I watched my grandma practice so many money saving skills that she learned going through the depression. At the time, I thought that some of the ways were extreme or didn’t fit my throw it out and buy new lifestyle. Now as I have gotten older, some of those practices don’t seem so bad as I am trying to save money and prepare for retirement. When my grandparents died, I found so many things that she saved in case she would use them again, but not to the point of hoarding. I found so many purses that she saved even the ones that were wore out. I have started practicing looking at purses, clothing and shoes to see if I could recycle them by refurbishing them. Also, she wouldn’t buy a new piece of furniture until the old one was beyond repair and she saved up the money to buy a new one. I am practicing that now. Also, she would buy or grow certain fruits and vegetables while in season and prepare them to freeze or can them. I do try to but extra fruits and vegetables when in season and freeze them. Other things that she would do was using beyond clean water to wash dishes and using country crock containers to store leftovers. I always use clean water for dishes and used to use all kinds of plastic containers to store food but have changed to using bpa free containers to store food. What are some of the frugal practices that your parents/grandparents did that you do or do not use today?
What is a frugal practice that you learned from your parents/grandparents that you still practice today?
byu/melissaw328 inFrugal
Posted by melissaw328
16 Comments
My father was one of the damn cheapest human beings I have ever known and I never want to be anything like him. There is a huge difference between carefull spending, saving money, and being pathological cheap which often involves some degree of hoarding. I have lived it and it is seriously ugly and very abusive to others.
My grandmother insisted on using plastic shopping bags as trash bags, and I grew up being grossed out, trying to clean up and constantly needing to adjust gunky, flimsy bags that were tearing and sometimes leaked. I won’t do that.
I do make my tomato sauce from scratch (grandma’s recipe), and I don’t own a car (my grandparents never had one). I expect one of those rolling personal carts is somewhere in my future.
Buy quality. The good things will last a very long time.
What do you mean, used beyond clean water to wash dishes?
Ronse/reuse zip lock bags, making blankets out of scraps of clothing and bed sheets, using a soup ladle or water ladle in the kitchen vs a cup of water.
My mother used to open junk mail, pull out the envelope, and then throw away the rest. She had a monster stack of them. This was in the 80s and 90s, when you’d get three or four a day. She ran her own business and used them for various things. I started (and still do) the same thing and use them for organizing receipts. The only difference is that I keep mine sorted by size and type.
it’s wild how those old-school practices come back around, right? i can’t believe how much people waste without thinking; my folks always taught me to fix stuff instead of tossing it. definitely picking up more of those habits myself!
Vegetable garden, consignment shopping
Fix things instead of replacing. Even if I don’t know how, I learn by watching youtube videos.
My dad fixed up my old bike when I was a kid. I was mad because I wanted a new bike. I get it now.
The list of frugal things my parents did would take over this thread and I refuse to die with 4 huge drawers of produce plastic bags at my house. That said, I do save the plastic ties from bread bags or new toys/ items that have those plastic coated wire ties. They are good for the garden (tomato plants, vines, etc to stakes). I also save a limited amount of bubble wrap, in case I have to ship something fragile.
Getting your own manure/ rich soil to grow better veggies and flowers.
It’s a hassle but the yield is better…
This one might seem counter-intuitive but it’s actually frugal+. Being neighborly with neighbors. We get along well enough with our next door neighbors on both sides, the folks across the street, and a bunch of other families in the neighborhood. We lend/borrow tools and small appliances, help shovel snow, emergency babysitting, deal with trash cans when someone’s on vacation, provide rides to/from the train station and airport, etc. It not only saves us all money, but it promotes a sense of well-being, knowing we’ve got backup if needed.
Stocking a deep pantry was something I learned from my folks, but didn’t start doing until a few years ago to save money on groceries. It’s been a real help with food inflation to buy extra shelf-stable foods or foods that freeze well (like meats, cheese, and butter), instead of just buying items for the upcoming week’s meals.
Always spread ur spread to the edge! My nana would roll over if she thought I left a corner of bread unbuttered!
We clean and save gallon ziplocks and turn almost any random container into a reusable container.
Plain veggies that are left over after dinner are rinsed and frozen in a baggie of other veggies left over. Then made into soup.