Tightskates and Cheapwads

[Count Duckula]

Coupons with us are an episodic thing.  I await meat sales on the styles I like then chop and freeze. I buy a lot of generic, Mrs Occhi is not as motivated, but she and my daughter are hell on consignment and very careful timing on clothing sales. Make our own spaghetti sauce.  Three years of practice in Italy will do that to you.  Buy pasta boxes, Barilla, by the case, save 15%.  Day old bread. (1/2 off). Generic Sodas. Our downfall is the deli counter, of course, with cheese and meat by the pound, pre sliced to the thickness you want while you watch.  Just too tempting . . . but we buy store brand, not Boar's Head.
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My only problem with freezing everything is that we have limited freezer space. (That and my roommates have this annoying habit of sticking the meat in the freezer without repackaging it, but that's another story. :angry: ) Every vegetable that comes into this apartment ends up chopped or minced in the freezer, and that plus the meat plus the regular frozen items really fills up.

I go for consignment/thrift shops for work clothes, as well as Goodwill. I have enough super-nice and super-lazy stuff left over from college, but in order to be professional while mopping dead geckoes and customer slime off books, I need to wear khakis and nice shirts. My solution: don't pay more than $4 for a shirt, $7 for pants, and throw 'em all into the washer together for a cold/warm wash.

My spaghetti sauce recipe:
2 cans of tomato sauce (16oz)
chopped frozen vegetables (about half a quart bag each of onions and peppers)
2 fresh tomatoes (preferably Roma)
a pinch of baking powder (reduces the acid--one of my roomies has an ulcer)
a minced clove of frozen garlic (puts the acid right back in, ehehehehehe)
oregano and sweet basil to taste

Stir, let sit until sauce thickens (but don't let it scorch the bottom!) and the sauce starts erupting in tiny blops all over the stovetop.

You can often get the not-as-attractive end and butt pieces of cheese from the deli for cheap if you plan on slicing or grating or don't mind doesn't-look-the-same-but-eats-the-same stuff.

To find a quality canning setup check with grandparents, yard sales, estate sales, and classifieds. One thing to remember as a bargain hunter, especially with things like food and auto parts, do not sacrifice quality to save a few pennies.
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I've been searching all the usual places for canning equipment, and the stuff in my price range seems a little iffy. (There's pressure in pressure cooking...)

I admit it, I got screwed when I moved to Florida. My car battery died and my dead alternator drained the next two batteries put in the car. The place that fixed it (well, tried to anyway) kept trying to charge me for the misdiagnoses and the dead batteries. I came away knowing I was screwed, but at least I didn't get, well, you know. Needless to say, I've found the Chevy dealership.

I'm not as bad as Doc. Someone stole my expensive fountain pen, and somebody else stole the refillable pen someone gave me as a present. I'm addicted to Uni-Balls: the ink flow is steady and smooth and people tend not to steal them if somebody's chewed on the pen bottom... :whistling:

I'm about on the level of Dako-ta. I haven't bought games full-price in years, computer or console. I bought D2 when it hit $20 for both Classic and LoD, and bought D1 for $15 in the big box with the paper manual. ;)

And while I work at a bookstore, the library's my beat. Here's a tip: if a library doesn't have the book you want, chances are you can inter-library loan the book from another library for a nominal fee (usually postage if they charge anything). Some libraries can even ILL articles and magazines and media.

But don't snub the bookstore. I'm the salesbook specialist, so I know where the bargains are. ^_^ Right now, we've got library copies and rentals selling for $3 apiece; even in the salebooks the same titles go for $6-$7. And they're all hardbacks. Paperbacks, depending on type, can be anywhere from $1-$5. And if you're worried about condition, most of our salesbook stock (and I've checked other bookstores and they seem to have a similar policy) is floor stock that sold poorly at another store and got sent to ours as discount. I can't count the number of titles in salesbooks that sell on the shelves for four times the price.

But don't get rooked into the discount cards! Unless you know you or your family will make back the price of the card over the term of issue, don't bother. For us, it's $10 a year for a 10% base discount, not counting the sporadic member-only sales. Then again, if you have an extended family close to store locations, it's a great thing. (We have a policy that family members can share cards.)

Our furniture is inherited. The newest piece of furniture in the whole apartment, aside from the refurbished kitchen stuff, is Kas' box springs and mattress. I've had this computer for four years--and we're wiping his brain tomorrow--and the desk he's sitting on for close to eleven. Our kitchen and dining room furniture we got from my roommate's ex-husband: a solid oak top dining table with six chairs as well as a leather couch for FREE. Reason: too old, won't fit in moving van, not wanted. :w00t:

Eating out is a guilty pleasure. As a kid, we weren't rewarded with gifts--we all went out for a good dinner out. And I spent many a midnight stretch at IHOP, nursing a carafe and trying to finish homework.

And we have four cats who eat us out of house and home, and then it all comes out the other end. :wacko: But they're better than cable. Ever see sister kittens learn how to stalk and pounce? And narrate their activities like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom?

Your dad sounds like my grandfather, Dako-ta. And he's on his way out. :( But they're good men.

I shop at bulk stores for food.  Purchasing by the case lot generally makes the unit price as low as the (limited volume) coupon prices.  The store I use has a yearly fee attached, but also has a rebate based on annual purchase totals, and I always get a rebate that more than pays for the annual fee.

I care not whether I am wearing the latest in designs, as long as I am comfortable.  This can create problems at one end - by the time the favourite clothing item has worn out, it can be very hard to find a replacement, due to the ephemeral nature of that industry.

I keep tabs on certain stores that I know have deep discount policies on 'out of season' clothing.  A quick cruise past the sales rack there can snag me a coat/blouse/trousers/shirt at 25% of original retail price although there is no advertised sale.

And, lastly, services cost an arm and a leg.  Why pay someone else to do things for you when you can do them yourself or live without them?
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I shop at health food stores whenever I can. I pay $.59 per pound of flour versus the $.40 offered at the deep-discount grocery, but the friendly staff and the quality of the product is worth the extra 19 cents. Plus, I can get whole wheat and semolina flour at the same price--only the local high-end grocery store stocks that, and at triple the price. I don't mind paying extra for quality food, especially spices.

No pork. Maybe bacon, sometimes. But no pork.

The wholesale chains down here (Sam's, Costco, BJs) offer free trial memberships every so often, and you can really stock up for the three days or so that the trial card lasts. But I can't justify paying $35-$50 for a yearly membership.

If you're buying off-the-rack, buy multiples. I stockpile good slacks and bras and sandals whenever I find them. And if you're looking for last year's fashions, consignment shop like crazy. Often places will get big clothing dumps during spring cleanings. (And this, ladies and gentlemen, was my childhood.) Though watch out for consolidation stores (TJ Maxx, Beales, Burlington Coat Factory) because they not only rely on heinous sweatshop labor but they sell polyester crap that shreds easily after ~10 washings. Go yard sale/consignment/Goodwill and find lightly used cottons for the same price.

The only services I have to think about are cell phone plans, cat spaying, and hair cutting. Verizon is great if you're in their service area--free nights and weekends PLUS free calls to Verizon phones. The Humane Society can give multiple pet owners discounts on neutering/spaying so that they only have to pay for the anesthesia. And if you wash your hair before you go and only ask for a trim, you can save $5-$7. (Or go to cosmetology training schools to be used as a test, for free or near free, and it turns out better than the cheap hair joints.)

Might sound funny in this modern age, because the South really has changed... But even back in the 50s and 60s many parts of the South were still using Colonial era technology.
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I technically grew up in the South but worked on a slightly different concept: share and barter. If one lacked what another had in abundance, they traded. Or the community worked together to benefit all. But in our material-driven society, your neighbors don't matter, if you even know your neighbors at all. Shame.

My family members get together once a week and look though circulars for all the local convenience stores.  They look for every item that has an online rebate or coupon that makes the product free, then go out on a spree buying everything they can get for nothing.
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I think online coupon sites helped spell my computer's downfall. Ain't no such thing as a free lunch--and you wouldn't believe the amount of spyware/malware you can accidently click on some of those sites.