View Full Version : Cheap, Cheaper, Cheapest
On the "Let's Make February A Really Frugal Month" thread, I've been really inspired by some of the posts.
In particular, I had to chuckle at early morning's post where she describes melting down the little bits of deodorant and repackaging it. I must admit, I never thought to do that!
So it made me think, that's taking cheap and making it cheaper, but what about cheapest? What about foregoing deodorant altogether? My MIL never used deodorant--she thought it was a waste of money, and what's more, she thought it MADE you smell if you stopped using it (a marketing conspiracy theory in her mind). So she simply washed under her arms every day, and I have to admit, I never once caught a whiff of body odor coming from her.
So, can you think of a frugal practice and take it a step further? Just for fun! I think Amy D. had a section like this in Tightwad Gazette.
So it would go like this:
Cheap: Buy large liters of soda instead of smaller cans/bottles
Cheaper: Wait until large liters go on sale and stock up
Cheapest: Switch to tap water
This is something I'm currently doing from practical need.
Television: Pay for cable, use a digital antenna, do something else
Deodorant: Buy some, use baking soda, use none (I have to do the baking soda thing or I will sometimes stink)
Transportation: Car, scooter, bus, bum rides
treehugger
2-13-12, 3:56pm
I see discussions about this a lot on a frugal message board I read. A lot of people there get so focused on chasing coupons and sales to get the best price on a certain item (say, soda or paper towels) that I think is much easier/cheaper/better to just do without it entirely. But I realize that everyone has different priorities, so I don't comment on those threads.
For me, thinking about cheap/cheaper/cheapest helps me figure out what I can quit spending money on entirely. Like, instead of shopping around for cheaper landline, we just got rid of it. Instead of giving myself a clothing budget and sticking to it, I don't have one at all. I only buy an item of clothing if it's a genuine need (like when I needed a long-sleeved black shirt as part of a catering uniform); otherwise, no clothes shopping at all, thrift store or otherwise. It's very valuble to me to ask myself these questions about my own wants vs. needs on a regular basis, since circumstances change.
Kara
I see discussions about this a lot on a frugal message board I read. A lot of people there get so focused on chasing coupons and sales to get the best price on a certain item (say, soda or paper towels) that I think is much easier/cheaper/better to just do without it entirely. But I realize that everyone has different priorities, so I don't comment on those threads.
For me, thinking about cheap/cheaper/cheapest helps me figure out what I can quit spending money on entirely. Like, instead of shopping around for cheaper landline, we just got rid of it. Instead of giving myself a clothing budget and sticking to it, I don't have one at all. I only buy an item of clothing if it's a genuine need (like when I needed a long-sleeved black shirt as part of a catering uniform); otherwise, no clothes shopping at all, thrift store or otherwise. It's very valuble to me to ask myself these questions about my own wants vs. needs on a regular basis, since circumstances change.
Kara
Yes. To do away with an expense altogether would be ideal for me. One that I did years ago was dry cleaning. I pay for the clothes and then pay for their little day out at the spa before I can wear them again? I think not.
I also got rid of the landline. All it was was annoying telemarkers anyway.
I never get my nails done.
I haven't paid for a haircut in 15 years.
I have zero interest in ohsocool designer purses. I have one purse that goes with everything.
So I guess my thought structure is:
Can I stop buying it entirely?
Can I buy something else instead that costs less?
Can I get that item on special and stock up until the next special?
Can I use it less often so that it costs less per year?
crunchycon
2-13-12, 7:45pm
Cheap - buy paper towels at a warehouse store or with mega-coupons
Cheaper - buy no-name-brand paper towels
Cheapest - that milk crate of rags I keep in the garage for wiping up messes.
lovely thread. I hadn't thought of my dry-clean-only clothing as having a day at the spa but that's a cute one, reader 99. I gave up those sorts of clothes quite a long time ago.
I didn't know that people had their nails done. I was in a group of young women last week, young women who are not making much money and have many young children, and the discussion was about "gel nails." I had no idea that there was such a thing.
So...cheap is making homemade soup; cheaper is homemade soup with my homemade stock; cheapest is Trent's (The Simple Dollar) homemade soup from homemade stock that is made from vegetable parings. You know, what you would otherwise compost. I haven't made it to "cheapest" consistently. I am okay with spending an onion and a carrot on my stock but I can aim, umm, lower.
Cheap on sale fabric softener......cheaper fabric sheets on sale cut in thirds.
Cheapest was to stop using.
Cheap on sale shampoo---cheaper on sale and using less...
Cheapest on sale, using less and shampooing way less....same goes for all other shower products.
Cheap buying tea towels,napkins. pillowcases and pillowcovers on sale....cheaper making from bought fabric..
Cheapest making from found fabric like old tablecloths/showercurtain/sheeting/shirts/skirts
Oh, I love this thread!!! But gee-whiz, I've been racking my brain in an attempt to come up with something, but nothing... Going to put my thinking-cap on.
Well, here's one, as feeble as it may be.
Cheap. Using the vehicle once a week (only).
Cheaper. Taking the bus.
Cheapest. Walking.
Cheap: Visiting thrift stores for clean, gently-worn clothing.
Cheaper: Visiting thrift stores for clean, used fabric, to make clothing out of (home-sewing).
Cheapest: Taking apart old worn-out clothing (with life left in it) to refashion new clothing out of.
Cheap: Cloth diapering (the modern way/version). i.e. Velcro fastening system, no pins/pull-on pants, etc.
Cheaper: Cloth diapering the traditional/old way. i.e. Flats/pins/pull-on pants.
Cheapest: Cloth diapering using secondhand/hand-me-downs/thrift store finds.
Cheap: Home-laundering. i.e. Washing machine/tumble dryer.
Cheaper: Home-laundering. i.e. Utilizing the washing machine, line-drying.
Cheapest: Home-laundering. i.e. Handwashing, line-drying.
clothes: another option is free-swapping. this is a miracle, I tell you. several of my friends do 'clothing swaps' and you bring your stuff and they bring theirs and I always find what I need!
diapers: you know me -- no diapers!
I do the transport thing -- all three! we missed walking to the local grocery store, so we took the trip on saturday. we didn't buy our full amount, but a few things. The rest we purchased at our weekly car-run to the store!
Deoderant -- i have gone without since high school.
shampoo -- turns out you don't need several kinds of soap for the body/hair. we switched to castile/"all purpose" natural soap that washes our clothes, dishes, and body/hair very nicely. costs a lot less, too.
Just be careful. Sometimes the extremely cheapest thing will actually end up costing you more money.
For instance, walking EVERYWHERE may require you to buy better shoes.
etc.
Cheap - grow a few herbs to use in cooking
Cheaper - grow some lettuce, spinach and tomatoes to save a bit on veggies
Cheapest - grow heaps of veggies and design meals around what's out there
heydude,
not necessarily true. barefooting is an option, as is buying really, really rugged shoes. I bought vibrams (a bare foot style shoe) for $75, and they lasted me a year, so 21 cents a day. That's not a bad price, really. But then, I suppose i have very different ideas about shoes.
For me walking everywhere would lead to expensive foot-doctor visits! If I stopped using a/c I'd be constantly sick with allergy/respiratory stuff. Yes, "cheapest" isn't always optimum. But sometimes it has terrific up-sides, so always worth considering.
Originally posted by Zoebird.
diapers: you know me -- no diapers!LOL!!!
Cheap: Plain old flat cotton/cloth diapers, pins, pull-on pants.
Cheaper: Plain old flat cotton/cloth diapers (and pins), no rubber pants.
Cheapest. The Zoebird way!
http://smilys.net/smiley_eltern/smiley5012.gif
Cheap: Keeping/maintaining a minimal lawn with an electric or reel mower.
Cheaper: Incorporating more hard-scape into the overall landscape design.
Cheapest: Ridding all lawn from landscape, and planting drought-resistant/tolerant plant varieties to curb water use.
Cheap: Plastic wrap/foil for covering leftovers.
Cheaper: Ziploc baggies (washing/drying/reusing).
Cheapest: Rubbermaid/Tupperware (resealable containers).
Maxamillion
2-14-12, 6:41pm
I love this thread.
Cheap: Buying curtains on sale
Cheaper: Making curtains from fabric that you get on sale
Cheapest: Making curtains from sheets that you get on sale at the thrift store
Cheap: Buying a music CD off ebay
Cheaper: Buying the only song that you really like from that CD from iTunes
Cheapest: Listening to similar music online on Pandora; Borrowing a CD from a friend or from the library
I love this thread.
Cheap: Buying curtains on sale
Cheaper: Making curtains from fabric that you get on sale
Cheapest: Making curtains from sheets that you get on sale at the thrift store
Cheap: Buying a music CD off ebay
Cheaper: Buying the only song that you really like from that CD from iTunes
Cheapest: Listening to similar music online on Pandora; Borrowing a CD from a friend or from the library
Cheapester: Not needing curtains
Cheapester: Being content with the sounds of the current environment (silence, cachophany, or what ever the neighborhood provides. :) )
Cheap: Buying a used (secondhand) changing table for baby.
Cheaper: Buying a vinyl waterproof contoured changing pad and utilizing an existing dresser top/counter top as a changing area.
Cheapest: Changing/dressing baby inside crib.
Cheap: Keeping/maintaining a minimal lawn with an electric or reel mower.
Cheaper: Incorporating more hard-scape into the overall landscape design.
Cheapest: Ridding all lawn from landscape, and planting drought-resistant/tolerant plant varieties to curb water use.
My cheapest choice is none of the above: tear up the whole d@mn yard and plant vegetables!
Cheapest isn't necessarily the best option, although the cheapest is a good thing to know.
I spent the entire afternoon struggling with hooking up an old TV (circa 2001) with the new digital box that Comcast sent out. It doesn't work and I missed a show I really wanted to see.
It may not be the cheapest solution, but I've decided to get a new digital TV. I don't actually watch much TV, but hooking up the one I have has just proven to be too much of a struggle, plus it's so old it has a VHS player/recorder, which nearly tore up my treasured copy of "Gone With The Wind" last night.
And then there are The Cable Guys, a breed unto themselves. The last one who came here to hook up my high-speed Internet appeared to be on something high-speed himself. I mentioned this to a coworker and he said that his Cable Guy showed up stone drunk on a Saturday morning. These guys are creepy! I already know enough creeps, thank you very much!
Okay, here's my latest cheap trick:
Cheap: Buy store brand decaf tea
Cheaper: Run the used tea bags through the electric percolator twice or for fifteen minutes on the stovetop percolator
Cheapest: Let the mint in my front yard do its invasive thing and dry the leaves for tea (this also has the best flavor, I might add)
Originally posted by Jemima.
Cheapest isn't necessarily the best option, although the cheapest is a good thing to know.I agree. Our two youngest were just babies when I decided to branch-out and explore new options related to the traditional vinyl pants I had always used in conjunction with cloth diapers and pins. So, I ordered two pair of nylon pull-on pants (the smart, frugal substitute/option), which, are the identical splitting image of old-fashioned rubber pants, only made out of waterproof nylon instead of plastic.
My way of thinking was, the pants were 100% waterproof, ah, err... they were supposed to be 100% waterproof, and according to the manufacturer, 100% machine washable, which they were. Great! Long-lasting baby diaper pants that won't rip and tear and get all hard and crunchy, and, supposedly last for a lifetime (average diapering stage of a baby). Well, my experiment lasted for all of about a week, and I was back to using regular ordinary rubber pants! The waterproof nylon pants soaked through at the seat, and wicked around the elastic leg openings.
So, even though the idea behind nylon waterproof baby pants is a good one, they don't work as well as old-fashioned pants do, and although replacing rubber pants isn't the most economical option in the frugal sense, relying on the "cheapest" option, i.e., nylon pull-on pants that leak and wet-through, doesn't equate to smart economics either, in the frugal sense.
P.S. Love your tea example!
LOL, Jemima!!! :laff:
I'm pleased that you appreciate my sense of humor, but I'm dead serious. I have a yard the size of a big postage stamp with horrid clay soil and terracing on one side that, along with the lumpy clay soil, is a trip hazard. I also expect that the economy is going to get a lot worse and food will be far more important than lovely grass. And so I carry on - planting flowers among the veggies, lots of fruit bushes, looking for things that can be grown upward (such as grapes on a trellis, staked tomatoes, and so forth) and trying to keep it all looking nice. Fortunately, I planted a Jackmanii (deep purple) Clematis just after I bought the house and it now grows up one side of the porch and over part of the roof. It's so spectacular I doubt the neighbors notice anything else.
I really think yards are a waste unless you have kids who like to play outside or you like to entertain by hosting barbeques. Most people don't seem to use their yards for anything except pouring money down a hole. I'm currently paying a landscaper $20 per mowing from late April through October. I refuse to buy a gas mower and have to store gas and a mower, for which I have no space. I tried an old-fashioned push-mower, but it literally didn't cut it on this lumpy ground.
But that's me. An old friend, now dead, had five acres of grass with old trees, much like a private park. I always had a sense of peace there, mostly because of Walter, but the grounds were very calming as well.
Cheap: Driving an economical car.
Cheaper: Public Transportation
Cheapest: Writing about cars for an automotive publication and getting a free tank of gas every week.
Cheap: Taking short showers
Cheaper: Using one of those discs that reduces water output.
Cheapest: Using a small towel with a bit of water.
Cheap: Eating a simple diet
Cheaper: Bartering for food with neighbors
Cheapest: Dumpster Diving & Grabbing Samples
Cheap: Wearing hand me downs
Cheaper: Becoming a nude model and leading a nudist lifestyle.
Cheapest: Becoming renowned throughout the country as the 'underwear bandit'. Get to be on Oprah and write about your experiences.
An old friend, now dead, had five acres of grass with old trees, much like a private park. I always had a sense of peace there, mostly because of Walter, but the grounds were very calming as well.
I have to say, one of the best things about my house is it abuts a public park, so I've always felt like I have acres of my own private back yard (typical suburbanites in my neighborhood hardly use it), but the Township comes and maintains it for me!
Cheap: Driving an economical car.
Cheaper: Public Transportation
Cheapest: Writing about cars for an automotive publication and getting a free tank of gas every week.
Cheap: Taking short showers
Cheaper: Using one of those discs that reduces water output.
Cheapest: Using a small towel with a bit of water.
Cheap: Eating a simple diet
Cheaper: Bartering for food with neighbors
Cheapest: Dumpster Diving & Grabbing Samples
Cheap: Wearing hand me downs
Cheaper: Becoming a nude model and leading a nudist lifestyle.
Cheapest: Becoming renowned throughout the country as the 'underwear bandit'. Get to be on Oprah and write about your experiences.
LOL! Robl, you have taken this exercise to a whole new level! Thanks for the thinking out of the box!
Your argument for a yard- turned garden, Jemima, makes for a great debate and argument, and definitely supports a number of favourable pros, but it's not for everyone, nor would it be an option in strict developments where architecture and landscape must conform to home-ownership criteria.
We like the calming effect of our property, and aside from being kid friendly and all, there are other extremely beneficial properties to having a lush green lawn. Here are five.
Cooler temperatures. Grass keeps ground temperatures lower.
Water-runoff prevention.
Allergen trap.
Noise reducer.
Carbon Dioxide absorption.
Cheap: Buying the recycled paper at the office supply store for my printer
Cheaper: Using both sides of every sheet
Cheapest: Deciding I don't need to print out every dang thing & instead make sure my documents are backed up properly
I have to say, one of the best things about my house is it abuts a public park, so I've always felt like I have acres of my own private back yard (typical suburbanites in my neighborhood hardly use it), but the Township comes and maintains it for me!
That sounds lovely, and it definitely qualifies as a "cheapest" move! :D
Packratona!
5-6-12, 12:42pm
Cheap: buy for less
Cheaper: buy for less and use less
Cheapest: free, or do without
Cheap: making food at home
Cheaper: going vegetarian
Cheapest: soaking and cooking dried beans bought in bulk from an open-bin store (which is often less then $1 per pound)
Packratona!
5-14-12, 7:41pm
Cheap date: Movie out, dinner, use coupons
Cheaper date: rented movie at home, you cook at your place ($1 a pound cooking; see my thread on that)
Cheaper yet: movie from library (free) or from Redbox with a coupon code you got from slickdeals, she cooks at her place or you go to Mom's house for dinner.
Just adding: Feet and bicycles.
Cheap: Shop at consignment stores
Cheaper: Shop at thrift shops
Cheapest: Shop in your closet
Packratona!
5-21-12, 9:48pm
Cheap Drink: soda on sale
Cheaper Drink: homemade iced tea from teabags you buy on sale, or Kambuchi
Cheapest Drink: Home brew made from leaves you pick free from the wild (red sumac, wintergreen leaves, etc.). Or water.
Talk about pulling out all the stops! Keep 'em coming guys!
catherine
5-22-12, 10:49am
Talk about pulling out all the stops! Keep 'em coming guys!
I agree! Great inspiration here!
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