So, what are some of the most extreme things you've done to be frugal? Share the crazy love here.

Um...i do a whole lot of crazy frugal things. I'll start by saying I reuse all the envelopes I get in bills in the mail. I just sharpie over their info and put on mine. I never have to buy envelopes. (Just like I don't buy trash bags and use all the grocery store bags).

I also keep all my twist ties in an empty prescription container, and my plastic bread ties have their own container too.

Cottonballs from vitamins go right to my cottonball holder in the bathroom, and i put all dessicant packets i see inside misc products to use in various drawers and other places I don't want humidity.

I reuse plastic toothpicks forever - I clean them with toothpaste.

Awesome, Susan! At least yours will be clean and nice smelling!

Another confession: I reuse dry cat food bags. The big ones, esp. I line trash cans with them, use them as sacks for mulch when gardening, use them to put recyclables in and even for hauling things like books around - they are very sturdy and don't blow out on the bottom with heavy or bulky stuff.

I don't spend money on large trash bags, but i do go through one or two large cat kibble bags a month, so they get well-used.

Jilly, reusing the cat kibble sacks is a great idea. I will start reusing mine!

A new confession. I pick up the free stuff at the drugstores (it's all in the circulars) even if i don't want the item in question. I figure I can use it as a barter item if the zombie apocalypse comes.

[hangs head in shame]

extreme confession of the day: when i use cottonballs to cleanse my face, i give them one more use in cleaning around my ears. Then I drop them in my kitchen compost bucket to take out to the compost pile the next day.

I have a friend who goes through prescription containers like candy. She throws them away! This really bugs me; when people throw away recyclables. So last time i was at her house I asked her if i could have them. She had about six empties for me.

I added them to my pile. I use these jars for things all the time.

I'm thinking of leaving a special bin at her place for her to save these for me. I hope i do it. I have to find a container that she won't mind looking at.

There were a lot of things left behind when we moved into our house, including gardening gloves. There must have been about half a dozen pair with duct tape on some or all of the fingers. After buying a new pair and having them worn out in a week, I saw why she did it.

These are some great conversations Jilly!

Where I'm at, it's like a fence. Just where I happened to end up. One foot dangling amongst "entitlement" people. The other on just the opposite side of the fence, dangling amongst wealth, "producers" but to an extreme effect. They're still not quite getting the bigger picture.

These conversations, the way you're doing is, is spot on! Masters of the trade and builders! People that follow end up being the winners, succeeding both financially as well as Soulful, in Spirit. Not to mention the wealth of information gained, going through it which could easily be endorsed as a book


Me, I use and reuse just about everything. Those nets onions and oranges come in, I ball them up and use them as scratchless scouring pads. Eggs, when I buy them, I get only the cardboard containers and use them as seedling starting containers that can go right into the ground and further compost which feeds the plant as well.

Produce, say I need some green onions. I cut off the bottoms (the roots) and plant them in some potting soil. They make real onions if you let them grow long enough. I can't remember the last time I purchased onions. If you catch them early on, you can use the early sprouts as chives.

I'm going to use that bread tie in the pill bottle idea. Those ties end up all over the place but magically disappear whenever I need them.