The most FRUGAL thing you've done/did in your day?

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Thanks to a newly started conversation by SOT, I was just having a laugh remembering a few of the most frugal things I have done in my day, particularly when my kids were little.

Mine has to be... pinning my kids rubber pants when the elastic waistband would wear-out!

Yes, SOT... there were still a good number of moms like myself who were still using good old-fashioned DIAPERS (CLOTH), with DIAPER PINS, and yes, RUBBER PANTS in the 80's and 90's! LOL!

Not only was I changing my own children in them, I was changing nieces and nephews in them as well!
 
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AppleCori

Well-Known Member
I’ll really have to think about this one, Pink!

Darn! I just made a rubber pants joke, but yours popped up before I could post it!

Now I’m all out of good ones, so you will just have to be content with this boring post....
 
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BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I am embarassed to admit this now, but when I was married to ex he was beyond frugal. He was cheap. I had to go to a family event and the rest of his family dressed to the nines
I didnt care about dressing to the nines but for once I didnt want a $20 Walmart dress that his well off family probably.laughed at later. So, with total intention, I bought a nice dress at Carsons (I think thats where) and told him I had bought it at Walmart. By that time I worked nights and no longer let him see my money or bank account, but he still yelled at me if he thought I spent too much.

Fortunately since he wore clothes that were ten years old (no exaggeration) he had no idea what clothes were nice or from Walmart so he just nodded and i wore it and even got a few compliments on it.

The next day I packed it up with the receipt and took it back to Carsons because I felt guilty and I got my money back. He never never asked about it or probably even noticed it was gone.

I do t know if it gets any worse than what I did. I tend to have a guilty conscience so this haunted me for a while. I felt like a shoplifter lol.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
One more frugal story about ex, not me. I am hard to embarass but this did.

He wore the same suit he got married in every single Christmas at his family gathering until we divorced. Every year.

He also never liked buying shoes either and once put crazy glue on the sole of an old pair of shoes so he didnt have to buy new ones. The sole had been hanging down like the tonque of a panting dog, but he tried crazy glue and if I recall got a little more use out of it.

He brought frugal to a new level. There are so many stories.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
I always say, there is a difference between frugal and cheap.

Frugal (in my definition) is someone who is wise with their money, yet generous and kind and helps out someone in need.

Cheap usually equals stingy, and not always nice.

Does anyone remember that TV show ‘Cheapskates’ from long ago?

I saw a few of those, thinking I would get some great tips, but all I saw was people being cheap to the point of ridiculousness (like only flushing the toilet once per week) and people not being nice (like always taking from others without returning the favor, always letting others pick up the check, scamming, etc.).

I only saw three or four, though, so I could be wrong.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Lol! Omg! My ex used to tell me that I didnt have to flush every time I used the bathroom. I did, of course, but HE didnt. Ick. He said flushing every time wasted water.

I hate talking about this while he isnt well but in retrospect it is funny

The strangest people came i to my life lol. I was born to one, I married one, i know many lol. No wonder Im strange lol.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
I just looked it up—it costs an average of 3/5 of a penny to flush to toilet (2 gallons of water per flush).

Yeah, I’m just going to throw caution to the winds and flush every time!
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
"Most frugal" is hard to think of.

We once duck-taped a toilet seat together when it snapped and used it for like a year or more before buying a new one.

We currently reuse the aluminum foil from baking potatoes. Let it cool, fold it up, use it next time. :oops:
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
Aw...hit "send" too soon!

Lol! Omg! My ex used to tell me that I didnt have to flush every time I used the bathroom. I did, of course, but HE didnt. Ick. He said flushing every time wasted water.

I just looked it up—it costs an average of 3/5 of a penny to flush to toilet (2 gallons of water per flush).

Yeah, I’m just going to throw caution to the winds and flush every time!

If it's yellow, let it mellow.
If it's brown, flush it down.


Yeah...me neither - flush people!
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
This isn't frugal for the sake of being frugal (or cheap); this is just plain very poor.

Dumpster diving. Mostly my husband, who luckily, due to his certifications, knew what food was safe and what wasn't.

I used to go with to help load stuff and keep a lookout for the cops and store personnel.

I still remember the cold, sleeting December day he came home with a ham...and a 4 week old kitten. The ham I was thrilled about. The kitten not so much.

She grew up to be the first cat we raised together. He found her, in a bag with 4 siblings dead of exposure/starvation, in a plastic bag in the same dumpster in which he found the ham. The kittens were Manx-type with varying lengths of tails (our baby had about 2/3 of a tail). The ham had been discarded because some hapless butcher clerk had cut it on a slant instead of straight across, and in addition it was a bit raggedy.

We ate like royalty, and courtesy of freezer, had yummy legume soups for weeks off of that ham and its bone.

That was when I became aware of how much perfectly good food gets thrown out because it isn't perfect.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Tanya M... Estherfromjerusalem... Littleboylost... GoingNorth...
I always say, there is a difference between frugal and cheap.

Frugal (in my definition) is someone who is wise with their money, yet generous and kind and helps out someone in need.

Cheap usually equals stingy, and not always nice.

Does anyone remember that TV show ‘Cheapskates’ from long ago?

I saw a few of those, thinking I would get some great tips, but all I saw was people being cheap to the point of ridiculousness (like only flushing the toilet once per week) and people not being nice (like always taking from others without returning the favor, always letting others pick up the check, scamming, etc.).

I only saw three or four, though, so I could be wrong.
Cheapskates, yes, I remember it and even watched a few episodes! Yes, this thread made me think about it, too!

Almost seemed too rehearsed and planned, that cheapskate show. Some of the content was way overboard... not even realistic, so it seemed to me.

Yuck, flushing the toilet so little. While I commend people who conserve, there's a tipping-point at which one can take it too far. No mellow yellow in our house ever.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
"Most frugal" is hard to think of.

We once duck-taped a toilet seat together when it snapped and used it for like a year or more before buying a new one.

We currently reuse the aluminum foil from baking potatoes. Let it cool, fold it up, use it next time. :oops:
I, too, have done the whole, reuse tin-foil over again... tin pans, too. hey, if they're perfectly reusable, then why not. :)
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
This isn't frugal for the sake of being frugal (or cheap); this is just plain very poor.

Dumpster diving. Mostly my husband, who luckily, due to his certifications, knew what food was safe and what wasn't.

I used to go with to help load stuff and keep a lookout for the cops and store personnel.

I still remember the cold, sleeting December day he came home with a ham...and a 4 week old kitten. The ham I was thrilled about. The kitten not so much.

She grew up to be the first cat we raised together. He found her, in a bag with 4 siblings dead of exposure/starvation, in a plastic bag in the same dumpster in which he found the ham. The kittens were Manx-type with varying lengths of tails (our baby had about 2/3 of a tail). The ham had been discarded because some hapless butcher clerk had cut it on a slant instead of straight across, and in addition it was a bit raggedy.

We ate like royalty, and courtesy of freezer, had yummy legume soups for weeks off of that ham and its bone.

That was when I became aware of how much perfectly good food gets thrown out because it isn't perfect.
I get so sad knowing the waste (both in the way of food and packaging) that get's tossed every single day. Shouldn't be allowed to exist. So shameful.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Washing-out plastic bags (by-hand), then pinning them up on the line to dry is another of my over-the-top frugal practices.

Ironically, I have seen clothesline with plastic bags hanging from them before, so I know I'm not the only one! :biggrin:
 
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