To her, today’s excess canned-vegetable liquid is tomorrow’s soup.

In this tough economy, Caton isn’t the only one pinching pennies. With the prospect of winning a free hot dog, 27 readers including Caton sent us their most outlandish strategies for making money stretch.

One cheapskate contestant, a personal finance expert, even tossed in some ideas that the spendthrifts among us — who eat out and buy brand names — could appreciate.

While the competition was steep with at least one pro in the mix, Caton’s food-saving tips won our contest hands down.

From what her husband told us, Caton’s friends and family won’t be surprised she took top honors. “Her reputation is, she can spend a nickel twice and still have change left over,” said John Caton.

Many of Caton’s budgeting strategies focus on food. A 62-year-old homemaker, Caton makes everything she can from scratch. She doesn’t splurge on such prepared, packaged items as bagged lettuce and frozen dinners. She even bakes her own crackers.

“It’s the ready-to-eat stuff that really gets you,” she said.

Caton approaches cooking like a science, studying the ingredients in a recipe and determining what substitutions she can concoct from things on hand.

“The key to the whole thing is analyzing what you’ve got, what it’s made out of, and add to it what’s missing to get where you want to go,” she said.

Her creative cooking saves money by reducing waste; Caton tries to use every bit of the food she buys. This way she’s getting full value for her dollar, she said.

Caton also keeps a pantry and freezer stocked with staples she buys on sale in bulk.

That tactic, coupled with using coupons, is key to saving big on food, said Dennis Breitenstein, co-owner of City Financial Group in Vancouver.

Breitenstein, the pro who let us use one of his anecdotes in our cheapskate contest, teaches personal finance classes at Clark College.

He recognizes that sometimes grocery shopping can be difficult for parents whose young children want brand-name products. One trick he likes is buying a single box of a child’s favorite pricey cereal, then buying bags of the generic equivalent from bulk bins and refilling the box as needed. The child won’t know the difference.

Dining out should be kept to a minimum, but Entertainment Books make an occasional break from the kitchen less of a financial strain, Breit­enstein said. Entertainment Books, with coupons for various restaurants, movie theaters, hotels and attractions, cost about $25 but pay for themselves if used even just a few times, he added.

His clients and co-workers also report saving big with the Web site restaurant.com, which sells discounted gift certificates to more than 8,500 eateries nationwide. A $10 certificate to Vancouver’s CT Café, for instance, costs $3 on restaurant.com, valid with a $45 minimum purchase. Certificates valued at $50 are $20.

To be a successful cheapskate, it’s important not to be shy about looking for ways to save, Breitenstein said, noting that there’s nothing wrong with asking for a price reduction on goods or services, or with shopping at the Dollar Store and Goodwill.

Judging from readers’ responses to our cheapskate contest, Clark County has lots of extreme scrimpers who take pride stretching a dollar.

Columbian staffers narrowed the contest entries to five finalists and five runners-up, including Caton’s winning tips. The saving strategies and stories are in the contestants’ own words, but have been edited for length and clarity:

Waste not, want not
Since food is an expensive and unavoidable part of the budget, a great deal of my penny-pinching involves getting 100 percent use of the groceries I buy. Nothing goes to waste that I can figure out a use for. The cereal dust at the bottom of the box? Accumulate it in a jar marked “bread crumbs” and use in cooking. Kids won’t eat the bready pizza crusts? Wrap a slice of lunchmeat around one and it’s an inside-out sandwich that’s easy to hold.

I keep a container in the freezer to accumulate the liquid drained off canned vegetables and any bits of leftovers too small to serve. I also rinse out condiment, salsa and tomato product containers with a few tablespoons of water and add that to the container. When it’s full, the addition of bouillon cubes, a few fresh vegetables and some pasta makes a pot of soup.

Back when I used canned fruit, I would accumulate the syrup the same way and when the container was full, simmer it down to make fruity pancake or ice cream toppings.

I’ve discovered that pickle juice just needs some herbs and oil to become a vinaigrette-style salad dressing.

Once you start actually eating all the ingredients that come home in the grocery cart, the food goes a lot further. Then the few inedible or spoiled bits can go in a worm bin (much easier than a compost pile) to become food for your plants.

The worm bin is also the best way ever to get rid of paper too sensitive to recycle whole; the worms will eat the paper, and you don’t need to pay to buy or run a shredder.

— Linda Caton,
Vancouver

In the words of ‘Project Runway’s’ Tim Gunn: ‘Make it work’
I bought a pair of shoes at Goodwill. They were a tiny bit tight. I took two plastic freezer bags, filled them with water and put them in the shoes with the zipper top closed, then put the shoes in an old (plastic) bag, and put them in the freezer. What happens is, as the water freezes, it expands, pushing the leather to enlarge the shoe. I ended up paying only $15 for brand-new Florsheim shoes — and they fit.
— Dennis Breitenstein,
 Vancouver

No price is final
(E-mailed by daughter Lori Edwards to save postage)

I didn’t do this, but my sister did. At a garage sale, she spotted a can of Fasteeth, a denture adhesive, for 10 cents. She had a coupon in her purse for 10 cents off, so she wondered if she could use the coupon. Another time at a garage sale she went to purchase a blouse. She asked the lady if she would take less and the lady said, “It’s only 5 cents.”

— Gail Golden,
Ridgefield

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?
Twenty years ago, I was between jobs and had $14 to my name. My bank had a special deal where if you used the ATM at the local convenience store, you could get a free hot dog or soda pop for each transaction you made. So, I’d go to one convenience store, withdraw $5, and get a free hot dog. Then I’d go to another convenience store, withdraw another $5 and get a free soda pop.

After my “free lunch,” I’d go to my bank, deposit the $10 and start the whole scene the next day. It kept me fed for quite a while. I wasn’t cheap; I was broke.
­­— Tammy Koivisto,
Battle Ground

Read and run
I don’t like paying high prices for special-occasion cards such as birthday, anniversary, etc., so I take my wife to the Hallmark store and let her read any card that suits her fancy. It doesn’t cost a cent.
­

— Kenneth Spande,
Brush Prairie

Runners-up:

I’ve discovered a way to increase the volume of brewed coffee from a given amount of coffee grounds. 

Take a volume of ground coffee and regrind it, reducing the grain size of the grounds. Deposit into the filter about 25 percent less of the finely ground coffee than the amount normally used, but drip the usual volume of hot water through the grounds. The finished brew should have the same familiar flavor.

After the coffee brews, remove the wet grounds, seal them in a glass or plastic container and store them in the refrigerator. Later that day or the next, spoon the used grounds into a pot of cold water. Bring it to a boil. Add a little cold water to get the grounds to settle on the bottom of the pot, and reheat the brew to the desired temperature for drinking.

— Rod Orlando,
 Salmon Creek

If you buy two-ply toilet paper and take it apart, it will go twice as far.

— Keith Heike,
Vancouver

Before I cook my food, I always trim the fat from the meat. I vacuum seal and freeze the fat until I have a couple of pounds gathered up. Then I grind it and divide it into bags. A friend of mine hunts and brings over ground venison or elk. We mix it with the fat and seasonings and stuff it into sausage casings. He takes his share home. I give mine to a family friend who has five kids and doesn’t have two coins to rub together. It seems kind of cheap and gross to save animal fat, but we stretch it out with leaner meats and feed some friends.

— Valerie Scott,
Vancouver

Taking a friend or spouse “out for lunch” when my insurance agent, credit union, health club or other service provider is having a membership appreciation day and giving away free food (doing a barbecue, providing drinks, etc.). This happens more than you think!

— Dan Freedman,
Camas

Of all the cheapskates who have ever lived, I think my dad is the biggest. His most recent attempt to save money is to run around the house turning off any lights that “do not seem to be in use.” Every time he finds a light that is on that doesn’t seem to be in use, he gleefully yells “Superfluous light!” and flicks it off. 

It is my dad’s definition of “not in use” that makes him the cheapskate. If a window is open when it’s light outside, the light is not needed. If there is a candle lit in the room, there is no need for light.

Sometimes he even turns lights off without a reason. My family will be sitting in a room talking and with a holler of “Superfluous light!” be plunged into utter darkness. My dad’s excuse: “We don’t need a light on to talk to each other.”

— Elaine Thatcher,
Vancouver

And as an online bonus, here are the rest of our cheapskate readers' submissions:
 
My sister-in-law is a very thrifty, cost-conscious retiree. She will go to any legal lengths to save a dollar.

Once while attending a seminar at a motel, she decided to look for a cup of coffee, and she found not only coffee but also a free continental breakfast. No, it didn't matter that she was not an overnight registered guest, and as my brother went in search of his wife, he joined her for a nice meal.

And, they love hot dogs. I know this for a fact, as the week we visited them was free hot dog lunches every day at the manufactured home sales offices. We had hot dogs for lunch every day that week except for Friday, when the dealer served hamburgers.

— CeCie Doud,
Vancouver
 
I use my Payback coupon book like crazy. The Payback book is $20, and $10 goes back to non-profit organizations (the books I sell and support provide scholarships for the Miss Clark County Scholarship Organization). There are so many BOGO (buy one, get one) and $5 off coupons from nearly every location in Clark County (restaurants, ice cream, movies, flowers, spa treatments, ski resorts, beach hotels and so much more).

Everyone knows, a Costco hot dog and soda combo is a must for a cheapskate lunch. For large groups (more than 3 or 4), we usually order the large pizza ($9.99). That's only $3.33 per person with leftovers.

I have resorted to taking the phone surveys for various restaurants to save extra money. To this extreme, I go to Baja Fresh, (using my phone survey) and get a free Pronto Guacamole (chips and guacamole). Extra salsa and chip refills are free. I order a refill pop in my souvenir cup ($0.99). I then get another receipt to do it again later in the week. I probably eat this $1.08 lunch four or five times per month. 

I also use the phone surveys for free Whoppers (or chicken sandwiches) at Burger King. Purchasing a small drink and a small onion ring off the $1 menu also saves money.

I have been known to share the Black Angus "dinner for 2" coupons ($38) with my in-laws for an inexpensive indulgence. We also get extra free desserts at Black Angus with the phone surveys from the receipts.

We usually make our own lemonade with lemons and Sweet 'N Low packets. 

— Melissa Sutton,
La Center
 
Maybe one of the craziest things I've done in a while is spending my valuable time sending an e-mail to a contest where all I could ever win is a measly hot dog. Come on, it's going to cost me more in gas just to go get it than the cost of the hot dog in the first place.

But on a serious note. ... This week my wife, my wife's mother and I went to a Fourth of July community pig roast and potluck in Eastern Washington. My mother-in-law took her used paper plate home with her to wash. The paper plate gets added to the 8-inch high pile of other lucky paper plates that may get a chance to be repurposed for a future meal. The pile does not seem to be depleting much because as one is used, again, it is washed, again, and added back to the pile, again.

— Tony Looney,
Camas
 
Just this month, I called Comcast just to ask if there was a way to make my bill less each month (I was paying $130 a month for cable and Internet). I also threw in that the satellite company was much cheaper and I was thinking of switching. After only about one minute of conversation, the customer service rep asked if I would like to save $50 a month for the next 12 months. That was fun!

Well, it worked so nice on the cable company, I thought I would call Qwest and ask if there was a way that I could lower my monthly bill with them (I currently only pay $30 a month). Again, after only about one minute, they transferred me to a customer loyalty specialist, and they gave me 50 percent off my bill for the next four months. Fun again!

I would say my favorite trick on being a cheapskate is when I wanted to get the latest Dave Ramsey "Total Money Makeover" book. I went to Amazon.com and saw that the book was $24. They were offering a $30 credit if I got their credit card, so I said, "Sign me up!" So, I got the book for free, plus a $6 credit on their credit card. Well, I got the book and loved it but didn't feel I needed to keep it. So, I listed the book on eBay and sold the book for $18. Net gain on this cheapskate deal: one reading of the latest Dave Ramsey book and $24 in my pocket.

— Cathy Jones,
Kelso
 
From George Carlin: "Usually when you go to someone's house they offer you coffee. They say, 'You want some coffee?' I tell them, 'No thanks, I have coffee at home. But I could use a little pancake mix.'"

— Margie Borchers,
Yacolt
 
I saw cheapskates at a local eatery. They came in, sat down and ordered their pizza and small pitchers of beer and soda. Then they proceeded to refill their drinks from their "private reserve" out of a brown paper bag.

I asked them what they were doing. Smiling, they told us they could still afford to go out once in a while for pizza, but paying $7 to $9 for a pitcher of domestic beer was ridiculous. So they buy one small pitcher of beer and one of soda and refill them with beer and soda from home to save money. They still buy all the pizza, breadsticks and salad but save some on the drinks.

— Floyd McCreary,
Washougal
 
My mother has always been frugal. She washes and reuses aluminum foil, plastic baggies, plastic picnic supplies and assorted sizes of plastic food containers; she takes home small bundles of uneaten restaurant food and stuffs it into the freezer, and she snags small containers of peanut butter from restaurant tables to eat with her apples. 

But there is one over-the-top-cheapskate thing she does that always astonishes me. Apparently, she has a predetermined amount of toilet paper she allows herself, but if she pulls too much off, she wads the two or three unused sheets into a ball, tucks it at the top of the toilet paper roll, and leaves it for the next bathroom trip or the next person who sits. Now that is cheap!

— Janet Ulrich,
Vancouver
 
The Oregonian gave me three months of daily newspapers delivered free after I told them to cancel my subscription because the Columbian meets my needs better.

— Conrad Swartz,
Vancouver
 
I don't need to own it. I just need to use it.

— Earl Floyd,
Battle Ground
 
Buy large, black garbage bags on sale, in bulk or at a dollar store. Change your waste management pickup to bi-weekly, or monthly, service.

Start putting your recyclable cans and bottles in the black bags. Mix in equal parts garbage.

Living in the downtown area, our cans and bottles are without fail taken by people. People go get the bottle deposits from stores in Oregon (namely the Jantzen Beach Safeway). Mixing in the trash cuts down on the amount going into the garbage bin. Then it's the responsibility of person who's taken the cans and bottles to get rid of it.

— Michal Capell,
Vancouver
 
A few years ago, a longtime friend and I took a road trip throughout the southwestern United States. I set up the itinerary, so all the lodging was on my credit card — to be divided at the end of the trip. We paid for our own food and split the cost of fuel. Fortunately, I now believe, I dinged my friend for half of the fuel each time we filled the tank.

When it came time to divide the room cost, he informed me he owed me $146, not the $460 I had determined. He had gotten the single rate for every room (we shared a room, two beds) we had been in. Then he subtracted the single rate from the double rate and the result was what he felt he owed me. He said it would have cost me the single rate if I'd made the trip alone anyhow.

What was my beef? I told him I wouldn't have made the 12-day trip alone. We still keep in touch, but I won't be taking any more road trips with him.

— Charlotte Lewis,
Vancouver
 
As an incentive to save, at the beginning of the year my wife and I start a "Dick and Sandy" list and stick it on the refrigerator. Whenever one of us saves some money, no matter how small, we write it down. At the end of the year, we add them up and the loser pays the winner the difference.

My wife typically saves a couple of bucks whenever we eat out at restaurants that serve coffee in a pot by drinking out of my cup. I save some change by reading the paper left over at the restaurant.

— Dick and Sandy Colbeth,
Vancouver
 
Do you remember the lettuce shortage in the 1980s?

A dear friend of ours was known for his tightness with money, and an incident at Beef 'n' Brew was a great example of how far he would go to save a buck. A couple who were eating nearby our friend and his wife had finished their meal but they had left lettuce on their plates. Since lettuce was very high-priced at the time, our friend asked if he could take the lettuce home to his rabbit.

Well, we knew that he did not have a rabbit and suspected that the lettuce showed up on their dinner plates at home the next night.

— Barbara Klausman,
Vancouver
 
Years ago, I was a waitress in a small cafe in Beaverton, Ore.

One day this couple comes in and takes a seat. They ordered a nice sized meal, coffee and dessert. It was a nice size tab. I'm thinking I'm going to get a good tip out of the table because I busted my buns for these two and put on my best "game face" (friendly and polite). I checked on them one last time, cleared their table for them and left them their bill saying, "Thank you, have a nice afternoon."

They leave and I run to the table anticipating a great tip and there is this business card saying "In lieu of a tip, I leave you this prayer of peace and goodwill. God Bless You."

Nice thought, people, but come on!

— Heather Graven,
Vancouver
 
 
Many years ago, I worked as an accountant at a company where the boss insisted that we roll up our adding machine tape and re-run it through the adding machine backwards so we would use both sides.

— Carl Zander,
Vancouver
 
My mother, bless her soul, while baby-sitting my young children while I was on an-out-of-town trip, decided it was wasteful to throw away the dinner-sized paper napkins after only one use. She printed each child's name on a clothespin, clipped them to the napkins and had the children reuse them until there was no clean spot left.

Growing up during the Depression, I learned a lot of cheapskate savings tricks. I also reuse paper towels if they aren't soiled.

— Idell Jessett,
Camas
 
When my five children were young, I use to give them a buck apiece to go without dinner. During the night I stole their dollars, then made them go without breakfast the next morning for losing their money.

— Richard O. Schaff,
Vancouver

P.S. I'm too cheap to buy a hot dog, so I am making up a tale to get one free.