Regarding your other comment: Oddly, I’ve had problems with getting things with a teflon coating, or made out of silicon (like spatulas), clean with regular dish soap, but I can usually manage with plastic baggies. Most of the time it’s not worth it, though. Better just to have some durable containers.

I think you need a fairly strong detergent to clean oil or grease off of plastic. If you figured out what it was, then cleaning those bags would be less of a chore. I am guessing that dishwasher detergent as opposed to hand dishwater soap would do the trick. Just drop them in a solution of dishwasher detergent and hot water, swish them around for a bit, then rise them in a bowl of clear water. That should do the trick. Make sure to wear gloves as dishwasher detergent is a much stronger cleaner than the stuff you normally use by hand.

When your frugal strategies actually *work* in functional terms then using them is a lot more satifying.

In my case, I enjoy (to a degree) fixing my car. So the 2 hours I spent on last saturday replacing the rotors on my front brakes is both a savings (total cost of the job is under $80 for parts, including new pads, versus $200 or more to pay another mechanic to do it) and a satisfying activity. Besides which I have the confidence of knowing exactly how that specific job was done, exactly to what torque reading I tightened each bolt, and that I saw two or three things I’d like to address on front suspension before summer gets here. Tell you what, I wasn’t going to be making any cash on saturday on my day off so 3 hours of satisfying DIY followed by a nice lunch and beer on the porch is a great way to spend my time while saving upwards of $100 of money that I would otherwise have had to spend.

coupons- they are very few in my country- romania- and they are in magazines only for luxury products anyway

i don’t reuse sandwich bags as i don’t make them for lunch most of the times

i will never save on cooking because i hate cooking. it is too expected from me- being a female- and one of the things that motivated me in my career was to be able to eat out every meal. i don’t do this now and i can skip it as i save money for my master and doctorate later, but i still buy food i don’t have to cook like nuts, vegetables, bread products, milk products and when i’m busy pizza or other fast food
i would never take my time from reading, studying or working to cook because i hate cooking, i love engineering and i have one life.
for the diy part, maybe you are true but i still prefer doing my things- not all- because i love it, it can bring income by having new skills, can be useful some day and because it saves on entertainment.

First off, I’m a proud user of Ubuntu because I was sick and tired of having to deal with Microsoft’s bull crap — like their automatic updates that, even when supposedly disabled, would reboot my machine without saving all my work. I love Ubuntu and have found it super easy to use. And yes, the philosophy of it all doesn’t hurt either.

1. A lot of coupon users clip coupons when they wouldn’t be doing anything else that would make them money. For some it’s just as much of a hobby as knitting, one which they may do while watching t.v. or watching the kids. For others, it’s simply a matter of needing money and not being able to work every free moment they have. Personally, I do use some coupons, but I’m not a heavy coupon clipper. I don’t buy newspapers, I don’t eat a lot of processed food, I buy generics just about whenever I can, and I try not to buy stuff I don’t need just because it’s on sale. In other words, it’s hard to find coupons that I want to use. That doesn’t mean that others can’t save, though.

2. I use Pyrex containers more than bags, so I don’t find myself with a whole lot of baggies. However, I don’t mind reusing them at all — especially to help cut down on all the plastic in our landfills. It’s not at all hard to wash them out. It hardly takes more time than grabbing a new one. I don’t see what the big deal is.

3. O.k., I agree with you here. I buy very little processed food. I eat mostly fresh produce, nuts, cheese, whole grains, legumes, and some meat. Processed food may seem cheap to some, but you’re mostly paying for packaging and air. I eat simply and healthily. I’m much better for it and I’m spending far less than when I loaded up on convenience food on sale.

4. I used to think that I didn’t have time to do DIY work. Then I stopped running around town for the ‘quick solution’. Shopping takes a lot of time, especially when you factor in traffic. And now with gas so expensive, it costs a lot more, too. And at least I learn something by doing things myself — and have a lot of fun most of the time. For example, I really like having my garden. And it won’t be hard at all to recoup the costs since I spent hardly anything on plants, already had the tools, and don’t buy fertilizer or pesticides.

Another thing, people often complain about how doing even simple frugal things is to much work to justify the savings — but a lot of time they could really use the exercise, even if it’s just a tiny bit here and there.

And as I mentioned, it makes a big difference if you enjoy the activity or if it is in line with other priorities or if you take pride in your work or if you just really don’t mind it. Recently, I read someone say something to the effect that it was better to toss toothpaste containers in the trash than try to get the last bit out and get carpal tunnel. Geez! Is it that hard? Is that really my choice? Is there a wave of carpal tunnel among frugalistas?

And of course, not all time is worth the same amount, whether from person to person or even minute to minute. There are times and places where I can’t — or don’t want — to work, and so I might as well try to save money unless I have something else really wonderful or important to do. Not so much, really. I can only play so many games of WordTwist at a time.

I know I’ve been long-winded, so I’ll wrap this up by saying that it’s o.k. if some frugal strategies/tips don’t work for you, don’t fit your lifestyle, or just plain aren’t worth it to you. However, I think it’s rather mean to say that they “are frugal only if your time is worth nothing” as if the people that do use them either can’t do the math or just don’t have time that’s worth more than nothing.