cheapskates (sell, old, money)

[CTGirlNoMore]

I do beleive that a lot of throwing away food IS because of health code/possible lawsuit issues.

About 15 or so years ago, I worked as a banquet waitress. There were always extra dinners, from people who never showed up. When we were certain everyone had their food, the chef would wrap up and refrigerate the extra dinners. More often that not, the "host" would not want to take them home later. So we were allowed to eat them. It wasn't as if they were sitting out all night, they had been properly stored and would've been tossed anways.

I had MANY a very nice dinner that way, which was nice for a poor college student

Now, they can no longer do that.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Osito

Yep those are pretty extreme. My mom said she was going to start using cloths instead of toilet paper, but I think that's stupid personally. Whatever she'd save on toilet paper she'd pay in UTIs as far as I'm concerned, but I could be wrong.

You're wrong... It's not what you wipe with that causes UTI's, it's how you wipe. There are other reasons you get UTI's (I get them from not drinking enough water to flush my system), but if she was to use the family cloths, she'd likely use one once, put into a bin with the others, wash them separately in hot hot water and bleach to sanitize, and then at least two hot or warm rinses, with baking soda to neutralize the bleachiness. I'd be afraid of the bleach on delicate skin.

In my opinion, toilet paper is probably cheaper. I've actually never heard of this for cheap's sake, the family cloths are almost always more an ecology thing, to save the earth.

[chuck_steak]

Originally Posted by WannaliveinGreenville

I think it has to do with health code violations. They may be required to dispose of damaged or near expired products.

Bill Clinton signed the "good Samaritan act" to limit liability for these products so that they could give without repercussions. Stores don't want to do this because it costs them labor time and/or gas to donate. It's easier for them to just throw it away.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Well, I think people are mentally disturbed if they have the idee fixe that every need or desire can be satisfied just by picking money off a tree and throwing it at it. You might be that rich, but people of limited wealth who choose to regulate their cash flow are not "mentally disturbed". Not as much so as those who have a common psychosis in which they believe that everything and everyone are, by default, too dirty to touch.

You might want to re-evaluate your social mindset, if you feel that everyone is "mentally disturbed" if they have a different set of day-to-day priorities than the ones you feel comfortable with.

Why should I re-evaluate my mindset? I am frugal, I recycle, I save, my household is "green", but all that is within normal, healthy limits.
EVERY extreme has mental background. There is a whole world between lavish spenders and extreme savers.
People who think that they have no other option than eating food from dumpster should re-evaluate their lives and figure out what did they do to come to that point, where they fail? Because, yes - in most cases this lifestyle is their own choice, and if they are proud of it, then they just don't know better and should seek professional help.
It makes me sick when they brag about how savvy they are eating trash with the rats...

[elnina]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

but if she was to use the family cloths, she'd likely use one once, put into a bin with the others, wash them separately in hot hot water and bleach to sanitize, and then at least two hot or warm rinses, with baking soda to neutralize the bleachiness. I'd be afraid of the bleach on delicate skin.
In my opinion, toilet paper is probably cheaper. I've actually never heard of this for cheap's sake, the family cloths are almost always more an ecology thing, to save the earth.

Yes, she would spend more money on water, laundry detergents and electricity, than save on toilet paper. Not to mention her time, the smell and bacteria, even if she would wash them daily.
If she is concerned about the ecology, then a better option is using biodegradable, unbleached, treecycle recycled toiled paper.
So, using family cloth & washing it is not going to save money or earth.
Laundry detergents and bleach are not eco-friendly.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by elnina

Yes, she would spend more money on water, laundry detergents and electricity, than save on toilet paper. Not to mention her time, the smell and bacteria, even if she would wash them daily.
If she is concerned about the ecology, then a better option is using biodegradable, unbleached, treecycle recycled toiled paper.
So, using family cloth & washing it is not going to save money or earth.
Laundry detergents and bleach are not eco-friendly.

I guess we need beautiful film stars and athletes to start product-endorsing bidets, to make people think they are cool and the in-thing. That would solve all the above problems---UTI, laundry, ecology, clogged plumbing, yukk-factor, everything all in one. And, by far, the simplest of all solutions. Don't even buy a bidet---just sit on the edge of the bathtub and clean up, and wash your hands when you're finished.

(Quick, run and look up 'bidet' in a dictionary, so you'll know what I'm talking about.)

[Trackwatch]

Originally Posted by jtur88

The posts I referred to were those that characterized as "crazy" and "mentally disturbed" those who went beyond the poster's personal boundaries.

Again she was speaking of extremes, those that "dumpster dive" or clean off plates at restaurants NOT for necessity but for cheapness.

[Trackwatch]

Originally Posted by jtur88

(Quick, run and look up 'bidet' in a dictionary, so you'll know what I'm talking about.)

I am pretty sure almost all educated persons know what a bidet is.

[Tallysmom]

By the way -- in my job as a janitor I have to dumpster dive two or three times a year because people in a hurry accidently toss their keys down the trush chute into the dumpster.

Sometimes I get lucky and they are right there in grabbing distance, but there's been a number of times I've had to go in.

Dumpsters aren't nearly as disgusting as everyone thinks they are. I'd far far rather dumpster dive than clean a gross bathroom, where someone has intentionally loaded the toilet with wads of paper towels and taken a huge dump on them and then flushed to flood the bathroom.

And this is a nice middle class building I clean.

Give me a dumpster ANYDAY!

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Trackwatch

I am pretty sure almost all educated persons know what a bidet is.

You overestimate the clientele here.

By the way, on the subject of dumpsters, food in dumpsters is almost always too spoiled to eat by the time the family trash goes out, except grocery store dumpsters. The good food comes out of public trash bins, especially at picnic sites, campgrounds and rest areas. There's nothing better than getting to a picnic area an hour after a school bus outing and harvesting the trash. The kiddies eat all the twinkies out of the lunch their mommy packed for them, and throw away the good healthful stuff.

Once I arrived at a provincial park in Quebec on Labor Day, an hour after a rainfall that drove away all the picnickers. I found steaks, still cello-wrapped from the supermarket, a dozen ears of unshucked corn, and an unopened half-gallon of milk. In South Carolina, after a church picnic, I found a whole, untouched pecan pie, lovingly home-made from scratch by one of the church grannies. You know, you don't eat everything you find, you just pick out the good stuff.