Every once in a while I come across stories of such extreme frugality that I often wonder if the line has been crossed from being frugal to being miserly (in a bad sense.)
Some of these stories are in the news, while others come to me through e-mail, private messages and blog comments. Some stories come to me via “a friend of a friend.” I’m not going to make any judgments, of course. Frugal people need to stick together. And what is extreme to one person may be everyday living to another.
You can read these stories for yourself. You maybe be amused, disgusted or inspired. One thing I hope you will be is vocal. I’d love to know what you think about these stories and if you have any of your own to add.
One story I recently heard is great for this time of the year. Apparently, some many years ago, this person’s house got “TPed.” That is when pranksters take rolls of toilet paper and toss them through the trees, draping paper everywhere throughout the limbs. It is a pain to remove it all, and it can create quite a mess if it rains. Yes, you know where this is going. The mom went up and took each bit of paper down and saved it to use in the bathroom. I think I would be worried about tree cooties or where that paper was before it made it into the tree.
Another story involves post it notes. A co-worker of this person always uses pencil on post it notes, so she can erase them and reuse them. I think this is brilliant. Not only is it frugal, but it saves the environment.
This third story involves the bathroom again. One person told me that he saves on kitty litter after having trained the cat to use the regular toilet. I looked this up, and yes, it is possible. Many people actually do train their cats to do this. Hmm, I already clean up after a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl. Would adding a cat to the mix be so bad? Um, yes. I’ve seen the litter box.
What do you think?
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
Would You Use A Sawdust Toilet?
Don’t Try This At Home: When Frugality Goes Wrong