Frugality

[USAFpj]

a wise man has a pipe to give him time to think, a fool something to put in his mouth.

Man, so true.

My wife does rib me throughout our 20 years together. Here's an instance: She would like our side deck to be just a few feet wider, and a few feet longer. I then explain to her that by the time a craftsman shows up to basically "add a few feet", his labor and supplies might be put to better use if we were just to connect both porches.

So the running joke is "honey, if I'm going to spend $500, I might as well spend $5,000..." :laughing:

 

[ultrarunner]

Cheap is a mindset that often doesn't realize a good deal when they see it.

Frugal looks for value which often isn't cheap... my parents were very frugal... no need for frills but when it came time to put a roof on the house Dad said once and done... same with buying concrete... he would pay extra for one more sack mix...

Parents and many of my friends growing up are products of the Depression... it is something you never forget and if you are self employed with family obligations it affects you even more.

Hand me down clothes... used cars, furniture, etc... all quality but provide exceptional value.

A person can earn 200k and live paycheck to paycheck... I have seen it with Doctors... the club membership, new cars, family vacations to Europe go with the territory for many...

My Grandfather built his bee house from salvage back in the 1930's... Mom said they hammered straight all the used nails to use them again... nothing wasted... it wasn't a question of being cheap... they had NO money... just subsistence growing enough to feed the family.

Heard a story of how copper wire came to be.. two cheap Son's of a Bass pulling on a copper penny with neither letting go...

With High School Graduations coming up... Mom said I should get a $10 bill for the grads... I said Mom... $10 was a lot when I could fill the tank on my truck and buy a quart of oil and still get change...

Yesterday, I filled the tank and it was just about a $100...

The cost to fill my tank is my inflation calculator from the old days to the present... no more 25 cent a gallon gas now... same station is $3.99 for regular...

 

[Industrial Toys]

Don't remind me of all the rusted old nails I had to watch my Dad straighten. Then try and use them, they bend and start the process over. Hint, they went in better with a drop of oil!

My Dad gave me Mom $10.00 for all the baby needs when my sister was born. Probably less for me, since we should have had all the stuff already! Maybe sounds crazy, but crazy is all the money people nowadays throw away, that they don't even have. Maybe it's easier to throw away money you never see or had to earn first. You see people destroying expenseve vehicles on Youtube all the time, like it doesn't matter. If you had to earn 50 grand and hand it over to the car dealer, probably they would treat it differently.

 

[Fuddy1952]

I'm 67, frugally similar to your Dad. I'm a little different than my Dad (rip) who lived through the great depression which he never forgot. He invested wisely, retired at 56, but wore patches on his clothes.
There are two basic spending habits. Those who fritter away little dribbles of money and frugal ones saving and spending large amounts occasionally.
Dad was happy up until the end, he wanted to be sure Mom lived comfortably at home the rest of her life, and she's fine at 92.
I ought to send pictures of Dad's shop filled with chainsaws taken apart, boxes of bent nails, used plumbing supplies, etc.
He saved everything and could cobble things together to make it work...not ever correct but it worked.

 

[Molalla1]

I'm 76 raised by parents that went thru the great depression . . . that is were frugality comes from around here.

 

[bcp]

Things are too expensive now because us old guys can remember buying the same thing for 1/10th the present cost.

But things that haven't changed in 70 years, like a hammer, handsaw, axe, shovel, etc. probably cost less work time to buy now than they did then.

Bruce

 

[4570Man]

Me and my dad are frugal but will spend money on what we want. We usually buy the best tools we can afford and anything that holds value doesn’t matter how expensive it it is. Now going out to eat it’s the cheapest thing on the menu and drinking water and driving beater vehicles. Now my grandpa made a good living and could do whatever he wanted but is very cheap. He always buys the cheapest of anything, always does everything half way, straightens nails to re use, combines junk stuff into one still junk piece cobbles stuff up to safe a dollar and would spend a dollar to save a penny. I don’t understand the logic. My other grandpa which passed away before I was born did the same thing but he did it out of necessity because it’s all he had. There’s a big difference in saving every dollar possible vs living eyeballs deep in debt.

 

[Molalla1]

:laughing: I can relate to straightening nails . . . dad made us do exactly that . . . to this day if I bend one I will sometimes forget myself and straighten it out and re-pound. :laughing:

 

[Industrial Toys]

It's why I love my all my Industrial stuff. Buy it used, cheap, and you have something that is better than new consumer junk, and I find it hard to break it, even if you try. Consumer junk, just breaks under normal use!

 

[bunyip]

And 3 phase gear they can't give away as not many people have it/
I buy old titan chisels because the steel is just so good, sit inside and clean them up and srarpen them and have some of the best chisels i have used that hold an edge really well.
Cheap chisels are good for prying lids of paint tins and weeding in the garden.