Get Your Cheap On--- Too True Tues(day) #12

Too True Tues(day) is your time to tell it like it is! Let the truth be known. Sing it loud, sing it proud. It is your chance to confess, let out your embarrassing secrets, and share with the world. Let it all out and let the truth set you free. This week, tell us how cheaptastic you can be. Now, everyone buys store brand toilet paper and aspirin when funds get tight. That doesn't count, I am afraid you are going to have to dig deeper. Buying generic cereal and putting it in an empty box of Cocoa Puffs for the kids type of deeper.


If I hear the phrase "in these economic times", or "in this economic climate" I am going to go ballistic. Anyway, it got me thinking about some stuff. Now, even before The Recession, I had the foresight and financial savvy to invest our savings in crap from The Dollar Tree, where it holds its value to this day. Not like GM. I buy as much as I can there, trying marginally to avoid things with toxic metals and such. But the real dirty truth goes waaa- haaaay- haaaaay beyond any dollar store junk and crap.

I love swiffer products. Their commercials make me want to gouge out my ears or blow something up, but their stuff is cool! Especially that stupid mop. That stupid mop is double rigged with two, count 'em two, products that have to be purchased separately and have to be continuously replaced. Which is like, a quadruple whammy. And I am not a fan of being whammied. So, instead of buying mop pads over and over and throwing them in the trash (oooh, wait, I can call myself "green" on this instead of cheap!) I bought a bunch of washcloth sized rags for super cheap. They just attach right to the business end of the mop, then I throw them in the washer with the pee clothes! Go me!

The other thing with that stupid mop, is that their cleaning fluid bottle is specifically designed to be used with their mop. You can't use any other type of juice with it, as the bottles won't fit. You can't take off the cap and fill it with whatever cleaning juice is cheapest and on sale, because they have jacked up the cap to be tamper proof and you can't remove it without damaging it. But having that bottle attached to the mop so that it sprays pre-cleaning juice all over your floor, that is just too good to leave go. So what I do, is drill a hole in the bottom of the used bottle, which then gets turned upside down in the side of the mop handle, then fill it with whatever was on sale that week! Go me again!

A few other cheaps I get on with:

• I have a whole tray in a drawer for plastic take out utensils that weren't used. Many times I wash them and re-use.
• If a kid wears a diaper at night and she gets up in the morning and it is almost completely dry, she is expected to save it for the next night and use it again. This is my most shameful cheap, I think. Which is why it is sort of hidden in the middle of my list here.
• No clean clothes are allowed near a laundry basket. Both girls have a shelf in their closet for "used" clothes. If it is going in the laundry, I want to see a big stain, or smell something foul. Otherwise, it is not dirty enough yet. "Used" clothes get re-worn until there is actual dirt visible or there is a stench (ok, maybe that is just because I don't like doing laundry, but it saves my effort).
• I re- use gift bags until the glue disintegrates.
• Store brand is our friend. Go white and olive green!
• I save the butts off the ends of bread in the freezer and use them all at one time to make a "strata" type dish. Sometimes they are saved for months.

Edited and added: I forgot that I keep empty milk jugs next to the sink so when I need to run water until it comes out hot, I fill the milk gallons with the unused water and use it on plants, fish and cats later.
Edited and added #2: I think of more stuff as I read other peoples! I turn off the heat at night in the whole house except for the bedrooms, where I turn it to 65. Kind of freezing cold in the winter sometimes here! The lowest my thermostats will go is 55 though.


OKAY! So that is this weeks TTT! Now, you really want to play, I know you do. And just think if I really do follow through on my threat to make things up for people who don't participate, well, you sure don't want it to happen this week. It is easy to play. You write up a little post on your blog linking back to here, and then enter your information into Mr. Linky down there so everyone can share in your *ahem* fun!