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Buffy: From Vampire Slayer to Cost Cutter

Wed., Sep. 19, 2007 5:10 PM PDT by Marc Malkin

Marc Abrahams

Sarah Michelle Gellar is frugal—and proud of it.

In the October issue of Self magazine, the former vampire slayer admits to pinching pennies.

"I take my reusable bag to Whole Foods so I get a discount," Gellar tells the mag, which hits stands Sept. 25. "I go to Bloomingdale's on double rewards day. And I always print my dry cleaning coupons before I go. My dry cleaner laughs. He's like, 'You don’t have to keep printing them out!' "

And she's definitely been saving money on gas since leaving Hollywood for New York City. Gellar, who will next be seen in The Air I Breathe and Possession, actually makes her way around NYC on a tricked-out bicycle.

"Not only is it bright pink with the bell and streamers and the whole thing, but it has Hello Kitty tires," Gellar says. "Every time I leave my apartment, my doorman just shakes his head."

The New York native is happy to be back home on the East Coast.

"I felt a little suffocated," she says of living in Hollywood. "All I did every day was drive to work and back. I was losing my conversation skills. Acting is a lonely business sometimes. You don’t always know who to trust. I've been really fortunate. I've had my family. I've had the same friends. You look in our apartment and the pictures on the mantel from last week are the same people from when I was five years old."