Your children are 10, 15, and 16. Perhaps it's time mum got a job.

Who DOESN'T do this? (I'm talkin' to the hardcore tea drinkers here. People who make/drink sun tea need not chime in.)

Tea leaves are good for at least 3 cups each and drinking just one cup is silly. Normally, I pop in a bag and refill the cup about 5 times. By the fifth go round, it's gettin' weak and you're gonna have to pee so it's okay to toss the bag.

For loose leaf green tea? I can make at least two liters per scoop.

Little known fact:
"Toilet paper can be reused up to three times."

~John Dingleberries

I reuse the same teabag throughout the day so I don't get too much caffeine. Nothing wrong with that.

There was some (nutty) family I read about a few years back, who recycled nearly everything so that they threw out only one garbage barrel full a year.

I suppose it's admirable but they did things like reuse Christmas wrapping paper, washed out zip lock food bags, newspaper was used to wash windows and even washed out paper towels, which they hung up to dry.

Now, food scraps went into a compost bin, which was just fine, but I shudder to think what served for toilet paper.

During times of severe economic down turns (meaning being dirt poor) I've economized and even tried the tea bag trick -- but found you don't get much from a used T-bag. (Unless you dry it out thoroughly, then grind it into a powder and add it to hot water like instant tea. Then it tastes like shiat and takes far too long to do.) Did that with coffee grounds also and found you need to add 3 to 4 times as much to make one pot of krappy tasting coffee.

My grandparents grew up without paper towels and few sponges. They always had 'dish rags' about, which they washed with the laundry and reused. When cheap, synthetic sponges came about, they used those mostly. They had some secret which they used when the sponges started to reek from left behind bacteria. I don't know what it was but it got rid of the stench.

These days, you place a reeking, wet sponge in a microwave and zap it for a few minutes and the heat kills the bacteria. You can also boil it for 5 minutes in a pot of boiling water.

Now, at one time someone suggested using the colorful comic pages from the newspapers, especially on Sundays (back when only Sunday comics were colored) for wrapping paper.

I cut back by turning down my hot water heater, even turning it off at times. I used less lights. I used a kerosene heater in the winter -- which made my place rather aromatic until spring. I bought store brands a lot and a lot of rice and pasta. I fixed my car so many times using junkyard parts that they almost knew me by name. (You could buy used tires and batteries there also. Dirt cheap.) A couple of times I fixed a hole in my tail pipe with wire coat hangers and a beer or soda can.

Though, I never even wanted to be as through a recycler as the folks who threw out only one garbage can of trash a year.

I like my tea like I like my women ...

no joke, my graduate advisor (100k+ income) uses plain lipton tea bags, and he uses them once or twice a day for at least a month at a time. as long as the water changes color, he considers it still usable. I bought a keurig coffeemaker for the lab and explained that each cup of coffee was about 40-50 cents, and he looked at me like i was absolutely insane.

shanrick: Little known fact:
"Toilet paper can be reused up to three times."

~John Dingleberries

Q; How do you cook toilet paper?
A: Just brown it one side

doglover: Tea leaves are good for at least 3 cups each and drinking just one cup is silly. Normally, I pop in a bag and refill the cup about 5 times. By the fifth go round, it's gettin' weak and you're gonna have to pee so it's okay to toss the bag.


I do that too when I'm drinking tea in the office. Electric tea pot on desk, bag in cup, refill 2-3 times and drink it down.

Rik01: I suppose it's admirable but they did things like reuse Christmas wrapping paper, washed out zip lock food bags, newspaper was used to wash windows and even washed out paper towels, which they hung up to dry.

Wrapping paper makes a lot of sense. Well, when it's an adult present. I expect kids to shred the stuff. These days I see most birthday and holiday gifts (aside from Christmas) coming in gift bags which are awesome. It's not uncommon to see the same gift bag show up 3-4 times in our social circle as we all reuse it for giving gifts to each other's kids.

And I've been tempted to wash out zipper bags too. Especially the big thick one gallon ones that we use when we store left over pizza in for like 2 days. That thing has got a lot more shelf life in it.

Using newspaper for washing windows actually works awesome. I do that and it's not because I'm cheap. It really just works well. There's no lint left behind and it's really fine grained, not like paper towel or cloth at all. Coffee filters work well on windows too, for the same reasons, but newspaper is obviously cheaper.

Now, washing paper towels... that's just silly. Get some cloth wipes. We use them around the house, mostly for washing up the toddler after meals. They also get used as napkins at dinner time. My wife tore into a old sheet set she got from a garage sale, hit the sewing machine, and made up a bunch a couple of years ago. Works good, saves us on paper towels too.

The Angry Hand of God: CapnBlues: no joke, my graduate advisor (100k+ income) uses plain lipton tea bags, and he uses them once or twice a day for at least a month at a time. as long as the water changes color, he considers it still usable. I bought a keurig coffeemaker for the lab and explained that each cup of coffee was about 40-50 cents, and he looked at me like i was absolutely insane.

Have you tried one of these? I have been considering buying one myself.

[ecx.images-amazon.com image 300x300]

I kind of use those twice. I usually do one 10oz cup and then add a 6 oz cup to it, assuming the mug is big enough. It doesn't dilute much.

The Angry Hand of God: Have you tried one of these? I have been considering buying one myself.

[ecx.images-amazon.com image 300x300]

I got the solofill one (it's red) and it works fine. I'm just not cheap enough to use it regularly.

Linky (new window)


blondski: I've never seen my graduate adviser eat. He only consumes instant Folgers coffee throughout the day.

You're lucky. When people get to a certain level of prestige at universities, they seem to cease caring what they look like while they eat. Somewhere between frog and basking shark is often the best descriptor.

AverageAmericanGuy: Lisa, 32, said: "Each bag's enough for three cups, so it's a waste to chuck them. If the banks and government were as careful, the economy wouldn't be so bad."

It's precisely this kind of folksy wisdom that is driving economies like Greece into economic turmoil. Contrary to this bumpkin's uneducated opinion, economies work better with money pumping into them. They suffer terribly when spending is cut back.

But lack of education is probably why Dale and Lisa only make £18,000 a year at 27 and 32 years old respectively. The government shouldn't take these people seriously (I'm looking at you, Republicans).

You do realize the couple in the article live in the U.K., right?