How much frugality is too much?

[verwon]

I love to save money, I am a total cheapskate but some ideas I have found just aren't practical.

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And those are just some examples.

Anyone else have any good ones that make no sense, are dangerous or just plain NOT money savers?

[Debbie42]

'Wash out and reuse disposable diapers and feminine hygiene products.' All I can say about this one is oh my gad oh my gad Nasty where did you get that one Ver

[telos2000]

I was told once (early in my career as a CPA) to reroll adding machine tape backwards and use it again on the otherside. Here I am getting billed out to clients for $165 per hour and re-rolling a roll of spent adding machine tape!

[verwon]

Believe it or not, that one came from an old landlord of mine, Tom was a baby then and that was his money saving advice. I have found it suggested in several frugal books since then though and it has always grossed me out. UGH!

Rod, that is hilarious, what some companies will do to save money and you know darn well they buy the tape in bulk so they don't spend that much on it to begin with.

[telos2000]

For the record book, I never did it!

[janelle144]

I'd rather buy the brand name canned vegtables. They taste so much better than the store brand. <--------- that can also be a tomato. LOL

[verwon]

I have to agree with you there on the veggies and the last time I had some generic cans that someone gave me, they were awful. Stems and leaves all through and the corn had silk and husk in it. ICK!

[Brenda2000]

Originally Posted by telos2000

I was told once (early in my career as a CPA) to reroll adding machine tape backwards and use it again on the otherside. Here I am getting billed out to clients for $165 per hour and re-rolling a roll of spent adding machine tape!

Many years ago, when I was 22, I worked at a Janitor Supply Company, and they made us do this.

We consider ourselves fairly frugal, purchasing many things on sale. We usually only buy clothing items when they are on sale, and hardly ever at regular prices.

I have a friend tho, that thinks we spend a lot.
I think the main reason she thinks this is because we go on a nice family vacation every summer. But, they never take their kids anywhere....it seems IMHO that they spend it all on themselves. (mostly the husband, as I think he's a control freak).
But the way I look at it, there will come a day when our children won't be able to go on vacations with us (grown and gone). So if we can afford it, then we're going to do it.
Our kids also get an allowance, half their age, once a week. But they have to use this money on things they may want, including book fairs at school, etc. Since we started doing this, they no longer ask us for things when we go to the mall, becasue they know they have to use their money for it.

[SaraP]

I think driving way out of your way to save a small amount of money is too much frugality.

If you end up spending more on gas than you save, you know you've gone too far!!

Sara

[whitequeen96]

My DH is an immigrant from what used to be a poor country, and he is the KING of ridiculous frugality tips! I always tell him that his theme song should be, "You don't have to live like a refuge."

He once lectured me for 15 minutes because he found that I was throwing out the little Post-It notes after having written on only one side of them! Whenever I make a stew, I'll lift the lid to stir it and find that he has slipped all sorts of other food into it, like eggs to boil, veggies I didn't want, etc. He's willing to fish them out, so they're not part of the finished product, but still....! (At least he's not boiling his socks in there . . . that I know of. But wait! I found a lemon in there yesterday!)

Whenever I finish ironing and turn off the iron, he shrieks, "Free heat!" and runs in with something else and irons it with the heat left in the iron. He used to get mad when I finished using the hose and put it down, allowing the water that remained in it to drain out and be wasted. (I was supposed to drain it into a bucket and save it.)

I don't know how he does it, but he manages to stay squeaky clean and fresh while using very little water in the shower. I think he uses no more than 3 gallons at the most. (He probably uses the water that HE saved from draining the hose!) Of course, he thinks I'm outrageously wasteful when I take my usual 7 minute shower!

He used to complain about how much toilet paper I used (can you believe it?!!), until I started torturing him about it. If you sit on the couch in our den, you can hear the toilet paper spindle in the guest bathroom turn, as it is on the wall between the 2 rooms. I used to go in there when he was watching TV and just keep turning the spindle over and over until he started having a heart attack! (He's always moaning, "You're killing me! You cut off my arms; you cut off my legs!" And I just laugh and tell him to "toughen up!")

Of course, he always turns the heat and lights off. I used to get depressed in the winter, because everything was so dark and cold. (And I live in Southern California!) Now, I just laugh and turn them back on. I'm 3 years younger than he is, so I just tell him that I can keep getting up and turning them back on longer than he can keep getting up and turning them off! He has decided that he will definitely die earlier, either from the stress of having to get up all the time, or from the stress of knowing that I am cheerfully "burning up all our money!"

I could go on and on, and we used to have HUGE fights over this stuff. But now, after years of marriage, we just accept one another as completely nuts! Neither one of us will change, so he goes on being "frugal" (which I think he equates to godliness),and saves for me as well. And when I buy something extravagant (like bananas!), and he quizzes me about the price, I just shrug and say, "Oh, they were giving them away to blonde women today!" That always gets him!

[bestmidwest]

There's no way you could "wash out" today's disposable diapers. The stuff inside turns into a nasty kind of gel....ewwwww. I don't think it would "dry back out" again. I swear, you could dunk a kid in the lake and the water level would go down an inch.

whitequeen-I love your stories about your DH. You should write a book about your adventures together. My DH is a lot like that, too.

[eldo]

I don't think watering down shampoo is a good idea, either, but when the bottle is empty I add about 1/4 cup water and get another 4 or 5 good shampoos out of it.

Kristin,
You're right about diapers! Once they turn to "gel" what's there to rinse out?! You can't even squeeze any moisture out of them. Besides, even the generic brands are so super-absorbent that I don't think anyone could complain about getting enough use out of each one.

whitequeen,
Your stories were very entertaining, especially about the stew and the ironing. My MIL is also foreign-born (grew up during WWII when they had very little to live on), and washes up the same way by turning the water on and off as she's showering.

Did you ever consider getting him to do all the ironing, by pretending to iron and during his "free heat" sessions he actually would be doing it all HIMSELF lol.

[mayfly]

whitequeen, that is sooo funny. I can really relate. My husband was like that also. He use to even take things out of my grocery cart after I put them in there. We have both gotten better over the years, and learn to laugh at each other now too.

[verwon]

LOL! Great stuff, I enjoyed reading about it all.

Andywon and I usually only hit a difference of opinion when it comes to buying stuff for ourselves. Neither one of us likes to spend the money so the other one always ends up throwing stuff we know the other likes into the grocery cart.

[crazytimes]

I never understood the liquid handsoap tips. I got a 128 oz. bottle at Sam's for like $7.99. I've had the thing for 7 months and it's not even half gone. Sometimes I think, the amount of time you spend watering down soap, putting rubberbands on the push part (which seems tacky to me), is it really worth it? I mean I could understand doing that if you were buy fancy, expensive soap. But $7.99 for 128 oz. is frugal enough in my book!

I remember seeing a show where the guy would UNROLL two-ply toilet paper...what I couldn't understand is why he DIDN'T JUST BUY ONE-PLY TO BEGIN WITH! That's one thing I hate though....cheap toilet paper. I can usually get Cottonelle on sale and it lasts a while.