What's your frugal obsession?

I am a freak about not being a one car per person family. We own one car- it stays home in the garage most days.

I commute to work for $1 each way. Parking alone downtown is $5/day-- not to mention gas, car upkeep, insurance, etc. Why would I use a car to get to my cubicle based job?

Hubby stays at home with the kidlets- and walks the 2 oldest to school 5 blocks away. The car only comes out if she's got grocery shopping or other errands that day. She finds she uses the car 2 out of 5 weekdays with proper planning. Weekends- we need the car!

I see so many coworkers complaining about costs of parking, insurance, gas, etc. yet no one wants to be inconvenienced for even a ten minute wait for the bus. Its my crazy thing I always get on my soapbox about!

I always cut my dryer sheets in half. I know it doesn't save a ton of money, but I feel if I can save in the small seemingly non-important ways it builds a foundation of being frugal in all other areas of my life.

I can't stand to throw paper away. Once something is printed out, using the one side, but has a perfectly good 2nd side, why chunk it in the trash? We stockpile the paper and pull it out for math problems, notes, do to lists, etc. One ream of paper can last a long, long time :)

We also appear to stockpile plastic bags from the grocery store. Mostly it's because I see them piling up and never bio-degrading in the dumps. Our local stores have recycling, but it's one thing I can never remember to return. So our plastic bags runneth over... Oh, we do use them in the smaller trash cans...

Oh, and as for frugal, I really, really enjoy when I go shopping (particulary clothes shopping which is very rare) to be able to come home and add up what I would have spent IF I hadn't gotten everything on sale. Sounding like a crazy woman LOL!

Good post!

I never pay retail price for ANYTHING, thanks to the interwebs. Even for clothes, etc., when size/fit matters and most folks think it is "easier" to just go to the store and try stuff on. Still do that, but then just write down the sizes, etc. that you need and then go home, get online, and get that stuff for far less. DVDs, and basically any consumer electronics product are super easy to find online. The biggest bonus is that 90% of the time I can find some sort of coupon code for even more discounts!

i cannot bring myself to spend money on any type of fast food. when i met my girlfriend, i realized what good food tastes like, and i never went back.

after eating good, organic food every night for dinner, i do not even consider (burger king/taco bell/etc) food anymore. it is the equivalent of survivorman eating roots to stay alive while stuck in a desert.

and you would not believe the amount of money it saves. enough to go out to a good dinner whenever you want.

Movies are one of those things I have a hard time paying a lot for. My local movie theater chain has a free card that allows you to pay only $5 for a movie after it's been out for a week or two. Going any sooner just seems like a waste of money. Even then there are only a few movies a year that I actually go to the theater for, the rest I wait for to come out on DVD and I might rent them. My local library doesn't have much of a movie selection, but I go to a rental place (Family Video) where I can rent DVDs from 50 cents to $2, which is a lot less than Blockbuster. It just doesn't make sense to pay $17 for my husband and I to see a movie on opening night. Plus, so many movies aren't even worth the two hours to sit through, let alone the money.

Similiarly, I rarely buy fiction books. If it's a book I need for frequent reference I'll buy it, but I would never buy a hard cover novel. That's what the libary is for! However, I generally don't buy used books. Too often they have someone else's notes and highlighting in them and I find that disruptive to my research and thought process.

I love to freecycle! :)

I try to always wash the foil lining of pans when I do the dishes, It usally can be used at least one more time.
Also I wash the plastic silverware my husband brings home from work, I guess I'll have enough for our daughters graduation party in June LOL

One of my friends had a patient who owns a convenience store. He told my friend that they sell gasoline and cost just so they can get people inside to buy the overpriced food.

I think my obsession is getting every last particle of product or food out of a container. I cut open the end of toothpaste containers and scrape out what's left when I can't squeeze out any more... I must have 5 or 6 rubber spatulas in the kitchen to get that last morsel of peanut butter or cake batter... Swishing water in almost-empty shampoo or conditioner containers.. You get the picture.

Great suggestions!

I'm loving the tips we're getting from you guys - thanks so much for contributing! I'm wondering about the unplugging appliances - does that save much in the long run?

I've recently cut my electricity bill by doing bigger loads of laundry more infrequently (and only after 7PM) and wearing sweaters rather thank turning on the heater. I used to pay about $30 a month in electricity, but I'm down to $11 right now. We'll see if I last the winter, though!

 Great tip about the cotton balls! I'm going to try that - it's not just the expense, but the annoyance of having to buy cotton balls every month or so.

I do my own hair. I have been cutting my own hair for about 15 years now. A saving of about $600 a year. I used to color it myself, saving another $40 every six weeks. Now that I have enough gray to make it interesting, I stopped dying it, so I save even more every month.

I also am overly frugal about clothes. Especially underwear. But this came to bite me in the a** this weekend when I was hospitalized with an acute intestinal infection and had to have my daughter put a bag together for me...all of my underwear, white cotton to begin with, is discolored from washing with reds and blues; has holes...and then my nightgowns were both like over ten years old and nasty (I usually sleep in a t-spirt, night gowns are for when I sick). It was a real eye-opener. I am being overly frugal on my wardrobe.

In my neighborhood everyone calls me when they need help with there computers. So for about two years now I've taken advantage of all their WIFI connections and left them unsecured for my own personal use. Even though i could afford my own service im gonna ride this one as long as i can.. ha.

Like others, I don't have cable. We cancelled it 3 years ago when the company ticked us off w/ poor customer service and we realized there were only 2 shows we consciously chose to watch. Thanks to Netflix, we're not even missing those shows, and we have a lot more time for things like reading and exercise.

And I clip coupons even though we have a comfortable income. I also get a big kick out of getting a really good deal w/ a sale & coupon combo, like this weekend when I got 7 boxes of cereal (General Mills), 2 cartons of ice cream (Breyers), and 2 boxes of granola bars (General Mills again) for $22. Score!

I make my own "convenience" food. I don't buy yogurt, tortillas, bread, or granola; I make them at home. To me, the inconvenience is the high prices, not the labor it takes to make them. Instead of paying 33 cents per serving of yogurt, it costs me about 50 cents to make an entire quart that tastes just as good. A batch of 12-15 tortillas costs me around 20 cents instead of the store's $1-1.50 for eight. Most people don't realize that most of their grocery bill is for things they could normally make at home for a fraction of the cost.

I am infamous at my workplace for always bringing lunch, while my coworkers mostly order out and pick it up by car. A few times I let them pressure me into ordering with them but the cost of the food (and gas consumed and trash created by to-go packaging) almost made me lose my appetite by the time it arrived (almost). I can't stand to see them spend all this money on eating out but I keep my mouth shut because it's their life and money, not mine!! And they always say my lunches look better anyway! :)

I get a great deal of satisfaction from recycling gifts. I maintain a present box at home, and feed it with duplicate gifts, innaporiate presents, garage sale items that look like new, video games and CDs that can be resealed to look new. It makes sense to save money this way. The trick is never to regift a present to the original gifter. Not cheap - frugal!

I love getting the cheapest price on food and household goods. I have a spreadsheet with various food and household items on it. I have spent an inordinate amount of time analyzing paper products and laundry detergent. When I see a good deal on this kind of thing, I buy a lot of it.

Latest find, laundry detergent at 2.00 for 100 oz/32 loads. I walked out of the store with 15 bottles of laundry detergent and nothing else. Savings, about $45 when compared to Tide at regular price (which is what my wife used to use).

TF

I can't buy anything w/o checking online at fatwallet first. Not only are there always people talking about deals on various items, but fatwallet and other online sites often have cashback deals with retailers when you make purchases through their sites.

I absolutley refuse to buy spices at the supermarket, especially the McCormick brand. They're obscenely overpriced, routinely costing 60 or more dollars per pound. And they're usually not that good!

My strategy:

1) Drugstores/Dollar Stores -- a lot of the herbs and spices there are a dollar a bottle or less, and they're often pretty reputable.

2) Ethnic markets -- This is easy in New York, especially as we now have a meaningful Mexican population, and I live less than ten blocks from some of the great Indian spice markets of this country. Given how many people of different ethnic groups are moving throughout the country, this kind of shopping is becoming possible in more and more places.

3) Gourmet stores - When you really need something that can't be found at 1 or 2, the premium over supermarket price for buying from a quality retailer is really pretty small and the quality is much better.

It's been at least five years -- and a lot of good meals -- since I bought McCormick's at the supermarket.

I don't like paying for mediocre food in a restaurant and it really gets me when we buy stuff and then realize that the exp date is too short and we would not eat it in time. We try to make 2 weeks worth of menus and shop for that but the fresh stuff never gets eaten. My wife always has the best intentions but life sometimes gets in the way. We also moved to Maine from Minnesota and the food is a good 20% more due to the shipping I suppose.

Although it's a pain to wait sometimes, I usually do and then buy the collected graphic novel that comes out after all the issues have been published in a comic book "event" or storyline. There's several advantages to this: no ads (Marvel, DC, Dark Horse do have ads in individual comic issues), and I can read the story all at once instead of waiting six weeks (or more) between issues. It's usually cheaper as well, and since they are books, not periodicals, discounts at amazon.com apply. I also grub around on Half.com.

Right now I really want to start buying the 10-issue series of "Omega the Unknown" that Jonathan Lentham is writing.... but I'll be a frugal geek and wait. Of course, if you're a "collector" and need to get the first printings of the actual issues, then this won't work for you!

After years of being a scrapbook specialty store customer, I realized how much I could save by:

Trolling aisles of dollar stores
Trolling aisles of big-box stores (-Marts)
Going to clearance sales at fabric stores
Looking for clearance stuff at big-box stores
Looking in storage boxes in my house
Looking at the pile of clothes for buttons and adornments before discarding or turning into rags
Trolling second hand stores for years and collecting those treasures in one place
(Sorry, gas is too expensive for garage sales unless they are in my neighborhood)
Saving greeting cards/wrap/wrapping tissue/other cities newspapers/cardboard backings from packages of new stuff or given to me
Saving any stuffing of packages that were foreign newspapers and/or out of city newspapers
Asking for shopping bags with emblems or buying them for pennies at second hand stores (I cut the emblems and use the rest for backing of scrapbook sheets)
Asking friends and employers who want to toss magazines for them (to cut up for decopauge.

After 7 years, my decopauge items have been sold to friends that see them in my house...boxes, storage boxes, old jewelry boxes, old small treasure chests...and my friends all-time favorite: personalized frame sets. I've literally made dozens of them.
I also decopauged my mail box--and got orders from postal workers who delivered my mail.

I decopauge glass or small metal trays to sit items on. I decopauge storage containers that are plastic for storage of everything from cookies to dog treats to dog food.

Essentially, adding the frugality and recycling and selling paid for my hobby. I even decopauged old jewelry for display. Now I'm decopauging frames with boxes and turning them into shadow boxes for small items.

I purchase lots of things at second hands stores and break them down to reuse them.
Example 1: Tiny old spoons for a quarter a piece plus a shadow box/frame set with glass plus a couple of free magazines equals...
1 cute shadowbox decopauged on the outside with a thin cardboard backing (also decopauged) with a set of tiny spoons as a set (on the top of my microwave oven) AND
1 small art mask (original shadow art in 3D) surrounded by appropriate magazine scraps to match color and theme to make a small wall hanging for another room.

Total cost was less than a dollar and a few cents. To buy any wall art of domestic themed knick knack would cost well over ten dollars.

The point of the hobby business is the get you in the door, and they once did every weekend of the year.

Now I go only to get the emulsion for decopauging and new brushes to paint with. (And paints too...I finally cut down on purchases there by CLOSING THE PAINT BOTTLE CAP.

Hope this helps someone.

JoC

I save and reuse gift bags and bows. And if I have to (gasp!) BUY it, I go the the dollar store. I save all boxes, bubble wrap, paper packing, etc to ship my eBay sales. I rarely have to buy any of that stuff. I always order water in restaurants and sometimes order an appetizer as my entree. I try to avoid paying retail for as much as I can: books, make up, magazine subscriptions. I always check eBay, CraigsList and keep a look out for coupon codes before I lay the money out. I also clip coupons & watch sales ads---it doesn't seem like a big deal but you'd be amazed at the people who stroll through a grocery store w/ no idea that they can find the same thing cheaper else where or at lease w/ a coupon.

It's been 4 years since I purchased garbage bags. We used to reuse grocery bags until recently. Now we separate our trash into 3 containers: trash, compost, and recycle. With this system, we rarely need to place anything in a bag, only the occasional chicken bone. Why place biodegradable items in a non biodegradable bag? Why waste the money when a little bit of daily effort on our part eliminates the purpose of the bags?

I hate using the AC, even though our place has central air. It takes a lot for me to turn it on. I hate drinking anything but water at home or restaurants, I just can't justify the expense and sugar! Recently, I was quite upset over a restaurant that wanted to charge a corking fee although they had no liquor license.
I hate using the dishwasher, but I cave in after a big meal.
Unless it's ethnic food, which I have a hard time duplicating, I really don't enjoying dining out. Usually I find I could cook something much better and cheaper myself. As a vegetarian, my options are usually pretty limited anyway.
Lastly, although I am frugal, I will not let myself be treated poorly as a trade off. Case in point, I used to shop at an indoor market near my house for produce and spices. Since we cook all the time, I would spend most of my grocery budget there and drop a hefty amount on a weekly basis. The problem is, you have to be very careful to inspect the food for quality. I was inspecting some onions that appeared to have Aspergillus niger fungus (a black dirt-like fungus) by removing the first outer layer. The insane manager/owner(?) started yelling at me in broken english. Apparently, I guess he thinks I am trying to avoid paying for the onion skins? I could have put them in a bag and paid for them, but they are so light they wouldn't even register on the scale. He kept telling me the Aspergillus niger was dirt. I explained to him how much money I spend in his store, and that he needed to apologize for treating a customer that way and he refused. Incidentally, that's what it means to be too cheap for your own good--you're willing to loose a customer over a penny of onion skin rather than reap the thousands of dollars I spend there annually.
Anyway, I refuse to shop there anymore, which costs me a little more, but poor treatment is never acceptable. Plus, there's too many shady practices there---the fake Colgate anti-freeze toothpaste, poor sanitation, etc.

If I am looking to buy something that costs more then $50 I always use craigslist first. If it is over $50 it is usually a luxury I don't need right away so I can take my time and scan craigslist for awhile until a really good deal pops up.

Also, I hate spending money on clothing, "garage-saleing" is my new favorite way to buy clothes...4 J. Crew dress shirts for $3, I mean come on how can you beat that!

Gift bags are great items, that look just as good after you open the present, so why waste them? I recycle the same gift bag for my dear husband's birthday present every year. He thinks it's funny. Luckily we are both cheapskates. Now I've converted my co-worker cubicle mate to the idea and we trade one gift bag back and forth every Christmas, filled with inexpensive items. Oh yes, and it was a USED gift bag.

Love the towel idea.

I simply will not pay full price for Victoria's Secret Bras! Won't wear anything else, but $47? Are you kidding me???

I know the style/size I like and purchase them NWT off of eBay. The most I've ever paid was $33, and that includes shipping. Plus, I didn't have to spend money on gas to drive 20 miles to the nearest store.

Saves time and money.

It's the internet, Stupid!

I'm a web developer. Whenever I have a question, or want to learn a new programming language, I can't abide paying for a reference book.

There's n-o-o-o-o way this old cheapskate is gunna pay to get a plastic bottle full of filtered water. We pay our taxes--and utility bills--to have clean, treated water delivered to us through the city plumbing. And even though my office building has no potable water, I'll haul in a bottle of water from my kitchen before I'll pony up a buck or more for a few ounces of water from the vending machine. Outrageous! Who palmed that scam off on the American consumer?

I'm a little obsessed with keeping a supply of food in my freezer. I try to keep at least a week's worth of meals on hand at any one time. Since I live by myself, I usually have food left over, even when I make only a half or quarter of a recipe. Usually, there's enough left both to have leftovers the next day and freeze one serving of the recipe. I figure that if for any reason I'm a little short on money one month, I'll have enough food in my freezer to keep me going for a little while.

I can tell you way too much about costs per diaper, diaper sales, etc. If I didn't have a blog, folks would think I had a problem!

I don't think this idea has been mentioned above, I tried to read all the previous posts. My husband and I are proud garbage men, not by profession though. We have found some very valuable items people throw out to the street simply because they can't be bothered to clean it or repair it.

By driving down our neighborhood on garbage day, we have picked up a stainless steel outdoor gas grill ($600 retail), a fertilizer spreader ($40), a matching chair for our dining set ($50), and just yesterday I brought home a hood/vent-combo microwave ($250) they were throwing out simply because they were upgrading their appliances to stainless steel. If I didn't already have a free stove in my home, I would have taken that too!

I know it's one of the most common habits of the frugal, but I find almost everything my family must purchase (except skivvies) at our local Salvation Army, VOA Thrift Shop, or Craig's List. My husband is a tech admin, and all of his work shirts are 2nd hand. I've never paid more than 5.00 for one. When he stops wearing a shirt, or gets tired of it, it goes back to the shop as a donation, and I do the same with my daughter's & my clothing. I didn't set foot in a regular retail store for school clothes shopping this year except to buy socks & underwear. Most recently, our dishwasher went kaput, and I found a nearly new one on Craigslist for 20.00, then took the old one to the recycler. Even our couch was a CL freebie - and it's far better than we would have purchased new. Our window treatments came from the Habitat For Humanity store, as do many of our home repair supplies, like caulk or plumbing fixtures. Certainly it's not always feasible or sensible to go the frugal route, but I find the only thing more amazing than others' willingness to get rid of perfectly brilliant, brand new stuff, is my ability to consistently find exactly what we need for a fraction of retail.

i have really enjoyed reading all the hints on saving especially in the supermarkets i love to make every thing from scratch i love the challeng and then compare how much it would have cost me in the store i think its wonderful to cook all my meals for under a dollar great fun lets keep the frugal hints coming in cheers from carol from down under

1. Hosted one domain with godaddy and installed like 4 Wordpress (blogging tool) in them. Then redirect all my blogs to them. So instead of hosting 4 servers, I pay only for 1 host and get 4 separate blogs for all my purposes.

2. Don’t have cable. Hook up my laptop to the television and play movies from internet. I choose what I want to watch without ads etc

3. Turn my kitchen into a restaurant on Sat & sun and cook and freeze a week’s worth food. I have close to 6 varieties and I mix and match.

4. Take pictures of all my clothes and save them into my computer. Night before going to bed, I will mix and match. That way I know how much clothes I have and save time in the morning deciding what to wear.

5. Perfumes cost too much. So I buy fragrant lotions that moisturize and make me smell good. I use them on me twice/thrice a day, so eventually it becomes part of my smell which even after laundry, my shirts and pants smell of that lotion. I have been complimented often about smelling so good all day!

I'm obsessing over canvas grocery bags lately... it's more a green obsession than a frugal obession but my grocery store does give me 5-10¢ per bag for each reusable bag I bring.

And, fixing my nearly 10 year old car to keep it running and delay investing in a new one! I just put 2 car payments worth of repairs into it but I'm saving so much more on insurance and payments by not buying a new car!

This is pretty crazy but I can't help it. When I chop vegetables I keep the carrot tops, celery bottoms, wilted lettuce, inner onion skins, tips of green beans, etc., in a plastic bag and pop it in the fridge. When I have a big bag of these vegetable trimmings I make stock--sometimes adding a chicken carcass or meat bones, sometimes just a vegetable stock. I don't know if this saves very much money but it smells marvelous and makes a rich soup broth. Then the simmered remains of the vegetables go in the compost.

I don't think any of my frugal habits are obsessions, but there are a few things I do continuously. See what you think.

~We never, never, never use the dryer. I live in an apartment building, and the cost is $1.50 to dry. To me, its so not worth it.
~I consume water. Lots of water. Only in certain situations will I even consider buying water. Not only is it good for the budget, but its good for the body.
~I use public transportation or walk everywhere.
~Even though we live in an apartment, I still grow my own herbs. Not only cheaper, but fresh.
~Try to make the foods I usually spend extra on at home. Like someone above said, I make my own hummus. The brand and flavor I fell in love with was almost $4.00 for a tub. I quickly figured out a similar recipe that costs me about $0.75 for the same amount!

Additionally, my boyfriend is even more frugal than I am. In the mornings, he eats his breakfast in the kitchen using a paper plate. A week later, he is still using the same paper plate, for almost every meal that I don't serve him. Usually on the weekends I go on a cleaning spree, and throw out the paper plate, where he ends up telling me that I'm wasteful!

1. i unplug pretty much everything while i'm not using it. It only makes a small difference in power usage, but it counts

2. i rinse out and re-use paper towels for things like wiping around the kitchen sink, sweeping up lint, etc.

3. instead of expensive hair styling cream, i just use plain (cheap) lotion to smooth out my hair...it's practically the same thing

4. i always cut open bottles of shampoo, toothpaste, etc. to use every last drop

5. whenever possible, i line-dry my clothes

6. i use every edible part i can whenever i buy meet...the trimmings and fat on the meat are usually really good as part of a broth or soup

7. i never eat out if its something i can make myself (like eggs and coffee at a diner)...BUT i never, ever go cheap on a tip if i do (since the waitress is probably pretty broke too)

A lot of stuff that's good for the environment can also save you money. There's the obvious no bottled water thing. Just reuse a glass bottle or buy an aluminum bottle. Redusing and reusing are great. So is buying stuff that lasts longer.

Our local newspapers are online for free, so I just look up the news there.

When we have cake and ice cream or other food at work someone brings in REAL dishes to use instead of plastic stuff. It feels a lot nicer that way too. If only I could find a way to get others to do away w/ disposables. I also don't like using paper napkins and paper towels. Sponges and regular towels are just fine for cleaning and cloth napkins look much swankier anyway. Hey, you don't even need towels. Just cut up old clothes to use as washcloths.

Since I was a kid my mom used the comics (or other mail that was going to be tossed) to wrap presents. Some people actually keep the wrapping paper to read later :)

The library is awesome!

I also can't believe how many of the college kids here drive to school when they live w/in walking distance. Parking is a headache, so why not walk? When I do need to drive somewhere I get a pull-through space. It saves gas b/c you use up more when you have to back out of a space. Instead of wasting gas to look for a space, just park wherever and walk. You'll get exercise. I also use my A/C only over 50mph.

If you want to save money on printer ink Walgreen's is doing refills now. Then you won't have to worry about recycling the old cartridges.

Hey, I love this thread and appreciate reading all the advice. I do a good bit of what you all do and am always looking for other ways to NOT spend money. For a long time (years) I have strived to NOT pay for what little entertainment I have the spare time to indulge in. For me, that's using my library to the ultimate. If there's a first-run movie I'd like to see or some book I want to read, I immediately visit my local library online catalog and reserve it if possible. It may take awhile but this has worked for me (turns out the library has multiple copies of the popular stuff) and guess what, most of the time the movie or book I just HAD to watch or read wasn't all that great anyway and it was free, no loss. For that matter, any movie you haven't seen is new to you, right? I've had no cable TV for years and seldom watch regular TV (helps to work second shift, which I love). I've learned to cook well for myself so seldom even want the fast food anymore. I keep a glass water bottle with me and take it every time I go out the door. I make pots of coffee or tea at home and fill a thermos, stays hot all day and tastes fine, and I'll sometimes haul that around if I'll be away from home for hours. (Hit the thrifts and buy the containers, buy carry-alls, backpack things and keep a few in your car, very cheap for nice ones and very handy). I work from home now but used to make extra and always had a better-looking lunch than everybody I worked with. I've cut my own hair for years, it ain't all that hard to do. When my car quits, I have no plans to buy another and am actually looking forward to it. I think it's so important to cultivate a different attitude and way of looking at your daily life and home, how you can SLOW DOWN and enjoy it more, how you can become more of a homebody and get to know your neighborhood better. I say concentrate on buying a home you can afford when you're very young and go from there and make it your palace, make it within walking/bus stop distance and forego car payments and charging things. I had my first home when I was 23, wasn't much but it was mine. I've never regretted it.

now on this one i believe i may need physciatric help on!
i got really frustrated at buying purses from cheap stores and having them fall apart in a few months...my $20 had really become a four time a year total waste of money and time. so now i case out the good wills and thrift stores in the rich parts of town or where i know the rich people donate and i anxiously await for their castoffs like a kid on christmas. I have found beautiful leather name brand purses even desighner purses for $1-$5 each :) needless to say i have not bought a new purse in several years...I always get compliments on my purses they always look great and stand the test of time.i even do my little purse prayer prior to walking into the store, and i always do the happy dance when i score a really great deal.even if i was a millionare i know i would buy my purses this way. its not just the discount i recieve but its the exciting thrill of the hunt as well!