When Frugality Goes Too Far... - Page 5

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by USAmma

I think this is very dishonest and drives the prices up for the rest of us-- she was treating WalMart like a rental service.

...except you actually pay for a rental.

Some of these stories are horrifying. Do people not even realize they're stealing?

[Fuamami]

Originally Posted by Crafty

This thread reminds me of The Tightwad Gazette books, when Amy D. talks about making plastic diaper pants out of a bread bag, lol.

What?!?

That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I thought of another one.

A friend of mine and her sister had to board with a family for high school because they lived too far out of town. When they moved in, the mom told them that after they had wiped, they should examine the toilet paper and see if there were any squares that weren't used, and just stack those up on the back of the toilet for someone else to use.

[NewDirections]

Originally Posted by Fuamami

What?!?

A friend of mine and her sister had to board with a family for high school because they lived too far out of town. When they moved in, the mom told them that after they had wiped, they should examine the toilet paper and see if there were any squares that weren't used, and just stack those up on the back of the toilet for someone else to use.

:Puke Ew!

This thread is hillarious

[lil_earthmomma]

Originally Posted by Fuamami

What?!?

That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I thought of another one.

A friend of mine and her sister had to board with a family for high school because they lived too far out of town. When they moved in, the mom told them that after they had wiped, they should examine the toilet paper and see if there were any squares that weren't used, and just stack those up on the back of the toilet for someone else to use.

EW ew ew ew ew! This is disgusting, and not frugal. *shudder*

[EviesMom]

So, I'm thinking of using a version of this method, only I'm going to be truthful about it!

Another mom told me when she bought her zoo membership, they asked how many children she has and how many adults in the household (grandparents, etc). She asked if it changed the price of the membership, was told no, and said 4 adults and 6 children (instead of 2 adults and 3 children). So now she takes friends and their children in as the "grandparents" and "other children."

I'm not going to do that! But it did make me rethink the zoo membership we have up for renewal. DH never goes; maybe 1/year, and DS is too young to pay, and the sitter used to take the kids but she hasn't done it in eons... and if she does, she has a membership card from another family. So I might buy an "Individual plus guest" membership instead. DD can be my guest and DS is free. DH will have to pay the 1/year he goes. The sitter if she goes can use her membership card which also says "plus 2 children" on it, even though it came from another family who live closer to the zoo. Or I might just pay her admission if she's taking DD.

Or is it indeed frugality gone too far? I figure we also help out their successful letter writing campaign to get $ from the state and city. It's half the cost for an individual + guest as opposed to a family membership.

[PlayaMama]

my great-grandma grew up during the depression. we roomed together during a trip to europe when i was 18. every single hotel room we stayed in she would go in and take ALL the bars of soap and shampoo, without leaving any for me to use.

she died last year and she had a drawer FULL of travel size soaps and shampoos she NEVER used.

oh, and my grandpa doesn't buy butter or jam, he takes all the single serving size ones from the restaurants when they go out to eat.

[maryeliz]

Two words: dried milk. At some point in my childhood, all the moms decided that dried milk was a great way to save money. It seems like dried milk advocates will always say that if you mix it and chill it overnight it tastes just great. I would say that no matter what you do to it, dried milk is disgusting. I can understand having some on hand if you have no other choice, but it is not worth saving a few cents.

The bread bags comment also brought back memories. Growing up in New England we often wore bread bags over our socks and under our boots for an extra layer of waterproofing. I didn't realize this was weird until I was an adult; however, I can't really complain about the bread bags because everyone did and I don't remember being made fun of.

[ElliesMomma]

how about saving paper towels to reuse (especially if all they ever do is pile up)? how about saving fast food styrofoam containers, that also never get reused. my dad's parents were terrible in this regard, and he has some of their patterns. also they save food, ie: left overs from a restaurant, put them in the fridge, and then never get back to them.

i say: make it easy on yourself. if you're going to eat it, eat it in the next day or so, or just pitch it/compost it. as for the paper towels, why not replace them altogether with cloth washcloths that you reuse. the styroform can be recycled.

[mumstheway]

We use coupons for pretty much everything that is extra if we're going to do it.

We took DD to build a bear with coupons for her birthday. We had a coupon for $5 off an animal and a $5 gift certificate for her birthday (they give you those if you sign up for our club, and you can have up to 5 for your kids). So, you can get an animal for free as they have them starting at $10.

DH goes to check out, they ask her if she wants bows (she gets them) and then they gather the birth certificate.

The lady asks DD..."don't you want to pick out some clothes for your bear".

DH intercepts "no"

Then the lady says LOUDLY so that everyone can hear in the store..."you mean this bear is going to go home NAKED???"

(when DH told me what happened actually it made me want to laugh as it's so ridiculous...thank God DD was too young to 'get it' though.)

I'm so cheap:

I don't throw out extra packets of stuff that restaurants give us. Chick-fil-a always seems to give us extra sauce, I use them on sandwhiches. Extra mayo packets I'll use, either when baking a cake or in fish cakes.

My mom and dad used to hoard packets of stuff and lots of napkins, etc. And, they definitely didn't need to do it. I don't purposefully hoard, but I hate throwing out extra sauces that they give us if I can find a way to use it.

[karne]

Originally Posted by maryeliz

The bread bags comment also brought back memories. Growing up in New England we often wore bread bags over our socks and under our boots for an extra layer of waterproofing. I didn't realize this was weird until I was an adult; however, I can't really complain about the bread bags because everyone did and I don't remember being made fun of.

OMG, you brought back memories! We used bread bags too, and always had crumbs sticking to the bottom of our socks. Everyone wore bags on their feet.

My very frugal mom tried her hand at making all of our bathing suits one summer. I don't know if it was the material she chose, the chlorine from the pool or what, but our suits were the most amazing disaster. Totally see through, falling off of us. We took to layering them actually. Maybe it was mom's sewing skills? Anyway, the next summer we were back to buying our suits.

[maryeliz]

Originally Posted by karne

My very frugal mom tried her hand at making all of our bathing suits one summer. I don't know if it was the material she chose, the chlorine from the pool or what, but our suits were the most amazing disaster. Totally see through, falling off of us. We took to layering them actually. Maybe it was mom's sewing skills? Anyway, the next summer we were back to buying our suits.

Did you have to wear them all summer!? Bathing suits were one of the only things my mom would consider buying new, and only because as a teenager she had made herself a cute suit out of polished cotton. When she went in the water for the first time it filled up with water and started floating away from her body. I'm now really thankful she did that experiment on herself and not on me!

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by maryeliz

The bread bags comment also brought back memories. Growing up in New England we often wore bread bags over our socks and under our boots for an extra layer of waterproofing. I didn't realize this was weird until I was an adult; however, I can't really complain about the bread bags because everyone did and I don't remember being made fun of.

Oh, everyone did this when I was growing up. In fact, my mom somehow acquired a big case of bread bags, they were misprints or something, and those were the ones I used for playing in the snow.

Fast forward 30 some years, my mom is STILL using bags out of that same box.

Originally Posted by ElliesMomma

how about saving paper towels to reuse (especially if all they ever do is pile up)? how about saving fast food styrofoam containers, that also never get reused. my dad's parents were terrible in this regard, and he has some of their patterns. also they save food, ie: left overs from a restaurant, put them in the fridge, and then never get back to them.

i say: make it easy on yourself. if you're going to eat it, eat it in the next day or so, or just pitch it/compost it. as for the paper towels, why not replace them altogether with cloth washcloths that you reuse. the styroform can be recycled.

No one, I am mean NO ONE can reuse a paper towel like my mother. At the very least, she gets 3 uses out of one. On a "good" run, it is 4 or 5 uses.

First is to dry her (clean) hands. Paper towel goes to a special area of the counter to dry.

Second use it to sweep crumbs and such off the counter into the sink. Move paper towel to a different designated area.

Third use is for crumb/cleaning off the table after a meal.

Fourth use is for floor messes.

The fifth use would come in between the second and third. Sometimes the towel can be used for multiple crumb sweeping duties.

During his first visit to my parents house, DH was washing his hands in the kitchen sink and decided to pick up ALL her papertowels at once and put them in the garbage. He assumed they were trash.

Of course she noticed right away and was a little distressed about the incident.

Why not replace paper towels with cloth? She has germ issues and thinks buy (horrors) cloth towels would be a waste of money. go figure.

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by karne

OMG, you brought back memories! We used bread bags too, and always had crumbs sticking to the bottom of our socks. Everyone wore bags on their feet.

My very frugal mom tried her hand at making all of our bathing suits one summer. I don't know if it was the material she chose, the chlorine from the pool or what, but our suits were the most amazing disaster. Totally see through, falling off of us. We took to layering them actually. Maybe it was mom's sewing skills? Anyway, the next summer we were back to buying our suits.

This made me laugh until I cried, seriously. My mom used to make a lot of my clothing growing up and I can relate. Thankfully, bathing suits were far above her skill level.

[leavemealone]

Originally Posted by mumstheway

The lady asks DD..."don't you want to pick out some clothes for your bear".

DH intercepts "no"

Then the lady says LOUDLY so that everyone can hear in the store..."you mean this bear is going to go home NAKED???"

:

I can't stop laughing over this. : I've been to Build a Bear and I can totally see that happening. I could see if it was one of the dolls they sell, but bears don't wear clothes.

My dad has a problem with using the samples or travel size products. Last time I went to visit them, I forgot a razor and got a sample one from the closet. My dad tried to save the coupon that was in the package until I pointed out it expired almost four years ago. I am assuming the razor had been in the closet for at least five years. I seem to have inherited this problem and I have to make a concentrated effort to use up the sample and travel sizes I have. I tell myself that there will always be more shampoo/conditioner/razors/etc and that it's OK to use what I have before buying more.

[karne]

Originally Posted by Caneel

This made me laugh until I cried, seriously. My mom used to make a lot of my clothing growing up and I can relate. Thankfully, bathing suits were far above her skill level.

Originally Posted by maryeliz

Did you have to wear them all summer!? Bathing suits were one of the only things my mom would consider buying new, and only because as a teenager she had made herself a cute suit out of polished cotton. When she went in the water for the first time it filled up with water and started floating away from her body. I'm now really thankful she did that experiment on herself and not on me!

Yes, we wore them all summer. Did I forget to mention that we were all on a swim team and these were our practice suits? Good times.

[Leta]

My dad saves straws from Whataburger. Now, granted, they are a cut above regular fast food restaurant straws, and he does run them through the dishwasher first.

I still think it's silly, though, as a whole package of straws (ones that bend, no less!) cost about a $1.

"What can I say, I'm cheap," says he.

"If you were really cheap, you'd eat at home," says I.

"..."

Oh, and about that, uh, retail magnate in the 70s? This wasn't in Bentonville, AK, by any chance, was it? Were his initials SW?

Hearing that he was a dreadful tipper doesn't surprise me at all. People who are bad tippers are just saying, "Your work is not valuable," and given what/how his corporation pays its employees, it's clearly saying that it doesn't value the work of "little people".

Dave Barry said it the best: "Someone who is nice to you and rude to the waiter is not a nice person."

[Dar]

Originally Posted by EviesMom

Or is it indeed frugality gone too far? I figure we also help out their successful letter writing campaign to get $ from the state and city. It's half the cost for an individual + guest as opposed to a family membership.

I don't see why there would be a problem with this - if you usually go to the zoo as two paying customers and one freebie, why would you get a family membership?

[ColoradoMama]

Originally Posted by Leta

Oh, and about that, uh, retail magnate in the 70s? This wasn't in Bentonville, AK, by any chance, was it? Were his initials SW?

Let's just say that I did grow up in Bentonville, AR.

[jimblejamble]

My grandpa would always ask if the water and bread/chips at restaurants were free, and if not, he'd refuse them. If he knew the water wasn't free at a restaurant he was going to, he'd bring a water bottle with him.

[jimblejamble]

OH, and another one! My dad and a group of his friends went to a restaurant once back in the 70s. They were all pretending to be mentally disabled (what is the PC term? I don't want to offend anyone), got their meal, ate it, and left without paying and none of the employees stopped them to make them pay. Thank GOD he's changed! My mom said he used to be pretty tight and she'd leave restaurants crying from embarrassment!