Little ways you save money....wash out "Baggies," (moving, state)
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There are extremes in this issue, I'll re-use and wash out a baggie if it's not real dirty, greasy etc. Otherwise it's a toss. I buy a lot of my re cycle bags at 99cent store.
My mom washed out baggies and saved bread bags. She also saved twist ties and those plastic bread tabs. And Cool Whip containers.
After she died, my dad needed help to clean things out. Their pantry (a small room off their kitchen with floor to ceiling cupboards on both sides of the room) had one side FULL of old baggies, old Cool Whip containers, empty coffee cans, twist ties, and tabs. All used, washed, and stored. Yikes.
Reminds me of all the old plastic bread bags, twist-ties, paper grocery bags, and wadded up aluminum foil balls-about 35 years worth, we cleaned out of the attic, closets and storage spaces in my in-laws house after they died.
I sometimes save ziplock bags when they've been used to store dry items or something in its own bag that has been opened, ie, it isn't dirty and doesn't need to be washed. I'm reluctant to wash baggies for storage as it's hard to get them entirely dry (or maybe I am too lazy to try), and I am afraid the moisture in the stored bags will get mildewy or attract bugs ( this IS Florida, the bug capital of the world, LOL). I also figure any minute crumbs or foods in the crevices that got missed when the bags were washed would do the same thing.
I started to read that frugal thread, and got grossed out by the post about reusing dental floss. I don't want to read it again. Some of it was over the top.
I don't reuse sandwich sized baggies, but I use them inside freezer bags that I do reuse. When I come home with groceries, I divide meat into servings, put them in zip sandwich baggies, and then those individual servings all go in the freezer bag allotted for it: chicken, pork, etc. I keep those freezer baggies in the freezer when they've been emptied, so they never come out of the freezer, nor touch actual meat. This also uses up less room in the freezer, and I'm seriously considering a much smaller fridge/freezer for my next home.
heat up the morning coffee at night, early bird movies, bring home half your dinner in a restaurant, we make our own bread, shop at the Farmer's Market - what do you do?
We have a pretty good income (pensions and SS's) - I dunno but it just seems that this year we really had to tighten our purse strings to avoid putting anything on ye olde credit card - at least for no more than a month.
If I brought home half my dinner I would be hungry. Most farmers markets aren't a deal.
We do use empty bread sacks for storing other food. Not like the bread gets them dirty.
Have been known to wash a plastic bag and re-use, depends on what was in it, how dirty the bag got.
All sorts of little plastic tubs and glass jars go into the dishwasher when empty, to be re-used for all sorts of food storage or they go out into the garage for part sorting and storage.
DW will really work over a whole roasted chicken. First we eat the chicken meat, most of it, then she finally makes soup using the skeleton with whatever meat we couldn't get off it.
Sometimes I reuse baggies but I thought you weren't supposed to put food back into them. I don't remember where I read that. I do reuse them sometimes for things like bits of dry food for the dog if we take him somewhere for the day.
My mother grew up during the Depression and I take after her. I still save aluminum foil. I joke and say that I think it's for the war effort. I'll only save it if it's just been on top of something, like covering a bowl, not if it's actually touched food.
But I still do lots of things the old fashioned way because I was brought up not to waste things. I recycle too. For one example--I still rip up old pillow cases into strips to tie up the tomato plants. Some people will go to Home Depot and buy some sort of tomato ties but there's no need. It's sort of fun to repurpose rather than throw away. And for gardening, we never buy fertilizer because we make compost from coffee grounds and vegetable peelings. I was brought up that way and that's the way I prefer to do things.
Meat and cheese. Anything with a fat component to it, it's very difficult to get all the grease out of a plastic bag. But if you aren't letting the meat touch the bag it's fine to reuse.
I have a lot of recipes that want you to marinate the meat in a ziplock and then toss away. Drives me crazy, very wasteful. I marinate in a glass dish...washable, and there's nothing to hold onto old scents and flavors, another issue with plastic.
I started to read that frugal thread, and got grossed out by the post about reusing dental floss. I don't want to read it again. Some of it was over the top.
I don't reuse sandwich sized baggies, but I use them inside freezer bags that I do reuse. When I come home with groceries, I divide meat into servings, put them in zip sandwich baggies, and then those individual servings all go in the freezer bag allotted for it: chicken, pork, etc. I keep those freezer baggies in the freezer when they've been emptied, so they never come out of the freezer, nor touch actual meat. This also uses up less room in the freezer, and I'm seriously considering a much smaller fridge/freezer for my next home.
I kind of do the same thing! I buy the big 2 gallon bags and use those to hold the individual cuts of meat. Those are in smaller bags. But I keep using the big 2 gallon bag. It never leaves the freezer.
There are extremes in this issue, I'll re-use and wash out a baggie if it's not real dirty, greasy etc. Otherwise it's a toss. I buy a lot of my re cycle bags at 99cent store.
That is what we do with used baggies. Some items are not worth washing again. I gave up trying to clean empty peanut butter jars. It is impossible to clean them well--I remember washing them two or three times, then letting them soak with hot detergent water, and washing again. Nope, didn't get all the oily remains out. I figured I had wasted more water and detergent than made sense, so I just resigned myself to throwing those away.
Also, since our town banned strap-handle cheap plastic grocery bags, now we positively hoard them when we get them from other stores. We always reused those, because they made great trash bags for car-camping, holders of underwear and sock for packing in travel bags, and dog poop bags (when we had dogs).
We buy paper towels with the so-called half sheet perforations, and if we need a smaller piece we tear off only half of that.
When we both need to pee, we flush one time for both of us. I refuse to consider doing this for #2, though!
But really, a not-so-little way we save money is by walking more and driving less, when the store or library or whatever is so close. It saves time, too, because we would walk for exercise anyway.
I look on line for good sales . If that means I need to buy 2 of something I will be buying anyway to meet minimum purchase requirements and save shipping costs no problem IF I would have bought the 2nd item later when first was used.
My mom washed out baggies and saved foil. I don't. But she did teach me other things. I use my dryer once a year to make sure it still works. Other than that, I dry my clothes outside. I take them from the washing machine and put them on hangers, then out to dry. Mom taught me to hate ironing so much, I just don't buy anything that has to be ironed! I save all my bones in a bag in the freezer and when it's full I make bone broth for the dogs and to use as soup stock.
I love to make bread but I can't justify it, even paying myself nothing for my time. Bread is a buck at the store. Plus we try not to eat too much bread and the homemade stuff is so good I would be a whale in no time at all! Better for me to have the tasteless stuff that claims to be bread!
I do buy and cook in bulk. In August I got 40lbs of bacon and 40lbs of ground beef from Zaycon Foods. The bacon is wonderful but 40lbs is a lot. If I ever want to order again I will have to find someone who wants to share! Most of what I cook is from scratch. To me, it's easy. Probably the best thing I learned from my mom was how to cook/bake.
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