to see my far away kids if I have free time. I see the more local two kids within an hour and a half of me, almost every week or two. I do eat a lot of catfish, crawfish, Gulf Coast shrimp, which is not really cheap at all but I eat it at home unless going to the coast. I read The Prudent Homemaker blog currently, and also read The Tightwad Gazette in the 90’s.
ReplyDeleteI would eat a lot of those things also if I lived down there.
DeleteDo many of the same things that you do, including the towels.
ReplyDeleteHaven't worn makeup in years, and I try to use as small an amount of floss as I possibly can.
I eat a small breakfast, a small lunch (usually leftovers) and a medium sized supper. I have thought about intermittent fasting but don't really understand it.
God bless.
I have just developed frugal habits over the years.
DeleteI often buy the same shoe in different colors. I had a black pair and white pair. I lost the left shoe of the white and the right shoe of the black pair tore up. So, I wore the right white shoe and the black left shoe for about a year or two. Of course, I only wore the "pair" in the house or yard, mostly the back yard or at night to take the garbage can to the road. One day, I went to the grocery store, put both feet out of the car and realized I had on "that pair" of shoes and had to go home and get different shoes, ones that matched.
ReplyDeleteI have put on different colored clogs in the dark before and gone to teach.
ReplyDeleteWell, I did not want to buy more shoes when I knew I had two perfectly good pairs. Eventually, I did get one shoe found. But, these were all outdoor shoes, like for going into the chickenyard.
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