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I'm guilty of that as well but mostly because I want a fully charged phone when I commute home (so I can use the real-time traffic features which consume a lot of power.)
I can understand for people who commute far and wanna make sure they have a fully charged phone. It's the whole "saving money" thing that makes me think cheap.
^^Paper towels - I reuse them too as long as they were used only to dry my hands and not for cleanups and such. I hang them over my dish rack to dry.
Any junk mail I get I save the envelopes (as long as they havent put my name/address on it) and when I grocery shop I put my coupons in the envelope and write my list on the envelope too. I've been known to reuse that envelope too. I just cross out last week's list real good and use whatever space I have. The same goes for bill paying envelopes, since I pay everything online or in person.
I do the exact same thing. I prepare at home the coupons for every store in old junk mail envelopes, list the items in there and shop. I also reuse them.
I do the exact same thing. I prepare at home the coupons for every store in old junk mail envelopes, list the items in there and shop. I also reuse them.
Same w/ the paper towels.
Oh I don't do it at the grocery store. I just meant for grocery shopping. All is done at home beforehand.
Remember way back when you could buy 8oz yogurt that had a plastic lid on the container? (Now they are 6oz containers with a foil cover that you peel off). I've got a good size collection (50+) of those containers with lids that I have been reusing for at least 10 years now.
I cook up huge batches of chili or soups, ladle into the little containers and they are the perfect serving size to freeze portions in. I always have a bunch of them in the freezer with various contents. It's easy to grab one (they get labeled) and pop (frozen) the contents out and heat up in microwave. Instant homemade meal.
Bought a pair of used shoes at a garage sale. They say you should never buy used shoes, but these were barely used and close to my size, it was worth the $5.
I've got several pairs of like-new running shoes and hiking boots shoes at yard sales, a few of them were 25c/pr!
I bought 2 new pairs of shoes a few years ago ($40/each) and I still kinda regret buying them, I've gotten many shoes for <$5/pair since then. I try to put a moratorium on shoe buying as I have so many nice ones, but it's hard to pass up at that price.
My boss used to supply our company's napkins from the building's paper towel from the bathroom (paid for with his office rent). Good thing I don't work for him anymore.
I used to do that same thing at work. Why do you think this is a bad thing?
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I think I had the cheapest boss in the world -- an MD who made us cut cotton balls in half, way back when we used a cotton ball dampened in alcohol to clean a patient's skin prior to giving an injection or drawing blood.
I'm frugal, but certainly not cheap in that way. I save vegetable peels and the thick stems of greens and such -- freeze them until there's a bunch, and throw in the pot for stock, along with the fresh new veggies. Then I throw the boiled-out veggies into the compost.
There's a very good feeling in voluntary austerity! I don't want what I can't have, I don't take what I don't need, and I don't waste what I do have. I think it's an expression of self respect.
I like the one about saving a paper towel that's been used to dry clean hands.
I used to do that same thing at work. Why do you think this is a bad thing?
I think it's a little overboard and cheap when you're supplying your entire company's napkin supply that way when the building management company never meant for the paper towels to be used like that. Sort of on par of finding a coupon online that gets you something for free, then you print out a stack of it and clean out the store shelves and leave nothing for others. The sort of thing that leaves a bad taste in somebody's mouth.
Besides if he's cheap with the little things, why wouldn't he be cheap with my salary and fringe benefits when that usually makes up the highest administrative cost of running a business?
Quote:
Originally Posted by vkhmini
I think I had the cheapest boss in the world -- an MD who made us cut cotton balls in half, way back when we used a cotton ball dampened in alcohol to clean a patient's skin prior to giving an injection or drawing blood.
Were you paid by the hour? How much was a pack of cotton balls and how much were you paid by the hour? Unless you're a salary employee with nothing on hand to do, it would probably save him more money to buy a pack.
Cutting cotton balls in half reminds me of something. Years ago when I was in beauty school we were not allowed to use new gloves. We had a giant bucket of gloves (for use when applying color) in the dispensary that we were to take from. After use, we had to wash the gloves (wash your hands thouroughly while wearing them) then dry and powder the gloves before turning inside out and returning to the bucket. If we were caught grabbing new gloves, we got in trouble. The owner was THAT cheap.
I reallt doubt that was all that sanitary, but she ran the school for decades using cost cutting techniques like that. When I color my own hair at home I will wash and reuse the gloves, but I am using them only on myself, not other people.
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