The Epitome of Frugality

[LoadedRound]

My Dad always told me: You can anything you want, but you can't have everything you want. Set your priorities.

 

[pharmer]

Frugality has a "dark side." Probably 60 years ago we had sandwiches for a quick dinner. Mom's paper plate was absolutely unsoiled. When she trashed it Dad lit her up for "waste." Now, they both lived through the Great Depression, Dad never saw "abundance" after that. The "silent treatment" lasted all of 3 weeks and let me tell you the tension was unbearable. Dad learned a lesson but it still didn't stop him from keeping batteries that wouldn't power a flashlight but he knew there was "still juice left in 'em." When he passed in 1996 I musta thrown away 50 lbs of spent cells. I used to kid him: "If you keep 'em long enough they will be new again." Still miss them. Joe

 

[rockquarry]

I don't understand the Depression-era mentality of utmost thrift. I certainly avoid living that way. However, many of our elderly (in my family, too) who lived through the Depression sadly suffer from this affliction.

 

[Dave.357]

I think we are headed to more lessons.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

My mother's family was hurt pretty badly by the Depression and then came WWII with its rationing, shortages, etc.
If you look at so many older consumer items-appliances, TVs, radios, automobiles, etc. not only were they built to last they were built to be repaired. Too much to day is use and when it breaks down, throw it away.
As we discussed in the message thread on "Worst Meals", there are limits to frugality when it comes to food. And I have several cookbooks printed during WWII with all the "stretchers", "substitutes", etc.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Many of us that were born in the 40's learned that life could be tuff and money was tight and making your money and food last longer, was a good thing.
My wife gets mad at me at times, when I get "Tight" but it is the old memories, kicking in.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

My parents were born in 1912 and 1918, both living through the Depression years. My oldest brother was born in 1933, his father was lost in WW2, Mom remarried and had two more of us. As the youngest one I seldom had anything that was not a hand-me-down, and very few items were ever thrown away if there was any chance of mending, repairing, or salvaging anything useful.

In a good year our Christmas presents consisted of new school clothes, the older clothing relegated to working status or set aside to be handed down to someone in the family. Socks, underwear, maybe a few pieces of fruit and some nuts in the Christmas stocking, or (glorious day indeed!) a box of .22 ammo!

We received electricity service on the farm about 1960, first in the barn (milk chillers) and later in the house. Grandfather passed away shortly thereafter, Dad and Uncle Clyde installed indoor plumbing in the house (the old man refused to allow anyone to defecate inside the house where his food was prepared). I'll never forget a ride to town for some hardware, Dad and Uncle stopped in a tavern for a beer, and we saw a television for the first time (black & white, tube model complete with horizontal and vertical rolling lines with periodic fits of static).

Public school, dress codes, daily Pledge of Allegiance, fire drills, and nuclear war drills (duck and cover, tuck you head between your legs, kiss your little hiney goodbye).

Then there were Saturday mornings with Grandma, Mom, and Aunt in the kitchen making bread for the week. The aroma would lift me out of bed, down two flights of stairs, into the kitchen and plop my butt down for fresh homemade bread with home-churned butter, coffee with fresh cream do thick it was served in a bowl with a spoon.

Come supper time don't even think about putting your knees under the table unless your chores were done and your hands and face were clean and shining. No slackers allowed at that table!

Everyone we knew lived about the same way.

 

[Rustyt1953]

As a young boy my father knew the pangs of hunger. As a young girl my mother did also.

They made sure that my brother, sister and I never experienced that.

 

[BC38]

My wife and I are both pretty frugal, and living well below our means has paid off - in spades.
BUT neither of us hold a candle to the stories in this thread.

 

[Golddollar]

My parents grew up in the Great Depression. I learned from Pop an aversion for paying interest. When I was doing collection work I found myself as an impromptu financial advisor for people who were in financial jams. When I was able to arrange payment plans for judgment debtors, I found some of my dad's advice was coming out of my mouth. I often told them that if they could ever scrape together an extra $20 to send it in to pay down the principal of the debt so that interest would no longer accrue on that part of the debt.

 

[BC38]

The Earl Scheib of my childhood (50's - 60's) used to advertise he would paint any car any color for $29.95. A friend's father had a 58 Pontiac done. He did the masking before taking it in and I have to say, the job was not bad. It was enamel paint and not a factory color but looked good nevertheless. I heard of other guys who would de-chrome their car first, do whatever body work was needed then head over for the $30 paint job.

In the early 1970's it was something like $59.95, and if you did the prep work and masking yourself ahead of time, you could get a pretty decent paint job for cheap.

The guys who worked there were spraying paint om one car after another all day, every day, day in and day out, and they would actually get good enough at it to do a pretty decent job of laying down the paint.

The labor intensive sanding and masking process is where they cut corners to keep the price down. If you did most of that prep work yourself, they could lay down a pretty decent coat of paint for you.

 

[BC38]

My parents grew up in the Great Depression. I learned from Pop an aversion for paying interest. When I was doing collection work I found myself as an impromptu financial advisor for people who were in financial jams. When I was able to arrange payment plans for judgment debtors, I found some of my dad's advice was coming out of my mouth. I often told them that if they could ever scrape together an extra $20 to send it in to pay down the principal of the debt so that interest would no longer accrue on that part of the debt.

Absolutely! And that is just as true today as it ever was.
We charge almost everything on our credit cards, several thousand bucks each month, BUT we also pay them off at the end of every month, so we never pay any interest.
If you can discipline yourself to NEVER charge anything you couldn't afford to pay cash for - so that you can always pay the bill in full every month - then credit cards are GREAT.
Use their money for 30 days interest-free and let them pay YOU (cash-back) for the privilege, and keep your money in the bank earning interest until the bill comes due.
My dad taught me that. Following his advice we haven't paid a DIME in credit card interest in 30 years or more. At the same time we are consistently getting $500-$1,000 a year in cashback payments from each of the credit card companies we use the most (Chase and Discover).
Work the system instead of letting IT work YOU.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I have been shopping thrift shops, rummage. estate , garage sales for the last 15 years or so, wish I had been doing for 45 years, so many quality items at a deep discount. About the only things I haven't found are work pants, work shirts, work shoes.
Drink more soda than I should, I've found the off brands when properly chilled taste mighty good on a hot summer day.

 

[GypsmJim]

My Grandparents grew up on farms in the old country. One had 9 and the other 11 brothers and sisters. Meat for dinner - maybe on Sunday.

Grandma had only old clothes and would mend a rip or patch a worn spot. When Mom bought her stuff for Christmas she would "save" it.

Grandpa sold his car when the gas exceeded 32 cents. They took the bus. Many fruit trees and a big garden in the back yard. They watched the water meter and when it approached the monthly limit, no more garden water. When the old 1950's B&W TV broke they would not buy a new one because it used too much electricity. No lights on after sundown. 62 degree furnace in the Winter.

OTOH, when grandchildren came to visit Grandpa always gave them money. But it had to be saved in the bank for college.

Their SS payments were meager, yet they still saved money every month. They had amassed a tidy sum, but Grandpa would not hear of anybody managing their savings. When they both ended up in a nursing home I will never forget the look on Grandpa's face when he heard they would need to pay $700+ a DAY for their care. Medicaid was not a possibility.

All that frugality, all that saving, all that time living poor, and in the end the Nursing Home took all their money.

 

[Kaarde]

Rusty has meme for every occasion!!

 

[Inusuit]

My folks survived the Great Depression without losing the ranch. They bought nothing "on time" including new land.

Today's disposable culture is destroying the planet.

Frugal is not a bad thing.

 

[Warren Sear]

As long as we're bragging about how poor we were:

Ah remember mama walkin' down the street, wearin' but one shoe, and havin' a big ol' smile on her face.

Neighbor lady axe her, "Woman, why you smilin'. You jest lost a shoe"

Mama say, "Lost one??? Hail, ah jest found one!"

 

[zeke]

Before retiring spent some money on extra clothes. My truck is a 2005 with roll down windows. Live in a dump (cheap house), but taxes are low and it's paid off. But am liking me some S&W's and motorcicles. Have gone back to patching my pants, as them insulated carharts cost some money 20 yrs ago. Nothing old goes to goodwill, they don't accept wore out items. Cut my own hair. Did buy one of the plaza tv's.

 

[Krogen]

I am one of those people. I get frustrated when a little shampoo spills from my hand onto the shower floor and use a bar a soap until it's a toothpick, but don't think twice about dropping 5 to 10K at a gun show or on camera equipment, etc., but I fret over buying additional gun safes. I also hate buying clothes and have been known to pick up Hawaiian shirts at Goodwill, jeans at Walmart, but don't think twice about dropping $2.5K on handmade cowboy boots, of which I probably have 30 pair; spending $50 on a pair of athletic shoes is painful. Next

You, sir, have your priorities right!

 

[BC38]

My Grandparents grew up on farms in the old country. One had 9 and the other 11 brothers and sisters. Meat for dinner - maybe on Sunday.

Grandma had only old clothes and would mend a rip or patch a worn spot. When Mom bought her stuff for Christmas she would "save" it.

Grandpa sold his car when the gas exceeded 32 cents. They took the bus. Many fruit trees and a big garden in the back yard. They watched the water meter and when it approached the monthly limit, no more garden water. When the old 1950's B&W TV broke they would not buy a new one because it used too much electricity. No lights on after sundown. 62 degree furnace in the Winter.

OTOH, when grandchildren came to visit Grandpa always gave them money. But it had to be saved in the bank for college.

Their SS payments were meager, yet they still saved money every month. They had amassed a tidy sum, but Grandpa would not hear of anybody managing their savings. When they both ended up in a nursing home I will never forget the look on Grandpa's face when he heard they would need to pay $700+ a DAY for their care. Medicaid was not a possibility.

All that frugality, all that saving, all that time living poor, and in the end the Nursing Home took all their money.

Sad but true for too many of the Greatest Generation.
They sacrificed so much, but in the end it was all for naught...