Extreme Cheapskates Revel in Their Frugality

I cut open my lotion bottles, because the manufacturer (Olay) is an ass, and wants us to toss out a good portion so we buy more faster. I use the regenerist eyecream which comes in a scrawny itty-bitty container to begin with, and then stops pumping out lotion when there’s still about a fifth or so left in the bottle. Grr.

I’m all for frugality. I am pretty frugal myself and do the same thing Non does with lotion and eye cream containers. I also buy whole fish and whole chicken because it’s cheaper than buying separate cuts and you can use chicken bones for stock. There are a lot of things I do in order to save money. However, the day I become as neurotic about it as this, is the day I will ask the first person I see to just smack me. This doesn’t impress me. I find it a bit sad. As long as you aren’t breaking your budget and living beyond your means, would it kill you to take a little pride in your appearance and put the maternity clothes away, lady?

it doesn’t sound like this woman being overly stingy, instead it seems like she is just refusing to be wasteful. have we become so accepting of throwing things away that we think its crazy to use left over food or the lotion left in a bottle?

You can also cut across lotion tubes and then slide the bottom portion back over the top to reseal it and keep it moist… it’s really only worth it for the more expensive lotions and creams, though.

I did like this line in the piece

“she was still wearing maternity clothes from her last pregnancy, clipping coupons and using hand-me-downs to dress her daughters, ages 2 and 3″

WTF?

Oh god, how can anyone wear…OLD maternity dresses? And denying toddlers too young to do much beyond like pudding and Barney the opportunity to wear D&G outfits.

It’s inhuman.

The piece says far more about the author and prevailing ideas of normal than it does about this canny lady.

i cut my Trader Joe’s lotion bottles open, and find well over an inch left, and then curse them as the corporate beasts that they truly are.

bring back the good Veggie Gyoza you creeps, not those crappy “Thai” ones that taste like paper towels

I wonder if she spends 25 cents in gas to drive out of her way to save 10 cents on toilet paper…

This story has been packaged by the media to be about the recession, when really it’s just about a certain personality type. The news media will grub and grab at any story that appears to pertain to a “hot” issue, then present it as such. Let’s all go out and buy vinegar and make our own cleaning supplies! Panic! Panic! No wonder consumer confidence levels are down.

As for this type of person, if they aren’t hurting anyone (including themselves), it can be a personality quirk that is just exremely irritating for everyone around them. I’m all for not being wasteful (and we as a society are far too wasteful), but please don’t water down my liquid soap. It’s just going to make me use more.

My mom isn’t cheap, she’s just not wasteful.
She washes our ziplock bags and reuses them multiple times.
She also washes out the containers meats come in from the store. Sometimes the plastic ones, sometimes those foam ones.

My husband and I reuse water bottles and plastic silverware. We also keep all of the plastic tupperware containers we get from the chinese places we go to when we get soup heh.

LOL, DOJ

I used to be that coupon lady, but then two things happened:

1. I was using coupons to get things just because I had a coupon for them, and not necessarily because I needed them.

2. In using coupons to get things I did need, I was sometimes buying a brand I didn’t like. Now, for most things, brand isn’t an issue and the product is roughly the same across the board. However, for some, it just doesn’t work that way, and I would end up with an inferior product just because it was £1 less.

I still use coupons, but only for a product that I like or will actually use. I am of the opinion that it is better to spend £10 on something I like and will use than £1 on something that isn’t any good or useless to me.