Frugality isn't all how-to and do

This past week's posts have been filled with how-tos. And frankly I'm about exhausted by all the how-tos. But I wanted to get them out there, for anyone else needing the information.

A lot of what we read on these frugal living blogs is how to do something you normally do, but for less. This information is all helpful. But in reality, most of our frugal living is not activity-oriented.

When I think of all the things that I don't do, that wind up saving us money, the list looks something like this:


1) I sometimes don't get around to replacing a burned-out light bulb for a long while. (Sorry, girls, that bathroom light bulb will eventually get changed out.)


2) Some weeks, cooking is not-so-creative and meals look like this -- breakfast: oatmeal, lunch: peanut butter on bread, dinner: a huge pot of soup that winds up feeding the 5 of us for 3 different dinners.


3) I keep myself out of stores, and save, save, save -- no coupons required when you're not shopping.


4) Old and worn towels take up life in the rag pile. I don't even cut them up. Large towels are great for wiping down the car, after a wash. Medium size towels make great mop-heads for my Swiffer. And the washcloths and fingertip towels are the perfect size for cleaning up kitchen spills.


5) I probably only get one or two professional haircuts per year, some years, not at all. The in-between times, I take a small pair of scissors and trim up every few weeks. And this takes me less time than driving to a salon -- about 10 minutes. (A note, I have thick and curly hair. A self-haircut doesn't show ragged edges on my type of hair.) 


6) In summer, we sometimes skip a week of mowing the back lawn. Our mower is rechargeable electric, so this does result in less electricity used.


7) We stick with our ancient technology gadgets, like our phone. It's tethered to the wall, no portable phone for our house. We've had this phone for about 25 years, and it still works, so why replace it.


8) We've accepted hand-me-downs for probably 75% of our furniture. We didn't have to do anything to fill our house, but open the front door.


9) In the flower gardens, I plant almost all perennials or flowering evergreens. Plant once, and they come back year after year. Plus, I've learned to embrace the color green.



You see, what we don't do easily saves us as much money as what we do do. Maybe it sounds like we're lazy. But I like to think that we're just very busy, and don't have time to do everything.


How about you? Do you think that you save more money in the doing, or in the not-doing?

How to make your own Melitta-style No. 1 coffee filters (for under a nickel a dozen) *and* loose tea emp-teas (I call them tea blanks)

Melitta-style No. 1 cone coffee filters for a under a penny per filter

We have 2 coffee makers. One is for a whole pot for both my husband and I, and the other is a one -cup-at-a-time machine, for when one of us (that would be me) just wants a cup of decaf or the like. Our one-cup coffee maker is pre-Kcup craze, but makes a great cup of coffee.

Our cup-at-a-time coffee maker came with a permanent, cone-shaped filter. Permanent, that is, until it developed holes. I searched the web for a replacement, permanent coffee filter that would fit in our machine --  no luck. (Our coffee maker was a hand-me-down 18 years ago, so no wonder I can't find a replacement part today.)

I started buying the paper filters that would work for this coffee maker -- Melitta No. 1 cone-style coffee filters. They come 40 to a box, and typically sell for about $2.50 in a local store, or $1.50, if bought in bulk through Amazon. This gets pricey, at a nickel per cup of coffee, for just the filter.

In need of a cheaper alternative, I began making my own paper filters.

4-6 cup basket style filters sell for $1/150 ct. at Dollar Tree. I can make 2 cone-style coffee filters from every 1 basket filter. And they wind up having the same dimensions as the Melitta product. It costs me 13 cents to make 40 filters, or a savings of $1.37 to $2.37 per 40-ct box. Using a sewing machine, I can make a dozen filters in about 10 minutes.

Here's how I make them.

Take one 4-6 cup basket coffee filter. Fold in half to crease.

Cut in half along the crease.

Fold each piece in half again, making a fan shape.

On the sewing machine, with white, all-cotton thread (I used dark thread here so you could see my stitching), stitch up the long and straight side of the "fan".

Fold the point up about 1 inch. Stitch this fold in place. Your filter should now be of the same dimensions as the Melitta No. 1 filters. They work exactly as the manufactured filters for me.

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Emp-teas (or tea blanks), for a fraction of a penny each

I admit it, I'm a bit lazy at times, and don't want to wash out tea balls. So, I make tea blanks, empty filter bags to scoop loose tea into, without the hassle of having to wash up a tea ball later.

I can make 3 tea blanks out of one 4-6 cup paper, basket-style coffee filter.

I fold the coffee filter in half.

Then fold into thirds.

I open the filter up and cut 3 equal-sized pieces out of the filter.

Fold each piece in half.

Machine stitch along the rounded bottom edge, then up one side, to about 1 inch from the point.

This is the opening for spooning in tea.

I just keep a bunch of tea blanks in my tin with packets of loose tea, and fill them as I need them. I spoon tea into a blank, fold the tip over, and staple shut.

(For how to add a fun tag, for gifting see this post from last year.)