Yes friends, it’s October’s first Friday, so time for your favorite feature, Frugal Friday. (Finally!)
We’ll start this month out with some news from the cultural front. Frugal Duchess brought us news of a survey done by allyou.com/Shortcuts.com. Respondents were asked to choose between four possible improvements to 
their lives: more sex, an extra $50 a week, drop one clothing size, or an extra hour a day of free time.
I believe that the combination of the Great Recession and the good work that I and others have been doing to spread the word about frugality must have done some good, because no less than 57% of people picked $50 more a month. In fact, they even rank ordered the other three correctly: drop a size, more sex and then finally an extra hour. (Of course, the question is a no-brainer. With $50 more a month you can buy the other three.)
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Usually, the word "late" carries a negative connotation. But not in the phrase "late edition." So the fact that this ought to have been posted a week ago is a good thing, right?
Speaking of positive and negative connotations, two frugal bloggers raised a similar confusing question on August 28th. Dawn at Frugal for Life posted 
When Frugality Crosses Over to Stealing and Serena at Queercents asked When Does Frugality Constitute Stealing?
Before I read these posts I thought the answer to Serena’s question was "When you’re really good at it." Because a truly great bargain is a steal. Isn’t it?
Alas, both these bloggers meant "steal" in a pejorative sense, which confused me. Apparently, they want to complicate the frugal lifestyle with an unnecessary set of new rules. For example, it’s no good using coupons if you stole the newspaper you cut them out of. Also, under this new regime, smuggling snacks into the movie theatre and then fishing used refill cups out of the trash to get free soda is frowned upon. What’s next? Are you going to tell me I shouldn’t have my friends hold open the fire exit so I can sneak in without a ticket?
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There was just so much exciting frugal material in July that it took me an extra two days to sort through it all.
Many of the posts in the best frugal blogs are seasonal, so it should be no surprise that July brought a wave of excellent tips on Christmas shopping. (For example, here, here, here, here, and here.) Being Frugal (the fourth link) suggested getting your family photo taken now when studios are not so busy. I think that’s better than paying more in November, but if you were really being frugal you’d just use the same picture every year.
Speaking of Being Frugal, its author has decided to go on a "change fast" for August. The plan is to not spend coins received in change and to save them instead. How could that not increase wealth? My plan is to visit the ATM every morning, withdraw $100, not spend it during the day, and deposit it back in the bank each evening. By the end of the month I will be rich.
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I realize that today is a holiday for many of you, but I just couldn’t put off the monthly round-up of tips from the frugalosphere for another week. I know than this means that most of you will not get this until Monday, when you 
return to the office (internet at home is not frugal) but that’s better than waiting until the end of the week, isn’t it?
June was an exciting month as old themes faded into memory and new ones emerged. There was nothing in June worth reporting on toilet paper and toilet paper tubes, nor on laundry detergent.
What was big this month was food. Frugal Upstate shared a recipe for Iced Coffee. (Can you imagine the CEO of Starbucks when he heard the formula got out!) Other tips included freezing the unused whites of eggs in ice cube trays if your recipe calls for only yolks and cutting the sugar called for in cookie recipes in half. They will taste just as good Thrifty Jinxy tells us.
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It’s the first Friday of the month, so it’s time to review all the exciting recent developments in the frugalosphere.
May was a month of themes, some old, some new. In the old category there was the ongoing frugal controversy over toilet paper. We were cheered to read that a California county stopped buying four-ply tissue. Much of 
California’s current budgetary troubles are no doubt traceable to this luxury. And the Frugal Duchess shared a related tip: flatten the roll "a bit" so it doesn’t roll so easily and waste paper.
But then One Caveman’s Financial Journey had a long and well researched post making the case that, in the long run, more expensive toilet paper is actually cheaper. Apparently, his research shows that a person uses less of the good stuff, resulting in a net savings of $0.002 (a fifth of a penny) per bathroom visit. We will have to wait for other frugal scientists to reproduce these results before we accept his findings.
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Frugal Friday | Frank Curmudgeon | 
October 2, 2009 6:03 pm | 
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