Tuesday, April 24, 2012

On the subject of cheapskates...

I just finished watching a show about the biggest cheapskates in America...umm....what can I say....

There are things I won't do....like making TP out of cut up cloth....but I will buy cheap TP,which I just stocked up on the other day....using my coupons and a sale at work,I got two 12 packs of the store brand version of Scott for $0.82..but I also got a couple of other items,and that total was the sales tax...

I'm not against dumpster diving,but diving for your wedding anniversary gifts...come on now....

There was a guy who rinsed and reused paper towels,going so far as to hang them on a little clothes line to dry....dude....get real...use a dish cloth and skip the paper towels completely...while you're at it,skip the foam and plastic plates too..if you're going to wash and reuse something,make it something worthwhile and with real cost savings.

OK,so I'm not cheapest cheapskate in America,but I do quite a lot of things that save us a lot of money.

First I shop on sale,I refuse to pay full retail for something if I can avoid it.If I can find what I need cheaper,that's what I do.

Such as today,I needed supplies to paint the shed and the new rabbitry....rather than going to Home Depot and getting everything,I stopped at the nearby Habitat for Humanity ReStore and got everything but the paint(they didn't have any) and spent about 1/2 of what I would have at Home Depot,and all the supplies are new,right down to the extension poles for the paint rollers.Had they been used items it would have been even cheaper I'm sure.

My Mom gives me coupons all the time for Kohl's because she doesn't shop there..so I got myself a new shirt for work today for $2.99...on sale from the original $26.00...combined with the coupon,I get a new shirt dirt cheap.

I have been contemplating going back to the church that does the free clothing and household goods give away every week,but to me that's just asking for trouble since I do have pack rat tendencies.LOL.

I grow a lot of our own food right here at home,including the rabbits for meat.Don't be squeemish now...all those who choose to eat meat,no matter where you get it from doesn't change the fact that in order for you to eat,an animal must give it's life.By raising your own,you at least know what went into it,how it was treated and more importantly,what did not go into it....

I also make all of our own sauces,salsa and jams and jellies,pickles,relish,things like that..no need to buy them...there's saving some money...

I do use a lot of coupons,but I will never be one of those Extreme Coupon people..sorry,I do have a life outside coupon clipping...in reality the people featured on that show were simply hoarders using coupons shopping as a means to feed their retail therapy addiction.


So how about you? Do you qualify as a cheapskate? OR can you do even better than those people featured on that show?

2 comments:

  1. Hi Lee! Thanks for this post! I'm not sure that I qualify as a cheapskate, but I do a lot of things myself instead of purchasing them at the store. I'm with you on the toilet paper! I have the time to do these things, I enjoy doing these things and it saves us money! I make bread, jams, jellies, yogurt, ketchup, red-wine vinegar, pickles, cook from scratch, line-dry most laundry, grow lots of veggies, keep chickens for eggs, (hubs isn't ready to slaughter them for meat yet, maybe one day), keep bees, so many other things! I have even thought about rabbits and the more I read your posts, the more I think about them. Hubs would have to do the slaughtering, though. When he gets "there", we'll be raising rabbits and chickens for meat. Until then, I buy chicken on sale! Blessings from Bama!

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  2. Hey Bama Girl! Thanks for reading!

    We will not be butchering our own rabbits either,there is a poultry processor nearby,and they charge a minimal price,so we just take them there...check in your area for a poultry processor,it might be worth the small fee to put meat on the table and avoid trying to get your hubby to do it.lol.

    Rabbits have to go to a poultry processor rather than a regular meat processor for some reason,not really sure why..

    If you're going to get into rabbits,that would be awesome!I would steer away from the New Zealands unless you have time to pet and handle them every day...I'm really liking the Silver Foxes that we got,they are SO much easier to handle,but there are other breeds out there as well.

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