I’m mildly OK with reusing baggies. My grandparents did it. I don’t do it myself, but I can see it in some circumstances.
I draw the line, though, at what I caught one former roommate doing: he thawed some bagged chicken parts on the counter, then tried to pour all the residual bloody, raw chicken juice into the sink, rinse (yes, rinse, not wash with soap or anything) out the bag, and reuse it. DISGUSTING. I caught him at it one afternoon, went berserk, and that was the end of that. I mean, can you imagine? Putting stuff in a bag that has been swimming in raw meat juice at room temperature? This seems like a really great way to get terrible food poisoning.
This would be almost unbelievable, but said roommate also did things like removing a pan of muffins baking at 350 F with no mitts, and attempting to reheat popcorn in a saucepan. You know what happens when you put already-popped popcorn back on the stove in a saucepan? It catches fire. Nice work! I didn’t eat anything I didn’t watch him cook.
I said it was cheap, not smart. Before change counters were all over the place I would take them to the deli, and very often had to explain that they could verify the number of coins by weighing my rolls, and comparing to the weight of rolls already in the drawer. Either way, it’s pure skinflintery, we’re talking about a dime here. Even in the '70s that wasn’t worth much.
For one thing, the guy already has a reputation for being a cheapskate. Also, it seems cheap to me because, y’know, if you need a 99 cent 3-pack of wooden spoons, just buy them next time you’re at the store, don’t put them on your gift registry. But maybe that’s just me.
Couldn’t you look at it the opposite way, and say he would be cheap (aka, money stingy) by having you buy him a bunch of expensive stuff on his registry so he can save money by buying his own cheaper spoons?
I can’t see asking for something affordable being “cheap”, he’s saving YOU money, not himself. I think you have to find better examples of these peoples’ cheapskate tendencies.
One of my coworkers was getting married, and another coworker gave her a “mug tree” with several mugs and cups on it. But the mugs/cups were old used ones, no two alike, and had cracks, chips and stains from coffee and lipstick.
I already have a closet full of rags from old clothes and sheets.
I have to say, a lot of these frugal things are things I still do. Throw a perfectly good margarine tub in the recycling? Sure, after it gets all tomato-soup stained.
The, don’t use turn signals type of cheapskate is the one that is the most annoying to me because of it’s illogicalness:
If you don’t use something because it will get “used up”, then what is the point of having it at all? You’re already suffering by not having it’s use, (even if self-induced) so how is that any different from not having it at all?
I remember as kids a friend had this squirt gun with special ink in it, you would shoot it at someone’s shirt and it would look like they got a big stain on it, but a few seconds later it would evaporate like you had only been squirted with water. I tried to get him to let us shoot some unsuspecting people with it, but for MONTHS (maybe even years, I don’t remember) he would say no, he was “saving” it.
Finally one day he agrees that we can play with it, but by then the special ink had all evaporated.
I had a great aunt who reused old clothes as dishcloths for wiping down the dinner table. One day I saw her using an old pair of worn out underpants to wipe the coffee table.
My dad REFUSES to throw food away, to the point that if it gets bad, we have to toss it when he’s not around. He was raised that way – my grandfather was one of those “NEVER WASTE FOOD EVER!!!” types.
It’s also disgusting.
My family’s always done that – we use all the left over plastic containers from margarine, cottage cheese, sour cream, etc for leftovers. Why not? It’s also a lot more eco-friendly, and they take up less space than tupperware. We don’t use plastic bags from bread, but we’ve always saved shopping bags for garbage and what not, and who the hell doesn’t use coupons?
I do this very same thing. I love to use my paper bag until it literally falls apart. I write DANGER - BIOHAZARD on the side over a death’s head, so people leave it alone.
My dad was at a friend’s place and the fellow gave my dad his gas bill to drop off at the post office. In town however, my dad dropped the bill off directly at the gas company. Naturally, he peeled the stamp off and drove several miles back to his friend’s house to return the stamp. It’s become a running joke in the family.
Doesn’t come close to many of these, but my father used to drive the family down to the Health Club. We wouldn’t work out, he’d drive down there so everyone could take a shower and he wouldn’t have to pay for the hot water.
And my grandfather has been known to eat moldy food. We have personally watched him skim the mold of the top of 3 day old coffee then stick it in the microwave and try to drink it. Though I think that’s more a manifestation of not letting things go to waste than being cheap.
Wooden spoons and spatulas also serve a good purpose on wedding registries in that they give guests that may be less well off, or guests that are more casual friends (or even kids) something to contribute.
I got a frozen turkey from a dumpster. Came home, washed the package off and put it back in the freezer. Later cooked and ate it… my cats got turkey too, none of us got sick.
I reuse ziploc bags for tortillas, cheese, cookies.
