I'm not just all about the laundry. No. I'm also the keeper of the monies around these parts. Sometimes that's not the easiest job. The Evil Twin has a good job and makes a low to decent salary, but that's gotta support 4 people. Mortgage, one car payment, utilities, assorted bills, private school for Buddy, private pool membership for summers, etc.
Vacations aren't always a given around here, but we believe in one parent being home with the young 'uns. So, we've made our choices. We could have more, do more, if I worked, but this is how we roll.
Subsequently, my family has become very used to seeing generic packaging at our house. I have learned to pinch a penny 'til it hurts. It's a good skill.
I grew up in a family where we were very comfortable. Not wealthy, but my dad made very good money and we didn't ever scrimp or limp along. My parents tried to point me in the direction of how to marry money, but I married for love. Dad paid for my college education, lock, stock and barrel. I often wondered if he was disappointed at how it had ended up for me (staying at home), but I know that he told the Evil Twin many times how proud he was of me and what a good mother I had become. My mom was also a housewife. After I was adopted, she quit her job and never returned to the work force.
I actually consider bargain shopping to be a challenge. I've learned that buying new things doesn't necessarily buy happiness (although in the case of my side by side refridgerator and my laptop - those two things make me beam with pride! LOL).
Being frugal is fun. I like to find new ways to save money or reuse things we already have around the house. I'm very ingenious. Not that I'm a recycler or some sort of hippie-dippie "save the Earth" type. I just like the challenge.
Anyone else reuse foil? :-)
No, I don't reuse foil. I'm wondering when The Great Tin Foil Shortage started in this country. Tonight my wife heated my "Last Night's Pizza Leftovers" dinner with a USED piece of aluminum foil! WTF? She knew that if I had been there first, I would have ripped off a new sheet and blew that extra .000014 cent in a most extravagant way. Tighter than a cat's ass, as the saying goes. I coulda choked her. Why, I shoulda....oh...waitaminute....ummm...wrong blog - sorry!
ReplyDeleteHoney, I noticed you threw that piece of foil away. It was it's time to go anyway. Love ya!
ReplyDeleteI've been paid a pretty good salary since leaving the Navy, first because I worked my ass off and them because I got in a business that threw money at us.
ReplyDeleteI never saw that as a good reason to then throw it all away. I'm pretty much the joke of the office when it comes to how cheap we live. We have a very nice house, but could have spent more. I still wear black socks I got in boot camp. (They don't have holes so why not.) I shop for my clothes at Target and drive a Saturn with hand crank windows and no power locks. (Which I paid for in cash.) I cut coupons (Why not, I pay for the paper.) and we eat many generics if we try them and they don't taste like ass.
I'm proud of my cheapness. We just decided to spend our extras in ways the family as a whole can enjoy together, like vacations.