I Am Frugal - to a fault perhaps.

[Neighbor]

Hi I wonder when does being frugal become miserly?

I have confessed in the past my fear of buying, that I will load up a shopping cart full of needs then panic at the checkout and put everything back on the shelves and leave empty handed. I still struggle with that.

I can afford a new computer, but I work with a mid 2015 macbook pro with a keyboard where most of the QWERTY layout is now blank, the keys being so heavily worn. The case is puffing due to the batteries expanding.

I find I just typed 2025  instead of intended 2024, as between a blank keyboard and diabetic retinitis I have gapping holes in vision especially when looking at up close ohjects.  I did manage to see the 2024 error  later when I reviewed what had I typed this time? Sometimes the

I could get a new computer or been have this one rebuilt, but what if I spend the money and then up and die real soon, geezer that I am? Will I get my money's worth? Ha, like I should then care. But still I struggle.Rtyping errors crack me up, overtimes not so much,  when they get embarrassing.

I think I can blame it all on mom  with her "Eat your food there are starving children in India!"

LOL!  Or else it is true I am cheap.

 

p.s. just having a little fun at my own expense.

 

[ladypeartree]

This is one of the reasons I like the new system we have in most supermarkets where you scan everything as you go ... no more loading unloading repacking and you keep an eye on the total at all times.  Our generation was brought up to make do and mend not like the throw away society that is only now coming back around to reuse recycle reduce waste idea 

[Neighbor]

Yes I suppose but now the QR's are being  imitated by the bad guys so that they can access our information on our cellphones including banking information.  It is real easy for them to put a fake QR scanner label over a real one. I just cannot keep up with it all anymore Some days I think  going to Las Vegas and putting it all  on red is as good a  program as any , go double or nothing, get it over with real quick like.

I will not use those QR's at all. Been hit too many times already. It is a real pain when  accounts get hacked or people use identity info to get a mortgage loan.

Edited February 23, 2024 by Neighbor
numerous typos

[Sower]

41 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

Hi I wonder when does being frugal become miserly?

I'm reasonably sure you grew up with parents and grandparents that went through the great depression. They knew how to make ends meet raising a family during those hard times. This carried over to our generation, at least in our family. Nothing, nothing was thrown away. It was repaired, not replaced, and then moved onto a lesser use. I remember when I was tall enough to be able to wash dishes when at grandmas house. We washed all tinfoil, folded it and reused it. War time mentality, save metal. When it became so limp to use, we cut it into ribbons and hung them on the fig trees to scare away the mocking birds that ate our food.

My parents only bought day old bread and the discounted veggies/fruits with bruises packed in crates. Crates I scrounged to make my rabbit hutches and my homing pigeon loft. When the bread began too get moldy, scrape it off and make bread pudding. We loved bread pudding, it was sweet. Sweet stuff was very rare back then. There was nine in the family to feed and clothe. I was lucky in that I was second born so my hand me down clothes were great compared to the last born. Shoes typically had cardboard inside when the soles wore out. Wheaties cereal  boxes had the most durable cardboard. I was taught to sew and repair my clothes, not affording new.

All the trees bushes and plants were fruit bearing and not ornamental, peach pecan fig strawberry etc and veggies. Remember getting a dollar to cut the grass, real push mower, a dollar to hand edge and weed the garden. Folding money and I felt rich. Fishing trips were actually a meat run. Washtubs of trout, gut and gilled, individually rapped in saved newspapers to stow away in the chest freezer. The freezer we have today was bought in the late seventies, 43 yrs old, that was bought because living just a few blocks from the bay I fished regularly and we kept it full. Frugal, and fresh and free.

I finally retired about 6 months ago and am going through the 'junk' I have been saving for a lifetime. Downsizing, so as to not be a chore for my wife should I die any time soon.  It's hard. It is good usable material, steel/pipe and lumber/plywood,tons of  hardware and plumbing, electrical equipment and lighting,  tools and tooling. Machine area and wood working, my trade tools. Good old equipment manufactured to maintain, and not china throw away junk to replace each year. But today's mentality dictates a modular style, replace it not fix it. Get a new one. We're a dying breed Neighbor.

I believe it's important to be a good steward of all God's blessings/provisions. My mind believes, knows, myself or someone in need will 'eventually' call to see if I have a such and such and I'll ask what size, come over and we'll look. A good feeling to pass on God's provisions to others. There is less calls now as my older friends just go out and buy a new such and such online, or call a repairman to fix their problem. cool. God provides in his own many ways.

         "when does being frugal become miserly?"

When it gets to the point where being frugal, overly careful/cautious/tight fisted,  with our blessings/provisions, unduly influence our freedom/desire to pass on our blessings to others. Becoming a hoarder. Building bigger barns. Self contentment by stuff. When we stop trusting God and depend only upon getting/having.  Seems once I learned you can't out give God my pile of neat 'junk' began to grow. The more I gave away, the bigger the pile grew. And in so many other ways than just neat junk. I'm hoping to find another like minded to unload my stuff that he can pass it on. To whom much is given much is required. Honestly, considering all the bases, I'm the richest man I know.
Frugal is good, but with the continued desire to give and not hoard.             

 

 

[Marathoner]

2 hours ago, Neighbor said:

Hi I wonder when does being frugal become miserly?

I have confessed in the past my fear of buying, that I will load up a shopping cart full of needs then panic at the checkout and put everything back on the shelves and leave empty handed. I still struggle with that.

I can afford a new computer, but I work with a mid 2015 macbook pro with a keyboard where most of the QWERTY layout is now blank, the keys being so heavily worn. The case is puffing due to the batteries expanding.

I find I just typed 2025  instead of intended 2024, as between a blank keyboard and diabetic retinitis I have gapping holes in vision especially when looking at up close ohjects.  I did manage to see the 2024 error  later when I reviewed what had I typed this time? Sometimes the

I could get a new computer or been have this one rebuilt, but what if I spend the money and then up and die real soon, geezer that I am? Will I get my money's worth? Ha, like I should then care. But still I struggle.Rtyping errors crack me up, overtimes not so much,  when they get embarrassing.

I think I can blame it all on mom  with her "Eat your food there are starving children in India!"

LOL!  Or else it is true I am cheap.

 

p.s. just having a little fun at my own expense.

 

Hmm, I was wondering where that squeaking sound was coming from. 

Oh wait, that's me. I'm so cheap that I squeak. It's how I managed to live comfortably while subsisting on so-called poverty wages. I kept my expenses to the bare minimum, saving money every month. That's continued to be the case even now that I've risen above "poverty level." I use quotes because in my estimation, poverty is relative. 

I dedicated myself to be a wise steward of what the Lord has given to me. 

[Neighbor]

Great response posts!

[Logostician]

If living within your means is fault, then I guess I'm guilty.  I never buy anything on credit.  I have to have the money, to spend the money, with enough left over, to leave the day to day stuff unaltered.  This is true even for big stuff like cars and houses.  Almost nobody buys a house without a mortgage.  But once you build some equity, it is possible.  This approach has helped to make me patient.  I wait for good deals.  I am the polar opposite of an impulse buyer.

[Neighbor]

2 minutes ago, Logostician said:

I am the polar opposite of an impulse buyer.

Ha I am both. I reject reject reject put back then buy on impulse;- once I have researched ad nauseam.

I was of the mindset I will never buy another car in fact I am getting rid of one. Then realized if I am going to travel 1200 miles at a shot and am old and my copilot is well shall I say nerve rackingly likely to zombie out after two hours before the wheel I had better have the safest of cars, one with all the alerts bells whistles auto braking lane retaining smart cruise control features on the market. And so  on my way to  our next trip I stopped and traded in a twofor  for one, a new got everything vehicle the last one for a lifetime. Well perhaps a lifetime.

[RdJ]

Groceries have become so expensive. Last week my ex said he was driving to Germany with the kids and asked if I wanted to join, since I can't drive. Oooooooh. The prices there are like they were here years ago. Toilet paper 8 rolls 2,25. We live near the border. Place was packed with happy cheap Dutch people. Fabulous. You easily save 60 euro if you buy stuff for a week.

[RdJ]

4 hours ago, Neighbor said:

 

I think I can blame it all on mom  with her "Eat your food there are starving children in India!"

 

My parents always said that I should be grateful for the food, because the poor children in Africa would be happy with it. I really believed that and thought: hey what if I dig a tunnel all the way to Africa? Then I can dump all the food in it that I don't like, like Brussels sprouts and beetroots and they will be so happy with it! I was a lovely child. So selfless and considerate of other people. Here you have the rests I don't like. Ooooh thank you so much!

 

We had a comedian. His parents said: in the war they were happy with it and he said that he would say: yes then it was still fresh.

Edited February 22, 2024 by Renskedejonge