Little ways you save money....wash out "Baggies," (married, payment)

[pikabike]

TheShadow, saving waste/using more resources is one of my motivators, too. It isn't just about saving money.

[NewbieHere]

My husband reuses the big 1 gallon bag, only if it's clean, not messy meat of any kind. It was used to store left over salad or lettuce. We've been doing it for years, really to help the environment, not because of money. Same with recycling vegetables waste. I feed them to my worms.

[Lastfire]

I don't wash baggies. In fact, I use only glass containers to store food. No rubbermaid or tupperware. Do not have cable. We use pre-pay cell phone service. We use the library (mostly e-books) and so do not buy reading material. I believe we save the most by careful shopping for food, clothes, and gas.

[animalcrazy]

We use our credit card to save money. We've had some nice trips with the free air fare from the rewards program. We charge everything from groceries to gas. I have a nice garden but it's more about enjoying the freshness then saving money, but it does save money as well.

Then there's the yearly battle with AT&T. UGH!

[engineman]

Each year those retirement dollars will shrink in value some more.

[rodentraiser]

Just about everything I put in a baggie is meat I freeze, so after it's thawed, I don't reuse the baggies. I like making bread and I love how it tastes. Problem is, if I make it, I love it so much I'll scarf down an entire loaf in a couple days. If I get a loaf from the store, it'll last an whole month and I can buy them cheaper than I can make them. Ditto for making spaghetti sauce, although I will make butter from cream that is close to going bad rather than throw it out.

Where do you find twist ties? I hate the plastic tags they use on bags these days and when I get a twist tie, I save it. I end up finding mine attaching kitchen stuff to cardboard and on Breyer model horses nowdays.

I still scrape the paper after taking the butter out of it and I try not to throw any food away. Being on food stamps, I try to make a meal out of everything. Even the heels of the bread get eaten - and not by the ducks, either. LOL

What we really need is a thread asking how we save pennies after doing everything everyone suggests to save pennies. Sort of like "How to save money when you never have any". Say, that give me an idea for a thread....

[Clemencia53]

Originally Posted by rodentraiser

Just about everything I put in a baggie is meat I freeze, so after it's thawed, I don't reuse the baggies. I like making bread and I love how it tastes. Problem is, if I make it, I love it so much I'll scarf down an entire loaf in a couple days. If I get a loaf from the store, it'll last an whole month and I can buy them cheaper than I can make them. Ditto for making spaghetti sauce, although I will make butter from cream that is close to going bad rather than throw it out.

Where do you find twist ties? I hate the plastic tags they use on bags these days and when I get a twist tie, I save it. I end up finding mine attaching kitchen stuff to cardboard and on Breyer model horses nowdays.

I still scrape the paper after taking the butter out of it and I try not to throw any food away. Being on food stamps, I try to make a meal out of everything. Even the heels of the bread get eaten - and not by the ducks, either. LOL

What we really need is a thread asking how we save pennies after doing everything everyone suggests to save pennies. Sort of like "How to save money when you never have any". Say, that give me an idea for a thread....

Well at out grocery store, they provide twist ties in the produce area. You use them on the plastic bags. I don't know what they would say if you grabbed some?

[meo92953]

I look for books at garage sales and thrift stores, then donate them when I'm done. I wash baggies & when I make bread I slice & freeze it. I used to be more frugal. I've been slacking off. Time to get back on track.

[silibran]

Since we retired we have more time to do some things for ourselves. We no longer pay housecleaners, for instance. I do a fair amount of slow cooking, involving a pressure cooker, rice cooker, or slow cooker. I don't like buying premade foods very often. I make our own salad dressings, for instance. I chop our veggies and process our lettuce, usually.

I stay away from purchased cookies and sweet treats. I do occasionally make our sweet treets, but we don't really need to be eating very much of that stuff.

I almost never buy clothing that has to be dry cleaned.

We purchase toiletries every month at Walgreens on the first Tuesday of the month to get the 20% off, or we buy at Costco. We buy gas at Costco, as well.

I take care of my clothing, to get the maximum years of wear out of them. I do not hesitate to wear second hand clothes from time to time.

We do most of our own lawn care.

We try to get discounts on our travel through AAA or AARP, or through a website. We fly SW whenever we can, when we fly.

Those are ways we do try to save money. But I feel that the best way to save money is to not spend it. That is the hardest thing. My DH says, "you have to know the difference between needs and wants."

We do splurge on other things. I don't consider myself a terribly frugal person. But I don't like wasting money, either.

[VTsnowbird]

OK, I have to say!!! I saved twist ties for 35 years and always had a little baggie of them, more than I needed. When I downsized I THREW IT AWAY thinking what is the worst that could happen? Well it happened!! I needed a twist tie and DID NOT HAVE ONE!! OMG, the hoarders nightmare!

I do most of what people are saying in this thread, and I use Google Voice for long distance calls. US and Canada absolutely free. And it serves as an answering machine and sends messages to your email. Great if you have to give out a phone number but don't want people to look it up and see where you live.