I’m still clearing out “stuff” from my recent move. One of my favorite books was “The Tightwad Gazette III” by Amy Dacyczyn. I interviewed Dacyczyn (pronounced “decision”) back in the ’90s.

At the time she had been featured on several national talk shows as the queen of bargains. She could go into a grocery store and they would end up giving money back to her after redeeming all of her coupons.

Before putting the book in my giveaway pile I decided to take a look through it to see if there was anything I should share with you.

I ran across a suggestion that made me laugh and also hit close to home. Recently I changed cleaners. At my new cleaners there is a shoe repair pick up service. Shoe repair people are hard to find. But they also have clothes on sale that were not picked up by their owners. Each item is $3, regardless of size—even the coats are priced at the same low price.

So far I’ve found two great items, one for me and one for a friend who told me I never buy her anything.

In the Tightwad book one reader wrote in and told the story of buying mistake or unclaimed pizzas. I had never heard of any such thing. She says she has been able to buy unclaimed or mistake pizzas in her city during the shop’s busiest hours.

Some times the pizzas sell for at little as $3. I never heard of this but it makes sense. I guess people order and never pick up. I may try it one Saturday evening before the shop closes. I’ll let you know if it works.

Since the book is 12 years old, some of the suggestions are truly outdated and downright funny. A lady out of Lake Village, Ind., suggests that if you need a set of encyclopedias to check with your local library first because they buy a new set each year.

With the popularity of the Internet, who needs an encyclopedia? You can barely give them away. In 2008 you can find them at flea markets for little or nothing.

One cost savings that I found that is truly helpful to me is saving some bread.

All of you single people out there, how often do you throw away a half loaf of bread? I do it often. I don’t eat much bread and when I get around to it the bread is no longer fresh. Frances from Mississippi suggests that you buy a cheap box of sandwich bags and use the bags to wrap the bread two slices at a time and put them in the freezer. Because you are only putting in two slices at a time it will thaw out quickly for sandwiches or toast.

This is also a great way to freeze bagels, muffins, and slices of cake or pie. You can have a dessert or bread at a moments notice and I’m sure you won’t throw much away after this.

Some of the ideas in the book are a little out of way for me. For instance they recommend if you have flat root beer or any type of soda don’t pour it down the drain, add some unflavored gelatin and make gelatin.    

I’m sorry, but this is taking tightwad to a new level.

(E-mail the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com.)