Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Cost-effective VS. frugal

Have you ever walked into your kitchen and thought,
"Ew! What is that smell? Where is it coming from?"
I had that thought this morning when I walked into my kitchen.
I'm hoping it was coming from my REALLY old sponge --
which I have now finally replaced --
so I hope the smell will now fade away.
I admit that this sponge was WAY past its prime,
since I have been using it daily for at least a couple of months.
Yes, it was looking worn out and the color was faded,
but I hated the thought of not get my "full value" out of the thing by tossing it out too early.
(FYI: My sister in law Brandy is going to KILL me for admitting I continued to use a tired sponge, as it is probably her biggest pet peeve!!)

But I'm sure you are also guilty of such frugalness too, right?
Like... wearing two-week contacts for a month...
Cutting the mold off the cheese block before cooking...
Adding water to your soap (laundry, hand, body) when it gets low...
Taking free ketchup packets from fast food restaurants intead of buying...
What is something you have done recently to "penny-pinch"?

6 comments:

Abbie said...

Because I'm frugal:
-Less detergent in the washing machine.
Because I'm lazy:
-No paper towels
Because I don't think sometimes:
-Icky, yucky sponges. I mean seriously, we should replace a sponge once a week or once every two. They're like 50 cents a piece. Knowing that I'm not spreading bacteria on the surface that I soon roll my bread out on is priceless.

Michelle Olson said...

You are so funny Melissa. After I read your posting, I thought "gross!", my next thought was... "Maybe I should dump my sponge, I can't really remember how old it is, and I've washed it in the washing machine enough that the green part is now the softest part!" Did I just admit that? The rest I basically said to myself "check, check, check..." I sometimes water down my kids milk to make it go a little farther, only use two squares of toilet paper like grandma Bagley (ok, I'm kidding on that one)

mom/Janet said...

I don't even have to buy my dishclothes. Bill's bring home unused surgical rags from the hospital. Once they break a pack they can't use the remaining ones on another patient. We easily have a 2 year supply of those and I use over use them and even wash them sometimes. Bill can't believe it and those are free. I bet people could make a long list of all the frugal decisions they make.

Janae @ Bring-Joy said...

Ha ha. As for the sponge, I throw mine in the dishwasher or washer every other day or so and I have to throw my dish cloths from the sink into the laundry every day (in our house I do a load laundry nearly every day). But little frugal things: I turn our thermostat down to 60 at night and only let it get to 66 during the day. My kids have gotten used to wearing a ton of layers. I also wear my contacts much longer than they are supposed to be used. I rarely every throw food away--I either freeze for later or use the leftovers in some way. I'm sure I can do a lot better though...There is one more thing that would do Grandma Bagley proud--I keep every plastic food container (yogurt cups, applesauce cups, you name it, if I can reuse the container it doesn't go in the garbage).

Melissa DeLeon said...

I'm glad to hear that the sponge is overlooked by others as well. But I have never washed mine -- hadn't even considered that it was possibility, to tell you the truth, which makes it more disgusting that I was using the same one for so long!

Rachel said...

I totally do the contact lens thing and the ketchup packets (I empty extra ones into the ketchup bottle)! Sponges is something I do replace, but I also find I can get away with them lasting longer by soaking them in bleach water or microwaving them (while wet) for 60 seconds to kill germs! I dilute everything from soaps to juice for the kids to marinara sauce! But I'm sure there are about a thousand other ways I am wasteful and contradict myself! Ha!