There is a mind-set change in progress.
It will be years before people want to go into restaurants in anywhere near the numbers they did before this hit, regardless of what “scientists” say.
This is similar to what happened in the depression—people who lived through that period were still hoarding bent nails and old toys for the rest of their lives.
You’ve just described my grandparents.
When we did household wrap up when my grandfather passed, the attic was a sight to behold.
Every old appliance that had ever ‘quit’ (not the bigger stuff, that was in an out building) was up there. Stand mixers from the 60s, old lamps, etc.
Ended up selling some of that stuff for a pretty penny actually. Apparently some people restore that kind of stuff and sell it to those interested in ‘antique’ items that have ‘newer’ innards.
The Great Depression involved a decade and people actually starving.
And to me a different mindset in a number of ways wouldn’t be a bad thing.
“people who lived through that period were still hoarding bent nails and old toys for the rest of their lives.”
My mom and her seven siblings grew up on a farm during the depression. All of them went on to have nice, average lives. My mom still tears napkins in half so they last twice as long.
My aunt took care of an older man who had invented something for one of the Fortune 100 companies and was very wealthy. When he died, she inherited millions. Until she died, she still would wash and dry all of her Zip-Loc bags to re-use.
“people who lived through that period were still hoarding bent nails”
LOL. My grandfather did just that, and I’m debating it.
My grandmother had said “John never threw out a bent nail, he always figured that he could straighten it, if needed.”
Part of my long-term thinking at this point is to avoid throwing out as much as possible, because I don’t know what will become hard to replace. Example: I had a relatively old shop vac and bought a new one (made in China, of course). Old shop vac, which still works, got sent to the attic, and is now a spare.
My father was like that; not my mother. Mother’s family came over in the mid 1800s; father’s family 1911 if I remember right. The slight difference in economic conditions made all the difference in how frugal they were.
My father would save all the little twist ties and things for future use. One time he announced to the family that he saw in the garbage that someone had thrown away a perfectly good twist tie. He saw the humor in it himself, though.