You know you're frugal when you...

September 25, 2005

... go window shopping at the thrift store.

...keep trying to reuse that glob of sticky stuff with which the fake credit card was attached to the sales material.

...take the long way through the parking lot back to the car in hopes that you'll find money on the ground.

...try to find ways to "make do" until the next sale on toilet paper.

...estimate how long you'll be gone from a room so you'll know whether it's cheaper to turn out the light or leave it on to avoid a spike in electric consumption.

...lightly use the eraser on your pencil so you won't use it up before the pencil is used up.

...refuse to resharpen a pencil until the lead wears almost to the wood.

...save the elastic from your old underwear to use on your new (homemade) underwear.

...take your shoes off when you come into the house for the purpose of saving wear on them.

...save thread from the seams of clothes you're cutting up for rags - to darn your socks.

...use saved fast food ketchup to flavor soup, and put a little water in the package to get the last of it out.

...save the salt in the bottom of pretzel bags to reuse.

...won't take a shower when it's dark to save on the electricity it takes to light the bathroom.

...go to bed an hour early to save on electricity.

...you rejoice when the electric blanket goes out because now you have all that wire to tie up tomatoes or make a mini clothesline. (Of course you remove it carefully; you'll still use the blanket to keep warm.)

...plan your children to be born after Christmas and before New Year's so you can take the full deduction for them for that year without having the expense.

Are you really frugal?

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."-- Mahatma Gandhi