Frugal Living Tips
One of my favorite go-to books is The Complete Tightwad Gazette. I never get tired of reading through the pages and pages of frugal living ideas. Even though the edition I have is over 15 years old, most of Amy Dacyczyn’s tips still apply, and I am always looking for ways I can incorporate her ideas into my life.
I have a true frugal spirit, and I ‘m always pushing the limits to make things last longer and to reuse things in unusual ways. I’ve caught myself standing at the garbage can, having a conversation with myself about throwing something away. I usually end up leaving the item on the counter for 30 minutes until I am sure it can not have another life doing something else.
Here are five of my favorite frugal living ideas from Amy’s book, The Complete Tightwad Gazette.
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- Toilet Paper Tubes – Use an empty toilet paper roll to gather up the excess electrical cord on kitchen appliances, lamps, and electronics.
- Crayon Bits – My grandchildren love to peel the paper off their crayons, so when they break I place a variety of colors in a muffin tin and melt them in the oven. Once they are cooled, I pop them out and have little crayon wafers the kids can use to color with. They love the unusual shaped crayons and keep them busy for hours.
- Mesh Onion Bags – I cut off the metal clip and knot and tie the end after I place all my saved slivers of soap in it. My hubby’s hand get pretty dirty after working on the tractor, or in the garden and this makes a great scrubber for those extra dirty hands.
- Extra Crib Sheets – Crib sheets work perfectly as a seat cover in the backseat of your car. Even though I don’t have children at home anymore, I still have car seats in my car for my grandchildren. It fits perfect for under the car seats and they double as a protector when I take the dog to the vet.
- Bacon Plastic – This has to be my favorite tip of all time! I am a quilter and am always looking for things to make templates with. The plastic that comes in a bacon package is the perfect thickness for quilting templates.
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If you’ve not read The Complete Tightwad Gazette, I would highly recommend it and if you look for ways to save money and live more simply you will love this book.
Do you have any unique frugal living tips you can share?
Thanks for stopping by!
Tracy Lynn
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Great ideas! I will have to try the crayon trick. There are always broken and unused crayons laying around here. Thanks for sharing!
My grand kids love the crayon wafers I make with broken crayons. You will have to try it!
All good tips. We don’t have any babies in the family so no crib sheets. The bacon plastic made me laugh.
I love that bacon plastic…I use it for everything. I have had to soak it in a little bleach to get the bacon smell out but it works great!
I use the bacon plastic as well! I also use used dryer sheets when applying applique on my quilts. Sew it on the right side of the fabric, slit and turn, the press.
What a great idea about the dryer sheets…I don’t use my dryer so I will not ever have any but my Mom does, so I am going to have to ask her to say me some. Thanks for stopping by!
I don’t use dryer sheets either since I use a clothes line but our church members save them for me. They also work well for interfacing or stabilizer
What a great tip I am going to share this with my mother who does a great deal of quilting!
I love Amy’s book! It’s the first book about frugality I bought when I ventured into living alone! I still reread it! She did a fantastic job. Keep up the good work Tracy!
Other people buy pretty coffee table books my Tightwad Gazette sits on my coffee table and is usually a topic of conversation to who ever picks it up! I love that book.
Ha ha! I love the bacon plastic for quilting, too! I stopped by from The Art of Homemaking Mondays Blog Hop.
Jan
I am finding more and more uses for that bacon plastic everyday. My hubby says I am buying bacon now just for the plastic:)
My Mom always thought I was a funny kid because I would pore over The Complete Tightwad Gazette when I was about 8 or 9. I still remember some of their stories and tips–and I starting washing and reusing ziploc bags at the age of 8 because of that book and never stopped.
That is too funny! Those are the kind of things that stay with you a life time!
I have that book… it has lots of great information… thank you for sharing this… 🙂
It is a great book…I cannot see why everyone wouldn’t find something useful in it. Thanks for stopping by!
What great ideas! I especially like the mesh fruit plastic. I always hate throwing it away and now my hubby’s dirty hands will be using it. Gotta hurry up and take it out of the recycling! Thanks.
My hubby comes in very dirty and I have started leaving one of those mesh bags out by the faucet on the side of the house. Keeps all that dirt and grim from coming in the house. Thanks for stopping by!
Great tips. Never thought to save the plastic in bacon. But it makes total sense! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I know…what a simple idea and it has so many uses!
I really like #3! This would be like a soap on a rope for our outdoor faucet that hubby uses to scrub down before entering the house. Thanks for sharing your great ideas on the Art of Home-Making Mondays this week 🙂
I loved #3 as well and I have one hanging on the outside faucet just for those grubby man hands:)
Bacon plastic! I had no idea! But I do own one of the Tightwad Gazette books and love it. 🙂
Bacon plastic is good for so many things I use it all the time! A couple weeks ago I cut out a bunch of shapes for my 3-year old granddaughter for her to trace around and to learn her shapes.
Great list #3 is my favorite so glad I came across your blog, looks like a great book to read. Thank you
You have got to check out that book…you will love it!
I love the onion bag idea! I always try to use those little bits of soap, but end up dropping them down the drain. Thanks for the tips!
I know the onion bag has saved so much grime from coming in my house!
I save those mesh onion bags too but haven’t found a use for them. I really like your idea of placing the soap slivers for hand scrubbing!
An idea we use the toilet paper tubes for is to stuff them with dryer vent and use them for fire starting. It works like kindling. My daughter and son-in-law are implementing this idea when they go camping.
Thanks for sharing with us at Home Matters. I always look forward to your great ideas 🙂
Pinned it!
The fire starter is a great idea. We don’t use our dryer but for those that have a fireplace and use the dryer it is perfect for. Thanks for sharing!
Tracy I LOVE your ideas for reusing and re-purposing common items. I featured you on my fb page and I thank you for so much for sharing at Wonderful Wed. Blog Hop. Please bring more ideas! Carrie, A Mother’s Shadow
Carrie thank you so much for the feature I will go check it out!
I might have to eat more bacon. It’s a terrible fate.
Too funny and I have to agree!
I need to pick up that book. It sounds like it’s right up my alley.
Citrus bags are also mesh and I use them to scrub pots. They work like a charm.