"You know, I bet if we talked to our grandparents, they'd just laugh at us right now."
A few of my friends and I decided this while we sat around talking the other day. During the course of the conversation, the discussion had come around to our latest obsession: frugality. We spent the better part of an hour talking about coupons, making our own detergents, "upcycling" various items around the house, and all the other random things we found on Pinterest.
Finally, someone asked the question, "What I want to know is, where was all this stuff before? Why didn't we know how to do all this years ago?" Just as quickly, she answered her own question by stating, "We probably just got lazy and stopped doing all this for ourselves a long time ago."
What a true statement. I'm guessing that somewhere between the end of the Great Depression, and the beginning of the Great Recession, we all had just enough money that we decided that paying for a little extra advertising and convenient packaging was worth the cost. And now, since I'm living by myself, trying to be a good steward of my money and responsible with my bills, I'm reverting back to "olden ways" of cleaning and whatnot.
My new favorite cleaner is vinegar and blue Dawn. I finally got the soap scum out of the grooves in my bathtub without giving myself tennis elbow. With one swipe of a sponge, I cleaned all the baked on non-stick spray from my baking sheet, rather than using half a can of Bon Ami. The worn, yellowed portions of the vinyl in my apartment is closer to the original color now.
My favorite garage sale find of the last month has been 20 microfiber cloths for $2. I use those cloths for everything. I haven't had to buy paper towels since May. Then, washing my dishes today, I remembered that my best dish towels are actually old flour sacks (and that I want to find more!).
The last few times I've gone to throw out "scraps," like the pits to my mangoes, tea bags, etc., I've gone online and tried to find one last use for them. More often than not, I can find one.
I have two end tables with marble insets that I got at a garage sale for $15 and two comfy chairs that I took out of someone's trash on Blake Road that don't match my futon or entertainment stand. Solution? There are no less than two dozen different suggestions on how to make cheap stain out of common products. Preliminary tests show that these stains will last for awhile. Also, I don't have to worry about having to call Poison Control if I spill the stain on me.
I stand in awe of the people who did things like these out of necessity rather than just as part of a fad. I'm grateful to the people who listened to all the times their parents and grandparents said, "I remember when..." so that they could be the smart ones who reminded all of us "young people" how to save money but still have clean homes and clothes and pretty decorations made from recycled items. I'm really excited for myself, because it's cool to make all this stuff and watch my spending shrink. Frugal is fun!
Aaaand, once again we are quickly approaching the end of another Sunday evening. My frugal fun for tonight? Packing my lunch box for tomorrow and ironing my clothes, since line-drying everything leaves my clothes all wrinkled. Also, I'm writing an old-fashioned snail mail letter to my sister. If any of you have some free time, ask my mom (or me!) for her address and write her while she's off in VA, training to be a Marine officer!
Finally, someone asked the question, "What I want to know is, where was all this stuff before? Why didn't we know how to do all this years ago?" Just as quickly, she answered her own question by stating, "We probably just got lazy and stopped doing all this for ourselves a long time ago."
What a true statement. I'm guessing that somewhere between the end of the Great Depression, and the beginning of the Great Recession, we all had just enough money that we decided that paying for a little extra advertising and convenient packaging was worth the cost. And now, since I'm living by myself, trying to be a good steward of my money and responsible with my bills, I'm reverting back to "olden ways" of cleaning and whatnot.
My new favorite cleaner is vinegar and blue Dawn. I finally got the soap scum out of the grooves in my bathtub without giving myself tennis elbow. With one swipe of a sponge, I cleaned all the baked on non-stick spray from my baking sheet, rather than using half a can of Bon Ami. The worn, yellowed portions of the vinyl in my apartment is closer to the original color now.
My favorite garage sale find of the last month has been 20 microfiber cloths for $2. I use those cloths for everything. I haven't had to buy paper towels since May. Then, washing my dishes today, I remembered that my best dish towels are actually old flour sacks (and that I want to find more!).
The last few times I've gone to throw out "scraps," like the pits to my mangoes, tea bags, etc., I've gone online and tried to find one last use for them. More often than not, I can find one.
I have two end tables with marble insets that I got at a garage sale for $15 and two comfy chairs that I took out of someone's trash on Blake Road that don't match my futon or entertainment stand. Solution? There are no less than two dozen different suggestions on how to make cheap stain out of common products. Preliminary tests show that these stains will last for awhile. Also, I don't have to worry about having to call Poison Control if I spill the stain on me.
I stand in awe of the people who did things like these out of necessity rather than just as part of a fad. I'm grateful to the people who listened to all the times their parents and grandparents said, "I remember when..." so that they could be the smart ones who reminded all of us "young people" how to save money but still have clean homes and clothes and pretty decorations made from recycled items. I'm really excited for myself, because it's cool to make all this stuff and watch my spending shrink. Frugal is fun!
Aaaand, once again we are quickly approaching the end of another Sunday evening. My frugal fun for tonight? Packing my lunch box for tomorrow and ironing my clothes, since line-drying everything leaves my clothes all wrinkled. Also, I'm writing an old-fashioned snail mail letter to my sister. If any of you have some free time, ask my mom (or me!) for her address and write her while she's off in VA, training to be a Marine officer!
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