Comments on: Share your failure and win a copy of The Tightwad Gazette

By: Carol

Carol — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:56:18 +0000

One week I decided to try to make a caramel pie otherwise the only place I could get it was at %5.00 a slice at a restaurant. I tried using my grandmothers recipe where you can place Eagle Brand milk can in boiling water. I got busy and let the boiling water dry up as it takes several hours to make this caramelize. I heard a loud bang from upstairs. When I got downstairs immediately I saw the can of Eagle Brand Milk in the next room empty. The caramel was on the stove, cabinets, ceiling, and floor. I took me weeks to clean this all up as thick sticky caramel as it is hard to get up. I even had to repaint the ceiling. From now on when I try to make this recipe I set a timer for every 30 minutes to check the water level.

By: Linda Duty

Linda Duty — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:28:23 +0000

I bought 20 pks of Kraft cheese with coupons. I paid 50 cents a pack. I kept them in the fridge in the basement. One of my neices took them out and left them on the floor. I found them a few days later. I had to throw them out. I was soooo sad.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:07:29 +0000

I researched and bought some Austrees on ebay for a good price. I watered them every day because I didn’t want them to die. That was until I got a $200 water bill!!!! opps! My cheap trees suddenly weren’t so cheap!

By: Mary Alice

Mary Alice — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:27:01 +0000

We bought a live Christmas tree one year with the idea that we’d plant it outside and have another pine tree in the yard. So we spent the big bucks on the live tree and it died in the spring.

Learned our lesson – we buy cut trees or make do with an artificial tree. No more expensive live Christmas trees for us!

By: KarenE

KarenE — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:55:37 +0000

Well, maybe I should blushingly admit that my worst frugal move has been to NOT have this book.

But I think my hubby and I would agree that the worst mistake we made was going in with a friend on a cow. Half a beef in our freezer, and we hated every bite (not having a taste at the time for grass-fed beef). I would say that close to 200 pounds of it went *gulp* into the dogs’ dish or the garbage. So many other things we could have done with it…such an embarrassing memory.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:17:59 +0000

A few different times I’ve tried to save money by buying a cheap ($1 or so) new lipstick or eye shadow instead of using the color and brand I already know works. Instead, I end up with like five really ugly shades that I throw out and end up buying the “tried and true” anyway.

By: Sara

Sara — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:46:14 +0000

Last week I dropped $40 out of my pocket at the farmer’s market because I didn’t feel like lugging my purse. So, I had to go the ATM to get more cash and paid $6 in fees. Ugh! I also keep intending to shop at thrift stores and talk myself out of it when I see great sales online.

By: Mary Alice

Mary Alice — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:32:27 +0000

Frugal: buying a farm share at a local organic farm so that we could get fresh organic produce each week for an 8 month period.

Not-so-frugal: giving away all the fresh organic produce that we didn’t like to eat (beets, kale, collards…).

We did like some of the produce, but it was sad when we got produce in our weekly share that no one in the house liked to eat.

Now I just go to local farm stands and just buy the produce we like to eat.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:32:35 +0000

There have been more than a few but my most typical frugal failing is going to the market with a couple of coupons that were expiring and were really a good deal and walking out of the store with far too many items that I did not need to buy just then.

The moral of the story: Sometimes frugality can cost more than it can save.

By: Lola

Lola — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:34:58 +0000

Oh, like a previous poster I always leave my coupons at home!!! I shouldn’t giggle, but it makes me feel better to hear I’m not the only one who does that.

My big frugal nightmare was when we saved for months to purchase a used car for our small family, but skipped the expensive (we thought) vehicle inspection…big mistake. We thought the inspection was a waste of money??? More like the lemon we bought was a waste of money. We definitely learned a lesson from that experience!