How thrifty are you?

Wow! You are certainly a saver! I do things quite similarly, but my kids have grwn up and moved away, so I bring a lot of stuff to my classroom, and the students us all these bits and pieces to create their projects for my class and others. It's great fun to see what we can do with .... This year, it's definitely time to bring in my size 0 skirts and things. I'll never be that small again, nor do I want to be!

You certainly are a great recycler! I'm afraid the only things recycled around this house are cans and bottles and paper products. I am only thrifty when shopping, I prefer thrift stores and Walmart

Okay heres a little list of things I reuse: Wrapping paper - some times to wrap some thing else some times for the background on a scrapbook page. Gift bags - I save them all and reuse them. A friend of mine and me switch back the same bag every year have have been for the last 8 years! Paper - junk mail - any thing my daughter can color her new master peice on! Some friends of mine and I get together and have a purse swap. We all bring our old purses and wallets and swap. Same with clothing. Dump it all in a pile and have at it. We do rock paper scissor when two people want the same thing! I use shoeboxes in my pantry to keep every thing organized. Plastic bags and ziplocks get reused. I bring my lunch to work every day and use the same baggie for my sandwich for a week. Jars I can't even begin to list the things i use jars for. Old coffee cups hold pens and pencils. My friends daughter was having a sleep over and asked me what kind of project they could do. We collected all the veggie cans for a few weeks and the girls used old wrapping paper, junk mail, tissue paper, scrap paper, magiznes and more to paste to the out side of the cans and gave them to all there friends. Most used them for holding pens and what not. I did the same for my bathroom. All my eye liners and mascaras and crap are in a can that was decorated by one of the girls.

LMAO okay you win you win! Erilyn I do not even know how to sew, so most of our clothes either get taken to good will, if they are decent enough, given to our help center or just plain thrown out. I am however good at finding bargains for the most part, and I reuse anything of substance. I am not a hoarder and detest alot of what looks like trash stuffed in closets and drawers ( that would describe my husband and his things in his shed. he hates to throw out anything, and I mean anything but I make him sometimes.)

I used to make the purses out of jeans - add lace, trims, buttons, rhinestones and velcro as closure. THey were the best! Had many compliments on them. I am waiting for my grand daughter to get big enough to out grow a pair so I can make her a purse. I've done the pillows out of t-shirts, decorative patches out of jeans pieces and you are making me relive my life! It was fun back then! I did all those things to! And Martha Stewart - I should have been, but she was able to make it and I wasn't, so I just follow her lead and make what she makes, although she buys the more expensive supplies, I just look around my house or yard sales!

I love to recycle, and if there is something I can use again and again I will but now I feel as tho I need to throw things away. They are just clutter to me right now. I save where I can but in my home, leftovers have to be great for everyone to want them.

Wow Sweetie that is very clever I am no good at anything like that so I do not make anything like that but I think you have a gift and you are very clever being able to do that

Great skirt erilyn! I have often wished I was more practical and would love ot be able to sew and make original one off outfits - especially for my children! I try to recycle a lot but I very rarely recycle to use things for other purposes in the home - I really must look into being more thrifty as I need to tighten my belt a lot! xxx

I try to recycle as much as I can to save money. Certainly plastic bags are reused in our house all the time as well as anything that can be used as storage like old shoe boxes and milk crates. I also just posted a thread asking if anyone saves loose change. I find this is a great way to save money and my kids have learned how to do this too. Over the years, we have turned those coins into cash.

I save various jars from foods that I buy, wash them and use them to store bulk spices and things such as dehydrated onions and peppers. I have also used them when I make homemade mixes of different kinds and put them in gift baskets. I use empty ice cream buckets for easter baskets or other kinds of gift baskets. I sometimes also use those to store bulk staples in the kitchen such as sugar or flour. I have also used old jeans and other old clothes to make comforters. We live on a cattle ranch and there are always paper sacks from feed, salt and minerals that we feed the cattle - I save these and use them to put my trash in - which is then taken to a big pit, burned, and then the remnants buried. I wash and reuse water bottles and soda bottles - freezing about an inch of water in the bottom and then taking out and filling the remainder with water - stays cold a long time. I save the 2-liter bottles an454d fill them about 3/4 full of water and freeze. These work well in the cooler when you need ice to keep soda or food cold - and you can freeze them over and over. I save margarine containers and use them to store leftovers - here in ND, they are referred to as Norweiegen (sp?) Tupperware - many of the early settlers here were from Norway and they were, and still are VERY frugal!

Im not very good with reusing or recycling but do take old clothes to charity shops!! I like your idea for a jean/t-shirt skirt, something so simple but yet very effective!! I wish I was more creative and had the ability to make things and use things to make things out of!!

I have laundry bag made out of an old pair of jeans too! I am pretty thrifty- I make cards, gift tags, presents as many people appreciate the handmade and I reuse fabrics in these. I like to keep boxes and use them to store potentially useful things like ribbons, tissue paper, buttons, beads and broken jewellery that I can make into something else. I also collect magazines in case I want to do any scrapbooking or collage. I have used old hardbacked books as sketchbooks by covering the pages with newspaper and emulsion paint. It gives the pages a good texture to draw on. I found a piece of slate while I was walking home and I drew on it and kept it as a piece of art. My best bit of recycling was when I made a bag out of an old pair of pinstriped trousers. I used it for ages and then my Mum started using it!

I am anything but THRIFTY! I see old stuff as waste. As much as possible I get rif of useless things. Old things that occupy a lot of space.

PET bottles cut into half and turned into pencil/pen holders Computer papers with the other side clean can be compiled, and brushed with book-glue at one end to make a pad of scratch papers. You can also make pad papers made of computer papers cut into half (lengthwise or crosswise) or into quarters. Old colorful magazines can be kept for scrap booking purposes. Old/tattered cloth or scrap fabric can be used for quilting, to be turned into blankets. Shoeboxes are good storage items. Keep ribbons for future uses. Tattered shirts can be turned into rags There's still a lot more.

Recently we found out the local bowling alley is taking donations for bottle caps, so we are saving thsoe to help a young boy get chemotherapy. We recycle our bottles and cans to help the enviornment. We eat left overs, don't overuse water. I do what I can to save jeans and clothes. If the shirts get too small I will donate them to the goodwill or some other charity like that.

I donate a lot of my old things to goodwill or the salvation army because they make their money based on donations. I don't try to claim them on my taxes or anything like that. I have tried to make belts of old pants. There have been times when I make capri's and then shorts out of old pants, even dress pants. I have made tank tops out of shirts that the sleeves got to tight. I made little bags out of some that I can put smelly stuff (popurri) in and then put them in my drawers to make them smell nice.

well if we have clothes that we want to get rid of, we have several families that we pass along clothes and shoes too. i also do the same as you. i recycle as much as i can from around the house.

when we were first married I use four by fours as shelves and concrete blocks as the ends to make bookcases and they looked great butg when we moved into an upstairs appartment the landlady said those are too heavy you cannot do that so we had to buy more four by fours and make sturdy book cases.but we saved a lotby doing it ourselves too.

I used to recycle religiously but then it got to be a nuisance at times. We filled the bin before it was time to set out at the street each week. So, we stopped. I continued recycling cans because you get money for them. I also recycle jobsite materials (copper, brass, aluminum, etc) because you get cash. Last month, we went to Disney and watched Timon, Cymba and Pumba's movie "The Circle of Life" in Epcot Center and it really prompted me to recycle again. I want my kids to enjoy this world at the same rate or do or hopefully better.