Save Money on Ink

Print only the page or pages you need and readjust the size so you don't wind up printing pages with only a line or two. Set your browser to not print backgrounds when they're not important. Set your printer to utility quality unless it's very important that a document be of high quality. When gathering information from several pages or sites, copy and paste the relevant content into a text file and then print that. You'll avoid printing ads, forms and other unnecessary content.

Keep safety razors sharp longer

While vegetable oil works to keep safety razors from rusting, it can be messy. Instead, put a little rubbing alcohol in a small container and store your razor in it after each use.

Uses for old flannel back table cloths

Flannel backed table cloths can be convenient because you don't have to wash and iron them, but they look nicer than a bare table. When one starts to wear, salvage the good parts for place mats. Cut mats to size and put a "hem" of colored tape around them. Make water proof bibs from it the same way, or make a water proof apron for yourself or a child by cutting a long rectangle, then cutting a piece from the center for your head. Hem it with colored tape or zigzag stitch on your sewing machine and add ties for the sides.

Disposable foam trays (not!)

Foam trays like those that meat comes in can be useful, so keep one or two on hand. Wash them thoroughly with hot water and soap, then make your own pop dots to glue behind figures to give depth to craft projects, use them to mix and hold homemade glue or paints or clay, use them for small trays to hold potting plants or other small items that you want to move all at one time. It's probably best to not use them for food items.

Liquid laundry detergent

When your liquid laundry detergent bottle is empty, do you toss it? Don't. Use a butter knife or screwdriver to take out the nondrip spout and you'll sometimes find enough detergent to do another load. When you use that, pour a little water in the emptier contaner, swish it around and dump it in a bucket or bowl to use for mopping floors or other cleaning.

Popcorn salt

You used to be able to buy salt that was finely ground to use on popcorn or nuts, but it's not common any more. You don't need as much finely ground salt when you use it on snacks, so to save a little money and lower the salt content too, put regular salt through a coffee grinder or a blender.

Ok, here we go again...

Back at it. I moved Extremely Frugal to Blogger.com because I kept wanting to post to it and couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how to migrate to another URL.

Anyway... tip of the day? Don't. Just don't. Don't window shop; that's dangerous to your budget. Don't get so thirsty that visions of Colas and Snow Cones dance in your head. Drink a big glass of water before you get to that point. Don't get so busy and hungry that the thought of a McD's hamburger makes you swoon.

Believe it or not, just keeping ahead of things, and NOT allowing yourself to go too far will save money.