If you’re new here: we’re doing an intermittent series where we revisit articles from The Tightwad Gazette, aka the Bible of frugality. 😉
It’s been a while! We last visited the Tightwad Gazette in November.
But now that the holidays are over, it’s time to get back into a groove. 🙂
Selective Squeamishness
In this essay, Amy rightfully points out that Americans* have an illogical sense of what is gross and what is not.
*maybe this is true elsewhere too?
For instance, her neighbor threw away an apple that her daughter had taken two bites out of (“I can’t save this germy apple!).
Amy was surprised at this, because as all good tightwads know, it’s very simple to cut out the bitten part and use the rest of the apple. And the same is true if a piece of produce has a bad spot; we tightwads remove the funky part and keep on rolling. 😉
People are also oddly grossed out by second-hand clothing (“someone else wore this!”) even though we all routinely try on clothes in a fitting room that have recently been on someone else’s body.
And really, that’s worse than buying, laundering, and THEN wearing secondhand clothing!
The knit, fleece-lined earband that I wear all the time on my winter walks is one I found on the road (I walked by it multiple days before assuming it was well and truly lost).
I brought it home, washed it, and I use it all the time. Some people might be grossed out by this but really, once an item has been washed and dried, I fail to see any hygiene problems.
Homemade convenience foods: sensible or not?
I remember this article! Amy talks about how she almost blew out her food processor by trying to make homemade Grape-Nuts. Ha.
Her point is that sometimes we frugal people put forth an enormous amount of effort trying to reproduce some cheaper version of a manufactured convenience food.
I would not try making homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch, for example!
But sometimes it might be more sensible to just eat something cheaper; for instance, you could just eat bulk oatmeal instead of making homemade Grape-Nuts.
Or you could eat toast and jam instead of trying to replicate frozen toaster strudel.
She shared a few homemade convenience foods she does find sensible.
- seasoned salt (which surprised me because it’s so cheap in total and you use so little)
- taco seasoning mix (I made a version of this a lot when my kids were all at home)
- bread stuffing
- tomato soup (the basis of which is a can of tomato paste, so I dunno how much sense this one makes)
- onion soup mix
- chocolate syrup
- cream soup mix (a mainstay for the days when casseroles were such common fare!)
- seasoned rice mix (like Rice-a-Roni)
Payback Time
I think about this question all the time; if I buy something that can conceivably save me money in the long run, how quickly will I get my payback?
Funny enough, in the last Five Frugal Things, which I wrote before this post, I mentioned that the clippers I bought for Chiquita’s claws paid for themselves in the first use. That’s a quick payback!
This is a useful concept when you are buying non-disposable items too. A menstrual cup lasts for years, costs $30, and you only need one. It’s a no-brainer to see that it pays for itself in just a few months’ worth of periods.
But reusable period underwear don’t tend to last quite as long, and you need multiple pairs. The payback time for those is gonna be longer, and I don’t know for sure if the undies last long enough to actually reach the payback point.
I thought about this when I bought my lunchbox for work; it cost $24.99.
But given how many work/school lunches I pack, and how in general, homemade food is about half the price of food from a cafeteria/restaurant, I knew the investment in the lunchbox would not take long at all.
You know an area where I’ve seen people make false promises about payback?
Every time I’ve had to have windows replaced or a heating system replaced, I’ve been told, “Oh, this will save you so much money on your energy bills, it’ll pay for itself!” and honestly, I think the monetary savings from these items has been seriously overblown.
Never have I seen the level of savings the manufacturers/salespeople promised!
Dumpster Diving
I’m not gonna lie, dumpster diving does intrigue me. I know lots of great, usable, salvageable stuff gets thrown away in America, and it would be nice to put some of that to good use.
But I don’t know if I will ever be brave enough to actually do it. I think I would need an intrepid guide to help me get started! Ha.
That said, when my sister-in-law and I dug through the treasure house and salvaged things, that felt a little like dumpster diving (except it felt a little more above-board.)
And I have picked things up off the curb on trash day; just nothing that’s actually in the trash can.
Does a bread machine save money?
This question feels like a sign of the times because back in the 90s, bread machines were all the rage.
And bread machine recipes were so common, I found myself modifying them to be made without a bread machine.
Now, as I calculated before, homemade bread does save money, even when compared to super-cheap store-brand white bread.
But Amy wrote a long article detailing why bread machines don’t usually last long enough or get used often enough to pay for themselves.
For me personally, they have never felt terribly tempting. This is because:
- I am lucky enough to know how to make bread in other ways, using my Kitchen-Aid (decidedly NOT a unitasker machine)
- I have never wanted to devote kitchen space to such a large unitasker appliance
- I don’t like bread machine bread as much as regular homemade bread (assuming it’s baked in the machine)
You probably could get a very good deal on a used bread machine at this point in history, though, and in that case, it would probably pay for itself pretty quickly.
Alrighty! Let’s discuss bread machines, dumpster diving, homemade convenience foods, and selective squeamishness!
I’m so interested to hear your thoughts. 🙂
P.S. We’ll pick up around page 459 next time, if you’re following along in the big three-volumes-in-one book.
Amy Liz
Wednesday 15th of January 2025
My husband is squeamish about reading library books but fine with reading used books. His rational is that library books have been read by many people (so full of germs, crusty food etc) while used books probably only have a few readers so less germs.
Jean C
Wednesday 15th of January 2025
I LOVE thrifted clothing - it allows me to wear better quality brands and fabrics.
The thrift shop I volunteer at has everything half off the last week of the month. I will buy shirts that I can garden or do messy housekeeping in without caring if I get stains or bleach spots on them.
The only spice blend I swear by is Penzey's Chili 3000 or Chili 9000. Totally worth it and they elevate my chili outcomes.
I had 2 taco seasonings that I tossed because, as one commenter already mentioned, the primary ingredient was salt and it was way too much. I make my own taco seasoning -it’s not rocket science.
I have not had success with bread machines but am going to try again with a recipe my BIL has perfected (it has lots of different stuff in it and we love getting gift loafs).
I am not above curbside “picking” and have gotten useful items. I also love to cherry pick (and pay for) items for garage sales friends might be planning. I don’t garage sale much - my thrift shop volunteering scratches that itch enough. I am at an age where I am giving away beloved treasures to people who I think will appreciate them and use them. To clarify, I am not dumping things on my kids or friends. I often take a photo and send it asking if they have interest or space for something. It is so rewarding when I get a resounding “yes”!
christina
Wednesday 15th of January 2025
I don't buy thrifted clothes too often anymore. I used to all the time when my kids were young. I basicallly wear a same thing daily, levis, Black T shirt and a demin sirt or LLBean fleece, if cold out. If I did need something though, I'd go to Goodwill even with it's higher prices these days. I've been making bread since 1975. Mostly without a machine. but I did get a thrifted Zojurishi bread machine and use that on occsion for just the dough, and then bake in the oven. Mostly I'm a huge sourdough fan and bake that weekly. I will buy on occasion artisan bread from 2 local bakeries, Truckee Sourdough and Baker and the Cake maker bread. They are pricey but sometimes I want a good sourdough rye and that one is hard to do at home.
Kristina M.
Wednesday 15th of January 2025
Icky factor? Yes and no.
I used to love to go thrifting but now prefer buying more things secondhand from consignment where they are more selective on what is sold and keep the stores cleaner on average. I have allergies to most things such dust, cigarette smoke, animals, mold, strong laundry scents, and find the thrift store environment is often quite dirty, plus many clothes are noticeably dirty, covered in pet hair etc.
I'm not against rescuing clothes by washing them, but it has to be something I really like to be worth the effort at this point.
Another thing I enjoy are estate sales, but being in some houses that trigger my allergies and are full of decades of dust, dead insects etc, it really puts me off buying things unless it's something I can really sanitize like Pyrex.
One icky thing we did was to cloth diaper our twins, and once they were out of diapers, we kept a stash of the highly absorbent prefolds as cleaning rags. I still have some cleaning rags that used to be burp cloths after nearly 15 years. I think it's about time to get rid of these!
Growing up in the 80s my parents had a bread machine which I loved when waking up in the morning to a loaf of warm bread. Sometimes the flour didn't quite mix in and the bread had a thick crust with the center kind of collapsed, but it was still worth it.
Now if I bake bread the actual kneading is what I like about it, so I don't really want to skip this step. We have at times kept up baking most of our bread, but now when we eat far less bread I don't bake that often. I am feeling the inspiration coming on though :)
Kristina M.
Wednesday 15th of January 2025
Oh, one more thing, our house has no insulation and is very drafty. We had to redo our siding and added some kind of thermal wrapping at the same time that went under the siding, which has done a great difference in keeping the house warmer without running the heat on as high. Same thing when we redid the flooring. Comfort is also nice even if the investment doesn't pay off in short run.
JD
Wednesday 15th of January 2025
I cut up wrinkly apples and baked them with cut up sweet potatoes last night, so that answers the question of using less-than-perfect produce in my case. I wear second hand clothes, pick up hair bands in parking lots and wash them to use, and wear used shoes (which I spray with disinfectant and sit in the sun or wash, of washable). I have a second hand quilt on my bed and a second hand sofa and chair in my living room. I am not very squeamish.
My husband climbed into a dumpster behind a school one summer and saved some old roll-down maps, the kind that used to hang over chalk boards in every school back in the day. My daughter has one at her house now, and we had one hanging for years in our house. He trash-picked a plant still in its pot. I trashed picked the base of a concrete bird bath, he found a resin squirrel that now hides in our wildflower bed and I picked an old black and white art print out of the trash can at my former job. I got my son-in-law to help me pick up a four-drawer file cabinet set out at the curb in my daughter's neighborhood. Dumpster diving is illegal here now, but picking up stuff set out by the previous owner is still okay - so far.
I've never used a bread machine, but I rarely make bread anymore - I'd never get payback on it before it broke.
Speaking of payback, I was assured I would see quite a drop in my power bill with my new windows. I can tell they are better insulated than my old ones by touching them or standing near them, but see a big drop in my bill? No. However, I had to replace my windows after hurricane Idalia, so payback time is not really an issue in this circumstance.
I make some homemade mixes ahead, and they do save some money, plus, although my blood pressure is fine, I still like that these have so much less salt than commercial mixes. I make a meat rub, ranch dressing powder, taco seasoning, French onion soup mix, shawarma mix and garam masala, all of which use little or none of the spices I avoid.
I don't use "cream of" soups. There aren't that many things I make that call for them. I just make my own sauce.
I remember Amy writing about selective squeamishness, and wondering how many people who wouldn't wear second hand clothes take their own linens to hotels.