Acchh.. there's nothin' wrong wi' it.

[catherine]

This is one of my dear frugal Scottish MIL's refrains every time she resisted replacing something or throwing something out:

The dryer that stopped blowing hot air and only blew cold
The car that had large rusted holes in the running boards. Drop your wallet on the floor? Oops.. too bad!
The chicken she cremated in our microwave because she didn't know microwaves cook faster than ovens--she insisted on eating it.. conjuring up visions of that turkey scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I thought of her this morning when I finally stopped fidgeting with my printer and ink cartridge which kept eliciting an error code. DH said, oh, well, you've had this printer for a while, suggesting I replace it. I looked at him and said, "noooo.. I'm just getting a new cartridge. There's probably nothing wrong with the printer."

Is there anything that you've resisted throwing away way past its expiration date? What was the outcome?

ETA: I guess the title was auto-corrected, because I originally typed "Acchh... there's nothing wrang wi' it" which is a more accurate representation of MILs broad Glaswegian accent.

[iris lilies]

Not to topic, but there’s lots of topsy-turvy politics going on in Scotland. The Scottisj National Party head resigned yesterday due to no confidence votes. I’m still getting over my shock from the new Scottish hate speech law that went into effect a couple of weeks ago. the twittering masses are taking it up as trans/jk rowling battles but the more sinister explanation is it intends to control all speech that might be negative about Islam and practitioners.

what does your husband think about all of it?

We here really do take for granted our first amendment, and we should not.

[catherine]

what does your husband think about all of it?

We here really do take for granted our first amendment, and we should not.

I'm not sure he's aware of the extent of the issue in Scotland... I'll have to ask him.

When I was probably about 18, maybe 20--it was during the Vietnam War era anyway--I got stopped by the "Man in the Street" reporter of our local newspaper who asked, "Do you think people should be allowed to burn the American flag?" Of the five people interviewed, I was the only one that said something like, "Yes, because our freedom of speech is so valuable." I was clearly in the minority.

I feel that people are often "for" or "against" free speech depending upon their own worldviews. So people may protest the freedom to present viewpoints that challenge their worth and/or freedoms (as in the trans community), and other people may protest freedom to say "Death to America" on college campuses. Or what about when publicly funded arts organizations exhibit gory images of the Mother of God, which I recall happened in Brooklyn several year ago. It is hard to draw that line. And then when these messages are disseminated at the speed of sound these days, hateful messages, untruthful messages may indeed undermine democracy. It's a hard call.

[Rogar]

Ha. A few weeks ago my printer was not connecting to my computer and I actually needed to print out a couple of very timely legal documents. Half a day of piddling around and nothing doing, so I started browsing printers at Best Buy. Last ditch I reloaded the printer driver and it seemed to work. Sometimes the frustration of this sort of thing has a real negative value.

I just got one of the free updates that Ancestry sends me after doing my DNA analysis. Every time they tweak the regions of my families origins and it gets a little closer to what I know of my families histories. I seem to have a good deal of Scottish in my blood, but quite a bit more Welsh, plus some odds and ends from western Europe. My ancestors mined quite a bit of coal, as the stories go.

[catherine]

I just got one of the free updates that Ancestry sends me after doing my DNA analysis. Every time they tweak the regions of my families origins and it gets a little closer to what I know of my families histories. I seem to have a good deal of Scottish in my blood, but quite a bit more Welsh, plus some odds and ends from western Europe. My ancestors mined quite a bit of coal, as the stories go.

I wonder how the "frugal Scots" got that reputation... and yes, my in-laws definitely mined a lot of coal. My Ancestry DNA says I'm mostly Irish, but a good chunk of Scots. My maiden name (from my Irish ancestors) is actually the name of a Scottish town, and it seems a lot of Scots migrated to central/Northern Ireland at one point, so I'm sure I'm a blend. I'm pretty sure I'm more frugal than DH, but I think most people are frugal in some ways and not others.

[iris lilies]

I'm not sure he's aware of the extent of the issue in Scotland... I'll have to ask him.

When I was probably about 18, maybe 20--it was during the Vietnam War era anyway--I got stopped by the "Man in the Street" reporter of our local newspaper who asked, "Do you think people should be allowed to burn the American flag?" Of the five people interviewed, I was the only one that said something like, "Yes, because our freedom of speech is so valuable." I was clearly in the minority.

I feel that people are often "for" or "against" free speech depending upon their own worldviews. So people may protest the freedom to present viewpoints that challenge their worth and/or freedoms (as in the trans community), and other people may protest freedom to say "Death to America" on college campuses. Or what about when publicly funded arts organizations exhibit gory images of the Mother of God, which I recall happened in Brooklyn several year ago. It is hard to draw that line. And then when these messages are disseminated at the speed of sound these days, hateful messages, untruthful messages may indeed undermine democracy. It's a hard call.

oh definitely, people are swayed on the free speech issue depending on what is being said that they like or dislike. That’s why it’s important we support organizations that truly support free speech regardless of the speech.

That’s why I now give money to FIRE, a national organization that focuses on free speech restriction on college campuses. the restricted speech can be on either side of the political spectrum.

I remember last fall seeing news coverage of a Jewish protester out on a college campus out East. She complained about Palestinian sympathizers burning Israeli flags. “They can’t do that here!” She said. And I say oh yes they can. They can burn any flag they please as long as is it controlled burning and it doesn’t cause physical damage to environs.

I just wanted to shake her and say listen to yourself! think about where you are. You’re in the United States of America where your enemies can burn your own symbol of freedom. That is wonderful. It’s a wonderful example of freedom! You think you can go to Palestine and burn the Palestine flag? Ha ha ha. Ha ha. yeah not likely

[iris lilies]

on the topic: I don’t know. If things don’t work like they’re supposed to I lose patience, and things that irritate me go into the trash anymore. I’m talking about mechanical things, things with moving parts, digital things, etc. Or, tools that do not work correctly because they are not sharp or something else is wrong with them.

For household items without moving parts, I keep the thing around if I like it. I have an old somewhat worn comforter I got at Goodwillba long tme ago. I expect it will need repair about the same time that DH finishes the construction on my bedroom and then I can buy new bedding.

and do you know how much Goodwill is now charging for comforters? $17. Oh hell that’s a lot

[rosarugosa]

The only thing that comes to mind is my beloved blue and white Portuguese summer coverlet with the white scalloped edges that have stitching requiring a few hours of hand-stitched repairs every season.
5838

[iris lilies]

Rosa that coverlet is beautiful.

wait…you have steps up to the bed for your cats? Hunh. we have a set of those steps we inherited when one of our friends moved, and I used them for my big bulldog who died several years ago. But we did keep them around, and I recently put them out for a cat who had some sort of injury last fall. He is still careful how he gets up and down on furniture, so he appreciates those steps.

I never thought I’d be putting out steps for a cat but here we are.

well

[rosarugosa]

DH made those steps in our carpentry class a few years ago. It's funny because we put the steps by the bed for Oggie, who had arthritis, but Raymond learned from him to use the steps and Louie learned from Raymond, so they remain in use although not strictly necessary anymore. The steps are on piano hinges and open up for storage.

[Tybee]

Cool steps and beautiful coverlet and the cats are beautiful, too.
Also like the bookcase under the eaves!
I buy a lot of clothes at goodwill and ebay and two days ago, we were out and I looked down and a giant hole or set of holes had developed by my pocket on my pants! So I put the pocket under it and pulled my shirt down, but they are Flax pants, really comfortable and beautiful fabric, so I washed them and cut them up to use for a 9 patch quilt.

I have some sky blue from the same line, so now I am stuck--how do I go out and find enough old garments to make the quilt?

[catherine]

Cool steps and beautiful coverlet and the cats are beautiful, too.
Also like the bookcase under the eaves!
I buy a lot of clothes at goodwill and ebay and two days ago, we were out and I looked down and a giant hole or set of holes had developed by my pocket on my pants! So I put the pocket under it and pulled my shirt down, but they are Flax pants, really comfortable and beautiful fabric, so I washed them and cut them up to use for a 9 patch quilt.

I have some sky blue from the same line, so now I am stuck--how do I go out and find enough old garments to make the quilt?

Sometimes if you go to church thrift stores they have free bins. At least that's what my Uber-frugal DDIL tells me. All of her clothes are thrifted, and she always looks stylish. She's really an inspiration! I never find anything I really like at thrift stores, but I'm probably not patient enough!

[littlebittybobby]

The only thing that comes to mind is my beloved blue and white Portuguese summer coverlet with the white scalloped edges that have stitching requiring a few hours of hand-stitched repairs every season.
5838Ohhhhh---okay----looka them two catts! The late, great Ogden, i presume. but yeah---can wee have this one on the catt photos thread, too? yup.

[SiouzQ.]

I carried around a Sony Discman FOREVER because it still worked, just needed a strip of duct tape to keep it closed (I'd peel it back to change CD's). Also the Hoover vacuum I got for a wedding present in 1988 - I had to construct a webbing belt to keep that closed but it still worked great. I did not bring it to New Mexico but I left it in front of the dumpster where I was living with a note on it saying "I know I'm ugly, but I work great!"

[catherine]

I carried around a Sony Discman FOREVER because it still worked, just needed a strip of duct tape to keep it closed (I'd peel it back to change CD's). Also the Hoover vacuum I got for a wedding present in 1988 - I had to construct a webbing belt to keep that closed but it still worked great. I did not bring it to New Mexico but I left it in front of the dumpster where I was living with a note on it saying "I know I'm ugly, but I work great!"

That's great! Your examples remind me that all of our kids got "beater" cars when they got their drivers licenses. And they had such quirks, even though they actually got the kids from Point A to Point B. My DS's Ford's radio only worked when the door was open. My other DS's 1984 Audi did have heated seats, but it also had a horn that blared whenever it wanted to--which was a serious embarrassment for my son when it would go off just as he passing a hot girl at his community college campus.

To this day, we tolerate harmless but annoying idiosyncrasies in our cheap cars. DH's truck driver-side window won't open, and it only goes into 4-wheel drive when it wants to--which usually isn't when we are trying to get up the incline to the road after a snowstorm. My car has a dashboard that sometimes lights up and sometimes doesn't. When it doesn't I have no idea how fast I'm going, and I have to count the number of miles I've driven because I can't see the gas gauge either.

[SiouzQ.]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - However, there are different degrees of brokeness. I used to take that maxim to heart to see how long I could wait to replace something just because.

I'd use that broken Discman at the gym long ago when eveyone else was usin their I-Pods (this was in the early aughts). When the Discman finally broke for good, I used my dad's old I-Pods for a long tim, even when people were adopting Bluetooth devices. And now I use actual earbuds on a wire to my android phone at the gym when everyone else is using Bluetooth.

Another instance is the way we stream our shows - we just use a laptop that's hooked up to a larger computer screen that sits on the coffee table. I have absoluetly no desire to get a large flat-screen TV. The over-the-top colors and painfull clarity on those things really offend my eyes and head.

Another thing I do is get ALL of the lotion/shampoo/conditioner/toothpast out of their various containers. There is so much left even when the pump thing can no longer dredge up the contents. That's what a utility knife is for - I cut open the containers and use up another few day's worth of product.

My husband isn't nearly as frugal at all, so in these past few years I have kind of backslid about many things so as not to be a *nudge* He goes through SO much aluminum foil and paper towels - back in my old life, I hardly ever used stuff like that but I decided to pick my battles. I recycle the used aluminum foil and put it with his drink cans. Once I have at least three bags worth I take them to the metal recycling facility in SF and get a few bucks back. Aluminum usually goes for .50 - .65 cent per pound.

I remember how much I sometimes really enjoyed doing some of those extremely frugal things - I am trying to get back to some of that, especially since I am not working these days.