A saying that became popular during World War II was, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." This could be a frugal-living battle cry to help us all get the most out of what we have without a trip to the store.

I thought this might be a great foundation for a series, so I'm starting today with "Use it up." But I'd love for this to be collaborative, so please share your best use-it-up ideas in the comments.

Ways to use it up

Frugal people know that using something right down to the very last drop is a great way to save money. The way I see it, if I'm able to get more uses out of something that others would consider empty and just throw away, it's like getting that item for free. In fact, I always made it a game when my girls were younger to see how many more uses we could get out of something.

I've broken this into three categories: food, cleaning supplies, and health and beauty aids. These are things that are finite in amount – we'll be talking about wearing things out in the next installment.

Food

The further you can stretch your food these days, the better off you are. As inflation strikes hard at the grocery store, some of these ideas may help you "use it up" when other people would just toss it out. Some of these ideas may not be for everyone, so just pick and choose the things that work for you.

Leftovers: I've written this article about ways to use up leftovers but there are a couple of things I want to add. When we were at our lowest point financially, I went so far as to scrape the last bites of food on everyone's plate into my leftover soup container in the freezer. Using up your leftovers is one of the best ways to save money on your grocery bill. I couldn't believe it when I heard that my friend's new boyfriend "didn't eat leftovers." He'd grown up in a wealthy family, and leftovers were either given to the housekeeper or thrown out. She had to make them extra delicious to get him on board, but he no longer balks at the idea.