Embarassing Things You Do To Save Money

[Anonymous]

I rinse out dental floss and use it again, until it shreds completely.

[Anonymous]

Things we do to save $:
rinse out and reuse ziploc freezer bags (its all raw and going to be cooked anyway)
rinse out and reuse plastic water bottles (until they start to get funky smelling)
drink office coffee or bring my own home brewed. never starbucks
save the twist ties from grocery store produce bags and reuse them
use grocery store plastic bags to line my trash cans
save any extra condiment packets and napkins from fast food runs to use later for brown bag lunches
bring lunch from home (leftovers) 90% of the time, hubby gets free lunches provided at work
tie at least one yearly family vacation to a business trip which is partially reimbursed by work
no outsourcing of household chores (we both WOHM full time)
drive a fully paid off 10 year old car. works fine, no plans to replace any time soon. if its still running in 10 years when our oldest can get his learner's permit--it'll go to him!
borrow books and dvds from library, unless its a "keeper" that will be used/read/referenced over and over again
kids clothing comes from consignment shops and garage sales, as much as I am able to find. Supplement with finds from Ross/TJ Maxx/Marshall's type stores.
hubby cuts his own hair. I get a haircut maybe twice a year, and grandma does the kids haircuts

Things we "splurge" on:
private schools for two kids, even though we live in a high scoring public school district. mainly for better student teacher ratio (which can go over 30:1 where I live)
monthly activities for kids over $1000 a month (sports, music lessons, weekend language schools)
two yearly "flying" type vacations

HHI: 700K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VRBO, 100K+ miles on cars, domestic vacations twice a year only, drive to my bank for no ATM fees, $25/ month gym membership.

Wow. That's SO embarrassing. Can't believe you even posted this.

[Anonymous]

not me, but hubby wears underwear and socks until the holes are too much to salvage, and then it goes into rag pile for random cleaning tasks around the house (car detailing, window sill wiping, etc)

[Anonymous]

When our 40-gallon water heater died, I replaced it with a 30-gallon one for our family of four to save water and gas. Shower time is less because because it runs out of hot water sooner, making everyone more conscious of shower time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:not me, but hubby wears underwear and socks until the holes are too much to salvage, and then it goes into rag pile for random cleaning tasks around the house (car detailing, window sill wiping, etc)

Is it necessary to use old underwear as rags?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:not me, but hubby wears underwear and socks until the holes are too much to salvage, and then it goes into rag pile for random cleaning tasks around the house (car detailing, window sill wiping, etc)

Is it necessary to use old underwear as rags?

no,of course its not necessary, but isn't the topic of this thread embarassing things you do to save money--this seems to qualify in my book

[Anonymous]

rinse out and reuse ziploc freezer bags (its all raw and going to be cooked anyway)
rinse out and reuse plastic water bottles (until they start to get funky smelling)
drink office coffee or bring my own home brewed. never starbucks
save the twist ties from grocery store produce bags and reuse them
use grocery store plastic bags to line my trash cans
save any extra condiment packets and napkins from fast food runs to use later for brown bag lunches
bring lunch from home (leftovers) 90% of the time, hubby gets free lunches provided at work
tie at least one yearly family vacation to a business trip which is partially reimbursed by work
no outsourcing of household chores (we both WOHM full time)
drive a fully paid off 10 year old car. works fine, no plans to replace any time soon. if its still running in 10 years when our oldest can get his learner's permit--it'll go to him!
borrow books and dvds from library, unless its a "keeper" that will be used/read/referenced over and over again
kids clothing comes from consignment shops and garage sales, as much as I am able to find. Supplement with finds from Ross/TJ Maxx/Marshall's type stores.

I do these things too, but not the bring lunch from home thing -- I just can't get it together to take lunch on a regular basis, plus at my work there is no good place to actually eat the lunch since the lunchroom is already very crowded. I also find that I MUST step out of the office environment at lunchtime because if I eat at my desk I will just be continually interrupted by co-workers who figure that if I am in they can continue to bring me work to handle. So that often makes lunchtime expensive.

[Anonymous]

"Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck" is what my grandmother used to say when we were kids. That stuck with me, and now, even if I am in a crowded public place such as the metro or crossing a busy street, I will stop and pick up an errant penny -- because I don't want to miss out on having good luck all the day. People sometimes look at me quizically about this. Then I realize it's kind of embarrassing to do that.

[Anonymous]

Cut paper napkins in half. Kids swipe their mouths once and then done. What a waste. Also tear tissues in half if I'm just using it to wipe off makeup on a brush or something.

And like another PP, we all wear our underwear and socks until there are holes in them. But sometimes, DH will continue to wear his underwear looong after there is more than one hole. Makes us laugh as we have $250K+ HHI. We are both frugal, more more than DH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:not me, but hubby wears underwear and socks until the holes are too much to salvage, and then it goes into rag pile for random cleaning tasks around the house (car detailing, window sill wiping, etc)

Is it necessary to use old underwear as rags?

i'm cracking up at this. gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I rinse out dental floss and use it again, until it shreds completely.

Wow, that's nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Things we do to save $:
rinse out and reuse ziploc freezer bags (its all raw and going to be cooked anyway)
rinse out and reuse plastic water bottles (until they start to get funky smelling)
drink office coffee or bring my own home brewed. never starbucks
save the twist ties from grocery store produce bags and reuse them
use grocery store plastic bags to line my trash cans
save any extra condiment packets and napkins from fast food runs to use later for brown bag lunches
bring lunch from home (leftovers) 90% of the time, hubby gets free lunches provided at work
tie at least one yearly family vacation to a business trip which is partially reimbursed by work
no outsourcing of household chores (we both WOHM full time)
drive a fully paid off 10 year old car. works fine, no plans to replace any time soon. if its still running in 10 years when our oldest can get his learner's permit--it'll go to him!
borrow books and dvds from library, unless its a "keeper" that will be used/read/referenced over and over again
kids clothing comes from consignment shops and garage sales, as much as I am able to find. Supplement with finds from Ross/TJ Maxx/Marshall's type stores.
hubby cuts his own hair. I get a haircut maybe twice a year, and grandma does the kids haircuts

Things we "splurge" on:
private schools for two kids, even though we live in a high scoring public school district. mainly for better student teacher ratio (which can go over 30:1 where I live)
monthly activities for kids over $1000 a month (sports, music lessons, weekend language schools)
two yearly "flying" type vacations

HHI: 700K

You should be ashamed. I hope you give a LOT of money to charity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Posting on behalf of my FIL. Ultimate cheapskate!

Towed his own car, via a rope and my MIL behind the wheel

Repainted his car, via rented commercial paint sprayer, plastic sheeting inside his garage and full toxic waste jumpsuit and mask

Spent an entire summer renting movies (pre Netflix days) and then copying them at home to build his "library"

Insists upon sneaking our entire family into a resort pool when visiting them at their vacation condo. A friend lives at the resort and arranged to sign us up as "family." I did this once, naively thinking he paid for us as guests. Refuse to do this again...

This one made me laugh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Things we do to save $:
rinse out and reuse ziploc freezer bags (its all raw and going to be cooked anyway)
rinse out and reuse plastic water bottles (until they start to get funky smelling)
drink office coffee or bring my own home brewed. never starbucks
save the twist ties from grocery store produce bags and reuse them
use grocery store plastic bags to line my trash cans
save any extra condiment packets and napkins from fast food runs to use later for brown bag lunches
bring lunch from home (leftovers) 90% of the time, hubby gets free lunches provided at work
tie at least one yearly family vacation to a business trip which is partially reimbursed by work
no outsourcing of household chores (we both WOHM full time)
drive a fully paid off 10 year old car. works fine, no plans to replace any time soon. if its still running in 10 years when our oldest can get his learner's permit--it'll go to him!
borrow books and dvds from library, unless its a "keeper" that will be used/read/referenced over and over again
kids clothing comes from consignment shops and garage sales, as much as I am able to find. Supplement with finds from Ross/TJ Maxx/Marshall's type stores.
hubby cuts his own hair. I get a haircut maybe twice a year, and grandma does the kids haircuts

Things we "splurge" on:
private schools for two kids, even though we live in a high scoring public school district. mainly for better student teacher ratio (which can go over 30:1 where I live)
monthly activities for kids over $1000 a month (sports, music lessons, weekend language schools)
two yearly "flying" type vacations

HHI: 700K

You should be ashamed. I hope you give a LOT of money to charity.

Not pp, but ashamed of what?