Frugal Ideas, A Good Way to Start This New Year

A fresh new year, a clean slate. I thought it would be fun to share a couple frugal things I do and to ask for your favorite frugal tips in comments.
Heating the House
I turn down the heat to 61 degrees F (16 C) at night (from about 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.); the living room heats up quickly to 73 degrees F (22 C) in the morning which I like. My dog Bounce sits right in front of the new wall heater in the morning. I am out and about for several hours each day and turn the temp down to 68 then. Since my house is well insulated it holds the heat. We had insulation put in in the attic, a new front door that doesn't leak air, and a newer living room window.
Is that frugal? Everyone has their own ideas on favorite temperatures. I don't heat my bedroom or the house at night, I like it cool for sleeping.

Growing Vegetables
Come spring I plant vegetables and I read that a square foot of garden can produce a dollar's worth of vegetables. For a 10 by 12 foot garden that could be $120 you won't spend at the grocery store. Seeds are a cheap way to go. I like to plant Chinese sugar pea seeds, edible pea pods are so good fresh from the garden. I always plant tomatoes and zucchini, two zucchini plants are plenty for one person and I plant one green and one yellow zucchini. I plant cilantro, green onions and greens like rainbow chard, kale, or lettuce.
I think my three blueberry plants count as a frugal garden choice since they have provided me with blueberries for eight years. I planted 3 different blueberry varieties, just for fun. They each have a slightly different flavor and berry size and are ripe a few weeks apart which lengthens the blueberry season.
Re-use Egg Cartons
For good drainage for flower pots, I tear up cardboard egg cartons and put them in the bottom of the pots. That is free since you will likely buy eggs anyway.
Doing Laundry
To save water, cost of heating water and to use less laundry detergent I have a front loading clothes washer. I got an energy rebate from our city water department when I bought it several years ago. Also it does not have that central post or agitator so is more gentle on clothes.
Flower Vases
New flower vases can be expensive so I buy them from shops like Goodwill and yard sales. It is useful when I give a friend a bouquet and they can keep the vase.
Lin mentioned saving money by stopping cable TV, which I forgot to include here. My cable bill was getting up to about $90 a month, awful, and I didn't find much to watch. So I cut the cable about 4 years ago, and already had Amazon Prime so I get those TV shows, a family member gets me Netflix, and I pay a total of $20 a month for Britbox, Acorn TV (two sources of British and some Australian and Canadian shows), and Hulu. I am pleased to save $70 a month which adds up to $840 a year. Over 10 years that is $8,400, a huge amount of money saved. One of my sons bought me an Amazon Firestick so I use that to turn to the show I want to watch. The Firestick has the neat feature where I hold down the search button and say the name of a movie or TV show and it looks for it and shows viewing options. Thanks for the reminder Lin.
What are some of your best frugal ideas? I like to get new ideas to try.

Mop refills and 14 billion Keurig K-cups in garbage dumps

Why does it cost almost as much to buy a refill sponge for a mop as to buy the entire mop and handle? This bothers me. 
Today I bought a sponge mop (a major brand) and an extra sponge for when I need a refill. Why did I buy the refill today? Because I have found that in future when I need to buy the refill sponge it will no longer be available and none that will fit will be found. I like to be kind to the earth and to use resources wisely.
The sponge mop was a good deal, $9.99. But the refill sponge was $7.99. This doesn't make sense. Is the entire long handle and holder area for the sponge worth only two dollars?
The companies are pushing us to throw away the entire old sponge mop where it will rest for 100 years in the garbage dump. Sad. It might take hundreds of years to decompose, what a waste.
This is just one example of thousands of wasteful habits we are cajoled to engage in. Those nonrecyclable Keurig coffee maker K-cups are another. I know some K-cups are recyclable and bless the people who buy them. Apparently though even the "green" cups are not very recyclable, since the plastic part is made with type 7 plastic which most recyclers can not use, and the cups need to be taken apart by the coffee drinker if they want to recycle. 14 billion K-cups end up in garbage dumps every year. That would look like a Mount Everest of garbage.
There is an article in Atlantic Monthly on k-cups waste at A Brewing Problem
There is a twitter campaign #killthekcup I know lots of you dear readers love your Keurig coffee makers and I hope you don't get mad at me, I just hope Keurig changes over to all recyclable cups!
Does this waste bother you too?
Do you have any tips to share about reducing waste? 
And thank you friends for your comments, I am learning some new things and tips when reading them. I suggest you all scroll through the comments to see other bloggers' clever ideas.

Living Rich For Less book giveaway

So you want to own the home you love, make memories on wonderful vacations with family or friends, finance college educations, and help others too?



You can—starting here and now. This is a great book to have at the start of 2009 as you take a look at your budget and aim to make wise financial decisions.



With lively humor, proven know-how, and practical principles for financial health, Living Rich for Less helps you stretch your dollars to realize the lifestyle of your dreams. Ellie Kay’s entertaining and enlightening examples show you simple steps to save, spend, and give smart, and her three main principles are undergirded by dozens of effective rules and hundreds of Cha-Ching Factor™ tips that keep or put money in your pocket.



Ellie knows what it’s like to be financially-strapped or struggling, wanting to be the Joneses but feeling as poor in spirit as in pocketbook. She went, within two and a half years, from being a new wife and mom with $40,000 in consumer debt and seven children (and college educations) to support, to being completely debt-free and within fifteen years able to pay cash for eleven different cars, give away three of those cars, buy two five-bedroom houses (moving from one to the other) and nicely furnish each, take wonderful vacations, dress her family in fine fashion; and support more than thirty non-profit organizations in more than a dozen different countries, giving away more than $100,000.



Isn’t that the kind of transformation to a rich life that you want?



Living Rich for Less helps anyone get there in our taxed-out, maxed-out times. Because financial security doesn’t mean just genuine prosperity, but being able to live luxuriously, give generously, and care for yourself as well as the others around you.

The author has generously given me a book to give away to one person who leaves a comment here this week.