Do you waste or conserve (anything, not just food)?
 

Are you one of those people who has to scrape the last out of the butter box, drain the milk or use the last burger in the freezer even though it's been there for over a month (but still in date)? Do you hate to throw out something that's not fully empty or used? Will you use up food in the freezer even if it's not really what you want today, just so it doesn't go to waste? And whatever about food, are you the type who wears clothes till they fall off you, or puts out dustbins half-full, throws on a half-load of washign or will you wait till you have enough for a full one? Do you believe in the value of things, or do you feel hell it's been there long enough and I'm tired of it now I'll throw it out? Do you buy clothes you never wear? DVDs you never watch? Games you never play or albums you never listen to?

Since my ma died and I basically had to run the house I've come to a greater appreciation of the value of money. Now I hate waste. If I'm going to buy something I usually consider will I use it? I'velooked at things I'd like to try for dinner but if they can't be frozen and I'm not sure I usually won't buy them. I scrape the last out of the butter even if there's another full one in the fridge, and use up the last of a carton of milk before opening another. I've been threatening to buy a console (PS3/XBox) for a few years but in my heart of hearts I know it would sit probably unopened in its box for god knows how long and I'd probably never use it, so I don't bother. In the same way I don't buy PC games, as I know they'd just be a waste of money, I'd never use them.

So what about you guys? How do you generally feel about waste?

I never waste anything unless I absolutely have to. I've used pens til they were dry, I only replace my cosmetics when they're gone or gross, and I usually wear my clothes until they're pretty much rags. Jew life.

I'm super frugal in most ways. I scrape/lick out tubs of foodstuff, wear my clothes 'til they're threadbare, wear my shoes 'til they're literally falling apart, will eat mouldy and out of date food rather than throw it away, don't put the heating on until I can see my breath. Thankfully nature blessed me with a fine constitution and so I can get away with eating mouldy food and living in the cold and still feel fine.

As for unwanted and little used purchases like CDs, games, books, etc., I sell it all on eBay.

What I do waste, unfortunately, is electricity, and lots of it. My hi-fi system in pretty high end and sounds best when warmed up for a while, so rather than turning it off when it's not in use, I leave it constantly powered on. Worse, it's hooked up to a mains conditioner that outputs 4,600 watts continuous power with 23,000 watts transient ability. Not very green at all, and a source of some guilt.

It seems as if the trend so far is frugal. I wouldn't really call it extreme or obsessive, just simple things. I don't know if I'd go and eat moldy food though lol

This may be semi-unrelated, but this came to mind immediately.



A weeks worth of food for only $65 is pretty good in my book.

I conserve as much as I can but quite often forget to use food which I have to chuck out as its gone off.

For the most part I conserve like with electricity but when it comes to like the value of things especially when it's related to my hobbies. I tend to splurge a bit. I buy video games that I play for a little bit but don't complete. They may end up sitting there and collecting dust but I can always go back and play them in the future. So, I don't really see that as being a waste if you don't play something immediately. You buy something so that you can have it for a lifetime. You can choose whenever you want to play/view said thing.

I do that with games too! I bought Age of Empires 3 (American Indians extension) and only started playing it last week excessively.

I waste a lot of everything. Money is a big one since I don't really have many issues with money, so I think "well, i'm good for the month, I can spend whatever". I was never disciplined with money in the first place so perhaps that's a bad thing.

lies.

I have taught you the jew way.

You two crack me up.

I still waste money though :P

I just spent like 20 minutes trying to find a gif/clip of Francine's mother (from American Dad) saying "wasteful!"

came up with nothing.

So, that was a waste of time?

Oooohh snap!

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma...2ulmo1_500.gif

yeah it was, actually.

Not only do I do pretty much all of the frugal things listed in the op, I'm so obsessive about recycling that i don't even pay for trash pickup. I literally produce 1 grocery sack(or less) of actual trash a month(which i throw in with my aunts trash). Everything else gets recycled, reused, or composted for my garden, and I preserve everything from it that I don't eat fresh. Nothing bugs me more than to see something useable\recyclable get carted off to the landfill,

You mean you don't pocket mulch? :D :rofl:

I use everything until I can't anymore. My shoes are currently held together with duct tape.

I have socks that have massive holes in them just because I'm too cheap to buy new ones. I usually wear my shoes til the soles are falling off or they've got so many holes that all I have to do is step in a tiny little puddle and I've got damp feet all day.

I have a lot of clothes that I've had for almost 10 years, and I never buy new clothes (I work in a thrift store, and our things are nice - throw them in the wash and they're good as new!) because:

1 - they're ridiculously expensive.
2 - women's clothes are shittily made. I've had hoodies made out of goddamn t-shirt material (at twice the price of thrift!). :mad:

I don't cut my hair, I don't get my nails done, and I only buy new cosmetics when I'm absolutely out and desperate. People spend way too much money on shit they don't need.

This thread is descending into who is the most thrifty person.

If there are holes in my socks. I throw them away. I don't let my shoes get so bad that they have holes in them before getting new pairs.

During the wet season, when I had to walk everywhere I finally bit and bought a new pair of shoes (though seeing that I get a 50% discount at work and a lot of what we get in is like-new, I can see myself acquiring more eventually) but man, shit's expensive these days. Especially textiles. What the hell happened?

I can't speak for others but in my case it's really just that I can't actually afford new things or to waste anything. Agreed with Lady, clothing is expensive as **** so I only shop at thrift stores but have an incredibly hard time finding men's clothes that fit me and that I actually like. You'd think what with all the horrifying sweatshop labor over seas new clothes would be more affordable.

Idk where you all are seeing these expensive clothes but I can easily find affordable clothes without going to a thrift shop.

Good clothes are expensive. Plnty of places, especially Supermarkets, sell jeans for a tenner here (that's 'bout 16 bucks) but they don't last. And they're made in sweatshops.

It's not necessarily that they're expensive I guess more just that I don't have a lot of disposable income, about 100$/month so if I spend 20-30$ before tax on 3 garments then I can't do anything for the rest of the month. I guess I'd rather get a six pack of nice beer or treat myself to something nice to eat once every other week or so then have clothes that don't look like they've been assaulted by moths. A lot of it has to do with my job though, it's surprisingly rough on my clothes and between that and skateboarding... whew, my **** gets wrecked.

@charlie, the good ones are more then likely made in sweatshops too.

Yeah, you're probably right. :(

American Apparel, if you can stomach their terrifyingly horrible employees, makes some nice clothes that may be affordable- at least with basics. And they're made in America. Can't say I would be caught dead in disco pants but I have a few t shirts that fit me nicely from there that were like 15$.

American Apparel's CEO is a ****ing paedo

What??

Their ads always weirded me out and I can't stand being in one of those stores for longer than 10 minutes but I had no idea their CEO was a pedophile, EW.

Actually I think I mixed him up with Terry "Tampon Tea" Richardson but Dov does have a tonne of sexual harassment suits against him

Dov is ****ing nasty

...t...t-

Tampon... tea?





I'm not surprised honestly, I bet a lot of those snooty upper class fashion peeps are creepy ass mother****ers. Now I feel dirty for owning anything by AA.

Dlisted | Terry Richardson Loves Tampons

kfssfkjfsjkfsk

Awwwww

why

why did i click that

i knew i didn't wanna read it

and then... the other pics...

Thank you, Hermione. I guess tomorrow I'll have something to post in the Nightmare thread about. *shudders*

He also has discriminatory employment practices. Just Because "Looks Discrimination" Is Not Illegal Doesn't Mean It's Not Stupid - Business Insider

How is that NOT illegal?

Jesus christ, this world sometimes.

I have a lot of trouble finding pants/bluejeans because I'm very petite (and I'm just slim all through) and a lot of pants seem to be modeled after women who are 5'11" so if I'm super desperate I'll shop at new retail stores - but I also go for clearance racks (usually the smaller garments are left over - I don't know why this is but I once scored a nice pair of pants at JC Penney's for like $2 - and they lasted me almost 8 years!) because let's face it: women end up paying $15-20+ on low end bluejeans/pants and they're made so cheaply (Forever21, I'm looking at you!) that they wear out after a couple years.

Also consider for a second that men's clothing is made to last. Your shirts are at least twice as thick, your jeans have no give to them, and your shoes last forever! And it's usually more affordable than women's clothing (men's departments are also remarkably smaller in almost every major retailer - though it's huge (as big as women's, if not bigger) in the store I work in.