Extreme Frugality

HI RICK!!! You stay well also. I keep thinking I am going to take a trip to WV to visit my father's birthplace and look you and Ann up!! Yes, I probably live your life except have the electricity. Thinking I might give it up, but it is so nice to have the refrigeration!!

I bought a sewing machine and learned how to use it (I'm a guy). Now I hem pants, fix socks, repair rips and tears, make short sleeve shirts etc. I mostly use it for maint. sewing.

I keep thermostat at 48 deg. F. in the rooms I'm not using and only heat the room I'm in to a very comfortable temp using space heater/s.

I save empty oatmeal containers and mount them on a pole and use them for target practice.

Sometimes I'll dump soapy water from the dishpan into the toilet when I'm done (instead of down the sink drain) to save a flush and keep the toilet smelling nice. (works better if your kitchen sink is near the bathroom).

I hang clothes on indoor drying racks after washing (I'll only use a dryer for fluffing them up or for underwear).

I save hand lotion dispensers, clean them out and re-use for hand soap dispensers.

I drive a 25 year old chevy cube van.

Sadly, I was recently dumped by a very nice lady because she couldn't stand the frugality.

[QUOTE=michiganfarmer;3647621]

I quit eating lunch so I could unplug the fridge at the business to save electricity.
/QUOTE]

You don't need a fridge for a peanut butter and honey sandwich

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I thought everyone did that.

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I save tp rolls to make little seed starting pots in.

I save the papers off the butter and use them to grease pans.
I use empty bags for trash bags instead of buying trash bags.
I grow almost everything I eat (my extended family thinks I'm nuts cause I it could all be bought at the grocers)
I coast as much as I can when driving. It's amazing that by coasting I've gained 3 mpg on my average mileage.

Unlike others, I keep my house very warm. I heat with wood and DH has been getting trailer loads of free fire wood so it's not costing me anything to stay comfy warm.

The most frugal thing I do is go without any type of insurance. None on the house, no health or life ins. I only buy the min of liability for my car. I know it's taking a heck of a chance, but when you can't afford something, you go without.

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You can use a piece of aquarium air hose tubing instead of the fancy round leather for a treadle sewing machine belt. It's much cheaper than the leather belts and doesn't rot in high humidity. Easier to find at the hardware store, too.


We've been frugal for years and folks now give us lists of things to search for at yard sales instead of looking at us oddly for buying just about everything we own second hand. We've gotten so many good and interesting things at yard sales that some of our neighbors now go, too.

We don't buy paper towels or ziplock bags. Store baked bread is too expensive and has too much high-fructose corn syrup in it. Pre-manufactured "food" is too expensive as well as generally tastes nasty so we don't buy much of that, either. We buy ingredients, not "food", especially not food with a picture of what it is supposed to look like on the box.

Probably eating road kill is what we've done and most folks would be horrified by. If it is still twitching when we find it, we will pick up a feral pig and take it home and butcher it out, although a carcass is much better when it is properly killed. But there is usually some portions edible by us and the dogs get a lot of it, too.

We don't have a thermostat since we don't have a heater and it sure would be nice, especially this time of year! There is an electric blanket (we found it at a yard sale last year for $5) and a 100% eider down comforter (found at a yard sale for $3!) which keeps us warm enough.

Nope, all sounds "normal" to me. At my house we use homemade toothpaste, laundry soap and cleaners, vinegar for fabric softener. I make homemade bread, tortillas, pitas, pasta, cookies, cheese and garden. So pretty much if I can make it or grow it myself, I won't buy it. Not into prepackaged foods. We also use washable towels instead of paper towels. We love thrift stores, flea markets and curb side shopping! And no AC during summer and fire wood for heat during winter. Yup, we're all normal!

The thermostat stays at 58 but the house warms up nicely on a sunny day due to the attached greenhouse. I dumpster dive...amazing the treasures you can find. That said, I am humbled by the frugality of others on this site...

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CJ

I buy my towels for clean-ups (paper towel substitutes) from rummage sales, when its a dollar to fill a bag on the last day. I take all the towels, left over, any jeans or flannels suitable for making patchwork quilts. You can cut up smaller towels for small messes, and leave some big ones for when a whole jar of juice spills.
I have unplugged most of the appliances that are silent users or electricity.
My sister in law, mixes half and half for coffee half with milk, so I suppose its 1/4 and 3/4

Lol! I love all these hints. I grew up w/german G'ma & Great G'ma...talk about CHEAP!
I DO have a roll of paper towels in the kitchen but they are just for 'show'. Lasts us about 4-5 months.
I think the frugal stuff is what defines us all as Homesteaders!

Patty

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That's an excellent idea! I have two splatter screens for the skillet. I could use one on top of a cookie sheet for draining. I think I would still put some newspaper under it to catch any drips and make clean-up easier.

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When we get take out and have any condiments left I toss them in a cool whip bowl in the frig. When it gets full I open the packets and put in the large containers while I watch tv. I've never been able to get the boys here to just use the packets. Sugar, salt etc. I just toss in a mug in a cabenit until I have enough to open.

I always save the parmesan cheese containers to put sugar, herbs, nails etc. in. You can pour, shake and stack them.

I use cast iron to avoid washing it afterwards.

I save the condiment packets too - usually just the hot sauce from Taco Bell since we don't do fast food very often. But those little packets squirt just fine into the ketchup, mayo, mustard or hot sauce bottles. And I'm used to filling the little jars in the fridge from the monster sized condiments I get at Costco. I especially like the little packets of Grey Poupon since I don't buy it at the store.

I was just telling my kids recently about a Saturday morning tradition when I was a kid. Dad took my sister and me to the dump to drop off our trash (she and I rode in the bed of the pickup), and we'd wander around looking for treasures. It was an open air old fashioned dump where you could find all kinds of great things that someone threw out. I once found a $20 bill there, and Dad found an old fashioned radio that he recovered in plaid cloth. It sat on our kitchen table for years, still telling us the morning weather, news, school lunches, and Paul Harvey at noon. We often found barely used clothes, chairs that just needed the seat covered, canning jars, and unused office supplies, and $$ in returnable bottles and aluminum cans. My kids don't know what they're missing, just dropping our trash off at the transfer station and not seeing all the goodies at a real dump.

Real dumps - too bad we don't have those any more! I once found the first dozen or so issues of Mother Earth News .. sold them on eBay years later for about 20.00. Kinda wish I would have kept them!

Hah! This made me laugh out loud, because I've been hanging on to a catalog from Steger mukluks for very close to 10 years now...for exactly the same reason.

I have really found my people on this list.

I do baking soda and honey. Honey is anti-baterical and has preservative benefits as well. Just look in the stores for how many "fancy" scrubs and washes have honey in them.
Baking soda over corn meal because it's a great abrasive but doesn't "cut" the skin like corn meal as it's not uniform in size and grind, can give the skin microscopic cuts (like using apricot shells, etc as well).


Most everything else I've heard of or done myself. I work from home, sitting very still in front of a computer all day can lead one to be cold. I do dress in layers, keep the heat at about 60 in the house and then wrap myself in an electric blanket I bought at the thrift store for $5.
The first month I went from using my space heater under my desk to the electric blanket, my electric bill dropped $65!!!

Paper towels; we do use them, maybe one roll every 3 months or so. Everything else gets a kitchen towel or rag.

The most "extreme" things we've mostly done would include cutting open the empty toothpaste tube, at least another 2-3 uses in that tube even when we can no longer squeeze anything out.
Also, we do dumpster dive... both commerically at stores/ retail locations as well as residental. Some of our finds we use, haven't bought ziploc type baggies in 2 years due to finding so many for free at the dollar store dumpster. Anything we can't use or give away to friends, we sell in our yard sale and/ or donate to the thrift store.

I keep my (natural gas) hot water heater set really low. Sometimes it's not even hot enough for a shower, so I listen for it to 'kick on' and then I take a shower before it cools down again.

Ok all you great people. For the first time this morning I went on line and got the recipe for Liquid Laundry Soap! I have told my son, mom, and cousin who all live close to me. They all want to try it and get on board if they like it. I am thinking it might be something to make and sell at the farmers markt. You could put it in used cleaned milk containers. People if they liked it, they could bring you more container and so on so you wouldn't have any cost for containers at all. I would think 3 dollars a gal would be a good price. I would buy it for that if it worked good and I didn't want to make it my self and would still save people lots of money. Maybe 2.50 if they gave me a empty jug. My fiber guild has taken on a childerns home to help for the year. I am thinking of making up some for them and if they like it keep them in Liquid Laundry Soap for the year. Teach them how to make it. That would be a big saving for them!