Tightwadding Ways

[BiggerPiggyBank]

Hi,
My name is Sharon and I live in Utah. I have mostly been a lurker
here. I’ve been learning so much from you all and I am loving this
thread–keep the ideas coming!

i just love the idea that many small
savings can add up to huge savings over the course of time. it
really does make a difference. i look back on how wasteful i’ve been
(before we adopted our new frugal lifestyle) and it kind of makes me
sick.

i used to pull money out of the atm about twice a week–we
lived in a rural town so i just pulled it out of whatever bank was
closest. $3.00 charge every time-(1.50 from my bank and 1.50 from
the ATM bank) It doesn’t seem like a big deal at the time–
well…$3.00 X 2= $6.00 and $6.00 a week X 52 weeks= $312.00/year. I
never ever pull it out of any other atm than my own now. same with
information calls-they’re 1.50 here–even if I only make one once a
week..there’s another $78.00/year.

There’s of course the obvious
things we’ve done to save money that you’ve all heard a million
times before (and we’re doing them all) but here’s a couple other
things i do that someone may find useful:
use my dryer sheets twice, dilute everything; laundry soap, dish
soap, shampoo, conditioner etc. (we waste so much just from the
habit of squirting a big handful etc)…it makes these items last
twice as long. i don’t make my own laundry detergent anymore but
always get it on cheap, cheap sale and stock up–dilute in 1/2 then
sprinkle a little laundry booster in with it.

I do make my own
prewash and that lasts forever. When it’s time to take the garbage
out we try and just dump the garbage into the can and reuse the
bag. Sometimes they’re just too dirty (from sauce cans or meat) but
many times the bag can be reused, same thing with baggies.

Use and
reuse everything you can think of. Before I throw something I away
I always ask myself is there anything else i could use this for or
would someone else find this useful. that mentality has also taken
us from two city garbage cans to one–saving
$8.00/month X 12 months=$96.00/yr.

Make a game of it, make it fun
to see how creative you can be….then share it with the rest of
us. Better go make breakfast!
Have a beautiful day!
Sharon in UT

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