The Thrifty Thread!

[sadieml]

Mama was what we called "the last of the original Pack Rats". My eldest sister and I paid the price for that when she died, since we had to clean-out her house. I promised my kids I would not do that to them, since it was such hard work, and MORE than that, so hard to have to sort through her lifetime of collected things and decide what to give to whom and what was just trash. I would never wish that on my worst enemy. ANYWAY, I was very careful packing to move and asked myself with every item, "Is this just junk, or might I reuse this somehow on a farm?" Hoses and anything to do with plumbing or building were definitely kept. I think I now have about 8 old washing machine hoses, and 2 garden hoses that leak, just in case! At least when my time comes, all they have to do is throw out a bunch of my DIY junk.
So far I've done really well with the paper junk.

 

[Southern by choice]

Mama was what called "the last of the original Pack Rats". My eldest sister and I paid the price for that when she died, since we had to clean-out her house. I promised my kids I would not do that to them, since it was such hard work, and MORE than that, so hard to have to sort through her lifetime of collected things and decide what to give to whom and what was just trash. I would never wish that on my worst enemy

That should be in the OCD thread
But in a good way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is how I think too @sadieml - I don't want someone having the chore of sorting through stuff wondering about was this important to mom or whatever. Because I am older and my friends are too I see this a good deal- parents are late 80's or 90 and some in their 70's and I am seeing my friends starting to see "hoarding".... not just pack rat but hoarding issues... Many feel that "oh well when I die I don't have to deal with it" but I can't understand why they would want to put their kids through that.

On the other side I really DON'T like saving much of anything on the premise of "I might be able to use this". My DH is like that... It makes me nuts because in the end I am the one who has to continually deal with all that stuff. He is much better now- probably because I got to the point of just throwing stuff in the dumpster right away and saying- Nope, not happening... it will sit here for years and will end up at the dump anyway... I'm just skipping the years part.

We do reuse BUCKETS! I wash our cleaning rags (2 loads a day of cleaning rags) with the ARm and Hammer soap... no use in using the "good laundry soap" for rags that I add so much bleach to anyway... Arm and Hammer comes in the big Buckets... LOVE THEM! We use them everywhere on the Farm. Hard for me at first because they have the print on the bucket but I OVERCAME!

Twine of course is stashed everywhere.

 

[Baymule]

Oh twine! and buckets! I save hay twine, can't help myself. I keep a hank of hay twine and roll of duct tape in the car. Actually it is a nice car and we bought the last 2 cars for me, brand new. But I drove junkers and clunkers for so long that it is just a habit. My DH called me one dark rainy winter evening to scream that Joe (horse) was out and wouldn't let DH catch him. I calmly asked what he was doing, DH said Joe stayed just out of his reach and walked away. I said to keep headlights on him, was driving in from work and would be there soon. I drove up, wearing dress, heels and reached behind the seat for hay twine. I walked up to Joe, slipped a twine noose around his neck and walked him back in the gate. DH was yah-yahing at Joe--Yeah, Momma's here now! You gotta do what she says! Once again, hay twine saved the day!

I buy buckets at the donut shop for $2 with lids-love them! I use them for all kinds of things. Can't have too many buckets!

 

[Mini Horses]

WOW -- going thru "saved" things of moms !!! Burned cancelled checks & books of monthly bills rec'd, pd, date, ck, # that were over 20 yrs old!

Mom has Altzheimers, so I have to go thru every envelope & piece of paper so I don't throw out something I will "need" later. Hiding things is part of the disease, and she did that!! On flip side, I have found pics that I never knew were taken. Many of mom, dad & me when I was just a toddler, gr-parents from years ago, etc.

I've promised my kids I'd do a cleansing of all my "stuff". LOL
It's not fun, easy, or fast to do.

 

[chiques chicks]

Took me months to do that clean out here.
Every receipt from when they rebuilt the house in the 40's to present day checks.

Literally filled a 3 ton dumpster with things I couldn't burn, recycle or give away.

Eventually I bought three property from the estate and rarely a day goes by I don't think of something I threw out that I could really use about now, old tin roofing, angle iron, wood, tools. But I didn't know at the time if I would buy it.

On topic, I have friends save the jugs light weight cat litter comes in. Great for hauling water to the animals. And handles on two sides!

I live alone but cook large crock pots of food, particularity if I can make it in to varied meals. Pork roasts, etc. So much cheaper to but larger quantities and cook once.

 

[Mini Horses]

I live alone but cook large crock pots of food, particularity if I can make it in to varied meals. Pork roasts, etc. So much cheaper to but larger quantities and cook once.

Me, too. Often share by giving that days meal to DD &DGD for evening meal, saves her cooking after long day at work. I like to then make single servings for freezer. Nice to come in from day of farm work and just heat something fully prepared vice a sandwich. Saves time, energy & $$$.

I think everyone does it, not always we "singles". Tastes better and healthier. One reason those who live alone have health issues -- nutrition! They don't eat properly. This way the bad prepared foods are out of the picture and all the chemicals in them.

 

[goatgurl]

me three. i like to make big one pot meals and then freeze extras for when i don't want to cook. roasts become stew which becomes veggie beef soup.

 

[norseofcourse]

Seed catalogs are starting to come! I'm sitting here today paging through two of them, as the winds howl outside and snow is covering the leaves I never got raked up last fall.

Starting your own seeds is easy, and with only a small extra effort, your seeds can be free! So far I've done this two different ways.

1. I plant more seeds out of the packet than I'll need, and sell the extra seedlings. This works really well for tomatoes for me. There's plenty of seeds in each package, often enough to last a few years and still germinate. Using this method I've been able to afford some really neat tomato varieties (tomatofest is a good website, warning you will want to plant dozens of kinds!). It's not hard to sell enough to pay for the seeds and starting supplies.

2. I found people who wanted to plant some things, but don't have the time or space to start their own seeds, or don't have a 'green thumb'. Asking around at work, and among friends, gave me plenty (a few to start with is usually enough, without getting super complicated). They buy packets of seeds of what they want, I started the seeds they wanted and I got to keep the extras to start for myself.

With method 2, I found there was often a bit more educating, so sometimes I learned stuff too (what are the best tomatoes for containers? Can I plant just two corn plants?). I also had to make sure people bought the seeds and got them to me in plenty of time to start. And if several people wanted the same thing, such as Beefsteak tomatoes, I'd ask one or two of them to buy a packet of something else, like Cherokee Purple, in exchange for their Beefsteak plants (so I got more of a variety, instead of tons of the same seeds). One person even gave me a huge bag of seed starting soil mix - her plants are free until the bag runs out, which should take 4 or 5 years.

With both methods, if you have the time and space, you can also start extra plants to sell, and actually make a bit of pocket change. Or donate extras to a community garden.

 

[greybeard]

It would be interesting to cross check threads and see how many people from this thread wasted their $$ on powerball tickets........

 

[norseofcourse]

It would be interesting to cross check threads and see how many people from this thread wasted their $$ on powerball tickets........

I didn't, but if someone has some extra disposable income and buys some tickets, I don't see the harm in it - although sadly, I know many people who can ill afford it do buy tickets.

I've bought raffle tickets for various fundraisers, and rarely win... oh well. And at least in Ohio, lottery profits are supposed to go towards education funding.