Things your frugal elders told you

[Tradd]

Love this thread.

[pinkytoe]

I think I acquired my mother's Depression era mentality through osmosis. I observed that even as a divorced professional woman she always saved up to pay for things with cash - whether a new car or carpeting for the house. When she wasn't working her butt off, she took care of things rather than acquire new whenever she could, ie mending clothes, reupholstering a chair, darning socks, etc. Sometimes it bordered on stinginess though as I recall begging for "rah-rah" shoes that all the popular girls wore. She would not buy me the real deal, only a knock-off - as the price of the real was too high. I still feel that 13 year old embarrassment of wearing the cheaper version.

[iris lilies]

I think I acquired my mother's Depression era mentality through osmosis. I observed that even as a divorced professional woman she always saved up to pay for things with cash - whether a new car or carpeting for the house. When she wasn't working her butt off, she took care of things rather than acquire new whenever she could, ie mending clothes, reupholstering a chair, darning socks, etc. Sometimes it bordered on stinginess though as I recall begging for "rah-rah" shoes that all the popular girls wore. She would not buy me the real deal, only a knock-off - as the price of the real was too high. I still feel that 13 year old embarrassment of wearing the cheaper version.

Are rah-rah shoes the same as go-go boots in the Midwest? I remember how intensely cool they were, and like all children who have micro vision, any tiny deviation from the standard thing was noticed and disapproved. Kids have to have the exact right brand.

My mother would not allow me to have go-go boots.

[beckyliz]

Don't leave the door ajar/window open. We don't want to heat the outdoors.

No you can't join ski club that's for rich kids.

No we can't go out to eat you lick your plate and that's bad manners.

The stock market is gambling.

Pay cash if you can and if not pay off the loan early.

Stay in the starter home you bought.

Grow your own food as much as possible.

Don't get a credit card. (Later updated to pay it in full each month.)

Sew your own clothes (only when my mother was a stay at home mom).

Entertainment? If you're bored I can find some work for you to do. (We did not get a TV until I was in fourth grade, and then signed a contract that each child got a half hour of TV per day, total exposure to the ads 1 1/2 hours per day from 3 kids. Shows had to be approved and were along the lines of The Waltons.)

If you want money you can work. I started before I was legally old enough to do so, but did also have a small allowance to teach me money management skills, ditto a bank account at a young age.

We can go scrounging around town for firewood.

It's good to hang clothes outside to dry because they smell fresh. It was not until after I left home that my parents got a drier or microwave and they still do not have a dishwasher.

We can use your father's professional development money to go on vacation and only pay for the amount in excess of what one person would cost. This led to many boring trips to empty fields that were Civil War battlefields but also some more interesting attractions.

Any leftover can go into soup.

A person's heart matters. You don't need makeup, hair color, or high fashion.

Never cosign a loan.

You can live on peanut butter for awhile if money is tight.

Don't worry, God will take care of you, and don't feel sorry for yourself. There are lots of people worse off than you. Help them as much as you are able to.

Except for the vacation part, I'd think were were siblings. IL, I didn't get go-go boots either. I still remember that 54 years later, lol.

[pinkytoe]

Rah-rahs were basically black and white saddle shoes but in a more streamlined form. Surprised they haven't come back yet. I never had a thing for go-go boots.

[dado potato]

I received a lot of the same advice about money from my parents.

One piece of advice I heard a lot was the Early American:
For age and want, save while ye may,
No morning sun lasts a whole day.

[thinkgreen]

dado - that is beautiful!

I often heard - The best way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it in your wallet.

[jp1]

My parents were both quite frugal. Many of the activities noted above happened in my childhood home. Mom would buy 4 chunks of flannel each fall and make a shirt for each of us. Dad always did oil changes and other routine maintenance on the car. Singular car until I got my license and they were tired of driving around in the car my older sister had dinged up a few times. The (incorrect, thank you very much!) assumption being that I, as a boy, would put even more dents and dings in it than my sister had.

As an adult I borrowed my parents' car to go visit friends one time while back in Denver visiting them sometime in the mid 90's. At some point during the day I stopped at a fast food drive-through. My change was $.04. I tossed it into the cup holder. The next day my mom handed me the 4 cents and commented that every penny matters.

The other big thing that I remember growing up was constantly being nagged to turn off the lights when you leave a room. To this day I do that unless I'm going to be going back to that room relatively soon. (for instance now that I work from home I leave the lights on all day in my home office which gets no natural light. But to be fair we're talking about one CFL and one LED desklamp. Our electric bill has not changed noticeably since I started working at home.) SO's parents never taught him this lesson. He seems to believe that light switches only go from off to on. Not the other way.

[JaneV2.0]

My SO was big on turning off the lights everywhere. It annoyed me no end to have to stumble around in the dark at his place. Now that we have LED lights, I would hope this custom had expired.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I turn off the lights, at least whenever I remember, forget sometimes. LED lights don't use NO electricity.

This is a 1 bedroom, but still there are rooms I'm not in, and the lights need to go off. Computer off whenever I won't be using it for awhile etc. (shut it down and flip the switch off on the surge protector for it really). My bf is better at it than me, usually has one light on, sometimes sitting in the dark at dusk. I still like having some light here.