Such as:
Making all of your cleaning products at home (a neat skill but requires dedicated areas, specific equipment, more time than I already have).
Canning foods that grow on trees. My grandparents would can any and all fresh foods they could find. It usually took up the entire kitchen and dining table for a week.
Driving to multiple stores in order to compare prices and then decide which store to buy some things at. I kid you not. My grandparents would drive even to the next town over if it meant flour might be a little cheaper. (Made everything from scratch, so flour was used quite often.)
Repairing poor quality items too frequently.
Using a technology until it just does not work at all. In this day and age it means using a cell phone until a carrier says you can't no more.
What common frugal habit practiced by your parents' or grandparents' generation do you think is completely obsolete or inefficient in the modern economy (due to cost, time, or hygiene)?
byu/Remarkable-Ad3835 inFrugal
Posted by Remarkable-Ad3835
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Username is relevant moment: am one of the last people who learned to darn socks.
My grandpa had a particular apple tree that grew halfway up a mountain road above the city, and he would make special trips up there just because the apples were free. Like, a cute hobby if it were a cute hobby, but I really think it was just about saving three dollars.
They aren’t obsolete, we’re just not desperate/uncomfortable enough to make them worth our time right now
I’m a firm believer in dishwashers.
I get the feeling canning and “victory gardens” are about to come back in a big way, but at least we have equipment to make it easier and faster now. I’ve also been making more food and home goods from scratch, which means shopping around for sales and getting deals on staples (no extra driving required since every store has an app and weekly mailers these days).
Using both sides of the toilet paper.
Darning socks
When my parents make an hour round trip for cheaper gas at Costco to save 3 bucks at fill up it drives me nuts.
My grandmother would wash and save the Styrofoam trays that raw hamburger was packaged with.
Saving every bit of paper or tin foil just in case. My 97 yo grandma is a living treasure that keeps her used paper napkins for a second use. Bless her!