Now I totally get why my father was so frugal

**Contrary Housewife** · 05-22-2020, 10:38 PM

This was a good story.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no...gal-2020-05-21

"Lessons from the Great Depression: He saved rusty nails and soap chips. These days, plenty of people are doing it"

**dlrcpa** · 05-23-2020, 12:34 PM

I get saving things. My gripe is they need to have an intended purpose. For example saving totally un-wearable shirt or pants is pointless. Saving the buttons, zippers, and cutting the usable parts into patches or cleaning rags and discarding the rest makes sense. There is effort to get from A to B which a lot of people don't/won't do.

**Spirit Deer** · 05-23-2020, 12:47 PM

Same, DLR. I'll even extend that to not keeping stuff I could use, but probably never would. Like bent nails. They frustrate me because they tend to bend in the same place when I try to pound them in again.

**marthamfi** · 05-23-2020, 01:21 PM

yes and there is limits to keeping stuff too. like how many rags do you need or use? or clothes for future grand kids etc and they would be so out of date. or when they keep stuff that will rust etc and could have blessed others.

**KathyB** · 05-23-2020, 08:27 PM

I get saving little bits of soap and mushing them together. I do that sometimes. It is still good soap.

But the rusty nails thing is a bit of a head scratcher. Did he actually use them for anything? Would you want to use rusty nails for anything?

If you save a bunch of stuff you have no use for it is not really frugal. It is more like hoarding.

When my son was five, my mom gave him some children's clothes she saved from the 1970s. Now some clothing is timeless stuff you could wear many years later. These were not.

**marthamfi** · 05-23-2020, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by KathyB

I get saving little bits of soap and mushing them together. I do that sometimes. It is still good soap.

But the rusty nails thing is a bit of a head scratcher. Did he actually use them for anything? Would you want to use rusty nails for anything?

If you save a bunch of stuff you have no use for it is not really frugal. It is more like hoarding.

When my son was five, my mom gave him some children's clothes she saved from the 1970s. Now some clothing is timeless stuff you could wear many years later. These were not.

hahaha no most 70s stuff wasn't classic

**Contrary Housewife** · 05-23-2020, 09:55 PM

As long as the nails weren't corroded and flaking apart they'd be fine for most uses. Anything with iron is going to rust eventually from exposure to the air, but it's just a surface layer and usually isn't a problem. If a slightly rusty nail saves you a trip to the hardware store and the purchase of 50 more nails, that's a good deal.

I save all DH's computer screws. I swear they put extra in the computer case. Or maybe they breed. I have a drawer in my desk that is just screws I picked up off the floor. I found one earlier at the bottom of the stairs, glad I saw it before I stepped on it.

**rujerro** · 05-25-2020, 04:30 AM

My parents were born in 1928 and 1930. Dad called Mom a "pack rat." She loved garage sales and purchased stuff that wasn't used- planters, dishes...…. Or use it temporarily and then sell it. The house was cluttered in areas.

Kathy & Martha- bell bottoms are back. They even sneaked them into career wear. Black polyester bell bottoms...……..

**Spirit Deer** · 05-25-2020, 12:22 PM

Except for making certain rugs, polyester is the Devil.

**marthamfi** · 05-25-2020, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by rujerro

My parents were born in 1928 and 1930. Dad called Mom a "pack rat." She loved garage sales and purchased stuff that wasn't used- planters, dishes...…. Or use it temporarily and then sell it. The house was cluttered in areas.

Kathy & Martha- bell bottoms are back. They even sneaked them into career wear. Black polyester bell bottoms...……..

haha don't think anyone will wear them as big as the old days. they can bring stuff back but don't think they will last.

**jettsmom** · 05-27-2020, 04:58 PM

When they sold my grandparent's house, my dad found ball after ball of twine. In the "old days" I remember when newspapers used to be tied with twine before they threw them in your yard. These twine balls were made up of those pieces of twine from the newspapers. My grandfather saved them and tied them together. I remember my dad using that twine forever.

It's interesting that I've started saving different things. There were some ribbon pieces included with those glow in the dark sticks. I saved the ribbon. My dgd has used several pieces for her "projects". I'm starting to save old clothes to make new things or use for blankets. I'm not throwing things out like I used to. If I think there could be a use, I save it. If not, it goes.

**MaggieTru** · 05-27-2020, 05:28 PM

cool memories!
re: Rusty nails: I use them as plant fertilizer. Stick one in the pot and it adds a bit of iron to the mix. I have an old cracked frying pan (my great gramma's...cracked about a decade ago) in the garden rusting away. I move it around when something needs anchored from the wind and it adds iron to my bad soil.
As for how many rags a person needs: TONS! I avoid paper towels so I clean lots of stuff with rags. Throw them in the wash with my dirtiest load (work jeans or muddy rugs) and start over. When they are too worn out to be worth washing, they get to be grease/oil rags and then thrown out...unless they are cotton, Then I use them as fire starters.

I avoid as much as possible buying synthetic fabric clothes partly because I don't like a nylon or polyester rag and they catch fire too easily (clutz with a woodstove...)

i've also started choosing some brands of packaged foods over others for the nice jars or a can size/shape I need. I use sardine cans and lids for various things and if the price is the same, prefer the squarish ones. I bought some soup in a jar (on SUPER sale...) partly to try it and partly because it had a nice straight sided jar I could ferment some carrot sticks in.

I'm also a packrat, but try to sort through crap every few months and donate, use, recycle, share or throw out the stuff that has gotten overstocked.

**Spirit Deer** · 05-27-2020, 07:30 PM

I've bought products just for the jars, too. Sometimes the jars are just a happy coincidence, like buying olives in half gallon jars from WM and using the jars for beans and dehydrated foods. Years and years ago I bought dozens of glass jars with cheap peanut butter. They hold a cup, and I still use them for herbs and spices. By coincidence, they're a perfect height to fit in the drawers I put in our pantry when I built the storage in there. They were a little too wide to fit all the way across the drawers (it was frustratingly close) but I discovered the glass jars bouillon comes in were a perfect fit, so it's all good now. I save other jars too, but they have designated space. Once the space is full, something has to go.