I'm always reading about frugal living trying to perfect my 'game' if you will. While I often try out new things there are some that I have found rather ridiculous and not worth the effort. Here are some that I tried this week:
Reusing your tea bags--The frugal principal here is that there is still loads of flavor to be gained from your tea bag, so use it one more time.
One evening I made tea for myself & JC, saved our bags, put them in the fridge, and the following morning I made tea from one of those bags...It was...not so great. Sure it steeped & turned a tea color, but the flavor. Oh the flavor. Well, there was none. It was the same great tea, but 1/10th of the potency. I think if I ever try this again, and I have the same scenario-- I have recently made 2 cups of tea & can reuse 2 tea bags, then perhaps I will get 1 decent cup. In the meantime, I have to say, unless you enjoy weak tea, this one was not for me.
Make a soap baby--After using a bar of soap, take the little shards that are left and sort of meld them to a larger bit of soap. The bits become one with the larger bit of soap, hence, the soap baby.
Because we only use bars of soap I had one bar that had broken in to two chunks, so I figured now was a good time to try this. The only problem was I would smoosh the pieces together, think they were stuck, but then when I would wet the bar to wash my hands the pieces would come apart. I finally had to get sort of rough with it and really mash them together. After thoroughly roughing them up they did stick, and I tell you, it was like having a new bar of soap! I was quite thrilled with this little experiment, and I think it's a great way to get what you paid for out of your soap.
Reuse Tinfoil--This one is straight out of Tightwad Gazette. Amy Dacyzyn, the author, swears by washing and reusing tinfoil.
I wash & reuse our ziplocs, but I had never before thought of recycling tin foil; especially because we buy 100% recycled foil, recycle it once it is used, and use very little of it. BUT, after we ate at a local Mediterranean restaurant & they wrapped our extra naan in foil, I figured I should try it. I promptly brought it home, washed it off, and used it to line the bottom of our oven. It works really well to pick up little bits that might fall to the bottom & burn and means less cleaning! However, I'm not sure I would use the foil again for covering food; truthfully, I don't know how you would prevent it from getting too crunched up or getting holes in it. That said, when freshness isn't at stake, reusing foil for lining the oven is a great option!
One last thing...
If you are looking to try to make your own laundry detergent, I just wanted to give a helpful hint. Above is my laundry detergent after sitting for two or three days. See how much it separates? This is why I HIGHLY recommend taking the time to store it in smaller containers that can be shaken up before use.
Just give it a little shake, and it will go back to normal. Hope that helps.
Have you done any frugal experiments lately?
Reusing your tea bags--The frugal principal here is that there is still loads of flavor to be gained from your tea bag, so use it one more time.
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| Bremen Town Musicians mug my dad brought me back from Bremen, Germany when I was a kid |
One evening I made tea for myself & JC, saved our bags, put them in the fridge, and the following morning I made tea from one of those bags...It was...not so great. Sure it steeped & turned a tea color, but the flavor. Oh the flavor. Well, there was none. It was the same great tea, but 1/10th of the potency. I think if I ever try this again, and I have the same scenario-- I have recently made 2 cups of tea & can reuse 2 tea bags, then perhaps I will get 1 decent cup. In the meantime, I have to say, unless you enjoy weak tea, this one was not for me.
Make a soap baby--After using a bar of soap, take the little shards that are left and sort of meld them to a larger bit of soap. The bits become one with the larger bit of soap, hence, the soap baby.
Because we only use bars of soap I had one bar that had broken in to two chunks, so I figured now was a good time to try this. The only problem was I would smoosh the pieces together, think they were stuck, but then when I would wet the bar to wash my hands the pieces would come apart. I finally had to get sort of rough with it and really mash them together. After thoroughly roughing them up they did stick, and I tell you, it was like having a new bar of soap! I was quite thrilled with this little experiment, and I think it's a great way to get what you paid for out of your soap.
Reuse Tinfoil--This one is straight out of Tightwad Gazette. Amy Dacyzyn, the author, swears by washing and reusing tinfoil.
One last thing...
If you are looking to try to make your own laundry detergent, I just wanted to give a helpful hint. Above is my laundry detergent after sitting for two or three days. See how much it separates? This is why I HIGHLY recommend taking the time to store it in smaller containers that can be shaken up before use.
Just give it a little shake, and it will go back to normal. Hope that helps.
Have you done any frugal experiments lately?
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