What is the super cheapskate habit you have?

Jondalar7 said:
What is zest? how do you use it?
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Zest, comes by way of the very outer peeling of citrus fruit.

It's used for added flavour when cooking and baking.

I just so happen to enjoy a little orange zest in my coffee from time to time. OMG, so yummy!

I also use orange zest occasionally in a chow-mien dish I make.

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I do many of the things mentioned in this thread plus reuse glass/plastic food containers that have lids on them. Here are a few from pretzel, ice cream, mashed potato containers that I use to store sugar, flour, rice, ... The mashed potato containers and others with similar size are my tupperware.
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@Jondalar7,zest is the fine outer layer of the peel from an orange or lemon. you can't go to far when grating it. Getting into the white part will make the grated peel taste bitter. You can also dry the grated peel and store it in a jar. I have a big freezer so I just freeze it. I think it tastes fresher. I use it in baking for flavor or for chicken or fish recipes.
Bottled grated peel in the store is very pricy.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Peanut butter jars. It doesn't matter how empty a jar of peanut butter looks, there's enough to make a sandwich. It may take 15 minutes to scrape every molecule of peanut butter out of jar, and maybe there's not much to make a sandwich. BUT to throw out the jar, with maybe one, or OMG!! even two atoms of peanut butter left inside is a crime. Got to save it for next time.
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That slim silicone spurtle is perfect for that.
 
Mora than you can handle said:
I am only cheap when it comes to myself. I am usually generous with anyone else. Strange?
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No! Not strange at all. I think most people who are frugal are generally frugal with themselves.
The people I have pet peeves with are those who will always expect others to pay the restaurant bill or never pay for coffee at work when it’s their turn. We all know someone like that.
 
My mother had a nice house, nice clothes, investments, etc.....yet she would go to the dollar store to buy toothpicks and break them in half before using. She'd also buy the cheapest toilet paper until I convinced her that it was so thin she had to use twice as much so she might as well buy the best soft tissue.
 
Lara said:
My mother had a nice house, nice clothes, investments, etc.....yet she would go to the dollar store to buy toothpicks and break them in half before using. She'd also buy the cheapest toilet paper until I convinced her that it was so thin she had to use twice as much so she might as well buy the best soft tissue.
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HAHA - "Cheap toilet paper." Reminds me of those restrooms in some restaurants that have those faucets that only dispense a little water that shuts off every few seconds & you have to wave your hands under it over & over to activate the motion sensor. After the 5th time, when all the soap is rinsed off, the water stays on while I'm drying.
 
I was raised by my grandparents who farmed through the depression, sugar stamps and not much at the store. They learned to live well, save everything and spend nothing. I learned from them and when I lived with mom and we had little we made it do just fine. I still save and repurpose everything, I feel sorry for my kids when they inherit my home and all of my saved treasures.
 
When it comes to TP, I use Costco's Kirkland brand - not the cheapest, not the most expensive. It's kind to my body and kind to my bathroom pipes. When it comes to facial tissues, I've tried cheap brands and returned to Kleenex. It's bad enough to have a head cold - using cheap, scratchy tissues adds insult to injury and inflames the tender skin on and around my nose.

I've learned that price doesn't matter for some things, but others are worth plunking down an extra couple of dollars.
 
StarSong said:
When it comes to TP, I use Costco's Kirkland brand - not the cheapest, not the most expensive. It's kind to my body and kind to my bathroom pipes. When it comes to facial tissues, I've tried cheap brands and returned to Kleenex. It's bad enough to have a head cold - using cheap, scratchy tissues adds insult to injury and inflames the tender skin on and around my nose.

I've learned that price doesn't matter for some things, but others are worth plunking down an extra couple of dollars.
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And that's one of the few brands that is still 4.5 inches wide. Most other brands narrowed the roll to 4 inches to cut costs & you have over an inch of spool on either side. "Quilted Northern" offers a 4.5 inch, but you have to pay extra for it; they call it "Extra Wide."
 
Surely I can't be the only mom that did this... (pinning those rubber pants on when the elasticized waistband wore-out).

By the way, "cheapskate" had absolutely nothing to do with why I used old-fashioned cloth diapers.

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Aunt Marg said:
Surely I can't be the only mom that did this.

By the way, "cheapskate" had absolutely nothing to do with why I used old-fashioned cloth diapers.

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Oh Yeah! My parents lived through the depression too and a lot of these things stuck with me. "Use waxed paper to wrap sandwiches instead of tin foil. Foil is too expensive." When you use a plastic bag, rinse it and turn inside out to use again". If you open the refrigerator door,close it right away! It uses too much electricity!" "Use everything untilit falls apart."
The one thing myMother would not dois darn socks, or wash walls. "It's easier to repaint!"
 
Gaer said:
Oh Yeah! My parents lived through the depression too and a lot of these things stuck with me. "Use waxed paper to wrap sandwiches instead of tin foil. Foil is too expensive." When you use a plastic bag, rinse it and turn inside out to use again". If you open the refrigerator door,close it right away! It uses too much electricity!" "Use everything untilit falls apart."
The one thing myMother would not dois darn socks, or wash walls. "It's easier to repaint!"
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I had a sneaking suspicion you did the same, Gaer!

Yes, I know all too well about being raised in a poor home, and just as in your home, wax-paper was used for sandwiches in ours (both childhood and when I became a mom), plastic bags were always reused (both childhood and our home), lights off when not in use (same), "don't leave the fridge door open" were famous words of mine to my kids, and I used and still use everything until the very last drop!

No darning of socks happened in our home either, but my mom and I washed walls more times than I can count. LOL!
 
StarSong said:
When it comes to TP, I use Costco's Kirkland brand - not the cheapest, not the most expensive. It's kind to my body and kind to my bathroom pipes. When it comes to facial tissues, I've tried cheap brands and returned to Kleenex. It's bad enough to have a head cold - using cheap, scratchy tissues adds insult to injury and inflames the tender skin on and around my nose.

I've learned that price doesn't matter for some things, but others are worth plunking down an extra couple of dollars.
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Hub should own stock in "Puffs"...he's maniac about that brand, sans lotion!
 
I am not sure if this falls under the category of "super cheap" or not. When I moved to an apartment in the city, I had to deal with water. I got one of those water dispensers that you buy those big clear water bottles that fit into it and you dispense a glass of water from the spout. My boyfriend has spring water at his house (in the country) and he refills the bottles for me. I only had to buy one in the beginning. I keep it in my bathroom so it is out of the way.
 
I'm probably not super cheap but I like to shop in thrift stores. Most of my clothes, all of my dishes are from thrift stores. Went shopping yesterday. Bought 5 items, spent about 13 dollars. No clothes.
 
Lara said:
My mother had a nice house, nice clothes, investments, etc.....yet she would go to the dollar store to buy toothpicks and break them in half before using. She'd also buy the cheapest toilet paper until I convinced her that it was so thin she had to use twice as much so she might as well buy the best soft tissue.
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Speaking of toothpicks, these are great:
https://www.amazon.com/The-Doctors-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PG0MEFZ809PCW3P48ZJ0
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