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.

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How to save water, tip number 1,452

So you know to turn off the water when you brush your teeth, you flush the toilet with your bath water, water the house plants with leftover water. Do you use dish water to mop the kitchen? If you use a dishwasher, it may be harder to do, but on the occasion when you make up a pan or sink of dish water, don't let it go to waste. If there are suds left, it will clean your kitchen floor. Saves water and soap.

Cheap meat tenderizer

Frugally priced beef and pork is often tough, but you can make it as tender as the most expensive roast or steak by marinating or cooking it with vinegar. That can taste a lot better than it sounds! Barbecue sauce made with vinegar or mustard sauces with vinegar will do the trick, as well as cooking pork with sauerkraut. For a nice roast, though, splash a little plain apple cider vinegar over it before you add spices or salt and pepper. The taste will go away, but the vinegar will nicely tenderize the meat.

Quick floor cloth

Need a quick and cheap way to brighten up a room? Use a floor cloth... or rather, a blanket as a floor cloth. Some blankets are quite pretty and stylize, especially the nonwoven kind. If you don't have any extras handy, thrift stores often have them. Even if you have to buy one new, they're cheaper than buying a floor cloth or area rug.