A Little Too Frugal Maybe???

by admin February 23, 2022

My kids give me a hard time…

I can be really frugal about some things. Here are some of my examples.

These are my slippers. I wrote a blog post back in January of 2020 recommending these slippers… FitKicks Crossovers Women’s Foldable Active Lifestyle Minimalist Footwear Barefoot Yoga Water Shoes (YEP, all of that is the name).

Oh, my word. I love-love-love these. I have worn the heck out of them. I pretty much wear them every day all day. I wear them more like shoes. I even keep them on and run out to the mailbox.

After a year of wear, the edge on one started giving out. I tried to superglue it. I tried to hot glue it. Then I got the bright idea to stitch it up. The stitches in them have lasted for about six months.

Kalissa mentioned something about my slippers the other day and said mom, “If you’re too cheap to buy new ones, just send me the link and I’ll buy them for you.” She was aghast when I told her I didn’t need a new pair, I had a brand new pair in my closet. I just didn’t want to open them yet.

In fact, I have one pair of these exact ones and I have one pair of ones that are the same brand but a slightly different style that I bought at the thrift store…and they are brand new, still in the packaging.

I could easily give up on these, walk upstairs and take a new pair out of the packaging, but, I don’t. I will likely sew these up again. I’m just that frugal about some things.

Here’s another case in point that I might be too frugal. This was another thing that bothered Kalissa…While I was recovering from my cancer treatment I had a terrible mouth condition and couldn’t taste a thing. The doctors encouraged me to drink as much as I could with the intention of trying to flush the oral chemo, steroids, and radioactive iodine out of me.

Water tasted horrible. Well, everything did. It all had a very metallic taste and I had to force myself to drink. It was miserable.

I used these drink packages and put them in my water. I will often try new flavors or different brands. Some of them I like, some of them I don’t. Well, I am too cheap to throw the ones I don’t like away. Way too cheap. So…they have sat in the drawer. The ones I liked the least always sifted to the bottom. Then periodically I would put myself into a plan to work to use them up. I’ll drink a couple and then give up.

Ever since I got home from the hospital, I’ve attacked the drawer of drink packets. I decided I couldn’t taste right anyway. Why not use them up? I told Kalissa what I was doing and she just rolled her eyes and said, “Of course you are.”

I still can’t taste completely right so my plan is to keep drinking them until they are gone and not open any of the kinds I like until they are gone for good.

I’m just weird that way. I hate waste.

I always keep my socks until they have holes in them. The second they do have a hole in them, I do throw them away.

95% of my clothes come from the thrift store or Walmart. I just don’t want to spend money on them. The purse I carry is from a garage sale from two years ago. My wallet was a gift from Kayla from about 10 years ago. My winter coat was from a thrift store 10 years ago.

I showed this picture in a blog post from a year ago…(read it HERE if you missed it)

I was writing about having trouble throwing old dish towels away.

Even my quilting is pretty frugal. I use what I have. I use sheets as backing regularly. I always buy and use thrift store fabric when I can. I purposely use up leftovers and make crumb or string quilts to use the smallest of pieces up. If I want to sew on the current fabrics I purposely design and submit a quilt to magazines so the company will pay for the fabric.

I sew on a vintage machine I bought for $15 or my Pfaff 1200 that I’ve had for 15 years…I don’t foresee me ever buying anything else. Well, I’d love to computerize my longarm but I don’t see that happening unless I win the lottery. I just won’t spend the money on it.

I do have a few weaknesses though…cross stitch is one. Even with that, I finish some things myself and only get the really large ones professionally framed.

Another thing I spend money on is eating out…but even that isn’t crazy. I eat out once a week…maybe two if there’s a reason to, like we got pizzas the weekend Kayla was home. But, there was a reason. I wanted to visit and not be stuck in the kitchen.

Another thing I’m not frugal about is tipping wait staff at restaurants…or people who do a service for me. I’m actually a good tipper for that. I’m also not frugal anytime it comes to helping others…

My kids think I’m a little too frugal. Who knows? All I know is I’m pretty comfortable being me. I don’t mind a bit sewing up my slipper. I would much rather have the money to give to someone in need.

I don’t mind a bit repairing a dog bed.

Yep, I did that in THIS blog post. Rosie was a terrible puppy and ruined several dog beds. Happily, after I patched them she left them alone and still has them to this day.

My parents were the product of the Great Depression and sometimes I think some of that rubbed off on me. Sometimes I think I’m just a person that bucks the system a little bit. I’m not a buyer and spender like society seems to want us to be. I don’t know?

Are others of you frugal about things like I am? Why do you think you are? I’d love to understand more why I am much happier patching my slipper again than going upstairs and pulling out the brand new pair I already own. I think Kalissa would love to understand that too. Leave a comment and tell me what you think.