How Frugal Am I?

Pretty damn frugal. One of my pet peeves is how wasteful plastic bags are. Not that I'm particularly "green". I actually find the over use and commercialization of that term rather nauseating. I absolutely positively cannot stand waste. If it has value don't chuck it into the landfill. Which brings me back to plastic bags. Plastic grocery bags, if left unchecked, will literally take over your home. I try to be good and take one of my many reusable shopping totes on my retail expeditions. However, being the forgetful sort, I invariable end up with plastic shopping bags laying around. What do I then to with those bags? They are handy for lining small trash cans, like those under the bathroom counter. Use them doubled, as they seem to be getting thinner (and thinner) and are usually riddled with holes. Only the brave (or stupid) would attempt to put liquid waste in them. Another handy use I find for them is padding items to be shipped. (Yes, I also save all my smaller boxes for mailing in). That takes care of plastic shopping bags, but what about all those zip-lock food storage bags? First of all, I try to use as few of them as possible. I am very partial to the glasslock storage set I found at Costco. But sometimes you just need a zip lock bag, like for freezing bread in small portions. Home baked bread has no preservatives and will tend to mold if not eaten in a timely fashion. I only buy good quality heavy duty freezer bags. And, as long as they have not held meat or fat, I wash and reuse them.  Yesterday was "bag washing" day.

The bags are scrubbed in hot soapy water, rinsed thoroughly and then given a sanitizing bleach water soak. In good weather they are hung on my clothesline but during the winter they are hung on one of my Ikea folding clothes racks and left to dry in the brewing room. That is the warmest room in the house because that is where our libations ferment.