Tightwad Gazette Book II | a bread bag jump rope?
Well, in the previous posts, we made it all the way through the first Tightwad Gazette book. Soooo, we are now on to the second book.
This one is not handily divided into seasons, so I'm not quite sure how I will divvy up this trip through the book.
I guess I will just write a post's worth of stuff and call it good until the next time I write one of these!
Prescription Savings
Amy says that at the time, prescription drugs had risen at triple the inflation rate over the last ten years, and I imagine the news on that front is even worse currently!
Back then, her solution was to get prescriptions from a mail-order pharmacy; the modern equivalent would be something like Mark Cuban's CostPlus drugs, or Good Rx.
She compared the cost of several common drugs for this article, and I read the names with interest, thinking, "What in the world is Tenormin??"
I googled and realized, ohhhh, that was the original brand name of what we now know as atenolol, a beta-blocker used to treat high blood pressure.
Two slightly ridiculous ideas
You guys know I like to save money, but some of the ideas people sent into the TG are a little out there for my taste.
An example....a reader suggested splitting bread bags apart and braiding the pieces together to make a jump rope, with duct tape handles.
Reader, I struggle to imagine that this makes a jump rope that is functional or long-lasting. Also: a jump rope is not very expensive, and it does not need to be purchased regularly, so scrimping on this purchase doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
I prefer to save commercial bread bags to use for storing food; I really like the big bread bags for storing Hungry Harvest lettuce and kale, which often come to me bagless.
Ok, so, the other idea that raised my eyebrows is this one: make a volleyball net out of six-pack rings, tying them together with twist ties.
Again, I'm skeptical that this makes a very good volleyball net and also: that's a lotta six-pack rings!
What if you just drank water instead, and then used the savings to buy an actual net? That would make more sense to me.
And as with the jump rope, it's not like you have to buy a volleyball net every month. That's basically a one-and-done purchase.
Pantyhose reuse ideas!
As we discussed in a previous TG post, people wear pantyhose a lot less than they used to (a development I am fully in support of.)
I hated the way pantyhose got a run if you so much as looked at them carelessly.
Their flimsy nature is what made them so prime for reuse ideas, though; everyone had a steady supply of ruined pantyhose!
Expensive ink: a timeless problem
Printer ink was apparently a pricey problem back in Tightwad Gazette days too, although Amy's article focused on dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers. Ha.
My best solution to this problem has been my cartridge-less Canon printer. It has big liquid tanks that you refill with a squeeze bottle of ink and it is AMAZING. The ink lasts forever, the bottles are inexpensive, and I am never gonna look back.
Mine is probably 5 years old at this point, but this current model is very similar.
Frugal framing
This article has some tips for decorating your walls on a budget and I am proud to say I've have done some of the things she suggests!
Things like....spray painting mismatched frames so that they go together.
Or buying a thrift store painting just to salvage the frame.
Here's how I turned the glass into a chalkboard surface.
And here at this house, I put some Buy Nothing prints in frames that were sitting in my stash.
Also, Sonia helped me do this little flower watercolor to hang in my bathroom, using a very, very old Goodwill frame.
Alrighty! I think we'll call it there for this edition, and we'll pick back up around page 330 for the next round, if you are following along at home.
I too scoff at the jump rope and volleyball net ideas. I use bread bags for storage like you do.
I was unaware of cartridge less printers but will keep them in mind. I have stuck with having a laser printer and just black ink. The printer cartridges last a long time. I bought our current printer in 2011 and it was a floor model so I paid $30.50 for it.
A few years ago a friend gave me a nice watercolor that her mother had painted. It needed an odd sized frame so I went to a thrift store and luckily found the perfect one with a print in it. I love your idea of painting frames to match, color wise, though I have never done so.
Another great post.
The jump rope and volleyball net ideas sound like fun ways to occupy a bunch of kids. I could see having enough six pack rings after a youth group party or something like that.
DH and I once tightly braided together a bunch of supermarket plastic bags to make a substitute for backer rods (foam rods you use in large gaps to provide a base for caulk.) I think we ran out of backer rods and just wanted to finish the job rather than go to Lowe’s again. Anyhow, it’s been over a decade and the wall hasn’t fallen apart.
I feel like things like jump ropes and volleyball nets were not as available or as cheap (relative to income) when I was a kid, which was I think when these things were published. So maybe that's why these ideas were thought useful? Cheaper foreign manufacturing, Walmart, and online shopping have changed shopping so drastically, it's hard to remember when buying a pair of jeans--or a jump rope--was a big deal.
@kristin@going country,
Because Amy D. lived in a rural area and home delivery was not available for nearly everything as it is now, I think that many people also just used what was on hand. I can remember when my town was still small and general merchandise stores were far away. We just made do or did without. I know you can relate to this Kristin.
@Bee, not just that, but this was before the days of cheap imports, pre WTO. So even in larger towns, there were no dollar stores etc. What I do like about all of these (and probably why we like Kristin) is the creativity that comes from constraints. We don’t have to use that as much anymore and in many ways we and kids around us aren’t building that muscle.
@kristin@going country, I think you are right. I'm quite a bit older than you, and I remember when even everyday things were a big deal to purchase. We also thought twice before jumping in the car to go to the store 20 miles away. Now most of us (I'm including myself) think nothing of it - or we just run to the Dollar Store in the next small town over 5 miles away. I also recall my baby sitter when I was little (about 55 years ago) who braided or crocheted bread bags to make kitchen rugs! The world has moved on, and even frugality looks very different these days 🙂
I do order from Cost Plus Drugs and it does save me a ton of money, even without insurance. For 1 script at Walgreen's it was $35. per month with insurance. Mail order from my insurance was $75. per 3 months. And at Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs without insurance it is $35. (shipping included) for a 3 month supply. I am still shocked at this. This is how I know that those companies are out to get us. And I work for the insurance company.
@Maureen, I cannot say enough good about Mark Cuban and Cost Plus Drugs. They were recommended to me by my cardiologist's nurse after my insurance company refused repeatedly to pay for Viagra, which I need for my lungs. Since then, I have been telling everyone I know about them. I also love that he said that paying taxes is part of being patriotic, since our economic structure is what allows great wealth to be built.
As someone who seemed to be a “run magnet” for stockings, I do remember wearing two one-legged pairs of hose from time to time. So glad the hose fashion has passed!
Reading this post did make me wonder though, if my grandchildren will one day consider some of our current frugal ways to be as ridiculous as we think some of Amy’s are now!
@Addy, I am also very happy that panty hose are in the past. I can’t even begin to tell you how hot and uncomfortable they were in Florida in the summertime. They were required dress where I worked in the 90s.
@Bee, ah yes! I lived in Florida the first 20-plus years of our marriage and I totally understand where you’re coming from!
@Addy,
I am required to wear panty hose (or tights, which I do in fall & winter months), per the hospital and department dress code where I work (I am Food Service-adjacent, so I don't know if that has something to do with it?). I haaaate panty hose with a passion, BUT since I frequently wear long skirts (I love my sari skirts that go to my mid-shin or longer), I've started to wear hose with runs in them that you can't see. Even then, once the runs become large holes, I say "uncle" and put them on the discard pile. I've tried doing the "wear the good side with another pair with one good side", and ummm......no. Not comfortable to me, but YMMV. The last time I had a big pile of worn out hose, I found an arts organization that takes them for reuse (maybe straining paint through them, or using them in some other creative way?). While I appreciate that you can use them to tie plants to trellises, and other re-uses, I had way, way too many (one pair provided all the plant tie ups I'd ever need; I have other headbands; I would'nt ever keep the waist elastic to replace other worn elastic, etc).
When I retire in (hopefully) 3 years, I will banish all but one "emergency" pair from my wardrobe! 🙂
@Liz B., keep 2 pair
@Bee, I had a friend in college in Texas who said "you know it's hot when your pantyhose melt to your legs!" LOL!!!
Oddly, you could not buy pantyhose on Sunday in Texas because of Blue Laws, but you could buy beer after 12 p.m. I don't know if those laws are still on the books.
@Jan, figures.. for some reason, jaysus took umbrage with panty hose but not beer on Sunday, go figure. Would not be surprised one bit if still "the law" in some areas.
@Liz B., I used "dead" hose to stuff toys with. It is light and washable and one stuffed bear uses a lot! Maybe a crafts or sewing group could use yours. There are cotton versions of panty hose that are more comfortable than nylon, tho sometimes a little bulkier.
@Selena,
Good thought. They run so easily.
@Kristina,
Thats a good re-use! I don't have or make stuffed animals, but that's so smart. I'll have to look for cotton panty hose. that would be so much more comfortable!
I agree that the jump rope and volleyball net ideas are a little far- fetched.
Old pantyhose, cut into strips, were valuable for staking tomato and other tender stem plants.
I use old bread bags (and newspaper delivery bags) to segregate bacon grease in the trash, to place pet issue waste in the house (cleaning up an “issue” and putting the paper towels in a tied small bag), back up dog poop bags (if I inadvertently run out of the rolls I purchase for the leash dispenser, or I use them to collect a quick cleanup of cat littler.
@Kim from Philadelphia, I knew several guys who used pantyhose for emergency fan belt repairs on their vehicles back in the day! 😉 For anyone who doesn't know, a fan belt was needed to drive the fan which cooled a car's radiator in the days before EVs. (Gee, I'm feeling old today!)
@Kim from Philadelphia, I ditched pantyhose ages ago (along with most of the rest of us). But I still occasionally wear knee-highs, and they too are run-prone. And I still use the knee-highs with runs to tie up tomatoes--even though my tomato growing for the last few years has been limited to carefully protected (from deer) pots.
@Bobi, ha! That’s a very clever use of pantyhose!
I probably would have tried a bread bag jump rope in my early parenting days- thrift was paramount then. I can't see it lasting very long- getting rubbed up against the pavement has to be rough. I seem to remember braiding bread bags for some project- I think to make a sturdy handle for something?
Some of her tips definitely were products of the late 70's /early 80's recessions, and deserve to stay there.
bread bags make excellent poop bags for doggie business. Thick, air tight,big enough and long in shape so as to be able to be easily securely tied. We always used them for this and also for scooped cat litter.
Bread bags have many uses to be honest. They are good shoe bags for muddy or wet shoes within luggage or kit bags in our house too.
A friend's daughter made a jump rope from bread bags for a recycle school event a thousand years ago. I can not remember if she braided it. I do remember that it didn't have enough weigh in the middle to not get tangled in it. If I remember correctly and this was at least 10 years ago, each student got a typical piece of trash they had to reinvent and she got bread bags. My daughter got promotional CD and I think we made coasters with them. So not to date myself.
I also remake frames all of the time. I even sanded one down and restained it another color besides that orangy wood color. I never want to go to Dollar Tree and buy a plastic frame for 1.25. And frames take spray paint like a champ.
Fun fact 2 was the first edition I read and helped me make it through my first year married and living away from family. Page 19 (yeah I looked it up) had the best advice on diagnosing your electric dryer. I swear I almost bought a new one until I read that. This was also where I found out you can buy board game pieces from the company. We had lost the pieces to a Monopoly game.
@Amy cheapohmom, my kids had the "recycle something" assignment during the covid shutdown, and one of mine used a shopping bag and a cereal box to make a triangle pennant bunting/banner thing that said "I HATE COVID" ... which of course I have saved in the closet.
@Karen., Love it. My daughter said I tried to teach her to crochet. I do not remember this but there was a margarine tub purse my mother helped me make...how else would that come up?
The next year my son made a placemat with drinking straws, which would be gross if they had been used. Since they were not, he really didn't follow the rules.
No braided jump ropes for me, but back in the '90s, plastic recycling/reuse was all the rage. "Plarn" crafts were a big thing, where you cut plastic bags into long strips, tied them together and used the new product, plarn (plastic yarn!) to knit or crochet. I can tell you from personal experience that this is not a particularly fun or practical thing to do. Trying to cut thin grocery bags into even strips and the endless knotting wasn't for me. I saw a few completed projects that were kind of cute, but ultimately decided to stick to buying real yarn. While I applaud the creativity of some ideas, I ultimately file them under dumb! 😉 Now that being said, around the same time, Mother Earth News printed directions for weaving baskets out of strips cut from brown paper grocery bags and I made several extremely sturdy, handsome baskets that are still in use.
@Bobi, One of the TWG books had Amy making Easter baskets out of woven-together strips of paper bags. Some ministries still use torn up plastic grocery bags to make mats for homeless people. The "un-housed" person (I think that's the new politically correct term) can use the mat under their sleeping bag to keep the latter from getting wet.
It seems like the time and energy (and frustration) spent on making a bag jump rope, which probably doesn’t work well and would wear out quickly, would be better spent doing something else that would have a better money/time return. It is entertaining to read some of these very creative ideas, though!
@JenRR, Entertaining for us, a special subsection of thrifty types? I'm smiling here. Some people's eyes glaze over at what we think is a great idea...
I would not make a jump rope out of bread bags for basically all the reasons.
However, last Christmas we learned kind of last-minute that we needed to participate in a Shoebox filling event with the church we'd relatively recently switched to. To my even greater surprise, you were supposed to bring all your own things to fill the boxes, so there wasn't, like, a box or something for the rest of the congregation to put things in. This is not my thing on even the best of days, but there we were, far out of season for back to school sales and with no advance notice to work on getting the right sort of things at the right prices. But I didn't feel like we could skip it. All these social navigations, blerg.
Anyway, the point is — we did some jump ropes braided out of old T-shirts, as per instructions available on a zillion internet sites, and those are actually pretty decent as far as heft, and they're pretty easy to make. I particularly like that you can make an extra-long one for double dutch.
I remember seeing a creativity contest one time using plastic store bags. One person wove a hammock out of them. That sounded terrible to me because the plastic would make me sweat and those bags degrade in the sun so I could imagine the hammock giving way.
I think too by the time you drank all those six packs you could have bought a net by choosing water and saving the money, as Kristen noted.
I seem to remember that Amy sometimes published tips from readers in a “for what it’s worth” manner. Perhaps that’s what these were.
A bread bag jump rope sounds useless to me. It’s easy to buy a jump rope or even a piece of rope at the hardware store, which is what my dad did. Besides, if you make your own bread you won’t have extra bags to use.
I always enjoy looking back at the Tightwad Gazette. Although our lives have changed exponentially over the last 30 or so years, TG contains a great deal of tried and true advice.
Although I will probably never make a bread-bag jump rope or a badminton net, I do admire Tightwad creativity.
Sometimes to have the things we want or need, it is essential to think outside of the box. However, I think the TG Ideas about framing and art are both practical and creative. (By the way, Kristen, I think your little watercolor is charming.)
It is amazing that some problems have persisted overtime, such as the cost of prescription drugs. I have had some challenges in this area over the years. I wish that as a whole we could overcome this problem. I do want to mention if you need to take a brand-name drug and cannot afford the medication, it is helpful to contact the Pharmaceutical company directly. There is often information available on their websites on how to receive free or reduce costs medication. I have been successful doing this for my son in the past and a dear friend of mine who has MS has also benefited from programs such as this.
On another note, as I was thumbing through The Tightwad Gazette, there were two subjects that I thought were interesting conversation starters. The first A. Marie had mentioned a few weeks ago — Passive versus active frugality. The other was a discussion regarding sweating the small stuff.
Wishing everyone a great Wednesday.
@Bee, thanks for remembering about the passive vs. active frugality article. I too think we could have a lively conversation about this. (Of course, the Commentariat can have a lively conversation about almost anything frugality-related!)
And as we work our way through the TG, I'm coming to think that its contents can be divided into three categories by 21st-century readers: (1) verging on the ridiculous even at the time; (2) technologically outdated; and (3) classic and still useful today. But let's not get so hung up on (1) and (2) that we overlook (3)--or fail to remember that sometimes a willingness to look a little ridiculous can exercise the creativity muscles.
@Bee, I second contacting the drug manufacturer. About a decade ago I had surgery, infection, blah, blah, blah. The result was that for 90 days I could not eat any food and had to use a replacement liquid that was absorbed by the small intestine so nothing reached the small intestine for three months. The replacement had originally been used on early space flights but is now still (rarely) used for folks who cannot eat food. Anyway, the price was so astronomical my ears wanted to bleed when I heard it. My insurance would cover it if I were in the hospital for 90 days but not if I took the stuff at home. Unbelievable but true. Anyway, the manufacturer turned out to be Nestle, where they originally developed the food for NASA. I wrote to them, including a letter from my doctor in the fax I sent. A week later USPS delivered 19 huge boxes of the stuff, for free. Sometimes you have to try different things!
Yes! The passive/active article is coming up, but it was more than I wanted to fit into this post. Look for it soon!
I always use old bread bags for throwing out rubbish. I also would not spend time and energy using them to make a skipping rope (what we call jump ropes in the UK)!
On a more general note, I'm trying to use less plastic so that's another reason why I wouldn't want to make a skipping rope (or some other toy) from it. Of course, plastic is in practically everything and it's a balance, but I try and use environmentally friendly materials as much as possible and avoid single use cans and bottles (ie, therefore not using six pack rings, for example.
Kristen, I remember years ago you used a photo frame which originally had a picture of a pet and used it for one of your kids, and said you would never get an animal. Now you could put a picture of Shelley or Chiquita in there 😀
Heheh, yes, yes, I did say that. And look at me now!
There IS a picture of Shelley in that frame. 😉
@Kristen, that's so cute! Life is funny sometimes!
What if those six-pack rings were from a 6-pack of beer? And after Amy drank a couple 6-packs she look at the plastic rings and thought ... "Wow. I could make a volleyball net outta those!" Hic....
@JDinNM,
ROTFL!!
A number of years ago Office Depot used to give a ream of copier paper in return for empty printer cartridges. I set up a cartridge donation bin at the church I worked for and we rarely had to pay actual money for copier paper for the office.
I used Amy's idea about the framing. I had a really adorable notecard, and I went to a dollar store and got a framed print in which the print was rather icky. Voila! It was the perfect size for the notecard, and I have the framed notecard to this day. No one can tell it didn't come that way. It's in the master suite in my current home, but was in other rooms in former residences, such as the dining room of my townhouse.
Being a childless dog lady, I have not ever tried her kiddie hacks, but since its' coming up, I will mention Amy's robot Halloween costume. I think I've written about this before, but IMHO it's the cutest costume idea to come down the pike. She used a gray sweatsuit, cardboard boxes and a lot of scrounged spare parts from her DH's workshop to cobble together a really original outfit for their little boy. Not sure what TWG edition it's in, but it's certainly worth checking out if you have any little Trick or Treaters in your family. You'll want to start assembling it right about now.
@Fru-gal Lisa, I did a similar thing with an oversize notecard JASNA BFF sent me that featured pressed flowers of the same types that Jane Austen and her family grew in her garden. Thanks to DH's collection of frames (from various rental properties over the years), I was able to use one of those that fit the card. It's now part of the "JA wall" I've created in my bedroom.
And I'm proud to be able to say that my creative mom (who was an early TG subscriber, BTW) did a robot costume for my brother that predated Amy's by 30 years. I agree that it's one of the best costume ideas ever.
@Fru-gal Lisa, IIRC she also used dryer duct for the legs. My husband actually DID use dryer duct hose to make a robot costume for our youngest one year--it was a huge hit!
I am AGHAST at the "one legged pantyhose" reuse trick......were women really cutting a bad leg of hose off and then putting them on with another missing leg pair?? That seems like overkill! LOL
@Cheryl, I for one did. LOL Especially when you had just put a pair on and it got an immediate snag. That was the worst.
I did this trick often. Pantyhose were a requirement of my school uniform in high-school. Trying to put pantyhose back on when you are all sweaty after gym resulted in a lot of runs! I would try to get as much wear as possible out of them to save money. Like most people, I avoid them at all costs now. So glad fashion has moved on!
In our missions group at church, we made jump ropes out of old t-shirts that the congregation brought in. We spun those shirts and knotted them all together, lol. We supported an orphanage in Haiti and send them there. It was fun but a lot of work.
It's interesting how frugality both remains the same and changes over the years.
Thank you for the printer recommendation. When mine croaks (and it will), I will get one of these kinds. Mine is working just fine if I remember to choose "Black only", but the colored things are illegible in spite of not needing new ink.
All those Amy projects are predicated on buying unnecessary waste-producing items. Nylons? nope. Bread bags? Don't truly frugal people bake their own bread? Can-holder plastic rings? Why would a frugal person spend money on a can of stuff that isn't good for you?
I do admire her self-sufficiency and creative ability in not wasting things.
You didn't mention it, but under the breadbag jumprope is grated the bottom of burnt cookies, which I've done.
I collected mismatched frames and painted them all tan, then put them on a chocolate brown wall. This would've been circa 2007 or 08.
Love the Tightwad Gazette!
I was more taken aback by the suggestion that you can use sections of panty hose to knit a bikini! A thumbs down also to the jump rope and volleyball ideas. I remind myself that a good way to come up with useable ideas is to throw out every thought about a topic because there are bound to be good ones among the terrible ones.
A pretty common thing in northern Alaska, where the dog mushers tend to live, is to turn dog hair into yarn. Thrifty but, again, not for everyone.
I am disturbed at the idea of a skin-colored bikini. From a distance, everyone would think you were naked!
@Kristen, my thought exactly!
@Lindsey, a wool processor told me that on the days they process (card and turn into roving which then gets spun into yarn) dog hair, they have to close the shop to the public because it smells so terrible. That was a place on the Central California coast, so I guess it happens here in the land of fruit and nuts too.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana,
But wait, the 80s, isnt that when you had all those bright coloured pantyhose?
I distinctly recall wearing a pencil skirt and penny shoes, and pantyhose in the colour of my lambswool sweater.
@Lindsey, a product made out of dog hair sounds disgusting
@Lindsey, I saved the brushed hair from our beloved (passed) collie and had an artist on Etsy knit keepsakes from them. We have bones and hearts. Love them.
The golden tip for A.Marie? Make bundles of pantyhose with human or pet hair to keep the deer away 🙂
For inexpensive wall decor, I recommend printing free, public domain images in the Library of Congress! There are thousands of cool images, like WPS posters, old baseball card images, architecture photography, old Japanese prints, ild theater posters, and more. I wrote an article about this (second part) last week!
https://frequentlytaxedquestions.com/2024/09/15/the-boring-newsletter-9-15-2024-%f0%9f%93%9a/
@Stephanie, Thank you for the Library of Congress link! I think-- That could take a LOT of time to go through.
@Heidi Louise, ha ha, so true! They do have some "collections" that are organized by theme/type so you can find at least some things of interest more quickly. I also enjoy the occasional rabbit hole of this type, though 🙂
Whenever I read the tips about using bread bags, etc for various things I remember a weird moment with my MIL. We were cleaning up after a lunch at a holiday cabin, and she stopped to pick up a bread bag tab and said, in almost a reverent tone, "If you save these you'll be rich. Rich people save these."
Well. I am a fan of keeping a stray one around (because invariably, somebody loses the tab or twist-tie off the current loaf of bread!), and I remember my mom had a little container of them around, but I was not aware that, say, Jeff Bezos made his fortune by saving bread tabs. I think what she *meant* was that the real "rich" people you see make their money by saving in small ways...but since she's a bonafide hoarder I suspect she really does use magical thinking when it comes to objects.
Personally after Kroger phases out plastic bags here, we'll likely resort to using bread bags for litter box scooping jobs--because those grocery bags are what we use right now, and I don't know what we're supposed to do once they get rid of the plastic bags!
@Karen A.,
DH grew up in family that saved bread tabs. I never thought a bread tab was a well designed closure. They are brittle and break easily. Furthermore, they don’t keep things tightly closed. So what are they used for?
In our house, DH puts them in a bowl on the island to save. I throw them away a few days later. We both seem happy with this arrangement, and he has never needed one. I do save twist ties and rubber band though. I use those for many things.
@Bee, I've seen bread bag tabs used to fix cheap rubber flip-flops —remember those? They were called "zories" or (heaven forbid) "thongs" when I was a kid.
@Bee, Ha, my mom had three cleaned-out frosting cans in the drawer where our foil was. One had twist ties, one had rubber bands, and one had bread tabs. We were supposed to put any we found in there, but honestly, in my memory the jars were all half full and I didn't see the point.
I have read somewhere about people using bread tabs to label cords, so you know which is which. That seems like a good use! Amy D also had a reader entry about making them into tabs for index cards in a card file box.
@Bee, I once used a bread tag to fix the hole at the top of a vertical blind. It worked great and is still in operation years later.
I crocheted a fatigue mat out of plarn. It was very comfortable to stand on when I washed dishes.
In addition to spray-painting thrift store picture frames, the mats from those frames also spray paint just fine. I have rescued many a grubby thrifted mat by painting it.
My favorite example of this is a linen-textured mat that I sprayed copper-colored to match the pink and copper print of a dachshund unraveling the sweater she's wearing. It looks awesome and hangs over my sewing table, which is appropriate considering the amount of sewing I do for the dogs.
Vague recollection of used panty hose being sent overseas during Desert Storm. They were used to protect or strain sand out of engines and equipment.
Came to the party kinda late, so I have laughed a lot at ideas and visions and comments. As for pantyhose, I have mentioned before that I needed to wear some for a wedding a year ago and could not get my foot second foot in the leg d/t shortness, lack of agility and chunkiness. Fortunately, I had a young friend with me, who was a nursing student that helped me into them. Then the pretty black shoes I had not worn for a long time disintegrated at the wedding reception. I had stored them in a closet with fluctuating temperatures. There was no way of knowing this would happen to them and no spare shoes in my purse. Anyway, I have resorted to thigh high stockings for the future.
My Mom had a plastic freezer container next to the sink to collect tabs, twist ties, and rubber bands. I realized items were very seldom used from it and noted the saving of the items had become the unconscious goal.
I still have not tried the Mark Cuban site for the "gold" prescription I take. I have contacted the drug company and the most savings they can "allow" is a copay of $128 per month which means three times that when I get a three month supply. This drug is up for generic status now or soon and I'm hoping another company is in the works of making it so. I finally reasoned in my mind that the condition the drug is potentially keeping me from is worth the price in prevention.
My pantyhose solution: I don't wear them anymore. My bare legs are ugly, so I wear longer skirts. I'm entering my dotage and I decided one of the privileges of being older is never having to wear pantyhose again!
I had to laugh when I spied the screen shot of our texting!
Oh my goodness, the trick of grating the bottom of anything that's just a little too crispy is still in my repertoire to this day! I say a little prayer of thanks to my beloved Amy D. every time I use that trick.
(It's not in Kristen's text, it's in one of the pictures.)
I still wear pantyhose frequently (cold climate and pale legs) so I did like the reuse ideas. But making a bikini out of them? haha
Jump rope: buy the appropriate length of rope at a hardware store that sells it by the foot. bread bags are for picking up dog poop 🙂
In Amy's defense, she did have alot of kids (six total) and she lived in the country. She was the self-professed "frugal zealot" and found a way to use/repurpose/not buy anything! Yes, the newsletters/books are from the 1990s but a surprising amount of the info is timeless. I will always defend Amy. She changed my life in the 1990s. I am living mortgage-free, debt-free in my early 60s.
When I saw the picture and caption on Facebook saying this post included something you wouldn't do, I immediately noticed the burnt cookie box cutter tip under the jump rope idea. Wondering if you would or have done that! I feel like it would be a big mess for not a great reward...still overdone cookies. Unless someone likes them really crunchy.