Tightwad Diary June 4

My favorite Tightwad subject is Tightwad math!  I recently participated in a Facebook Tupperware Party hosted by a young lady I went to church with when my husband and I lived in Edmond, Oklahoma.  My husband started a new job recently and to save time (and out of a little laziness) we bought some pre-packaged individual servings of pudding, peaches and tomato juice.  So what's a Tightwad doing looking through a Tupperware website?  It's super expensive and small sour cream containers work, too.

Well, let's do the math!  Buying full size cans of tomato juice, whole peaches and packages of pudding to be made at home would save about $6 per month for the Hub's lunches.  The set of four 4 oz containers from Tupperware cost $15 plus tax and shipping which is a little less than $20.  These have a long term guarantee (http://www.tupperware.com/info/Warranty) and I expect without losing the lids, they will last about 7 years in their same condition, maybe longer.  I only look at my Tightwad math annually, so $6 multiplied by 12 months is $72 dollars.  I certainly made a good purchase of $20 to save $72.

So, what happened to the small sour cream containers? What's wrong with them? While I still re-use these and other containers like Cottage Cheese or Avacado Dip containers for short term storage in the refrigerator, they are not microwave safe (follow this link to learn more http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/tools-products/cookware-bakeware/food-containers-safe-for-microwave) and because they don't seal well, there's spillage and spoilage to consider. Tupperware is both microwave and dishwasher safe, so I bought these with confidence! 

How do you figure when to spend and when to recycle? Share your Tightwad Math stories here! I'd love to hear them.

Set up an eBay Store called Aunt Weefa's Collectables!!!

I am sewing like a mad woman to get rice bags ready for the Holiday Season!! eBay had a deal to set up a "Store" for $5, so I'm giving it a try.  I've been listing for free for the last 5 months and have sold $1200 worth.  After cleaning out our closets and purchasing a few things at garage sales to re-sell, we wanting to step it up a notch and buy garage sale leftovers to go through, clean up and re-sell. I bought some garage sale leftovers for $15 and have sold some of these for a total of $37.  These were mostly household items that haven't sold very quickly.  I've done the best with cell phones, watches, Levi jeans, video games and memorabilia.  The hubster made me some business cards, they're dorky and he printed them on regular paper instead of card stock, but I LOVE them.  They have my name and phone number, so what else matters? Besides, you know this Tightwad can't throw them away or put them in the recycling! Next time we need some, we'll use the card stock.  http://stores.ebay.com/auntweefascollectables

Tightwad Diary October 22

We've been trying to SLOWLY switch from hamburger meat to ground turkey meat! There are several nutritional reasons, I'm sure (I won't bore you or myself with a bunch of links), but for us its purely financial.  At Aldi's it's $1.79 per pound where hamburger meat is $2.79 per pound.  The Hubster made spaghetti with turkey meat and chunky marinara for dinner this evening.  It was very good!! A little parmesan and a touch of black pepper and I was in heaven.  We've tried in the past to make hamburger patties with ground

turkey meat, breakfast burritos and stroganoff, it just wasn't the same! I can't quite go there yet. Since spaghetti gets made in our house at least three times per month, using 1lb per batch, we save $3 per month.  The turkey meat doesn't seem to shrivel as much as the hamburger meat, so there are more generous leftovers the next day.

Tightwad Diary October 20

Do you know the Paper Clip is the most important tool in your tool bag?  You can fix anything from a toilet to a zipper to a Thingy That Makes the Windshield Wipers Work! Hub fixed the wipers with a paper clip (and duct tape-did I mention the 2nd most important tool in your tool bag?)!! after asking Meineke how much to fix them and they said $50 EACH, he said, let me take a look.  Yay for Handy Hubby's!!! 

I want to recommend two new blogs I'm enjoying: www.thefrugalgirl.com and www.salvagesisterandmister.com.

I know not watching much TV and mostly watching Netflix puts me behind the times, but I am madly in love with Extreme Cheapskates.  I learned a few tricks myself and have watched OVER and OVER.  I haven't done any roadside or dumpster diving for food, but I have started unplugging everything not in use and have started using "throw away cloths" in the bathroom.  I love watching people living without to build up a savings account, even though I would allow more clothes for my kids...I just love seeing others like me, who are well, WORSE than me, is that too mean??? For once, I'm not the only one with the homemade gifts in the re-purposed boxes.  I hope they make more episodes, there's only 6 on Netflix.

Tightwad Hint for Today: Only fill liquid laundry soap lid to number 2 or medium (this is what most manufacturers recommend and how they count the number of "loads" listed on the front) and toss the lid into the wash with the clothes to prevent build up on the cup/lid.

Tightwad Diary October 19

I wish I knew what to say to my husband to get him on board with being frugal.  He tries in lots of ways like buying jeans at garage sales or Goodwill (scored some carharts for $3 each a couple years ago) and getting Coke Rewards from the recycling center.  But he WILL NOT turn off the air conditioner (did you know its 50 degrees outside????) nor will he unplug things rarely used.  I ask, prefer, beg to have the phone chargers, microwave and VCR (yes, VCR, did I tell you I'm a tightwad???) unplugged.  Even when these are not in use, there's a battery in the phone charger, there are lights on the microwave and VCR (I don't care if it blinks when you plug it back in, it takes 5 seconds to re-set the clock!!!) and well, it seems obvious to me that the air conditioner is redundant.  Its not going to cool already cool air, but the condenser is still sucking up that electricity.  Sidebar factoid:  Did you know Mitt Romney runs through his house every time they leave unplugs everything and turns down the hot water heater?  I don't have a link to where I read this, I just love fellow Tightwads!! Rice bag update: I'm still staring at the sewing machine willing it with my mind powers to sew them up real quick.  Internet Service Update:  The only other option here at my apartment complex is Uverse and its half the price of Cox, but I'm nervous about making the switch.  I've always used Cox, but they keep raising the prices and the customer service continues to deteriorate.  Soooooo, still deciding.