I had this thought the other day - "when is being frugal NOT being frugal?" - after reading a fantastic post about washing your clothes in cold water in an order to be frugal. The author, the one and only Money Saving Mom, considered it a total flop because washing in cold water wouldn't get the toddler stains out of the clothes like hot water would. I have to admit that this was an "ah-HA!" moment for me. My mom always washed our clothes in cold water when I was growing up and so I washed my clothes in cold water. UNTIL I read this article. Because in my house I always seem to have a soak bucket full of Oxi-Clean for some baby or toddler mess. So I took her advice (sorry mom!) and started washing the kids clothes in hot water. ah-HA!! I am never looking back! No more multiple soak buckets (or soak sinks). YEAH!
It is not frugal to stockpile food that you or your family won't eat (or you don't know what to do with). I know some people buy and store large orders of wheat as part of their emergency preparedness program and I was convicted, thinking maybe I should do that too. But then I realized that unless I knew exactly what to do with the wheat and unless we would actually eat it, it was not being frugal. It would in fact be wasteful.
This summer I put up many jars of fruit, thinking I would save loads of money by bottling my own fruit instead of buying cans at the store. This would be a GREAT solution to an overproducing tree or bush that grows in my yard. The only problem was that I don't have a garden or fruit-bearing plants, so I had to buy the fruit at the supermarket to begin with. Even though I thought I was getting a good deal (pears were 3 pounds for $1), in the end I think the price was more per jar than I would pay at the store for a can of fruit. This would be a good solution to someone who is more picky about how they like to eat their fruit, but since my stash would be going to my children (who are thrilled about all forms of fruit, regardless of quality) I consider this idea to be one of my frugal flops.
So your chance to talkback - What are some of your frugal flops? When is being frugal NOT being frugal?
Thursday, September 11
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2 comments:
Goodwill used to have Toddler Tuesday where all the kid clothes were only 50 cents. I bought things I really didn't need just because they were so inexpensive. Now I only buy what I need or is just to cute not to buy.
People think they are saving the environment by purchasing cloth diapers, this is very yucky to me, and on top of that, our landfills are way less of an issue than or shortage of water. And lets not forget the bleach, and detergent we have to use to wash these diapers. Also, back to the washing your clothes in cold water topic. I was once to never to wash underwear, or anything your kids had crapped on in cold. Apparently Ecoli breads uncontrollably in these conditions. The hot water really helps kill all the bacteria.
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