I do my own haircut. How about you?

JohnnyG said:
I've been known to wash paper plates and use paper towels multiple times for less demanding jobs, such as drying the dogs food bowl.
Many others.
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I try to use paper plates only when I have to, such as at a party/event. Regardless of whether it’s paper or not, I try to use the same plate for as long as I can. At parties, I see everyone else toss out up to half a dozen or more plates over the duration. Now, I’m not going to hold on to a dirty paper plate for an entire party, but I’m also not going to toss a plate because it has some sauce on it or something. I don’t like it when my family use a small plate for something like toast, then toss it in the sink. I usually intercept the plate and either ignore the crumbs or brush them off.

If I’m forced to use a paper towel at home after washing my hands, I try to repurpose it to clean something (spritz it with some Simple Green), for instance. Wash hands, dry hands, clean the counter while I’m at it.
 
Presenting one from the ages, for the ages:

The Official BITOG Cheapskate Thread

Share with others, the ridiculously good deals that you took advantage of recently. I'll start this off. Purchased my Macroeconomics book and study guide for $23 shipped off Amazon this morning from a seller in the "Marketplace." College bookstore wants $150 total for the two.
bobistheoilguy.com
 
FowVay said:
I treat thrift and frugality as a virtue and not a vice. I tend to live in the style once stated by a famous English philosopher - "I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them." quote from John Stuart Mills
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This thread was created to not only be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but also to help share real-world experiences.

What I’ve sometimes gotten wrapped around the axle on, is falling into the trap of stressing out over saving a few bucks where the happiness ratio is skewed. One cheesy example among many, is turning the backlight down on your $1,000 TV to a save a 50W of power. I usually try not to use 100% backlight, because I want the TV to last as long as it can, but was going beyond that by turning it down from 15/20 to 7/20. That ended quickly! 50W saved for a couple of hours per day most days is what I would call being a cheapskate, not frugal.

There’s also being imprudent in the name of frugality, such as skimping on insurance, protection, precautions, PPE, training, etc. Watching a YouTube video and making your own repair will save you money, but if you don’t do your due diligence and shock yourself to death or make the problem worse, what did you gain? More importantly, what might you lose?
 
JeffKeryk said:
I am a fiscal conservative, aka cheapskate. For years I drove Toyota strippie pickups, invested and worked to pay off my house. No vacations, no nothing. Then I worked on minimizing recurring costs, especially on our primary home.

You can save pennies or you can save big bucks. I targeted the big bucks.
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It’s funny you say that, because i still have the habit of nagging my family to turn off the LED lights immediately when they leave the room. lol. What I NEED to do to save the BIG bucks is install an exterior hot water control valve that I can turn off when my kids are taking too l one in the shower!

I know that’s not what you mean, but it’s what I thought of. Lol

More to your point, I think everyone needs to evaluate the happiness ratio of the things they want. I’ve come to the realization that I don’t want a new vehicle or even a more costly sporty vehicle as much as I want other things or to keep that money in savings, for instance. For others who have the option, a fancy, expensive car brings a lot of joy and 100% worth the “wasted” money. I mean, I you want a Model Y and are good with a prepaid flip phone and no TV at home, what’s wrong with that? The same is true if you want a brand new iPhone every few years, but drive a beater.

All of this assumes it’s not causing financial stress and you’re not setting yourself up for failure by owning a fancy car and a brand new $1200 phone while sitting on $20k in credit card debt.
 
I recycle stained cotton T-shirts or hand towels into shop rags or gun cleaning cloths . I keep the larger plastic medicine or vitamin bottles and use them for screws , nuts , etc.
Look around . There's plenty of things that can be repurposed into something useful . And yes , that's being frugal if you think about it .
 
DriveHard said:
we rinse out and re-use "ziplock" bags
we re-use plastic grocery sacks and paper sacks all the time
of course most generic (store) brands work just fine
change my own oil, and do 99+% of my own maintenance - to the point of full engine rebuilds and transmission rebuilds (pretty much only take them in for tires or alignments)
eat leftovers from homecooked meals almost every day for breakfast and lunch (I usually prefer real dinner food for breakfast)
buy bulk meat and divide and store in freezer
almost all our clothes come from garage sales or thrift stores (which I just realized is now a fad, and reducing my choices)
most major purchases are used

...just a few. My wife and I while we have been blessed later in life with our occupations and income, both grew up in poverty. She - living in a school bus, and me in a trailer park. We now have no worries of most of the things we would ever need to purchase, but are proud of our past, and the frugal traits we still hold on to.
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That’s a great post.

It actually bothered me when they banned plastic grocery bags here. I used them in a small trash can in multiple locations, even the kitchen. Now, we have to buy bags online, so…same amount of plastic going into the landfill as ever for us. For zip-lock bags, we repurpose them, as well. If they were used for something gross, like raw chicken, we use it for trashing scraps or other trash we don’t want to stink up the trash.

I wish I had the skill to do things like engine rebuilds. I think I have the skills to more than just fluids, brakes, radiators, bearings, and other minor things, but things like replacing a head seems way to intimidating to me.

My wife gets a lot of free clothes from other moms for their kids who have outgrown stuff. We usually pay it forward by doing the same, but I think we’ve saved more than we’ve spent on on-sale new or used clothes.

We also save a bunch by buying in bulk, slitting up into meal-sized freezer bags, and tossing stuff into the chest freezer. Works well.
 
Was I just spotted leaving 2nd time around 👀😷 - I go there to drop clothes - but then go inside to look at the weird stuff …
Got a wooden silverware box for $5 … and a wide wheeled sports bag for $3 … The bag is just for a mid country trip to a shipyard in Norway (PPE) - so if I ditch it somewhere I’m out $3 …
 
JohnnyG said:
I've been known to wash paper plates and use paper towels multiple times for less demanding jobs, such as drying the dog's food bowl.
Many others.
Click to expand...
If I just dry my hands with a paper towel, I let them dry out too, use them to clean the counter and such.
My Grandmother went through the depression and taught me not to waste.
 
I once used receipts and as toilet paper when i was young and on my own for the first time so i wouldn't have to spend so much on toilet paper.
 
Use things until they wear out or don’t work anymore.

Repurpose things. Instead of buying little panting cups for seed transplants my wife uses empty yogurt containers. They get used until they break.

The clothes idea is good. I have raggedy clothes available for when I am doing a dirty job like changing the oil.

When we bought our boxed mattress several years ago it was wrapped in a fabric. We use that as a cargo liner in the Mazda. Potting soul and garden tools can get the interior dirty. I use the box as a ground cover when changing oil.

Lots of bottles and such can be repurposed. We have soy sauce on the table in an old sesame oil bottle.

Paper towels getting used for small water spills get put to the side for repeat duty.

Recently I needed slippers for the house. The tape wasn’t holding up on the old ones. Slippers are expensive all if a sudden like most things. I bought a cheap pair of Chinese slip on shoes at Wally’s, just as good as slippers and they might last longer too.

Turn the heat down on these chilly days. Wear a flannel shirt inside.
 
MODERATOR NOTE:
as of 2-26-23, two threads were merged as they had the same ongoing topic
some of the continuity may be misleading between posts
 
FowVay said:
I treat thrift and frugality as a virtue and not a vice. I tend to live in the style once stated by a famous English philosopher - "I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them." quote from John Stuart Mills
Click to expand...
I've adopted this same philosophy as well. Get out of the rat-race!

Look, I've been the high priced attorney for a really long time. The high end suits and ties that need $50 dry cleaning every day, the expensive shoes, watches, briefcase, etc. and all that lifestyle trying to impress strangers. The noose around the neck, working like a slave, just to earn money to spend it on things to impress others is a one-way ticket to misery.

I've vastly downsized my life to escape that rat race to misery. I'm in the smallest home by far that I've lived in since probably before the year 2000. I'm building a less efficient but more satisfying life with plans for home-steading my small slice of land, and working on gardening, bee keeping, bartering, do almost entirely my own cooking, and so forth for the self-sufficiency and relaxing aspects. If someone doesn't like my self-haircut, which is simple and looks fine, that's their problem and not mine.

I can save 5-10 mortgage payments worth of money (around $5-10,000) in my 30-year loan term (which I will plan to pay off in 10). Same analysis with doing my own $30 oil changes versus paying a monkey $100, as well as fixing my own roof, cutting my own grass, painting my house, fixing my cars, etc. One almost has to mitigate expenses thru self-sufficiency everywhere reasonably. Cutting my own hair to save mortgage payments seems like a no brainer, in a community that changes their own oil... What am I missing?
 
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