The Tightwad Checklist

Taken from the 'Tightwad Gazette'.....

'Just how does one distinguish the practitioner of lifelong frugality from those drifting with the current fad? When visiting homes of individuals in question use this handy checklist to record the telltale signs of a classic tightwad.'


1. a scrubber made from a mesh onion bag.
2. A squirt bottle of homemade window cleaner.
3. A new soap bar with a soap sliver adhered...I thought that was the only way to do it!
4. A bundle of old socks(or towels)in the workshop to be used as grease rags...old shirts or socks make great dust rags & cleaning cloths too!
5. A jug of vegetable broth in the frige.
6. A 20 qt. box of powdered milk......or in my case, a 32.5lb. box of laundry detergent!
7. A roll of paper towels cut in half.
8. Any overturned bottle in the process of draining the last bit out....again...I thought everybody did this?!
9. A pencil less than 3" long!
10. Any item repaired with a twist tie, paper clip, or hanger....duct tape is the cure-all in this neck of the woods!! Skippy & John Ed can fix ANYTHING with duct tape!!! Ha!
11. An impressive stash of one of the following items: egg cartons, styrofoam meat trays, TP tubes or frozen juice lids....used to have boo-coos of egg cartons when we had chickens. And I even collected the juice lids too for ages.....made some really cute frige magnets & Christmas tree ornaments with them!
12. A started shopping list on the back of a utility bill envelope.
13. A stockpile of .44 per can tuna....I've got a stock pile of .50 boxes of mac & cheese.
14. An indoor clothesline or wooden clothes-drying rack....My wooden clothes rack sits at the top of the stairs....works wonders during the winter when the wood stove's going!


Ok, so now it's YOUR turn......confess how many of these tightwad tips you practice & share with us any others you might do that weren't on this list!