What is the stingiest shit you do for no reason?

[mowgelijeffs]

I'm wondering what people do that is really stingey but they honestly don't need to?

We are able to afford new dish cloths and sponges but I always wash them in the washing machine until they shrink to nothing or the sponge looks like someone ate it.

My dad used to put cheap kitchen spray in my mums expensive bottle and she never knew 😂

My husband waters down hand soap? That really annoys me.

Ok I'll think of more. But tell me what you lot do!

Are we living in a fucking ghetto?

Fuck yeah

I cut the clothes hanging ribbony / stringy bits from tops and they go in the craft drawer.

I've been filling my husbands HP sauce up for years with links own.

Lidls own

ProlificLurker I've never seen white vinegar in ALDI!!! Is that a new thing?

When we have tomato soup I make 2 tins feed 6 people by adding milk to it.

I put moisturiser in my foundation bottle when it's running low to make it last longer!

I use cereal inner bags as freezer bags., wash foil, collect sticks and pine cones for the fire, keep tubs and pots from food for freezing leftovers, squeeze every last drop out of all tubes and bottles - all worthwhile

keeping salt sachets from takeaway chicken - pointless!

I have significant issues with light bulbs. I really do. My husband neither buys or changes them and I hate doing it, they are all bloody different, and some really hard to change, takes ages to get the little buggers in there. I swear my husband would live in darkness quite happily.

As such I'm anal about switching lights off to save the bulbs. We can clearly afford light bulbs, but the sheer friggen hassle of it annoys the hell out of me

He on the other hand fills the fairy liquid bottle with water when it's done.This also annoys me. I squirt it out after he's done it and just get a new bottle out. Watery fairy liquid is useless.

Avoiding unnecessary waste isn't stingy, it's virtuous!

Talking of those slightly waxy inner bags from cereal. They actually make good storage for fresh herbs and they last much longer than in plastic for large quantities.

If you bulk buy coriander from an ethnic grocer say. Wash it and dry it in a salad spinner. Put in a washed out cereal bag and close with a peg and put it in the salad drawer. Last for ages.

I do loads of these, so nice to see others ('my people' as a pp said) on the same tight-arse wave length. Though I'm half thinking of the planet too. And I'll happily waste a tenner on chocolate a week... I'm now giving serious consideration to washable pads as my mooncup night-time horizontal back up. My stinge tip is using the bag toilet rolls come in to line the bathroom bin.

Ooh, talking of temporary labels, I write dc names directly onto their bananas for snack time. Ballpoint pen. strangely satisfying

I do lots of these and will be doing the thermos thing from now on!

I also save the ribbons out of the shoulders of tops - I have a bag going of general scraps like these and shiny paper etc and now and again I take it into DS's school for crafts.

I haven't bought a jiffy bag in years.

I use the charity clothes bags as bin bags for camping.

I never buy sandwich bags, but I hoard plastic bags from the fruit and veg shop. If I use them in the shop I just don't tie the top and add them to my stash.

I often carry tea bags about with me and if I want a takeaway tea I just pay 50p or whatever for hot water and make my own. I resent paying £2 for a cup of tea. I generally take my own cup too.

Do be careful using sun cream as moisturizer at this time of year DevelopingDetritus. Most people don't get enough Vitamin D in winter because of the lack of sunlight and you are potentially blocking the little bit there is. Very unhealthy and risky!

yorkshire pudding Aldi did white vinegar and then stopped for a while and now seem to be doing it again.

(My grout is meant to be grey, it's not dirt honest )

I keep the balloon weights to use for the children's birthdays rather than buy new. It's always a faff to remember where the hell I stored them a year ago but it's worth the hassle to save 50p

His many good 'uns here.

eBay selling of everything. Even broken stuff that is advertised as such and people buy it and love it. Recently found a pile of old chargers. Couldn't even identify them or guarantee they worked. Still, went for a fiver. So satisfying.

Tipping body lotion bottles into jars overnight so I can get the last out of it.

Reusing bathroom bin liners. I just tip the contents into the black bagged bin before i take it out. It's usually only tissues and buds anyway.

Blending honey especially if it's crystallised and DP then reaches for a new one . If I have a couple of jars standing about I just boil them up and blend them all into one.

Making my own ketchup from tomato purée, dash of honey, olive oil, pepper salt and lemon juice. Lush and I never have bottled just blocking fridge for ages.

Making my own window cleaner out of vinegar water and dash of washing up liquid.

Someone at the start of the thread who cuts off these little pieces of ribbon that hold tops on a hanger. I do that too and keep them as ribbons for small gifts.

Washing dishcloths until they are really unusable

Making my own scented candles as gifts and to use at home - candle making sets are dirt cheap on eBay

I still use bar of soap for the bathroom sink. I do what my grandma used to do. Always stick the small left over bit on top of new soap so it doesn't go to waste. Thanks Grandma! 👍🏼

Saving old tights as very thin thread for fixing very small tears in clothing effectively. Works a treat!

Loving this thread 👍🏼

Never considered most of these to be 'stingy', just 'normal'.
I hate waste - it's not just about the money, its about anything being wasted when it could still be used.

Found that the lids off my tennis ball tins fit over food tins, for when my kids use only half a tin.

Now only have to encourage them to use the half used tins

Candles instead of lights, currently have 9 on the go through three rooms.

Merge old soap with new ones. Only hubby uses soap, he's unaware of what I do.

The most frugal thing we do as a family though is to go on camping holidays, we can afford 5* hotels in posh places but it doesn't sit well with me (have given it a go). Instead I drag them to France, preferably a very quiet part, find local food/wine and chill out together, they are allowed wifi and a pool but no slides into the pool, far too swish.

I reuse foil until it is completely manky or damaged, if it's only used for dry stuff. I save dripping or duck fat rendered from the meat in a ramekin and use it next time I need fat for anything. And I look for money off vouchers before checking out when I buy anything online.

Love these tips, a lot of them I'm already in the habit of doing. My parents lived through rationing and we were a large family on a tight budget, and it's the way my brothers and me were brought up.
My Dad's brother used to carefully unfold the sugar bag to get any grains of sugar lurking in the folds.
I do the same with the washing powder box... you can get almost a full wash out of what hides at the bottom!
But I haven't carried on my Dad's disgusting habit of using the water from his hot water bottle for his first pot of tea. Bad enough that it was luke warm without tasting of rubber!

I cut up old towels and sew hair turbans, flannels and use small scraps to make reusable makeup remover pads (round circles) and put them into a net laundry bag to wash them.

I dilute hand wash but that's not a stingy thing - it's actually better for my eczema if I dilute it.

I always pinch the shower cap from hotel rooms. It makes a brilliant food cover - and it fits everything from a dish to a mixing bowl.

I used to use bread bags as nappy sacks for dirty nappies

I warm my eyelash curlers up either between my thighs or under my armpits rather than buy heated ones