Recent Adventures in Frugality

Have you ever tried something in the name of saving money, only to find that it didn't work out too well? I have two examples that come to mind: 1) Last year I tried drying out my coffee grounds and then reusing them---the coffee was bitter!!!! Disgusting! The best I can do is pick this up on sale at the dollar store. Lucky for me, I drink Folgers and that is not too pricey. Some may say to just give up the coffee---maybe I'll do that at a much later date :-) 2) My attic clothes line. I do about three loads of clothes/week (jeans, white, colors). I figured that I could save on electricity if I dried my clothes on a line. I used to have a clothes line in my back yard, but this was lost to construction 7 years ago. I decided that I would air-dry my clothes upstairs. Ewww...the towels were rigid and like sandpaper. and the clothes were all wrinkled. I guess drying clothes outside lets them flap in the breeze, thus reducing wrinkles and stiffness.

On a positive note, I bought a tag-along-bike. Jimmy has yet to ride a bike. This hinders going for a family bike ride as he can't keep up on his scooter. I got a good deal on the tagalong; it was barely used---still had the rubber stringy things on the tire. I bought it for half of what they sell for new. I debated for two weeks whether or not to buy it. I decided to go ahead---and that I could sell it for about what I paid for it when Jimmy finally learns to ride a bike.