Is There Anything You’re “Crazy” Frugal About?

I think my wife is more frugal than I am. She thinks so too. 🙂 But this week I apparently outdid her on the frugal meter by doing something “crazy” that she had never considered.

Mrs. Money Wise Pastor is always thinking of ways that our family of seven can save money and reduce our environmental impact.

Here are just a few examples – you might do them too:

1. We recycle as much as possible

Gratefully, our city offers free single-stream curbside recycling, so it has been easy for us to reduce our trash output tremendously.

2. We compost our kitchen waste

Each day, one of our kids makes the trek across the street to dump our bucket of kitchen scraps (egg shells, vegetable peels, etc.) on the neighbor’s compost pile.

3. We reuse everything we can and limit the use of things we can’t reuse

For example, my wife hates using disposable paper towels and plastic freezer/sandwich bags unless totally necessary. And when we do use the plastic bags, she washes them and reuses them (unless they had meat in them – those we just throw away).

My “Crazy” Frugal Idea: Gutting a Lotion Tube

A few days ago I was putting lotion on my hands. I have dry skin – especially in the winter – so I’m always using lotion.

The lotion tube was just about empty, and I was squeezing and squeezing and squeezing it to try to get out every last drop.

And when no more drops came out, I thought for just a minute. Then I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the tube in half so I could reach my hand inside and grab some more lotion for my hands.

You would have thought I had won the “frugal living award” or something.  My wife was so surprised — and proud — that I had taken the time to do something “crazy” frugal like that.

I don’t know. It just came to me. And I said to myself, “Self, why not cut it open and grab every last drop of lotion out of this tube?” So I did.

Yeah, there’s a little lotion on the scissors, but that wipes off real easily.

That’s my “crazy” frugal living idea for this week.  Well, OK, it’ll probably last me for a month or year before I think of another one.

Is there anything you do that you or others think is “crazy” frugal?  Please share your story!

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