海角大神

I鈥檓 pretty well known online for being very frugal about some things. A few people even like to toss jokes my way about my 鈥渆xtreme鈥� frugality, as I鈥檝e gone so far as to calculate the cost of a sheet of toilet paper.

It鈥檚 simple: I want to know the value of what I鈥檓 getting for every penny that I spend. If I can do a five second calculation once and it shows me that I can save ten cents every time I buy Brand Z toilet paper instead of Brand Y, I look at it as a success because I can use that calculation again and again.

I don鈥檛 mind washing freezer bags. I鈥檒l happily try homemade solutions for almost every kind of cleaner. I love finding ways to reuse leftovers and buy in bulk.

Still, there are some lines that I don鈥檛 like to cross, whether it鈥檚 due to personal beliefs or health concerns or introversion. There are just some frugal tactics I can鈥檛 bring myself to take on.

Here are five of them.

I don鈥檛 save condiment packages from restaurants. One of my friends always asks for extra condiment packets at restaurants and always grabs a fistful whenever they鈥檙e available. He then takes them home and, when he鈥檚 doing something like watching television, he opens them and puts them into the respective bottles.

While this could save a few bucks during an hour鈥檚 worth of television watching, I don鈥檛 do this out of sanitary concern. Food cross-contamination issues sincerely worry me and when you do this, you鈥檙e doing lots of potential cross-contamination. It鈥檚 not worth it if you cause your condiment to go bad at a much faster rate. Yes, I know that most of the foods you鈥檇 be doing this with have a low rate of spoilage, but I also know I鈥檝e seen some frightening ketchup in the past.

I don鈥檛 use public restrooms unless I have to. Quite a few people I know make it a point to do their bathroom business out and about. One person I know (his name starts with K and he鈥檚 a reader of The Simple Dollar) hasn鈥檛 taken a shower at home in a year because he just does it at the gym each day, as he figures it鈥檚 an extra perk of membership. An old coworker of mine use to go to the bathroom like clockwork just before leaving for the day, theoretically to save on toilet paper, water, and soap at home.

Again, while this can certainly save a bit of money on water, soap, and paper products, I tend to avoid public restrooms for sanitary reasons. I don鈥檛 know how they were cleaned and I don鈥檛 know about the health of the people who previously used them. While I do use them in a pinch, I鈥檇 prefer to spend the nickel and use my home bathroom.

I don鈥檛 constantly negotiate. I have a friend who will negotiate any price at any time. She鈥檒l negotiate at every yard sale or farmers market. She鈥檒l also negotiate at any store where there鈥檚 an item on special discount. I鈥檝e witnessed all manner of haggling and cajoling from this person.

While I鈥檝e haggled quite a few times, I鈥檒l generally walk away from things rather than become disruptive. For me, it鈥檚 not worth buying an item if I have to make a nuisance of myself in public. I鈥檝e witnessed hagglers hold up lines of people and create a noisy nuisance that frustrated me far too many times and it鈥檚 not something I like to foist on others.

I don鈥檛 buy the low end version of something I know I鈥檒l use. I am quite willing to spend more on an item that I know is going to receive regular use around my home.

If I know something is going to be used a lot, I鈥檓 more interested in purchasing a reliable version of that product than I am buying the absolute least expensive version. I will buy the 鈥渃heap鈥� one if I鈥檓 not sure how much I鈥檒l use an item, but when I鈥檓 replacing something and I know I鈥檒l use it, I will always look for the best 鈥渂ang for the buck鈥� version of the item with a strong eye toward reliability. That often means a pricier version than I might have otherwise purchased.

I don鈥檛 reuse aluminum foil. If a piece of aluminum foil isn鈥檛 wrinkled or absolutely ruined, I know at least one person who will flatten it out and save it for use the next time. I鈥檝e seen pieces of aluminum foil covering dishes wind up on the grill and vice versa. I鈥檝e even seen pieces move from dish to dish.

As with the condiment packages, my primary reason for not reusing aluminum foil is due to food cross-contamination issues. I have used aluminum foil as a grill covering immediately after taking it off of whatever food item it was covering, but that doesn鈥檛 create a cross-contamination issue and you are thoroughly cooking the aluminum foil anyway.

Frugality is a virtue, but it鈥檚 not the only virtue.