Monday, December 29, 2008

Kings and Queens of Cheap

A few months ago, I saw that our local newspaper, The Morning Call, was asking their readers to send in their most frugal tips. They wanted to see to what lengths people go to save a few bucks (or pennies). I was going to send a tip in, but, of course, I never got around to it. Well, in my Sunday paper they posted some of the ideas they received. (Apparently, readers could go on their website and vote for their favorite frugal tip.) Some of the tips listed in the newspaper, I've actually done myself prior to reading the article.

Here is what a few of our fellow frugals are doing: saving the salt at the bottom of a pretzel bag and running it through a coffee grinder so that it fits into a salt shaker; keeping dirty paper napkins after a meal and using them to clean grease out of pans or to clean up cat vomit (by the way, this is not one that I do or plan on doing); weighing pre-packaged produce (such as carrots) because not every package weighs the same even though you're plunking down the same amount of cash for each bag; using a rolling pin to get every bit of toothpaste out of that tube; filling an empty jelly jar with milk, letting the bits of jelly dissolve in the milk for a few days, then freezing the jelly milk making homemade ice pops. Apparently, the reporters tried this last tip and said the ice pops were quite good! I think I'm going to give the last three items I listed here a try.

Although, I am almost out of salt.