Funny Frugal Stories

[QM]

I wanted to see a thread that would put a smile on people's faces. What are some funny/strange/interesting things that you and your family have done to be frugal? (Please Note--For some it may be normal life and for others it may be funny.) This could also be a thread to learn new tips on how to save money.

I've only 'really' been frugal for about 6 months now so I don't have anything too exciting to share. Looking forward to seeing people fun and frugal ways...

[2ndGenGranola]

We have been shopping more at thrift stores. I recently found this thick shirt I use as a lighweight jacket for $3. People all over have been stopping me telling me what a beautiful jacket it is. It tickles me to death every time someone says something.

[QM]

We have been shopping more at thrift stores....It tickles me to death every time someone says something.

You reminded me of something that happened a couple weeks ago. A family from our church had us over to their house for lunch, and I loved the woman's skirt. I asked her where she purchased it, and she said Value Village. She checked the label and it said Eddie Bauer. It looked like it was brand new and she probably paid not very much for it. I really liked her skirt but knew there was no way I'd come across the same one in the stores because it wasn't 'current'. Lucky her.

[pollypurebred39]

This is a great thread, sometimes it seems like we focus so much on the lack of that comes with being frugal. It's good to see some uplifting and fun things about being frugal.

We are watching every penny and have been since we've been married 16 years ago, but being frugal means that date nights and family outings are very limited. We've found ways to still have fun and be frugal at the same time.

I could not afford a kid's birthday party for my oldest son (and he was soooo dying for a party like his friends were having) so I decided to have it in the park, it was a blast. I brought lawn games (had some, borrowed some) made a cake, brought a tablecloth, glasses, dishes and flatwear from home, and brewed up a few gallons of tea and called everyone and invited them to a birthday in the park instead of sending out expensive invitations. It was a great birthday, one my son still remembers fondly and cost me only the price of baking a cake and some iced tea! , oh and I did slpurge and buy ballons, but they were only $1.

We keep abreast of the churches activities in our area, they have coffee house nights, plays, dinners, concerts, movies, ect. One church has their version of the drive-in theater in the Summer. Everyone brings lawn chairs and blankets and they set up a giant screen outside. They serve sodas and popcorn and sometimes even water ice. When it gets dark they start the movie, it's always a great movie and our kids get a great night out. Our church does dinner theater complete with free babysitting, it's a great date night.

We won tickets for Libery Lights, a light show in Philly that we will use this Summer and we have free tickets for a movie in an actual theater that we have been waiting for a great date movie to use. But, the best movie nights are in our $2.50 theater, yes their out of the regular theaters by the time they get there, but there new to us, we do that every once in awhile.

Of course family & friends picnics are always a blast. I organize a family gathering at a (free) park with a playground and bathrooms. I have everyone bring a covered dish and either soda or a paper product, and bring lawn chairs! The kids get a day to blow off steam and hang out with their friends and so do the adults for just a few dollars and some effort in the kitchen!

[QM]

pollypurebred39--You make me want to live in your neighbourhood!!!

[pollypurebred39]

I just remembered something from twenty years ago. My Father, "The Duct Tape King" was forever and alway "fixing" things with duct tape. One day I come home to find that the toilet seat had broken clean in half and my Father "fixed" it by wrapping the broken seat in duct tape! LOL! I decided that was just going to be hard to clean so I replaced the seat, but to this day it cracks me up when I think about it!

And my Grandmother, who was one frugal hen if ever there was one used to cut her biscuits with the lid of a spray can! (scrubbed of course) I'll never forget that day when I realized my Grandmothers biscuit cutter was a top of a spray can, I was just a little thing and thought it very funny.

[pollypurebred39]

I thought of another one

Years ago, when my oldest son was just a baby and I was so broke that the only way I had clothes on my back was by getting clothes from the clothes pantry I found this beautiful aqua green skirt at the pantry, my joy was tempered by the fact that I did not have anything to go with it, so for months I searched at the clothes pantry for something to match. One day there it was, an aqua green shirt. Imagine my glee when I brought it home and discoved that it was a perfect color match. I longed for a full length mirror where I could admire my new outfit, but I stettled for my reflection from mid torso up confident that it was smaching. I wore my new outfit everywhere,every Sunday to church, to the store, out to dinner with a friend, to the mall....and that's where I discovered to my horror that my reflection in the malls mirrored pillars did not reflect back to me how beautiful that I believed this outfit to be. Yes, the colors matched perfectly and the material both were made from the same, but the shirt did not really match the style of this beatiful tulip skirt and the combination of the two together was just awful, add the fact that the tulip style shaped me like a bell and I looked ridculous. I left the mall in a hurry, and embarrassed recalling all the places I'd worn this outfit, I thought I'd just die, then it struck me so funny that I had fits of laughter, all the places I went and no one said a single word! Not one, not even my Sister, the Rat! She had to know how bad this looked! LOL!

[QM]

...She had to know how bad this looked! LOL!

Maybe it wasn't as bad looking as you thought. To each his own, you know?

[pollypurebred39]

Oh no, she knew....when I said something to her she started giggling and then doubled over in fits of laughter! A bit of good natured fun on her part, she knew I'd eventually see myself in a full length mirror she was just waiting for it. LOL! It was funny, but so embarassing. I make an effort not to take myself too seriously and having a Sister helps keep me grounded, she'll let me be the butt of a joke an enjoy it throughly. Just her way, no harm meant.

The one time I got this lovely(or what i thought was lovely) cape from the clothes pantry. This time my Sister could not contain herself. She laughed so hard so peed her pants(She was 9 months pregnant at the time) She told me I looked like Count Draculas wife! LOL! I didn't care I wore it anyway, it was warm.

My Sisters always been something of a jokester, once she coated the toilet seat in Vaseline and my Mom sat on it in the middle of the night. Boy was Mom mad!

[frugalwarrior]

My parents aren't world travelers,they don't shop at many stores and live life in a small but satisfied way. My mother has remained unassuming and slightly naive despite the world around her. The facts that she can't drive and does not have cable tv have attributes a lot to this. To me this sometimes ends up in comedy.

Well, I was talking to my mom on the phone and she was telling me her neighbors next door had vacated their house. Their huge medical bills had gotten the best of them and they were going to rent a house. They left tons of stuff and told my father to take whatever he wanted before the bank came in. To my dad, this was like a new source of fun. He loves to go junking. My mom said they got this really great lawn chair. The only thing it needed was a pad because it didn't come with one. Sight unseen my mom and I went to Meijers to look for a cushion. Now she was trying to describe how none of the ones they had would work because this lawn chair had a back and was longer. Puzzled i went to lunch with her and dropped her off leaving still not seeing this lawn chair. The next day I talked to her again and she was telling me how this "lawn chair" could fold completely flat and you could lay on it. The light finally goes on- it a futon and a queen size one at that. My mom says- "What's a futon". I am shocked. I explain its a sofa that fold down to sleep on and you need a matress not a lawn cover. Not wanting to "give up her find" She says can't I put a mattress on it outside. Not ever wanting to hurt her feelings I explain that it would not be waterproof. My mom is 76 and generally does well but sometimes... The next day I called her and she tells me my father took the futon back. My dad says yeah he threw it back over the fence. I guess he didn't want any of them foreign made "futon" couches in his yard.

Everytime I go over to visit its something. Apparently, the 50 year old bathroom floor tiles have started to pop up. Now my father has money to pay someone to come in and retile but he has always done so himself and he doesn't like "people he doesn't know" in his house. At 81 I don't see him changing much. No one mentioned any of this to me so when I came out of the bathroom I was giggling a bit. Picture: row of tile,stripe pf duct tape,row of tile stripe of duct tape... all the way across. I say to my mother "What's happened in the bathroom?" She says what do you mean? I suppress another giggle because I know what's coming. I say with all the duct tape. Oh,she says "Your father fixed the floor, -it matches." I struggle not to laugh, she sees nothing funny!

[frugalwarrior]

Though of another one. (thank goodness my parents don't have internet, I'd be in trouble)

My parents always lived frugally. My mom often sewed us holiday clothes. There was a place that sold discounted fabric near us. Picture huge piles of fabric on long tables in a general disarray. No air conditioning in the summer,dusty. Boring and sheer torture for a kid. The fabrics were generally undesirable textures,had flaws,runs or awful prints or colors but they were CHEAP! On this particular day mom picked out a knit fabric in navy with gigantic orange poppies. Proudly,mom holds up her find and says "what do you think". Warily I say "What areya gonna do with that?" Seriously she says " I'm gonna make a shift style wrap dress with long sleeves and fold over french cuffs". Still under a 10 year olds innocent delusion that my opinion had some value I said "Are you sure?". My mom relied "Don't worry about it, it will be fine". A standard line used thruout my childhood often spoken before immanent disaster. I could see my mom had her stubborn on so I was quiet. Envisioning my mother walking down the church aisles with heels, a floppy hat and this dress. Then she says"Don't tell your father. I want to surprise him".My mother woked diligently and secretly on that dress for about a week. A few days before Easter here comes my mother with the dress on a hanger all pressed up like a great prize(please understand my mother sewed beautifully but the old expression flows "You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear").
My mother proudly marches into the room with a smile "what do you think". My father probably having been engrossed in a Saturday sports game,looks up. The room gets too quiet. My dad says "Well um, yes that certainly is a doosey, yes, well a real humdinger.I don't think I'd ever heard my dad giggle before,brought up by a conservative English mother. It was a strange sound that started to build. Ha-He-HA HA HA,HEE,HEE,HEE. It sadly went on for what seemed like half an hour to my ten year old self. My mother then marched out to the backyard and stuck the dress in the closet of our broken down travel trailer where it sat for years. It has now moved from an unmentionable subject to a source of humor for us as all things like this often do. When asked now my mom will shake her head and say "I don't know what I was thinking. I must admit there was at least one time when in front of my playmates,I donned the oversized dress with too long sleeves and pranced "Time for Church".

[monkeywrangler71]

You two are killing me! I have tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard.

[frugalwarrior]

Sorry, not to hijack the whole thread but Iwanted to suggest a book I just found that goes along the same vane. It's called "NO TOUCH MONKEY" by Ayun Halliday. Copyright 2003/Seal press Avalon publishing. It's about a comedy of errors commited by her as a young,innocent,penniless traveler. She and her companion get into lots of trouble thru innocent ignorance spurred on my youthful energy and complete lack of funds and poor planning. I'm still in the middle of it but to me its pee your pants funny.

[rainbowgc]

Mine is when my Dh tried fixing the bathroom faucet with super glue!

[Emeraldfire]

I remember when I was a kid my mom was having problems with her cars radiator and had read somewhere that you could pour pepper in it to plug up holes so she did. She was so proud of herself as we drove around town with her bragging about how well that works to my sister and me, when suddenly the pepper must of broke loose somehow and this overwhelming smell of pepper blows in through the vents of the car sending my sister and I scrambling to roll down the windows as fast as we could while our eyes started watering and we were choking and sneezing.